Al-Anbiyaa (The Prophets)

92. “Verily, this Ummah of yours is a single Ummah, and I am your Lord: so worship Me.”

93. “And they split up their affair among them, (yet, finally,) they will all return unto Us.”

94. “Therefore, whoever does deeds of righteousness and he is a believer, there shall not be any rejection of his effort, and verily We will write (it) down for him.”

The whole Divine religions have the same aim and lead to the same destination, and Monotheism and unity of the word are the basis of them.

Those who always cause separation among people must prepare themselves to respond before the throne of Allah.

However, in view of the fact that the names of some divine prophets, as well as the name of Mary, the prototype woman, and a part of their biographies were mentioned in the former verses, in the verses under discussion, as drawing a general conclusion, it says:

“Verily, this Ummah of yours is a single Ummah…”

This holy verse implies that those great prophets, whom were mentioned formerly, were totally a single Ummah.

Their programs were the same and their final aim and destination were also the same, though they were in different periods and in separate environments, and their styles and manner of invitations, having some particular specialties, were various.

In the ultimate point, all of them were paving their way alongside one line. They all used to invite the people of the world to the way of monotheism and struggle against polytheism. They were wholly on the path of Unity, divine truth and justice.

This oneness and unity, which was in their programs and their aims, was for the sake that all of them were originated from one source, from the Will of Allah, the One.

Therefore, the Lord, immediately after that, says:

“…and I am your Lord: so worship Me.”

In fact, the prophets’ monotheism in ideology and deeds originates from the Oneness of the source of revelation.

This statement is similar to the words of Hadrat Ali (as) recorded in his testament to his son, Imam Mujtaba (as), who said:

“…know, O’ my child, that if there had been a partner with your Lord, his messenger, too, should have come to you and you would have seen signs of his authority and power and you should have known his deeds and qualities.…”1

The Arabic word /ummah/, according to Mufradat by Raqib, means any group or nation that a common cause joins them to each other, such as being common in religion and creed, being in the same time or Age, and being in one definite place, whether this unity is optional or non-optional.

Some commentators have considered the phrase: ‘single Ummah’, mentioned here, as ‘a single religion’.

Some others have said that the objective meaning of ‘Ummah’, in this verse, is the whole mankind in all ages and times.

In this case, it means: O’ human beings! All of you are one Ummah, your Lord is One, and the final destination of all of you is a single destination. But the most appropriate meaning of all of them is that: this sentence is a hint to the prophets and messengers whose biographies were mentioned in the former verses.

Then, in the next holy verse, the Qur’an, pointing to the deviation of a large group of people from this single principle of Monotheism, says:

“And they split up their affair among them…”

Their affair reached a point that they stood against each other and every group used to curse another group, and repudiated that party. They did not suffice to that and they made use of weapon against each other and, consequently, many people were killed. And, that was the result of the deviation from the basic principle of monotheism and the religion of the truth.

The Arabic phrase /taqatta‘u/ is derived from the word /qat‘/ which means to separate some pieces of an inter-chained and connected subject; and regarding to the fact that the word in Arabic is in a construction that has been applied in the sense of acceptance, the sentence means: they surrendered in the fact of disunion and hypocrisy, and they accepted separation and alienation from each other.

They put an end to their natural and theistic union and, as a result of it, they encountered those abundant failures, miseries, and wretchedness.

So, at the end of the holy verse, it adds:

“…(yet, finally,) they will all return unto Us.”

This separation, which is not substantial, will be removed and they all will go toward unity again in the Hereafter. This fact has repeatedly been emphasized in different verses of the Qur’an that one of the specialties of the Resurrection is the absence of dissension and being gathered in unity.

Surah Al-Ma’idah, No. 5, verse 48 says:

“…unto Allah is the return of you all, and then He shall inform you of that in which you used to differ.”

This meaning is found in a lot of verses of the Holy Qur’an.¹

In the last verse of the verses under discussion, the result of accompanying with the ‘single Ummah’ alongside the path of worshipping Allah, or deviation from it and paving the way of disunion, is said as follows:

“Therefore, whoever does deeds of righteousness and he is a believer, there shall not be any rejection of his effort…”

Then, in order to emphasize more on the matter, the Holy Qur’an adds:

“…and verily We will write (it) down for him.”

It is worthy noting that in this verse, like many other verses of the Qur’an, Faith and righteous deeds have been mentioned as two essential principles for the prosperity of human beings; but by adding the Arabic preposition /min/ (of), which is used in Arabic for distinction, the verse adds this matter to it indicating that the accomplishment of all these righteous deeds is not the necessary condition, and if the believing individuals do even a part of the righteous deeds they will also be among the prosperous people while the degrees of persons are different.

In any rate, this verse, similar to many verses of the Qur’an, considers Faith as the condition of the acceptance of the righteous deeds.

The statement of the sentence:

“…there shall not be any rejection of his effort…”

is for the sake of mentioning the reward of such persons and it is a sense which is mingled with the utmost grace, love, and magnanimity, because Allah, in this verse, thanks and praises His servants when He approves their effort and endeavour.

This meaning is also similar to what is said in Surah ’Isra’, No. 17, verse 19 where it says:

“And whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it as he ought to strive, and he is a believer, (as for) these, their striving shall be thanked.”

The promise of reward, recompense, and wage has been pointed out in the Qur’an by different forms of meaning.

Once it says:

“…and We do not waste the reward of the righteous.”3

In another occurrence it says:

“…(as for) these their striving shall be thanked.”4

And also the Qur’an says that Allah is thankful:

“…then verily Allah is Grateful, All-knowing.”5

Somewhere else, it says:

“…He will not diminish aught of your deeds;…”6

And, therefore, if you do a small amount of good you will see it.

The Qur’an says:

“So whoever has done an atom’s weight of good shall behold it.”7