al-Baqara 2:124 — "My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers"

"His Lord tested Abraham (Ibrāhīm) with certain words, and he fulfilled them. He said, 'I am making you a leader for people.' Abraham said, 'And of my offspring?' God said, 'My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers.'"

This short dialogue contains one of the Qurʾān's most decisive sentences on politics and authority.

إِمَامًا لِّلنَّاسِ — "a leader for people". Imām, root ʾ-m-m: the one in front, the one followed (from the same root come umma and amām — front). And note: it does not say "for those who follow you" but "for people". The scope of the task is open not to a group but to humanity.

And then Abraham makes a request: "And of my offspring?" This is an entirely human request — a father wanting what has been given to him to continue in his children.

The answer does not refuse the request; it lays down a condition: "My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers."

The consequences of this sentence are large:

• Descent does not produce authority. Being a prophet's child does not secure the inheriting of leadership.
• The measure is moral. What distinguishes is not lineage but whether one does wrong.
• And this was said to a prophet who was asking. The rule, that is, was not bent for anyone.

The idea of "the guarantee of belonging", dismantled from the beginning of the sūra, is cut once more here at its highest point: at verses 47-48 a community's chosenness was not counted a guarantee; here a prophet's lineage is not counted a guarantee.

This sentence stands against every form of religious authority built on a claim of descent throughout history. And its addressees are not only the old communities — claims of superiority based on lineage have not been lacking in Muslim history either.