سَأَلْ

3:113.

2:91; 3:113; 5:61.

2:88; 3:22, 113, 184; 5:71.

Important Words:

فومھا (its wheat). فوم means: (1) wheat; (2) any corn suitable for making bread; (3) garlic; (4) chick-pea (Aqrab).

مصر (a town) means:(1) a town or a city; (2) the frontier between two countries; (3) the thing that intervenes between two things (Aqrab).

یقتلون (would kill) is derived from قتل i.e. he killed. The infinitive means: (1) killing with a sword or with a stone or with poison or by any other means; (2) attempting to kill; (3) making up the mind to kill; (4) boycotting or cutting off all connections; (5) killing one’s carnal desires; (6) weakening the strength of a thing, as alcohol is "killed" with the addition of water, or hunger is "killed" with food, etc.; (7) humbling a person completely; (8) rendering a person like unto one killed either physically or morally or spiritually; (9) acquiring complete and certain knowledge about a thing; and (10) cursing a person or thing (Aqrab, Mufradat & Lisan)

Commentary:

In this verse another instance is cited to show how the Israelites made no effort to turn the favours of God to good account. When they were in the desert, God sent them Manna and Salwa. But soon after this they began to exhibit discontent with one kind of food and to clamour for a variety of grain, onions, salad and green-stuff (Num. 11:5-11). It may be noted that both Manna and Salwa taken together were considered one kind of food as they were taken continuously for a long time. It is further learnt from the Bible that the supply of Salwa was discontinued after a while and the Israelites were thus left to live on Manna alone (Num. 11:6). As the demand was not based on a right understanding of the wisdom of God Who wanted the Israelites to breathe the free air of the desert for a time, they met with disgrace and drew upon themselves the wrath of God.

God’s displeasure with the Israelites was not due to their demand for other food. The real cause lay elsewhere. Having lived for a long time in bondage and a state of dependence, they had become cowardly and indolent. So God wished them to stay in the desert for sometime, living on game and wild herbs, that they might get rid of their cowardice and indolence by living an independent life in the desert. Thus revitalized, they were to be led to the Promised Land and made rulers of Palestine. The Israelites, however, failed to understand the real purpose of God or having understood it, failed to appreciate it, and foolishly insisted upon living in a town. God pointed out their error, saying that they had asked for a life of agriculture in preference to what was to lead them to sovereignty. He wanted to prepare them for rule over the Promised Land, but they hungered for husbandry. So He indignantly ordered them to go down to a town where they would get the desired things.

The Israelites deserved punishment, because their impatience was the outcome of a want of faith in the promise of God. This lack of faith in God was due to their opposition to His Prophets and, disbelief in His Signs, and they opposed the Prophets because they were transgressors and evildoers. The Prophets invited them to guidance and virtue which they disliked, and, as a result, they opposed them. Thus the Quran admirably traces the causal sequence of every evil to its origin and strikes at its very root so as to prevent all possibility of recurrence.

The words, we will not remain content with one kind of food, contain a threat and are full of arrogance. If the Israelites had meant simply to express a wish, the words would have been "we are unable to remain content with one kind of food," and not as they stand in the Quran. The Bible gives a vivid picture of their insolent and almost rebellious attitude on this occasion (Num. 11:5-15).

The words یقتلون النبیین translated in the verse as "would kill the Prophets" do not mean that the Israelites actually killed the Prophets, because, up to the time of Moses, no Prophet is known to have been slain by them. As a matter of fact, Moses is the first Prophet who was sent to the Israelites as a nation. Thus Moses and his brother, Aaron, are the only persons to whom the words can be applied; but obviously these two Prophets were not killed by the Israelites, although the latter often opposed them and were sometimes even bent upon killing them (Exod. 17:4). Hence, the word قتل in the verse cannot possibly mean actual killing. Its only meaning here is that they severely opposed the Prophets and were even prepared to kill them. This interpretation finds corroboration not only in Arabic lexicons, for which see Important Words, but the Quran itself supports it in a number of verses where the word قتل has been used undoubtedly, not in the sense of actual killing but in that of attempting to kill or intending to kill (3:22 and 40:29). Bukhari also relates a tradition to the effect that once certain hot-headed Quraish youths brutally assaulted the Holy Prophet in the precincts of the Ka‘bah, whereupon Abu Bakr rushed to his rescue, saying, اتقتلون رجلا ان یقول ربی الله "Do you kill a man because he says Allah is his Lord and Master?" (chapter on Tafsir). In this hadith the word قتل is clearly used in the sense of attempting to kill or intending to kill and not actual killing.

