بَرِىٓءٌ

4:167; 13:44; 29:53.

Commentary:

God Himself answers the question which He has put in the beginning of the verse; for the disbelievers did not know how to answer. They could not think that God also could bear witness. The answer has been given by God in order to instruct and teach believers.

Now the question is, how does God bear witness? This verse and the next two mention three ways by which God bears witness to the truth of the Holy Prophet. The first is by means of the Quran. This Quran has been revealed to me, the verse calls upon the Holy Prophet to say, so that with it I may warn you and whomsoever it reaches. These words signify that whosoever opposes the Quran and obstructs it will be visited by Divine punishment. This punishment will constitute God’s testimony to the truth of the Holy Prophet. The second and the third ways by which God bears witness are mentioned in the verses that follow.

Commentary:

See collective note under 6:80 below.

6:44; 16:64; 27:25; 29:49.

14:23; 59:17.

Important Words:

جار (protector) is derived from جار which means, he declined or deviated. جاورہ means, he became his neighbour, or he lived in his neighbourhood. جاورہ also means, he bound himself to him by a covenant to protect him. جار means, a neighbour; a person whom one protects; one who seeks protection; also a protector (Lane).

نکص (he turned). نکص عن الامر means, he receded or retired or drew back from the thing or the affair; or he recoiled or shrank from it in fear. نکص علی عقبیه means, he turned back from a thing to which he had applied himself (Lane).

Commentary:

For the meaning of the word "Satan", see 2:15. The word here means, one who misleads or gives evil advice. The person referred to in the verse is reported to be Suraqah bin Malik bin Ju‘sham who incited the Meccans against the Muslims but who afterwards embraced Islam.

The Meccan army was still at Mecca when some of the Quraishite leaders gave expression to the fear that Banu Bakr, a branch of Banu Kananah, who were hostile to the Quraish, might surprise Mecca during their absence or attack the Meccan army from the rear. Their fears were allayed by Suraqah, a chief of Banu Kananah, who assured them that his tribesmen would do them no harm (Jarir, x. 13).

The words, I see what you see not, signify that when Suraqah saw the grim determination of the Muslims, fear took hold of him; for on seeing them he was convinced that the Muslims would win or die. This was exactly what ‘Utbah and ‘Umair also saw and felt when they told the Meccans that the Muslims looked like so many "seekers of death" (Tabari). Suraqah uttered the words, I fear Allah, not because he really feared God at that time but because he wished to find an excuse to flee from the battlefield.

9:2.

4:139.

Important Words:

اذان (proclamation) is derived from اذن which means, he gave ear or listened; he permitted or allowed; he knew or he became informed, etc. آذن means, he informed, or notified or announced. اذان means, notification, announcement or call.

بری (clear) see 9:1 above. But whereas in that verse the word signifies absolution from obligations and from fulfilment of promises made by Islam, in the present verse it simply signifies being clear of a person or a thing, i.e. having nothing to do with him or it (Lane).

Commentary:

The declaration, contained in this verse and the one that follows, is different from that embodied in 9:1 & 2 above, for whereas vv. 9:1 & 2 relate to absolution from the fulfilment of promises made to idolaters, the present verse pertains to the severance of connections with them. This severance, however, should not be taken to mean that the verse declares Islam to be free from all treaty obligations; for, as the following verse makes it clear, treaties are to be respected in all cases and must not be violated.

It is related that on his return from Tabuk in the ninth year of the Hijrah, the Holy Prophet sent Abu Bakr to Mecca to announce, on the occasion of the Greater Pilgrimage, that henceforward no one would be allowed to perform the circuit of the Ka‘bah naked or unclothed. Immediately afterwards the first portion of this Surah was revealed. Upon this the Holy Prophet sent ‘Ali to Mecca, and he, as his cousin and representative, after reciting the opening verses of this Surah, made a proclamation containing the following two announcements before the pilgrims who had gathered at Mecca from all parts of Arabia:

