Topic: Render Justice On The

5:69.

5:69.

Important Words:

الیھود (the Jews) signifies the followers of Moses or of what is known as Judaism. The word as already explained is either derived from ھاد which means, he turned to God or to the truth with repentance (Aqrab); or it is derived from یھودا (Judah) who was one of the sons of Jacob. As the descendants of یھودا formed an independent kingdom at Jerusalem which became the religious centre of the Jews, therefore the Jewish religion came to be known as Judaism and the people professing that religion as یھود or Jews (Enc. Brit. under the word Jews. See also 2:63 and 2:112).

یتلون (they read) is derived from تلا which means: (1) he followed; (2) he read or recited (Aqrab). The Quran says والقمراذا تلاھاi.e. by the moon when it follows the sun; and again یتلوا علیھم آیاته i.e. the Prophet reads or recites to them God’s Signs. In the present verse the word یتلون may be taken to signify either of these two senses, i.e. they both read the same Book or they both follow the same Book. See also 2:103.

Commentary:

Nothing is more foreign to the spirit of Islam than opposition to truth, wherever it may happen to be. Islam teaches that all faiths possess certain truths and the true religion is so called not because it has a monopoly of truth, but because it possesses all truth and is free from all defects. While, therefore, claiming to be a perfect and complete religion, Islam does not denounce other faiths but frankly acknowledges the truths and the virtues they possess. If this golden principle of Islam be properly understood and appreciated, much existing religious rancour and bitterness would disappear. But unfortunately, there is a general tendency among the followers of different religious systems to refuse to acknowledge the truth found in faiths, other than their own. The Quran declares this attitude of mind to be the result of lack of knowledge and wisdom, and this verse strongly condemns Jews and Christians for refusing to see any good whatever in the rival faith, in spite of the fact that they have a good deal in common, being the followers of the same Book—the Bible.

21:36; 29:58.

4:174; 35:31; 39:36.

Commentary:

Death is the most certain phenomenon in nature and yet man’s attitude toward it is of disregard and indifference. The worldly life has been here called a vain and illusory thing, because on the face of it, it appears to be a very attractive and sweet thing, but when one becomes engrossed in seeking its pleasures and profits, one finds it bitter and deceptive.

9:98; 57:15.

Important Words:

نستحوذ علیکم (get the better of you). نستحوذ is derived from حاذ. They say حاذہ i.e. he guarded or protected it and took care of it. حاذ الابل means, he drove the camels quickly or he gained mastery over the camels and collected them together. استحوذ علیهmeans, he overcame or mastered or gained mastery of him or it; he got the better of him or it (Taj).

نمنعکم (protected you) is derived from منع i.e. (1) he prevented or hindered: (2) he denied or refused (3) he protected or guarded (Lane).

Commentary:

The words, did we not get the better of you, are addressed by the hypocrites to the disbelievers and mean "we had you in our power but we spared you". Similarly, the words, and protect you against the believers, may be interpreted something like this: "We separated ourselves from the Muslims with the result that they became weak and you were thus saved from them." Or the words may mean, "some of the faint-hearted among you wished to make peace with the Muslims, but we prevented them from doing so, and now the result is that you are victorious." In the latter case the clause نمنعکم من المؤمنینwould be translated as "we prevented you from making peace with the believers".

The last sentence of the verse means that the hypocrites will never be able to bring a valid objection against Muslims.

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.

2:66; 4:48,155.

3:56; 22:70.

Commentary:

The Jews believed that their national degradation and misery were due to their breaking the Sabbath and that they could regain their former high position and lost glory by re-establishing its sanctity. In some previous verses they had been invited to embrace Islam so that God might remove their present degradation and make them heirs to His special favours and blessings. But the Jews held firmly to the belief that their degradation was really due to their violation of the Sabbath and that their acceptance of Islam could not be of any avail to them. In the present verse they are told that before the advent of Islam they were punished for the breach of the Sabbath, the observance of which was a Divinecommand, but now that the old commandments with regard to Sabbath have been superseded by the new Dispensation—Islam—they could retrieve their departed glory only by accepting it and not by observing the Sabbath.

45:29; 83:7-10.

Important Words:

طائرہ (his works). طائر is derived from طار which means, it (a bird) moved in the air by means of its wings; it flew. طار فؤادہmeans, his courage fled away. The Arabs used to say to a man from whom they augured evil, طائر اللّٰه لا طائرک i.e. what God doth and decreeth, not what thou dost and causest, is to be feared. Or they would say لا طیر الا طیر اللّٰه i.e. there is no evil fortune but that which is of God. طائر means, an omen, a bodement of good or evil; good or evil fortune, especially evil fortune; ill-luck; the means of subsistence; the actions or works of a man which are, as it were, attached as a necklace to his neck (Lane & Aqrab). See also 7:132.

Commentary:

The words, every man’s works have We fastened to his neck, mean that no work of man goes in vain; every action of his must bear some fruit, good or bad. The fastening of the work to the neck of a man denotes that his actions will stick to him permanently and their effects will cling to him as long as he lives.

The word طائر (lit. bird) has been very appropriately used here for the actions of man in order to denote that just as a bird flies away and becomes hidden from the eye, so does a man very often seem to forget his actions, but they remain fastened to his neck with a cord like a bird which is secured from flying away by a string tied round its neck; and therefore, even if they seem to fly away and become hidden from his view, man’s connection with them never ceases and one day he has to reap the fruits thereof.

