The above verse delineates Islam as the "baptism or colouring of Allah(God)" , and explains this "colouring" as the unalloyed worship of Allah(God) and total submission to Him.
The expression carries within itself several levels of meaning. But the
immediate allusion is to a certain ceremony of the Christians. On the
seventh day of its birth, they used to bathe an infant in coloured
(probably yellow) water, which was supposed to be a substitute for
circumcision, and a sufficient guarantee for the external and internal
purification of the infant - the fast and indelible "colouring" of
Christian faith, so to say. The verse suggests that this colour is wasted
away with the water, without leaving a trace outside or inside, nor
does this kind of baptism serve the purpose of circumcision and
cleanse a man of physical impurity.
The verse declares that the
only colouring worth the name is the colouring of a genuine and
unabrogated religion - that is, Islam - the only colouring which can
guarantee physical and spiritual purification, and the only one which
shall remain.
Then, the word "colouring" has a deeper
meaning too. Just as a certain colour is openly and clearly visible to
the beholder, the signs of genuine and pure faith should shine
through the face, the movements, the habits and the behaviour of a
Muslim.
In this sense, the verse is a commandment, asking Muslims
"to dye" themselves in the "colouring of Allah(God)", outwardly and
inwardly by offering unalloyed worship to Him alone, by submitting
themselves totally to His commandments, and by gladly accepting His
will.
