Topic: Belief In

3:85.

2:286; 3:85; 4:153.

Important Words:

اسباط (children) is derived from سبط. They say سبط الشعر i.e. the hair was or became loose and hanging. سبط المطر means, the rain was copious and extensive. سبط signifies the idea of length and extensiveness. شعر سبط means, hair that is long and not curly. سبط الکفین means, a generous man, literally one possessing long and open hands, because his helping hand extends to every needy person. A grandson is also called سبط (sibt) because his birth signifies increase of progeny. In a still wider sense, the word might signify progeny generally. The expression here refers to the twelve tribes of Israel named after the twelve sons of Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher (Gen. 35:23-26; 49:28).

Commentary:

The verse is addressed to Muslims who are enjoined to reply to Jews and Christians by saying that the central point in religion is belief in, and submission to, God; and so everything that comes from God must be accepted and it is simply foolish to say that a people believing in some Prophets of God need not believe in others. All Messengers of God and all revelations coming from Him must be accepted and no distinction is to be made between this Prophet and that or between this revelation and that, so far as belief in them is concerned. One Prophet may be higher in status than another and one revelation may be more important than another; but all of them must be accepted without discrimination. The words, to Him we submit ourselves, have been used as an argument in support of the above assertion. When we submit to God, everything coming from Him must be accepted.

It indeed redounds to the great credit of Islam that it is the only religion which recognizes the Prophets of all countries and all nations, whereas other faiths limit prophethood only to their own respective spheres. Naturally the Quran mentions only the names of those Prophets who were known to the Arabs to whom the message of Islam was first given; but it makes a general remark to the effect that, there is no people to whom a warner has not been sent (35:25).

As already pointed out, this verse should not be understood to mean that the Quran regards all Prophets to be equal in rank. In fact, the Quran clearly states that different Prophets possess different ranks, some of them being spiritually higher than others (2:254). The sentence, We make no difference between any of them, thus only means that a Muslim makes no distinction between the different Prophets in respect of their prophethood.

Some Christian critics have objected to the verse under comment and have demanded proof of the prophethood of Ishmael. But what proof is there, it may be asked, of the prophethood of Isaac? If the Bible testifies to the prophethood of Isaac, the Quran testifies to the prophethood of Ishmael. If the testimony of the Quran cannot be accepted as a proof for the prophethood of Ishmael, there is no earthly reason why the testimony of the Bible be accepted as a proof for Isaac’s prophethood. And even the Bible is not without evidence of the fact that God made a number of promises to Abraham about the future greatness of Ishmael and his progeny (see note on 2:130).

See 2:137.

3:148, 194; 60:6.

Important Words:

غفرانك (Thy forgiveness). غفران is the noun-infinitive from غفر for which see 2:59 and 2:200. غفران on the part of God signifies, covering man with mercy and forgiveness and saving him from the punishment of sins. It is used in the infinitive form for the sake of emphasis, words like "I or we implore" being understood before it.

Commentary:

The mention of the believers along with the Prophet has a special significance in the verse; the purifying influence of the Holy Prophet has brought into existence a class of men who have become purified both in belief and in deeds, thus fulfilling the object for which the Prophet for whom Abraham had prayed was to make his appearance.

Good deeds are indeed the principal means for the attainment of purification, but they have their origin in the purity of the heart, which can be attained only by holding true beliefs. Hence, the verse details the fundamental points of belief which the Holy Prophet taught his followers, i.e. belief in God and His angels and His Books and His Messengers, mentioned in their natural order.

Among the points of belief detailed here, one is that true believers say, We make no distinction between any of His Messengers. This means that true believers should accept all the Messengers of God, without exception, and should make no distinction between them by accepting some and rejecting others. There is in this, food for thought for those Muslims who reject the Promised Messiah, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, whom God raised in fulfilment of the prophecies of the Holy Prophet and who came to demonstrate the truth of Islam, by cogent reasons and powerful signs.

