صِدۡق

9:100; 58:23; 98:9.

Commentary:

The words, This is a day, refer to the Day of Judgement, which shows that the question mentioned in 5:117 above will be put to Jesus on the Day of Judgement, i.e. after he will have paid his supposed second visit to the earth, as is alleged by those who believe in his ascension to, and descent from, heaven.

The word "truthful" used in the verse hints that as the followers of Jesus did not prove truthful, they could not hope to benefit from Divine mercy. The word really refers to Muslims, who were true to the teachings of their Prophet. They believed as he taught them to believe, and acted as he taught them to act, and were true to their God. The word may also refer to the followers of Ahmad, the Promised Messiah, who was raised as the مثیل, or likeness, of Jesus. God, as it were, says, "We sent two Messiahs, the followers of the one drifted away from his teachings and began to look upon him as God, but the followers of the other Messiah were true to his teachings. So this day only the truth of the truthful shall profit them."

6:35.

Commentary:

The verb تمت (has been fulfilled) though grammatically in the past tense is here used in the future tense, meaning, shall be fulfilled, for in prophecies often a preterit is used to express the future tense. This is done in order to show that the event predicted is, in the sight of God, as good as fulfilled. The words thus contain a prophecy and mean that what God has said about the future triumph of Islam shall certainly come to pass. It is reported that when Mecca fell and the Holy Prophet entered the Ka‘bah, which was at that time full of idols, and struck the idols one after another with his stick, he recited the very words of this prophecy: the Word of thy Lord has been fulfilled in truth and justice, in allusion to the fact that with the Fall of Mecca, the Word of God had indeed been fulfilled (Manthur, under 6:116).

The words, None can change His words, refer to the prophecies or to the ways or usage of God. With regard to the سنة or usage of God, it must be remembered that it is not for us to determine what the usage or the law of God is. Generally speaking, it is that which has been expressly mentioned as such in the Quran. Thus, one of the laws of God specified in the Quran is that His Messengers triumph and their enemies are brought to naught. Such laws have been spoken of as سنن الله(the ways or usages of God) and are not to be confounded with the laws of nature.

By the words, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing is meant that God hears not only the prayers of believers but also what the enemies of the Holy Prophet say against him. Similarly, He knows not only the sufferings and sacrifices of believers but also what the enemies of Islam are doing to harm and ruin it. So He will decide between the two parties.

7:64, 70; 50:3

Important Words:

قدم (rank) is the substantive noun from قدم. They say قدم القوم (qadama) i.e. he went before the people or he preceded them; or he took precedence of them; or he led them so as to set an example; قدم البلد (qadima) means, he came to or arrived at the town. قدمه علی غیرہ (qaddama-hu) means, he gave him precedence over another in time, place or rank; he preferred him to another or honoured or esteemed him above another. The expression لزید عند بکر قدم means, there is strength or rank or good footing for Zaid, with Bakr. They say فلان علی قدم عظیم i.e. such a one is on an excellent footing or foundation. فلان علی قدم فلان means, such a one is the successor of such a one (literally, such a one treads in the footsteps of such a one). قدم means, the human foot; precedence, or preference; rank, footing or foundation (Aqrab & Lane).

Commentary:

It is generally believed that the occasion for the revelation of this verse was when disbelievers taunted that God could find no one better to act as His Messenger than the orphan boy of Abu Talib. Though no great value can be attached to this or that incident as being the cause of the revelation of a particular verse, the incident referred to above at least throws some light on the treatment which the Meccans meted out to the Holy Prophet and the contempt in which he was held by them after he had laid claim to prophethood. To call the Holy Prophet the orphan boy of Abu Talib, who was his uncle and guardian, and not to call him after his own father, was intended to insinuate that a man who was the son of an unnamable person and who had been brought up by another could not be worthy of a Messenger of God.

The verse also brings to light the important fact that those who become morally depraved lose all sense of self-respect as well as all confidence in themselves, for here the disbelievers are represented as looking upon themselves as being so degenerate that they could not think that anyone from among them could come and rescue them from the morass of degradation into which they had fallen and that only someone from outside could reform them. This tragic fact also holds good in the case of present-day Muslims. They, too, are anxiously waiting for Jesus to come down from the heaven to take them out of the slough of despair and degradation and are refusing to accept the heavenly Reformer whom God raised from among themselves to lead them to moral perfection and spiritual glory.

