Overview (Verse 82)
 
This short passage complements the discussion which has already taken place in this sūrah about the attitudes of the Jews, the Christians and those who associate partners with God towards His Messenger (peace be upon him) and the Muslim community. It includes statements explaining the deviation that has crept into the faiths of the Jews and Christians, the ill intentions and wickedness of the Jews towards their prophets and towards God’s Messenger, and their support of the unbelievers against him. The discussion in this sūrah gives the final judgement on the Jews and Christians, describing them in terms of unbelief or “unfaith” because they have abandoned what their own Scriptures state and denied what God’s Messenger has conveyed to them. This sūrah also confirms that the Jews and the Christians have nothing to stand on unless they implement the Torah and the Gospel and all that has been revealed to them by their Lord. Addressing the Prophet (peace be upon him), the sūrah requires him to convey what has been revealed to him by his Lord to all people: idolaters, Jews and Christians alike. All of them follow nothing of the Divine faith and all of them are called upon to believe in Islam. The sūrah also requires the Muslim community to be allied only with God, His Messenger and the believers and to seek no alliance with the Jews and the Christians because they are allies of one another. The Jews also ally themselves to unbelievers, and for this they have been cursed by David and Jesus, son of Mary.
 
This short passage explains the attitude of all these groups towards the Prophet and the Muslim community. They also state the different rewards awaiting them in the Hereafter.
 
Who Hates the Believers Most?
 
The Muslim community used to receive Qur’ānic revelations in order to determine, according to the directives of the Qur’ān, its plan of action, and to adopt according to these directives the proper attitudes towards all people. The Qur’ān is the Book which gives the Muslim community the guidance it needs and determines the course of action it should take. When the Muslim community implemented this method, it was able to overcome others and not be beaten by them. This is because it fought its enemies under direct Divine leadership, by virtue of the fact that the Prophet, its leader, followed Divine guidance and implemented Divine instructions.
 
The Divine directives included in the Qur’ān continue to be operative. The advocates of Islam today and tomorrow will do well if they listen to these directives and statements as if they are addressed to them now in order to determine on their basis their attitudes towards all groups of people and towards different beliefs and creeds, situations and systems, values and standards.
 
“You will certainly find that, of all people, the most hostile to those who believe are the Jews, and those who associate partners with God.” (Verse 82) The way this statement is phrased makes it addressed either to the Prophet or to all believers because it states something that can be recognised by everyone. Arabic style admits both possibilities. In either case, it provides the same meaning. What is noteworthy about the phrasing of this statement is the fact that the Jews are mentioned ahead of the idolaters in being most hostile to the believers, and that their hostility is open and easily recognised by anyone who cares to pay attention.
 
It is true that in Arabic usage, the conjunction “and” simply denotes a combination without adding any ordering of those which are combined. By mentioning the Jews first in this instance, when it would be thought they would be less than the idolaters in their hostility to the believers as they have revealed Scriptures of their own, makes the ordering particularly significant. Because of the way it is phrased, the statement directs attention to the fact that their Scriptures have not changed the Jews and that they are just the same as the unbelievers in their ardent hostility towards the believers. This is the least that can be said, although it is also possible that the statement means that in their hostility to believers, the Jews took the lead, their animosity greater than that of the idolaters.
 
When we look at the history of Islam ever since its very early days until the present moment, we have no doubt that the hostility of the Jews to the believers has always been more fierce, determined and longer lasting than the hostility of the idolaters and unbelievers. From the very first moment the Muslim state was established in Madinah, the Jews adopted a hostile attitude towards it. They schemed against the Muslim community from the outset of its very existence. Qur’ānic references to this hostility and scheming are sufficient to give a good idea of the unabating war the Jews have waged against Islam and its Messenger (peace be upon him), and the Muslim community throughout history. Indeed, this war has not abated for a single moment throughout fourteen centuries. It continues to rage throughout the world even today.
 
When the Prophet settled in Madinah, he concluded a treaty of peaceful coexistence with the Jews and called on them to believe in Islam, which confirmed the Torah that had been revealed to them before. They, however, did not fulfil their obligations under this treaty in the same way as they reneged on every pledge they made to their Lord or to their prophets. For this reason, God says to the Prophet about them: “We have sent down to you clear revelations: none will deny them except the evildoers. Is it always to be the case that every time they make a solemn pledge some of them renege on it? The truth is that most of them do not believe. And now that a Messenger from God has come to them confirming what is already in their possession, some of those who had been given the Scriptures cast the Book of God behind their backs as though they know nothing about it.” (2: 99-101)
 
They harboured hostility towards Islam and the Muslims from the very first day when God united the two Arab tribes, al-Aws and al-Khazraj, under Islam, thus leaving no room for the Jews to play one group off against the other. They increased their hostility from the day the Prophet Muĥammad (peace be upon him) assumed leadership of the Muslim community denying the Jews any chance to impose their views. They have since then utilised all available weapons and all ways and means that their scheming ingenuity could identify to undermine Islam. In this they relied on their experience as slaves in Babylon and Egypt and their subservience to the Roman Empire. Although Islam was hospitable to them after their humiliation, they returned its favours with the most wicked scheming.
 
