Renewal of Covenant in Times of Danger

God conveyed to the Disciples (ḥawāriyyīn) - who were the special companions and among the foremost and those close to Jesus Christ - through inspiration that they should renew their covenant with Me and Jesus, so that they would support him and My religion: “And when I inspired the Disciples, [saying], ‘Have faith in Me and My messenger’”(212) Therefore, the initial faith of the Disciples is not intended, but rather there was a conspiracy at that time and some people wanted to rise up against Jesus Christ. For this reason, God placed in the hearts of the Disciples that they should be loyal to God and His messenger and renew their covenant. This is similar to the Pledge of Riḍwān (bayʿat riḍwān) and the Pledge of ʿAqaba (bayʿat ʿaqaba) from the Muslims of early Islam - the comparison is in terms of renewed pledge, not in terms of inspiration.

Witness this issue, the verse “And when Jesus sensed their faithlessness, he said, ‘Who will be my helpers toward Allah?’ The Disciples said, ‘We will be helpers of Allah. We have faith in Allah, and bear witness that we are muslims.”(213)

“Sensed” (aḥassa) means that what the enemies of religion held in their inner selves and in secret became manifest and perceptible, and their work moved from the stage of mental conspiracy to the objective stage. At this time, Jesus sensed danger from them and asked the Disciples (ḥawāriyyīn) to help him. Similar to the expression mentioned in this verse is what appears in: “O you who have faith! Be Allah’s helpers, just as Jesus son of Mary said to the Disciples, ‘Who will be my helpers for Allah’s sake?’ The Disciples said, ‘We will be Allah’s helpers!’… and they became the dominant ones”,(214) where God commands the Muslims to be like the Christians who, at the time of danger, helped Jesus Christ and rose up in favor of truth and against falsehood.

Based on the aforementioned point, the religion of Christ also has both war and peace, and like other heavenly religions - whose reality is all one: “Indeed, with Allah religion is Islam”(215) - it has been confrontational with the enemy and combative; not that it should endure every oppression.

For each prophet there is a separate law (sharʿa) and method (minhāj); however, Islam and its comprehensive and universal principles are the same for all prophets who possess a school of thought, although their levels and degrees may differ. The process of defending religion and struggling against those who attack the divine book and oppress the authentic programs of revelation and prophethood and transgress against the sanctity of religious centers is part of the general commands of Islam, and in this important matter there is no difference between Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and others. Defense of the sanctity of religion is the cause of protecting religious centers, and in this regard there is no difference between the temples of Christians and Jews and monks and Muslims: “Had not Allah repulsed the people from one another, ruin would have befallen the monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques in which Allah’s Name is mentioned greatly. Allah will surely help those who help Him. Indeed Allah is all-strong, all-mighty.”(216) The details of this matter will come in Sūrat al-Ḥajj, God willing. Based on this, Christianity has never been and is not without struggle (jihād), and what emerges from the final verse of Sūrat al-Ṣaff is also this same matter, and the content of the verse under discussion depicts to some extent the scene of struggle with foreigners.