The Holy Qur’an - The Final Testament - Juz 6

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This text is the sixth volume of the translation and commentary of the Holy Qur’an by Mir Ahmad ‘Ali and Ayatullah Agha Hajj Mirza Mahdi Pooya Yazdi.

It covers the sixth Juz of the Holy Qur’an, from Surah An-Nisa’ Verse 153 to Surah Al-Ma’idah Verse 86.

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The Holy Qur’an - The Final Testament - Juz 6
 Arabic Text, With English Translation And Comme ntary
 With Special Notes From
 Ayatullah Agha Haji Mirza Mahdi Pooya Yazdi
 Translated By
 S.V. Mir Ahmad Ali
 
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An-Nisa Section 22 - Violation Of The Covenant By The Jews

- Jews Violating The Covenant,

- Their Accusing Jesus And His Mother Mary,

- The Truth Concerning The Crucifixion Of Jesus.

An-Nisa Verses 153 – 162

يَسْأَلُكَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ أَنْ تُنَزِّلَ عَلَيْهِمْ كِتَابًا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ فَقَدْ سَأَلُوا مُوسَىٰ أَكْبَرَ مِنْ ذَٰلِكَ فَقَالُوا أَرِنَا اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الصَّاعِقَةُ بِظُلْمِهِمْ ثُمَّ اتَّخَذُوا الْعِجْلَ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ فَعَفَوْنَا عَنْ ذَٰلِكَ وَآتَيْنَا مُوسَىٰ سُلْطَانًا مُبِينًا

“The people of the Book ask thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) to get descended upon them a book from heaven; so indeed they had demanded of Moses (a) greater (thing) than that, for they said “Show us God manifestly” whereupon seized them a rumbling for their wickedness; Then they took a calf (for a god) even after what clear signs had come unto them, but (even then) We pardoned them (for) this; and We gave Moses a clear authority.” (4:153)

وَرَفَعْنَا فَوْقَهُمُ الطُّورَ بِمِيثَاقِهِمْ وَقُلْنَا لَهُمُ ادْخُلُوا الْبَابَ سُجَّدًا وَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ لَا تَعْدُوا فِي السَّبْتِ وَأَخَذْنَا مِنْهُمْ مِيثَاقًا غَلِيظًا

“And We lifted up the Mountain over them at their covenant and said We unto them “Enter the door prostrating” and said We unto them “Exceed not (Our limits) in the Sabath 1 (day)” and We took from them a firm Covenant.” (4:154)

فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِمْ مِيثَاقَهُمْ وَكُفْرِهِمْ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَقَتْلِهِمُ الْأَنْبِيَاءَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ وَقَوْلِهِمْ قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌ بَلْ طَبَعَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهَا بِكُفْرِهِمْ فَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا

“So for their breaking their covenant and their denial of the signs of God, and their slaying the apostles unjustly and their saying “Our hearts are covered;” Nay! God hath set a seal upon them for their disbelief, so they believe not but a little 2 .” (4:155)

وَبِكُفْرِهِمْ وَقَوْلِهِمْ عَلَىٰ مَرْيَمَ بُهْتَانًا عَظِيمًا

“And for their disbelief and for their utterance against Mary a grievous calumny.” (4:156)

وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا الْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَٰكِنْ شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِنْهُ مَا لَهُمْ بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا اتِّبَاعَ الظَّنِّ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًا

“And for their saying (in boast) “Verily we have slain the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the Apostle of God;” But they slew him not, and they crucified 3 him not but (it 4 ) became dubious 5 unto them; and indeed those who differ therein are only in doubt about it they have no knowledge about the (real) matter, pursuing (only) a conjecture; and certainly, they slew him not .” (4:157)

بَلْ رَفَعَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًا

“Nay! God raised 6 (lifted) him up unto Himself; And God is Mighty, Wise!” (4:158)

وَإِنْ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ إِلَّا لَيُؤْمِنَنَّ بِهِ قَبْلَ مَوْتِهِ وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيدًا

“And there shall not be any one of the people of the book, but he must certainly believe in him 7 before his death; and on the Day of Resurrection, he (Jesus) will be a witness against them.” (4:159)

فَبِظُلْمٍ مِنَ الَّذِينَ هَادُوا حَرَّمْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ طَيِّبَاتٍ أُحِلَّتْ لَهُمْ وَبِصَدِّهِمْ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَثِيرًا

“For the iniquity from those who Judaize, we did forbid them those good things which had been made lawful for them (before), and for their obstructing many (people) from the path of God.” (4:160)

وَأَخْذِهِمُ الرِّبَا وَقَدْ نُهُوا عَنْهُ وَأَكْلِهِمْ أَمْوَالَ النَّاسِ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِلْكَافِرِينَ مِنْهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا

“And (for) their taking interest 8 , though indeed forbidden were they against it, and their devouring people’s property wrongfully; and We have (got) prepared for the disbelievers from among them a painful torment.” (4:161)

لَٰكِنِ الرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ مِنْهُمْ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ وَالْمُقِيمِينَ الصَّلَاةَ وَالْمُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ أُولَٰئِكَ سَنُؤْتِيهِمْ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا

“But the well-grounded in knowledge among them and the believers (who) believe in what hath been sent down unto thee 9 and what hath been sent down 10 (unto Our apostles) before thee, and the establishers 11 of prayer, and the givers of the poor-rate 12 (charity), and the believers in God and the Last Day 13 (of Judgment); These (it is whom) soon We will give a great recompense.” (4:162)

Commentary

Verse 156

The calumny referred to here is the Jewish accusation of Mary, of fornication. According to ‘the Jewish Life of Jesus’ the man about whom the Jews accused Mary, was a Jew named Panther.

Verse 157

But for the purposeful misinterpretation of the facts about the event, by a commentator, this Verse needs no elaborate explanation for it gives the clearest meaning to every unprejudiced reader. This Verse clearly refutes the Christian belief that Jesus was killed by Jews by crucifixion on the cross. It is declared here in this Verse in clearest words that the Jews did not kill Jesus (by God’s plan the Jews were not allowed to kill him) and the immediate next part of the Verse giving out the truth goes further to refute the belief saying ‘Wama Salanoohu’, i.e., they (the Jews) did not (even) crucify him (i.e., by God’s plan they were not allowed even to put Jesus on the cross).

A commentator, in order to somehow or other establish the death of Jesus, presents his own interpretation of the words saying, “the word does not negative Jesus being nailed to the Cross.” It is a wonder how such an arbitrary inference would ever be drawn in the face of the clear declaration of the Holy Qur’an ‘Wama Salaboohu’, i.e., they crucified him not, meaning that God’s plan did not allow the Jews even to put him on ‘Sateen’ (i.e., the Cross).

The only correct and the logical inference from this statement could be that the one who was put on the cross (i.e., crucified) to give the contention to the Jews that they have killed Jesus, son of Mary, was someone else, made to resemble Jesus. When Jesus being put on the Cross is itself denied by the Holy Qur’an where is the room for the argument to say that Jesus suffered only some wounds; but only swooned and did not die, and was handed over to one of his staunchest disciples, who gave Jesus a special kind of grave convenient for him to escape from it. All this wishful thinking advanced as arguments, can refer only to the one. who instead of Jesus, was put on the cross and made to undergo the affliction.

The fact about someone made to resemble Jesus to go on the cross to make the enemies of Jesus believe that they have killed him, is very clearly brought out by the words immediately following ‘Wama Salanoohu’. Its Verse says:

“But it was made dubious to them and verily those who differ about him are only in doubt about him. They have no knowledge about him, save that they follow their own imagination” (4:157)

In order to transfer the dubiousness and the doubt caused about the personality of Jesus to the event, the commentator interprets the reference to Jesus as to the event.

Again, about someone else resembling Jesus, the commentator wants to take advantage of the absence of the mention of the man who was made to resemble Jesus. If the commentator wants such minute details in the Holy Qur’an, what would he say for the absence of the mention of the details of the prescribed daily prayers, (i.e., ‘Salat’ or ‘Namaz’) in the Holy Qur’an, and yet every detail about the prescribed daily prayers are demanded to be faithfully, compulsorily and punctually observed. Why should he be particular about the mention in a matter of mere information and not concerned at all about the matter of the prayers which has to be carefully followed every day as his compulsory duty? There are hundreds of the other very important things that the details we draw as an inference from the Qur’anic declarations or get them from the traditions of the Holy Prophet and the Holy’ Imams of the Ahl Al-Bayt the Divinely commissioned custodians of the Word of God with whom the Holy Prophet left it.

The commentator [Muhammad Ali] bases his contention on some peculiar arguments-saying “Jesus Christ prayed the whole night before his arrest to be saved from the accursed death on the cross and he asked his disciples also to pray for him, and it is the Divine law that the prayers of a righteous man in distress and affliction are always accepted. He (Jesus) seems to have received a promise from his Master to be saved, and it was to this promise that he referred when he cried out on the cross “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The commentator quotes-Heb. 5/7.

In the first place it is a matter of surprise that the commentator seeks the support from the version of the Book edited by the Christian Church and holds it as the Word of God or a genuine or a reliable authority on Jesus. If the commentator accepts any statement of the Book, what right has he to reject the other statements in the same Scripture of the Christians, about Jesus being the only begotten Son of God and the formula of the Christian Trinity.

If the praying of Jesus, to God to save him from the accursed death on the cross, is accepted by the commentator and if as per his own statement the prayer was accepted, what kind of acceptance of the prayer was it, and what great advantage did the acceptance of the prayers give Jesus when according to his own interpretation, Jesus inspite of all his prayers, was put on the cross and was allowed to suffer the torment and affliction of being nailed before the public around him, and got deeply wounded to the extent of having swooned to be taken for dead. The accursed nature of the crucifixion was after all met by Jesus before the world around him.

See note to Verse 3:54. Here Qur’an asserts the following facts about the crucifixion of Jesus:

1. The Jewish claim to have killed Jesus.

2. The Jewish claim being a mere claim without any evidence at all.

3. The circumstances with the crucifixion as given in the note to Verse 3:54 puts the pro-and the anti-Christian claim into doubt.

4. From the records of the Jews and the Christians it is obvious that of the disputants none could rely upon any convincing evidence of an eye witness.

5. The whole story is based upon mere guessing, conjectures and the prejudice caused by the faith.

6. Against this chaos and confusion, the Qur’an takes a firm stand against all the controversial conjectures both of the Jews and the Christians concerning the matter and declare in the clearest terms that neither crucifixion nor the killing of Jesus ever at all took place and this statement is not of any conjecture but of certainty. The Qur’an does not leave any room at all for any attempt for any compromise between the Qur’anic assertion and that of the others.

Hence the doctrine of the crucifixion, the death or the resurrection of Jesus is of no value at all to the Muslims. (A.P.)

What is related about Jesus’ crying on the cross does not befit the real Jesus Christ who was the ‘Ruhullah’, i.e., the Spirit of God. It befits the man who was made to be put on the cress in the place of Jesus-and similarly befit him all the other stories of the post-crucifixion. When God never forsakes even an ordinary - virtuous man, His forsaking one of His own apostles is unimaginable and if we believe in the Biblical version of Jesus complaining about his being forsaken to be true, then a very grave and an unwarranted inference could be drawn to say that Jesus as a truthful apostle of God, holds himself as to have been forsaken by- God under which circumstances he ceases to be an apostle, for any one forsaken by God, can never be His apostle. Thus, the crying of the man on the cross can be true in the case of the one who was made to resemble Jesus.

The commentator seeks shelter under one of the meanings of the word ‘Tawaffaitani’ used in Verse 5:117. The word means taking away of a thing. The word is also used for death for death means taking away of the soul from the body. The word used in Verse 5:117 means, when Jesus was taken away into the heavens not the taking away of his soul from his material body.

The next Verse clears the position further.

Verse 158

‘Rafa Allah’ means exalted and in the context with the word ‘Ilaih’ immediately following, means raised to Himself, meaning raised into the heavens.

The disappearance of Jesus from the earth, is as mysterious as his advent (i.e., birth). Excepting the three main years of his ministry, the rest of his life also is unknown. Even the early Christians and the several schools of the Christian faith, sprung later are almost involved in the conflicting doubts and contradictory conjectures, peculiar to each one of them. The cardinal doctrine of the orthodox Christian Church demands belief in the death of Jesus on the Cross, and that he was buried, and on the third day he rose in the body with the wounds intact and walked about, talked to his disciples and ate with them and afterwards taken up bodily into the heavens. Islam refutes this imagination in the words of Verse 4:157 and this Verse saying that God did not allow Jesus to be killed nor even to be put on the cross but raised him to Himself.

The fact about the event as given in (M.S.) is that when Jesus knew of the Jewish plan to arrest and put him to death, he went and took shelter in a vacant house. One of his disciples who knew the hiding place of Jesus, was bribed with thirty pieces of silver and he took the soldiers of the Jews to the house. In the meanwhile, God had raised Jesus up into the heavens and when the traitor, (i.e., the disciple of Jesus) entered the house and searched for him, he found none therein. God made the treacherous disciple of Jesus, to resemble Jesus and when he came out of the house to report to the soldiers that Jesus was not to be found in the house, the soldiers took him by his resemblance to be Jesus himself. However much the man shouted and cried saying that he was not Jesus, the soldiers crucified him. It was the treacherous one of the disciples of Jesus that was actually crucified and not the real Jesus. All the post-crucifixion stories are the elements of the Christian belief not recognised by Islam.

From the earliest times, the translators of the Holy Qur’an have been taking the words: ‘Nay, God raised him to Himself’ in the real sense of the expression. It has been the consistent policy of the said commentator to take the plain or the ordinary or the usual meaning of the words when it serves his purpose, even though the words may constitute a figurative expression, and he avoids such a course and resorts to remote interpretable possibilities when it is needed to draw a twisted inference, though it may be against the common usage. For instance, in Verse 2:60 under note No. 96, the said commentator’s choice of a remote possible interpretation of the clear words, is cited below: He himself says that ordinarily translated it is something else, but he has adopted a different significance. It is all to deny the miracle wrought by Moses.

“Izrib be-asakal Hajr’ is ordinarily translated as meaning strike the rock with thy staff or rod, but I have adopted a different significance while another possible significance is: Strike a way into the mountains with your community.” (M.A.)

When God the Omnipotent can evolve out of a drop of a dirty liquid, emitted from the male into the womb of the female, within nine months’ limited time, a beautiful human issue, to work wonders on earth; when Almighty Lord can bring anon-existent into existence, and we believe that we will once again be raised from this very dust after our having been reduced to it, where is the difficulty in believing the Providential or the Miraculous rescue of Jesus from the clutches of his enemies, unless one does not intentionally want to think aright as he should ordinarily do.

Another more popular version about the one who was made to resemble Jesus, is that when Jesus was with seventeen of his disciples, the Jews approached him with the intention to kill him. God transformed every one of the seventeen disciples to resemble Jesus. All looked like Jesus. None could make out which one of them was the real Jesus. The Jews were perplexed and struck with wonder. At last, the captain addressed the people resembling Jesus saying if they do not come out with the truth as who is the Jesus real, they will kill them all together. Then Jesus asked his disciples as to who among them would give his life in his (Jesus’s place). One of the disciples named Sirkhasan readily offered himself as the Jesus real and he was caught and crucified. (M.S.). All the stories about the restlessness of the one crucified (in the place of Jesus) quoted by (Math. 27/46) suit only a non- apostolic personality, and none can have any objection to the belief that Sirkhasan who resembled Jesus somehow escaped death, and escaped also from the clutches of the Jews and migrated to any distant place in Kashmir or farther away.

Otherwise, it does not sound in the least reasonable that an Apostle of God like Jesus, to have dreaded death so very much, to lament so miserably and to implore for the passing away of the cup of death, and to utter infidelity by believing God to have forsaken him. Besides the one escaping the gallows with deep wounds in his hands and legs with which he had swooned to appear to be dead, to immediately be able to successfully disguise like a gardener and neither the master of the garden nor even any one of the other gardeners recognizing the unknown entrant into their ranks even till forty long days together.

After all, an Apostle of God like Jesus, to have escaped so stealthily without the Divine command just to save his own life, leaving his station of his apostolic mission is unimaginable. The only reasonable, i.e., the correct belief could be that God willed that as a punishment to the Jewish people, the Divine guidance of the Holy Apostle to terminate and the Apostle (Jesus) was miraculously taken up to put the enemies into a dilemma, the true disciples of Jesus were there to play their role faithfully thereafter.

Verse 159

Every one of the followers of the various scriptures will ultimately recognise Jesus when he descends from Heaven when the last Holy Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi would have appeared. Jesus will live for forty years following Islam and the Islamic law and offer prayers led by the Last Holy Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi he would suffer death, and the Muslims will conduct the funeral congregational prayers.

It would be an age of perfect peace and security of life and justice will have its full play in the whole world. Islam will be the only one religion followed in the whole world (M.S.) (F.A.) (U.B.)

It is a very great prophecy that the Holy Qur’an declares. The world is gradually marching towards the fulfilment of the great announcement. The prohibition, the no-caste system, the opening of the places of worship to all, without any caste distinction, the widow marriage, the anti-dowry agitation, the Unitarian belief about God, the respect to all faiths and regard to religious leaders, the proposal for one World Government and many other similar movements for the benefit and uplift of the human race as a whole-are all definite steps towards the Islamic order.

Re-appearance of Jesus shall be as the holy Imams of the Ahl Al-Bayt have declared. Whoever of the people of the Book will then be, will believe in Jesus as well as the Holy Imam, the representative of the Holy Prophet, i.e., all will embrace Islam and whatever it has asserted. About the important matters of controversy among them, the truth will be made manifest to every one of the disputants before his death and he will believe in it and the belief then earned will not be of any avail to the disputant for his salvation. This conforms to the correct belief about Jesus as much as it implies to the doubt about the ‘Risalat’ (apostleship) of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and the ‘Imamat’ of Ali Ibn Abi Talib. To this fact refers Ali’s statement:

‘Ya Hara Hamad an! Man yamut yaram Min Momimn au Munafiqin Qobola’

O’ Har of Hamadan! whoever dieth seeth me present, Be he a believer sincere or a hypocrite.

The seeing of Ali stands for witnessing the truth as a whole. The personal noun referring to one who dieth or to Jesus or to both but the context supports the reference being to the believers, for Jesus will be a witness over all the people of the Book, not only those who remain till his reappearance. On the other hand, there is an authentic tradition of the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt supporting the latter, i.e., the reference being to the death of Jesus.

Taking both the versions into consideration the pronoun may be taken as the two-folded reference to both. (A.P.)

Verse 160

The Jews corrupted the scripture ‘Torah’ given to them. They opposed Jesus and plotted to kill him, and when the Holy Prophet appeared with his Islamic mission, they misled people and hindered their accepting Islam saying that ‘Muhammad’ was not the prophet promised in the ancient’ scriptures. Although they knew for certain through the prophecies in the ‘Torah’ in their own hands, that the Holy Prophet was the person who possessed all the qualities identifying him clearly as the Last of the Apostles of God, promised in the ancient scriptures.

Verse 161

This Verse speaks how much, the charging of interest is abhorred in Islam.

‘Rasikhoona fil ilm’, i.e., the Firm in knowledge. The word ‘ilm’, i.e., knowledge used in this Verse and in 3:7; 29:49; 3:18; 58:11, is an indefinite term meaning knowledge as a whole of everything, the logical inference will be those who know everything about everything. Such ones can be the apostles of God or such divines as the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt whose knowledge was not acquired but gifted by God. About Amir Al-Mu’minin Ali Ibn Abi Talib, said the Holy Prophet ‘Ana Madinatul-ilmi wa Aliyyun Babuha’ – ‘I am the City of knowledge and Ali is its Gate.’ This announcement of the Holy Prophet is universally acknowledged by one and all in Islam.

The wonder is that like the Holy Prophet, Ali, (the first Holy Imam), the Holy Lady Fatimah, (the Lady of Light), and the Imams of the House of the Holy Prophet, none of them had any schooling or any tutoring from any mortal and yet each one was the fountainhead of knowledge and was the supreme, unchallengeable authority on any branch of learning and knowledge. By the term ‘Rasikhoona fil-ilm’ the reference would naturally be in the first place to those individuals who can satisfy the meaning of the term in its fulness and then to the rest according to the degree of their respective attainment.

Refer to Verse 29:49-The Holy Qur’an is stated to be in the chests (i.e., the hearts) of those who have been given knowledge, i.e., those whose knowledge is not what they acquired by themselves but that which has been gifted to them by God.

Verse 162

The grammatical case ‘Wal Moqimeen’ is as that of ‘Ar Rasikhoon’ and ‘wal Motoona Zakaat’ and ‘wal Mo’mimoon’, i.e., the nominative case, but the wording of ‘wal Moqimeen’ is possessive and objective. For the justification of the recitation and of the similar one in 2:177 and in several places elsewhere, the commentators have given their opinions, the best and the most appropriate of them all, is that in certain circumstances by giving the form of the possessive and objective case to the verb and the nominative case vice versa, it will receive a distinction for the sake of emphasis.

The Sunni tradition related of Aysha that she said: ‘‘This is one of the mistakes committed by the scribes who copied down Qur’an under the supervision of the committee appointed by Uthman, is discarded as fabricated by some anti-Islamic hand otherwise the question arises why did not Ayesha and the other of the companions who used to object to the mistakes of the government in matters of less importance, object to it. (A.P.)

- 1. Some may argue about the importance of the ‘Sabath’ while days are God’s. The answer is the same as would be given about the importance attached to the ‘Qiblah’ while in all directions is God’s - It is only a Test.

- 2. A very few.

- 3. Refer to Verse 3:54.

- 4. The matter.

- 5. Was made as such by God.

- 6. Refer to Verse 3:54.

- 7. Jesus as asserted in Verse 4:157.

- 8. Taking interest less or more Refer to Verses 2:275; 30:39.

- 9. The Holy Prophet Muhammad- The Holy Qur’an.

- 10. Other heavenly Scriptures like: ‘Zuboor’, Psalm to David, ‘Taurat’- Pentatuech for the Law to Moses ‘Injeel’ - The Evangel to Jesus Etc.

- 11. Refer to Verse 2:177.

- 12. Ar. ‘Zakat’.

- 13. The day of the Final Resurrection and The Final Judgment.

An-Nisa Section 23 - The Qur’an Testified In The Previous Scriptures

- Scriptures Were Revealed To The Previous Apostles,

- The Disbelievers,

- The Truth About The Personality Of Jesus.

An-Nisa Verses 163 – 171

إِنَّا أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ كَمَا أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ نُوحٍ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَالْأَسْبَاطِ وَعِيسَىٰ وَأَيُّوبَ وَيُونُسَ وَهَارُونَ وَسُلَيْمَانَ وَآتَيْنَا دَاوُودَ زَبُورًا

“Verily, We have revealed unto thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) as We did reveal unto Noah and the Apostles after him; We did reveal unto Abraham, and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Tribes, and Jesus and Job and Jonah, and Aaron, and Solomon, and gave We to David the Psalms 1 .” (4:163)

وَرُسُلًا قَدْ قَصَصْنَاهُمْ عَلَيْكَ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَرُسُلًا لَمْ نَقْصُصْهُمْ عَلَيْكَ وَكَلَّمَ اللَّهُ مُوسَىٰ تَكْلِيمًا

“And apostles We have (already) mentioned unto thee before and Apostles We mentioned not unto thee; and God spake unto Moses, directly discoursing.” (4:164)

رُسُلًا مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنْذِرِينَ لِئَلَّا يَكُونَ لِلنَّاسِ عَلَى اللَّهِ حُجَّةٌ بَعْدَ الرُّسُلِ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًا

“(We sent) apostles as givers of glad tidings and warners, that there may not remain any argument 2 for people against God, after (the coming of) these apostles, And God is Mighty, Wise.” (4:165)

لَٰكِنِ اللَّهُ يَشْهَدُ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ إِلَيْكَ أَنْزَلَهُ بِعِلْمِهِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ يَشْهَدُونَ وَكَفَىٰ بِاللَّهِ شَهِيدًا

“But God (Himself) beareth Witness, that what He hath sent down unto thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!), sent He that down, with His knowledge; and the Angels (too) bear witness; and sufficient is God for a Witness 3 .” (4:166)

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَصَدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ قَدْ ضَلُّوا ضَلَالًا بَعِيدًا

“Verily those who disbelieve and obstruct (people) from God’s way, indeed have they strayed off, far away (from the Right Path).” (4:167)

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَظَلَمُوا لَمْ يَكُنِ اللَّهُ لِيَغْفِرَ لَهُمْ وَلَا لِيَهْدِيَهُمْ طَرِيقًا

“Verily, those who disbelieve and act unjustly, it is not for God to pardon them, nor is it that He will guide them to a way.” (4:168)

إِلَّا طَرِيقَ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا وَكَانَ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرًا

“Except 4 the way to Hell, to abide therein for ever! And this, for God is easy.” (4:169)

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ قَدْ جَاءَكُمُ الرَّسُولُ بِالْحَقِّ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ فَآمِنُوا خَيْرًا لَكُمْ وَإِنْ تَكْفُرُوا فَإِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا

“O’ mankind! Verily, the Apostle (Muhammad) hath come unto you with truth from your Lord; Believe (then) (in him), it is good for you; and if ye disbelieve, then, God’s is whatever in the Heavens and the Earth; and God is All-Knowing, All-Wise 5 .” (4:170)

يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَا تَغْلُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ وَلَا تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْحَقَّ إِنَّمَا الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ وَكَلِمَتُهُ أَلْقَاهَا إِلَىٰ مَرْيَمَ وَرُوحٌ مِنْهُ فَآمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَلَا تَقُولُوا ثَلَاثَةٌ انْتَهُوا خَيْرًا لَكُمْ إِنَّمَا اللَّهُ إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ سُبْحَانَهُ أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُ وَلَدٌ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَكَفَىٰ بِاللَّهِ وَكِيلًا

“O’ People of the Book! overstep not in your religion, and say not upon God except the Truth; Verily, Verily, the Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, is only an apostle of God and His Word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit (Proceeding) from Him; Believe therefore in God, and His apostles, and say not (that there are) Three (gods) Desist! It is good for you; Verily, Verily, God! (there is) Only One 6 God 7 ! Far be it from His (Absolute)-Purity that there be for Him a son; His is whatever is in the Heavens and whatever is in the Earth; God is sufficient as a Protector.” (4:171)

Commentary

Verse 163

It is to be noted that how Islam through the Holy Qur’an establishes the truthfulness of one and all the apostles of God along with the Holy Prophet Muhammad. When the Holy Book of the Christian Church seems to hold brief exclusively on behalf of Jesus and decries the other apostles of God like Noah (Gen. 9/19-21). Abraham, David, (II Samuel, 11/2, Lot etc.) The Holy Qur’an establishes their truthfulness as the infallible divines who had the communion with God through revelations.

It is Islam and Islam alone in the world and no other faith that recognises the holiness of all the apostles of God and demands, as a cardinal article of the faith to believe in all the apostles of God who appeared in various times in the various places among various people8.

The order in which the prophets are named in this Verse is ridiculed by Gieger and other critics of Islam. And certainly, it looks very irregular. But a closer reflection on the main features of the lives of these prophets will change the ridicule into an admiration. Just consider:

1. Abraham. Preacher, persecuted by Nimrod.

2. Ishmael. Left helpless on the plains of Arabia.

3. Isaac, Jacob and the tribes. Patriarchs having comparative peace ana security

4. Jesus. Seeking to storm Jerusalem. Eventually escaped death at the hands of the Jews.

5. Job. Suffered great tribulations, losing his all and then regained more than what he had lost.

6. Jonah. The Divine punishment came on his people, but was stayed. Himself was swallowed by a Fish and came out alive.

7. Aaron. Fighting his people to victory.

8. Solomon. Full of Sovereignty.

Now consider the Apostolic career of the Holy Prophet:

1. First, much persecuted by his people, and saved through the succour of his uncle Abu Talib the father of Ali.

2. Then quite helpless after the death of Abu Talib.

3. Gradually got a strong position after the conversion of Hamza and the conversion of the Abyssinian King Najashi. This was sufficient at least to keep the Meccans within bounds, and the Prophet enjoyed a patriarchal position in spite of the enemies.

