Ruku 181 ع

45:17.

45:18.

Commentary:

Among the "good things" mentioned in this verse as having been bestowed on the Israelites, Divine revelation occupied the foremost place, for it mostly pertains to the spirit and comes direct from God. The words "good things" may also be taken in their material sense. In Egypt the Israelites worked as labourers and lived an ignoble life. But after their deliverance from bondage, God provided them with the good things of this world.

By the word علم (knowledge) in the clause, until there came to them the knowledge, is here meant the Quran and not the Torah, for there passed no interval between the revelation of the Torah and the formation of the Israelites into an organized community. Thus they cannot be said to have disagreed among themselves after its revelation.

When the Holy Prophet of Islam was about to make his appearance, the Jews held the belief that a Prophet like unto Moses was to appear very soon; but when the Promised Prophet did actually appear, they differed and disagreed as to whom the prophecies about the Promised Prophet applied. Some Jews denied that the prophecies had found fulfilment in the Prophet of Islam, while others sought to deny the very existence of any such prophecies in the Bible.

That the disagreement referred to in this verse was the one which arose among the Israelites after the Quran was revealed is also clear from the next verse which says: And if thou, (O addressee) art in doubt concerning that which We have sent down to thee (viz. the Quran). This verse clearly shows that in the verse under comment the "knowledge" after the coming of which the Israelites differed among themselves refers to the Quran.

The Jews were so ardently expecting the Prophet who was to be the like of Moses (Deut. 18:18) and who was to appear in Arabia amongst the descendants of Ishmael, the brethren of the Israelites, that some of them had even migrated to Arabia and had settled in Medina that they might be among the first to believe in him when he made his appearance. It is a strange irony of fate that these very Jewish settlers of Arabia proved to be his bitterest enemies when the Promised Prophet actually made his appearance.

2:148; 10:95; 11:18.

Commentary:

The words, if thou art in doubt, cannot refer to the Holy Prophet, for the Divine Messenger to whom the word of God is revealed can never entertain any doubt about it. Nor can these words be said to refer to any of his Companions, for we read in 12:109, Say, this is my way; I invite unto Allah on sure knowledge—I and those who follow me. It is therefore wrong to say that the Prophet or his Companions, who are represented here as possessing sure knowledge, ever entertained doubt about the truth of the Quran. The persons addressed here are undoubtedly those who differed among themselves after "knowledge" (the Quran) had come to them. See v. 94.

The objecters are further told that if, as they assert, this Book (i.e. the Quran) gives rise to doubts, they should enquire from those who have benefited by reading and acting upon it. They will then find how it has illuminated their hearts and raised them to the highest pinnacles of spiritual glory.

By saying, ask those who have been reading the Book before thee, the verse also makes it clear that a revealed book alone does not make a perfect guide and that a teacher is needed who, by his superior spiritual knowledge and practical example, should lay bare its hidden beauties and excellences.

10:34; 40:7.

Commentary:

By کلمة (word) is here meant the word of warning or threat. The verse means that those who have become deserving of punishment and have made no effort to escape it in spite of warning, will not believe.

10:89.

Commentary:

This verse shows that the signs of God do not benefit those who have no desire to benefit by them. They treat even the greatest of signs as mere fraud. Hence the assertion of disbelievers made in the time of every Prophet that no sign has been shown to them is no evidence of the absence of any sign. One should not be misled by such baseless assertions but should ponder over the claims of a Prophet independently and form one’s own judgement about them. One should judge the signs of the Prophet according to the criteria by which Divine Signs are judged.

37:149.

Important Words:

یونس (Jonah), the name of a Prophet who lived in the 9th Century B. C., is supposed to be derived from انس. They say انس به i.e. he was or became sociable, amiable or friendly with him; he was or became cheerful, gay or gladdened by his presence or company (Lane). See also Commentary below.

Commentary:

For those who are accustomed to pondering over the deep meanings of the Quran, this verse possesses remarkable evidence of the greatness of God’s mercy. The almost pathetic words breathe a strong desire that the world should follow Divine guidance. The verse expresses the deepest regret at the disbelief of the people by asking why there had not been other people who, like the people of Jonah, should have believed in the truth and escaped Divine punishment. The case of the people of Jonah possesses a strong similarity with that of the people of the Holy Prophet. The people of Nineveh first bitterly opposed Jonah so much so that they were threatened with Divine punishment and Jonah prophesied their early destruction; but later they repented and were saved. In the same way, the people of Mecca opposed the Holy Prophet bitterly and persistently, but at the Fall of Mecca they submitted to him and were consequently saved from Divine punishment. Later, all of them believed in his mission and became the inheritors of Divine grace. In this way the Holy Prophet came to bear a great resemblance to the Prophet Jonah.

Jonah is a Prophet who has been mentioned in six different places in the Quran. In 37:140 he has been spoken of as a heavenly Messenger; in 6:87 and 4:164 he has been reckoned among the Prophets of God; in 21:88 and 68:49 he has been called ذوالنون and صاحب الحوت (i.e. "he of the fish" or "the man of the fish"), in allusion to the incident of the fish. Reference has also been made to him in the words of the Holy Prophet who is reported to have said on one occasion, "Do not declare me to be better than Jonah, son of Amittai" (Muslim). The saying does not mean that the Holy Prophet was not superior to the Prophet Jonah, for he uttered these words before he had been informed by God of his superior spiritual rank. Later on, however, he himself said انا سید ولد آدم i.e. "I am the chief of the children of Adam," meaning thereby that he was the best of all mankind and the Head of the human race (Tirmidhi, ch. on al-Manaqib).