It will not be out of place to point out here that the purport of verse 2:59 discussed above is altogether different from the one under comment. Though in both of them God apparently orders the Israelites to go to some habitation, yet the meaning is entirely different, rather quite the opposite in each case. As a matter of fact, whereas in verse 2:59 God Himself willingly commands the Israelites to go to some habitation, His ordering them to "go down into a town" in the verse under comment is expressive of definite displeasure and anger. In the previous verse the قریة or habitation meant only a habitation found in the desert by going into which the Israelites did not leave the free desert life but rather combined it with the facilities of a habitation. On the contrary, by "going down into" a مصر i.e. a town or city as mentioned in the verse under comment, they altogether abandoned the desert life and adopted a life of ease, as is led in towns and cities. Hence the difference. This is why the Quran uses the simple word ادخلوا i.e. "enter" in 2:59 and the word اھبطوا i.e. "go down", a term expressive of decline, in the verse under comment. Similarly, whereas in verse 2:59 the Quran follows up the commandment with the words eat therefrom plentifully wherever you like, in the present verse the commandment is followed by the words and they were smitten with abasement and destitution. The difference is apparent. The former expression is indicative of the freedom of life in the desert, and the latter of the suffocating atmosphere and mental slavery of towns and cities.

2:15.

Commentary:

The verse signifies that if and when the hypocrites are asked why they make insulting remarks about the Prophet in their private meetings, they naively reply that they only diverted themselves with idle and playful discourse. The verse proceeds to rebuke them by asking whether they could get hold of nothing else than God and His Messenger to make the butt of their jokes and scoffing.

6:91; 11:30.

Commentary:

It is a common objection against the Prophets of God that they seek to gain ascendency over men by raising the standard of revolt against the existing order of things with a view to establishing a new order under their own leadership. It is this baseless charge that is refuted in this verse. God’s Prophets never seek self-aggrandizement. On the contrary, they choose the path of suffering and service. They pass their days in hardship and privation. Their life is a model of rigid discipline willingly undergone. Had their activities been prompted by a desire to gain power and dominion over men, they would not have subjected themselves to a hard and disciplined life, a life of prayer, fasting and renunciation. They do demand obedience of others, but they themselves are always the first to forego their desires and their ambitions in the service of their Lord and of humanity. It is not the desire for power but the passion for service and self-abnegation that has mastery of them. This is not an empty assertion, unsubstantiated by the established facts of history; for though the Prophet Noah, in whose mouth are put the words, I have not asked of you any reward, did not get the opportunity to subjugate his enemies, yet the Holy Prophet of Islam who was, like Noah, a Prophet of God, did show by actual practice that God’s Prophets desire no reward for their service in the form of riches or dominion. The fact is too well-known to need a reference that when Mecca lay prostrate at the Prophet’s feet, he forgave his most inveterate enemies with a magnanimity unparalleled in the history of the world. He demanded no fine and asked for no indemnity from the defeated Meccans or their allies. The only words he uttered were: "Go, you are a free and forgiven people."

16:19.

Important Words:

لاتحصوھا (you will not be able to number them). تحصوا is derived from احصا which again is derived from حصا or حصی. They say حصی الرجل i.e. he cast a pebble or small stone at the man. احصا means, he numbered or counted it, or he collected it into an aggregate, or he reckoned or computed it; or he reached the last number of it by means of حصی (pebbles or small stones), because the Arabs used pebbles for counting; he registered or recorded its number; he comprehended it, or knew it altogether. احصی کل شیء بعلمه means, God has comprehended everything by His knowledge, nothing thereof escaping Him, small or great (Lane & Aqrab). The expression therefore signifies comprehending or, as it were, encircling a thing and knowing its full number. As against this تعدوا (you try to count) signifies simply counting a thing, whether you comprehend the whole number or not.

Commentary:

The words, you wanted of Him, refer to the demands of human nature which have all been freely met. God has made definite provision for the satisfaction of all the cravings and demands of human nature. For instance, if He has made eyes to see, He has provided for them light and beautiful sights; similarly, if He has made ears to hear, He has provided for them air and sweet, melodious voices.

