Surah 58. Al-Mujadilah, Ayah 22

For my rendering of ruh as "inspiration" or, occasionally, as "divine inspiration", see note [2] on 16:2 . As pointed out by Zamakhshari, the pronominal suffix in minhu may relate either to God - as in my rendering - or to the believers' faith, in which latter case the phrase could be rendered as "strengthened with inspiration [flowing] therefrom".

The operative phrase of this passage is contained in the words, "anyone who contends against (man hadda) God and His Apostle": i.e., anyone who is engaged in active hostility against God's message and the person or the teachings of His Apostle. As regards relations with non-believers who are not actively hostile to Islam, the Qur'an explicitly permits and implicitly ordains in many places (e.g., in {60:8-9}) kindness and friendliness towards them.

 Spirit here can mean revelation, light, or help.

Cf. ii. 87 and 253, where it is said that Allah strengthened the Prophet Jesus with the holy spirit. Here we learn that all good and righteous men are strengthened by Allah. If anything, the phrase used here is stronger: "a spirit from Himself". Whenever any one offers his heart in faith and purity to Allah, Allah accepts it, engraves that Faith on the seeker's heart, and further fortifies him with his help which we can no more define adequately than we can define in human language the nature and attributes of Allah.

Again we have the doctrine of Allah's Good Pleasure as the highest goal of man, the spiritual heaven which he achieves by a life of purity and faith. He not only attains Allah's Good Pleasure as the crown of his felicity, but his own nature is so far transformed to the pattern of Allah's original creation that his own good pleasure is in nothing but in Allah's Good Pleasure. The mutual good pleasure shows the heights to which man can attain.

This is in antithesis to the Party of the Satan, mentioned in verse 19 above. The Party of Evil will perish, but while it has its run in the scheme of the present world, the Party of Truth and Reality may be rightly called the Party of Allah, even though all Creation is Allah's in another sense.

If any one believes in Allah and His goodness and justice, and in the Hereafter, in which all true values will be restored he will never love evil or wrong-doing or rebellion against Allah, even if these things are found in his nearest kith and kin.

Faith in Allah is indelibly written on the tablets of their hearts and they can never be false to Allah.