نُہُ

2:175.

Important Words:

یلعنھم (curses them). For the meaning of لعن see note on 2:89.

Commentary:

The present verse has been taken to apply either to Muslims or Jews. In the former case the verse would be taken as a warning to Muslims that they should ever be careful to preach the truth of Islam and should in no circumstances hide or neglect it but should ever be ready to proclaim it, however bitter the opposition. Failing this, they will not only not attain the nearness of God but will be cast away from Him. If applied to Jews, and that indeed is the right application, the connection with the preceding verse may be easily seen in the reference to As-Safa and Al-Marwah in that verse. It was at these places that Abraham left his wife Hagar, and his son, Ishmael, under God’s command and it was here that, while building the Ka‘bah, Abraham and Ishmael prayed to God for the appearance of a great Prophet among their progeny. The Quran thus refers here to the Jews who were concealing the prophecies contained in their Scriptures about the Holy Prophet. The Jews are warned that if they concealed the clear prophecies given to them about the Arabian Prophet, in spite of the fact that they have now been reminded of them through the Quran, God would cast them away, depriving them of His mercy and condemning them to punishment in Hell. They are further warned that as God is the Lord of the entire universe, His curse will not come alone but everything which is subservient to Him will then begin to curse them—angels, men, the elements, laws of nature and all.

2:276, 277; 3:131; 30:40.

9:34.

Commentary:

The Jews were forbidden to lend money on interest to other Jews, but they were permitted to take interest from non-Jews (Exod. 22:25; Lev. 25:36, 37; Deut. 23:19, 20). But they broke the Law and began to exact interest even from Jews (Neh. 5:7). Later they promised Nehemiah to give up taking interest from Jews (Neh. 5:12). But they again broke their word; and so, in accordance with the prophecy of Ezekiel (Ezek. 18:13), they suffered national death and were scattered over the earth to suffer persecution at the hands of their enemies.

Commentary:

The words, has now become clear to them, signify that even the enemies of God’s Prophets have in their minds a certain consciousness of the truth of the Divine Messengers; but owing to their bigotry, they try to suppress such thoughts and do not make them known to anyone. On the Day of Judgement, however, these latent thoughts which they tried to conceal would become apparent, and the truthfulness of the Prophets, of which they had dim consciousness, would become manifest.

The word "liars" at the end of the verse implies that, although disbelievers would desire to be sent back to this world so that they might believe in the Prophets and not reject them, yet if they were actually sent back to it, and the same circumstances in which they lived before were created again, even then they would again act as they had acted before rejecting the Prophets as they had rejected them before.

2:66; 4:14, 155

7:169.

Important Words:

شرعا (appearing on the surface) is the plural of شارع which is active participle from شرع. They say شرع فی الامر i.e. he entered upon or began or commenced the affair. شرع المنزل means, the dwelling had its door opening upon a thoroughfare, or the door of the house opened on the road. شرع الشیء means, he raised or elevated the thing much. شارع of which the plural is شرع(shurra‘un) means, entering into water or entering into an affair; appearing on the surface of water; situated on a main road; having its door opening on a road; a main road or thoroughfare; a legislator or announcer of the law. حیتان شرع means, fishes raising their heads above water; or fishes directing themselves from the deep water to the bank; or fishes appearing upon the surface of the water (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The قریة (town) referred to in this verse is said to be Aila (Elath) on the Red Sea. It was situated on the N. E. arm of the Red Sea, in the Atlantic Gulf (which has derived its name from the place itself) and is mentioned as one of the last stages of the Israelites during their wanderings. It is mentioned also in 1 Kings 9:26 and 2 Chron. 8:17. In Solomon’s time the city came into the possession of the Israelites but afterward it was probably taken from them. Later Uzziah reconquered it, but under Ahaz it was again lost (Enc. Bib. and Jew. Enc.).

As no fish were caught on the Sabbath day, they had instinctively come to know the time when they were safe and, therefore, this instinctive feeling of security made them appear on the surface or approach near the coast in great numbers on the Sabbath day. This fact proved too strong a temptation for the Jews, and they began to make arrangements to catch them on the Sabbath day. The cause of evasion was not far to seek. The Israelites had the fish caught by the non-Israelite people and then purchased them from the latter and in this way sought to evade the commandment, although it was forbidden to them even to make purchases on that day. It was to stop this mean practice that Nehemiah stationed his servants at the gates of Jerusalem to see that no loads were brought in on the Sabbath day (Neh. 13:19).

2:66; 5:61.

Commentary:

The expression, Be ye apes despised, explains the "severe punishment" mentioned in the previous verse. See also 2:66.