They incited all the forces of pagan Arabia against Islam, and they worked hard to forge an alliance with all previously hostile tribes to launch an offensive against the Muslim community. They even claimed that the Arab idolaters were a better guided people than the believers.
 
When Islam was able to overcome them with the force of the truth, they tried to scheme against it by incorporating fabrications into their books. The only book which remained pure was and is the Qur’ān, God’s book which He has guaranteed to preserve intact. They also schemed against Islam by trying to sow discord within Muslim ranks and by creating trouble in which they managed to manipulate newcomers to Islam and those who had not acquired proper insight into Islamic principles or values. Their scheming also entailed inciting Islam’s adversaries everywhere to come out in a joint effort against it.
 
In recent history, they have been the ones to lead the war against Islam throughout the world. It is they who utilised Christian and idolatrous forces in an all- out effort against Islam. It is they who create heroes who have Muslim names but try to suppress Islam with all their might. God tells the truth when He says: “You will certainly find that, of all people, the most hostile to those who believe are the Jews, and those who associate partners with God.” (Verse 82)
 
An alliance of forces hostile to Islam was forged in order to launch a pincer attack against the newly-born Muslim state in Madinah. In an attempt to exterminate Islam altogether, this grouping consisted of the Jewish tribe of Qurayżah as well as other Jews, the major Arab tribe of the Quraysh in Madinah and other major tribes in the rest of Arabia. The person who took it upon himself to bring about this alliance and who worked hard for its realisation was a Jew.
 
Thirty years later, a group of Jews started a mass uprising bringing together the remnants of hostile groups, and spreading all sorts of rumours. They succeeded in stirring up trouble to such an extent that it led to the assassination of `Uthmān the third Caliph to rule the Muslim state after the Prophet. The Muslim world has often faced problems as a result of Jewish conspiracies ever since the early days of Islam.
 
The person who then took the lead in fabricating statements and attributing them to God’s Messenger (peace be upon him), and fabricating reports about Islamic history and leading Muslim personalities was also a Jew.
 
In more recent history, it was a Jew who stirred nationalistic feelings and gave prominence to them in the last Islamic Caliphate. He was the schemer behind the rebellions and coups d’etat which began by replacing Islamic law with a “constitution” during the reign of Sultan `Abd al-Ĥamīd prior to the abolition of Islamic rule altogether at the hands of the nationalist hero, ‘Ataturk’.
 
The Jews have been the prime movers in the war declared on all fronts against the advocates of Islamic revival throughout the world. Moreover, the atheistic, materialistic doctrine in our world was advanced by a Jew, and the permissive doctrine which is sometimes called, “the sexual revolution”, was advocated by a Jew. Indeed, most evil theories which try to destroy all values and all that is sacred to mankind are advocated by Jews.
 
The war that the Jews have launched against Islam has been much longer lasting and wider in spectrum than that launched against it by pagans and unbelievers both in old and modern times, although the latter has also been extremely ferocious. The fight with the Arabian idolaters in the early days of Islam did not last more than 20 years. Of similar duration was the battle against the Persian Empire. In modern times, we see that the war launched against Islam by paganism in India is and has been manifestly ferocious, but it does not equal the ferocity of the Zionist war against Islam. [Incidentally, Marxism is only an offshoot of Zionism in this respect.] The only battle against Islam which is comparable to that of the Jews in respect of its duration and scope was that of the Crusades, to which we will presently refer.
 
We remind ourselves of this history in order to appreciate God’s purpose in mentioning the Jews ahead of the idolaters in the ranking of those who are hostile to Islam: “You will certainly find that, of all people, the most hostile to those who believe are the Jews, and those who associate partners with God.” (Verse 82) Theirs is a wicked nature which is full of hatred for Islam, its Prophet and its followers. Hence, God warns His Messenger and the believers against its designs. This wicked and most vile nature could only be defeated in past history by Islam and its followers when they truly followed Islamic principles. Our modern world will not be saved from this wicked nature except by Islam, and only when its people implement Islam completely in their lives.