2/148 — "Race one another to good things"
This sentence is the close of the dispute about the qibla, and it carries the dispute somewhere entirely different.
فَٱسْتَبِقُوا۟ ٱلْخَيْرَٰتِ — root s-b-q: to get ahead in a race. It is the word used for horse-racing; sābiq (the one in front) and musābaqa are from the same root.
| The subject of the race | The ruling | |
|---|---|---|
| al-Takāthur 102/1 — takāthur | To outdo in quantity | Criticised: "it has distracted you" |
| al-Muṭaffifīn 83/26 — tanāfus | To compete over the drink of the garden | Commanded: "let the competitors compete" |
| al-Baqara 2/148 — istibāq | To get ahead in good things | Commanded |
The Qurʾān does not forbid racing; it changes the subject of the race. The desire to get ahead in a person is treated not as a fault to be torn out but as an energy whose direction is to be fixed.
And the difference between the two kinds of race lies in whether the subject is divisible. Property, position, number — these are limited; one person's winning means another's losing, and so the race produces conflict. But good is not limited; one person's doing much good does not reduce another's share. The same act, according to its subject, produces either conflict or improvement.
That this sentence is placed at the end of the discussion of the qibla is meaningful too. The dispute had been about "who turns in the right direction"; the closing sentence turns the dispute from direction to deed.