تَّخَذْ

7:143.

2:55, 93; 4:154; 7:149, 153; 20:89.

Important Words:

ظالمون (transgressors) is the plural of ظالم which is derived from ظلم which means (1) he put a thing at a wrong place (2) he transgressed against or wronged a person (Aqrab).

Commentary:

In this verse the incident of calf-worship mentioned in Exodus 32 is related. Man is generally the slave of environment. This is particularly true of a subject people, who assiduously imitate the manners and customs of their rulers. The Israelites had lived under the Pharaohs for a long time, and had imbibed the idolatrous faith of the Egyptians. When they left Egypt with Moses, and came across any idol-worshipping people on the way, they requested Moses again and again to sanction a similar worship for them (7:139). So eager were they for such worship that when Moses went to Mount Sinai, they made a calf and took to worshipping it. They revered the calf, because in Egypt the cow was held in special veneration. Egypt, like India, was an agricultural country where cattle must be of the highest value to man. Hence cow-worship.

The Bible mentions Aaron as having made a calf for the Israelites (Exod. 32:1-6). But the Quran strongly refutes this idea. Aaron was a Prophet of God and could not stoop to idol-worship. Says the Quran, And Aaron had said to them before this, 'O my people, you have only been tried by means of the calf; and surely, the Gracious God is your Lord; so follow me and do as I bid you' (20:91). It is strange that such baseless and incredible stories as the participation of a chosen one of God in idol-worship should find place in a Book which claims to be inspired. It only proves that the Bible has been the object of human interference. It is probable that some interested people deliberately interpolated the sacred writings and ascribed certain vices to the Prophets; and the Christian divines eagerly took them for granted, as they were of good use to them as a means of the exaltation of Jesus over the rest of the Prophets.

The verse speaks of the appointed duration as being of forty nights. In 7: 143 the Quran further tells us that at first the appointed duration was thirty nights, but by a subsequent addition of ten the period was extended to forty nights which is a fuller number. This favour was granted to Moses because of his faithfulness and sincerity.

The words, and you were transgressors, mean, you resorted to setting up equals with God, because this practice is indeed the greatest ظلمi.e. putting a thing in a wrong place. Elsewhere the Quran says: شرک i.e. attributing partners to God is indeed a great ظلم (31:14).

3:25; 5:19.

54:44.

Important Words:

النار (the Fire) means fire both as a source of light and of heat, the latter aspect being more dominant. Another word derived from the same root is نور meaning light, which is used without reference to the element of heat. The word النار (the Fire) has come to be used about "Hell", the punishment of which will consist of fire (Aqrab). It is significant that whereas the blessings of Heaven have been metaphorically spoken of as "streams of water", the punishment of Hell has been called "fire".

Commentary:

After recounting some malpractices of the Jews, the Quran proceeds to explain the root cause of their arrogance and hard-heartedness. These evil practices of the Jews, the Quran points out, are due to the wrong notion that they were immune from punishment (Jew. Enc. under Gehenna), or if they will at all be punished, the punishment will be very slight. It is recorded that at the time of the Holy Prophet, a section of the Jews thought that the punishment of the Jews would not last more than forty days (Jarir, under 2:81). Others regarded even this as too long, and reduced it to seven days (Jarir, ibid). As for modern Jews, Sale says: "It is a received opinion among the Jews at present, that no person (from among the Jews), be he ever so wicked, or of whatever sect, shall remain in Hell above eleven months or at most a year, except Dathan and Abiram and atheists (from among the Jews) who will be tormented there to all eternity" (Wherry, i. 318).

The concluding portion of the verse, i.e. have you taken a promise from Allah…? has been added to point out that the matter of salvation does not rest on the wish of a person or people but only on the grace and mercy of Allah Who has prescribed a law for it. This law the Quran proceeds to explain in the following two verses.

2:52; 4:154; 7:149, 153; 20:98.

See note on 2:55.