The above saying of the Holy Prophet can also be explained in another way, which has a particular bearing on the verse under comment. The superiority referred to in this saying may not mean superiority in all respects but superiority in one respect only, viz. that all the people of Jonah finally believed in him––a distinction which till then was not shared by any other Prophet. Hence the Holy Prophet hesitated to ascribe unqualified superiority to himself over Jonah until he had seen the end of his people. But subsequent events conferred this distinction on him also, as, like the people of Jonah, all his people too finally believed in him.

In the Bible, Jonah is spoken of as an Israelite Prophet (2 Kings 14:25), who was bidden to go to Nineveh and "cry" against it. But fearing that the Ninevites may repent, he fled to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. The Quran differs from the Bible on these points. The Prophets of God are, according to the Quran, incapable of disobeying Him in the way in which Jonah is represented to have done in the Bible. They are held out, in the Quran, as models whose example other people should follow (4:65 & 6:91). Disobedience to God is therefore the last thing of which a Prophet is capable. Again, it appears from the Quran that Jonah was sent to his own people, i.e. to a people to whom he belonged. According to Jewish tradition, however, he was a Jew but was sent to the people of Nineveh, which was the capital of Ashur. So in the light of the Quranic version Jonah was either not an Israelite or he was sent not to Nineveh but to a section of his own people. Biblical scholars themselves are not agreed as to Jonah’s being an Israelite. In the two points on which the Quran differs from the Bible, reason favours the Quran.

6:150; 16:10.

2:257; 18:30.

Commentary:

As the previous verse expressed a desire on the part of God that all men should believe, therefore there is likely to arise in the minds of some people the question why God, Who is All-Powerful, does not carry out His wish and force all men to believe. This question has been very beautifully answered in this verse, which says that if God had exercised compulsion to carry out His wish, He would not have confined His compulsion to one people but would have guided all who are in the earth. But He does not resort to compulsion and has left the matter of faith to the option of individuals, although He desires all His creatures to follow guidance and rise spiritually.

The clause, Wilt thou then force men to become believers?, is capable of two interpretations: (1) It may be taken as an argument in support of the statement made in the first part of the verse. In this case it would mean that God cannot resort to compulsion in the matter of faith, for to compel a person to accept a certain religion can serve no useful purpose. The Quran thus asks the Holy Prophet if he would like to force men to accept his faith against their will and, implying an answer in the negative,—for the Prophet would never countenance compulsion—the verse declares that God, Who knows the secrets of all hearts, cannot have recourse to compulsion. (2) The verse may also be taken to be addressed to each and every believer and to say to him that the denial of truth by disbelievers should not so enrage anyone as to make him resort to compelling men to accept it, arguing that when God, Who is the Lord and Master of all beings, does not use force, no mortal has any right to do so. Whichever of these two interpretations may be put upon this verse, it is clear beyond any shadow of doubt that Islam does not allow the use of force for its propagation.

6:126.

Commentary:

The subject matter of the preceding verse is continued here. The words, And no soul can believe except by the permission of Allah, provide the reason why compulsion should not be resorted to in matters of faith. The verse points out that it is not possible to attain true belief by the mere profession of certain doctrines with the tongue but by the permission of God i.e. by the observance of certain definite and fixed laws of God. Hence it is inconceivable that a person can be made a true believer by compulsion. You cannot intimidate or compel a person into believing a certain thing against his will. It is against the law of nature and against all known workings of the human mind.

The expression, He makes His wrath descend on those who would not use their reason, means that mere lip-profession of those who accept a thing without reason is of no value whatever. On the contrary, such men earn only the wrath of God for their insincere and hypocritical professions.

7:186.

54:6.

Commentary:

The words, Consider what is happening in the heavens and the earth, mean that the factors which are destined to lead to the success and prosperity of the cause of the Holy Prophet are already apparent both in the heavens and the earth and so no compulsion is needed to help a naturally prospering cause. The words, But Signs and Warners avail not a people who will not believe, make the point still clearer, for they establish the fact that when the Quran asks men to consider the happenings of the universe it often means Signs and Warners.

35:44.

11:123.

Important Words:

ایام (days) means here days of Divine punishment. See also 1:4.

Commentary:

Disbelievers are here told that, as in the end Divine punishment does overtake those who persist in rejecting the Prophets of God, therefore they need not demand its speedy arrival, because it is sure to come at its fixed time. It is strange that whereas disbelievers, who in the early days of the preaching of a new Message are the stronger party, display great impatience for the early coming of Divine punishment, the Prophet and his followers, who are the weaker party, do not wish that punishment should come soon. This impatience on the part of disbelievers on the one hand, and equanimity and calmness on the part of believers on the other, in themselves constitute a proof of the believers being in the right. The words put in the mouth of the Holy Prophet, viz. Wait then, and I am with you among those who wait, signify that, although I am being made the target of your tyrannies, yet I am waiting patiently. Why then should you, who are the stronger party and are leading peaceful lives, show such impatience?

30:48; 40:52; 58:22.

Commentary:

Though the preceding verse referred only to the Holy Prophet, the verse under comment uses the word "Messengers" in the plural number in the expression, Then shall We save Our Messengers. The reason for using the plural number instead of the singular is twofold. Firstly, every Prophet represents in principle all other Prophets and the success or failure of one means the success or failure of them all. So if the Holy Prophet had come to grief and the cause of Islam had failed, the truth of all the Prophets would have become doubtful and obscure. Secondly, the use of the plural number also hints at the fact that in future, too, Prophets will appear among Muslims but these Prophets will be Ummati Prophets, i.e. subservient to, and followers of, the Holy Prophet. The substitution of the word "believers" at the end of the verse in place of the word "Messengers" at its beginning also supports this interpretation, for it makes it clear that, while on the one hand these Prophets will be full-fledged heavenly Messengers, on the other, they will be believers in the Holy Prophet.