وَقَالُوا قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌ ۚ بَلْ لَعَنَهُمُ اللَّهُ بِكُفْرِهِمْ فَقَلِيلًا مَا يُؤْمِنُونَ

"And they said, "Our hearts are veiled." Rather, Allah has cast damnation upon them for their disbelief. So, they believe just a little." (2:88)

The Jews used to say sarcastically that their hearts were "veiled", by which they meant that their hearts were so well protected against Islam that it could never touch them. This was their way of congratulating themselves on being staunch in their belief. The Holy Qur'an points out that this is not the firmness of faith, but a damnation, for they deny Islam which now is the true religion, and stick to a religion which has been abrogated. They, consequently, possess only "a little" faith ('Iman). Since a little faith is not acceptable, they turn out to be infidels.

The 'little faith' which they possessed pertained to the doctrines which are common to Islam and Judaism - for example, belief in Allah (سبحانه وتعالى), or belief in the Day of Judgment. But they did not accept Sayyidna Muhammad (صلي الله عليه وسلم) as a Prophet, and the Holy Qur'an as the Word of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى). So, their faith was not complete.

If the Verse describes 'the little faith' as 'Iman, it does so only in the lexical sense, for 'Iman signifies total certitude, even if it pertains to certain things, and not to others. But from the point of view of the Shari'ah, such a partial faith cannot be described as 'Iman. The Shari'ah would accept as valid only that 'Iman which affirms with certitude each and everything that the Shari'ah requires one to affirm. (Ma'ariful Qur'an)

» Posted by Seifeddine-M on 4th March 2011

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