4. His mission gets successful at Medina, and he clearly shows warlike designs. The Meccans got alarmed and seek to kill him.

5. He escapes but loses everything he had; but gradually gets more than he has lost.

6. Divine punishment hovers on the heads of the Meccans, but is stayed, only troubles of all kinds befall them and meanwhile the Prophet leads his men in fighting like Aaron.

7. At a time there comes a state like Jonah being swallowed by the fish (the battle of Confederates) but he comes out Unscathed without anything of fighting.

8. The end is complete sovereignty over all Arabia.

Moses and David might be expected in this list of names, but since they stand in a special relation to the Holy Prophet, the former singing his praises throughout the Psalms, and the latter being his like, they are spoken of separately at the close of this and the next Verse.

Thus, the Verse means not merely that the Prophet was inspired as those before him-a thing hardly needed a revelation to tell him, but it has a deeper meaning. The character of his apostleship passed through all the phases that had characterised all these Apostles.

Verse 164

This Verse gives room to believe in the truthfulness of the apostles who have not been mentioned in the Holy Qur’an. A Muslim has been enjoined to believe in a Lakh and Twenty-four Thousand apostles of God whereas the names of all the apostles are not given in the Holy Qur’an. By this Verse, one has to believe that the great sages and the divines, the founders of the great Religious Orders in the world which preached only goodness in life and prohibited evil, must have been the apostles of God sent in those places.

It has been clearly declared by the Holy Qur’an that every people or nation in every part of the world had a Warner, i.e., an apostle from God9.

All these apostles had been prophesying the advent in the end, of the Last one of the Apostles of God. Every ancient scripture contained the tidings or the prophecy of the advent of the Holy Prophet vide Acts 3/21-22, John 16/7-14, John 14/26, Deut. 18/15 and 18 and 19.

‘Taklima’, i.e., speaking i.e., through ‘Wahi’, i.e., revelation or through the medium of voice and never any discourse face to face, for God’s taking any shape or form will be His own limiting of His Unlimited Self which is an impossibility.

Refers to the distinctive aspects by which the prophets were classed out from the rest of the mankind, i.e., revelation in its general sense, and then gives two examples of the specific forms of the revelation, i.e., the supplicative form of revelation given to David which corresponds to the state of his mind in his way towards the Absolute.

The discursive form of the revelation given to Moses. This indicates that what is necessary in the apostolic order is revelation which means the knowledge, not through any experimental means (i.e., not by any external senses directly or indirectly and the power of reasoning). This includes the instinct in the animals and the intuition based on the unempherical endowment. This has been applied to the animals (like the bee) who work through instinct and even the human beings in some of the activities. The term ‘Wahi’ has also been used to indicate the revelation received from the satanic agencies Refer to Verses 6:112, 6:122. The apostolic or the prophetic revelation is distinguished from the general sense of the term by its being received from beyond the realm of the dimensional world within the satanic reach, which begins from the angelic spheres up to the immediate communion with the Absolute, in various ways and forms known only to the prophets.

The word ‘Kama’ proves the similarity of the revelation to the Holy Prophet with that of the

other prophets and to mean that he had the experience of all the specific forms and the manners of the state of the revelations which each of the prophets had, besides the loftiest state of ‘Adna’ and ‘Au Adna’, i.e., the Nearest rather the Nearest still, with which he is distinguished from the rest of the other prophets10 as ‘Roomi’ puts it:

Persian:

Naame Ahmad Naame jumla anbiyast

The holy name Ahmad (the name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad) includes all the names of the prophets of God

Chunke sad aamad nawad ham nizde maast.

Since the cent per cent has come, the lesser than that is automatically with us.

I.e., The Holy Prophet Muhammad is the sum of the summit of all apostolic order, the completion of whose mission has not left any room for any argument or the excuse of mankind against God after him with whom the apostolic order concludes. (A.P.)

The talk to Moses was in the real form of speech and not in the manner to mean, face to face, presenting God in any physical form or any limited manifestation. Qur’an does not mention any exact number of the apostles the world had from God. The number given in the religious books indicates only the hugeness. All that the Qur’an asserts here and elsewhere that no human habitation has been left without a heavenly guide and all these apostles have come from a particular lineage already given. (A.P.)

Verse 166

Bearing testimony-the convincing force of the Book-representing God’s knowledge, is so great that a student of the Qur’an will realise, as says Ali Ibn Abi Talib:

‘God has manifested for creation his Book along with all the angelic forces.’ (Nahj al-Balagha). (A.P.)

Verse 171

In this Verse Jesus has been referred to as the Word or the prophecy from God fulfilled or the Spirit of God. Jesus has been called the ‘Ruh’ because he was conceived by his mother the Virgin Mary through the Spirit which was conveyed to her by the Divine Will through the Angel Gabriel. If the virgin birth of Jesus, i.e., having been without a father is to qualify him to be the son of God, what have the Christians to say at the verdict of their own Holy Book. Luke 3/38 which says Adam was the son of God. And God can raise children from stones.

Luke 3/38 “Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.”

The doctrine of the Christian Trinity is plainly refuted. Besides, the doctrine of Trinity is a peculiar logic. How can three different things be three and at the same time be one?

Islam strongly refutes every such multiplicity in Godhead. Islam established the Unity of God in its perfect meaning and does not tolerate anything else besides the Oneness of God. Even the Divine attributes are not to be believed to be separate from the One entity of God. Every divine quality or attribute is God Himself. Denial of the attributes, as other than God, is the perfection of the Unity of God.

As already defined Islam means belief in the Absolute Sovereignty of God, i.e., in the Realms, of Creation as well as Legislation- to believe and accept in every part and particle in the order of creation as well as legislation, the status and the function assigned to it by God’s will and decree. To give any part or particle in either creation or legislation any status or order more than its divine assignment is ‘Ghulo’ or lessening it from God’s given status or order is ‘Taqseer’ which is a shortcoming or the overstepping the limits. For instance, to consider any compulsory legislation of God or the Prophet as optional or abrogated is ‘Taqseer’ and vice versa is ‘Ghulo’. To be absorbed totally in the temporal life neglecting the life hereafter is ‘Taqseer’ and vice versa is ‘Ghulo.’ To give any finite being, the status of the infinite in any respect whatsoever is ‘Ghulo’ and to deny the finite one the status divinely assigned to him is ‘Taqseer.’

The status given by the Christian Church as one of the Three in the Trinity is ‘Ghulo’’ and likewise to consider any finite being as the incarnate or the embodiment of the Absolute, as believed as the Avatars in the Hindu and the Buddhist creeds. This applies to the Nusairies also who are alleged to hold Ali as God. And to deny apostleship to Jesus and his infallibility (as done by the Jews) is ‘Taqseer’.

The same is the case with those who denied Ali Ibn Abi Talib the status God has given to him, as next only to the Holy Prophet, in all the qualifications of excellence and infallibility, Imamat and Wilayat. On the other hand, overstepping about the ordinary ones among the people by considering them as the infallible stars of guidance, is also ‘Ghulo’ (A.P.)

- 1. ‘Zuboor’. Refer to Verses 6:114, 6:124, 53:9.

- 2. Arabic ‘Hujjat’ - Plea, Excuse.

- 3. Refer to Verse 4:175.

- 4. Not that God will guide them to Hell but their reactions to His guidance, will itself take them to it.

- 5. Refer to Verse 5:17.

- 6. The Unity of God in its essence and action as presented by the Qur’an is so absolute that it leaves no room for any conception of having anyone else in the godhead but only Him and everything conceivable is His and is held by Him as His slave ‘Mamlook’. (AP)

- 7. All Prophets including Jesus taught only the Unity of God and none taught Trinity-Trinity is only a later innovation. ‘Hear O’ Israel! The Lord Our God is One Lord’ Deut 6/4 See also: 15, 42/8, 44/6, 8 James 2/9 John 20/19 Tim 2/5 Tim 17 Etc.

- 8. Refer to Verses 4:152; 2:136; 2:285; 4:136; 3:84.

- 9. Refer to Verses 10:47; 16:36; 35:24.

- 10. Refer to Verse 53:9.

An-Nisa Section 24 - Apostleship Of Jesus -Law Of Inheritance

- Jesus Only A Servant Of God And His Apostle,

- The Manifest Proof From God And The Divine Light,

- The Law Of Inheritance Further Detailed.

An-Nisa Verses 172 – 176

لَنْ يَسْتَنْكِفَ الْمَسِيحُ أَنْ يَكُونَ عَبْدًا لِلَّهِ وَلَا الْمَلَائِكَةُ الْمُقَرَّبُونَ وَمَنْ يَسْتَنْكِفْ عَنْ عِبَادَتِهِ وَيَسْتَكْبِرْ فَسَيَحْشُرُهُمْ إِلَيْهِ جَمِيعًا

“Never doth Christ disdain to be a slave unto 1 God, nor do the Angels (who are) near (unto Him); and whosoever disdaineth against His service 2 , and prideth 3 , He will gather them unto Him, all together.” (4:172)

فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَيُوَفِّيهِمْ أُجُورَهُمْ وَيَزِيدُهُمْ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ اسْتَنْكَفُوا وَاسْتَكْبَرُوا فَيُعَذِّبُهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا وَلَا يَجِدُونَ لَهُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَلِيًّا وَلَا نَصِيرًا

“And (then as for) those who believe and do good (deeds), He will pay them fully their, (due) recompense, and increase 4 them of His Grace, and as for those who disdain and are proud 5 , He will chastise them with a painful torment. And they shall find not for themselves besides God, any guardian or helper.” (4:173)

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ بُرْهَانٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَأَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكُمْ نُورًا مُبِينًا

“O’ mankind! Indeed hath come unto you (an undeniable) proof 6 from your Lord, and We have sent down unto you a manifest light 7 .” (4:174)

فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَاعْتَصَمُوا بِهِ فَسَيُدْخِلُهُمْ فِي رَحْمَةٍ مِنْهُ وَفَضْلٍ وَيَهْدِيهِمْ إِلَيْهِ صِرَاطًا مُسْتَقِيمًا

“Then as for those who believe in God and hold fast unto Him, soon will He admit them to Mercy from Him and (His) Grace; and guide them unto Himself (by) the Straight Way 8 .” (4:175)

يَسْتَفْتُونَكَ قُلِ اللَّهُ يُفْتِيكُمْ فِي الْكَلَالَةِ إِنِ امْرُؤٌ هَلَكَ لَيْسَ لَهُ وَلَدٌ وَلَهُ أُخْتٌ فَلَهَا نِصْفُ مَا تَرَكَ وَهُوَ يَرِثُهَا إِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهَا وَلَدٌ فَإِنْ كَانَتَا اثْنَتَيْنِ فَلَهُمَا الثُّلُثَانِ مِمَّا تَرَكَ وَإِنْ كَانُوا إِخْوَةً رِجَالًا وَنِسَاءً فَلِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الْأُنْثَيَيْنِ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَضِلُّوا وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

“They ask thee for a decree (about the Law): Say, (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) God giveth you a decision about ‘Kalala 9 ‘ the side kindred; If a man dieth (and) there be for him no offspring, and for him be a sister, for her shall be half of what he leaveth; and he shall be her 10 heir, if there not be for her a son; and if there be two sisters, then for them (two) shall be two thirds of what he leaveth; and if there be brethren, men and women, then for the male shall be the like of the shares of two females; God maketh it clear for you, lest ye err, and God is the Knower of all things.” (4:176)

Commentary

Verse 174

According to the interpretation of the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt- ‘Burhan’, i.e., the Manifest Proof means the Holy Prophet who appeared with the Holy Qur’an and the ‘Noorun-Mubeena’, i.e., the Clear Light, stands for the guidance through Imamat granted by the Divine Grace, after the conclusion of the apostleship with the Holy Prophet. The serial of the Holy Imams starts with Amir Al-Mu’minin Ali son of Abu Talib and ends with the Twelfth Imam all in the seed of the Holy Prophet through Amir Al-Mu’minin Ali and the Lady of light Fatimah.

‘Burhan’- Proof, and ‘Noor’-Light sent down by God is the same that Qur’an explains in a simile way in Verses 24:35-38 which manifested in the niche in some particular houses allowed by God to be raised above all and authorised His Holy Name to be remembered therein, wherein He is glorified night and day by such people whom no temporal business engages their hearts or distracts them from His remembrance. No light of the guidance of God can ever reach but through the medium of these holy ones. These holy ones cannot but be of those of the lineage chosen by God which excellence reaches its zenith and the summit in the divinely purified ones by God Himself11.. This fact is testified by the sixth Holy Imam Ja’far Ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq:

‘Bena Orefallah’ - Through we (Ahl Al-Bayt) God is known.

‘Bena Obedallah’ - And through us, is God worshipped. (A.P.)

Verse 175

Same promise to those who believe in God and remain attached to Him is given12

Verse 176

The law of inheritance given in this Verse is only a continuation or a supplement to the law’ of inheritance already given in Verse 4:12.

Note how far Islam is careful about the details of the practical life of man in this world. Islam and Islam alone and no other religion has laid down such prescribed and fixed laws to regulate the human life on earth.

The Holy Prophet Muhammad being the Last and the Final Law-giver sent to mankind as a whole for all times, the religion Islam has been revealed with all the necessary details of perfection. In referring to this Law-giver Deut. 18/15 says:

These are the words spoken to Moses:

“I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all I shall command him.”

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.” Deut. 18/18, 19.

About ‘Kalaala’, refer to Verse. 4:12. ‘Kalaala’ means side relations, i.e., brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts, and their issues, and not those of the lineage of the individual’s parents and children.

The difference between ‘Kalaala’ here in this Verse and in Verse 4:12 is that there ‘Kalaala’ is meant the side relations from maternal side only and here means the paternal relatives (both through the father and the mother) and paternal, i.e., only of father’s side and the word ‘Walad’ used here stands for an issue and not for a son only. (A.P.)

- 1. Possessed by God.

- 2. Worship.

- 3. And is arrogant.

- 4. Give more.

- 5. And is arrogant.

- 6. Arabic ‘Burhan’ The Holy Prophet Muhammad.

- 7. Arabic ‘Noor’. The holy Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Refer to Verses 24:35-38.

- 8. The right path.

- 9. The One without his parents or is issues living Refer to Verse 4:12.

- 10. If she dies.

- 11. Refer to Verse 33:33.

- 12. Refer to Verses 2:256; 3:102; 3:110.

Al-Ma’idah - The Dinner Table

(Revealed at Madina)

120 Verses in 16 Sections

Sections Of Surah Al-Ma’idah

1. General Discipline.

2. Special cleanliness for prayer - Equity enjoined.

3. The covenants with the Jews and the Christians.

4. The Israelites breaking the covenant.

5. Jews warned against their wicked plots.

6. Penal Regulation against offenders.

7. Relation of Qur’an to the previous scriptures.

8. The relations of the Muslims with their opponents - Mockers.

9. The Mockers.

10. The Christian deviation from the Truth.

11. Christian nearness to Islam.

12. Intoxicants and games of chance prohibited.

13. Security of the Ka’ba inviolable.

14. All polytheistic traditions denounced.

15. Covetousness of this worldly life.

16. Teachings of Jesus corrupted after his departure.

Important Topics

1. The use of the flesh of the cattle quadrupeds as food - allowed - (Verse 1)

2. Regard to the ‘Sha’aairullah’ - the signs of God - enjoined - (Verse 2)

3. To help one another only in goodness and not in sin and aggression - (Verse 2)

4. The forbidden animal food - (Verses 3, 4)

5. The completion of the religion Islam and God’s approval of Islam being the religion for mankind - (Verse 3)

Note: This Verse needs to he read along with the Verse 5:67 with the notes given to each of them.

6. The forbidden matrimony - (Verse 5)

7. The denial of the faith (Kufr) renders all the good deeds of the denier as null and void - of no avail to him - (Verse 5)

8. The ordinance about ‘Wozu’ i.e., ablution and its method - (Verse 6)

9. To always remember the favours of God - (Verse, 7)

10. Believers (the Muslims) to depend only upon God and none else - (Verse 11)

11. The covenant taken from the Children of Israel - (Verse 12)

12. Advancing a goodly loan (Qarze Hasana) to God wipes out the sins of the lender - (Verse 12)

13. The curse on those who break the covenant - (Verse 13)

14. The Light and the Manifesting Book from God - (Verse 15)

15. Whomsoever God wills, guides him towards His pleasure, takes him out of the darkness to light and guides him to the right way - (Verse 16)

16. The wrong belief in the godhead of Jesus - (Verses 17, 72, 75)

17. The false claims of the Jews and the Christians that they are the children of God and they are His beloved ones - (Verse 18)

18. The arrogance of the Israelites and the disgust of Moses - (Verses 20-26)

19. Offerings are accepted by God only from the pious - (Verse 27)

20. The method of the burial of the dead, shown through a crow - (Verse 31)

21. The slaying of even a single soul unjustly, equal to the slaying of the human race as a whole and helping even a single soul to live, is enlivening humanity as a whole - (Verse 32)

Note: - Read this Verse with the note on it.

22. To seek a medium or a source of approach to God - (Verse 35)

23. The punishment for theft - (Verse 38)

24. Most people’s profession of the faith, was only verbal-faith not entering their hearts - (Verse 41)

25. The Taurat (the scripture given to Moses) contained guidance and light - (Verse 44)

26. The prescribed retaliation for unprovoked aggression - (Verse 45)

27. Jesus given the (Injeel) the Evangel to judge the matters by it - (Verses 47, 48)

28. Every people in the world were given a law - (Verse 48)

29. Not to befriend the Jews and the Christians - (Verse 51)

30. Those who turn back after believing (in Islam) - (Verse 54)

31. The True guardians of the believers (Muslims) - (Verse 55)

32. Those who worshipped others besides God - turned into apes and swines - (Verse 60)

33. The taunt of the Jews against God - (Verse 64)

34. Enmity against the Jews divinely effected till the Day of Judgement - (Verse 64)

35. Belief in God (Islam) wipes out the past sins - (Verse 65)

36. The command of God to the Holy Prophet Muhammad to convey that which had already been sent down to him (i.e., the Wilayat of Ali Ibn Abi Talib) - (Verse 67) Note: - This Verse needs to he read along with or until reference to Verse 3 along with the notes on them.

37. There is no God but the One - (Verse 73)

38. The Israelites cursed by David and Jesus - (Verse 78)

39. The sincere and the humble ones of the monks of the Christians - (Verses 82-86)

40. Not to forbid good things which God has allowed - (Verse 87)

Note: Compare this to the forbidding of the Muta-e-Nisa, Muta’ Haj and the exclusion of Hayya ala Khairil Amal from Azan (the call for prayer).

41. Accountable are only the deliberate and the solemn oaths and not the vain ones - (Verse 89)

42. Even an approach to all kinds of intoxicants and gambling of all kinds, forbidden - (Verses 90, 91)

43. To obey God and the Holy Prophet - On the apostle is only to convey the Word of God - (Verse 92)

44. A trial to the believers (Muslims) when in the pilgrim garb (Ehram) - (Verse 95)

45. The Holy Ka’ba declared as the Sacred House - (Verse 97)

46. The good and bad ones, not equals - (Verse 100)

47. The customs warranted by God - (Verses 101-103)

48. Unreasonable and blind persistence on the ancestral belief and customs against the invitation to what has been revealed to the Holy Prophet, condemned - (Verse 104)

49. The behest of a dying man and witnessing it by just witnesses - (Verses 106, 108)

50. The reply to God by the apostles in their assembly on the Day of Judgment about the response each one had from his respective people - (Verse 109)

51. The miracles given to Jesus - (Verse 110)

52. The apostles of God being given the knowledge by God Himself - (Verse 110)

53. The disciples of Jesus demanding a table with food for them, from God - (Verses 112-115)

54. Jesus questioned by God about the trinity started in his name and Jesus’ reply to it - (Verses 116-118)

55. A mighty reward awaits the truthful ones - (Verse 119)

56. The kingdom of the heavens and the earth is God’s - (Verse 120)

Note: - The above references to be read along with the notes on each of them.

Al-Ma’idah Section 1 - General Discipline

- Fulfilment Of Covenants, Obligations Relating To Pilgrimage,

- Regulations Regarding Food, Perfection Of The Faith, Islam Chosen To Be The Religion,

- Dealings With The Non-Muslims.

Al-Ma’idah Verses 1 – 5

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَوْفُوا بِالْعُقُودِ أُحِلَّتْ لَكُمْ بَهِيمَةُ الْأَنْعَامِ إِلَّا مَا يُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ غَيْرَ مُحِلِّي الصَّيْدِ وَأَنْتُمْ حُرُمٌ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَحْكُمُ مَا يُرِيدُ

“O’ ye who believe! Fulfil the contracts 1 made (by you); lawful are made for you (the grass eating) quadrupeds except those which are recited unto you, not allowing the game while ye are under (the prescribed) pilgrimage restrictions, Verily, God commandeth whatever He intendeth 2 .” (5:1)

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تُحِلُّوا شَعَائِرَ اللَّهِ وَلَا الشَّهْرَ الْحَرَامَ وَلَا الْهَدْيَ وَلَا الْقَلَائِدَ وَلَا آمِّينَ الْبَيْتَ الْحَرَامَ يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَرِضْوَانًا وَإِذَا حَلَلْتُمْ فَاصْطَادُوا وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ أَنْ صَدُّوكُمْ عَنِ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ أَنْ تَعْتَدُوا وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَىٰ وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ

“O 3 ‘ ye who believe! violate not the (sanctity of) the Monuments 4 of God, nor the sacred month nor the offering nor the symbolic garlands 5 (wearing) nor those repairing 6 to the Sacred House 7 , seeking the Grace from their Lord, and (His) pleasure; and when ye are free from the (prescribed restrictions of the pilgrimage), then (ye may) hunt; and let not malice of a people, because they hindered you from the sacred Mosque, incite you to exceed the limits, and help 8 ye (one another) in righteousness and piety, and help ye not 9 (one another) in sin and aggression and take ye shelter in God (for). Verily, God is severe in punishment 10 .” (5:2)

حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةُ وَالدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ الْخِنْزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ بِهِ وَالْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَالْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَالْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَالنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَا أَكَلَ السَّبُعُ إِلَّا مَا ذَكَّيْتُمْ وَمَا ذُبِحَ عَلَى النُّصُبِ وَأَنْ تَسْتَقْسِمُوا بِالْأَزْلَامِ ذَٰلِكُمْ فِسْقٌ الْيَوْمَ يَئِسَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ دِينِكُمْ فَلَا تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَاخْشَوْنِ الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ فِي مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍ لِإِثْمٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

“Forbidden 11 unto you is the Dead (that which dieth of itself) and blood, and flesh of swine, and what hath been (slaughtered) in the name of any other than that of Allah, and the strangled, and the beaten to death, and the killed by a fall, and the gored to death by a horn, and that which the wild beasts ate, except what ye slaughter (in accordance with the prescribed law) 12 and (also forbidden is to you) what is sacrificed on altar stones (unto idols), and that (which) ye divide by consulting 13 arrows, Al! these is abomination; This day are despaired those who disbelieve, against your (reverting from your) religion, so ye fear them not but fear Me 14 ; This 15 day have I perfected for you, your religion, and have completed My favour on you, and chosen for you ISLAM (to be) the Religion; But whoever is helplessly forced by hunger, not inclining to sin then Verily, God is Oft-Forgiving, All-Merciful. 16 ” (5:3)

يَسْأَلُونَكَ مَاذَا أُحِلَّ لَهُمْ قُلْ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ وَمَا عَلَّمْتُمْ مِنَ الْجَوَارِحِ مُكَلِّبِينَ تُعَلِّمُونَهُنَّ مِمَّا عَلَّمَكُمُ اللَّهُ فَكُلُوا مِمَّا أَمْسَكْنَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَاذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَرِيعُ الْحِسَابِ

“They ask thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) what is made lawful for them (in food) Say: “Lawful have been made for you the good things, and (as to the prey of) what ye have taught from among the hunting beasts the dog and which 17 ye have trained them, ye teach them, even as God hath taught you, then eat ye of what they hold for you, and mention the name of Allah on the prey 18 (while ye leave the beast to catch it), and fear God; Verily, God is swift in reckoning”. (5:4)

الْيَوْمَ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ وَطَعَامُ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ حِلٌّ لَكُمْ وَطَعَامُكُمْ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ إِذَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ مُحْصِنِينَ غَيْرَ مُسَافِحِينَ وَلَا مُتَّخِذِي أَخْدَانٍ وَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِالْإِيمَانِ فَقَدْ حَبِطَ عَمَلُهُ وَهُوَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ

“This day have been made lawful for you (all) good things; and the food 19 of those who have been given the Book hath been made lawful to you, and your 20 food is lawful for them, and the chaste 21 (ones) from the believing women, and the chaste* (ones) from those who have been given the Book before you (are lawful for you) when ye have given them their wage (dower) with chaste intention (of a lawful wedlock) nor fornicating, nor taking them for paramours in secret; and he who denieth 22 faith, indeed, become vain all his deeds, and in the hereafter he shall be of the losers.” (5:5)

Commentary

Verse 1

‘Uqud’ meaning, covenants, contracts, agreements, engagements, promises, leagues, treaties; be that with man or God, or with any of His Apostles, or with each other. This ordinance makes it crystal clear what importance Islam gives to the welfare and a harmonious progress of the individual and the Society which is the foremost and the essential requisite for peace on earth. Islam is nothing but complete and an unconditional submission to the Universal Divine Will through an implicit obedience or a perfect surrender to every word of the Holy Prophet, the identity of whose ideals with the will of the Lord is given in:

وَمَا يَنْطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ

“Nor he (the Holy Prophet) Speaketh out of (his own) inclination.” (53:3)

إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَىٰ

“It is naught but revelation that is revealed.” (53:4)

Thus, the believers have been given a sweeping and a general order unrestricted or conditioned by any proviso:

وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ

“And whatever the Apostle (Muhammad) giveth, hold it fast. And from whatsoever he forbiddeth you, keep ye away and fear ye, God; Verily God is severe in retributing evil.” (59:7).

The force of one and the same kind of command of any Commander to his people will always naturally differ according to the object behind the order and the exigency of the demand for the move. The Ordinance to fulfil the covenants with God and the Holy Prophet about the prescribed food can never reasonably be aligned with the Lord’s will that has to be done under any circumstances. There are certain covenants which constitute the basis, the life and the soul of the faith which are the foremost and essential needs (viz. The belief in the Unity of God, the Apostles, the Last of the Apostles, the Divine Guidance, the Angels, the Scriptures, the Day of Judgment).

Every intelligent reader has to consider what position could have the covenant taken by the Holy Prophet from the believers in the huge historic assembly of the thousands of the devoted Pilgrims on the 8th of Dhu ‘l-Hajja 10 A.H. when he was under the Divine Command received from the Lord:

يَا أَيُّهَا الرَّسُولُ بَلِّغْ مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ وَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ فَمَا بَلَّغْتَ رِسَالَتَهُ

“Convey thou (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad) that which hath already been sent down unto thee, and if thou conveyeth it not, then thou hath not conveyed (executed) the apostleship at all23.” (5:67).

The Holy Prophet had to at once halt and stop the huge caravan and declare to the world that it was his last year of life, it was his last pilgrimage, and he would no more return to Mecca.

At which was revealed the Final Word of the Holy Qur’an, Last Word of God24.

