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Surah Al-Baqarah — 2:85

ثُمَّ أَنتُمْ هَٰؤُلَاءِ تَقْتُلُونَ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَتُخْرِجُونَ فَرِيقًا مِّنكُم مِّن دِيَارِهِمْ تَظَاهَرُونَ عَلَيْهِم بِالْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ وَإِن يَأْتُوكُمْ أُسَارَىٰ تُفَادُوهُمْ وَهُوَ مُحَرَّمٌ عَلَيْكُمْ إِخْرَاجُهُمْ ۚ أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ ۚ فَمَا جَزَاءُ مَن يَفْعَلُ ذَٰلِكَ مِنكُمْ إِلَّا خِزْيٌ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ أَشَدِّ الْعَذَابِ ۗ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ

Summa antum haaa'ulaaa'i taqtuloona anfusakum wa tukhrijoona fareeqam minkum min diyaarihim tazaaharoona 'alayhim bil ismi wal 'udwaani wa iny ya'tookum usaaraa tufaadoohum wa huwa muharramun 'alaykum ikhraajuhum afatu'minoona biba'dil kitaabi wa takfuroona biba'din famaa jazaaa'u many yaf'alu zaalika minkum illaa khizyun fil hayaatid dunyaa wa yawmal qiyaamati yuraddoona ilaa ashaddil 'azaab; wa mallaahu bighaafilin 'ammaa ta'maloon

Yet here you are, killing your own and driving a group of your people from their homes, backing one another against them in sin and hostility. And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them — though their expulsion was forbidden to you. Do you believe in part of the scripture and reject part? What is the recompense of any of you who does this but disgrace in the life of this world? And on the day of resurrection they will be turned over to the harshest punishment. God is not unaware of what you do.

Reflection

The charge is selective observance, believing part of a scripture and rejecting part, and the example given is precise: the ransoming is kept while the expulsion that made captives is not. That pairing is what makes the accusation something other than general inconsistency. The verse is the longest in the passage and the only one that names both a worldly consequence and a later one for the same act.

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