Читать книгу Towards Understanding the Qur'an - Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi - Страница 232

Al-Nisa’ 4: 93–4

(93) And he who wilfully slays a believer his reward is Hell, where he will abide. Allah’s wrath is against him and He has cast His curse upon him, and has prepared for him a great chastisement.

(94) Believers! When you go forth in the Way of Allah, ascertain and distinguish (between friend and foe), and do not say to him who offers you the greeting of peace: “You are not a believer.” If you seek the good of this worldly life, there lies with Allah abundant gain. After all, you too were such before, but then Allah was gracious to you. Discern, then,69 for Allah is well aware of what you do.

69 In the early days of Islam the greeting of al-salam [alaykum (“peace be on you”) was a distinguishing symbol of the Muslims. When a Muslim greeted another Muslim with this expression it signified that he was a member of the same community, that he was a friend and well-wisher, one who wished peace and security, from whom one need entertain no fear of hostility and towards whom, in return, one should not behave with hostility. This was particularly important in those days because there were no distinctions in dress, language and so on by which the Muslims could be conclusively marked off from others.

The Muslims also encountered a strange problem on the battlefield. Whenever a Muslim was in danger of being harmed inadvertently by other Muslims during fighting, he resorted to either the Islamic greeting (al-salam [alaykum) or to pronouncing the Islamic creed. “There is no god save Allah” (la ilaha illa Allah) in order to indicate that he was their brother-in-faith. The Muslims, however, often suspected this to be merely a ruse of the enemy and therefore, sometimes, disregarded the utterance of the Islamic greeting or of the Islamic creed, and

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