This Verse is applicable to the covenant which marks the perfection and the conclusion of the ministry or the ‘Risalat’ of the Last of the Apostles of God and at the same time inaugurates the Divine guidance through a serial of Twelve Divinely Inspired, Divinely Commissioned Guides, the Holy Imams, but for which the Islam-Original would have met the fate of the creeds of old and the Holy Qur’an today could not have been found intact anywhere in the world. This factor is borne out by the Last Hadith or the declaration of the Holy Prophet.

“Verily I leave behind me the Two very Important things - the Book of God and (my Ahl Al-Bayt)”

According to the version of the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt the pledges referred to in this Verse are those taken by the Holy Prophet at different times from the people about the Imamat, (i.e., the Divine Guidance immediately succeeding the ‘Risalat’, i.e., the Apostleship of Muhammad (B.H.). One of the ‘Uqud’ (i.e., the covenants) and the most important of all the covenants in this respect, is the one about the acknowledgement, of Ali as the first successor to the Holy Prophet.

As regards the prohibition of game during Haj (i.e., the prescribed pilgrimage) it is referred to in Section 13 of this Sura concerning the sanctuary of the Holy Ka’ba under which everything animate, even wild animals, are safe under the general amnesty during the period.

Verse 2

‘Sha’aair’, i.e., places of the performance of the service, or the Signs or the Monuments of God.

‘Hadya’-Qala’id’ - stand for the animals dedicated for the sacrifice. Since the animals, generally the camels which are taken to be sacrificed, were conventionally garlanded, hence they are referred to as the garlanded ones, i.e., the camels of sacrifice.

The latter part of the Verse impresses upon the believers, the importance and the sanctity of the places of worship, i.e., Mosques, the Holy Shrines of the Ahl Al-Bayt, particularly the Holy Ka’ba. Muslims are warned from committing any act of violence against the Holy city Mecca wherein the earliest Muslims had suffered the worst persecution and tortures aimed at their extermination - or to do nothing to cause the least hindrances to the pilgrims from reaching it25.

Verse 3

Prohibiting the eating of the animals slaughtered invoking any name other than Allah’s (God’s) gives a clear idea of the intensity with which polytheism is abhorred and loyalty or devotion to the One and the Only True God is insisted upon by Islam.

‘Illa-ma Zakkaitum’ - is derived from the root ‘Tazkiah’ meaning cleansing - here technically it means allowing the natural heat in the body to pass away, i.e., through the Islamic mode of slaughter.

This part of the Verse (i.e., from Alyaum to Islam Deena) was revealed towards the conclusion of the ministry of the Holy Prophet (n A.H.) at Ghadir Khumm after Verse 5:67 of this Sura. See the note under the Verse 5:67 about the historic event that was celebrated by the Holy Prophet at Ghadir Khumm on his return from Mecca after his last or the Parting Pilgrimage or the ‘Hajjat al-Wida’.’

“The very subject-matter of the Verse shows that it must have been revealed towards the close of the Holy Prophet’s life, and it is held by all authorities that no law-giving Verse was revealed after this. The Holy Prophet died eighty-one or eighty-two days after its revelation.” (R.Z.) (M.A.)

The fact that there is another factor of great importance and vital interest, is voluntarily and helplessly acknowledged by the Ahmadi commentator (M.A.) in his note explaining this Verse which goes a long way to disprove or contradict the Ahmadi claim at the very basis of it.

“This Verse is a clear testimony to the perfection of religion in Islam, no such claim being made by any other book or religion. Hence it was that Muhammad, (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), was the last of the Prophets, because religion being perfected no prophet was needed after him.” (M.A.)

When it is so openly acknowledged that Islam as a religion has been perfected, where does then remain any room for any other reformer? One has only to find out Islam-Original preached and practiced by the Holy Prophet, and not to find a new faith or a creed instead. And it has to be so helplessly acknowledged that the Holy Prophet Muhammad was the Last Prophet of God, where is the room for anyone to be a prophet or an apostle.

One of the four leading authorities of the Sunni School Imam Ahmad Ibn Hmabal, the founder of the Hambali sect, in his famous work ‘The Musnad’ relates of a Jew addressing ‘Umar Ibn Khattab, saying that if there were a similar declaration in the scripture, Pentateuch, the Jewish people as a whole would have made a great festival of “the day”. (BH. Vol. II).

All the leading Sunni authorities are unanimous that this terse was revealed at ‘Ghadir Khumm’ in 18.11.11 A.H. when the Holy Prophet declared Amir Al-Mu’minin Ali Ibn Abi Talib as his immediate successor as the ‘Maula’, ‘Lord’, ‘Master’ or the ‘Amir’, the Governor or Ruler.

This Verse having been revealed immediately following the proclamation of the Imamat of Ali immediately following his apostleship of the Holy Prophet, makes it quite obvious beyond all doubts that Islam needed only the general proclamation of Ali’s succeeding the Holy Prophet, to be completed as a perfect religion. The natural inference from this divine proclamation can he nothing but that without believing in Ali being the immediate successor to the Holy Prophet the faith is not perfect. The Final Word of God meant for humanity on earth for all times, was conveyed through the revelation of the Holy Qur’an to Muhammad, the Last of the Apostles of God.

Facing the orders of the natural incompetency of the people emerging from the lowest depth of idolatry, and passing the life under the swords of the enemies, and bearing cheerfully all the calamities which confronted him, the Holy Prophet presented the ideal Islamic life with perfect examples of the correct practice of the faith and had also given the necessary explanations to the Holy Qur’an, the Final Word of God. And the institution of the Imamat was to secure the. Word of God in its originality and with its correct interpretation, wherever necessary for the proper guidance of humanity to the last day of the life of the world about the correct belief and its faithful practice.

No companion of the Holy Prophet could ever have been vested with this responsibility, for they were all, more or less once corrupt and misled. The post needed some infallible and divinely conditioned ones like the Holy Prophet himself, to have never in their lives gone astray. Besides the holy personality of the Holy Prophet there was only one holy individual who could exclusively claim never to have bowed to any false god or gods, and that was Ali and Ali alone.

It is this unique distinction for which even the common masses of the Muslim world, mention Ali’s name with the suffix ‘Karrumullahu Wajhahu’ meaning ‘He whose face God has made graceful’, i.e., by preserving it against bowing to any false god. As regards Ali’s possessing the divinely inspired knowledge, the Muslim world as a whole knows and unanimously acknowledges that it was only about Ali and none else, that the Holy Prophet said: “O’ Ali! seest thou whatever I see and heareth thou what I do hear - save that there is no apostle to come after me” - “I am the City of knowledge and Ali is its Gate.”

The infidels most naturally have come to despair about the religion, Islam. The devils of the infidels specially the hypocrites were waiting for the Holy’ Prophet Muhammad to depart from the midst of the people, for it was only then it would be easy for them to delude the people and lead them astray. Now that the institution of Imamat has been divinely made to immediately follow the ‘Risalat’, all the premeditated plans were rendered hopeless.

Regarding the date of the revelation of this Chapter there is no clear evidence to the exact dates of its Verses. This is undoubtedly one of the latest chapters revealed. The context of the portion of the 3rd Verse (5:3) beginning from (this day are despaired those who disbelieve to this day have I perfected for you your religion) bears a clear testimony to its being the last Verse of Qur’an revealed, for, if anything, i.e., any part of the Qur’an had remained there, yet to be revealed, there would be no meaning or justification in the revelation of this Verse declaring the perfection of the faith, otherwise any subsequent Verses should not be the part of the faith.

And undoubtedly the context of Verse 5:67 of this chapter proves its revelation to be decidedly preceding this Verse and comparing these two Verses together, it clearly establishes that there must be an inter-relation between these two passages. The wording of Verse 5:67 is in emphatically imperative tone, saying to preach a certain thing, warning otherwise to have not fulfilled the role of apostleship at all. And the concluding clause of Verse 5:67 clearly indicate that in the implementation of the order there was the risk and danger for the Holy Prophet against which the assurance of God’s protection is given therein, as it is given here. The phrase ‘Maa Onzela’ in Verse 5:67 if taken to mean, as done by some commentators, “whatever or all that has been sent unto thee” would have been appropriate if it had been revealed in the start of the apostolic mission and to mean as such at the close of it, when everything had been revealed and conveyed, would be meaningless.

Therefore, irrespective of the sequence of this phrase in this Verse the arrangement of which is based on the considerations other than the order of revelation, it should be read as to follow Verse 5:67. Any statement or tradition contrary to this fact, particularly of Bhukari and Muslim saying that this Verse was revealed at Arafat, should be taken as the outcome of diplomacy and the prejudice against the historic declaration of the Holy Prophet at ‘Ghadir Khumm’ for purely political bias and consideration, especially in view’ of the fact that on the prohibitory matter of this Verse as well as the previous ones and also of the subsequent one had already been revealed and conveyed earlier before the revelation of this phrase and Verse 5:67.

This statement of ours here should not be mistaken to mean any misarrangement of the matter of Qur’an, for the present Qur’anic arrangement, though divine, is based not on chronological but other considerations vide note on ‘Thareef’ in the introduction.

The brief answer to the question as to why this passage has been placed here with the matter above it which is about the prohibitory matter and why this passage should precede Verse 5:67 in arrangement, is given in the preceding Verse:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَحْكُمُ مَا يُرِيدُ

“Verily God Commandeth whatever he intendeth.” (5:1)

The same would be the answer to the question about the intermingling of various subjects in this chapter. The Chapter begins dealing with the obligatory nature of the transactions and covenants and turns immediately to what is lawful and unlawful in food and then jumps to the hunting during pilgrimage. Coming back, it goes again to the various prohibitory meats and again turning to the most important question regarding the security of the faith against the ill-will of the infidels followed by the declaration of the completion of the faith another comes back to the exceptions to the prohibitory orders.

If these diversions and the changes in the topics was due to the misarrangement of the Qur’anic matter in the later period, there would be at least some evidence from the narrators to show the actual position of each part of this Verse and the position of each Verse in this Sura. The absence of any such evidence is a best proof of the divine nature of the arrangements by the Holy Prophet during his very lifetime. (A.P.)

The particle ‘Fa’ connects this clause to the prohibitory clauses, preceding the clause ‘Alyauma akmaltu...’ and made the two clauses of ‘Alyauma. . .’ parenthetical one. But in its ‘Taweeli’, i.e., esoterical significance, it may be connected with the immediately preceding clauses also to mean that Islam in its true and thorough form is that which was declared at ‘Ghadir Khumm’ under Verse 5:67 of this sura. This clause means that if any compulsive or forced circumstances imposed on a true believer, anything otherwise than the individual in the helplessness is excused provided, at heart he is not inclined to the imposed sin, and this is similar to the case of the use of the prohibited meat, in Verse 5:2 which is allowed in the inevitable circumstances. This Verse explains the situation under which ‘Taqiah’, i.e., concealing one’s faith to save his life or life-interest is justified. And this esoteric significance of the clause justifies its location after the two clauses of ‘Alyaum, in this Verse. (A.P.)

Verse 4

A game killed by the beasts or the birds of prey trained to hunt, is allowed provided when the beast or the bird is sent after the game, the name of Allah (God) is invoked.

‘Jawareh’ though meaning any hunting animal, beast or bird but the condition ‘Mimma amsakna’ restricts the animal to be that which is capable of holding the prey for its master, and the birds have no such quality. The adverb ‘Mukallibeen’ restricts the beast to dog only. This is what the Ahl Al-Bayt say, which means that the only prey allowed is what is held by trained hunting dogs (for details see ‘Fiqh’).

According to the Ahl Al-Bayt, God’s name should be mentioned while leaving the dog to catch the prey. (A.P.)

Verse 5

The Muslim Jurists have discussed about the Verse in many necessary details which deserve consideration by the true adherents of the faith 26.

As for the food declared unlawful by Islam, can never become if offered by any follower of the scriptures viz. the Jews or the Christians. Even about things definitely declared as lawful, for instance, the flesh of a fowl will not reasonably’ be lawful if offered by the Christians for when they slaughter a bird they usually strangle or kill it in their own ways prohibited by Islam. Besides they do not at all invoke the name of God upon it.

Moreover, by God the Trinitarian Christians mean something very different from God the Only Real Lord of the Universe, quite irreconcilable with the Islamic conception of God. The God of the Trinitarian Christian is a peculiar composition or mixture of three different beings, i.e., the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. The name of such a mixed god or anything meant by it, can never at all, be considered as that of the Only True God. It is said that the Jews take the name of the Only God for their religion is based on Monotheism.

A thing in a certain condition lawful can be unlawful in another way viz. wine turned into vinegar becomes lawful, but if the wine was originally made or even touched by a polytheist it remains unclean, even if it is subsequently converted into vinegar. Besides the Trinitarian Christians do not scruple about things held as unclean in Islam. Hence even the lawful things cooked by the Christians cannot reliably be lawful for the Muslims, for the Christian ways of cleaning or purification, is quite different from the Islamic ways. Thus, the food prepared by Jews or Christians cannot be lawful for the Muslims.

The reasonability of Islam cannot but be acknowledged even by the enemies by the position it gives to the Christians and the Jews against the infidels for the Christians and the Jews believe in the prophets of God and the sacred scriptures, which were once current, whereas the infidels believe in the false and the fanciful gods and their own conjectures and superstitions.

The concluding words of the Verse ‘Wa man yakfur bil Iman’’ clearly lay down that mere good deeds cannot be of any avail for any one unless the individual satisfies the first and the foremost condition of his correctness and his stability in faith, and any disbelief in the truth makes the disbeliever forfeit all his claims to his own good deeds which automatically become null and void.

This refers to the facilities given to the Muslims regarding their food, feeding, and matrimony. Thus, the words ‘Wal-Mohsanat. . .’ should be taken as relating to i.e., temporary marriage which is free from the burden of the permanent marriage and saves the individual from the evil of adultery. The term ‘Ojoorahunna’ used here is the same as used in 4:24 regarding ‘Muta’. This passage gives the exception to 2:221 and does not abrogate it. (A.P.)

- 1. Covenant, Pacts, Agreements, Promises

- 2. Refer to Verses 2:177; 70:32; 3:92.

- 3. Refer to Verses 2:158, 22:36, 2:191, 5:8.

- 4. Motto, Symbol.

- 5. Token of sanctity.

- 6. This word ‘Aameen’ is not the one recited at the end of the Sura 1 by some people, meaning acceptance or response implored which has been used anywhere in the Qur’an. Thus the use of it in reciting the Sura 1 in prayer has neither any justification nor any sanction. (AP)

- 7. The ‘Ka’ba’.

- 8. Cooperate.

- 9. Cooperate not.

- 10. For the breakers of this law.

- 11. For any kind of personal use. Refer to Verse 2:173; 6:119; 6:121 6:146.

- 12. With the Conditions laid down in the ‘Fiqh’.

- 13. Ar. ‘Azlaam’ Lottery.

- 14. God. Refer to Verse 5:67.

- 15. This part of this Verse was revealed at ‘Ghadir Khumm’ immediately at the declaration of Ali Ibn Abi Talib as the ‘Mawla, Lord, Master, Commander, Governor - in the place of the Holy Prophet under Verse 5:67 of this same chapter. See note to Verse 5:67 also - along with the note to this Verse- in the Commentary.

- 16. Refer to Verse 2:173.

- 17. like the dogs of hunt

- 18. According to the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt one should mention the name of God ‘Allah’ while leaving the dog or the bird of prey to catch the prey (AP)

- 19. As per the sixth Holy Imam Ja’far Ibn Muhammad As Sadiq the word ‘Ta’aam’ is restricted to which is made of grains and not of any meat, for what is slaughtered by them is not allowed in Islam. (AP)

- 20. i.e. feeding the people of the Book by the Muslims.

- 21. Protected

- 22. Those who deny to the Muslims the facilities granted by God.

- 23. See the note on Verses 5:3 and 5:67.

- 24. See notes on Verses 5:3, 5:67.

- 25. For details about ‘Sha’aairallah’, see Verses 2:158 and 22:36.

- 26. Refer to ‘Fiqh.’

Al-Ma’idah Section 2 - Special Cleanliness For Prayer, Equity Enjoined

- Prescribed Cleanliness For Prayer

- Equity And Piety Enjoined

- To Fear God Alone And Not The Enemies

Al-Maida Verses 6 – 11

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ فَاغْسِلُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُوا بِرُءُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ جُنُبًا فَاطَّهَّرُوا وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ مَرْضَىٰ أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاءَ أَحَدٌ مِنْكُمْ مِنَ الْغَائِطِ أَوْ لَامَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا مَاءً فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُوا بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُمْ مِنْهُ مَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ حَرَجٍ وَلَٰكِنْ يُرِيدُ لِيُطَهِّرَكُمْ وَلِيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ

“O’ ye who believe! when ye get ready unto prayers, wash ye your faces and your hands 1 with the elbows, and wipe a part of your heads and a part of your feet to the ankles; and if ye be polluted then ye cleanse yourselves; and if ye be sick or on a journey, or cometh one of you from the privy (after answering a call of nature), or ye have touched the women, then find ye not water, then betake ye lo pure earth 2 and wipe ye a part of your faces and a part of your hands with it; intendeth not God that He layeth on you a difficulty, but intendeth He that He purifieth 3 you so that He may complete His favour on you, that happly ye may be grateful.” (5:6)

وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَمِيثَاقَهُ الَّذِي وَاثَقَكُمْ بِهِ إِذْ قُلْتُمْ سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ

“And remember ye the bounties of God on you, and His covenant He hath bound you with, when ye said “We have heard (Thy Commandment) and we have obeyed (it sincerely)-,” And fear ye God; Verily, God knoweth whatever is (hidden) in your breasts (hearts) 4 .” (5:7)

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ لِلَّهِ شُهَدَاءَ بِالْقِسْطِ وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا اعْدِلُوا هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ

“O’ ye who believe! be always upright for God, bearing witness with justice, and let not hatred of a people incite you not to act equitably; Act ye equitably that is nearer to piety 5 , Fear ye God; Verily God is (fully) Aware of what (all) ye do 6 .” (5:8)

وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَهُمْ مَغْفِرَةٌ وَأَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ

“God hath promised those who believe and do good deeds, (that there is) for them pardon and great recompense.” (5:9)

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَكَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْجَحِيمِ

“And (as far) those who disbelieve and belie Our signs 7 , these are the companions of the Hell-fire.” (5:10)

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ هَمَّ قَوْمٌ أَنْ يَبْسُطُوا إِلَيْكُمْ أَيْدِيَهُمْ فَكَفَّ أَيْدِيَهُمْ عَنْكُمْ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ

“O’ ye who believe! remember ye God’s bounties on you, when a people had determined to stretch forth their hands towards 8 you, but He withheld their hands from you; So fear God; and upon God let the faithful rely.” (5:11)

Commentary

Verse 6

The prescribed cleanliness is laid down in this Verse.

The latter part of the Verse prescribes ‘Tayammum’, i.e., a minor (symbolic) ablution when water is not available or when it cannot be used for fear of its doing any harm. ‘Falam Tajidoo’, i.e., if ye find not - or if it be not available for your use means both the conditions:

“Caliph ‘Umar sought to modify this Verse also. He said he would rather not pray at all rather than do this, even though it be for a month. But here his opinion was not accepted. Ammar reminding him of the Prophet’s direction said, ‘fear God’, though he allowed his telling it to others (Bokhari etc.) (B.H.)

Those who wipe the whole head, do not take into consideration what is implied by the alphabet ‘Ba’ in ‘Baro’oosakum’ and washing the feet instead of wiping them, is to discard God’s Commandment in this passage.

Regarding the ‘Tayammum’, on account of the possessive particle the alphabet ‘Ba’ used here, only a portion of the face and the hands, is to be wiped. In ‘Tayammum’, only the parts which have to be washed in ‘Wozo’ (i.e., Ablution) have only to be wiped, i.e., the face and the hands; and the parts which have to be wiped in ‘Wozo’ (Ablution) i.e., the head and the feet are dropped totally. (A.P.)

To purify - The will and the intention of God to purify and to complete the bounties mentioned here, is legislative, i.e., whoever submits his will to God’s will, will get His blessings but the mil and the intention in 33:33 which is emphatically and exclusively about His own selected individuals, the Ahl Al-Bayt, is creative, which means ‘Be’ and it ‘Is’. Otherwise, the whole emphasis and exclusion used in the Verse 33:33 will be meaningless. (A.P.)

Verse 7

The reference to the covenant here is generally interpreted as to the oath of fidelity taken at ‘Aqabah’ or the swearing of the allegiance at ‘Hudaibiyah.’ But the event must be more recent than the reference made in Verses 48:10; 48:18. But the oath of fidelity taken by the early converts to Islam was only by a few men only to protect the Holy Prophet against the attacks of the Meccans which was fulfilled at Badr. Moreover, the pledge was volunteered by the people themselves of their own goodwill; the covenant referred to here is said to be the bounty of God upon the people. The covenant must naturally be a blessing to the believer not only of the time but all those who may belong to the fold until the Day of Resurrection. It must be something worth mentioning by His blessings to every believer in the truth. It is the covenant about Ali taken by God through His Apostle Muhammad at ‘Ghadir Khumm’ by which the door of divine guidance was declared open at me conclusion of ‘Risalat’ or the apostleship which was undoubtedly the greatest blessing of God to mankind.

The address is to the Muslims and the bounties referred to here are with reference to what is mentioned in the last clause of Verse 5:3 (see note to it), and the covenant with which the Muslims were bound, it the last covenant taken from them at Ghadir Khumm by the Holy Prophet in compliance to the commandment of the Lord in Verse 67 for Ali Ibn Abi Talib.

And ‘when ye said…’ refers to the wording of the response from the audience to the declaration of the ‘Wilayat’ (Lordship) of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, by the Holy Prophet on the 18th of Dhu ‘l-Hajja 10 A.H. at ‘Ghadir Khumm’ which has been recorded by almost all the historians and the traditionists, with all the details about what took place on the spot on that historic day. Only a few of the most prominent of the historians of the Sunni School who have recorded the event in all its details are: -

1. Muhammad Ibn Jareer-e-Tabari - in his Kitabul Vilaya.

2. Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Tabari - in his Kitabul Manaqib Ali Ibn Abi Talib.

3. Maulvi Naliullah Lucknavi - in his Mir’aatul Momineen.

4. Raudhatus Safa.

5. Habibus Siyar.

6. The response of Abu Bakr and ‘Umar Ibn Khattab and particularly of ‘Umar mentioned: by Hafiz Ibn Abi Shaiba d. 235 A H.

7. Ahmad Ibn Hambal d. 241 A.H. - in his Musnad.

8. Hafiz Abul Abbas Shaibani d. 303 A.H.

9. Hafiz Abu Yala e Moosali d. 307 A.H.

10. Hafiz Abu Ja’far Muhammad Ibn Jareer e Tabari d. 310 - in his Tafeeer.

11. Hafiz Ahmad Ibn Oqda e Koofi d. 333 A.H. - in his Kitabul Wilayat. He records the event of Ghadir Khumm on the authority of 300 Sahabees (companions) of the Holy Prophet.

12. Hafiz Abu Abdullah-e-Marzabani-e-Baghdadi d. 385 A.H.

13. Ibn Hajar-e-Macci - in his Sawaaiq.

14. Hafiz Ibn Botta-e-Hambali d. 387 A.H.

15. Hafiz Abu Sayeed-e-Khargooshi d. 407 A.H. - in his Book ‘Sharaful Mustafa.’

16. Qazi Abu Bakar Baqilani d. 403.

17. Hafiz Ahmad Ibn Mardwaih-e-Ispahani d. 416 A.H. - in his commentary.

18. Abu Is’haaq-e-Tha’labi d. 427 A.H. - in his commentary on Qur’an.

19. Hafiz Ibn Sammane Razi d. 445 A.H.

20. Mujeebudden-e-Tabari - in his Riadhun Nadhara.

The Al-Ghadir of Amini gives all the details of the event at Ghadir Khumm on the authority of sixty divines of the Sunni School who for generation after generation have recorded the event in alt its details9.

There is a huge multitude of historians, traditionists and commentators who have reported the proceedings of the historic assembly at Ghadir Khumm, to mention the names of all of them will need pages together.

And the last clause of this Verse refers to the hidden spirit of enmity and revolt which disclosed itself at the eve of the departure of the Holy Prophet and the ‘Saqeefa e bani Sa’ada’ and before his burial, as a poet says: -

Chun Sahaba hobbe dunya dashtand

Mustafa ra bekafan bogzashtand -

Since the Companions (of the Holy Prophet) were maddened with the love of this world, they deserted the Mustafa (the Holy Prophet) (even) unshrouded. (A.P.)

Verse 8

The insistence on being just and impartial without any consideration at all of any love for or enmity against, any group or community is one of the unique characteristics of Islam. Fairness and equity in dealings even with those who hate us and are inimical or hostile to us should never be neglected. This is piety

Verse 11

The attempts of the enemies to kill the Holy Prophet and to wipe the Muslim community out of existence are too many to be recorded here. Commentators generally think that the reference is to the attempt made by ‘Bani Nazir’ to put an end to the life of the Holy Prophet.

The concluding words clearly declare that depending upon God is the quality of a true believer and the true believers depend upon none else but God.

Once when the Holy Prophet was seated alone under a tree a man from the hostile tribe of Ghatfan with an intention to kill the Holy Prophet suddenly appeared with a sword in his hand and asked. ‘O’ Muhammad who would save thee non?’ The Holy Prophet without being disturbed in the least, confidently replied: ‘God.’ The man fell upon his knees and embraced Islam. (M.S., F.A.).

- 1. Including the word Ar. ‘ila’ meaning with as used and meant in Verse 4:2.

- 2. Or dust.

- 3. (To purity) Note: - The will and the intention of God to purify and to complete the bounties is legislative i.e. whoever submit his will to God’s will, will get these blessings but the will and intention in 33:33 is emphatically and exclusively to His own selected individuals, the Ahl Al-Bayt, is creative which mean “Be and it Is”. Otherwise, the whole emphasis and exclusion get meaningless.

- 4. See note to the last clause of Verse 5:3. Refer to Verses 48:10; 48:18.

- 5. This makes obvious the importance of piety.

- 6. Refer to Verses 4:135, 2:190, 5:2, 3:17.

- 7. Reference to disbelief in any apostle or any of the Holy Imams of the Ahl Al-Bayt and the miracles wrought by the holy ones - and in the heavenly Scriptures - as the Word of God.

- 8. Against or to hurt.

- 9. See note to Verse 5:3 and Verse 5:67.

