Surah Ha-Mim as-Sajdah, Footnote 36

Having comforted the believers and strengthened their resolve, they are now being encouraged toward their actual task. The previous verse had told them that standing firm in servitude to God, and not deviating from that path once adopted, is itself the fundamental virtue that makes a person a friend of the angels and deserving of Paradise. Now they are being told that the next rank—than which there is no higher rank for a human being—is this: that you do good deeds, call others toward servitude to God, and, even in an atmosphere of fierce opposition, where declaring and proclaiming Islam is to invite calamity upon oneself, stand firm and say: “I am a Muslim.” To fully grasp the significance of this statement, it is necessary to keep in view the environment in which it was revealed. At that time, the situation was such that anyone who declared himself a Muslim immediately felt as though he had stepped into a jungle of wild beasts, with everyone rushing to tear him apart. And beyond that, whoever opened his mouth to preach Islam had, as it were, called out to the beasts: “Come and devour me.” In these circumstances, it is stated that for a person to accept God as his Lord, adopt the straight path, and not turn away from it, is undoubtedly in itself a great and fundamental virtue—but the highest degree of virtue is this: to say “I am a Muslim,” and, heedless of the consequences, to call God’s creatures toward servitude to Him, and, while doing so, to keep one’s own conduct so pure that no one finds any opening to find fault with Islam or with those who bear its banner.