1. No idolater shall approach the House of God after this year.

2. Treaties and engagements, made by the Holy Prophet with idolatrous tribes, shall stand and be faithfully respected till the end of their term. The idolaters of Arabia and the hypocrites of Medina had, by their plots and conspiracies against Muslims and by their persistent treacherous conduct, lost all claim to the clemency of the Holy Prophet. When he was absent on the expedition to Tabuk, they spread the false rumour that the whole Muslim army had been captured and the Prophet was dead. Moreover, Abu ‘Amir, a mischievous Arab leader, had gone to Syria to bring a Christian army to attack Muslims and in Arabia itself secret preparations had begun for a general rising. But for the timely return of the Holy Prophet, these plots would have resulted in great disturbance and heavy loss of life. When, on his return, the Holy Prophet learnt of the great mischief, set on foot in his absence and the plots hatched to deal a death-blow to Islam, he, with a view to preventing a recrudescence of such mischief ordered that henceforth no idolater could stay in the Hijaz with the exception of those with whom he had entered into a treaty, and these, too, were allowed to stay only till the expiry of the term of their treaty. The order was justified not only by the persistently treacherous conduct of the idolaters, but also by other political and cultural considerations which demanded its promulgation. The Hijaz had now become the religious as well as the political centre of Islam, and its interests demanded that it should be purged of all foreign and harmful elements likely to endanger its integrity and prove dangerous to the nascent Muslim community which had been brought into being to carry the message of the new Faith to the four corners of the earth.

2:140; 109:7.

Commentary:

This verse throws interesting light on the catholicity and broad-mindedness of Islam. Disbelievers are told here that if they prefer to reject the Holy Prophet, they are at perfect liberty to do so. In fact, whenever there exists a difference of views between two parties, each party has the right to show the other to be in error. But this difference should not be allowed to go further, and one party should not compel the other party to accept its views.

The verse declares that when it is well known that believers and disbelievers are two distinct and separate parties and there is no likelihood of the one being mistaken for the other, and when their ways of working are also different, then there is no reason why compulsion should be resorted to. Compulsion may only be exercised when the conduct of one party is likely to bring discredit to the other party. But, situated as they are, the works of a Prophet and of his followers bring no discredit to disbelievers, nor do the actions of disbelievers bring any discredit to believers. Therefore, there is no justification for either of the two classes to bring compulsion to bear on the other.

The verse is also capable of another interpretation. It may mean that the works of the Holy Prophet are quite distinct from those of the disbelievers and there is no similarity between the two. This being so, the result would show whose works are right and whose wrong. When there is similarity between the works of two parties, it is difficult to determine definitely the cause of the progress or degeneration, as the case may be, of one party or the other. But when there exists absolutely no similarity between the works of two parties, everybody is in a position to fix responsibility for the result.

46:9.

Commentary:

The words, Say, If I have forged it, on me be my sin, refer to Noah and not to the Holy Prophet, and mean that God commanded Noah to tell his people that if in what he had said to them he had forged a lie against God, he would certainly be punished for it, so they need not worry about it. But if he was speaking the truth and was a true Messenger of God, then they had committed a great sin by rejecting him and would surely be called to account.

By saying, I am clear of the sins you commit, Noah clears himself of the charge of imposture in another way also. He points to his previous spotless life as proof of his truthfulness, for if he was free from the various sins in which his people were involved, he could not be expected to be so depraved as to forge lies against God, which was the most heinous of all sins.

Important Words:

اعترك (have visited thee) is derived from the root عرو. They say عراہ (as also اعتراہ), i.e. he came to him; or he repaired to him, seeking his aid or bounty. عراہ الامر means, the affair or event came upon him or befell him. اعتراہ said of a malady or of a diabolical possession, etc. means, it befell or betided him; or it attacked him; or it was incidental to him. اعتراہ also means, he or it rendered him possessed or insane or unsound in intellect or in some limb (Lane).

Commentary:

The words, I am clear of that which you associate as partners with God, constitute a strong reply to the allegation of disbelievers that their gods had caused Hud’s mind to become deranged. He says to them in reply that if they think that any of their gods has afflicted his mental powers, then let them know that he roundly condemned all their false gods and evil practices, and so let their deities do their worst against him.

The expression, I call Allah to witness, means, "You have refused to listen to reason. So now I pray to God that He may distinguish the truth from falsehood by mighty Signs from heaven."

8:49; 14:23.

Commentary:

The verse mentions one more mark of a hypocrite. When relying upon his seductive promises his victim gets involved in trouble, he leaves him alone, disowning all responsibility for his misfortune.