Al-Ma’idah Section 3 - The Covenants With The Jews And The Christians

- The Covenants With The Jews

- The Covenants With The Christians

- The Actual Position Of Jesus

Al-Ma’idah Verses 12 – 19

وَلَقَدْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَاقَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَبَعَثْنَا مِنْهُمُ اثْنَيْ عَشَرَ نَقِيبًا ۖ وَقَالَ اللَّهُ إِنِّي مَعَكُمْ ۖ لَئِنْ أَقَمْتُمُ الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَيْتُمُ الزَّكَاةَ وَآمَنْتُمْ بِرُسُلِي وَعَزَّرْتُمُوهُمْ وَأَقْرَضْتُمُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا لَأُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنْكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ وَلَأُدْخِلَنَّكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ ۚ فَمَنْ كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ مِنْكُمْ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ سَوَاءَ السَّبِيلِ

“And certainly did take God, a covenant from the children of Israel and We raised up from among them Twelve chieftains 1 ; and said God: “Verily, I am with you; if ye keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate and believe in My Apostles and Support 2 them (with reverence) and lend unto God a goodly loan, I will certainly wipe out from you your sins, and I will certainly cause you to enter gardens beneath which rivers flow, but whosoever 3 disbelieveth after this, from among you, he shall certainly have lost the right path.” (5:12)

فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِمْ مِيثَاقَهُمْ لَعَنَّاهُمْ وَجَعَلْنَا قُلُوبَهُمْ قَاسِيَةً يُحَرِّفُونَ الْكَلِمَ عَنْ مَوَاضِعِهِ وَنَسُوا حَظًّا مِمَّا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ وَلَا تَزَالُ تَطَّلِعُ عَلَىٰ خَائِنَةٍ مِنْهُمْ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِنْهُمْ فَاعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَاصْفَحْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

“But for their breaking their covenant; We cursed them and made their hearts hard; they 4 shift the words (of the Scripture) from their places 5 , and have forgotten 6 a part of what they were admonished with, and nor wilt thou cease to be informed of deceit 7 from among them, except (from) a few of them, so forgive them and pass over them; Verily, God loveth the beneficent.” (5:13)

وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّا نَصَارَىٰ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَهُمْ فَنَسُوا حَظًّا مِمَّا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ فَأَغْرَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَاءَ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ وَسَوْفَ يُنَبِّئُهُمُ اللَّهُ بِمَا كَانُوا يَصْنَعُونَ

“And of those (also) who say “Verily, We are Nazerenes 8 “, We did take their covenant, but they have forgotten 9 a portion of what they were admonished with, therefore we stirred up among them enmity and hatred (to last) till the day of Resurrection; And soon will God inform them of what they have been doing.” (5:14)

يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولُنَا يُبَيِّنُ لَكُمْ كَثِيرًا مِمَّا كُنْتُمْ تُخْفُونَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَيَعْفُو عَنْ كَثِيرٍ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ نُورٌ وَكِتَابٌ مُبِينٌ

“O’ People of the Book! Indeed, Our Apostle, (Muhammad) had come unto you, manifesting unto you much of what ye had been concealing of the Book, and passing over much; Indeed hath come unto you from God, Light 10 and a Manifesting 11 Book (Qur’an).” (5:15)

يَهْدِي بِهِ اللَّهُ مَنِ اتَّبَعَ رِضْوَانَهُ سُبُلَ السَّلَامِ وَيُخْرِجُهُمْ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ بِإِذْنِهِ وَيَهْدِيهِمْ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ

“Whereby God guideth him who followeth His pleasure, into the ways of peace and taketh 12 them out from darkness towards the Light by His will and guideth 13 them to the path (that is) straight.” (5:16)

لَقَدْ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ قُلْ فَمَنْ يَمْلِكُ مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئًا إِنْ أَرَادَ أَنْ يُهْلِكَ الْمَسِيحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَأُمَّهُ وَمَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

“Certainly, infidels are they who say; “Verily, God, He is Messiah 14 , son of Mary;” Say (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) “Who could hold anything against God, if He intendeth to destroy the Messiah son of Mary and his mother and (all) that is in the earth together? for unto God belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth and what is between them two; He createth what He willeth; Verily, God over all things hath power 15 .” (5:17)

وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ وَالنَّصَارَىٰ نَحْنُ أَبْنَاءُ اللَّهِ وَأَحِبَّاؤُهُ قُلْ فَلِمَ يُعَذِّبُكُمْ بِذُنُوبِكُمْ بَلْ أَنْتُمْ بَشَرٌ مِمَّنْ خَلَقَ يَغْفِرُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيُعَذِّبُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا وَإِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ

“And the Jews and the Christians say: “We are the sons of God and His beloved ones;” Say (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) “Why then doth He punish you for your sins? Nay, ye are but men of those He hath created; He pardoneth whom He pleaseth, and He punisheth whom He pleaseth; and unto God belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth; and what is between them (too); and unto Him is the ultimate return (of all) 16 .” (5:18)

يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولُنَا يُبَيِّنُ لَكُمْ عَلَىٰ فَتْرَةٍ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ أَنْ تَقُولُوا مَا جَاءَنَا مِنْ بَشِيرٍ وَلَا نَذِيرٍ فَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ بَشِيرٌ وَنَذِيرٌ وَاللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

“O’ People of the Book! Indeed hath come unto you Our Apostle, (Muhammad) explaining unto you after the break in (the series of) Our apostles, lest ye say; “There came not unto us any bearer of glad tidings nor a warner; but now hath come unto you a Bearer of glad tidings and a Warner (Our Apostle Muhammad)’, And Verily, God, over all things, hath power.” (5:19)

Commentary

Verse 12

For the covenant taken from the children of Israel see Deut. 26/17-19. There is the mention of the goodly loan prescribed from a believer to another believer or spending in the way of God. See 2:245. For the twelve chieftains see Numbers 1/1-15 and numbers 13/3-15.

1. “And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt saying:”

2. “Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names every male by their polls;”

3. “From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their fathers.”

4. “And with you there shall be men of every tribe every one head of the house of his fathers.”

5. “And these are the names of the men that shall stand with you: of the tribe of Reuben: Elizur the son of Sed-e-ur.”

6. “Of Simeon; Shelumiel the son of Zarushaddai”

7. “Of Judah; Nahson the son of Ammino dab.”

8. “Of Issachar; Nethanaeel the son of Suar.”

9. “Of Zebulun; Eliab the son of Helen.”

10. “Of the children of Joseph; of Ephraim; Elishama the son of Amnuhud; of Manasseh; Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.”

11. “Of Benjamin; Abidan the son of Gideoni.”

12. “Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.”

13. “Of Asher; Pagiel the son of Oeran.”

14. “Of Gad; Eliasaph the son of Deuel.”

15. “Of Pahtali; Ahira the son of Enan.”

- Num. 1/1-15.

3. And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.

4. And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Sahmua the son of Zaecur.

5. Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.

6. Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

7. Of the tribe of Issaschar, Igal the son of Jeseph.

8. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Num.

9. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.

10. Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.

11. Of the tribe of Joseph, namely of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.

12. Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemali.

13. Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.

14. Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.

15. Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

- Num. 13/3-15.

Note how far goodness has been made incumbent upon a believer that in return for the goodness has been promised the covering of the sins, i.e., the evil deeds. It is quite clear that mere verbal declaration of faith in God is not sufficient at all, unless it is fully translated into action and manifests in personal goodness and good deeds.

This asserts the possibility of man deviating from the right path after having been on it for some time. Thus, everyone should be mindful of his successful end and not be overconfident and be boastful of the start of his career.

Verse 13

The reference is to the breaking of the covenant by the Israelites. The Israelites were covenanted to accept the Holy Prophet who was promised in their sacred scriptures (Deut. 18/15, 18). It is to be noted in this Verse that God has cursed the people for breaking the covenant. The same punishment will naturally await those who break the covenant with the Holy Prophet. The covenant demanded the Israelites to accept and follow’ the Prophet, promised to them like unto Moses. They disregarded the covenant and did not honour and follow the Holy Prophet Muhammad who was the Prophet promised to them.

Similarly, the Muslims were covenanted on the 18th Dhu ‘l-Hajja at Ghadir Khumm to follow the Imamat after the conclusion of the ‘Risalat’ i.e., apostleship. The same punishment will be meted out to the Muslims breaking this covenant they made with the Holy Prophet and not accepting the ‘Imamat’ divinely instituted to immediately follow the ‘Risalat’, i.e., the Apostleship.

There is another factor to be considered that the people are said to have been cursed by God for corrupting the words of their scripture. The same treatment will await for misinterpreting the Holy Qur’an for giving to the people the distorted and corrupted interpretation of its Verses against their original sense and the correct meaning. The punishment for the disruption caused in the correct understanding of the Holy Qur’an will naturally be meted out to everyone responsible for the act so definitely condemned by the Holy Qur’an.

The reference here is to the covenant taken from the children of Israel and the breach of it. Its consequence is a preparatory warning to the Muslims regarding the covenant, which was to be taken from them, so that none of them should be over confident of his past achievements, but be mindful of fulfilling the final covenant. (AP)

Verse 14

The covenant with the Christians is implied in the prophecy made about the advent of the Spirit of Truth.

“For Moses truly said unto the father. A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up into you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.” Act 3/22

“And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” Act 3/23

“Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.” Act 3/24

“Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.” Acts 3/25

“But now I go my way to Him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?”

“But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.”

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that t go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if 1 depart, I will send him unto you.”

“And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”

“Of sin, because they believe not on me.”

“Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more.”

“Of judgment, because the prince of the world is judged.”

“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.”

“Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth, is me, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will shew you things to come.” John 16.

In spite of the clear declaration, the Christians interpret the clear Verses in their own fanciful way though none of their arguments stands reasoning for a while.

In John 14/16 Jesus clearly says that the Comforter shall abide for ever. This prophecy of abiding for ever, can be true in none else but the Holy Prophet for his say continues in his direct descendants, the Twelve Imams, about whom he has declared that he and every one of these Twelve holy ones, is one and the same ‘Muhammad.’

‘Awwalona Muhammad’ i.e. the First of us is Muhammad,

‘Ausatona Muhammad.’ the Middle of us is Muhammad,

‘Akhirona Muhammad.’ the Last of us is Muhammad,

‘Kullona Muhammad.’ All of us are Muhammad.

All of them had been the born fountainheads of knowledge though the? had no tutoring by any mortal on earth. They were, all divinely inspired heavenly guides. The Last Muhammad Al-Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam is still alive and will at God’s will continue to live until he appears before the last day of the life of this world.

The prophecy about the hatred and the enmity gaining hold upon the Christian peoples has been fulfilled and has been proved to be true in all ages since the advent of the Christian Church and never more clearly proved than in the present-day wars in Europe. Up till recently the Christians caused to flow the rivers of their own blood in the name of their own religion and in the modern times the religious hostilities of the Christian world has been transformed into political dissensions. This will be to the end of the world. They will have peace only by accepting the Comforter, i.e., the Spirit of Truth and following him, as prophesied to them by Jesus.

Regarding the Jews, Qur’an accuses them in Verse 5:13 of corrupting the scripture and forgetting a portion of what was preached to them but about the Christians in this Verse, they have been accused only of forgetting a portion of the scripture given to them. The reason is that the Jewish scripture was in a written form capable of verbal tamper, but the Evangel given to the Christians through Jesus was only verbal through his sermons liable to be forgotten. There was nothing concrete in the shape of a book added, altered or omitted. (A.P.)

Verse 15

‘Ye hide’ implies both what is suppressed or concealed and also what is distorted or misrepresented. ‘You’ stands for themselves and their forefathers. The reference is to the prophecies about the advent of the Holy Prophet. There were many truths lost by the corruption of the scriptures by the Jews and Christians. Those of permanent value were again revealed in the Holy Qur’an but the others of only a timely value, suiting the particular age, which were not needed for humanity any more were by-passed.

The Light stands for the Holy Prophet who leads mankind unto light out of darkness. The Book is the Holy Qur’an. Nothing can ever be studied without the necessary light. The Holy Qur’an cannot be understood without the Holy Prophet.

The Holy Prophet declared: “That which God created first was my light, I and Ali are of one and the same light.” (M.S.)

Verse 16

‘Iznihi’, i.e., By His will. Not freed or compelled by anything but at His own independent

will. (M.S.).

Shows that both sides of the right path - ‘Ghulo’ (exaggeration or overstepping the limits) ‘Taqseer’ i.e., falling short of the limits - both are abyss of darkness. (A.P.)

Verse 17

This Verse is an open challenge to the belief of the Church established in the name of Christ.

If Jesus was God, could he have resisted if God had willed to destroy Jesus, son of Mary, his mother and all those on earth? The Christian belief in Jesus being God Himself is proved here to be totally hollow. Belief in Jesus as one of three components of a mixed godhead or a composite of an organism, does not at all help Jesus to be an independent being to act as he desired to satisfy the fanciful sentiments of his devotees. If Jesus as a second member of the composite godhead, wishes to do away with the other two members, can he do so or not? If he could do it, why did he remain as one of the three and not become the One and the sole owner of godhead. When he could not do so, he is a finite dependent body at the mercy of the other two components, majority in number and greater in strength, which he could not overcome. Therefore he can never he God the Omnipotent.

Besides, Jesus himself declares that he by himself cannot do anything: John 8/49, 50.

“For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.”

“And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever 1 speak, therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.” John 12/49:5017.

A modern commentator wants to interpret the ‘In which actually means ‘if’ to mean as ‘when’ and the tense of ‘Muzare’ (i.e., aorist) used in the Verse, as past tense to somehow make some room to say that Jesus was destroyed, i.e., suffered death and he is not alive, as it is belief of the Muslims. But the argument fails when the tense is applied to ‘all those on earth’ for all those on earth were never destroyed altogether at any time. Hence the Verse indicates to the fulfilment of the will of the Lord at the end of the world. For the time being, it is a question for the Christian world to answer as to how can reason, logic or commonsense accept the godhead of the one who is raised on the cross to be put to death, while he does not want to die and wants someone else to remove the cup of death from him for he could not himself do it and he laments at his being not heard by God and thus being forsaken?

And he went a little further and fell on his face, and prayed, saying:

“O’ my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will, but as thou will.” (Math. 26/39).

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying ‘Eli, Eli lama Sabachthani? that is to say, ‘My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Math. 27/46).

The absolute Unity of God preached by Jesus is still manifest from a few uncorrupted or less corrupted fragments of the pages of the Gospel. See what is said in Ephesians:

“There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling:

“One Lord, One faith, One baptism,

“One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4/4, 5 and 6)

The exaggeration of the Christians about Jesus is manifold, holding him as son of God, not in a figurative sense but as an actually begotten son (?) emanated from God into the womb of Mary or into the body of Jesus after his birth or after he was baptised and in its figurative sense as an adopted son in preference to all other beings, similar to what the Jews claimed for all the children of Israel or as some Jews claimed for Ozair - or - the deifying him and his mother in particular, and all the saints of the order of the Christian church in general, as the object of their worship and the adoption of their images in the churches18.

Taking Christ as a third person in their trinity in the godhead.

Taking him as the word ‘Loga’ with God.

Identified with God as his soul incarnate.

Considering humanity as a whole as sinners and Jesus as the only singular one, holding him as the sole redeemer of the sins of mankind as a whole.

Assigning a special resurrection to Jesus, he is held to be either a pure spirit appeared in the material form, or the only material being totally transformed into spirit. All these exaggerated aspects of the personality of Jesus referred to here and elsewhere in the Qur’an, are totally rejected by Qur’an asserting his true status as a man born of earthly elements of a virgin mother without a male agent, i.e., a father, connected to the House of Israel and sent as an apostle of God for the guidance of the lost sheep of the House of Israel, sinless and pure as any other apostle of God.

The misconstrued criticism of the Christian church saying that the Holy Trio, is absolutely false and baseless for whenever Qur’an refers to deification of Mary and Jesus, it is with regard to the Christians adopting them as the object of their worship and whenever Qur’an refers to Christ as the Third person in the Trinity, or refutes the Trinity, Mary is not included.

The Qur’an is alive to all kinds of the special significance the Christians attached to the word or term ‘Sonship of Jesus’ and rejects all its respective places and the basis of Qur’anic argument against ail the doctrinal prejudice of the Christians is the Absolute Unity and the unique nature of the Absolute in His essence and attributes and actions and the relation stands firm between Him and the creatures as the Holder and the held, the Master and his slave, the Creator and the created19. In relation to God, be they the highest and the lowest beings all are equal in subservience and the slavish status, to Him, of course differing in the degree of their obedience and submission. The most obedient one the nearest one to Him (A.P.)

Verse 18

The atonement of sins by Christ is of no effect and brings no change in the law of retribution or punishment and the Divine Mercy which is meted out with perfect justice and at the independent will of the laird.

The doctrine of atonement says that Jesus has by his blood purchased the right of atoning the sins of his followers. This doctrine makes bold everyone to do anything which one likes, but just enlist among the believers in Jesus as the son of God, for God having accepted the ransom for the sins of the people in the blood of Jesus, can have no more hold upon the sinners.

Mere common sense is sufficient to suggest as to what an end, such a belief would lead to and whether such a doctrine can ever even for a day, help peace in the least, to be maintained on earth. Whereas Islam says everyone shall have to answer for his own acts and belief, but repentance followed by amendments in conduct, entitles one to the merciful forgiving from God:

فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ

“So he who has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it. (99:7)

وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ

“And he who has done an atom’s weight of evil shall see it.” (99:8)

Verse 19

The people had complained for not having a (Comforter or a Warner and when one was sent in the Holy Prophet Muhammad, they disbelieved in him.

The cessation of the series of the apostles with a lapse of time without any apostle being therein, means the interval in the process of preaching, not any breakage in the process of the institution of the vicegerency of God on earth20. (A.P.)

- 1. Rot. Deut 26/17-19. Refer to Verses 2:40; 7:57; 2:245; 57:18; 73:20; 64:17.

- 2. Ar. ‘Azzur’ To honour or to revere - Here reverence in action

- 3. A warning against breaking The Covenant taken at ‘Ghadir Khumm’ under 5:67.

- 4. Consequently.

- 5. Their original positions.

- 6. Neglected – Abandoned.

- 7. The forgeries.

- 8. Christians - believers in Jesus of Nazareth - Jesus was born in Nazareth (near Jerusalem).

- 9. Neglected – Abandoned.

- 10. Refer to Verse 4:174 Said the Holy Prophet: ‘I and Ali are of one and the same light’ ‘Noor’ referable to both of them.

- 11. Explaining things clearly and in all their details.

- 12. Refer to Verses 2:257; 24:35; 65:11.

- 13. Refer to Verse 1:6.

- 14. Refer note of Verse 4:171.

- 15. Refer to Verses 3:37, 3:44, 5:75, 5:76.

- 16. Refer to Verse 19:92, 19:93, 5:40.

- 17. Refer to Verses 53:2; 53:3.

- 18. See note to Verse 4:171.

- 19. Refer to Verses 19:92; 19:95.

- 20. Refer to Verse 2:30.

Al-Ma’idah Section 4 - The Israelites Breaking The Covenant

- People of Moses commanded to march into die Holy Land

- The people’s refusal to act the punishment

Al-Ma’idah Verses 20 – 26

وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ يَا قَوْمِ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ جَعَلَ فِيكُمْ أَنْبِيَاءَ وَجَعَلَكُمْ مُلُوكًا وَآتَاكُمْ مَا لَمْ يُؤْتِ أَحَدًا مِنَ الْعَالَمِينَ

“And remember when Moses said unto his people: “O’ my people! Remember the bounties of God upon you when He raised prophets among you, and made you kings and gave you what He hath not given to anyone else (among the peoples) in the world 1 .” (5:20)

يَا قَوْمِ ادْخُلُوا الْأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَلَا تَرْتَدُّوا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِكُمْ فَتَنْقَلِبُوا خَاسِرِينَ

“O’ my people! enter ye the Holy Land which God hath assigned for you, and turn not on your backs, for then ye will return (as) losers.” (5:21)

قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنَّ فِيهَا قَوْمًا جَبَّارِينَ وَإِنَّا لَنْ نَدْخُلَهَا حَتَّىٰ يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا فَإِنْ يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا فَإِنَّا دَاخِلُونَ

“Said they: “O’ Moses! Verily, there are in it people of might; and Verily, we will never enter it until they get out from it, and if they get out from it, Certainly, we will enter.” (5:22)

قَالَ رَجُلَانِ مِنَ الَّذِينَ يَخَافُونَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمَا ادْخُلُوا عَلَيْهِمُ الْبَابَ فَإِذَا دَخَلْتُمُوهُ فَإِنَّكُمْ غَالِبُونَ وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَتَوَكَّلُوا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ

“Then two men of those who feared (God), and upon whom both, God hath bestowed His) favour: “Enter ye upon them (suddenly) by the gate (of the city); for (once) ye have entered it, Verily, (ye shall see) ye are victorious, and upon God ye should rely, if ye be (true) believers.” (5:23)

قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنَّا لَنْ نَدْخُلَهَا أَبَدًا مَا دَامُوا فِيهَا فَاذْهَبْ أَنْتَ وَرَبُّكَ فَقَاتِلَا إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ

“Said they: “O’ Moses! Verily, Never shall we enter it at all, while they remain therein, go thou and thy Lord and fight ye two Verily, we shall stay here sitting.” (5:24)

قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي لَا أَمْلِكُ إِلَّا نَفْسِي وَأَخِي فَافْرُقْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ الْقَوْمِ الْفَاسِقِينَ

“Said he (Moses), “O’ My Lord! No hold have I, except on myself and my Brother 2 , so cause (Thou), a separation between us and the people (who are) rebellious.” (5:25)

قَالَ فَإِنَّهَا مُحَرَّمَةٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً يَتِيهُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَلَا تَأْسَ عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْفَاسِقِينَ

“Said He (God), “Forbidden it shall be upon them, the land for forty years; They shall wander (perplexed) in the earth; therefore, grieve not over the people (who are) rebellious.” (5:26)

Commentary

Verse 20

The Israelites had been specially favoured by God. Prophets were raised among them. They were liberated from the bonds of the Egyptian kings. They were made independent rulers. The spiritual dominance was combined in them with political supremacy which was a unique distinction bestowed only upon them and upon no other nation.

The bounties referred to here should be taken as de jure and Spiritual and not de facto and Temporal which the Jews gained for some time before Moses during Joseph’s time and for some time after Moses (A.P.)

Verse 21

The apprehension of the Prophet about his people’s heresy and revolt against Islam, i.e., complete unconditional submission to the will of God evidently was usual with all the Prophets.

The order to enter the Holy Land or to turn from one direction to another direction (Qiblah) or to remain stationed at a certain place in the valley (at Uhud) are the instances of the test of the degree of the people’s submission to the divine command. Qur’an’s referring to such instances of the past, is a warning to the Muslims, asserting the possibility of the similar behaviour on their part. (A.P.)

Verse 22

The following extract is given from Milman’s History of the Jews:

“At length the nation, arrived on the southern frontier of the promised land (Verse 21) Twelve spies, one from each tribe, are sent out to make observations on the fruitfulness of the land, the character of the inhabitants and the strength of their fortifications. Among these the most distinguished are Caleb of the tribe of Judah and Joshua of Ephraim. In one respect their report is most satisfactory: Canaan had undergone vast improvements, since the time when Abraham and Isaac had pastured their flocks in the open and unoccupied plains. But on the other hand, the intelligence, exaggerated by the fears of the rest of the twelve spies, overwhelms the whole people with terror. Their treasures were guarded by fierce and warlike tribes, not likely to abandon their native plains without an obstinate bloody conquest. Their cities were strongly fortified, and above all the first enemies they would have to encounter would be men of colossal stature, the descendants of the gigantic people, celebrated in their early national traditions, people before whom they would be grasshoppers (Verse 22).

The confidence in the Divine protection gave way at once before their sense of physical inferiority, and the total deficiency of moral courage, ‘Back to Egypt’ is the general cry. The brave Joshua and Caleb in vain reprove the general pusillanimity (Verse 23); their own lives are in danger; and in bitter disappointment the great law-giver perceives that a people. . .inured to slavery from their birth, are not the material from which he can construct a bold conquering and independent nation. (Verse 2).

The decisions instantly formed. They are neither in return to Egypt nor assail an easier conquest; but they are condemned to wander for a definite period of forty years, in the barren and dismal regions through which they had marched (Verse 5:26).

(B.H. Vol. II pp. 187 and 188).

“And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying. The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that cateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.” Num. 13/32.

1. “And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.”

2. “And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said upto them, would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!”

3. “And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should he a prey! were it not better for us to return into Egypt?”

4. “And they said one to another. Let us make a captain, and let ns return into Egypt.”

Num. 14/1-4.

Verse 23

There is a mention of this event in the Old Testament:

6. “And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes”

7. “And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying. The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.”

8. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.”

9. “Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them and the LORD is with us; fear them not.”

Num. 14/6-9

Those who feared God, i.e., Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son Jephunneh (M.S.).

The command to depend upon God saying ‘if ye are believers’ denote that dependence upon God, is the quality of only the believers, i.e., those who believe in God depend upon Him.

When out of the multitude of the followers of Moses only two men proved to be faithful to the covenant, there can be no surprise or wonder if the bulk of the Muslims have similarly turned disloyal to the covenant taken from them by the Holy Prophet about the ‘Wilayat’ of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, at Ghadir Khumm. (A.P.)

Verse 24

‘Rabbaka’ stands for Aaron, who was elder to Moses and verb ‘Fa qaatala’, i.e., fight ye two,

denotes that by ‘Rab’ Aaron is meant (M.S.)

Verse 25

Moses mentioning the name of Aaron along with his own established that ‘Rabboka’ in the preceding Verses stands for Aaron.

The insulting and the impertinent disobedience of the people to the order of Moses bears similarity to the Muslims’ desisting from the order of the Holy Prophet to march under the command of Osama and refusing to give paper and ink to the Holy Prophet when it was demanded by him, saying:

‘Innar Rajol leyahjor’ i.e., Certainly the fellow is uttering nonsense. On the eve of the departure of the Holy Prophet from this world, and the reaction of Moses in the next Verse, i.e., Verse 5:25 is similar to the exclamation of the Holy Prophet at the above revolting behaviour of the companions, saying: -

‘Qoomo anni, la tabghit tanaazo’a indi’ i.e., Get ye away from me, it behoves not to quarrel in my presence, Leave me in my present state. (A.P.)

Verse 26

The Old Testament refers to this - (Num. 14/28). The Ahmadi commentator takes the forty

years mentioned in this Verse as the life of the generation. The land was forbidden for forty years. The children of Israel have only to cover a strip of about 15 miles, but God made it to happen so that they walked the whole day and at the end of the day they used to be only at the starting place. In this way they were made to walk for forty years. (M.S., U.B.)

It has been reported on the authority of the ‘Tafseer-e-Abul Futuh’ that when the children of Israel owing to their disobedience to God’s commands, were made to wander for forty years, they told Moses, ‘Thou sayest that we are destined to wander in this desert for forty years, we can no more bear the scorching heat, we have with us neither tents nor there is any shelter for us in this desert.’ God sent a patch of cool cloud over their heads, to move with them wherever they went and to stay over them when they stayed at any place. For the night they complained that they had no light and God caused whichever place they occupied to be lighted. The light stayed from the sunset to the sunrise.

When they said, ‘What shall we eat?’ God caused ‘Manna’ to be showered upon them from heaven and every one of them had his desired share in it. They said they desired to have some animal food; God sent down upon them ‘Saha’ a kind of bird’s flesh. When they complained about thirst, God sent to Moses a stone down from heaven and directed Moses to strike his stave at the stone. Twelve springs gushed out from it and each spring earmarked for each group of them so that they may have water without any’ quarrel among themselves. They asked Moses how’ to clean their dresses which had got dirty, God sent a wind which when touched their clothes cleansed it to their satisfaction. They asked what would they do if their garments become old and get torn. Moses said it is the will of the Lord that your garments shall not become old nor get torn for these forty years. They again said what would they do for the garments of their growing children when they got short for them. Moses said that whenever it happened so he would lengthen the garment as the need be.

After forty years Moses took the children of Israel and fought and captured the Aruka tyrant people of the place called Aruka. The advance party of the army of Moses was under the command of Joshua, son of Nun and the Israelites entered the town from the rear. For a long time, they stayed here and Moses died at the place. This is a reliable version of the event unanimously accepted by the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt (M.S.). The place of the wandering of the Israelites has been reported to be called ‘Teeh’ and Moses and Aaron died in ‘Teeh.’ Aaron died before Moses. Moses lived for one hundred and twenty years. Twenty years in the time of Faridoon and a hundred years in the time of Manochahar, and Joshua was commissioned with the apostleship succeeding Moses. Joshua died in Aruka.

Joshua after assuming the apostleship led the Israelites and carried on the siege of Aruka. The siege continued for six months. It was a Friday when the battle was reaching a triumphant end but the Sun had set, and the victory was yet to be completed, and the night was very dark. Joshua prayed to God saying, ‘O Lord let the Sun return for a while for me in complete the victory over the tyrants.’ The Sun returned with the daylight and Joshua addressing the Sun said, ‘thou art in the Service of God, stay awhile.’ The return of the daylight was witnessed by the whole world around and when Joshua had completed the capture of the tyrants, suddenly the Sun went down, and it was a dark night.

