The referred verse relates to the point that when God grants a special status or a favor upon a people, He does not turn away that special favor from that people until the time that the said people themselves become undeserving of that favor. At another instance, the Qur'an says: ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ لَمْ يَكُ مُغَيِّرًا نِعْمَةً أَنْعَمَهَا عَلَى قَوْمٍ حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ (الأنفال 8: 53 ) This is because God was not one to change a favor that He had bestowed upon a people, until those people changed themselves. Apparently, it seems that the verse is general in its connotation: God would not turn away a favor from a people, until those people become undeserving of that favor. The Jewish 'nation', the Christian 'nation' and the Muslim 'nation' have all been subject to the same Divine law. They were all blessed with a special Divine favor till the time that they remained deserving of God's special favors upon them. Another point that needs to be kept in mind is that the verse does not say that 'when a people become undeserving of God's favors, God would then take away that favor from those people'. Had this been the case, it would have meant that no nation could carry on enjoying God's favors after it has become undeserving of these favors. On the contrary, the verse says that 'God only turns away His favors from a nation, when that nation renders itself undeserving of God's special favors.' In this case, it is possible that a nation continues to benefit from God's favors, even though it does not deserve to benefit from these favors, yet no nation shall be deprived of any of God's special favors, till the time that they remain deserving of these favors. Keeping the foregoing point in perspective, let us not turn to your specific questions: If seen in the context of the referred verses, it is clear that the Divine law has been mentioned with reference to people - for instance, the people of Pharaoh - who lost their 'special favor', when they rejected God's messenger, even though these people did not have a 'history' of a direct relationship with God. Thus, it seems that one such obvious instance, when a nation becomes undeserving of the continuation of God's favors is when that people reject any of God's messengers; The Jewish, the Christian and the Muslim nations have each lost the special Divine favor granted to them, being subject to the stated Divine law; On the basis of the referred verse, a Muslim can say with confidence that a nation, which is deprived of God's favors has, in fact, rendered itself undeserving of continuing to benefit from these favors of God; Economic and material prosperity may not be the 'only standard' of 'favor' bestowed upon a nation, but it is indeed one of the most important of the standards; The prosperity enjoyed by the United States, for instance, should not be seen as one enjoyed by 'Christian nations'. United States is primarily a geographical, rather than a Christian or religious nation. I hope the foregoing points will help. Regards, Moiz Amjad June 13, 2002 Answer published by Moiz Amjad Discussion(s) regarding this Question A Further Exchange regarding the Divine Law relating to Nations