The word طائر has also been used to draw attention to the fact that if a long string were tied to the leg of a bird and it were let off to fly away, it can fly to the extreme length of the string. The same is the case with the actions of man. Sometimes they appear to be of little significance, yet their effects are far-reaching and permanent.

The verse warns man to be very careful about his actions. He is reminded that since a deed once done cannot be undone and has far-reaching effects and, even if hidden from the human eye, still remains attached to the doer’s neck, it is clear that it is impossible to obliterate it. We should therefore be on our guard against hasty and careless actions, because sooner or later we are bound to reap their consequences. The Quran says, Whoso does good an atom’s weight will see it, and whoso does evil an atom’s weight will also see it (99:8, 9). These verses, however, should not be understood to mean that repentance is denied to man. The door of repentance is always open but man’s moral and spiritual lapses, even though they may be forgiven, leave a more or less lasting imprint on his spiritual progress. He lags behind those who are not guilty of such lapses unless he makes a special effort to make up the deficiency. The effects of sins must linger on. The discovery of ethereal waves has confirmed the great truth enunciated about 1,400 years ago by Islam that even the smallest motion causes a stir in the air which goes on enlarging and widening. So we should be very careful about our actions because every deed like a seed grows into a big tree without our knowing it.

The verse may also be taken to mean that man augurs good or evil from outside things while his good or bad augury is inseparably linked to his own neck. The words, fastened to his neck, have been used deliberately and with a purpose. When a man does a good deed, he raises his head with pride while with the commission of an evil one he hangs his head in shame. So the word 'neck' has been used here to bring home to him the fact that he himself is his own judge. If he feels that he can raise his head with pride before his associates and friends, he should conclude that he is on the right path but if his head hangs in shame, he must know that he is going to rack and ruin.

The words, which he will find wide open, mean that the effect of man’s deeds will begin to manifest itself. It will not remain only like a seed but will grow and develop into a big tree and later bear fruit.

17:72; 45:30; 69:20, 26, 27.

Commentary:

The expression, Read thy book, used figuratively means, "take thy punishment". The words, Sufficient is thy own soul this day as reckoner against thee, clearly show that punishment is not something that comes from outside but it takes its birth within man himself. In fact, the punishments and rewards of Heaven and Hell will only be so many embodiments and representations of the deeds, good or bad, of man. Thus in this life man is the architect of his own destiny and in the next he will be his own rewarder or punisher.

4:41; 18:50.

Important Words:

خردل means, grain of mustard seed. خردل الطعام (khardala) means, he ate the best part of the food. خردل اللحم means, he cut the meat into small pieces (Aqrab).

Commentary:

Besides being a continuation of the subject dealt with in the preceding verses the present verse makes it clear that Hell is not everlasting. If even the slightest good work done by a man is to be rewarded, as the verse says, then a time must come when the punishment of his evil deeds should come to an end and the reward of his good works should begin. Contrary to the teachings of other religions the Quran teaches us that it is the Heaven and not Hell that is everlasting. The Islamic conception of Heaven and Hell is evidently more in keeping with reason and common sense. See also (11:109).

Important Words:

المجوس (Magians) is derived from مجس (majjasa). They say مجسه i.e. he made him a Magian. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said,

ما من مولود الا یولد علی الفطرة فأبواہ یھودانه و ینصرانه و یمجسانه

i.e." Every child is born on the true Islamic nature but his parents make him a Jew, Christian or Magian" (Bukhari, Kitabul-Jana’iz & Muslim). المجوس (Magians) are a people who worship the sun and the fire; sometimes the word مجوسی is used for a magician or a philosopher. It applies particularly to the Zoroastrians whose sacred Book is Zend-Avesta. In later Arabic literature, the word is also used to denote the people of northern Europe (Aqrab & Enc. of Islam).

Commentary:

The present verse read in conjunction with 2:63 and 5:70, clears the misunderstanding to which these two verses are mistakenly understood to give rise. These verses do not bear the construction put upon them by some Christian writers, viz. that Christians, Jews and Sabians are equally eligible to salvation along with true believers. The Quran lends support to no such belief. According to it the only religion acceptable to God is Islam (3:20, 86). The present verse lays down only a criterion to test the truth of all these religions and not that it regards all of them as true. The implied criterion is that of all these religions the true one will prevail over others in the "Hour of Decision."

2:114; 4:142.

Commentary:

The argument commenced in the preceding verse is continued here. If the disbelievers, the verse purports to say, persist in their rejection of truth, God will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection i.e. the day of the triumph of Islam and of the discomfiture and destruction of disbelief.

4:142; 22:70; 39:4.

Commentary:

The reference in "the Day of Resurrection" is very probably to the Battle of Badr, which has also been called the Day of Discrimination or Decision at another place in the Quran (8:42). A great decision was made on that day. The forces of darkness were routed and truth came into its own.

42:15; 98:5.

Commentary:

"The Affair" signifies "the Affair of the Holy Prophet" (see next verse) and the verse purports to say that the Book of Moses contains many clear prophecies about the advent of the Holy Prophet and that the Israelites rejected him not because there was any dearth of arguments and signs and divine prophecies to support and establish his claim but because of "mutual envy", i.e. they did not like the very idea that a Prophet should have appeared from among the non-Israelites.

3:11; 31:34.

Commentary:

The verse constitutes a severe warning to those Muslims who, in defiance of the above clear Divine commandment, maintain friendly relations with their relatives, if the latter are at war with them or entertain hostile feelings towards Islam. The commandment makes no exception even of the nearest blood relations.