The Quran

114

Preface

وَمَن أَظلَمُ مِمَّن مَنَعَ مَساجِدَ اللَّهِ أَن يُذكَرَ فيهَا اسمُهُ وَسَعىٰ في خَرابِها ۚ أُولٰئِكَ ما كانَ لَهُم أَن يَدخُلوها إِلّا خائِفينَ ۚ لَهُم فِي الدُّنيا خِزيٌ وَلَهُم فِي الآخِرَةِ عَذابٌ عَظيمٌ

Yusuf Ali

And who is more unjust than he who forbids¹ that in places for the worship of God, God’s name should be celebrated?-whose zeal is (in fact) to ruin them? It was not fitting that such should themselves enter them except in fear. For them there is nothing but disgrace in this world, and in the world to come, an exceeding torment.

There were actually Pagans in Mecca who tried to shut out Muslim Arabs from the Ka‘ba, the universal place of Arab worship. The Pagans themselves called it the House of God. With what face could they exclude the Muslims, who wanted to worship the true God instead of worshipping idols? If these Pagans had succeeded, they would only have caused violent divisions among the Arabs and destroyed the sanctity and the very existence of the Ka‘ba. This verse, taken in a general sense, establishes the principle of freedom of worship in a public mosque or place dedicated to the worship of God. This is recognised in Muslim law. (R).