The Religion of the King

Consider one word here: mā kāna li-yaʾkhudha akhāhu fī dīni al-malik — he could not take his brother according to the religion of the king. Dīn. Allah used the word dīn. Allah calls this law dīn: religion. Laws are part of religion.

This is a law of the kind we call criminal law. In the United States, for example, criminal law is treated as having nothing to do with religion, and unfortunately that mentality is being engraved in our minds: that laws have nothing to do with religion. But in the Qur'an, Allah calls the law of the king dīn — religion. That is the religion of the king, and this is the religion of Allah. Laws are part of religion. Allah did not say "in the law of the king"; Allah said in the dīn — in the religion — of the king.