عَشْر

7:161.

Important Words:

عصا (rod). عصا الرجل means, he beat the man with a rod. عصا القوم means, he brought together the people, or he made them agree on some matter of common concern. عصا means: (1) a rod strong enough to support the weight of a man; (2) communal and family life; (3) a community; (4) the shin-bone (Aqrab).

الحجر (rock) is from حجر i.e. it prevented or resisted. الحجر means, a stone; a great mass of stone; a rock (Lane).

Commentary:

This verse mentions another favour bestowed on the Israelites. When once they were hard pressed by thirst and no water was procurable in the desert, God saved them by revealing to Moses the knowledge of a rock from which water flowed out when struck with a rod.

The demand of the Israelites for water and their being supplied with it is mentioned at two places in the Bible. At one place mention is made of the twelve springs of Elim, but nothing is said there of Moses’ striking the rock with his rod (Exod. 15:27). At the other place, Moses, by divine command, struck the rock Horeb with his rod, and there flowed out abundant water with which the Israelites and their animals slaked their thirst (Exod. 17:1-7 Numb. 20:2-11). Here no mention is made of the number of springs. It appears that the Quran refers to the occurrence relating to the rock of Horeb because, with the only difference that the Bible does not give the number of springs whereas the Quran gives a definite number, almost all the details narrated in the Bible concur with the narrative of the Quran. As for the slight difference with regard to the number of springs, reason favours the narrative of the Quran. The Israelites numbered several thousands besides riding animals and beasts of burden, and one spring was certainly insufficient for such a large number, especially when we take into consideration the fact that the thirsty Israelites were, according to the Bible, in a state of extreme exasperation at that time and were prepared even to stone Moses to death. It is possible, however, that at the source there was only one mouth of the spring, but it divided into twelve channels as it flowed down the rock, the number being in conformity with the number of the Israelite tribes.

If at present there is no trace of the twelve springs at that spot, it is no wonder; for it is a matter of common experience that sometimes several springs rising at the same spot have some of their openings closed and cease to flow. From a testimony quoted by Sale, however, it appears that even as late as the end of the fifteenth century, twelve springs actually flowed there. He says: "The rock stands within the border of Arabia and some of his (the Prophet’s) countrymen must needs have seen it if he himself had not, as it is most probable he had. And in effect he seems to be in the right. For one who went into those parts in the end of the fifteenth century tells us expressly that the water issued from twelve places of the rock, according to the number of the tribes of Israel" (Al-Koran by Sale, page 8).

The miracle of Moses on this occasion did not lie in bringing about a thing against the known laws of nature, but in the fact that God revealed to him the specific spot where water was just ready to flow at a blow of his rod. It is within the experience of those who study geological conditions in rocky districts that sometimes water flows underneath small hillocks or rocks and gushes forth when the rock is struck with something heavy or pointed.

As Manna and Salwa had already been bestowed on the Israelites, God now fittingly asks them to eat and drink of what Allah has provided. But as a life of ease and independence is likely to make men arrogant and mischievous, God at the same time warns the Israelites to exercise self-restraint and refrain from creating trouble and disorder in the land.

2:241.

2:229.

Important Words:

یتوفون (who die) is derived from توفی which is derived from وفی (wafa). They say وفی بالعھد i.e. he fulfilled his promise; he was faithful in his word. وفی فلانا حقه (waffa) means, he gave him his right in full. اوفی gives both the meanings ascribed to وفی and وفی(waffa) above. توفی means, he took something in full, as they say توفی حقه i.e. he got or obtained his right in full. توفی الله زیداmeans, God took away the soul of Zaid, leaving the body behind; God caused Zaid to die. توفی فلان means, his soul was taken away, i.e. he died. In this case God is متوفی (mutawaffi) and the man who dies is متوفی (mutawaffa). الوفاة means, death (Aqrab). The Quran says: الله یتوفی الانفس حین موتھاوالتی لم تمت فی منامھا i.e. God takes away the souls of men at the time of their death; and He also takes away the souls of men that have not died, during their sleep (39:43). The Arabic idiom, which has the support of the Quranic usage, definitely shows that wherever God is فاعل (i.e. subject) and a being having a soul is مفعول به(i.e. object) the word توفی invariably means, the taking away of the soul.

Commentary:

After having dealt with the question of the remarriage of divorced women, the Quran in this verse proceeds to issue commandments regarding widows. The عدة i.e. the period of waiting in the case of widows, is four months and ten days which roughly corresponds to four alternate periods of menstruation and purity combined. Islam has prescribed a longer period in the case of a widow as a mark of respect for her feelings at the death of her husband and has thus added to the dignity and sanctity of the marriage tie.

This verse also implies a rebuke to those who are opposed to widow remarriage, thinking it to be an insult to the family and a disgrace to the widowed woman. The words, what is fair, show that it is not only lawful, but preferable and desirable, for a widow to remarry. The words, in anything that they do with regard to themselves, obviously refer to remarriage. Elsewhere the Quran says, And marry your widows (24:33).

2:52.

Commentary:

The promised nights were only thirty, and ten were added subsequently to increase the favour. In fact, God’s communion with Moses was completed in the promised thirty nights, as hinted in the next verse. So the prolongation of the period by ten nights, which was due to the request of Moses to God to manifest Himself to him, did not form part of the promise but was something additional.

The words, Act for me among my people in my absence, clearly indicate that Aaron’s position was subordinate to that of Moses. Moses called the Israelites "my people" and directed Aaron to act for him, i.e. officiate in his place during his absence, which shows that Aaron occupied no independent position but was only a subordinate Prophet to Moses.