Another very important means of attaining purification is prayer. The verse represents true believers as offering prayer to God in the ennobling words, We hear and we obey. We implore Thy forgiveness, O our Lord, and to Thee is the returning. This prayer contains four basic elements of purification: (1) man should ever be prepared to listen to God’s commandments; (2) he should be ever ready to obey His commandments, whatever the circumstances; (3) he should always be asking for God’s forgiveness for his sins and shortcomings; and (4) he should never forget that he will one day return to, and stand before, his Maker and will render an account of his works.

2:137; 2:286

Commentary:

The Jews refused to believe in non-Israelite Prophets as the words, obey none but him who follows your religion (3:74) show. In the present verse, the charge has been pressed home to Jews that whereas they rejected all but the Israelite Prophets, Islam requires its followers to believe in all the Prophets of God, irrespective of the country or the race or the community to which they belonged or of the time in which they lived. Again, Islam requires them not only to believe in the Prophets that have passed away but also in any that may appear in future. A great contrast indeed, between the catholicity of Islam and the narrow-mindedness of Judaism!

The words, We make no distinction between any of them, should not be understood to mean that Islam considers all Prophets to be of equal spiritual rank. This view is contrary to 2:254 in which some Prophets have been declared to possess a higher spiritual rank than others.

So the words refer only to discrimination as regards believing in them and not as regards their rank.

4:137.

Commentary:

This verse provides clear proof of the fact that belief in all the Messengers of God is essential. The expression رسله (His Messengers) comprehends all Messengers of God and admits of no exception, demanding belief in all Prophets, whether old or new.

The words, We believe in some and disbelieve in others, condemn those people who would believe in some Messengers of God and reject others. The idea is further explained by 4:153 below which says, those who believe in Allah and in all of His Messengers, and make no distinction between any of them. Here the expression, any of them, clearly refers to "the Messengers" and not to God and the Messengers combined, which shows that the present clause, We believe in some and disbelieve in others, refers to the distinction some people seek to make between the different Messengers, and not to the distinction they make between God and His Messengers, which has already been referred to in the preceding clause of the present verse, i.e. make a distinction between Allah and His Messengers.

Ibn Kathir, the famous expositor of the Quran, explains this verse as follows: "What is meant here is that he who rejects any of the Prophets of God really rejects all of them, for God has made it obligatory on man to believe in every Prophet whom He has raised for any people at any time on the earth" (vol. iii. 224). In fact, if a people reject a Prophet of God out of envy or bigotry or self-will, it becomes clear that their faith in the Prophet in whom they profess to believe is also not sincere and true but is mere make-belief. For, if they had really believed in him as a Messenger of God, they would have believed in that other one also who was his like and whose claim was supported by similar arguments.

The expression, desire to take a way in between, means that such people "seek a middle course between faith and disbelief", i.e. they accept God and reject His Prophets or accept some Prophets and reject others, or accept some claims of a Prophet and reject others or regard the claims of a Prophet to be true but do not consider themselves bound to join his fold. True faith lies in total submission, accepting God and all His Messengers with all their claims. No middle course is permissible. See also the two succeeding verses.

2:137; 2:286; 3:85.

Commentary:

The verse 4:151 above dealt with four classes of disbelievers: (1) those who disbelieve both in Allah and His Messengers; (2) those who profess to believe in Allah but reject His Messengers, i.e. those who believe that there is indeed a God but that He sends no Messengers, or those who think they are bound to accept only that which God sends down by His revelation but do not look upon the behests and precepts of the Prophet as binding on them; (3) those who accept some of the Messengers of God and reject others; and (4) those who accept some claims of a divine Messenger and reject others, or those who, though declaring a claimant to prophethood to be true in his claims, do not think it to be binding on them to enter his fold. In continuation of the above, the verse under comment says that only those people can hope for reward from God who spurn all the above different forms of disbelief and whose faith in God and in all His Prophets is full and unqualified.