Commentary:

The Prophets are very jealous about the honour of God. Anyone else in Shu‘aib’s place would have been glad to see that his clan was so powerful that his enemy refrained from doing him harm out of fear of his tribesmen. But it makes Shu‘aib indignant that his security from harm has been ascribed to his clan and not to the protection of God, and he sharply rebukes his opponents saying: "Is my clan more powerful than God so that you are afraid to harm me because of them but you do not fear God and continue to disobey Him by indulging in plunder and fraud". Shu‘aib does not mind, by thus despising his own clan, running the risk of estranging them or making them angry. Only one thought holds sway over his mind and that thought relates to the honour of his God.

The Holy Prophet also never failed to display his love and jealousy for God in a manner worthy of his great spiritual position. One such opportunity occurred at Uhud when, the Muslims suffered a temporary defeat and the infidels, thinking that the Prophet had been killed, shouted slogans glorifying their national idol, Hubal. On that critical occasion, when considerations of safety demanded complete silence, the Holy Prophet rebuked the Muslims for keeping silent and urged them to glorify God at the top of their voices.

23:87.

25:4.

11:25; 35:20.

Commentary:

The words, who have no power for good or harm even for themselves, spoken about false deities point to a strange coincidence. Generally, the lives of all those persons who later came to be worshipped as deities were full of hardship and privation. Jesus, Imam Husain, Rama, etc., all led very hard lives. This fact seems to entail a strong warning to their misguided worshippers that they could expect no benefit or help from those who could not even protect themselves from harm or danger.

In the words, Can the blind and the seeing be equal?, disbelievers are told that they, being spiritually and morally blind, should not be deceived by their power and their numbers against the Holy Prophet, as even an army of blind men is powerless against one person who has eyes. The Prophet and his followers possess sight, while disbelievers are blind.

The powerlessness of the disbelievers is further brought home to them in the simile of light and darkness referred to in the words, can darkness be equal to light? Disbelievers are told that as darkness possesses no independent existence, being only the negation of light, it must flee before light. So disbelievers cannot stand against the Holy Prophet. In the last part of the verse disbelievers are challenged to produce anything which they think has been created by their false deities.

The Quran has used two different words to express the Unity of God, viz. (1) احد and (2) واحد. Whereas the former denotes the absolute Unity of God without relation to any other being, the latter means only "the first" or "the starting point" and requires a second and a third to follow it. The Divine attribute of واحد (One) is thus intended to show that God is the real "source" from which all creation springs. Although none of His creatures is similar to Him in perfection and He is Independent of all, yet everything does point to Him, just as a second or a third thing necessarily points to the first. The attribute واحد (One) has therefore been used here as an evidence of the truth of the previous statement, viz. Allah alone is the Creator of all things. As against this, where the Quran seeks to refute the doctrine of the son-ship of those who have been falsely given that status, it uses the word احد i.e. He Who has ever been One and alone and has begotten no child (112:2).

The addition of the attribute of "Most Supreme" to "One" signifies that God does not need the help or assistance of any being for the control and governance of the universe He has brought into existence, because He is not only the source of all things but is also Supreme and Powerful over them. Hence it is useless and absurd for disbelievers to worship their false deities.

Commentary:

The words اھل قریة (people of a town) in a dream signify, one or more nations; and asking for their hospitality means, seeking their cooperation in a righteous cause. In this sense of the words, اھل قریة the verse would mean that Moses and the Holy Prophet would seek the cooperation of Jews and Christians in the cause of God but it would be denied to both of them. That the Jews flatly refused to give any cooperation or assistance to Moses when he asked them to go with him to conquer Canaan is clearly stated in the Quran (5:22-25). The Holy Prophet also failed to receive the cooperation of Christians in even such a noble cause as the establishment of the Unity of God on earth. Says the Quran, O People of the Book! come to a word equal between us and you—that we worship none, but Allah, and that we associate no partner with Him and that some of us take not others for Lords besides Allah. But if they turn away, then say, ‘Bear witness that we have submitted to God (3:65).

According to Ta‘tirul-Anam, جدار (wall) in a vision with a breach in it denotes a leader of a people or a learned man who has lost his property and the repairing of it signifies the restoration of the property of that leader.

