Surah 25, Al Furqan [The Criterion], Mecca 42

[see Amatulla’s comment at the end]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Translation:

وَعِبَادُ الرَّحْمَنِ الَّذِينَ يَمْشُونَ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ هَوْنًا...

25: 63. And the servants of (God) Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility,

... وَإِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ الْجَاهِلُونَ قَالُوا سَلَامًا ﴿٦٣﴾

and when the ignorant address them, they say, "Peace!"

Asad’s Translation:

25:63

And the servants of (God) most gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, “Peace !”

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Ali’s comments:

3123. Ignorant: in a moral sense.

Address: in the aggressive sense.

Their humility is shown in two ways:

- to those in real search of knowledge, they give such knowledge as they have and as the recipients can assimilate;

- to those who merely dispute, they do not speak harshly, but say "Peace!", as much as to say,

"May it be well with you, may you repent and be better"; or

"May Allah give me peace from such wrangling"; or

"Peace, and Good-bye; let me leave you!"

Amatulla’s comment on the verse 25-63:

Let us see what kind of elements this one possesses to be called ‘servant’ by God.

This is a person with humility, unaltered faith in God’s workings, and unbeatable compassion and goodwill for all human beings. He/she does not judge others, even the ones who are the wrong doers. Because this one knows that judgment is the exclusive right of God, and a human being has no business of judging others. Others’ cruelty, ignorance, malicious attitudes, nothing makes this person loose his/her essential goodness of heart or goodwill toward others, nothing makes him/her strength of faith or graciousness compromised or diminished. The struggle or hardship of life or other peoples’ pettiness, prejudice, or hatred, none of these diminishes his/her compassion toward fellow human beings. This person has submitted to the Will of God, and he/she is determined to walk through the path, no matter how difficult the path is or how difficult the tests and trials are along that path, to remain compassionate and undeterred. This is the person whose faith, spirit and hope remain undiminished. This is the person of peace, he/she is in Islam no matter what is his/her brand of faith.

What essentially it conveys is that this is one of the most important quality of believers that they remain humble and show generosity towards the ones who are apparently failing and defaulting and they abstain from being critical and judgmental towards the others.