ROOT ج ب ر

Important Words:

جبّارین (haughty and powerful) is the plural of جبار which is derived from جبر. They say جبرالعظم (jabaral-‘azma) or جبّرالعظم(jabbaral-‘azma), i.e. he set the bone; he reduced it from the fractured state. جبرالرجل (jabaral-rajula) or جبّرالرجل (jabbaral-rajula) means, he restored the man from the state of poverty and weakness to that of wealth and strength. جبرت الیتیم means, I put the affairs of the orphan into good order. جبّره means, he compelled and forced him against his will. جبّار means, one who magnifies himself and behaves proudly, haughtily and insolently; one who slays when in anger or one who slays unjustly; one who domineers over others by absolute force and power; one extravagant in acts of wrongdoing, disobedience and rebellion; one huge, tall and strong; a giant. When used about God, الجبّار means, One Who can force His creatures to obey His commands; the Supreme, the Unattainable, the High above His creatures; the Restorer of the poor and the weak to wealth and power; the Reformer of the people by raising them from a low state to a high one (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

Compare this insolent and cowardly attitude of the companions of Moses to the willing and almost unbelievable sacrifices of the Companions of the Holy Prophet, who were ever eager to jump into the very jaws of death at the bidding of their Master.

Commentary:

The word تلك (these) points to the worldly greatness and grandeur of the tribe of ‘Ad. It has been used to hint that although the ‘Adites were a powerful people, yet when they behaved insolently and wickedly and rejected the Divine Messenger, they came to nought.

Commentary:

The expression, And they prayed for victory, may apply both to the Prophets and their opponents. The praying of the Prophets for God’s help and victory, after they had been vouchsafed definite Divine promises that they would succeed, in no way reflects on Divine promises or on the Prophets’ belief in the Divine origin of those promises. In fact, the Divine promise given to a Prophet about the final triumph of his cause does not mean that he should give up making necessary efforts for the success and triumph of his mission or soliciting Divine assistance. On the contrary, it becomes all the more incumbent on a Divine Messenger to do his best lest, through some lapse on the part of some of his followers or a weakening of his own efforts, the final victory may be delayed. That Muslims are enjoined to pray for the assistance of God even after definite and positive Divine promises of victory are given to them is clear from the Quran (3:195). Nor are these two things contradictory to each other. The Holy Prophet was given a clear promise of his triumphant return to Mecca (28:86), yet he continued to pray and work hard for the fulfilment of this Divine promise.

If, however, the words, they prayed for victory, be applied to disbelievers, they would mean that they sought by all means to win victory over the Prophets, but it was foolish on their part to do so, for those who oppose the Prophets of God never meet with success. Their prayers are doomed "to come to naught."

6:152; 19:33; 29:9; 31:15; 46:16.

Important Words:

براً (dutiful) is derived from بر (barra). والدہ means, he treated or behaved towards his father with filial piety, duty or obedience. برخالقهmeans, he obeyed his Creator. برفی یمینه means, he was true in his oath. برعمله means, his work was good or well-performed. بر اللّٰه حجته means, God accepted his pilgrimage. بر (barrun) of which the plural is ابرار and بررة therefore means, pious, obedient, dutiful, kind, good or affectionate. البر (burr) and البار both signify abounding in بر (birr), البر having greater intensification than البار and is one of the attributes of God meaning, the Merciful; the Compassionate God (Aqrab & Lane).

19:15, 33.

