And when Islam was revealed to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, Jews and Christian clerics felt threatened and have since mad their best to downplay Islam for one reason or the other and are always trying to impose their rules on Muslims to subjugate them. Even other non Divine religious priests and preachers unleash a hate game against Muslims, specially Hindus and prosecute those accepting Islam and unleashing all sorts of physical power to subdue the Muslims. Ban on wearing o Hijab, publishing of derogatory caricatures of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, forcing of legitimization of LGBT in Muslim countries, desecrating places of worship, barging into masjid and harassing those offering prayers or simply creating hatred against Muslims under the garb of Islamophobia and labeling Muslims as terrorists.
In order to forewarn the Muslims of the machinations of Jews and Christians, Allah revealed a special verse in Surah 2. Al Baqarah (The Cow) and cautioned Prophet Muhammad ﷺ that Jews and Christians can never be pleased with Muslims until Muslims follow their way. This theme is the topic of our selected verses from Qur'an.
This Ayah carries a stern warning for the Muslim Ummah against imitating the ways and methods of the Jews and Christians, after they have acquired knowledge of the Qur'an and Sunnah, may Allah grant us refuge from this behavior. Although the speech in this Ayah was directed at the Messenger , the ruling of which applies to his entire Ummah:
وَلَنۡ تَرۡضٰى عَنۡكَ الۡيَهُوۡدُ وَلَا النَّصٰرٰى حَتّٰى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمۡؕ قُلۡ اِنَّ هُدَى اللّٰهِ هُوَ الۡهُدٰىؕ وَلَـئِنِ اتَّبَعۡتَ اَهۡوَآءَهُمۡ بَعۡدَ الَّذِىۡ جَآءَكَ مِنَ الۡعِلۡمِۙ مَا لَـكَ مِنَ اللّٰهِ مِنۡ وَّلِىٍّ وَّلَا نَصِيۡرٍ
(2:120) Never will the Jews be pleased with you, (O Prophet), nor the Christians until you follow their way. Say: “Surely Allah’s guidance, is the true guidance.” Should you follow their desires disregarding the knowledge which has come to you, you shall have no protector or helper against Allah.
That is, "The reason why these people are displeased with you is not that they are sincere seekers after Truth and that you have failed to make it as clear to them as it should have been. On the contrary, they. are offended with you just because you have made the Truth so clear that no loop-hole has been left for them to make religion a paying concern for the gratification of their desires and lusts. Therefore leave them alone and do not try to reconcile them because it is not possible to please them unless you also adopt the same attitude towards religion as they have adopted. They would have been very happy with you, if you had acted hypocritically like them and made God-worship a cloak for self-worship. It is impossible to please them unless you follow their bad example in your beliefs and practices."
Tafsir Ibn-Kathir:
(Never will the Jews nor the Christians be pleased with you (O Muhammad ) till you follow their religion.) meaning, `The Jews and the Christians will never be happy with you, O Muhammad! Therefore, do not seek what pleases or appeases them, and stick to what pleases Allah by calling them to the truth that Allah sent you with.'
Allah's statement, (Say: "Verily, the guidance of Allah (i.e. Islamic Monotheism) that is the (only) guidance'') means, `Say, O Muhammad , the guidance of Allah that He sent me with is the true guidance, meaning the straight, perfect and comprehensive religion.'''
Qatadah said that Allah's statement, (Say: "Verily, the guidance of Allah (i.e. Islamic Monotheism) that is the (only) guidance) is, "A true argument that Allah taught Muhammad and his Companions and which they used against the people of misguidance.''
Qatadah said, "We were told that the Messenger of Allah used to say, (There will always be a group of my Ummah fighting upon the truth, having the upper hand, not harmed by their opponents, until the decree of Allah (the Last Hour) comes.)
This Hadith was collected in the Sahih and narrated from `Abdullah bin `Amr. (And if you (O Muhammad ) were to follow their (Jews and Christians) desires after what you have received of Knowledge (i.e. the Qur'an), then you would have against Allah neither any Wali (protector or guardian) nor any helper.)
Qur'an Wiki:
The Prophet is also told that the Jews and the Christians would continue to oppose and scheme against him. They would never make peace with Islam, nor be satisfied unless Muhammad abandoned Islam and took up their distorted beliefs and erroneous ideas, referred to earlier. It was not evidence or proof of credentials they were after; nor was it because they doubted his integrity or the truth of the revelations he had received. Nothing would seem to satisfy or convince them apart from an undertaking by Muhammad that he was ready to relinquish his commission as Messenger of God and adopt their faith.
“Never will the Jews, nor yet the Christians be pleased with you unless you follow their faith.” This is the bone of contention. What they are after is not evidence or conviction of the truth of Islam. Islam and Muhammad have been a constant obsession with Jews and Christians throughout history. The faith of Islam has always been at the centre of the crusades and campaigns launched against the Muslim community all over the world. No matter how much the two camps may differ or quarrel between themselves, or how divided each of them may be, when it comes to fighting Islam and Muslims they are in full agreement and as united as they could be.
The conflict between the Judaeo-Christian world on the one side, and the Muslim community on the other, remains in essence one of ideology, although over the years it has appeared in various guises and has grown more sophisticated and, at times, more insidious. We have seen the original ideological conflict succeeded by economic, political and military confrontation, on the basis that ‘religious’ or ‘ideological’ conflicts are outdated and are usually prosecuted by ‘fanatics’ and backward people. Unfortunately, some naïve and confused Muslims have fallen for this stratagem and persuaded themselves that the religious and ideological aspects of the conflict are no longer relevant.
But in reality world Zionism and Christian Imperialism, as well as world Communism, are conducting the fight against Islam and the Muslim community, first and foremost, on ideological grounds and with the sole aim of destroying this solid rock which, despite their concerted and sustained efforts, they have not been able to remove.
The confrontation is not over control of territory or economic resources, or for military domination. If we believe that, we would play into our enemies’ hands and would have no one but ourselves to blame for the consequences.
“Never will the Jews, nor yet the Christians be pleased with you unless you follow their faith.” That is the heavy price that would have to be paid. They will accept nothing less.
But God’s instructions are very clear: “Say: ‘God’s guidance is the only true guidance.’” The instruction is definite and emphatic: there is to be no negotiation or bargaining, no compromise or appeasement. The Prophet is warned that his wish to convey the message to those people and his eagerness for them to believe him, or his inclination to befriend them, should not distract him from the difficult but straight path he has taken: “Should you follow their desires after all the knowledge that has come to you, you would have none to protect you from God, nor to give you help.”
Tabari writes this Ayat means, “`The Jews and the Christians will never be happy with you, O Muhammad! Therefore, do not seek what pleases or appeases them, and stick to what pleases Allah by calling them to the truth that Allah sent you with.'” [Quoted by Ibn Kathir]
Please listen to explanation of the ayat by eminent Muslim scholar Nouman Ali Khan:
May Allah help us understand Qur'ān and help us to act upon the commandments of Allah contained therein. Aameen.
For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Verses from the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.
An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs of the Qur'ān from authentic sources and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. In that the exegesis of the chapters of the Quran is mainly based on the "Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an" by one of the most enlightened scholars of the Muslim World Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi.
In order to augment and add more explanation as already provided, additional input has been interjected from following sources:
- Towards Understanding the Quran
- Tafsir Ibn Khatir
- Muhammad Asad Translation
- Javed Ahmad Ghamidi / Al Mawrid
- Al-Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation
- Verse by Verse Qur'an Study Circle
In addition the references of other sources which have been explored have also been given above. Those desirous of detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to these sites.
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