Tafsir
In this verse six religious groups or communities have been mentioned— Muslims, Jews, Sabaeans, Christians, Zoroastrians and polytheists (pagans of Makkah). The Jews owed allegiance to Moses. Similarly, the Sabaeans owed allegiance to John (Yahya), the Christians to Jesus, the Zoroastrians to Zoroaster and the polytheists of Makkah to Abraham. All these communities were initially believers in and worshippers of the one God. But, later on, they distorted their religion. Now they continue to practice this distorted form. The Muslims are not immune to this. They could also in effect err in the same way. The Book of Muslims is unaltered and preserved in every detail, yet in this world of trial, Muslims’ hands are not tied: they are not precluded from putting their own self-made interpretations on the Quran and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. They can form a self-styled religion, then by adopting that religion, they presumed to be following God’s true religion. God’s original and true religion is only one, but on account of personal interpretations, it comes to have different versions. If people were to adhere to the original religion, unity and solidarity would flourish among them. But, with people following their self-made religion, religious differences crop up among them and these differences go on endlessly multiplying. But God is fully aware of everybody’s circumstances, and He will make it clear on Judgement Day as to who was on the right path and who was on the wrong one.