Never did the Sun return but:

(a) for Solomon the successor of David,

(b) for Joshua the successor of Moses-

(c) and for Ali Ibn Abi Talib the successor of the Holy Prophet and once again after the Holy Prophet’s death, at the place called Babal.

This event has been reported by many reliable companions of the Holy Prophet viz. Abu- Darda, Miqdad, Jabir and Abdullah Ibn Abbas. Jovairiah bin Mushir has also reported the event.

Jabir relates saying that once the Holy Prophet standing along with a crowd of his companions and addressing them said:

“O’ people! This Ali son of Abu Talib is the Chief of the Arabs, the Superior-most of my heirs. He is to me as Aaron mas to Moses, save that there is no apostle after me loves him God and his Apostle. No repentance or turning to God is acceptable but along with love for or attachment to him.”

Having said this the Holy Prophet turned to Hisan the famous poet and said: “Get up and speak thou on this factor.” Hisan got up and said:

“No repentance of any repentant is accepted but with the love for Ali son of Abu Talib.”

“He is the Brother of the Apostle of God and his Son-in-law incomparable with any of the companions.”

“O’ people who can be compared to Ai, verily, the Sun returned for him from the West (i.e., after having set).”

This declaration of the Holy Prophet and also the fact of the Sun returning after having set, has been vouched by many great traditionist authorities.

The wandering of the people of Moses was limited only to forty years but the straying of the breakers of the Last Covenant of the Last Apostle of God shall last till the re-appearance of the Last Imam of the House of the Holy Prophet (i.e., of the Ahl Al-Bayt). (A.P.)

- 1. Refer to Verse 4:54.

- 2. Aron.

Al-Ma’idah Section 5 - Jews Warned Against Their Wicked Plots

- Cain’s Aggression

- The Israelites Warned,

- Punishment For Those Who War On The Apostle (Muhammad)

Al-Ma’idah Verses 27 – 34

وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ ابْنَيْ آدَمَ بِالْحَقِّ إِذْ قَرَّبَا قُرْبَانًا فَتُقُبِّلَ مِنْ أَحَدِهِمَا وَلَمْ يُتَقَبَّلْ مِنَ الْآخَرِ قَالَ لَأَقْتُلَنَّكَ قَالَ إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِينَ

“And recite unto them the story of the two sons of Adam 1 with truth, when they both offered an offering, but it was accepted from one of them and was not accepted from the other; Said he 2 , “I shall certainly slay thee 3 ,” (the other one) said, “Verily, Verily, God doth accept (an offering only) from those who guard (themselves against evil)” (5:27)

لَئِنْ بَسَطْتَ إِلَيَّ يَدَكَ لِتَقْتُلَنِي مَا أَنَا بِبَاسِطٍ يَدِيَ إِلَيْكَ لِأَقْتُلَكَ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ

“If thou stretcheth forth thy hand towards me to slay me, I am not one to stretch forth my hand towards thee to slay thee; “Verily, I fear God, the Lord of the worlds 4 .” (5:28)

إِنِّي أُرِيدُ أَنْ تَبُوءَ بِإِثْمِي وَإِثْمِكَ فَتَكُونَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ النَّارِ وَذَٰلِكَ جَزَاءُ الظَّالِمِينَ

“Verily, I intend that thou beareth my sins and also thine (own) sin, and so thou wilt be of the companions of the (Hell) fire, and this is the recompense of the unjust.” (5:29)

فَطَوَّعَتْ لَهُ نَفْسُهُ قَتْلَ أَخِيهِ فَقَتَلَهُ فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ

“So led him his passion 5 to slay his brother and he slew him, and he thus became one of the losers.” (5:30)

فَبَعَثَ اللَّهُ غُرَابًا يَبْحَثُ فِي الْأَرْضِ لِيُرِيَهُ كَيْفَ يُوَارِي سَوْءَةَ أَخِيهِ قَالَ يَا وَيْلَتَىٰ أَعَجَزْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِثْلَ هَٰذَا الْغُرَابِ فَأُوَارِيَ سَوْءَةَ أَخِي فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ النَّادِمِينَ

“Then sent God, a crow digging the earth so that he might show him, how he should cover the unsightly corpse of his brother; (seeing this) Said he 6 , “Woe unto me! Am I unable to be like this crow to cover the unsightly corpse of my brother?” So he became of the repentants.” (5:31)

مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَىٰ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَنَّهُ مَنْ قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَلَقَدْ جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُنَا بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ ثُمَّ إِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فِي الْأَرْضِ لَمُسْرِفُونَ

“For this reason did we prescribe unto the children of Israel that he who slayeth any one (man), without (that being for) murder, or for mischief in the land, (It shall be) as though he hath slain mankind as a whole; and he who saveth it (a human life), shall be as though he hath saved mankind as a whole; and certainly our Apostles came unto them with clear evidences and yet verily, many of them even after that certainly commit excesses in the land.” (5:32)

إِنَّمَا جَزَاءُ الَّذِينَ يُحَارِبُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَسْعَوْنَ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَسَادًا أَنْ يُقَتَّلُوا أَوْ يُصَلَّبُوا أَوْ تُقَطَّعَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَرْجُلُهُمْ مِنْ خِلَافٍ أَوْ يُنْفَوْا مِنَ الْأَرْضِ ذَٰلِكَ لَهُمْ خِزْيٌ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَلَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

“The recompense of those who war against God and His Apostle, and strive in the land, spreading-mischief (therein), is only that they be slain or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off, from the opposite sides, or be banished from the land; This, for them shall be the dis-grace in this world, and for them, in the hereafter, shall be a great torment.” (5:33)

إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تَابُوا مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهِمْ فَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

“Except those who repent 7 before ye gain power over them; Know ye! that God is Oft-Pardoning, Merciful.” (5:34)

Commentary

Verse 27

The reference is to the story of Abel and Cain.

3. And in process of time, it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.

4. And Abel, he also brought of the first lings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering.

5. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain mas very wroth, and his countenance fell.

6. And the LORD said, Cam, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

7. If thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin Heth at the door And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

8. And Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, That Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him.

9. And the LORD said unto Cain. Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, 1 know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?

10. And He said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground.

11. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand:

12. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. (Gen 4/3-12)

In spite of the definite reference to the son of Adam, the Ahmadi commentator gives his own interpretation saying the reference may be to some Jewish plot.

The concluding words of the Verse clearly indicate that sacrifice or any offering to God, is acceptable only from the pious and not from the impious ones.

It happened so that Adam had two sons, Qabil and Habil (i.e., Cain and Abel). Adam had nominated his younger son Abel as his successor, whereas the elder one was Cabel. Gabel disputed with his father about his right as his elder son. Adam suggested them to present their respective offerings and the one whose offering is accepted by God, will be deemed the deserving one. Abel tended the flocks and placed the best one of the herds on the altar and Cain who tilled the land brought some withered ears of com as his offering. A fire from heaven came down and consumed the sheep from Abel and the ears of com offered by Cabel were left untouched, which meant the rejection of the offer. Cain got envious of his brother and killed him.

Adam mourned for his son Abel very much and ultimately was blessed with another son Sheeth who succeeded his father as an apostle of God.

God blessed the seed of Adam so much, it is said that when he died, the children of Adam and the issues of his children numbered to some thousands.

Cain the cursed settled in the east of Eden and became a tire-worshipper. At last when the deluge of Noah took place it is said that all the progeny of Cain perished in it and the progeny of Sheeth continued (F.A.).

(B.H.) draws a logical conclusion saying:

“The murderer has all the sins (if any) of the murdered man borne on himself. Also if he is a righteous man and particularly a sinless prophet, as Abel mas, he bears the sins of those who might have been guided by him or profited by his example whether those living at the time or the lime to come to the end of the world. So also, he bears the sin of cutting of his posterity an amount calculable by God only. And a prophet is representative of all his people - at least we are taught this in the case of Our Holy Prophet - the sins of the people are laid at his door and are then pardoned on his account. This is the magnitude of ‘ismi’ ‘my sin.’

A similar comparison is narrated to have taken place after the revelation of Verse 5:55. Refer to notes on that Verse. (A.P.)

It is only the inner quality of the heart that counts for the acceptance of any offering from man to God and not the outer quantity of the thing offered. Three loaves given in the way of the Lord to the poor, the orphan and captive without expecting any reward or thanks from anyone other than God earned the highest praise from Him. Refer to Verses 76:5-22; and to give away any amount to people with any ungodly motive is condemned severely, refer to Verse 2:264.

Verse 29

According to (M.S.) ‘Ismi’ here, does not mean the sin of Abel but the sin of slaying Abel

committed by Cain. An ‘Ismika’ means the previous sin of Cain on account of which his offering was not accepted by God.

Verse 31

Here the Holy Qur’an corrects the story given in Talmud that it was Adam who was instructed through the conduct of the Raven (F. Fliezer Puke C. 20). Surely Adam who was educated by God Himself through the knowledge of all things, could not have been ignorant of such an elementary thing, known to a bird. It was Cain the son of Adam, in his mental agony after slaying his brother, not knowing what to do with the body of his slain brother, was instructed through the bird.

The repentance of Cain mentioned in this Verse does not relate to his slaying Abel but his self-condemnation for not knowing even that which the bird (raven) knew.

Here the murderer at least followed the example of the crow and buried the body of his brother murdered by him and turned repentant. But the people who professed Islam did not hesitate in raiding the House of the Holy Prophet himself (i.e., the Ahl Al-Bayt) and poisoning, killing, burning and plundering the Holy House and its godly inmates and the faithful devotees of the Holy Family though the crimes were pricking the brutes to the end of their lives yet they did not give up their rebellious tendencies and their practices. On the contrary attempts are continued to this day to make excuses to justify the brutality enacted in the early days of Islam after the Holy Prophet. (A.P.)

Verse 32

This Verse is of some extra-importance and of special value to those who wish to draw guidance from the Holy Qur’an. It gives the gravity of the crime of murder and the extent to which the gravity of crime runs. The gravity of the crime fixed by Islam, i.e., the slaying of even a single human being, being equal to the annihilation of the human race as a whole, is aimed to establish peace on earth. When the slaying of an ordinary soul without any justification for it, is so grave, it can easily’ be imagined what the slaying of an apostle of God or his deputy, i.e., an Imam would mean? It is quite a natural and a logical conclusion that those who follow’ Cain in slaying anyone without any justification for it, or even agreeing to such an act being done, or those who are not opposed to such a conduct on anybody’s part, take upon their head the burden of the crime. Jesus has referred to such a natural phenomenon in (Math. 23/35).

“That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.” Math. 23/35.

The event mentioned in the Old Testament about the blood shed by Cain: (Gen. 4/10) says: -

“And He said, what hast thou done? the Voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground.” (Gen. 4/10).

This clearly signifies the slaying of Abel was equal to cutting of Abel’s posterity.

Slaying of a soul mentioned in this Verse, is well applicable to the slaying of the prophets or their deputies the Holy Imams who being themselves sinless and also the Vicegerents of God on earth. Slaying the one of such divine being, is equal to slaying all men who would have been guided aright and assisting in saving such holy lives, is equal to saving mankind as a whole.

It is for the student of the Qur’anic truth to judge and say of what gravity would be the wholesale slaughter of the Holy Imam and the holy ones conducted at Karbala, in which Husain the Holy Imam, the grandson of the Holy Prophet with the band of seventy-two godly souls was mercilessly butchered.

This will remind any intelligent reader of the Qur’an, of the cold-blooded murder of Maalik Ibn Nowaira by Khalid Ibn Valeed and the ridiculous excuse for the adultery committed by Khalid with the widow of Maalik on the very night of the murder of her husband, and Khalid’s men putting the head of Maalik and the three other persons, to burn under the pots to cook their food, and how all these inhuman and brutal atrocities of the heartless tyrants were excused and their actions were justified by the ruler as ‘Khata-e-Ijtehaadi’, i.e., the mistake in discretion, which opened the door for every despot and tyrant to commit all sorts of atrocities for the establishment of his power and rule with the same excuse. So it is true that allowing such a murder in one case means subjecting humanity as a whole to it. And whoever tries to establish the law to secure the life of a single person means his attempt to secure the life of the human race as a whole, which is one of the objects, the apostles were sent for, but mankind had mostly been transgressors overstepping the limits. (A.P.)

Verse 33

The punishment here is graded to be meted out according to the gravity of the crime.

Those who wage war against God and kill the believers and plunder their belongings are to be killed or crucified. Those who do not plunder but only kill were only to be killed. Those who only plunder without killing are to have their opposite hands and feet cut off. And those who only wage war are to be banished from the land. The main object of Islam is that peace should be maintained with punishment to the offenders, tempered with justice and reasoning.

The reader would naturally get mindful of what punishment should be meted out to those who waged war against God in Karbala, killed the Holy Imam and his seventy-two godly comrades in which was even a baby of six months which was mercilessly butchered, plundered the camp of the Holy Imam, took captives, the bereaved ladies and children of the godly family of the Holy Prophet and put the Holy’ Imam Ali Ibn al-Husain, in his illness, to torturous treatment and inflicting on him untold miseries and sufferings. The wonder is that, yet the tyrants professed to believe in God, and in the Holy Prophet and called themselves Muslims and the one who conducted the whole brutal show of the wholesale slaughter posed himself as a kalif or the successor of the Holy Prophet. The question is if those tyrants who proved themselves worse than the most barbarous heathens rather as brutes in human forms, are to be called Muslims, who else then is to be a Kafir or disbeliever or an infidel.

The waging of war against God means hostility against his peaceful and faithful servants, breaking of His laws and overstepping the limits He prescribed in the doctrines or their practice. This minimum extent of the waging of war against God is to frighten the people or to deprive them of the rights or any attempt detrimental to the cause of Islam or the Muslim interest as a whole or any destructive activity to humanity in general. The degree of punishment is in accordance to the degree of the crime, at the discretion of the Islamic judicial authority. (A.P.)

Verse 34

The mercy of God is always there for those who sincerely repent in time and amend their belief and conduct.

The people disloyal to their scriptures will not be loyal to the Islamic or any other law. (A.P.)

- 1. Cain (Qabil) and Abel (Habil).

- 2. Cain (Qabil).

- 3. Abel (Habil). Refer to Verse 2:264.

- 4. Refer to Verses 76:5-22.

- 5. Soul.

- 6. Cain (Qabil).

- 7. Before the Crime is legally proved and the victim gets into the (grip of the law). Refer to Verse 3:88.

Al-Ma’idah Section 6 - Penal Regulations Against Offenders

- To Seek Means To Approach God,

- To Strive In The Way Of God, Hypocrisy Of The Jews

Al-Ma’idah Verses 35 – 43

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَابْتَغُوا إِلَيْهِ الْوَسِيلَةَ وَجَاهِدُوا فِي سَبِيلِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ

“O’ ye who believe! Fear God and seek ye an approach 1 unto Him, and strive hard in His way, that ye may be successful.” (5:35)

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَوْ أَنَّ لَهُمْ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا وَمِثْلَهُ مَعَهُ لِيَفْتَدُوا بِهِ مِنْ عَذَابِ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ مَا تُقُبِّلَ مِنْهُمْ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

“Verily, those who disbelieve, if they had what is in the earth all together and the like of it with it, so that they ransom with it from the torment of the Day of Resurrection; (it shall) not be accepted from them and for them; there is a painful torment 2 .” (5:36)

يُرِيدُونَ أَنْ يَخْرُجُوا مِنَ النَّارِ وَمَا هُمْ بِخَارِجِينَ مِنْهَا وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُقِيمٌ

“They would desire to get out from the (Hell) fire, but they shall not get out (of it); and for them shall be a torment lasting 3 .” (5:37)

وَالسَّارِقُ وَالسَّارِقَةُ فَاقْطَعُوا أَيْدِيَهُمَا جَزَاءً بِمَا كَسَبَا نَكَالًا مِنَ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ

“As for the man who stealeth and the woman who stealeth, cut ye off their (right) hands; as a recompense for what they (two) have earned; as an exemplary punishment from God; And God is Mighty, Wise.” (5:38)

فَمَنْ تَابَ مِنْ بَعْدِ ظُلْمِهِ وَأَصْلَحَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَتُوبُ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

“And he who turneth (to God, repent) after his iniquity, and reformeth (himself); then, Verily, God turneth unto him (mercifully, pardons him); Verily, God is Oft-Pardoning, Merciful.” (5:39)

أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ يُعَذِّبُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَغْفِرُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

“Dost not thou know that God, to Him belongeth the Dominion of the heavens and the earth; He punisheth whom He pleaseth, and pardoneth whom He pleaseth; And Verily, God over all things hath power.” (5:40)

يَا أَيُّهَا الرَّسُولُ لَا يَحْزُنْكَ الَّذِينَ يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْكُفْرِ مِنَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا آمَنَّا بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَلَمْ تُؤْمِنْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ هَادُوا سَمَّاعُونَ لِلْكَذِبِ سَمَّاعُونَ لِقَوْمٍ آخَرِينَ لَمْ يَأْتُوكَ يُحَرِّفُونَ الْكَلِمَ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَوَاضِعِهِ يَقُولُونَ إِنْ أُوتِيتُمْ هَٰذَا فَخُذُوهُ وَإِنْ لَمْ تُؤْتَوْهُ فَاحْذَرُوا وَمَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ فِتْنَتَهُ فَلَنْ تَمْلِكَ لَهُ مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئًا أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُطَهِّرَ قُلُوبَهُمْ لَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا خِزْيٌ وَلَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

“(O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) Let not those who hasten in infidelity grieve thee, of those who say “We believe” with their mouths and their hearts believe not; and of those who are Judaised (they are) listeners to (the) lie 4 , listeners 5 for other people (who have) not come unto thee; they distort the words from their (original) places (in the law) 6 saying (to the people) “If ye are given this (by Muhammad) take ye, and if ye are not given this, beware! (Be aloof)’’’ and (as for him) whom God desireth to try, thou canst never prevail with God in anything; Those are they whom God willeth 7 not that He purifieth their hearts; for them (shall be) in this world disgrace, and for them in the hereafter (shall be) a great punishment.” (5:41)

سَمَّاعُونَ لِلْكَذِبِ أَكَّالُونَ لِلسُّحْتِ فَإِنْ جَاءُوكَ فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ أَوْ أَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ وَإِنْ تُعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ فَلَنْ يَضُرُّوكَ شَيْئًا وَإِنْ حَكَمْتَ فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِالْقِسْطِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُقْسِطِينَ

“(They are) listeners to (any) lie, devourers of the illicit gain 8 therefore if they come unto thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) (thou art at liberty to) judge between them or turn aside from them; And if thou turneth aside from them, then never shall they harm thee in any way, but if thou judge, judge thou between them with equity; verily God loveth those who deal equitably.” (5:42)

وَكَيْفَ يُحَكِّمُونَكَ وَعِنْدَهُمُ التَّوْرَاةُ فِيهَا حُكْمُ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّوْنَ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ وَمَا أُولَٰئِكَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ

“But how shall they make thee their Judge, while with them is the Torah 9 wherein is (the clear) judgment of God, and yet they turn away (even) after that; and (in fact) these are not believers.” (5:43)

Commentary

Verse 35

‘Wasilah’, i.e., means of approach. To seek the pleasure of God by obeying His commands and abstaining from everything forbidden.

‘Wasilah’ i.e., means of approaching a personality of very high position or status, a king or a Minister or the means to reach a high position or an unapproachable height which otherwise could not be accessible. In the case of reaching God or any position of divine excellence there cannot be any doubt about the means to it, being the Holy Prophet and the Holy’ Imams. If God had willed, He could have guided mankind by inspiring each one individually. But in His infinite wisdom. He had not deemed it desirable. He deputed His emissaries to express His will to His creation, through angels as intermediaries and sometimes directly addressing those chosen by Him. His will was revealed to His apostles and the chief of the apostles being the Holy Prophet Muhammad, the chief ‘Wasilah’ or means to approach Him, can be none but the Holy Prophet and those whom God did commission to be his successors, the Holy Imams. The Holy Prophet had declared:

“The likeness of my Ahl Al-Bayt (the Holy ones of the family) is like the Ark of Noah, whosoever got into it, is saved and whosoever stayed away from it, is drowned and lost.” (Hadith).

Thus the ‘Wasilah’ or the means to reach God, is to faithfully follow the Holy Prophet and the Holy Imams who had always been on the right path for they are the ones purified by God Himself10, who were always guided by the revelation from God and the divinely inspired knowledge, who never in their lives yielded to falsehood - whose lives have always been beacon lights of knowledge and the divine guidance for mankind.

It is not without justification and a purpose that the Holy Prophet seconded his parting caution to his followers saying: -

“I leave behind me Two great things: the Book of God (i.e., the Holy Qur’an) and my progeny, i.e., my Ahl Al-Bayt. If ye keep yourselves attached to These Two, never, never will ye get astray. These Two, i.e., (The Holy Qur’an and the Ahl Al-Bayt) will never be separated from each other until they meet me at the cistern of Kauthar.”

Verse 38

Like adultery, the crime of theft has been severely dealt with by Islam. If adultery deprives people of the purity of conduct and character and spoils the health of the human society, theft carries away the life-interest of the individuals and even of families together and brings a change in the economic life of the people from happiness to misery and destitution. Cutting off of the hands of the thief, might sound to be as heartless and barbarous but it makes the individual amend the criminal attitude to life, and the gravity or the seriousness of the punishment makes the new entrants to the criminal trait, immediately return to conscientious thinking.

If one compares the number of crimes like adultery and theft, committed in the olden days when such offences were treated by such drastic steps, and in the modern days of the modem laws, one will be convinced that such severe laws, could wipe out or at least control, these major crimes effectively. No amount of the kind of the imprisonment in the modern jails with the modern amenities giving the criminals with better living than in their own homes, can ever effectively or quickly reform the criminal attitude of the seasoned delinquents in the society.

A modern commentator as usual gives his own interpretation and draws his own inferences suggesting certain amendments unwarranted by the definite wording of the law. It is quite obvious his intention is to reconcile the Islamic phenomena with the modern principles of life to which Islam is definitely opposed.

Verse 39

The repentance on the part of the criminal, after his being caught, does not exempt him from the prescribed punishment. But if the criminal repents and amends before he gets into the grip of the law a pardon can desirably be expected.

Verse 40

This Verse clearly asserts that the Kingdom Absolute of the Universe as a whole belongs to none but God.

Verse 41

“This and the following Verses up to Verse 5:50 prelate to the disputes of the Jews of Bani Nazir and Bant Quraiza in which the former sought the Prophet to support in their unjust dealings with the latter. The former being the stronger of the two clans and being in alliance of the powerful Medina Chief Abdullah Ibn Obay, had forced the latter (Bani Quraiza) to sign a contract whereby if a man of Bani Nazir tribe killed a man of Bani Quraiza, he would not be killed in ‘Qisas’ but would pay half the blood-wit and would be paraded on a camel with his face towards the tail. On the other hand, if one of the Bani Quraiza, killed anyone of Bani Nazir, he would pay the full blood-wit and also be killed for his act”.

“So, things went on till the Prophet came to Medina, and large numbers of the people having embraced Islam, the power of the Jews was much weakened. Now it happened that a man of Bani Quraiza killed a man of Bani Nazir, and the latter demanding the penalty from the offender tribe. The former protested that it was against the law of Torah, they could have either the murderer or the blood-wit. The quarrel not ending, they suggested that the Prophet may be asked to decide the matter”.

“Whereupon the Bani Nazir approached their ally Abdullah ‘bn Obay requesting him to induce the Prophet to maintain the validity of the contract. He consented, and went with some Jews to hear the conversation, and advised them not to accept the arbitration of the Prophet, in case he does not agree to their contention. It was on this occasion that this Verse was revealed. If you are given this, i.e., if the Prophet accedes to your wishes.” (B.H. Vol. II, p. 194.)

A pair from the Jews of Khaybar were caught in adultery. Since they were wealthy ones, the Jewish priest did not like to enforce the law of Torah which was to stone the pair to death. They sought to know if there was a lighter punishment in Islam. When the case was referred to the Holy Prophet, he also ordered the pair to be stoned to death. The Jews said it is against the law laid down in Torah but the Holy Prophet said that he knew that Torah also prescribed the same punishment. The Jews denied it. At last, when ‘Sooriya’, one of the greatest Jewish scholars, was appointed the third party to witness the Jewish law. When the Holy Prophet asked Sooriya to declare on oath what the law in Torah was about the crime. The Jewish scholar confessed that Torah also lays the same punishment. The adulterous pair was at last stoned to death. (F.A., M.S.)

The words “Among those who say with their mouth, we believe, and their hearts do not believe” disclose the position of some of the people in the faith that they had made a verbal profession of the faith with their mouths and in fact they were not believers at heart. Hence everyone who professed belief in Islam during the time of the Holy Prophet was not also actually a believer by conviction. It was such) hypocrites who immediately as the Holy Prophet departed from this world, turned against the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt and inflicted upon them the worst miseries and usurped their rights and subjected them to all sorts of sufferings.

Verse 43

How can the Jews submit themselves to the judgment of the Holy Prophet when they do not submit themselves to their holy scripture the Torah itself.

- 1. Arabic – ‘Wasilah’.

- 2. Nothing can be of any avail for the disbelievers on the Day of Judgement.

- 3. Ar. ‘Muqeem’ i.e Everlasting.

- 4. Falsehood.

- 5. On behalf of others.

- 6. The Law or the Pentatueeh the Scripture given to Moses.

- 7. The will here is creative and not legislative. Otherwise, the legislative will of God regarding the purification of the hearts of the people is universal including every human being.

- 8. Rotten Bribery.

- 9. The Book of Moses.

- 10. Refer to Verse 33:33.

