ROOT ق ذ ف

28:9.

Important Words:

For التابوت see 2:249.

عینی (My eye). عین means, (1) the eye; (2) look or view; (3) the people or inmates of a house or dwelling; (4) brothers from the same father and mother; (5) protection or honour (Lane). The expression علی عینی means, before my eyes, or, under my protection. See also 11:38.

تصنع (be reared) is derived from صنع. They say صنع الشیء i.e. he made the thing. صنع الفرس means, he looked after the horse. صنع ابنته means, he properly brought up his daughter. صنع (sun‘un) means, to do a thing properly and well. اصطنع الشیء means, he ordered the thing to be prepared for him. اصطنعه means, he taught him and trained and brought him up. اصطنع عندہ صنیعة means, he did him a favour. اصطنعه لنفسه means, he chose him for himself. اصطناع means, to mend or reform a thing thoroughly and well (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

As Moses was to have been entrusted with the great and difficult task of delivering a people held in bondage for long by a cruel and powerful monarch, it was necessary that he should have received the requisite training for the great mission under royal tutors and teachers. So it was in fulfilment of this divine plan that he found his way into Pharaoh’s own house.

The reference in the verse is to the Biblical narrative. See Exod. 2:1-10.

The expression فلیلقه is in the imperative mood and signifies command, meaning, We commanded that the river should cast it on to the bank.

Important Words:

موعدک (thy promise) means, the promise which we made to thee.

Commentary:

Whereas the Quran in this verse says that the Egyptians gave the Israelites jewels of gold and silver of their own accord, the Bible accuses them of having despoiled the Egyptians of their ornaments (Exod. 12:36). But, as generally is the case, in this respect also the Bible has contradicted itself. At another place (Exod. 12:35) it says that the Egyptians themselves gave the ornaments to the Israelites and insisted that they should leave Egypt forthwith. Reason and common sense support the Quranic and the latter statement of the Bible.

17:82; 34:50.

Important Words:

نقذف (We hurl) is derived from قذف. They say قذفه i.e. he cast an accusation at him; he aspersed or he reviled; defamed or upbraided him; he cast or threw it. قذف بقوله means, he spoke without thinking or deliberation. یقذفون بالغیب means, they utter conjecture; they guess. یقذف بالحق علی الباطل means, God utters truth or hurls truth at falsehood (Lane & Aqrab).

یدمغه (breaks its head). دمغه means, he broke or struck his head so that the wound or stroke reached to the دماغ i.e. brain (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

Truth must prevail in the world and falsehood is never allowed to succeed. It seems to prosper for a little while but ultimately it perishes. This irrefutable fact is writ large on the history of all religions. The verse purports to say that if the universe had been created without a great object, God would not have revealed Himself to man and Divine Messengers would not have appeared through whom truth is established in the world. It also embodies a prophecy that as a result of the Holy Prophet’s advent idolatry will disappear from Arabia never to return and truth will prosper and prevail and the worship and Unity of God will become firmly established in the land.

59:3.

Commentary:

The reference in the verse is to the tragic fate of the perfidious Banu Quraizah. They had entered into a solemn treaty with the Holy Prophet that they would aid and help Muslims if an enemy attacked Medina. But at the time of the Battle of the Ditch they were prevailed upon by Huyayy, the leader of the Banu Nadir to break their plighted word with the Holy Prophet and join the grand confederacy against Islam. When the attack of the confederated hosts fizzled out, the Holy Prophet marched against them, and besieged them in their strongholds. The siege continued for about 25 days after which they agreed to lay down their arms and preferred to submit to the award of Sa‘d bin Ma‘adh, the chief of the tribe of Aus, rather than to that of the Holy Prophet. Sa‘d decided the case according to the Mosaic Law (Deut. 20:10-15), viz. that combatants be put to the sword and non-combatants taken prisoner. According to different accounts from 300 to 700 persons were put to the sword. The award of Sa‘d may seem a little severe but it was of the Banu Quraizah’s own seeking and choice and the Holy Prophet had nothing to do with it, except that he was in honour bound to get it executed. Moreover, the award was quite in harmony with the laws of civilized warfare and was a fit and fully deserved punishment for their brazen-faced treachery and perfidy.