Commentary:

The present and the preceding two verses refer to a period when Jesus had already become invested with prophethood. It is an insult to human intelligence and common sense and to belie facts of history and also to betray one’s utter lack of knowledge of the Quranic style and Arabic idiom to say that the words of vv. 31-33 were spoken by Jesus while he was yet a child and therefore constituted a great miracle. A mere babe who sucked the breast of his mother could not say that he was a most obedient and faithful servant of God or that God had given him a Book or that he said Prayers and gave alms or that he was dutiful to his mother and was not haughty. All this talk seems to be a tissue of lies. Jesus could not and did not do any of these things while yet a baby but rather when he had attained to prophethood. It may be argued that the miracle consisted in the fact that Jesus could talk while yet a baby in the cradle but this purpose could equally have been served by his speaking only a few words. If only he had rebuked the elders of the Jews for calumniating his mother in a single sentence they would surely have been taken aback and completely confounded and the purpose of the miracle would have been fully served. But where was the necessity of putting a long discourse in Jesus’ mouth which was not true? The truth is that the miracle did not lie in the supposed infantile talk of Jesus but in the imagination of the commentators themselves.

In this and the preceding two verses Jesus has been described as saying that (1) he is a servant of God; (2) God has given him the Book; (3) He has made him a Prophet; (4) He has made him blessed; (5) He has enjoined upon him Prayer and alms-giving; (6) He has made him dutiful to his mother and that (7) He has not made him haughty and unblessed. All these words put in Jesus’ mouth by the Quran have been amply supported and corroborated by the Bible:

(1) As regards Jesus’ being a humble servant of God, subject to human weaknesses and frailties and to the demands and calls of nature and not being God or Son of God, the Bible says:

And when he had fasted forty days and nights, he afterwards hungered (Matt. 4:2).

But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, –but the father (Mark 13: 32).

And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? None is good save one, that is God (Mark 10: 18).

(2) About the fact that Jesus was given a Book which he followed and taught, the Bible says:

Think not that I come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled (Matt. 5:17, 18).

(3) The Bible also supports the Quranic statement that Jesus was only a Prophet of God and not God or the Son of God. It says:

And He that sent me is with me (John 8: 29).

Neither came I of myself, but He sent me (John 8: 42).

He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, (Isaiah 61: 1-3; Luke 4: 15-22).

And the multitudes said, This is the Prophet, Jesus, of Nazareth of Galilee (Matt. 21:11).

(4) About Jesus’ being blessed the Bible depicts Elizabeth, the mother of John, as saying to Mary, the mother of Jesus:

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb (Luke 1: 42).

And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him, blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked (Luke 11: 27).

(5) The fifth thing that the Quran tells us about Jesus is that God had enjoined upon him Prayer and alms-giving. About this the Bible says as follows:

And he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed (Luke 5: 16).

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground (Luke 22: 44).

Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s (Matt. 22: 21).

(6) Last of all, Jesus has been described as being humble and blessed with success. In regard to this the Bible says:

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Matt. 11: 29).

Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass (Matt. 21: 5).

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16: 33).

Commentary:

This verse shows that the Adites were a highly powerful people of the time. They had developed imperialistic tendencies and had sought to subjugate weaker communities and destroy their cultures. This seems to be the significance of the words, "And when you lay hands upon anyone, you lay hands as tyrants."

Commentary:

The words "who was an enemy to both of them," show that the man referred to was an Egyptian. But if he was an Israelite as the Bible says then he must have been in league with the Egyptians and must have reported the previous day’s incident to the authorities and thus was an enemy both to Moses and the Israelite who called Moses for help.

7:72; 13:14.

6:108; 39:42; 42:7.

Commentary:

The verse shows that the resurrection to which reference has been made in the preceding verse was to be brought about by the preaching and teaching of the Quran. The Surah had opened with the subject of the Final Resurrection, and the great eminence and glory which the Muslims were to achieve through the Quran was advanced as an argument in its support. God, Man, Creation and Resurrection are the four pillars on which the whole edifice of the Quranic teaching stands, and the present Surah derives its importance from the fact that it has dealt with these subjects in some detail.

7:181; 20:9; 62:2.

Commentary:

God is the King Who is free from every fault, defect, or deficiency. He is the Source of all peace, and the Granter of safety and security. He is Guardian over all, overcoming every power, the Mender of every breakage and the Restorer of every loss; and He is above every need and is the Besought of all.