Commentary:

The verse may be rendered in two ways: (1) wicked men cause their comrades to increase in error and they continue to aid and abet one another in their evil practices; or (2) wicked men strive to entice the pious into error. According to the latter rendering, the pronoun "them" in the words, make them continue in error, will refer to pious and righteous Muslims. By implication Muslims are exhorted in this verse to be always on their guard against the evil suggestions and evil machinations of wicked and mischievous men.

33:13.

9:51; 12:68; 14:12; 33:4; 65:4.

Commentary:

The words, the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease, here refer to those men in the Meccan army who had embraced Islam in Mecca, but who, being weak, remained with disbelievers out of fear, and had now come forth with the Meccan army in order to fight the Muslims. There were four or five such men who, when they saw the small band of Muslims arrayed in battle-order against a well-equipped army of Meccan warriors, thought it foolhardy on the part of the former to take their stand against the overwhelming odds and made the remark mentioned in the verse. To this remark, the verse gives the reply that the small band of Muslims faced the heavy odds not because their religion had deluded them but because they had put their trust in God Who was both Mighty and Wise and Who had promised to help them. The last words of the verse are thus also intended to reprimand the weak-hearted Muslims of Mecca and to remind them that their hypocritical policy resulted from the fact that they had no trust in the power and might of God.

Commentary:

The verse is general in its application, but the persons particularly referred to were seven poor Muslims who were extremely desirous of going to jihad but did not possess the means and the wherewithal to fulfil the wish of their hearts. These men came to the Holy Prophet, begging him to provide them with conveyance so that they might go forth with him. On being told by the Holy Prophet that he was unable to grant their request, they were sorely grieved and went away with their eyes full of tears. It is said that after they had gone, the Holy Prophet was offered three camels by ‘Uthman and four by other Muslims and these he gave to the seven men. The Quran mentions this incident in order to contrast the faith and sincerity of these poor Muslims with the insincerity of those who proffered lame and false excuses and asked to be allowed to stay behind, although they possessed all the means to go. It also appears from this verse that all those who remained behind at Medina were not hypocrites but that among them there were also true and sincere Muslims who could not go because they did not possess the means to do so.

Commentary:

The words, unless their hearts be torn to pieces, are intended to hint that as the hearts of the hypocrites will never be cut into pieces, so the disquietude of their hearts will continue forever. Or, the words signify that the disquietude of their hearts will cease only when they repent so deeply that their hearts are, as it were, torn up with regret and repentance.

24:23; 30:29.

Commentary:

This verse contains another very important argument in favour of Divine revelation. The object and purpose of Divineguidance, it says, is not only to bring about reformation in religious beliefs and doctrines but also to maintain a just balance in the distribution of material wealth and political rights and power. It is a divine law that in every age some individuals or nations, by their superior intellect and harder work, come to acquire ascendancy and control over other individuals or nations. This is neither unfair nor unjust so long as proper opportunities are not denied to the less fortunate peoples also to make proper use of their talents and intelligence for earning the good things of life. But the "haves" have always set their face against all attempts by the "have-nots" to better their material condition and to have a share in the power and privileges the "haves" enjoy. The only way to save the world from the tyranny of those in possession of power and privilege and to open the doors of progress and advancement to real merit and talent and thereby to rehabilitate justice and equality among mankind is that God should send His Messengers. Their advent heralds a new era and the dispossessed and the "have-nots" have their rights restored to them.

So when people become separated from the era of a Prophet by a long time and vested interests grow and become entrenched and power and privileges flow from father to son and common people are denied all share in the government and even so-called religious leaders come to trade upon the superstitious fears of their followers and monopolize all religious authority and common men are not even considered competent to be consulted on religious or secular matters, God raises a Prophet who wages a relentless war against this tyranny and untruth and the so-called leaders who held the reins of power in their hands on the plea of supposed superior abilities are dethroned and man begins to breathe in an atmosphere of true freedom.

Briefly but very beautifully the verse has laid down the Islamic law with regard to private ownership. Whereas on the one hand Islam has recognized the right of private ownership by emphasizing the word their in the expression, "of their worldly gifts", it has, by using the words "will restore" (برادی) also accepted the principle of the collective ownership of all things by all human beings as such, because only that thing is "restored" to another person which belongs to him. In fact, Islam has accepted the principle of dual ownership of everything—the right of possession of a property by the person who earns it and the right in the possession of that property of all human beings as human beings. Moreover, by its institution of Zakah, the prohibition about hoarding wealth and taking and giving of interest, Islam has sought to prevent the accumulation of wealth in a few hands and thus by its free circulation has kept the avenues of progress equally open for all men. Islam, in reality, neither believes in the right of unrestricted private ownership nor in complete and unreserved possession of wealth and the means of its production by the State. It adopts the middle course.

Ordinarily, the words "whom their right hands possess" mean slaves, and in the Quran these words have generally been used in this sense; but they possess a much wider significance and include all persons under one’s control such as private servants, subordinates, labourers, ryots etc.