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The Quran recognises good in Jews and Christians – 2

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 5 September 2025

“Then your hearts hardened after that, so that they were like rocks, in fact worse in hardness. And surely there are some rocks from which streams burst forth; and there are some of them which split apart so water flows from them; and there are some of them which fall down in awe of Allah. And Allah is not heedless of what you do.” — ch. 2, Al-Baqarah, v. 74

ثُمَّ قَسَتۡ قُلُوۡبُکُمۡ مِّنۡۢ بَعۡدِ ذٰلِکَ فَہِیَ کَالۡحِجَارَۃِ اَوۡ اَشَدُّ قَسۡوَۃً ؕ وَ اِنَّ مِنَ الۡحِجَارَۃِ لَمَا یَتَفَجَّرُ مِنۡہُ الۡاَنۡہٰرُ ؕ وَ اِنَّ مِنۡہَا لَمَا یَشَّقَّقُ فَیَخۡرُجُ مِنۡہُ الۡمَآءُ ؕ وَ اِنَّ مِنۡہَا لَمَا یَہۡبِطُ مِنۡ خَشۡیَۃِ اللّٰہِ ؕوَ مَا اللّٰہُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعۡمَلُوۡنَ ﴿۷۴﴾

I am continuing with the subject of last week’s khutba. The verse which I have recited occurs after the Holy Quran mentions several incidents of how the Israelites, after being saved from the clutches of the Pharoah, and crossing the sea under the leadership of Moses, were ungrateful to God, constantly unthankful for God’s favours on them, always complaining, and disobeying Moses to the extent of making a golden calf to worship. They were reluctant to make any sacrifices in the way of Allah, when asked by Moses to do so. As a result of their misdeeds, as this verse says, their hearts became hard and would not soften or melt at the remembrance of God. We even see that worse-than-rocks hardness of heart today, which is not softened by watching the plight of human beings right in front of them. However, the Quran does not lose hope for them. It says that out of rocks streams of water can emerge, running over the rocks, and some rocks even split apart to let water come out of them. The third thing mentioned, that some rocks fall down in awe of God, clearly shows that by rocks are meant humans, because it is humans who fall down before God in awe of Him. This is a prophecy that good and humble people, God-fearing people, would come from the same nation whose members had become as hard of heart as could possibly happen. Can this be called speaking badly about a nation and condemning it for all time to come?

Last week I referred to chapter 3 of the Quran, and explained that while condemning the wrong beliefs and misdeeds of the Jews and Christians, it interrupts the narrative with mention of the good among them. Here is another such verse from that chapter:

“And among the People of the Book is one who, if you entrust him with a heap of wealth, would pay it back to you; and among them is one who, if you entrust him with a penny, would not pay it back to you, unless you kept on demanding it” (3:75).

The words translated here as “unless you kept on demanding it” are literally: “unless you stood over him”. The good ones are mentioned first. It says you can rely on the good ones to pay you back a heap of wealth which you had asked them to look after for you. But there are others, even if you gave them a penny or penny’s worth of things to look after for you, you would only get it back by persistently demanding it. The scope of this verse cannot just be limited to asking someone to look after some money. In a broader sense, your money could also be your rights which belong to you, but which are in the hands of the People of the Book to safeguard for you and give to you when you require them. In that broad sense the verse means that Muslims will encounter some Jews and Christians who will give them their just due rights without any reluc­tance or resis­tance, but they will also encounter others who will only do so if Muslims are vigilant and watchful to demand their rights. What a balanced approach it is that the Quran has taken in portraying the Jews and Christians!

Just before the end of chapter 3 there is a verse as follows:

“And among the People of the Book are those who believe in Allah and (in) what has been revealed to you (O Muslims) and (in) what has been revealed to them, humbling themselves before Allah — they do not take a small price for the messages of Allah. These it is that have their reward with their Lord. Surely Allah is Swift to take account!” (3:199).

This verse is mentioning a group of the Jews and Christians separately from Muslims, and yet it says that they hold the same beliefs as Muslims. Maulana Muhammad Ali writes that this verse contains a prophecy that many Jews and Christians in the future would accept Islam. This clearly shows that the Quran does not regard Jews and Christians as permanently misguided, a lost cause, and forever incapable of accepting the truth. I have come across Muslims who believe that it is destined that Jews and Christians will never accept Islam, and when such Muslims hear of anyone who has converted to Islam they look upon him with suspicion as someone who must have had an ulterior, hidden motive for becoming a Muslim. But when this verse says about such Jews and Christians that they humble themselves before Allah and “do not take a small price for the messages of Allah”, it is telling us that they accept Islam sincerely without worldly motives. The verse may also be referring to period shortly after the death of the Holy Prophet Muhammad when Muslim rule was established over many Christian and Jewish communities in the world. Many of them embraced Islam. This verse is indicating that they did not embrace it for worldly reasons, such as fear of their new rulers or to seek the favour of their new rulers. but they accepted it genuinely.