The words, give glad tidings to those who believe that they have a true rank of honour with their Lord, embody a promise that whoever acts upon the teachings of the Holy Prophet will achieve all kinds of prosperity and glory. This was another cause of surprise for disbelievers. According to them, the followers of the Holy Prophet lacked those qualities that go to make a people great and prosperous. They, therefore, wondered how Muslims dared hope to succeed in their great aim of destroying the old order of things and building on its ashes a new and better order. The words, with their Lord, signify that Muslims would make not only moral and spiritual but also material progress. By referring to their connection with a Being Who has the power to bestow all forms of advancement, the Quran alludes to the complete glory and many-sided success of Muslims.

The words, Surely, this is a manifest enchanter, signify that when disbelievers heard the above announcement, they said that Muhammad had succeeded in representing falsehood as truth, because he knew how to take advantage of the weakness of man. He had inspired the cowardly with fear and had held out false hopes to the greedy, and had thus managed to bring people over to his side. This is the very criticism which is levelled at the Holy Prophet by modern Christian writers. They also allege that Muhammad converted the ignorant Arabs to his faith by threatening with punishment those of them who disbelieved and tempting those who were credulous and greedy with promises of bliss and happiness. If that was indeed a stratagem, where is the religion which does not promise Heaven to its believers

and Hell to disbelievers? If speaking of blessings—which are the inevitable result of accepting truth—be called tempting a people with false promises, then no religion is safe from the charge of holding out such temptation. And what will Christian critics say of Jesus, who promised the keys of Paradise to Peter and to his other followers and threatened disbelievers with deprivation of the kingdom of God? (Matt. 16:15-19; 18:3 & 19:28, 29).

45:17.

45:18.

Commentary:

Among the "good things" mentioned in this verse as having been bestowed on the Israelites, Divine revelation occupied the foremost place, for it mostly pertains to the spirit and comes direct from God. The words "good things" may also be taken in their material sense. In Egypt the Israelites worked as labourers and lived an ignoble life. But after their deliverance from bondage, God provided them with the good things of this world.

By the word علم (knowledge) in the clause, until there came to them the knowledge, is here meant the Quran and not the Torah, for there passed no interval between the revelation of the Torah and the formation of the Israelites into an organized community. Thus they cannot be said to have disagreed among themselves after its revelation.

When the Holy Prophet of Islam was about to make his appearance, the Jews held the belief that a Prophet like unto Moses was to appear very soon; but when the Promised Prophet did actually appear, they differed and disagreed as to whom the prophecies about the Promised Prophet applied. Some Jews denied that the prophecies had found fulfilment in the Prophet of Islam, while others sought to deny the very existence of any such prophecies in the Bible.

That the disagreement referred to in this verse was the one which arose among the Israelites after the Quran was revealed is also clear from the next verse which says: And if thou, (O addressee) art in doubt concerning that which We have sent down to thee (viz. the Quran). This verse clearly shows that in the verse under comment the "knowledge" after the coming of which the Israelites differed among themselves refers to the Quran.

The Jews were so ardently expecting the Prophet who was to be the like of Moses (Deut. 18:18) and who was to appear in Arabia amongst the descendants of Ishmael, the brethren of the Israelites, that some of them had even migrated to Arabia and had settled in Medina that they might be among the first to believe in him when he made his appearance. It is a strange irony of fate that these very Jewish settlers of Arabia proved to be his bitterest enemies when the Promised Prophet actually made his appearance.

Important Words:

مدخل (entry) is derived from دخل, which means, he entered. ادخله of which the infinitive noun is ادخال or مدخل means, he caused him to enter. مدخل therefore means, to enter, entering or entry. The Quranic expression رب ادخلنی مدخل صدق means, O my Lord cause me to enter in a good or agreeable manner (or make my entry a good entry) (Lane).