Al-Ma’idah Section 7 - Relation Of Qur’an To The Previous Scriptures

- Evidence From Torah, The Gospel And Its Evidence

- The Qur’an’s Confirming The Previous Scriptures

- Now The Qur’an To Be Followed

Al-Ma’idah Verses 44 – 50

إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَا التَّوْرَاةَ فِيهَا هُدًى وَنُورٌ يَحْكُمُ بِهَا النَّبِيُّونَ الَّذِينَ أَسْلَمُوا لِلَّذِينَ هَادُوا وَالرَّبَّانِيُّونَ وَالْأَحْبَارُ بِمَا اسْتُحْفِظُوا مِنْ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ وَكَانُوا عَلَيْهِ شُهَدَاءَ فَلَا تَخْشَوُا النَّاسَ وَاخْشَوْنِ وَلَا تَشْتَرُوا بِآيَاتِي ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْكَافِرُونَ

“Verily We sent down the Torah therein was guidance and light; with 1 it judged (Our) apostles who submitted themselves (to Us) for those who had Judaized, and (so used to do) the divines (the Priests of the Jews - the Rabbis), and the Scholars 2 (of divinity of the Jews) In accordance with what they were entrusted with the Book of God and they were witnesses thereof; therefore fear 3 not the people, and fear Me, and barter not away My Signs for a small price; and whoever judgeth not by what God hath sent down, those are they that are the infidels.” (5:44)

وَكَتَبْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ فِيهَا أَنَّ النَّفْسَ بِالنَّفْسِ وَالْعَيْنَ بِالْعَيْنِ وَالْأَنْفَ بِالْأَنْفِ وَالْأُذُنَ بِالْأُذُنِ وَالسِّنَّ بِالسِّنِّ وَالْجُرُوحَ قِصَاصٌ فَمَنْ تَصَدَّقَ بِهِ فَهُوَ كَفَّارَةٌ لَهُ وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ

“And We prescribed for them 4 (therein) that life is for life, and eye for eye, and nose for nose, and ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and for wounds (there shall be a) reprisal; but he who remitteth it (in charity), it shall be an expiation (of his sins) for him; and whoso judgeth not by what God hath sent down, these, then are the unjust.” (5:45)

وَقَفَّيْنَا عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِمْ بِعِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَآتَيْنَاهُ الْإِنْجِيلَ فِيهِ هُدًى وَنُورٌ وَمُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَهُدًى وَمَوْعِظَةً لِلْمُتَّقِينَ

“And We caused to follow in their footsteps, Jesus son of Mary, confirming the law (The Torah) which was before him, and We gave him 5 the Evangel in which was guidance and light and confirmation of what was before it of the Torah, and a guidance and an admonition for those who guard (against evil).” (5:46)

وَلْيَحْكُمْ أَهْلُ الْإِنْجِيلِ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ

“And let the people of the Evangel 6 judge according to what God hath sent down in it; and whoever judgeth not by what God hath sent down; these then are the transgressors 7 .” (5:47)

وَأَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَمُهَيْمِنًا عَلَيْهِ فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ عَمَّا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ لِكُلٍّ جَعَلْنَا مِنْكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْهَاجًا وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَلَٰكِنْ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِي مَا آتَاكُمْ فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِ إِلَى اللَّهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ جَمِيعًا فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ

“And We have sent down unto thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) the Book (the Holy Qur’an) with truth, confirming what is 8 before it of the Book and a guardian 9 over it, therefore judge between them by what God hath sent down, and follow not their (vain) desires, diverging from what hath come unto thee, of the Truth; For every one of you We appointed a law and a (clear) way; And if God had desired, He would have made you (all) a single community but that He might try you in what He hath given (to each of) you Therefore compete ye excelling one another in goodness; Unto God is the return of you all, and then He shall declare unto you that wherein ye differed 10 .” (5:48)

وَأَنِ احْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ وَاحْذَرْهُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنُوكَ عَنْ بَعْضِ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ إِلَيْكَ فَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُصِيبَهُمْ بِبَعْضِ ذُنُوبِهِمْ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنَ النَّاسِ لَفَاسِقُونَ

“And (God commandeth) that thou 11 shouldst judge between them by what God hath sent down, and follow not their vain desires, and be cautious of them, lest they beguile thee from (any) part of what God hath sent unto thee; and if they turn back, then know thou that God desireth to afflict them for some of their sins; and verily, many of the people are transgressors.” (5:49)

أَفَحُكْمَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ يَبْغُونَ وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ مِنَ اللَّهِ حُكْمًا لِقَوْمٍ يُوقِنُونَ

“Is it (then that) the Judgment of (the times of pagan) ignorance they desire? And who (else) can be better than God to judge for a people of assured faith.” (5:50)

Commentary

Verse 44

‘Noor’, i.e., the light mentioned in this Verse means the quality of the guidance which expels the darkness of misguidance or falsehood.

‘Aslamu’ (those who submit to God’s will) i.e., it refers to the apostles raised in the Israelites, who were always attached to truth and the law given in Torah in compliance with God’s commands.

‘Rabbaniyoon’ the Jewish scholars of the religious knowledge - called the ‘Rabbis’, i.e., their learned men.

‘Ahbar’ the Doctor of the Jewish law or the pious men of the Jews.

However corrupt the Jewish scripture might have been, the Israelite apostles always delivered their judgments according to the original law of Moses which they knew. So also did, the priests according to what they had preserved in their memory. This never means that the Mosaic Law was not corrupt, but it says that the priests, the doctors of the law and the pious or the godly ones, remembered the essential things in the book. There is nothing in this Verse to testify the integrity of the scriptures in the hands of the people.

The Verse only says to establish that the doctors of the Jewish literature know that there was a mass of corrupted and unreliable stuff in the name of their scriptures out of which they selected by their veracity and critical knowledge of the Book that which was genuine of the Mosaic Law and used it disposing of the cases that were referred to them. If the books in everybody’s hands were genuine and complete, where was the necessity for the great doctors to secure certain points of it in their memory and be witness thereof? To testify the genuineness of it when it is quoted to them, it implies that though the doctors might remember the other parts and might not, but they were charged to remember certain parts which were basic and important.

‘Istahfizu’ (from ‘hifz’ i.e., to secure, to keep safe, or to memorize).

There is one important factor which deserves special notice by every sincere student of the Qur’anic knowledge that only the Jewish Doctors were charged to secure in their memory something important from their scripture, the Torah, whereas about guarding of the Holy Qur’an as the Book as a whole, it is not that the learned ones among the Muslims that were required to secure the whole of it, in their memory but a challenging protection of the whole of the Book, has been divinely undertaken.

If the responsibility had rested with men, they probably would certainly have failed to discharge it fully as did the Israelites. Last, and the Final Word of God, every word ‘of which was essential for the human race as a whole and which had to stay for all times and in all parts of the world, has been given the security by God Himself.

إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ

“We have sent down the Reminder (the Holy Qur’an) and verily We will for it be the Guardians.” (15:9)

The following parting announcement of the Holy Prophet declares as to the quarters wherein God willed His Final Word to mankind, deposited ‘for safe custody until the end of the world:

“Verily, I leave behind me Two very important things, the Book of God and my issues, my Ahl Al-Bayt, if ye be attached to these two, never, never mill ye get astray. Verily, These Two will never be separated from each other until they meet me at the cistern ‘Kauthar.”

Thus, the Holy Qur’an in its original, has been for ever secured with God’s own purified and the chosen ones, the Ahl Al-Bayt. This declaration of the Holy Prophet announces a very important fact that in every age until the Day of Judgment, there will certainly be someone from the seed of the Holy Prophet, possessing the Holy Qur’an in its original order and with its true interpretation. Such a divinely trusted authority can be none but one of the Holy Imams who are identified with the Holy Prophet in all his personal excellence, as his own Ahl Al-Bayt - the members of the Holy House purified by God Himself.

The concluding words of the Verse pronounce a very great verdict. It says: ‘Waman lam yahkum’ - i.e., whosoever did not judge by what God has revealed, is a disbeliever. This verdict is applicable to the people of the other scriptures viz. the Jews and the Christians, mainly the Jews as the Verse speaks of them, as well as the Muslims with reference to their acting according to the Holy Qur’an. The question arises, what could be said about those among the Muslims who neglect the clear declarations of the Holy Qur’an about the implicit and the unconditional obedience to the verdict of the Holy Prophet, to abide by it in every disputed matter:

فَلَا وَرَبِّكَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ حَتَّىٰ يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَرَجًا مِمَّا قَضَيْتَ وَيُسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا

“But no! By your Lord! They believe not (in reality) until they make thee a judge in that which hath become a matter of dispute among them, and then find not any straitness in their hearts as to what thou hath decided and submit with entire submission!” (4:65)

Did the Muslims ever think of consulting any of the directions issued by the Holy Prophet about the question of succession to him, when they quarrelled about the matter among themselves? Did they ever remember what the Holy Prophet had declared about the personality of Ali as one with him in flesh, blood and spirit, and of the same divine light, superior to everyone as the Gate of the City of knowledge, matchless in courage, valiant and brave to be called the ‘Lion of God,’ the Best Judge, and in relationship to the Holy Prophet as Aaron was to Moses, and as the Maula or the Guardian of the Muslims as the Holy Prophet himself was?

What is the position of those who have done this?

This passage asserts that the Torah was not entrusted to the general public to (impart permit in accordance to their discretion but to the Prophets who had submitted entirely to the will of God. The divines and the pious scholars who used to guard its theory and its practice as the witnesses bearing testimony to the truth. The same is the case with the Qur’an which was not left to the public to impart its knowledge in accordance to their discretion as desired by a group of the companions who said: ‘Hasbona Kitabullah’, i.e., sufficient for us is the book of God, the view still held by some of his adherents but the Holy Prophet joined with Qur’an his Ahl Al-Bayt as the inseparable guardians of its originality, its meanings and its practice and the exponents of its contents.

The Christians and the Jews take passages like this as the testimony of the genuineness of the Old and New Testaments against the general view of the Muslim scholars about the corruption and the distortion of their present scriptures. the criticism against the corruption or the distortion does not discard the possibility of the existence of the genuine version of these scriptures with some one of their creeds but the very existence of the several variant versions of these scriptures itself suggests the corruption and the distortion which can be compared and proved with the actual differing factors by none but the awaited Masoom of the Ahl Al-Bayt.

The existence of the scripture with the Christians and the Jews of the different sects is the best testimony in support of this view held by the Muslims for all the versions cm never be true. But this does not discard the existence of the genuine version with someone somewhere. But to verify the genuine from the corrupted one is required some infallible authority, i.e., the Holy Prophet or his declared infallible successors. Some may say what about the Holy Qur’an, but the fact is that there is no second version of the Holy Book to cause any doubt between the variant versions about the genuineness of either of them. Secondly, besides Qur’an being the Book of guidance, it was revealed as a challenging miracle with testimony to the truth of Islam being for mankind as a whole and for all times, in all places in the world.

Therefore, it is preserved from all corruption and kept within the reach of every one of the mankind as a whole to whom the challenge applies, to remain current till the end of the world. The preservation of the Qur’an in its genuine form within the reach of mankind means the preservation of all the scriptures in their genuine forms through the Qur’an to which the Verse refers. (A.P.)

Verse 45

Ignorant of the scriptures which was in their own hands, the Christians in particular criticise the law of retribution laid down in this Verse. A few Verses of Exodus and Leviticus are quoted below to show whether such a law was not made current by God through their own scriptures:

1. Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

2. If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

3. If he came in by himself he shall go out by himself if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.

4. If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s and he shall go out by himself.

5. And if the servant shall plainly say, 1 love my master, my wife, and my children; I mill not go out free:

6. Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

7. And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, She shall not go out as the men servants do.

8. If she please not her master, who hath bethrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed; to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.

9. And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

10. If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duly of marriage, shall he not diminish.

11. And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.

12. He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.

13. And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into hand then I will appoint thee a place with her, he shall flee.

14. But if man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him mills guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.

15. And he that smiteth his father, or his mother shall he surely put to death.

16. And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

17. And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

18. And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:

19. If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

20. And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.

21. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.

22. If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determined.

23. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life.

24. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

25. Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

26. And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.

27. And if he smite out his man-servant’s tooth, or his maid-servant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

28. If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.

29. But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner shall be put to death.

30. If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.

31. Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.

32. If the ox shall push a man-servant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

33. And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein.

34. The owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall he his.

35. And if one man’s ox hurt another’s, that he die; then they shall kill the live ox, and. divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide.

36. Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in lime past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own.

Exodus 21/1-36.

1. If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

2. If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.

3. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution: if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

4. If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall restore double.

5. If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man’s field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his vineyard, shall he make restitution.

6. If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.

7. If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man’s house; if the thief be found, let him pay double.

8. If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods.

9. For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour.

10. If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it:

11. Then shall an oath of the LORD be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods; and the owner of it shall not make it good.

12. And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof.

13. If it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn.

14. And if a man borrow aught of his neighbour, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good.

15. But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good; if it be an hired thing, it came for his hire.

16. And if a man entice a maid that is not bethrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.

17. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.

18. Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.

19. Whosoever Heth with a beast shall surely be put to death.

20. He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

21. Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppose him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

22. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.

23. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry ;

24. And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

Exodus 22/1-24.

13. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

14. Bring for him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

15. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.

16. And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.

17. And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.

18. And he that killeth beast shall make it good, beast for beast.

19. And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him.

20. Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.

21. And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.

22. Ye shall have one manner of lam, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.

23. And Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring for him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.

Leviticus 24/13-223.

Jesus says: -

“Think not that I have come to destroy the Law (the Mosaic Law, the Torah) or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil.” Math 5/17.

To be faithful in following Jesus, the Christians ought to have followed the Laws given above and it is a matter for the readers to see how the Islamic Law is in the fulfilment of the laws in the ancient scriptures, with further improvement perfecting them.

The Christians proudly refer to the unnatural submission to aggression suggested by the book of their church, which is practicable for none in the world even to the Christians themselves. How many of the Christians turn their other cheek when one of their’s is smitten, and how many of the Christians give away their shirts when their cloak is taken away from them? Where was Bible when Rome, the city of Vatican, where lives the Pope himself, committed unprovoked aggression against Abyssinians, another Christian people, ill-armed and unprotected, adherents of the same Church, and killed the poor souls and destroyed their country? The Christian powers of the world, fighting each other and warring against the other weaker nations of the world, are they not Christian? Under the doctrine of the unnatural and impracticable submission, can any Christian resist theft or murder or can any Christian power have the right to have any police or military force to maintain law and order to protect itself against aggression?

Islam being a practical religion, every law it presents is natural and practical.

Verse 46

Verification, i.e., testifying to the validity of, or corroborating with the basic doctrines of the faith as the Unity of God, justice in practical life, truthfulness of all the apostles of God and the prophecies about the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, Last of the Apostles from God or the Final Warner.

The concluding words of the Verse verify the fact that every heavenly scripture was a guidance only to the pious - as has been said of the Holy Qur’an 2:2.

The conformation is about the original Torah revealed to Moses and not the version of it which is in the hands of the Jews. The same is true of the conformation of the other previous scriptures by Qur’an as in Verse 5:47. (A.P.)

Verse 47

The concluding words reiterate the essential condition for a true believer that he must judge every matter according to the revealed Word of God12.

In the three successive Verses 5:44, 5:45, 5:47, the Qur’an has termed those who do not act in accordance to what God has revealed, as ‘Kafir’ - infidel in Verse 5:44 as ‘Dhalim’ - unjust in Verse 5:45 and as ‘Fasiq’ - transgressor in Verse 5:47.

The variety in terms refers to the various evil aspects of not following the divine order in ruling and judging which amounts to the denial of God’s sovereignty. Some commentators are inclined to resort to the application of these terms to the people of the Book, other than the Muslims but there is no justification for such a restriction as the terms are applicable to any authority - Muslims or non-Muslims - which does not submit to the Absolute sovereignty. (A.P.)

Verse 48

‘Le kullin Ja’alna minkum’ prescribing of a law and a way, i.e., religion or a practical walk of life for everyone, refers to the law and the method of a disciplined life given to different nations, in different parts of the world, in different times to suit their respective needs before the revelation of the universal and the final code, the Holy Qur’an, which fulfils the needs of all people in all ages, in every part of the world. This speaks of the universality of Islam recognizing the apostles of God raised among the various peoples, in different times and places13.

Of all the creation of God, man alone has been gifted with discretionary powers of choosing the best way for him. Man has been given this exclusive distinction to give him the chance of developing the wonderful faculties endowed in him. If man, like any other creature has been subject to any fixed instincts, he could never have been able to manifest the unique qualities which have been endowed in him. In this lies the test of a human soul, whether he resorts to rise high or chooses to go down.

From Verse 5:42 to 5:48 the Muslim jurists infer:

(1) The recognition of Qur’an, the validity of the Old and New Testaments for their respective adherence in the matter of jurisprudence.

(2) If the people of the Book refer their disputes to the Muslim authority for settlement the authority has the option to judge in accordance with the requirements of their Laws or the Islamic Law or refrain from judgment referring them to their own jurists. (A.P.)

Verse 49 & 50

This passage was quoted by the Holy Lady Fatimah in her speech arguing against the ruling authority which deprived her of her legitimate rights of her inheritance from her father the Holy Prophet from one side and rejecting her evidence in support of her other claim to what the Holy Prophet had gifted to her, and against the wrong course which the ruling authority had adopted against her in discarding the legal requirements of her being in the position of the disputed property.

The ruling party had treated her as a plaintiff while she was actually the defendant and it was on the party to produce evidence and she was asked to produce it and when she did it, it was rejected without giving any valid reason for it. (A.P.)

- 1. In accordance.

- 2. The god-fearing pious scholars, the divines of the Jews.

- 3. Warning against deviating from the judging - not in accordance with the divine revelation owing to fear or greed.

- 4. The Jews.

- 5. To Jews.

- 6. The Christians.

- 7. Refer to Verses 10:47; 35:24; 2:213; 13:7.

- 8. The truth in the scriptures revealed prior to the Qur’an.

- 9. Refer to Verse 5:44, This term has been used exclusively for Qur’an and not for any other Scripture - this is the distinctive aspect of the Qur’an.

- 10. Refer to Verse 2:148.

- 11. The Prophet addressed for the people.

- 12. See note on Verse 5:44.

- 13. Refer to Verse 10:47; 13:7, 35:24.

Al-Ma’idah Section 8 - The Relation Of The Muslims With Their Opponents

- To Treat The Jews And The Christians As Enemies

- Only God And His Apostle And Those Who Believe, Establish Prayer And Give The Poor-Rate Are The Guardians Of The Muslims.

Al-Ma’idah Verses 51 – 56

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا الْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَىٰ أَوْلِيَاءَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ وَمَنْ يَتَوَلَّهُمْ مِنْكُمْ فَإِنَّهُ مِنْهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ

“O’ ye who believe! take ye not the Jews and the Christians for friends, they are friends one of the other; and whoever taketh them for friends of you, verily, he is one of them; Verily, God guideth not an unjust people.” (5:51)

فَتَرَى الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ يُسَارِعُونَ فِيهِمْ يَقُولُونَ نَخْشَىٰ أَنْ تُصِيبَنَا دَائِرَةٌ فَعَسَى اللَّهُ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ بِالْفَتْحِ أَوْ أَمْرٍ مِنْ عِنْدِهِ فَيُصْبِحُوا عَلَىٰ مَا أَسَرُّوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ نَادِمِينَ

“So Seest thou 1 those in whose hearts is disease hastening towards them, saying “We fear lest a reverse (of fortune) befall us;” But belike God bringeth about a victory (for thee) or (some) thing 2 from Himself, then will they be regretting for what they hid in their selves 3 .” (5:52)

وَيَقُولُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَهَٰؤُلَاءِ الَّذِينَ أَقْسَمُوا بِاللَّهِ جَهْدَ أَيْمَانِهِمْ إِنَّهُمْ لَمَعَكُمْ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ فَأَصْبَحُوا خَاسِرِينَ

“And then will say those who believe “Are these they who swore by God with the most forcible of their oaths that they were most surely with you?” In vain shall go all their (good) deeds, and they shall be losers.” (5:53)

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَنْ يَرْتَدَّ مِنْكُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِي اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَعِزَّةٍ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلَا يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَةَ لَائِمٍ ذَٰلِكَ فَضْلُ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ

“O’ Ye who believe! whoever of you turneth away from his religion, soon will God bring (forward) a people, them He loveth and they love Him, lowly before the believers, mighty against the infidels, striving hard in God’s way, and they fear not the censure of any censurer; This is the grace of God, He giveth it to whomsoever He desireth, Verily, God is Ample-Giving, All-Knowing 4 .” (5:54)

إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَهُمْ رَاكِعُونَ

“Verily, Verily, your guardian is (none else but) God and His Apostle (Muhammad) and those who believe, those 5 who establish prayer and pay the poor-rate, while they be (even) bowing down (in prayer) 6 .” (5:55)

وَمَنْ يَتَوَلَّ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فَإِنَّ حِزْبَ اللَّهِ هُمُ الْغَالِبُونَ

“Whoever taketh is his guardian, God and His Apostle (Muhammad) and those who believe 7 , verily, (he hath joined) God’s battalion; They are those that shall (always) be triumphant 8 .” (5:56)

Commentary

Verse 51

‘Aulia’ is the plural of ‘Wali’ which may mean much more than a friend. The word is used to mean a guardian also, even a Lord or a Master, the idea of a supporter or a protector being the chief element in the meaning of the word. If used for the meaning of a friend, it means a sincerely interested one whose support and protection can always be depended upon, and from whom there can never be expected the least harm or hurt or the apprehension of deceiving or misleading at any time in any matter whatsoever. Such a quality can never be expected of any one of the camps hostiles to Islam.

When two nations or people are hostile to each other for any cause common to them, any one from one camp being a friend to anyone in the other camp is nothing but treason.

Friendship, when it gets intense, wields very great influence upon the individuals. Each one bound by the bonds of sincere love is liable to do anything for the other. This injunction of Islam prohibiting friendship with an unbeliever or a disbeliever, is to save the believer from the influence of infidelity or ‘Kafr’ and keep him always attached to the truth, far from the evil influence of falsehood.

By loving a godly man, one is sure to copy godliness and thus himself becomes godly and similarly if an individual is bound by friendship to a wicked being, the individual would copy wickedness by the continuous attachment to the evils, and one day himself would be a wicked one.

It is based upon the natural phenomenon that Islam-Original (called Shi’ism) has it prescribed in the articles of the practice of the faith, ‘Twalla’, i.e., love (of the virtuous ones) and ‘Tabarra’ aversion to wicked ones.

(a) Only in hostility and hatred against the Muslims otherwise they were not friends of each other. Friendship here includes appreciation and the imitation of their way of life. In support of this is the celebrated sayings of the Holy Prophet narrated by all his schools of the traditionists - Shias and Sunnis as Hadith Qudsi.

‘La Ta’kolu Ma’akolu Aadayi, wala talbisu malbasa Aadayi wala tajlisu majalisa aadayi fatakono aadayi kama hum aadayi’ Adopt not the ways of my enemies’ eating, dressing and sitting lest ye be counted among my enemies as they are.

‘Man tashabbaha beqaumin fahowa minhum’. i.e., He who assumes the likeness of a people, shall be counted as one of them. (A.P.)

Verse 52

‘Fear against calamities’- refer to the hypocrites.

‘Fatah’, i.e., victory - ‘Amr’, i.e., punishment9. Prophecy of victory for the Muslims and punishment for the enemies.

Verse 53

This Verse contains the prophecy that the plots of the hypocrites against the Holy Prophet and the Muslims will be of no avail to the enemies.

Verse 54

‘God will raise a people who love God and whom God loves’ - This statement can only refer to the people that will be raised after the revelation of this Verse for the Verse speaks of the nature of the people or their personal qualities which none else but those purified by God Himself, i.e., the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt exclusively possess.

Imam Ahmad Ibn Hmabal, one of the greatest leaders of the Sunni School in his famous work says that this Verse was revealed about Abul-Hasan Amir al-Mu’minin Ali, son of Abu Talib (M.S.)

The qualities of the people referred to, are such that none else except Ali possessed those attributes. About the people loving God and God loving them, the Holy Prophet had pointed out as to who the individual was on the day of Khaybar when he said that:

“Tomorrow I shall give the banner to one who loves God and whom God loves”

And gave the banner to Ali.

Besides the quality of being yielding to the believers and being ever triumphant clearly refer to Ali’s submission to God, his sacrificing attitude towards the faithful and his being ever triumphant over the enemies of Islam. Whereas some of the Companions even deserted the Holy Prophet in the very heat of the battles and ran away from the field to save themselves from the trying’ calamities, whereas Ali on all such occasions even when left alone, fought to the end.

As regards striving or fighting in the Way of God, none can ever deny that Ali had been the foremost in this field and none can ever be compared to his services in this regard. Whereas as already said, Ali fought and won when everybody else had run away.

And that was after the defeat sustained by Abu Bakr and ‘Umar one after another and their returning back from the enemy defeated and disheartened and the qualities mentioned here and in 48:29 according to the irrefutable evidence of traditions and history, do not apply in toto to any one of the companions of the Holy Prophet save Ali, the fact which the worst of Ali’s enemies had confessed. Abu Bakr and ‘Umar as they are presented by the traditionists and the historians, on many occasions had used their own discretion against the order of the Holy Prophet even during his lifetime and even in the state of peace.

The Holy Prophet had ordered Abu Bakr and ‘Umar one after another while he was in prayers, Zis-Sadya to be killed, who later on became the leader of the Khawarij, but Abu Bakr and ‘Umar used their discretion and did not carry out the order and when Ali was sent for the purpose, the man had gone. And the Holy Prophet prophesied about his apostacy and the consequence was that he was the person, spared by Abu Bakr and ‘Umar who led the host of the Khawarij in Nahrawan (Sahih Bokhari and others) and at last he was killed by Ali. This is only one of the many instances of the defiance of the Holy Prophet’s orders, and their running away from the enemy in the battles or leaving the Holy Prophet standing in the Friday congregations and rushing away after business and amusements10.

There is no occasion to show any firm stand of the companions against a powerful enemy. ‘Umar always used to be ready to kill the captive, of the course taken against Maalik Ibn Nowairah, Khalid Ibn Valeed deputed by Abur Bakr and the firm stand both took against Fatimah and Ali and the other members of the house of Hashim and the faithful companions who stood by them.

If the other commentators has not insisted on their attempt to misappropriate the application of this Verse, there would not have been any necessity to deal with it with the details of the facts of the Muslim history. The apostacies referred to here, cannot be those of the time of Abu Bakr which had their start during the very lifetime of the Holy Prophet and those who took part in the fight against the apostates were the people who had lived with the Holy Prophet. Here the passage relates to the apostacy which would take place later and refers to the people whom God will raise later on (as the term ‘Saufa indicates).

So the Apostacy referred to here in the term of second person, must be relating to what had happened after the last Covenant taken by the Holy Prophet at Ghadir Khumm in response to Verse 5:67 and the people whom God will raise later on with the given qualification cannot refer to those who were then present but those who later on gathered wholeheartedly under the banner of the person who undoubtedly possessed all the qualifications mentioned here and in the next Verse, plus what has been declared at Ghadir Khumm. This applies also to the devotees of the other Imams of the House of the Holy Prophet and a complete application of this awaits the reappearance of the Last Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi. This interpretation is in conformity to many commentators of both schools11 .

The points to be noted are: -

1. In the fight with the apostates during Abu Bakr’s time none from the Muslims was against the fight. The Muslims were unanimous except in the case of Maalik Ibn Nowairah. The Government was criticised by the people and Government accepted that the action taken was wrong and the same happened with the Government’s severest stand against the House of the Holy Prophet in which the ruler himself repented on his death-bed not to have done it. But the opposition from the Muslims was, when Ali fought Ma’aviah in Siffin and the Khawarij in Nahravan - when many among the Muslims not only refrained to take part but even criticised Ali’s stand but on no occasion did Ali show any apprehension or reluctance against the rebels, in Jamal, Siffin, and Nahravan.

On the contrary he and his followers were so firm on the righteousness of their stand in spite of the criticism that Ammar Ibn Yasir was asked how he was justified to fight a people who professed Islam. He pointed out to the banner under which stood Maaviah and the banner of Ali under which he himself stood and said: ‘We fought under this banner of Ali against that banner (of Maaviah) on the revelation of the Qur’an and now this banner of ours is fought against that banner on the interpretation of the Qur’an.

I swear by God that they had believed but concealed their infidelity and merely expressed Islam there, and now they have the opportunity to disclose what is there in their hearts. I swear by God that if they defeat us and make us to retreat to Madina I am sure we are right, and they are wrong and this was the firm conviction and attitude of the followers of Ali and all the other Imams in their stand against the enemies of the faith instead of the public criticisms’.

2. There is no evidence of history or tradition to show the Holy Prophet ever prophesying about Abu- Bakr’s fight against the apostates or ‘Umar and Othman’s fight against infidels but there are authentic historical and traditional evidences of the Holy Prophet’s prophesying about Ali’s fight against the three classes of the apostates: (1) Nakeseen. (2) Qasiteen. (3) The Mariqeen and Ammar will be killed by an insurgent group. (A.P.)

Verse 55

Almost all commentators including those of the Sunni School report that this Verse was revealed about Amir Al-Mu’minin Ali while in prayer giving away a ring to a beggar. While Ali was in prayer in the Holy Prophet’s Mosque in Madina, a man came to the Mosque and appealed for some charity. None attended to him and the poor man was about to go away dejected and disappointed. Ali pointed his finger to him while he was in ‘Ruku’ (bowing), in the prayer. The man took away the ring from Ali’s finger. While this was done by Ali in the Mosque, this Verse was revealed to the Holy Prophet in his room12.

