Tafsir of Surah At-Taubah - Verse 33

People of the Scriptures try to extinguish the Light of Islam

Allah says, the disbelieving idolators and People of the Scriptures want to,

أَن يُطْفِئُواْ نُورَ اللَّهِ

(extinguish the Light of Allah). They try through argument and lies to extinguish the guidance and religion of truth that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sent with. Their example is the example of he who wants to extinguish the light of the sun or the moon by blowing at them! Indeed, such a person will never accomplish what he sought. Likewise, the light of what the Messenger was sent with will certainly shine and spread. Allah replied to the idolators' desire and hope,

وَيَأْبَى اللَّهُ إِلاَّ أَن يُتِمَّ نُورَهُ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَـفِرُونَ

(but Allah will not allow except that His Light should be perfected even though the disbelievers (Kafirun) hate (it)) 9:32. Linguistincally a Kafir is the person who covers something. For instance, night is called Kafiran covering because it covers things with darkness. The farmer is called Kafiran, because he covers seeds in the ground. Allah said in an Ayah,

أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ

(thereof the growth is pleasing to the Kuffar tillers)57:20.

Islam is the Religion That will dominate over all Other Religions

Allah said next,

هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ

(It is He Who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth.) `Guidance' refers to the true narrations, beneficial faith and true religion that the Messenger came with. `religion of truth' refers to the righteous, legal deeds that bring about benefit in this life and the Hereafter.

لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ

(to make it (Islam) superior over all religions) It is recorded in the Sahih that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«إِنَّ اللهَ زَوَى لِي الْأَرْضَ مَشَارِقَهَا وَمَغَارِبَهَا، وَسَيَبْلُغُ مُلْكُ أُمَّتِي مَا زُوِيَ لِييِمنْهَا»

(Allah made the eastern and western parts of the earth draw near for me to see, and the rule of my Ummah will extend as far as I saw.) Imam Ahmad recorded from Tamim Ad-Dari that he said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying,

«لَيَبْلُغَنَّ هَذَا الْأَمْرُ مَا بَلَغَ اللَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ، وَلَا يَتْرُكُ اللهُ بَيْتَ مَدَرٍ وَلَا وَبَرٍ إِلَّا أَدْخَلَهُ هَذَا الدِّينَ، يُعِزُّ عَزِيزًا وَيُذِلُّ ذَلِيلًا، عِزًّا يُعِزُّ اللهُ بِهِ الْإِسْلَامَ وَذُلًّا يُذِلُّ اللهُ بِهِ الْكُفْر»

(This matter (Islam) will keep spreading as far as the night and day reach, until Allah will not leave a house made of mud or hair, but will make this religion enter it, while bringing might to a mighty person (a Muslim) and humiliation to a disgraced person (who rejects Islam). Might with which Allah elevates Islam (and its people) and disgrace with which Allah humiliates disbelief (and its people).) Tamim Ad-Dari who was a Christian before Islam used to say, "I have come to know the meaning of this Hadith in my own people. Those who became Muslims among them acquired goodness, honor and might. Disgrace, humiliation and Jizyah befell those who remained disbelievers."

After that, the same subject has been further stressed in the third verse (33) by saying that Allah Ta` ala has sent His Messenger with guidance, that is, the Qur'an, and with the Faith of Truth, that is, Islam, in order to have it prevail over all other faiths. Appearing in almost the same words, there are several other verses of the Holy Qur'an promising that the religion of Islam shall be made to prevail over all other faiths of the world.

This glad tiding regarding the ascendancy of Islam is, as in Tafsir Mazhari, for most times and circumstances. In a Hadith from Sayydina Miqdad ؓ ، the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: No mud or mortar home shall remain on the face of the earth where the word of Islam has not entered with the honor of the honored and the disgrace of the disgraced. Whoever Allah blesses with honor shall embrace Islam and whoever is to face disgrace shall not, though, accept Islam but shall become a subject of the Islamic government. This promise of Allah Ta` ala was fulfilled. For about a thousand years, the primacy of Islam remained operative throughout the world.

How this Light of Allah reached its perfection during the blessed period of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and the most righteous and worthy elders of the Muslim Community is a spectacle the world has already witnessed. Then, in future too, in terms of its legitimacy and truth for all times to come, the religion of Islam is a perfect religion no sensible person would elect to criticize. For this reason, this Faith of Truth, in terms of its arguments and proofs, has always been powerful. And, should Muslims follow this religion fully and faithfully, out-ward ascendancy, power and governance also turn out to be its inevitable results. As proved by the annals of the history of Islam, whenever Muslims acted whole-heartedly in accordance with the Qur'an and Sunnah, no impediment in their way could defeat their determination and their presence was felt all over the world as a dominant force. And whenever and wherever they have reached the limits of being subjugated or oppressed, it was but the evil consequence of heedlessness to and contravention of the injunctions of Qur'an and Sunnah which came before them. As for the Religion of Truth, it stood its grounds as always, august and protected.

In these verses, God has announced His firm resolve to keep His religion completely safe till Doomsday. When Almighty God settled human beings on the earth, He furnished them with His Guide Book. Later, when people fell into the ways of neglect and worldliness, they changed the words of God to suit their desires. For example, presuming their great revered men to be mediators with and recommenders to God, they adopted the belief that whatever they did, their holy men would, on the strength of their recommendation, be their saviours before God. They also believed that heaven or hell existed right there in the present world and that there was nothing beyond this world. Whatever the people themselves wanted, they attributed it to God and wrote it in God’s Book. Thereafter, God sent another prophet who rid the divine religion of all man-made impurities and presented it again in its true form. Subsequent generations made changes in that as well. This happened again and again. Finally, Almighty God decided to send a final Prophet, and through him create such conditions that the religion of God should remain safe in its original form forever. This task—the greatest in the history of prophethood—was achieved through the Prophet Muhammad. At the time when the Prophet Muhammad appeared, many self-made religions had been devised. The polytheists of Arabia had a religion which they called the religion of Moses. The Christians had a religion which they called the religion of Jesus. These were all concocted editions of God’s religion, and had been wrongly claimed to be the religion sent by God. God rejected all these religions and established the religion revealed to Prophet Muhammad as the sole authentic edition of His religion which would remain valid until Doomsday. Today Islam is the only religion in the text of which no changes could be made. Islam is the only religion which is historically authentic. Islam is the only religion whose teachings are found in a living language. The candle lit by God in the shape of Islam has never been dimmed or extinguished. It is there in its entirety before the world, maintaining its ideological superiority over all other religions.