5:117.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that a further proof, if proofs are still needed, to establish the truth of the claim of the Holy Prophet, is that truth shall triumph over falsehood and the Prophet shall succeed in his mission.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that disbelievers are making foolish conjectures about the failure of the Prophet’s mission. These conjectures being far removed from the source of "the unseen" or from reality, reason and truth are quite foolish and baseless.

26:212-213.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that all the tall claims of astrologers and soothsayers that they have access to the secrets of the unknown are false and unfounded. They do not and cannot have access to well-guarded divine secrets (15:10). It further appears from the Quran that none can know the Word of God until it is revealed to a Prophet (72:27-28). If it were possible for "satans" to have access to things that are under the special protection of God such as His Word, etc. then its very sanctity and inviolability would have become subject to serious doubts. In fact, divine secrets are God’s specially guarded preserve to which satans can have no access (26:213) and which are made known only to God’s chosen servants and His Elect.

16:27; 39:26.

3:152; 8:13.

Commentary:

There lived at Medina three Jewish tribes—Banu Qainuqa‘, Banu Nadir and Banu Quraizah. The present verse refers to the banishment from Medina of the Banu Nadir. This tribe like Banu Qainuqa‘ before them, had acted treacherously towards Muslims on several occasions. They had hatched plots and had entered into secret alliances against them, with their enemies. They had repeatedly broken their plighted word and had repudiated the solemn agreement that they would remain neutral between the Holy Prophet and his enemies, and even had conspired to take his life. Their leader Ka‘b bin Ashraf had gone to Mecca to enlist the help of the Quraish and of other pagan tribes around Mecca in order to drive out the Muslims from Medina. After the temporary reverse suffered by Muslims at Uhud, their machinations and defiance of the Prophet had greatly increased. It was when the cup of their iniquities had become full to the brim and their presence in Medina had proved to be a constant source of mortal danger to Muslims and the Islamic State that the Holy Prophet had to take action against them. They were told to leave Medina. But the Prophet was exceptionally kind and considerate to them. He allowed them to carry their goods and chattels with them, and they departed from Medina in perfect safety, but not until they had despaired of the help they had expected from their Meccan allies and from the hypocrites of Medina, and had also found that their fortresses which they thought were impregnable could not save them. The Holy Prophet laid siege to the fortresses and after vainly holding out for about 21 days, they surrendered. They all left for Syria, only two families choosing to remain behind at Khaibar.

The reference in the words, "at the time of the first banishment" may be to the banishment of the Jewish tribe of BanuQainuqa‘ who had been expelled from Medina, sometime after the Battle of Badr, for their intrigues and defiance of the authority of the Holy Prophet, to whom they had pledged allegiance as the acknowledged Head of the Medina Republic. Or the words may refer to the banishment by the Holy Prophet from Medina of the three above-mentioned Jewish tribes. This was the first banishment. ‘Umar, the Holy Prophet’s Second Successor, however, banished all Jews from the whole of Arabia for the second and last time. Thus the words, "at the time of the first banishment" may be taken as embodying a prophecy that after the Jewish tribes of Medina will have been banished by the Holy Prophet, all the Jews of Arabia would suffer the same fate at some later time.

Before departing from Medina the Banu Nadir had destroyed their houses and other movable property before the very eyes of Muslims, because the Holy Prophet had given them ten days to dispose of their affairs as they liked. Thus the Jews of Medina were the originators of the scorched earth policy, centuries before the Russians had adopted it in the World War I1. The reference in the words "they destroyed their houses with their own hands," is to that policy.

The words, "you would not think that they would go forth," show that in view of the material resources, political alliances and organization of the Jews of Medina, the Muslims could not conceive that they could be driven out of Medinaso easily and without any loss of human life on either side.