تَسْـَٔلُ

4:154.

Important Words:

سواء (right) is derived from سوی. They say سوی الرجل i.e. his affairs became straight and well. سواء means: (1) the central portion of a thing; (2) equal. سواء السبیل means, the straight or right portion of a way; or a straight or right way (Lisan & Aqrab).

Commentary:

This verse mentions another artifice which the Jews employed to overthrow the mission of the Holy Prophet. They asked him absurd and silly questions as had no bearing on religion. This they did to inoculate Muslims with the same spirit of stupid questioning, so that their hearts might gradually become estranged from the dignity of faith and give way to doubt. In warning Muslims against such a course, the Quran points out that the Jews had ruined themselves by putting similar questions to Moses, and that the Muslims should, therefore, beware of following their evil example. In fact, unnecessary and irrelevant questions in religious matters eventually lead one to loss of faith, for they tend to degrade religion to a plaything or a piece of idle philosophy.

As to the nature of questions put to Moses by the Israelites, the Quran refers to one in 4:154. Says God: The People of the Book ask thee to cause a Book to descend on them from heaven. They asked Moses a greater thing than this; they said, 'Show us Allah openly.' then a destructive punishment overtook them because of their transgression. Then they took the calf for worship after clear Signs had come to them, but We pardoned even that. And We gave Moses manifest authority. This verse gives us an indication as to the nature of the questions that were put to Moses, and Muslims are forbidden to put such questions to their Prophet.

2:109.

Commentary:

The verse is important, as it sheds light on the principle underlying the Shari‘ah, i.e. the code of Divine Laws. The bases of the Islamic Shari‘ah are threefold: (1) the Law embodied in the Quran, (2) Sunnah or the practice of the Holy Prophet, and (3) the injunctions and precepts contained in his sayings. These three sources of Islamic Law deal with all the fundamental problems of man, but minor details are left to be thought out by man himself in the light of the above three torch-bearers of guidance, aided and assisted by his own God-given intellectual powers and faculties. It is to matters relating to minor details that the present verse refers and God warns the Faithful that the habit of asking questions about such matters will do them more harm than good.

As a matter of fact, God, in His infinite wisdom, leaves sufficient room for individuals to exercise and develop their power of judgement and their reasoning faculty. When man is confronted with situations and circumstances about which he finds no definite and clear-cut guidance in the Quran, or in the practice or sayings of the Holy Prophet, he has to find a way for himself in order to meet them as best he can, keeping always in view the guiding and unalterable principle that nothing is to be done which runs counter to any Quranic injunction or to the established practice and the authentic sayings of the Holy Prophet. Islam is thus not a hard and fast code of laws, for it does not lay down rigid injunctions regarding minor and ever-changing details. On the contrary, it affords sufficient scope for individ-uals to exercise their judgement in order to adapt an injunction of a general nature to meet a new and changed situation. The basic principles, however, are unchangable. But as details continue to change, Islam has not resorted to rigid legislation with regard to minor details and has forbidden Muslims to ask for legislation regarding them. Indeed, it was about filling up these very details to meet new and altered conditions that the Holy Prophet said اختلاف امتی رحمة i.e. "The difference of opinion among my followers is, indeed, a source of mercy". This hadith meant that as it had been left to Muslims to chalk out a way for themselves with regard to such minor details about which no definite pronouncement is to be found in the Shari‘ah, there was bound to be a difference of opinion among Muslim theologians about them, but that this difference would prove a blessing for them because it would afford opportunities for the exercise and cultivation of their reasoning faculties as well as a suitable and flexible law about ever-changing details.

The reader will see that this verse also incidentally refutes the allegations of those who say that the laws of Islam, being rigid and unchangeable, afford not room for the exercise of individual judgement, and that they fetter humanity for all time to hard and fast rules and are thus calculated to impede the intellectual advancement of man rather than help it.

The expression, which if revealed to you would cause you trouble, means that if God or His Prophet had legislated about minor details and had not left such matters to individual discretion so that people might formulate law concerning them according to their own judgement and their own circumstances, they would have found it troublesome and the development of man’s intellect would have become seriously hampered.

38:88; 81:28.

Important Words:

ذکر (honour) means, remembrance; praise or eulogy; eminence or honour, etc. (Lane). See also 2:153.

Commentary:

The word ذکر having been used here in the sense of eminence and honour, the verse asks, why the people should take umbrage at the promises of greatness and glory given to the Holy Prophet, when, if they accept him, they are to share those blessings with him; and why, like the brothers of Joseph, should they think that the Holy Prophet’s greatness would mean their own downfall? The verse thus implies another resemblance of the Holy Prophet with Joseph, inasmuch as his people came to inherit power and glory through him, just as Joseph’s brothers became honoured and respected through him.

52:41; 68:47.

Important Words:

خرجا (reward) is derived from خرج which means, he came or went out or departed. خرج means, disbursement or expenditure; what goes out or is expended of a man’s property; a poll-tax, recompense or reward. خراج means, a tax or tribute that is taken from the property of people; a tax upon land; an impost; a poll-tax; reward or recompense; the taste of fruit (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

Could there be any better evidence of the Holy Prophet’s sincerity of motives and honesty of purpose and of his complete disregard for any recompense or reward for his selfless service than the answer he gave to his kind and loving uncle Abu Talib when, on being pressed by the Quraishite leaders, Abu Talib asked the Holy Prophet to make a compromise with the idolaters and give up preaching against idol-worship? The never-to-be-forgotten answer which the Holy Prophet gave to his uncle was:

"If they were to place the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left and ask me to give up preaching against idolatry, I will never do so till my mission is fulfilled or I perish in the attempt" (Tabari, vol. 3).

23:73; 68:47.

Commentary:

The verse seems to appeal to the good sense of disbelievers and purports to say to them that when, out of a sincere solicitude for their moral and spiritual well-being, the Prophet calls them to the ways of righteousness and asks for no reward for his labours, then why do they not accept him? On the contrary, they oppose and persecute him.

23:73; 52:41.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that God has granted respite to disbelievers that they may listen to and accept the Message of the Prophet who asks for no reward from them, but, on the contrary, actuated by sincere sympathy and solicitude for their spiritual well-being, preaches the Divine Word to them and suffers hardships for their sake.