The Quran

Preface

قُل يا أَهلَ الكِتابِ لا تَغلوا في دينِكُم غَيرَ الحَقِّ وَلا تَتَّبِعوا أَهواءَ قَومٍ قَد ضَلّوا مِن قَبلُ وَأَضَلّوا كَثيرًا وَضَلّوا عَن سَواءِ السَّبيلِ

Yusuf Ali

Say: “O people of the Book! exceed not in your religion¹ the bounds (of what is proper), trespassing beyond the truth, nor follow the vain desires of people who went wrong in times gone by,- who misled many, and strayed (themselves) from the even way.

Excess, as opposed to moderation and reason, is the simplest test by which a hypocrite or a selfish man who “trades” on religion, is known from a sincere, pious, and truly religious man. Excess means that truth is sometimes concealed or trampled upon, that the fashions of ancestors or contemporaries are copied or overdone, and God’s name is dishonoured by blasphemies or the setting up of false gods or fetishes, or that good (or even bad) men are deified and worshipped. The true path is the even path, the path of rectitude, (Cf. 2:108, and 5:12).