The verb آتاکم (He gave you) may also be taken in the sense of "He will give you," for in Arabic the past tense is not unoften used for the future when it is meant to give the assurance that the promise made or thing stated is as good as fulfilled. In this sense the verse means to say that God would give Muslims all that they want—land, wealth and dominion, not to speak of spiritual favours. They will be given all sorts of facilities to propagate their Faith. Even the day and night, the sun and the moon (v. 34) will be made subservient to them. Then will God see whether they have made proper use of His favours and have glorified His name and preached His Message to the ends of the earth as they ought to do.

The verse does not mean that man cannot count all the favours of God, for this fact is too evident to need mention. What the verse refers to is the great favours which God was to bestow upon Muslims in future and which were to be too multifarious and multitudinous to be foreseen and counted now. All these favours were actually bestowed on Muslims. But, when they became (1) lax in Prayer and (2) lax in spending their wealth according to God’s commandment, the divine favours were withdrawn. The "good tree" (v. 25) has, however, again borne fruit through Ahmad, the Promised Messiah, and blessed are they who accept him, for theirs shall be the kingdom of Heaven and of earth.

Commentary:

This verse shows that the followers of Moses—the Jews—would repeatedly break their solemn agreements with the Holy Prophet till a complete rupture of mutual relations ensued.

7:55; 13:3; 16:3; 31:30; 35:14; 39:6.

Commentary:

In the present and the next two verses the point has been further stressed that God is the Creator and Source of all life, and for the continuity of this life He has pressed into the service of man all the forces of nature. This is a self-evident truth which not even the most confirmed disbeliever, consistently with reason, has the courage to deny. When such is the case, the verse purports to say, the believers who leave their hearths and homes and fly to a foreign land for the sake of God should not think that they would be left unprovided and uncared for.

29:62; 39:39; 44:8.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that an intelligent study of the creation of the universe and of the perfect design and order that pervade and permeate it, leads to the one inevitable conclusion that there must be a Creator of this creation. This inference is inescapable. The words لیقولن الله signify that disbelievers will have no option but to admit that it is Allah Who brought the whole universe into being. But in spite of this unwilling admission on their part, the perverse rejecters of truth refuse to admit the simple fact that when God has made so much provision for the physical and material needs of man, He could not have failed to make similar provision for his moral and spiritual needs. This refusal to accept a clear conclusion shows that disbelievers are an ignorant and perverse people. Moreover, while they admit in their heart of hearts that God is the sole Creator of the universe, their actions do not conform to their admission. They associate partners with Him. This fact also sets the seal upon their folly and ignorance.

Commentary:

The teaching of social ethics and domestic morals and manners with special reference to the Holy Prophet’s marriage with Zainab and the calumnies and false charges of which the evil-minded hypocrites accused him form the subject of the present verse. Some of the social manners taught in this verse are: One should not enter a house uninvited and when invited one should be punctual. It is as bad to be before time as to be behind time. After meals one should depart, not wasting one’s own and other peoples’ time in the usual post-prandial idle talk. These are some of the rules of social conduct which need to be learnt and observed.

The commandment embodied in the words, "and when you ask them for anything, ask them from behind a curtain," is intended to discourage too much familiarity between the sexes, the pronoun ھن (them) by implication, applying to all women.

The clause, "That is purer for your hearts and their hearts," may mean; (a) that it may lead to purity of thoughts, and (b) that such conduct may protect women from slanderous tongues.

Marriage to the widows of the Holy Prophet has been declared a grievous sin in this verse. Being the "Mothers of the Faithful" it was inconsistent with their spiritual dignity to marry any of their "spiritual sons." Moreover, as wives of the Prophet, they were entrusted with the great task of the spiritual training of Muslim men and women which required utmost reverence for them on their part.

38:87; 42:24; 52:41; 68:47.

Commentary:

This verse answers the objection raised in (v. 8) viz. that, by his claim to prophethood, the Holy Prophet seeks to impose his leadership upon his people. It tells disbelievers that in calling men to God the Prophet is actuated by no selfish motives. He calls God to bear witness to the honesty and sincerity of his purpose. Besides this his whole life constitutes an unanswerable testimony to it.