Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 23 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:23

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ نَصِيبًا مِّنَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ يُدْعَوْنَ إِلَىٰ كِتَـٰبِ ٱللَّهِ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّىٰ فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمْ وَهُم مُّعْرِضُونَ

“Do you not consider, [O Muḥammad], those who were given a portion of the Scripture? They are invited to the Scripture of Allāh that it should arbitrate between them;[120] then a party of them turns away, and they are refusing.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Some people want the Book as a referee only when they expect to win, and turn their shoulder the moment its verdict goes against them.

A reflection

The rulebook, when it suits

At a local cricket club, one committee member is famous for waving the rulebook. When a rule favours his team, he reads it aloud. When a rule goes against them, he calls it outdated and asks for a vote.

The ayah describes people given a share of scripture who are invited to the Book of Allah to judge between them. Then a party of them turns away, and they are averse. One modern commentary puts its finger on the strangeness. Those who claim to follow the Book should have been the fastest of all to accept its judgement. Another says they refused because its ruling did not match their desires.

The commentaries give different accounts of the exact occasion, and the ayah does not name one. What it captures is a pattern that crosses every community: consulting God's word as a referee only when you expect to win.

The Muslim reader should feel the mirror most. We were given not a portion of the Book but the whole of it. How often do we quote it when it supports us in a family argument, and go quiet when it asks something of us? Insist on a ruling about someone else's conduct, and look away from the verse about our own tongue, our own money, our own temper?

The test of whether someone follows a Book is not whether they quote it. It is what they do on the day it rules against them.

Think of one place where the Quran's instruction is inconvenient for you right now. Let it be the referee there this week.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.