The Quran

قُل إِن كانَ آباؤُكُم وَأَبناؤُكُم وَإِخوانُكُم وَأَزواجُكُم وَعَشيرَتُكُم وَأَموالٌ اقتَرَفتُموها وَتِجارَةٌ تَخشَونَ كَسادَها وَمَساكِنُ تَرضَونَها أَحَبَّ إِلَيكُم مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسولِهِ وَجِهادٍ في سَبيلِهِ فَتَرَبَّصوا حَتّىٰ يَأتِيَ اللَّهُ بِأَمرِهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لا يَهدِي القَومَ الفاسِقينَ

Muhammad Asad

Say: "If your fathers and your sons and your brothers and your spouses and your clan, and the worldly goods which you have acquired, and the commerce whereof you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you take pleasure - [if all these] are dearer to you than God and His Apostle and the struggle in His cause, then wait until God makes manifest His will;¹ and [know that] God does not grace iniquitous folk with His guidance."

Or: "brings about [the fulfilment of) His command". This may be an allusion to the Day of Judgment or - more probably - to the inevitable degeneration and decline of communities which place narrow self-interest above ethical values. In particular, this passage rejects the tendency to regard ties of kinship and national affiliation (expressed in the term "your clan") as the decisive factors of social behaviour, and postulates ideology ("God and His Apostle and the struggle in His cause") as the only valid basis on which a believer's life - individually and socially - should rest.