Page 130 - General Knowledge from the Qur'an

PEOPLE AND SOCIETIES CITED
IN THE QUR'AN

THE TRIBE OF ISRAEL (JEWS)
Remember when We made a covenant with the tribe of Israel: 'Wor-
ship none but Allah and be good to your parents and to relatives and
orphans and the very poor. And speak good words to people. And per-
form prayer and pay the welfare tax.' But then you turned away – ex-
cept a few of you – you turned aside. And when We made a covenant
with you not to shed your blood and not to expel one another from
your homes, you agreed and were all witnesses. Then you are the peo-
ple who are killing one another and expelling a group among you
from their homes, ganging up against them in wrongdoing and en-
mity. Yet if they are brought to you as captives, you ransom them,
when it was forbidden for you to expel them in the first place! Do you,
then, believe in one part of the Book and reject the other? What repay-
ment will there be for any of you who do that except disgrace in this
world? And on the Day of Rising, they will be returned to the harshest
of punishments. Allah is not unaware of what you do. Those are the
people who trade the hereafter for this world. The punishment will
not be lightened for them. They will not be helped. (Surat al-Baqara,
83-86)
We made unlawful for the Jews every animal with an undivided
hoof, and in respect of cattle and sheep, We made their fat unlawful for
them, except what is attached to their backs or guts or mixed up with
bone. That is how We repaid them for their insolence. And We cer-
tainly speak the truth. (Surat al-An'am, 146)

CHRISTIANS
We also made a covenant with those who say, 'We are Christians,' and
they too forgot a good portion of what they were reminded of. So We
stirred up enmity and hatred between them until the Day of Rising
when Allah will inform them about what they did. (Surat al-Ma'ida, 14)