Page 56 - Self-Sacrifice in the Qur'an's Moral Teachings

Self-Sacrifice in the Qur'an's Moral Teachings

Clearly, the unbelievers seek to get the believers arrested, killed,
or exiled. But instead of doing so openly, they set traps to stop the
spread of the Qur'an's morality. Allah tells us of these traps in many
verses. One example is the case of the Prophet Lot (as) and his family,
whom the unbelieving inhabitants of the land wanted to expel for try-

ing to live a pure and upright life among them. The Prophet Lot (as)
called upon the people to live a moral life and to abandon their shame-
less immorality, but:
The only response of his people was to say: "Drive the family
of Lot out of your city! They are people who keep themselves
pure!" (Surat an-Naml: 56)
Right after he and his family left, Allah destroyed the city and
turned the traps set for believers against those who had set them.
Believers were also threatened with imprisonment. In fact, Allah
reveals that Pharaoh threatened the Prophet Moses (as) with prison if
he did not obey him:

He [Pharaoh] said [to Moses]: "If you take any deity other than
me, I will certainly throw you into prison." (Surat ash-Shu'ara':
29)
Another method was execution, based upon their mistaken belief
that killing the prophets would prevent the spread of the Qur'an's
morality and intimidate other believers. The people's threat to stone

the Prophet Jethro (as) to death was a result of this hostile attitude:
They said: "O Jethro, we do not understand much of what you
say and we see you are weak among us. Were it not for your
clan, we would have stoned you. We do not hold you in high
esteem!" (Surah Hud: 91)
Pharaoh and his inner circle made plans to kill the Prophet Moses

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