In view of these interpretations, the words, And they found therein a wall which was about to fall, signify that Jewish and Christian religious leaders would lose all influence over their followers; and the repairing of the wall denotes that that influence would be rehabilitated. These words may also refer to the progress made by the Israelites through Moses and by the Ishmaelites through the Holy Prophet. The words, if thou hadst desired, thou couldst have taken payment for it, may mean that the business instinct of the Jewish and Christian peoples would grow so strong that they would not do anything without demanding remuneration for it.

Important Words:

لـھواً (pastime) is here taken by some (in the dialect of Yemen) to mean a 'son' or 'wife'. Taken in this sense of the word, the verse would mean, "If We had wished to take a son or wife, We should have made them of Our kind and not of human species." The verse constitutes an effective argument against the sonship of Jesus. The particle ان means both 'if' and 'not,' and the clause ان کنا فاعلین may mean (a) if We would do this; (b) We would not do this.

Commentary:

The substance of the verse is that it is inconsistent with the Dignity and Majesty of God that He should have created this universe without a great object. If its creation had not been intended to serve a great and sublime purpose, God would not have sent His messengers and prophets and would not have revealed His will to them. The very object of the creation of man demanded that when spiritual darkness spreads over the world, God should have sent a Messenger "to bring back the erring flock into the fold of the Master." It is implicit in the belief in the existence of God that the universe should have been created to serve a great and noble purpose.

Important Words:

سخریا (laughing stock) is derived from سخر. They say سخر منه i.e. he mocked at, laughed at, derided or ridiculed him, سخرت السفینة means, the ship had a good wind and voyage; it obeyed and ran its course. سخرہ (sakhkhara) means, he compelled him to do what he did not like; or to work without recompense, hire or wages. سخری or سخری (sikhriyyun) means mockery; scoff; derision; ridicule; one who is mocked at, scoffed at, derided or ridiculed; one who is compelled to work against his will, without wages or compensation (Lane & Aqrab). See also 2:165; 2:213.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that the believers were weak and the disbelievers strong and powerful. In the pride of their power and wealth the latter mocked at the poor believers and indulged so much in this unseemly business of scoffing and mocking at them that they lost all sense of propriety and dignity and even forgot their responsibilities and duties to God. Thus the poverty of the believers became the cause of the disbelievers indulging in mockery and consigning God to oblivion.

The verse also means that the believers being poor and weak, the disbelievers employed them against their will or desire, exploited them and exacted compulsory service from them without paying them any wages or compensation for the work they did.

33:67; 67:11.

Important Words:

لیتنی (would that I). لیت is a word denoting a wish (signifying would that...; I wish that...), generally relating to a thing that is impossible, rarely possible; governing the subject in the accusative case and the predicate in the nominative case. They say لیت زیدا ذاھب i.e. would that Zaid were going. Sometimes it is used as doubly transitive, putting both the subject and the predicate in the accusative case. They say لیت زیداً قائما i.e. would that Zaid were standing. It is used to give intensiveness to the meaning. لیتنی فعلت کذا و کذا means, would that I had done so and so (Lane).

Commentary:

This and the following two verses depict the feeling of humiliation and regret that overwhelmed the disbelievers on the day of Badr. These verses may have general application also.

28:39.

Commentary:

Pharaohs question contained in v. 24 above, viz. "And what is the Lord of the worlds?" was so ably and effectively answered by Moses that he did not know how to contradict him. At first he had recourse to interruptions in order to silence Moses. When these tactics failed in their purpose, he sought to divert the attention of the audience by playing upon their feelings of patriotism and by making disparaging remarks concerning Moses. When this stratagem also failed, he resorted to giving open threats to Moses. Such invariably are the tactics used by those who feel that their case is weak. In fact, such tactics imply a confession of defeat on the part of the person who uses them.

The Egyptians were a nation of idol-worshippers. They worshipped wood and stones, the sun and stars. They had their animal gods and human gods. Fire, water and other natural elements were also worshipped by them. Their gods were legion. It was, therefore, nothing strange on the part of Pharaoh also to lay claim to Divinity.