There are 89 Verses in the Qur'aan beginning with يا أيها الذين آمنوا (O you who believe), directly addressed to the believers. Most of these have already been mentioned and discussed in my FRIDAY SERMONS blog posts. I propose to discuss the remaining Verses one by one now. Let me begin with Verse 57:28 here.
Translated, the Verse says, "O you who believe! Fear Allah and do believe in His رسول (Messenger). He (Allah) will grant you two-fold from His Mercy. And He will create light for you to move about with. And He will forgive you. And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful!"
In its context here, 'fear Allah' means, 'fear His Wrath, if you do intentionally commit anything wrong against His specific orders.'
His (Allah's) specific Order here is for believers to believe in His رسول (Messenger).
At the time this Verse was revealed the Messenger was living on this earth. The divine Message (Qur'aan) was yet to be completely revealed. And the Message was being revealed through the Messenger. So, it was incumbent on the believers to believe in the Messenger!
And now when the entire Qur'aan stands revealed, and the Messenger is no longer living on this earth, believing the Messenger simply means believing that he has conveyed the divine Message (Qur'aan) truly and honestly! It is purely divine and contains no human interpolation in its contents.
But, unfortunately, Muslims have fallen into the error of considering belief in the Messenger to be their misplaced belief in ahaadeeth, man-written hundreds of years after the death of the Messenger, and purporting to be the sayings and doings of the Messenger while he was living on this earth!
As indicated in the Verse itself, Allah's Wrath has fallen on the Muslims of today. They, generally, stand divided, humiliated, and defeated in the world!
Mohammad Shafi
Mumbai, the 30th of November 2021.