This Verse clearly lays down that the guardians of the believers are only God, the Holy Prophet and Amir Al-Mu’minin Ali, son of Abu Talib and the accentuation by the word ‘Innama’ renders the meaning - the decision of God as final and fixed, i.e., the decision of God is nothing else but that the Guardian of the believers should be God, His Apostle (Muhammad) and the believers who give away charity while praying. The construction of the sentence and the word ‘Wali’ being kept in singular for all the three persons means that the ‘Wilayat’ or the guardianship of all the three is essentially one in nature as well as in effect and there is not the least difference between them. Hence the obedience to the Holy Prophet must be, as it should be to God and the obedience to Amir al-Mu’minin Ali or any of his successors in the ‘Imamat’ must be as it should be to the Holy Prophet.

The commentators record this event, of a poor man asking Ali while he was in prayer, took place simultaneous with the approach of Abdullah Ibn Salaam and his party to the Holy Prophet complaining that the Jews had boycotted them. This gave an opportunity to the early pro-Omayyid commentators to distort the fact and say that it was revealed for Abdullah Ibn Salaam and his party.

The word ‘Wali’ or ‘Maula’ used here, and by the Holy Prophet at Ghadir Khumm, and on the other occasions about Ali, has become a matter of controversy among the Muslim scholars after their unanimous agreement that Ali was singled out by the Holy Prophet, in the application of these two terms and on all occasions, here and elsewhere, the Holy Prophet used it for himself and for Ali.

There is no doubt these two terms are also used to mean a guard or authority and a helper and a friend but here there is no room for the latter sense because of the exclusive term ‘Innama’ associating the specific believer in God and the Holy Prophet in application of one and the same term as otherwise all the Muslims are the friends and the helpers of each other.

Some commentators have tried to discuss the grammatical structure of ‘Wa hom raakeoon’, i.e., bowing - which undoubtedly is an adverbial clause qualifying the state or the manner in which the alms were given. Taking it as a conjunctive clause in which case this state which is included in the previous class ‘Yaqimu as-Salat’ becomes an unnecessary repetition. The main point to be noted in this passage is that the Verse really is an attempt to point out the condition required for a person to hold the authority and the guardianship over the believers next only to the Holy Prophet and God, is the highest state of the spiritual attainment which makes the person able to, at one and the same time, be fully absorbed in witnessing the glory of the Absolute and meanwhile, be alive to the needs of His creatures and respond to it. This is the state of which qualified one to be the medium between the Absolute and the Unites, near to both at one and the same time.

This is the highest state possible for a man to reach, Qur’an asserts the possibility of this, not for all the followers because all have been addressed in second person (Kom) and the specific ones are classed separately which means that this term cannot be without a significance. In other words, it is necessary that even the Holy Prophet should be from a class of people of this attainment, and nobody has claimed this state for any one save Ali. And the use of plural term ‘Those who believe’ shows that the application does not stop with Ali but continues to those who have been certified by Qur’an, the Holy Prophet and Ali to possess the said qualities in the Twelve Imams of the Ahl Al-Bayt and none else, and so in the same way that a plural usage of the person in Verse 3:61 (Mubahala), is applicable here also.

Thus, the story of Ali’s giving away the ring while in prayer explains the Verse in its best sense, be it liked by any commentators or not.

Some may say that if Ali’s ‘Wilayat’ is asserted in the Qur’an, what was the necessity of declaring it again at Ghadir Khumm. The answer is that here is given the plural justifying the application of the term to Ali and the declaration of Ghadir Khumm was the occasion to take the people’s allegiance and covenant from the people as was referred to in Verse 5:7.

For details about Wilayat refer to Introduction.

Verse 56

Triumph spoken here refers to the Triumph of Islam, as a religion, its culture and civilization.

In fulfilment of the prophecy Islamic ideals are gaining triumphant influence in the place of the doctrine of the creeds of the world. A few instances are given below just to illustrate the triumph Islam is day by day gaining the acceptance of the people of the other creeds:

1. The faith in the Trinity by the Christian Church is being rapidly conquered by the belief in the Unity of God propagated with extreme enthusiasm by the ‘Witnesses of Jehovah,’ a new school started among the Christians themselves. The social structure of this new school constitutes the Watch Tower Society. The idea of Jesus being the son of God and Jesus being one of the three gods or a part of God is vehemently contested, and Jesus is held as one created by God and sent by Him on a mission.

2. (a) Idolatry in Hinduism is being given up under the influence of the Arya Samaj movement in India and in Hinduism the belief in many gods is giving place to the Unity of God.

(b) Hinduism has now allowed the widow marriage in its folds.

(c) Intoxicants are getting stopped under the scheme of Prohibition.

(d) Rights of women have now been recognized.

(e) Places of worship have been thrown open to all.

There are many other Islamic teachings which have successfully invaded the regions of the other creeds.

- 1. The Holy Prophet Muhammad.

- 2. Expose their guilt.

- 3. Refer to Verses 10:24; 11:40; 16:1.

- 4. Refer to Verse 48:29.

- 5. Ali Ibn Abi Talib.

- 6. Refer to Verse 5:67.

- 7. The Holy Ahl Al-Bayt.

- 8. This Verse it in conformity with the prayers of the Holy Prophet, at Ghadir Khumm after the declaration of the ‘Wilayat’ or the guardianship of Ali Ibn Abi Talib in the place of the Holy Prophet under Verse 5:67.

- 9. Refer to Verses 10:24; 11:40; 16:1.

- 10. Refer to Verse 62:11.

- 11. Majma’al-Bayan.

- 12. Ad-Durr al-Manthur, Baidhavi, and Tafsir al-Husainy.

Al-Ma’idah Section 9 - Mockers

- The Mockers And Their Fault-Finding

- Hypocrisy And The Mischief Of The Jews

- The Jews And The Christians Enjoined To Act Up To Their Own Holy Scriptures

Al-Ma’idah Verses 57 – 66

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا دِينَكُمْ هُزُوًا وَلَعِبًا مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَالْكُفَّارَ أَوْلِيَاءَ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ

“O’ ye who believe! take not those who hold your religion in mockery and fun, from among those who have been given the Book before you and the infidels, as guardians 1 ; Fear God, if ye be believers.” (5:57)

وَإِذَا نَادَيْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ اتَّخَذُوهَا هُزُوًا وَلَعِبًا ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ

“And when ye call to prayer, they make it a mockery and a sport; this because they are a people who understand not.” (5:58)

قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ هَلْ تَنْقِمُونَ مِنَّا إِلَّا أَنْ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْنَا وَمَا أُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَأَنَّ أَكْثَرَكُمْ فَاسِقُونَ

“Say (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) O’ People of the Book! Do ye find fault 2 with us (for aught) except that we believe in God and in what hath been sent down unto us and what had been sent down before, and that most of you are transgressors?” (5:59)

قُلْ هَلْ أُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِشَرٍّ مِنْ ذَٰلِكَ مَثُوبَةً عِنْدَ اللَّهِ مَنْ لَعَنَهُ اللَّهُ وَغَضِبَ عَلَيْهِ وَجَعَلَ مِنْهُمُ الْقِرَدَةَ وَالْخَنَازِيرَ وَعَبَدَ الطَّاغُوتَ أُولَٰئِكَ شَرٌّ مَكَانًا وَأَضَلُّ عَنْ سَوَاءِ السَّبِيلِ

“Say (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) shall I inform you of worse than this 3 in retribution, with God? (Worse is he) whom God hath cursed and brought (His) wrath upon (Him) and of whom (some) he trans-formed (into) apes and swine 4 , and he who worshipped Taghut (devil); They are worse in place (rank) and far more astray from the (Right) 5 path.” (5:60)

وَإِذَا جَاءُوكُمْ قَالُوا آمَنَّا وَقَدْ دَخَلُوا بِالْكُفْرِ وَهُمْ قَدْ خَرَجُوا بِهِ وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْتُمُونَ

“And when they come to you, (O’ Muslim!) they say, “We believe” and indeed they come in with infidelity (in their hearts) and indeed they have gone with it; and God knoweth best what they have been concealing (in their hearts) 6 .” (5:61)

وَتَرَىٰ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ وَأَكْلِهِمُ السُّحْتَ لَبِئْسَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ

“Thou dost see many of them vying with sin and exceeding the limits, and their eating what is foul 7 ; certainly evil is what they have been doing.” (5:62)

لَوْلَا يَنْهَاهُمُ الرَّبَّانِيُّونَ وَالْأَحْبَارُ عَنْ قَوْلِهِمُ الْإِثْمَ وَأَكْلِهِمُ السُّحْتَ لَبِئْسَ مَا كَانُوا يَصْنَعُونَ

“Why do not the learned men and the doctors of law prohibit 8 them from uttering what is sinful and their eating of what is forbidden? Evil indeed is what they work.” (5:63)

وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ يَدُ اللَّهِ مَغْلُولَةٌ غُلَّتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَلُعِنُوا بِمَا قَالُوا بَلْ يَدَاهُ مَبْسُوطَتَانِ يُنْفِقُ كَيْفَ يَشَاءُ وَلَيَزِيدَنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ طُغْيَانًا وَكُفْرًا وَأَلْقَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَاءَ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ كُلَّمَا أَوْقَدُوا نَارًا لِلْحَرْبِ أَطْفَأَهَا اللَّهُ وَيَسْعَوْنَ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَسَادًا وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُفْسِدِينَ

“And the Jews say: The hand of God is tied 9 up! shackled shall be their hands and be they accursed for what they say, nay both His hands are wide outstretched, He expends as He pleaseth; and what has been sent, down unto thee from thy Lord will certainly increase many of them in transgression and infidelity; and We have put enmity and hatred between them (to last) until the day of resurrection; Every time they kindle a fire for War, God extinguisheth it, and they strive to spread mischief on earth; And God loveth not the mischief makers.” (5:64)

وَلَوْ أَنَّ أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ آمَنُوا وَاتَّقَوْا لَكَفَّرْنَا عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَلَأَدْخَلْنَاهُمْ جَنَّاتِ النَّعِيمِ

“And if the people of the Book had believed and guarded (themselves against evil) We would certainly have blotted out their sins from them and We would have certainly admitted them into gardens of bliss.” (5:65)

وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ أَقَامُوا التَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنْجِيلَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ لَأَكَلُوا مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ وَمِنْ تَحْتِ أَرْجُلِهِمْ مِنْهُمْ أُمَّةٌ مُقْتَصِدَةٌ وَكَثِيرٌ مِنْهُمْ سَاءَ مَا يَعْمَلُونَ

“And if they (Jews and Christians’) had kept up the Law (the Torah’) and the Evangel (the Injeel) and that which was sent down unto them from their Lord (the Qur’an) they would certainly have the sustenance (of good things) from above them and beneath their feet; of them are a people who are moderate (acting upright); but most of them! evil is what they do!” (5:66)

Commentary

Verse 57

It is clearly laid down in this Verse that the believers, i.e., the Muslims are commanded to have any friendly relations with those who have no regard for the religion, Islam, or the Holy Prophet. This is nothing but ‘Tabarra’10.

Verse 58

This Verse gives the character, and the conduct of the people mentioned in the preceding Verse.

It means that the Muslims should be watchful of the prayer time and should respectfully respond to the call for prayer.

Verse 59

This Verse discloses that the cause of the enmity of the Jews and the Christians against the Muslim, was no fault on the part of the Muslims, save that the Muslims believed in what was revealed to the Holy Prophet and also in what was revealed before.

Verse 60

Note that - cursing the wicked is a godly act for God Himself curses the wicked. It is reported that some Christians were so metamorphosed and all of them died after the punishment11 (B.H.)

Concerning the worship of Taghoot’, refer to Verses 2:256; 4:51.

Verse 62

‘Saht’ is any income or property earned or owned through forbidden means. It may refer to usury or as the people did, earning by reciting vain stories to the people (B.H.)

Verse 64

Some commentators infer that the reference in this Verse relates to the objection of the Jews to the Muslims raising funds for defence of the believers. They taunted saying that a cause which is divine should not stand in need of funds. Those who say this should know that such a situation is created also to test the spirit of sacrifice on the part of the believers in the Truth.

The Verse refers to the taunt of the Jews to the economical strain on the Muslims which they then suffered and their wealth and the comfort they (the Jews) enjoyed - as hinted in 2:96 - and their theological misrepresentations about God's nature, corrected in 2:255 and 7:54. It may refer to the Jewish philosophy developed on the basis of what is asserted in their scriptures about taking rest after the creation of the heaven and the earth, the relation being the relation of God to His creation, not the relation of the Engineer to his building in its coming to being needs the hand of the Engineer but the continuity of its existence stands on its own. (A.P.)

Verse 65

The reader would know from this Verse, the encouragements with which Islam invites people towards the right path. Here it is promised that discarding falsehood and embracing the truth and righteousness in living, earns the forgiving or the pardon for all the past sins.

Verse 66

‘Aq’amat Taurat wal-lnjil’ keep up with the Torah and the Gospel, i.e., acting up to the holy scriptures faithfully.

‘La-aakulu’ - eat - i.e., They would have been provided with sustenance both from above, i.e., heavens, and also from below, i.e., from the earth. The sustenance-from above may include Divine Guidance.

- 1. Or friend.

- 2. Hate.

- 3. ‘Zalika’ refer to the statement in the preceding Verse, 5:59. Comparing those mentioned in this Verse as worse than those of the previous Verse and the next, Verse 5:61, should be read along with this Verse. Thus, the reference is to the hypocrites.

- 4. The term ‘Apes’ and ‘swine’ might also refer to their characters which will make them appear as such in the life hereafter.

- 5. Levelled – right.

- 6. This refers again to the people of the Book.

- 7. Forbidden.

- 8. ‘Amr bil Maroof’ and the ‘Nahya anil Monkar’.

- 9. Ar. ‘Maghloolatun’ tied - i.e., stingy, poor, helpless. Refer to Verses 3:80 & 47:38.

- 10. See note to Verse 5:51.

- 11. Refer to Verse 2:65.

Al-Ma’idah Section 10 - The Christian Deviation From The Truth

Truth to be proclaimed at all cost,

The people of the Gospel do not act up to it,

The errors which the Christians commit.

Al-Ma’idah Verses 67 – 77

يَا أَيُّهَا الرَّسُولُ بَلِّغْ مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ وَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ فَمَا بَلَّغْتَ رِسَالَتَهُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ النَّاسِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ

“(O’ Our Apostle Muhammad) Deliver thou what hath been sent down unto thee from thy Lord; and if thou dost it not, then (it will be as if) thou hast not delivered His message (at all); and surely will God protect thee from (the mischief) of men; Verily, God guideth not an infidel people 1 .” (5:67)

قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَسْتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ حَتَّىٰ تُقِيمُوا التَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنْجِيلَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكُمْ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَلَيَزِيدَنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ طُغْيَانًا وَكُفْرًا فَلَا تَأْسَ عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ

“Say! “O people of the Book! Ye have no ground 2 to stand upon, until ye 3 stand fast by the Law 4 and the Evangel 5 and what hath been sent down unto you 6 from your Lord;” and surely that which hath been sent 7 down unto thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) will increase 8 many of them in transgression and infidelity; therefore grieve not for the infidel people 9 .” (5:68)

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَادُوا وَالصَّابِئُونَ وَالنَّصَارَىٰ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

“Surely those who believe and those who are Jews and the Sabeans and the Christians and whoever believeth in God and the Last Day (of Judgment) and doeth good, no fear shall be upon them and nor shall they grieve 10 .” (5:69)

لَقَدْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَأَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهِمْ رُسُلًا كُلَّمَا جَاءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ بِمَا لَا تَهْوَىٰ أَنْفُسُهُمْ فَرِيقًا كَذَّبُوا وَفَرِيقًا يَقْتُلُونَ

“Certainly We took a covenant 11 from the children of Israel and We sent unto them apostles; Whenever there came to them an apostle with what their souls 12 did not like, some (of them) did they call liars and some they used to slay.” (5:70)

وَحَسِبُوا أَلَّا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ فَعَمُوا وَصَمُّوا ثُمَّ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ ثُمَّ عَمُوا وَصَمُّوا كَثِيرٌ مِنْهُمْ وَاللَّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَ

“And they thought that there would be no affliction, so they became blinded and deafened; (and when they repented) then God turned merciful unto them yet again many of them became blinded and deafened; and surely God well-seeth what they do.” (5:71)

لَقَدْ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَقَالَ الْمَسِيحُ يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ مَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ الْجَنَّةَ وَمَأْوَاهُ النَّارُ وَمَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ أَنْصَارٍ

“Certainly infidels are they who say; “Surely God 13 , He is the Messiah, son of Mary;” and the Messiah (himself hath only) said 14 : “O’ Children of Israel! worship ye (only) God, my Lord and your Lord, Surely whoever associateth (aught) with God, then God forbiddeth to him the garden (of bliss) and his abode (shall be) the (Hell) fire; and there shall not be for the unjust any helpers 15 .” (5:72)

لَقَدْ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ ثَالِثُ ثَلَاثَةٍ وَمَا مِنْ إِلَٰهٍ إِلَّا إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ وَإِنْ لَمْ يَنْتَهُوا عَمَّا يَقُولُونَ لَيَمَسَّنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

“Surely, they disbelieve who say; “Surely God is the third of the three,” and there is no God but the One God; and if they desist not from what they say, a grievous torment shall meet those who disbelieve 16 .” (5:73)

أَفَلَا يَتُوبُونَ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَيَسْتَغْفِرُونَهُ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

“Will they not then turn to God and ask pardon of Him? Verily God is Oft-Pardoning Merciful.” (5:74)

مَا الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ إِلَّا رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ وَأُمُّهُ صِدِّيقَةٌ كَانَا يَأْكُلَانِ الطَّعَامَ انْظُرْ كَيْفَ نُبَيِّنُ لَهُمُ الْآيَاتِ ثُمَّ انْظُرْ أَنَّىٰ يُؤْفَكُونَ

“The Messiah, son of Mary, is but an apostle; indeed apostles before him have passed away; and his mother was a Truthful Lady; (like other men and women) they both used to eat food; Behold! How clear We make for them the signs, and yet behold (how) they are turned away (from the right path).” (5:75)

قُلْ أَتَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لَا يَمْلِكُ لَكُمْ ضَرًّا وَلَا نَفْعًا وَاللَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ

“Say, (O’ Our Apostle Muham-mad) (unto them) “Do ye worship besides God that which doth not own for you any harm, (or) any profit? And God He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.” (5:76)

قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَا تَغْلُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ غَيْرَ الْحَقِّ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا أَهْوَاءَ قَوْمٍ قَدْ ضَلُّوا مِنْ قَبْلُ وَأَضَلُّوا كَثِيرًا وَضَلُّوا عَنْ سَوَاءِ السَّبِيلِ

“Say! (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad) “O’ People of the Book! exceed 17 not the bounds of your religion, and follow not the vain desires of the people who had gone astray aforetime and led many astray and went astray away from the right 18 path.” (5:77)

Commentary

Verse 67

This Verse occupies a very important and a leading position in the Holy Qur’an and forms a very vital part of the Word of God. When the huge caravan of several thousands of the pilgrims along with the Holy Prophet was on its march, returning from Mecca after the ‘Hajjatul-Wida’ and the Caravan was at the place called Ghadir Khumm, this Verse was revealed to the Holy Prophet.

Immediately on the receipt of the revelation, the Holy Prophet ordered halt to the marching Caravan and called back those who had gone ahead and waited for those who were coming behind. When all the pilgrims had gathered, the Holy Prophet ordered a pulpit of the ‘Kajawas’ (the seats used at the back of the camels) to be prepared.

The Holy Prophet mounting the pulpit delivered a long sermon of his parting advice to the people, and demanding acknowledgement from one and all of the huge audience, of his services towards the fulfilment of his mission as the Apostle of God. He asked if he had conveyed to them the commands of God about the faith and its practice enumerating them one after another. The gathering in one voice replied to each question saying ‘Yes’ (O’ Apostle of God we do acknowledge that thou hast conveyed the commands of the Lord to us). At last, he asked ‘Alasto Aulo bil Momineen min anfosihim?19 i.e., Am I not superior or the Master to the believers more than their own selves?

The huge crowd in one voice shouted, ‘Certainly O’ Apostle of God!’ Again, he asked ‘Alasto Aula min kulle Momineen min Anfusehim’ i.e., Am I not superior (or Master) to every faithful one than his self? Every one of the huge gatherings shouted ‘Certainly O’ Apostle of God’. Then the Holy Prophet called Ali son of Abu Talib to mount the pulpit and raised him with the miraculous strength of his apostolic hands so much that the whole gathering could see the white under his armpit and declared: -

‘Man Kunto Maulaho fahaza Aliyun Maulahu’ - To whomsoever I am the Maula (the Lord - the Master) this Ali is his Maula (the Lord, the Master).

Having said this, he prayed:

‘Allahomma Waa’le man Waa’lahu’ - ‘O God! Be Thou a friend to him who is a friend to him (Ali)

‘Aade man aadahu’ - (Be Thou) an enemy to him who is enemy to him (i.e. Ali).

‘Wansor man nasarahu’ - Help the one who helps him (i.e. Ali).

‘Wakhzul man Khuzalahu’ - Forsake the one who forsaketh him (i.e. Ali).

As the Holy Prophet completed this declaration, the Verse 5:3 was revealed:

الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا

“This day have I perfected your religion for you and have completed my bounties on you and am pleased your religion to be Islam.’’ (5:3)

Descending from the pulpit, the Holy Prophet commanded every one of the huge gatherings to pay his ‘Baiyat’ or homage or allegiance to Ali. The first one to pay the baiyat was ‘Umar Ibn Khuttab (who later became the and Khalif) saying:

‘Bahhkhin Bakhkhin laka yabna Abi Talib, Asbahta Maulaee wa Maula Kulle Momineen ma mominatin’.

Hurrah, Hurrah, O’ Son of Abu Talib thou hast now become my Maula (Master) and the Maula (Master) of every faithful man and faithful woman20.

Hearing the words with which ‘Umar felicitated Ali, the Holy Prophet commanded ‘Umar not to address Ali as son of Abu Talib but as ‘Amir al-Mu’minin’, i.e., the Lord Commander of the Faithful. Every one paid his baiyat and the Holy Prophet commanded everyone in the audience to receive ‘baiyat’ for Ali as Amir al-Mu’minin’ in their own places on their return from the ‘Haj.’

Like his other titles, viz. ‘Asadullah’ - The Lion of God, ‘Abu Turab’ - The Father of the Earth, ‘Akho Rasullah’ - The Brother of the Apostle of God, etc., the title of ‘Amir al-Mu’minin’ also was bestowed upon Ali exclusively for him by the Holy Prophet himself for none else held any of the titles during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet, particularly the title ‘Amir al-Mu’minin’. Though every Holy Imam has rightfully inherited the title Amir Al-Mu’minin, but since it was bestowed exclusively upon Ali by the Holy Prophet, this title is not used for anyone, even for his rightful successors in the office of ‘Imamat’. But the world in its madness to please the worldly monarchs used this title even for those who by their personal character and conduct were nothing but brutes in human frames and devils in the garb of men. History is there to vouch for what all kinds of characters this title was used. They called even Yazeed son of Maaviah the ‘Amir al-Mu’minin.’

As to the revelation of this Verse and the action taken by the Holy Prophet at Ghadir Khumm it will be unnecessarily swelling the note on this Verse to give the whole list of the great traditionists, historians, the scholars and the divines who have related this event with its true significance. The number of such authorities, is innumerable. One of the most famous and the celebrated historians has collected them in a book called ‘Kitabul Wilayat’ about which the great critic Zahabi remarks that when he looked at the book, he was thunder-struck at the number of the authentic sources through which the author has brought the event to be recorded. ‘Ibn-Uqda’ has written a book named ‘Hadithul-Wilayat’, entirely devoted to this event, in which he cites the authorities of no less than 120 ‘Sahabas’ (companions of the Holy Prophet) giving the names of 101 Sahabas.

Of the long list of the named Sahabas, only a very few who are well-known ones, is given here: (1) Abu-Bakr, (2) ‘Umar, (3) Othman, (4) Talha, (5) Zubair, (6) Abdur-Rahnian bin Auf, (7) Salman, (8) Saad, (9) Khazimah, (to) Abu Ayyub, (it) Sahl-Ibn Hunaif, (12) Zaid Ibn Sabit, (13) Hassein Ibn Sabit, (14) Abul-Tufail etc. Readers interested in knowing further about the authenticity of this report may refer to the two gigantic volumes of the celebrated work ‘Abaqatul-Anwar.’ As a matter of fact, there is not a single event of the Islamic history nor even of any other Qur’anic Verses which has earned so much of unanimous, universal, unquestionable and doubtless attention from such great authorities in such a huge number.

The event was so much known to everyone during the time of the Holy Prophet and so many of the great personalities have witnessed and vouched for it that none could ever venture to deny, excepting that some with vested interest have only attempted to misinterpret the meaning of the word ‘Maula’ to mean an ordinary friend but a Persian poet has given an apt reply to such perverted interpretation saying:

Abbas dar mana-e-mankonto Maula Meeravi harsoo

Ali Maula ba-on ma’na ke paighambar bowad Maula.

In vain, for the interpretation of the expression of whomsoever can the Maula dost thou run in every direction, Ali is Maula in the very same sense as the Holy Prophet himself was.

The very word and the construction of the Verse is sufficiently eloquent about the actual meaning and the object of the revelation.

‘Maa Onzila ilaik’ - that which has already been sent down to thee (O’ Our Apostle) - It clearly indicates that that which the Holy Prophet had then been commanded by God to convey, had already been communicated to him and it had not been conveyed to the people.

The Holy Prophet had already preached the Unity of God. All the Divine attributes had also been preached.

The faith in all the previous apostles of God and in the Holy Prophet himself being the last of God’s Apostles had also been established.

The faith in the Last Day, i.e., the Day of Resurrection for the Final Judgment had also been preached.

This was all about the fundamentals of the theoretical side of the religion, Islam. As regards the practical side of the faith-

‘Salat’ or the prescribed daily prayer had already been taught, and it was being regularly offered.

‘Saum’, i.e., fasting was being done.

‘Haj’, i.e., pilgrimage to the Ka’ba; that was being done, and the multitude was returning only after performing it.

‘Zakat’, i.e., the prescribed poor-rate was being paid and duly collected.

‘Khums’, i.e., the 1/5th of the net gain was being duly paid and collected.

‘Jehad’, i.e., the Fight for the cause of God was already being done whenever the believers were called to do it.

‘Amarbil Maaroof’, i.e., Enjoining of good and ‘Nahya anil munkar’, i.e., the preaching of abstinence from evil, was being done. There was nothing of the fundamentals of the doctrines of the faith or its practice that was left unconveyed to the people.

The succeeding words raise the importance of the object the revelation to the climax.

Wa in lam taf’al fama ballaghta risalateh

and if thou doeth it not,

Then thou hast not discharged His apostleship at all.

Which means that which the Holy Prophet was now under this revelation commanded to convey, was the life and soul or the chief object of his apostleship on the discharge of which duty, depended on the fulfilment of the object of his apostleship. The concluding words of the revelation reveal the cause of the Holy Prophet having deferred the conveyance of that which had already been sent down to him ‘Wallaho Ya’simuka Minan-nas’ - Verily will God save thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad) from the mischief of the people.

This assurance from God to His Apostle, against the mischief of the people makes the whole situation quite clear that the Holy Prophet had received something very important to be conveyed but it was something in his own knowledge which would have never been relished or even accepted by a certain group of some mischief-mongers, the hypocrites, who were powerful elements for it would have frustrated all their hopes in their plans for the future (i.e., after the departure of the Holy Prophet).

The Holy Prophet apprehending some great flare-up and awaiting some suitable opportunity to discharge the duty in a safer way had deferred the action as the revelation already received would have demanded any immediate action then and there as it has been now imperatively demanded. But the matter was of such an important and vital one that without it, the faith was not a faith complete and all that the Holy Prophet had done for it would have been of no effect or of any avail at all for humanity. And what the Holy Prophet did immediately on the receipt of this revelation must be the object of this revelation and that alone would by all reasoning be the matter upon which depended the fulfilment of the mission of the Holy Prophet. Immediately as this revelation was received, the Holy Prophet halted the whole caravan.

