Messenger, be not grieved by those who rush into disbelief; such as those who say with their mouths, “We believe”, while their hearts do not believe. Among the Jews are some, who eagerly listen to falsehood, eagerly listen to other people paying no heed to you. They lift words out of their context, and say, ‘If this be given you accept it; but if you are not given it, then be on your guard.” If Allah wants to test anyone, you shall not be able to avail him anything against Allah. Such are the ones whose hearts Allah is not willing to purify. They will have disgrace in this world, while in the life to come, awesome suffering is in store for them.
They eagerly listen to falsehood and greedily devour what is unlawful. Hence, if they come to you (for judgment), you may either judge between them or turn away from them. If you do turn away from them, they cannot harm you in any way. But if you do judge, then judge between them with fairness. Allah loves those who deal justly.
( The Repast: Al-Maidah: 5: 41-42)
It is apparently clear that these verses were revealed in the early years after the Prophet’s (Pbuh) settlement in Madinah where the Jews were part of its community. This means that they were revealed at least prior to the attack on Madinah by the confederate tribes and before severe punishment was inflicted on the Jewish tribe of Quraithah, if not earlier. Most probably, they were revealed when the two Jewish tribes of An- Nadheer and Qainoqaa were still in Madinah. The first of these two tribes were evacuated from Madinah after the battle of Uhud in the first year of the Islamic calendar and the other was evacuated even before that. In that early period, the Jewish concocted many of their tricks and maneuvers, and the hypocrites received much support from them. Both groups plunged headlong in disbelief, even though the hypocrites might have claimed by word of mouth that they were believers. Their actions grieved the Prophet and caused him much distress.
Allah, limitless He is in his glory, consoles his Messenger and comforts him. He exposes to the Muslim community the truth about those who plunge head long into disbelief, as did some of the Jews and the hypocrites. He directs his Messenger to the line of action he should adopt with them when they come to him for arbitration after explaining to the Prophet what plots they have concocted before coming to him: “Messenger, be not grieved by those who rush into disbelief: such as those who say with their mouths, “we believe”, while their hearts do not believe. Among the Jews are some who eagerly listen to falsehood, eagerly listen to other people paying no heed to you. They lift words out of their context, and say, “If this be given to you, accept it: but if you are not given it, then be on your guard.”
Some reports suggest that these verses speak of a group of Jews who committed certain sins including adultery and theft, which are punishable by specific punishments outlined in the Torah. The Jews, however had established different punish-ments because they did not want to enforce the punishment of the Torah on those of them who were in power in the first place. They later wanted to waive these punishments of the Torah in all cases. They replaced them with other punishments, as has been done by some of those who claim to be Muslims these days. When some of them committed these sins at the time of the Prophet, they thought to seek his judgment, if he judged according to the lesser punishments which they had legislated, they would enforce them and justify their action to Allah by saying that they have enforced the verdict of a Messenger. If he judged that they should be punished according to the Torah, they would refuse his judgment. They sent some of their people to seek his ruling. That explains their statement: “if this be given to you, accept it: but if you are not given it, then be on your guard” they have indeed gone that far in playing games with Allah’s law and in being dishonest in their dealing with Allah and his Messenger. It is a stage which could be reached by any people who having received divine revelation, have long ignored their duties, a situation which make their hearts harden and the light of faith in their hearts has stifled. Evasion of the laws and duties of their faith becomes the goal for which means are to be sought and rulings and justifications should be found. Does this not apply today to those who claim to be Muslims and who “say with their mouth, ‘we believe’ while their hearts do not believe. Do they not seek rulings to evade their religious duties, rather than to carry them out? Do they not occasionally try to pay lip service to religion so that it may approve and endorse their desire? If religion insists on the word of the truth and the ruling of justice, they have no need for it: “they say, if this be given to you, accept: but if you are not given it, then be on your guard.” The two situations are identical; perhaps Allah has given us such account of the history of the children of Israel, so that future generations of Muslims may be forewarned of the slips that lie along their way.
Allah, glorified be He, says to His Messenger with regard to those who rush in to disbelief and those conspirators who engage in such schemes: do not be grieved by those who plunge headlong in disbelief. They seek to create confusion and they will fall victim to it, while you have no say in the matter and you cannot help them through their test when they have brought confusion upon themselves: “If Allah wants to test anyone, you shall not be able to avail him anything against Allah.” Such people have sunk their hearts into impurity, so Allah is unwilling to purify them.” He will cause them to suffer ignominy in this life and grievous suffering in the hereafter: “They will have disgrace in this world, while in the life to come, awesome sufferings is in store for them.” He tells the Prophet not to worry about them, and not to be grieved by their disbelief. Their fate is sealed.
The surah goes on to give us further details of their situation: “they eagerly listen to falsehood and greedily devour what is un-lawful. Hence, if they come to you (for judgment), you may either judge between them or turn away from them. If you do turn away from them, they cannot harm you in any way. But if you do judge, then judge between them with fairness. Allah loves those who deal justly.”
Their listening to falsehood is repeated again to suggest that this has become an established habit of theirs. They are pleased to listen to evil and falsehood, and they are annoyed when they hear the voice of the truth. This applies to all deviant hearts and corrupt souls. Falsehood has its appeal in deviant communities, and the word of truth is felt to be too hard. In these miserable days, false-hood sells like hot cakes, while the word of truth has no buyers.
Those people do not only listen to falsehood, but they greedily devour what is un-lawful: usury, bribes and the prices of false rulings and false testimony come at the top of the list of what they devour, again, this evil quality spreads in all communities that deviate from Allah’s law. In the Arabic original, the term used for “unlawful” here also connotes the lack of blessings. Indeed, a blessing is the first thing which is obliterated in deviant communities, as we see with our own eyes nowadays.
Allah has given the Prophet the choice whether to judge between them or to turn away from them if they ask him for judgment. If he chooses not to pay any attention for them, they can harm him in no way. But if he chooses to judge between them, then his must be a fair judgment, unaffected by their prejudices or their rushing into disbelief or by their plots and schemes: “Allah loves those who deal justly.”
Allah’s Messenger and a Muslim ruler and a Muslim judge deal directly with Allah in such matters and exert the efforts to establish justice in order to serve Allah because Allah loves those who deal justly. If people commit injustice or perjury or deviate from the truth, justice remains above all that. Fair judgment is not passed in order to please them, but in order to please Allah. This is indeed the most effective guarantee provided by Islamic law everywhere and in all times.