The words, and follow not the ways of those who cause disorder, are intended as a warning to Aaron to beware of the mischief-makers and adopt a strong policy.

The use of the word "nights" is significant. As this period was meant to be passed in meditation and devotion for which the quiet and calmness of the night is much more suitable than the day, so God used the word "nights".

4:41; 27:90; 28:85.

Commentary:

The verse beautifully illustrates how the mercy of God transcends and predominates over His wrath or punishment. A good deed is like a good seed that brings forth a produce ten times its number and even more, (2:262; 4:41; 10:27-28; also Tirmidhi, ch. on, Fasting), whereas an evil deed is counted as only one deed. The verse also throws light on the fact that where there are to be rewards and punishments, there must be a law and a system. There can be no rewarding or punishing without a law.

5:13.

2:61.

2:58; 20:81.

Commentary:

See notes on 2:58 & 61.

The words, And they wronged Us not, mean that they did not harm the cause of the religion revealed by God

2:24; 10:39; 17:89; 52:34-35.

Commentary:

This verse corroborates the interpretation put on the previous one. The latter gave two answers to the disbelievers’ vain hope that the Holy Prophet might abandon a portion of the Quran for fear of their objections, viz.: (1) that the Holy Prophet was only a Warner; he did not lay claim to Godhead that he might be required to have with him treasures and angels; (2) that he was only the bearer of a Message from God and his duty was confined to delivering that Message to the people. Now disbelievers could have replied to these arguments by saying that his claim to have come from God was but an empty assertion and that he was an impostor, as he was not attended with any special power. The verse under comment answers this objection by saying that although the Holy Prophet did not possess treasures of gold or silver, yet he possessed vast spiritual treasures the like of which were not possessed by the whole world collectively; and that those treasures were embodied in the Quran. So if they objected that the Holy Prophet was not a true Prophet and that certain portions of his Message were defective and needed to be altered, then let them bring forward a work comparable not to the whole of the Quran, but only to ten such chapters of it as they deemed to be defective. If, however, they could not produce a book comparable even to these so-called defective portions, which they thought needed to be changed, then they would have to admit that the Prophet of Islam did indeed possess a treasure the like of which none could produce. For full discussion of this subject, see under 2:24 where all similar verses of the Quran have been collectively treated.

Commentary:

عشرا (ten days) here signifies ten centuries. The reference is to the ten centuries after the Hijrah during which the European nations remained in a state of inactivity and dormancy. It was in the beginning of the 17th century, exactly one thousand years after the Holy Prophet began to preach his mission in the beginning of the 7th century A.D., that the nations of Europe came out of their hibernation and began to spread over the world and conquer it. See also 18:20.

Commentary:

The construction of the verse does not seem to lend countenance to the conclusion generally considered derivable from it, viz. that Shu‘aib or Jethro agreed to marry one of his daughters to Moses in lieu of eight or ten years of service. The fact of the matter appears to be that Shu‘aib having grown very old needed an honest man to look after his flocks and Moses having been found as possessing the required qualifications was taken in service by him at the instance of one of his daughters. Eight or ten years were agreed upon as the tenure of service. Shu‘aib, however, being a holy man either himself realized or was informed by God that a great future lay before Moses. He, therefore, offered to marry one of his daughters to him and, desiring that his son-in-law should live with him for some time and benefit by his noble company, laid it down as one of the conditions of marriage that Moses should stay with him for eight or ten years. Thus it is not correct to say that Shu‘aib offered to marry his daughter to Moses in lieu of the latter serving him for eight or ten years. Whatever remuneration Moses might have received from Shu‘aib had nothing to do with the marriage proposal.

The flight of Moses from Egypt and his stay in Midian for ten years bears a striking resemblance to the residence of the Holy Prophet for ten years in Medina after his Hijrah from Mecca. Moses must have, in a large measure, benefited himself spiritually by his God-fearing and righteous father-in-law’s company just as his upbringing in the house of Pharaoh had equipped him with temporal knowledge. But the noble Prophet of Islam was indebted to no human being for the great treasures of spiritual and temporal knowledge possessed by him. He had received them direct from God.

The expression من عندک means, 'It would be an additional favour from you.'

Commentary:

The word لیل meaning, a night, may signify one year after the Hijrah in the case of the Holy Prophet and one century in the case of the Promised Messiah. Thus "the Ten Nights" represent the ten dark years of severe persecution to which Muslims were subjected at Mecca before the Holy Prophet’s Migration to Medina which has been likened to the break of the dawn in the preceding verse. Or "the Ten Nights" may refer to the ten centuries of the decline and decadence of Islam before the advent of the Promised Messiah, with which ended a dark period of degradation, and which ushered in the dawn of a glorious future for Islam. An implied reference to these "Ten Nights" of the decline of Islam is also to be found in the Quranic verse: "He will plan the Divine Ordinance from the heavens unto the earth, then shall it go up to Him in a day the duration of which is thousand years according to what you reckon" (32:6). These ten centuries (or a thousand years) of the moral decadence of Muslims came after the first three centuries of the heyday of their glory and grandeur which have been called the best three centuries of Islam by the Holy Prophet (Bukhari, Kitabur-Riqaq). The decline of Islam began towards the end of the third century A.H. when on the one hand an Umayyad Caliph of Spain signed a pact of mutual assistance with the Pope against the Abbasid Empire of Baghdad and, on the other, the Caliph of Baghdad entered into a treaty of friendship with the Caesar of Rome against the Umayyad Caliph of Spain.