Certainly, this speaks very eloquently clarifying the position, the value and the greatness of the significance of the object of the revelation. Most of the people had joined the ranks of Islam (the hypocrites) with plans of their own to be executed after departure of the Holy Prophet from this world and by the conveyance of that which was already received, they would have certainly deserted him and everything which he had alone would have gone along with him and again the disbelief of the heathenism would have gained its own original sway over the minds of the people. It is quite obvious that it was also the divine plan to make conveyance imperative on such an occasion.

Without the appointment of some with divine qualities in the place of the Holy Prophet the security of the Final Word of God, the Holy Qur’an, and its true interpretation, the Holy Book would have met the same fate as that of the previous scriptures at the hands of the Jews and the Christians and the promise of God Himself taking care of securing His Own Word in its originality under Verse 15:9 could not have been fulfilled.

Thus, without the faith in the ‘Imamat’, i.e. continuation of the divine guidance, the religion Islam remains incomplete, to be nothing but what the fancy of the corrupt minds would have remoulded it to suit their own selfish ends.

Besides the others, the following great authorities of even the accredited Sunni Scholars, have reported this event with all its details:

1. Ahmad Ibn Hambal.

2. Abdullah Ibn Ahmad.

3. Abdullah Ibn Muhammad Ibn abi Shaiba Asdi.

4. Abdul Abbas Nasvi.

5. Abdul Malik Farkoosh.

6. Abu Ishaq Naishapuri.

7. Ismail Alias Ibn Samam.

8. Abdul Karim Sam’aani.

9. Moaffaq bin Ahmad.

10. ‘Umar bin Muhammad.

11. Yousuf bin Qari Ali Sibt Ibn Jawzi.

12. Moheb-Tabari.

13. Ibrahim Ibn Muhammad.

14. Muhammad Ibn Abdullah.

15. Jamaluddin Karandi.

16. Ibn Kathir.

17. Ali bin Shahabuddin al-Hamadani.

18. Ahmad bin Ali Maqreezi.

19. Ibn-Sabbagh Maliki.

20. Allama Maibandi.

21. Aseeluddin Waiz.

22. Mahmood bin Muhammad.

23. Muhammad bin Abdur Rasool Barzanji.

24. Mirza Muhammad bin Mo’tamad Khan Hadsi.

25. Muhammad bin Sadre-Alam.

26. Muhammad Ibn Ismail bin Salatul Amir.

27. Sulaiman bin Dawar.

28. Ahmad bin Manee’ Baghavi.

29. Ibrahim Ibn Muhammad Jovaini.

30. Jalaluddin al-Suyuti.

31. Jamaluddin.

32. Atauddin.

33. Fazlullah Mohaddis.

34. Alauddin Muttaqi.

35. Mahmood bin Ali Subhani Qadri.

36. Ahmad bin Muhammad Qushas.

37. Ibn-Uqdah.

Books:

1. Sirrul Aalamain-Ghuzaah.

2. Asadul Ghaba.

3. Kitabul-Mas’ool - Md. bin Talha al-Shafayi.

4. Tazkirah al-Khawasul-Umma-Sibt Ibn Jawzi.

5. Manaqib al-Ibn Maghazili Faqeeh Shafayi.

6. Tafsir Tha’labi.

7. Tafsir Abu-Saud.

8. Tafsir Durre Manthur.

9. Mo’addatul-Qurba-of Syed Ali Hamadani.

to. Kitabul Rusul wal Mulook - Tabarri.

11. Sawaeq-Moharriqa - Ibn Ha je-e-Macci.

12. Nuzuhil-Abrar - Mirza Md. Mo’tamad Khan.

13. Hisn-e-Haseenul Mataleb - Shamsuddin Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Jazari.

14. Arbayeen - Hafiz Jamaluddin.

15. Tazkiratul Hafifaz - Hafiz Zahabi.

16. Sharhe Mishkat - Mullah Ali.

17. Abqathul-Masdooh - Allama Ziauddin Salah-bin Mahdi Muqbih.

18. Insanul Oyoon - Hafiz Nooruddin Halbi.

19. Zainul Fata - Hafiz Ahmad bin Muhammaed Asemi.

20. Siratus Sawa - Hafiz Mahmood bin-Muhammad bin Ali-Shaikhani Qadri.

21. Lam’ate Sharhe Mishkat - Shaik Abdul Huq-e-Muhaddis Dahlavi.

22. Nawaqizur Rawafiz - Mirza Maqdoom bin Mir Abdul Baqi.

23. Rawzatun Nadiah - Md. Ismail Ibn Salahut.

24. Ma’arijul Ola - Allama Md. Sadrul-Alam.

25. Saiful Maslool - Qazi Sanaull Panepatti.

26. Do’atul Hadat ila Ada-el-Haqqul Mo’aalat - Allama Abul Qasim-Ubaidullah Ibn Abdul Alhaskani.

27. Diraya-e-Hadithul Wilaya - Allama Abu Syeed Masbin Nasir Assanjari.

28. Miftahul-Kanzul Daqaiq - Hafiz Shamsuddin Abu Abdullah Md. bin Nasir Assanjari.

29. Musnad - Imam-e-Ahmad Hambal

30. Shawahidun Nubuwwath - Mullah Jami.

31. Tawzihul-Dalail - Syed Shahabuddin.

32. Yanabiul-Mo’addah - Shaikh Sulaiman-Qandozi Hanafi.

33. Rauzatus Safa

34. Tarikhe Kamil

35. Tarikhe-ibnul Wardi.

36. Kitabul Saniul Mataleb - Allama-Jarazi.

37. Mofaarijun-e-Nubuwwah - Mullah Mo’in Kashifi.

38. Firdausul-Akhbar-e-Dailmai.

39. Tarikh-e-Abul-Fida.

40. Tarikhul Khulafa - Imam-e-Syuti.

41. Khawasul Aimmah - Sibt Ibn Jawzi.

42. Istee-aab - Abdul Bar.

Etc. (K.M.)

A complete list of all the historians and the traditionists (Mohaddithen) is impossible to give here. Only the well-known and the leading ones whose position is universally accepted by the Sunni School have been given. In spite of so much of the doubtless and the unchallengeable acknowledgement of the facts it is only a wonder how man could ever insist upon his own fanciful notions and hold himself fast to them, unless his conscience and reasoning cease to work or he does not want to be corrected.

When the Holy Prophet declared about Ali being the ‘Maula’ or the Lord or Commander of the faithful. One of the hypocrites - Harith bin No’man Fehri could not tolerate the appointment of Ali in the place of the Holy Prophet and got upon his camel and deciding to leave the gathering, approached the Holy Prophet and said: -

“O’ Apostle of God, thou wanted us to discard idolatry; we did it. Thou wanted us to pray, fast, to go on pilgrimage, give the poor-rate, the Khums, to fight in the way of God, we did everything. And now thou art placing Ali over and above us. Is this what thou doest of thine own accord or in accordance with the command from God?”

The Holy Prophet said: “Whatever I have done is nothing, but the execution of the revealed will of God.” Then the hypocrite prayed God saying that if what the Holy Prophet said was true then let a torment come from heaven and kill him. Immediately a stone came from heaven and passing right through the man’s body and killed him.

As pointed in note to Verse 5:3, the importance of this passage is self-evident from the very wordings of the passage. The points to be noted here are: -

1. That no historical record or traditions give us any information about the specific and particular Islamic teachings doctrinal or practical, the Holy Prophet to have announced after the revelation of this passage which had not been already announced except the declaration of the ‘Wilayat’ of Ali-Ibn-Abi Talib, and the taking of the covenant from the people with regard to it on the unique occasion of the mammoth representative assembly of the pilgrims from all comers of the then Muslim World, numbering to at least a lakh and twenty thousand pilgrims. This has been proved by irrefutable evidence of history and traditions and the text of which has been acknowledged by the bulk of the leading scholars of all schools in Islam though they might differ in the interpretation of the wording of the text.

2. ‘Maa Onzilla’ cannot be taken as to mean ‘whatever or all that is revealed’ as some commentators have attempted to interpret because it cannot be appropriate, see note to Verse 5:3. Such an interpretation after the revelation and the conveyance of all the doctrinal and the practical teachings of the faith as a whole, would only mean a repetition of the whole bulk, as a reminder which is justified and the lengthy sermon on the occasion recorded by some historians and commentators which shows that the Holy Prophet reminded the audiences questioning them if he had not announced each and every article of the faith mentioning each one of the doctrines of the faith and its practice, and after taking their confessing acknowledgment, he declared ‘O’ my Lord! Be Thon my witness.’ But the justification of the repetition does not justify the warning phrase of ‘if thou doeth it not thou hast not fulfilled the apostleship,’ and there is no justification in the assurance of the protection if the matter was of only the repetition of what has already been done.

Therefore these two evidences clearly prove that the subject of the revelation was a thing of the greatest importance, which was considered as the sole axis of the 23 years of apostolic mission of the Holy Prophet and there was a great risk and even danger for the Holy Prophet in the declaration ordered in the Verse and that the danger was not from the side of the infidels but from the people surrounding him for it was on the return from his Last Haj when the Muslims as a power had been established and the Islamic forces had even reached the outskirts of Arabia. Thus, there could never be the least fear or apprehension of any danger from the non-Muslims in the announcement of the subject of this revelation. Of course, there was an expectation by the hypocrites and the infidels that the Holy Prophet will pass away without a male offspring to succeed him, to which the Verse 5:3 answers.

There is no such vital question of Islam worthy of such emphatic and imperative declaration at about the close of the apostolic mission except the question which became the subject of the disputes among the companions of the Holy Prophet on the eve of his departure and immediately after it and in every age thereafter, and became the root of all other controversial problems and the sectarian feelings, political strife’s, religious persecution which caused rift after rift in the ranks of the Muslims and bloodshed which have darkened the history of the Muslims after the departure of the Holy Prophet down to this day, and that was the question of the supreme authority in Islam in the place of the Holy Prophet after him.

The settlement of this vital question by the Holy Prophet by the declaration made under this Verse, justifies the revelation of Verse 5:3 regarding the completion of the message. Though there might be many minute details of the other doctrinal and the practical teachings left unannounced but if this vital question had not been settled in unequivocal terms leaving no room for any different interpretation, the whole apostolic mission of the Holy Prophet with all the details of the faith explained and with all the labours undertaken for it, would have been totally in vain for its object being lost, it becomes good for nothing. The object was that there should not be any arguments of excuse for the people against God, after the Apostles21.

In short to say that the Holy Prophet did not settle this question, is nothing but the denial of his ‘Risalat. (Apostleship). For all the ugly, unpleasant controversies and the quarrels resulting into terrible bloodshed and wars, the Holy Prophet will be responsible.

Having this passage and all the other passages concerning the question of ‘Khilafat’, the Sixth Holy Imam Jafer Ibn Mohammad as-Sadiq said.... i.e., “Islam is established on five pillars, namely, Prayer, Poor-rate, Fasting, and Pilgrimage and nothing was called unto as was done about the Wilayat”. (A.P.)

Verse 68

‘Lastum ala Shaiyin’ O’ the people of the scriptures, (i.e., the Jews and Christians) your faith is nothing worth the name of a religion unless you faithfully adhere to your own scriptures the Torah and the Evangel and that which has now been sent down to you, i.e., the Holy Qur’an. The attention of the Jews and the Christians, is invited to the faithful following of their own respective scriptures, for by keeping to these scriptures they can never fail to acknowledge the Holy Prophet whose holy personality is clearly predicted and whose advent is repeatedly prophesied in these holy books, even in spite of the corruption they have undergone at their own hands. But the more they saw the truth about the Holy Prophet and the revelation to him, the more they became persistent and began distorting their religion ‘c get away from the obligation to acknowledge the facts. It is evident from the Bible that the people even from long before, even prior to the advent of John the Baptist, were expecting the advent of the Holy Prophet and eagerly awaited for it. (John 1/19-25).

It is evident from all uncorrupted sources that the Christians of the firs’ three centuries were Unitarians. Even now, today when the unreasonable doctrine of Trinity has been thrust into the Christian faith, the school of the Jehovah’s witnesses of the Watch Tower Society, is strictly Unitarian. This reversion to the faith in the Unity of God, was affected only after the advent or the Holy Prophet and his most vehemently condemning polytheism of any and every kind and strongly establishing the absolute Unity of God without the least room for any kind of imagination of associating anything with God. But even the Unity of God worked our by some schools of Christianity is only in a philosophic sense lacking the Islamic perfection.

Verse 69

Salvation is open to the people of all religions, provided they believe in God, do good and believe in the Day of Judgment. This Verse refers to those who lived prior to the advent of the Holy Prophet and after his advent, to those who live in such distant places where the message of Islam has not reached, and the people, are open minded ready to accept the message of Islam if it were to reach them22.

Verse 71

The Israelites though who were once the favoured people of God thought that they would not be punished. Repeated warning had been of no avail to them. They were subjected to horrible afflictions in this world at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. A large number of them was slain and the rest were taken prisoners.

‘Fitnah’, i.e., punishment. Torment.

Refers to the usual attitude of the despots and the autocrats who deviate from the prescribed path of God and when criticised by the pious or the godly ones they belie or persecute them and do not see any evil or any evil consequence in their action and subsequently some of them repent, but the nature in them makes them repeat the same. This was true particularly in the history of the Muslim monarchs, and people are mostly of this nature. The same happened with the people who turned away from the Covenant of Ghadir Khumm with the plea that they wanted only to avoid the trouble as if they were interested in the welfare of the Muslims more than God and His Apostle. (A.P.)

Verse 72

What Jesus actually J preached to the people was nothing but the Unity of God. Even the very version of the scripture adopted by the Christian Church declares what actually Jesus spoke to his people. (Math. 4/10).

Verse 75

The argument of Jesus and his mother’s partaking of food is to prove that those who are controlled by hunger and thirst can only be mortals. God, the Supreme Being, is essentially above any want for His existence whereas those whose lives depend upon food can never even be imagined to be God. This is a simple and an unbreakable argument against the Christians deifying Jesus and his mother.

The Christians advance a peculiar and inconceivable phenomenon of Jesus having two natures, one of a divine, another of a human being. Apart from the phenomenon being illogical, unreasonable and inconceivable the simplest counter to it, is, if Jesus did really possess any higher nature of a divine, it must be proved by his being above the wants of the lower nature of a mortal. However Jesus was only a mortal, and he needed everything as a mortal does.

Verse 76

This Verse only illustrates the argument advanced in the previous Verse against the divinity of Jesus, saying, anyone or anything which does not control any loss or gain to one’s own self can never be God. Jesus was subject to; the law of nature as a mortal and he could not control his own life or death. He could not himself avoid death and prays for the cup passing away from him.

“And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O’ my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt. (Math. 26/39).

Again, if Jesus was God Himself, who does Jesus petition for having been forsaken. Who is the forsaker? And who is the forsaken?

“And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani? i.e., My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?’’

If Jesus has ever used the term ‘son of God’ for himself, he must have meant as the creature of God and by his addressing God as his Father, it naturally means that he held himself as a created one by God - and not God Himself.

Verse 77

The Christian doctrine of deifying Jesus or his mother is in the following of the incarnation theory in the earliest people of polytheistic creeds. Whenever they found anything unusual in their heroes, they immediately raised them to God-head, making them as gods incarnate, saying that God has taken flesh or entered in those bodies. In the mad love of their religious leaders, they got blind even to simple reasoning that how could the Absolute and the Infinite become concrete and finite or how could the unlimited become arrested in any limited form or shape. Mere manifestation of God’s attributes in any mortal of special purity, only dazzled the sight of the people.

- 1. Refer to Verse. 5:3, 11:12. The next Verse revealed immediately was the last phrase of Verse 5:3.

- 2. You are of nothing.

- 3. Establish- Follow in practice minutely.

- 4. ‘Torah’.

- 5. ‘Injeel’.

- 6. Qur’an.

- 7. Revealed at ‘Ghadir Khumm’.

- 8. On account of the Covenant of the ‘Wilayat (succession or the Guardianship) of Ali Ibn Abi Talib Taken at Ghadir Khumm.

- 9. The whole of this Verse directly or indirectly refers to the event of ‘Ghadir Khumm’ (AP).

- 10. Refer to Verses 2:62; 3:84.

- 11. For a similar reference to the Covenant taken from the children of Israel Refer to Verse 2:83

- 12. Or selves.

- 13. God incarnate.

- 14. Jesus said: ‘Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is One God” Mark-12/29.

- 15. Indicates that the just ones will have helpers - i.e. intercessors.

- 16. This is in refutation of Trinity.

- 17. Step not out of the laws - beyond the truth.

- 18. Levelled.

- 19. Refer to Verse 33:6.

- 20. Ghazali, Sirr ul-Alameen.

- 21. Refer to Verse 4:165.

- 22. For almost a similar Verse, see 2:62.

Al-Ma’idah Section 11: Christian Nearness To Islam

- The Israelites Cursed By David And Jesus For Their Disobedience And Exceeding The Limits

- Jews’ Enmity And The Christian Friendship Of The Muslims

- The Pious Ones Among The Christian Priests And Monks

Al-Ma’idah Verses 78 – 86

لُعِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ عَلَىٰ لِسَانِ دَاوُودَ وَعِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ ذَٰلِكَ بِمَا عَصَوْا وَكَانُوا يَعْتَدُونَ

“Cursed 1 were those who believed not, from among the children of Israel, by the tongue of David and Jesus, son of Mary; this because they disobeyed and used to exceed the limits.” (5:78)

كَانُوا لَا يَتَنَاهَوْنَ عَنْ مُنْكَرٍ فَعَلُوهُ لَبِئْسَ مَا كَانُوا يَفْعَلُونَ

“They used not to forbid each other the hateful things which they wrought; Surely how evil was that which they were doing.” (5:79)

تَرَىٰ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ يَتَوَلَّوْنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَبِئْسَ مَا قَدَّمَتْ لَهُمْ أَنْفُسُهُمْ أَنْ سَخِطَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَفِي الْعَذَابِ هُمْ خَالِدُونَ

“Thou will see many of them 2 befriending those who disbelieve; surely evil is that which their selves have sent before for them, for God’s wrath is on them, and in torment shall they abide.” (5:80)

وَلَوْ كَانُوا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالنَّبِيِّ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مَا اتَّخَذُوهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءَ وَلَٰكِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ

“And had they believed in God and the Apostle 3 and what was sent 4 down unto him, they would not have taken them for friends, but most of them are evil-doers.” (5:81)

لَتَجِدَنَّ أَشَدَّ النَّاسِ عَدَاوَةً لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الْيَهُودَ وَالَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا وَلَتَجِدَنَّ أَقْرَبَهُمْ مَوَدَّةً لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّا نَصَارَىٰ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ مِنْهُمْ قِسِّيسِينَ وَرُهْبَانًا وَأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ

“Certainly, thou wilt find the most violent of people in enmity for those who believe, (to be) the Jews and those who are polytheists; and thou wilt certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who believe (to be) those who say; “We are Christians 5 ;” This because there among them are priests and monks and because they are not elated with pride.” (5:82)

وَإِذَا سَمِعُوا مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ تَرَىٰ أَعْيُنَهُمْ تَفِيضُ مِنَ الدَّمْعِ مِمَّا عَرَفُوا مِنَ الْحَقِّ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا فَاكْتُبْنَا مَعَ الشَّاهِدِينَ

“And when they 6 hear 7 (the Holy Qur’an) what hath been sent down to (Our) Apostle (Muhammad) thou wilt see their eyes overflowing with tears on account of what they recognise of the truth; say they: “O’ Our Lord! We believe, so write us down with the witnesses (of the truth).” (5:83)

وَمَا لَنَا لَا نُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَمَا جَاءَنَا مِنَ الْحَقِّ وَنَطْمَعُ أَنْ يُدْخِلَنَا رَبُّنَا مَعَ الْقَوْمِ الصَّالِحِينَ

“And what reasons have we that we should not believe in God and in the truth that hath come unto us while we earnestly crave that Our Lord should admit us (to heaven) with the righteous ones.” (5:84)

فَأَثَابَهُمُ اللَّهُ بِمَا قَالُوا جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا وَذَٰلِكَ جَزَاءُ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

“Therefore, God rewarded them for what they said, with gardens neath which rivers flow, (for them) to abide therein; And this (is) the recompense of the righteous ones.” (5:85)

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَكَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْجَحِيمِ

“And (as for) those who disbelieve and belie our signs, these shall be the inmates of flaming (Hell) fire.” (5:86)

Commentary

Verse 78

This clearly indicates cursing the disbelievers has been an apostolic act commanded by God which he makes mention of in the Holy Qur’an. This is ‘Tabarra’ which the Islam-Original, (i.e., Shi’ism) has as the articles of the practice of the faith. Tabarra has been the practice even of the leading apostles of God like David and even of Jesus who is known to follow the policy of self-surrender and self-denial during his life.

Verse 79

This Verse makes it incumbent upon the Muslims to forbid each other the hateful things - which act is ‘Nahya’ anil munkar’, i.e., preaching abstinence from evil.

Verse 80

Befriending those who disbelieve - this is another Verse establishing the need to be away from the disbelievers, i.e., the wicked, which means that the Muslims must love and befriend only those who believe in God and hate those who disbelieve. In other words, be the friend of the virtuous and be away from the wicked. This is what is demanded under the articles of ‘Tawalla’ and ‘Tabarra’.

Verse 81

According to (M.S.) by the Prophet is meant the Holy Prophet Muhammad and by the Book is meant the Holy Qur’an. But some of the commentators say that by the Prophet, here is meant Moses and by the Book Torah, meaning that if the Jews had believed in God and faithfully adhered to what Moses said and had believed in the scripture, i.e., Torah which was sent down to Moses which clearly prophecies about the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, then they would not have befriended themselves to the enemies of Truth and the Truthful.

Verse 82

This Verse depicts one of the unique aspects of Islam, i.e., it recognizes goodness, be that in those who might be even its declared enemies. The brighter side of the character and the conduct of the Christian priests has been referred to in the statement which quality is absent in the Jews and the polytheists.

The Jewish faith being based on rigid ritualism void of any grace or devotion and love had hardened their hearts against all non-Jewish ideology and made them arrogant and proud. But the creed of the Christians based on devotional love made some of their pious ones humble, lenient, tolerant and open to reason and accept the truth as described in the next Verse, 5:83. (A.P.)

Verse 83 & 84

This Verse and the following are said to have been revealed on the effect of Ja’far-Ibn-Abu- Talib’s recital of the Holy Qur’an, created on the Negus, the Emperor of Abyssinia and his people who were Christians. It happened thus that when the persecution of the heathens of Mecca became unbearably severe and more and more tortuous, the Holy Prophet was prepared to bear anything along with his kith and kin, and he did not mind his own sufferings and that of his family but became day by day more and more mindful of the sufferings of his followers, the converts to Islam.

At last, in the month of Rajab - in the 5th year of his mission (Bethat) he ordered the converts numbering about eighty-two in all, to migrate and take refuge in Abyssinia whose ruler he said though a Christian, was just and kind and Ja’far-Ibn-Abu-Talib - brother of Ali - was ordered to lead the emigration. When the party of the converts to Islam, had left Mecca, the news of their departure perturbed the Meccans and immediately the Meccans despatched a deputation under Amr Ibn ‘Aas, with many valuable presents to King Negus with the request to return the Muslim refugees to them.

The Meccan deputation approached the King and in order to excite tire religious hatred of the Christian Monarch against the Muslim refugees, represented to him that the refugees as Muslims were not only opposed to idolatry but also denounced the Christian religion and spoke disparagingly of Jesus Christ. The Emperor summoned the Muslim refugees and asked them to answer the charges against them. Whereupon Ja’far-Ibn-Abu-Talib, came forward and requested the Emperor to ask the Meccans if the refugees were their slaves to which the Meccans replied saying ‘No.’ Again Ja’far asked if the refugees were in any kind of debt to them, to which also the reply was ‘No.’ Then Ja’far spoke saying:

“O’ King! We mere indulged in all sorts of idolatrous faith and practised all sorts of evils. A prophet has risen from among us who has taught us to believe in One God, to give up all evils and to live a virtuous life, practice charity and to be good and to do good. For this ire are heartlessly persecuted.”

Negus asked Ja’far “Do thou rementberest anything of what has been revealed to the prophet.” Ja’far said, ‘Yes’ and recited the chapter ‘Mary.’ Tears began to role from the eyes of the Emperor and all those in the court were deeply impressed. Negus gave a slap on the back of Amru and said:

“I can never grant your request and if you talk ill of Ja’far or his party I will punish you.” Saying this, he refused to accept any of his presents from the Meccans. Negus and all his courtiers embraced Islam and ordered that the refugees be given every convenience they desire for. When the Holy Prophet had migrated to Madina and settled there and the Muslims as a people had gained a triumphant position, the Holy Prophet wrote to Negus to return the refugees to Madina. When Ja’far returned to Madina, the Holy Prophet had been to the defensive expedition at Khaybar and the news of the arrival of Ja’far at Madina reached the Holy Prophet in his camp at Khaybar, along with the news of the victory of Khaybar at the hands of Ali. The Holy Prophet was so much pleased that he said: ‘Which should I celebrate first? Either the victory of Ali or the return of Ja’far?’

Negus had sent along with Ja’far, many presents to the Holy Prophet with a deputation of some elected scholars from his people to learn the details of the faith, Islam, and return to educate the people of Abyssinia. When this deputation met the Holy Prophet, the Holy Prophet recited the Chapter ‘Yaseen.’ It is reported that along with this deputation was a similar group from Syria in which was the great Christian Monk Bohaira. When the people heard the Sura, tears flowed from their eyes, and they all embraced Islam.

Refers to the recital of the Qur’an by Ja’far Ibn Abu Talib and its effect on the Christian king Najjashi during the first immigration of the Muslims taking refuge there resulting in his embracing Islam along with a number of his clergy and the monks who accompanied Ja’far on his return to Madina which coincided with the victory of Khaybar. (A.P.)

- 1. This is Tabarra. It was practised by the apostles of God. Refer to Verse 8:4.

- 2. The Jews.

- 3. The Holy Prophet Muhammad.

- 4. Qur’an.

- 5. Arabic - ‘Nasara’.

- 6. The pious Christians.

- 7. Reference to the recital of Qur’an by Ja’far Ibn Abu Talib and its effect on the Christian King Najjashi (Negus) of Abyssinia during the first immigration of the Muslims taking refuge there resulting in his embracing Islam along with a number of his Clergies and the monks who accompanied Ja’far on his return to Madina, which coincided with the victory of Khaybar at the hands of Ali Ibn Abi Talib.

Topic Tags:

- Qur'anic Exegesis (Tafsir) [8]

- Surat al-Nisa [9]

- Surat al-Maida [10]

Author(s):

- Mirza Mahdi Pooya [2]

- S.V. Mir Ahmad Ali [3]

Publisher(s):

- Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an [4]

Source URL: https://al-islam.org/holy-quran-final-testament-juz-6-mirza-mahdi-pooya-sv-mir-ahmad-ali

Links
[1] https://www.addtoany.com/share
[2] https://al-islam.org/person/mirza-mahdi-pooya
[3] https://al-islam.org/person/sv-mir-ahmad-ali
[4] https://al-islam.org/organization/tahrike-tarsile-quran
[5] https://al-islam.org/printpdf/book/export/html/196884
[6] https://al-islam.org/printepub/book/export/html/196884
[7] https://al-islam.org/printmobi/book/export/html/196884
[8] https://al-islam.org/tags/tafsir
[9] https://al-islam.org/tags/surat-al-nisa
[10] https://al-islam.org/tags/surat-al-maida