The Quran

111

Preface

۞ إِنَّ اللَّهَ اشتَرىٰ مِنَ المُؤمِنينَ أَنفُسَهُم وَأَموالَهُم بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الجَنَّةَ ۚ يُقاتِلونَ في سَبيلِ اللَّهِ فَيَقتُلونَ وَيُقتَلونَ ۖ وَعدًا عَلَيهِ حَقًّا فِي التَّوراةِ وَالإِنجيلِ وَالقُرآنِ ۚ وَمَن أَوفىٰ بِعَهدِهِ مِنَ اللَّهِ ۚ فَاستَبشِروا بِبَيعِكُمُ الَّذي بايَعتُم بِهِ ۚ وَذٰلِكَ هُوَ الفَوزُ العَظيمُ

Yusuf Ali

God hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise):¹ they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Qur-ān:² and who is more faithful to his covenant than God. then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme.

In a human bargain both sides give something and receive some advantage. In the divine bargain of God with man, God takes man’s will and soul and his wealth and goods, and gives him in return everlasting Felicity. Man fights in God’s Cause and carries out His will. All that he has to give up is the ephemeral things of this world, while he gains eternal salvation, the fulfilment of his highest spiritual hopes-a supreme achievement indeed (Cf. 61:10-12).
We offer our whole selves and our possessions to God, and God gives us Salvation. This is the true doctrine of redemption; and we are taught that this is the doctrine not only of the Qur-ān but of the earlier Revelations-the original Law of Moses and the original Gospel of Jesus. Any other view of redemption is rejected by Islam, especially that of corrupted Christianity, which thinks that some other person suffered for our sins and we are redeemed by his blood. It is our self-surrender that counts, not other people’s merits. Our complete self-surrender may include fighting for the cause, both spiritually and physically. As regards actual fighting with the sword there has been some difference in theological theories at different times, but very little in the practice of those who framed those theories. The Jewish wars were ruthless wars of extermination. The Old Testament does not mince matters on the subject. In the New Testament St. Paul, in commending the worthy fruits of Faith, mentions Gideon, Barak, and other warriors of the Old Testament as his ideals, “Who through faith subdued kingdoms . . . waxed valiant in fight, turned to fight the armies of the aliens . . .” (Hebrews, 11:32-34). The monkish morality of the Gospels in their present form has never been followed by any self-respecting Christian or other nation in history. Nor is it common sense to ignore lust of blood in unregenerate man as a form of evil which has to be combatted “within the limits set by God” (9:112). (R).