Commentary:

In acceptance of his prayers and supplications, the Prophet in this verse has been vouchsafed the glad tidings that in fulfilment of the prophecy made in the words, Glory be to Him Who carried His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Distant Mosque, he would be taken to Medina which would constitute the first of the various "exalted positions" (مقام محمود) which are to be bestowed upon him. In anticipation of the fulfilment of this prophecy, the Prophet is commanded to pray that his entry in Medina may be doubly blessed and so may be his departure from the town in which he is now living (Mecca). This prayer of the Prophet was amply fulfilled. His enemies desired to expel him from Mecca in ignominy and disgrace but he was foretold by God of their evil designs and in accordance with the divine plan he left Mecca of his own accord and arrived in perfect safety in Medina, where he succeeded in gathering round him a band of most faithful and devoted followers.

The question may be asked why the entry of the Prophet into Medina has been mentioned before his "coming forth" from Mecca, which is contrary to events as they took place. The answer to this seeming historical anomaly is that the order in the statement of events as they took place has been reversed in order to console the Holy Prophet. The news of his departure from Mecca would naturally have caused him great pain. In order to relieve him of this mental anguish God preceded the news of his departure from Mecca by the news of his entry into Medina where power and honour awaited him.

The word مدخل (entry) might also be taken to refer to the Holy Prophet’s subsequent victorious entry into Mecca. Read in this sense, the said "entry" may be understood to constitute another stage in the Holy Prophet’s march to his promised مقام محمود (exalted station) because with his triumphant re-entry into Mecca ended all opposition to Islam and the Prophet’s erstwhile opponents became his devoted followers.

The prayer contained in the words, And grant me from Thyself a helping power, was necessary because power is a great corrupter of men. The Prophet is taught to pray that instead of corrupting him the acquisition of power may prove a source of real help to him.

The prayer contained in this verse supports the interpretation of اسراء i.e. the Vision about the Prophet’s Night Journey mentioned in v. 2, namely that the flight of the Holy Prophet from Mecca to Medina was sure to take place.

26:85.

Important Words:

لسان (renown) is derived from لسن (lasina) which means, he was or became extremely eloquent or perspicuous in speech.لسن فلانا (lasana) means, he was more eloquent than such a one; he got the better of him in speech. لسنه العقرب means, the scorpion bit him. لسان means speech, tongue, style; language; information; news, tidings; renown or reputation. لسان العرب means, the classical language of the Arabs. لسان القوم means, the spokesman of the people. لسان الصدق means, good or lasting reputation, renown or remembrance. When a noun is prefixed to the word صدق governing it in the genitive case, it gives the idea of everlastingness. عنب صدق means, a perfectly delicious and liked grape, complete in all the qualities of the best kind (Lane & Aqrab).

علیاً (high) is derived from علا. They say علا الشیء i.e. the thing became high. علا الرجل means, he overcame the man and overpowered him. علا الدابة means, he rode the beast. علا فی الارض means, he behaved proudly and insolently in the earth. علا فی المکارم means, he acquired noble qualities. علی means, high; noble; hard and firm (Aqrab & Lane). See also 4:35.

Commentary:

Divine mercy has two manifestations:(a) mercy shown to a person irrespective of the fact as to who he is and what his beliefs and actions are; (b) mercy shown by God to His beloved ones and His Elect on special occasions. The latter class of mercy may be called God’s special mercy. The verse under comment speaks of this latter kind of mercy, meaning that God did not bestow upon Isaac and Jacob any particular favour out of His limitless and immeasurable mercy but made them, as it were, the very possessors of Divine mercy itself.

According to the different significations of the words علی and لسان and صدق the words, We bestowed on them a true and lasting renown, would mean, (1) that they acquired good reputation and were to be remembered with respect, affection and love by their contemporaries and future generations; (2) that their talk was full of wisdom and intelligence and was free from all sort of bitterness, obscenity, falsehood and hatred (3) that they were fearless in the expression of their beliefs and were hard upon disbelievers and untruthful persons; and (4) that their good works constituted and continued as so many monuments and memorials to their good name.

19:51.

Important Words:

For لسان صدق see 19:51.

Commentary:

Abraham left behind him such a good name that the followers of the three great faiths of the world Judaism, Christianity and Islam, look upon him as their great progenitor and spiritual ancestor whose memory they respect and revere.

18:103; 48:14; 76:5.

Commentary:

The verse signifies that without the revelation of a Divine Law, man could not be held responsible for his actions.

48:7.

Important Words:

ملیک (King) is the intensive form of مالک which means, master.