This verse, apart from meaning that some of them would actually embrace Islam, may also be indicating that there are people among Jews and Christians who accept the same principles as those taught by Islam. They believe in God and in what has been revealed to them, meaning their scriptures. When the verse says that they believe in “what has been revealed to you (O Muslims)”, it may not mean that they actually believe in the Quran, but that they agree with its teachings and principles. The Quran says about itself at one point:

“Rather, it is clear messages in the hearts of those who are granted knowledge” (29:49).

This indicates that the principles revealed in the Quran also occur in the hearts and minds of those who possess knowledge. So the verse from ch. 3 that I am discussing may mean that the Jews and Christians men­tioned in it have the potential to embrace Islam. It may also be referring to those Jews and Christians who are friendly towards Islam and have praised and appreciated it.

In chapter 4, again at one point, from verse 153 to verse 161, the disobedience of the Israelites to their own prophets and their turning away from the messages of those prophets, from the time of Moses their law-giver to Jesus, is mentioned and con­demned in the strongest terms. Their claim to have killed Jesus on the cross is also mentioned. Yet that section ends with this verse:

“But the firm in knowledge among them and the believers believe in what has been revealed to you (O Prophet) and what was revealed before you, and those who keep up prayer and give the due charity and the believers in Allah and the Last Day — these it is to whom We shall give a mighty reward” (4:162).

Here two categories are described: the firm in knowledge among the Jews and Christians, and Muslim themselves. Both are said to hold the same beliefs and perform the same religious practices. The hint is clear that those Jews and Christians who determine and judge matters purely by means of know­ledge, rather than being swayed by their prejudices or blind following of their ancestors, they become convinced that the teachings of the Quran are true.

There are other places in the Quran also with a similar description of Jews and Christians:

“And those to whom We have given the Book rejoice in what has been revealed to you (O Prophet), and some sects deny a part of it” (13:36);

“Those to whom We gave the Book before it, they are believers in it. And when it is recited to them they say: We believe in it; surely it is the Truth from our Lord; we were indeed, before this, submitting ones” (28:52–53);

“And thus have We revealed the Book to you (O Prophet). So those whom We have given the Book believe in it” (29:47).

This is a promise of the Quran, that if the Quran is presented correctly then the followers of previous books will be joyous and happy, and will believe in it. If this is not happening then it is because we are either not presenting the Quran to them at all or not presenting it in its true light.

The greatest obstacle that alienates them from Islam is the misimpression that Islam spreads by force and that those who accepted Islam under Muslim rule centuries ago were forced to accept it. In this connection I would like to read to you the conclusion reached by a British, Christian scholar of Islam, Sir T.W. Arnold who had taught in academic institutions in the Indian subcontinent in the late 1800s, at the famous Aligarh Muslim College and at Government College Lahore. He was later Professor of Arabic at SOAS in the University of London till 1930. He wrote a famous and lengthy book on the history of the spread of Islam in the world, entitled The Preaching of Islam. He writes in the introduction:

“from its very inception Islam has been a missionary religion, both in theory and in practice, for the life of Muhammad exemplifies the same teaching, and the Prophet himself stands at the head of a long series of Muslim missionaries who have won an entrance for their faith into the hearts of unbelievers.”

He writes that it is a myth, an imaginary story, that Islam was spread by Muslim warriors holding the “sword in one hand and Quran in the other”. It spread by what he calls “peaceful methods of preaching and persuasion” which were not adopted because Muslims had no choice but because they “were most strictly enjoined in numerous passages of the Quran”.

At the end of chapter 5 the Quran mentions the wrong beliefs that the Christians adopted shortly after Jesus left them, of taking him and his mother Mary as gods besides the One God. It says that God will question Jesus in the next life, asking him if he gave them this teaching. He will reply that he did not, and that what he taught them was the worship of the One God, and as long as he remained among them he could see that that was what they did, but that after he left them, only God knew what they did. Then he added this:

“If You punish them, surely they are Your servants; and if You protect them, surely You are the Mighty, the Wise” (5:118).

He says that God has the right to punish them for taking Jesus and his mother as gods besides God, but they are still His creation. He is hinting that God should show mercy to them because they are His creation. But he is also adding that God can grant them protection from the evil consequences of their wrong beliefs because God is Mighty, having the power to do anything, and He is Wise, so that it may be an act of wisdom to grant them protection. Jesus is shown as pleading before God for mercy for them, despite their worship of him and his mother.

Earlier I quoted Sir T.W. Arnold about how Islam actually spread. So I end with the question that can a man who performed such a great service to Islam be punished by Allah because he was a Christian who believed Jesus to be son of God?

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