Is the Attribution of Disbelief to all Arabs in the Quran Contradicting the Consideration that Some of Them have been Considered Believers?
Brief description of the dubiety
In verse 97 of Surah al-Tawbah, all the Arabs have been considered disbelievers. However, two verses later in the same chapter mentions that some of the Arabs believe in Allah and the Day of Resurrection. There appears to be a contradiction here at first glance between regarding all Arabs as disbelievers, and taking some of them as believers.
Detailed description of the dubiety
Contradictory Verses
Verse that implies that the Arabs are disbelievers
Verse 97 of Surah al-Tawbah says: “The Bedouins are more obdurate in unfaith and hypocrisy, and more apt to be ignorant of the precepts that Allah has sent down to His Apostle, and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.”
Based on this verse, all Arabs have been considered to be severe in their disbelief and hypocrisy.
Verse that mentions the belief of some Arabs
Verse 99 of Surah al-Tawbah says: “Yet among the Bedouins are [also] those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and regard what they spend as [a means of attaining] nearness to Allah and the blessings of the Apostle. Look! It shall indeed bring them nearness, and Allah will admit them into His mercy. Indeed Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Merciful.”
According to this verse, some of the Arabs did believe in Allah and the Day of Judgement and were good.
Summary
The one verse of Surah al-Tawbah refers to the disbelief and hypocrisy of the Arabs and their ignorance towards the laws of Allah. Whereas the second verse says that some of the Arabs believed in Allah and the Day of Judgement. These two verses appear to be contradictory to one another.
A summarized response
Arab in these verses means Bedouin – those who lived on the outskirts of the city, and it does not refer to all Arabs. Verse 97 of Surah al-Tawbah is only comparing the disbelievers and hypocrites who are Bedouins with other disbelievers and considers their disbelief to be worse. This does not imply that all Bedouins were disbelievers. Verse 99 of Surah al-Tawbah introduces some Bedouins as believers, and as a result this is not in conflict with the previous verse.
A detailed response
Introduction
It is imperative to pay attention to all of the words of a speaker in order to understand them correctly
In many cases, a person makes a statement regarding a subject. In order to properly understand the speaker’s point of view, after their speech finishes, the subject should be considered in light of all of their sentences together, and then his point of view should be explained. An examination of sentences just based on face value or briefly will lead to misunderstandings before even the completion of one’s speech.
For example, imagine a teacher who is speaking about a group of students who are busy talking. He says, “During class, all students must remain completely silent, and no one should be speaking to anyone. After watching the behaviour of the students, I realized that they do not pay attention to the lesson, rather they are paying attention to their mobile phones.”
If someone just looks at the first sentence, where the teacher is asking the students to pay attention and be silent, they may come to a positive opinion about the students; however this is not the case at all. Therefore, only after a person completes one’s speech around a subject matter, should people attempt to understand it correctly.
Analysis of the meaning of the word Arab
The word Arab is used for Bedouins and Arabi is someone who lives on the outskirts of a city. [1] However, those who live inside of the cities and towns are called Arab. Therefore, Arabs themselves can be divided into two groups: those who live in the deserts and outskirts of a city, and those who live inside the cities. Arab in the Arabic language is used for those Arabs who are Bedouins, but not for all Arabs. Based on this preliminary, it becomes clear that the verse is speaking about Arabs who are Bedouins and live on the outskirts, not all Arabs. This is because both verses use the word Arab.
Analysis of Verse 97 of Surah al-Tawbah
Just as we mentioned in the first preliminary, one cannot understand the intent of a speaker simply by looking at the face value of some of their statements, before they have completed their entire speech. In order to understand verse 97 of Surah al-Tawbah correctly, it is necessary to look at the verses after it and to put them all alongside one another. This is because the verses are speaking about the Bedouins and therefore it is necessary to see all of these verses as part of one speech on a single subject matter in order to get a correct meaning of what is intended by Allah here. Verses 97 to 99 of Surah al-Tawbah say the following: “The Bedouins are more obdurate in unfaith and hypocrisy, and more apt to be ignorant of the precepts that Allah has sent down to His Apostle, and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. Among the Bedouins are those who regard what they spend as a loss, and they watch for a reversal of your fortunes. Theirs shall be an adverse turn of fortune, and Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. Yet among the Bedouins are [also] those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and regard what they spend as [a means of attaining] nearness to Allah and the blessings of the Apostle. Look! It shall indeed bring them nearness, and Allah will admit them into His mercy. Indeed Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Merciful.”
Verse 99 of Surah al-Tawbah explicitly mentions that some of the Bedouins are believers. In verse 98, some of the Bedouins who are disbelievers have been described. Therefore, these two verses explicitly describe the qualities of the Bedouin Arabs. Taking into consideration the meanings behind these two verses, the true intent of verse 97 becomes apparent. This verse is not saying that all of the Bedouin Arabs are disbelievers, because in verse 99 some of them have been described as believers. Verse 97 is simply comparing the Bedouins with everyone else in respect to their disbelief and hypocrisy, and says that these traits amongst the Bedouins was more apt and rooted than others. In other words, the disbelievers and hypocrites from among the Bedouins were more steadfast in these negative characteristics than the rest of the disbelievers and hypocrites, because they were distant from culture and knowledge. [2]
With this explanation, there is no longer any contradiction between the verses, because the discrepancy was assumed on the premise that verse 97 suggests that all Bedouins are disbelievers and hypocrites. By refuting this hypothesis, there is no longer any contradiction. For further explanation, consider the example given below.
Common example
A sociology article which speaks about marginalized groups wrote the following: “Marginalized groups are penalized more severely.” In another place in the same article, it said: “Some marginalized people struggle to escape their marginalized status, and for this reason some of them have gained great success.” Taking into account these two sentences, it is clear that the first sentence compares only those marginalized people who are criminals and compares them with other criminals, not that all marginalized people are criminals and that their crime is considered more severe than everyone else.
Similarly as we analyzed the verses in Surah al-Tawbah, we conclude that there is no contradiction between these verses, because the first verse compares only the disbelievers from the Bedouins with the other disbelievers and the hypocrites. It does not suggest that all Bedouins were infidels and hypocrites.