رَبِّكُمْ

2:15; 3:120; 5:62.

Important Words:

فتح (has unfolded) means: (1) he opened; (2) he unfolded or disclosed; (3) he taught; (4) he gained victory over a place or a people (Aqrab).

عند (before) gives a number of meanings, e.g., with, by, at, near, in the presence of, in the opinion of or in the estimation of, etc. (Lane). See also 2:275.

Commentary:

The verse mentions another class of Jews who acted hypocritically. When they mixed with Muslims, they chimed in with them from worldly motives, confirming the prophecies contained in their Books about the Holy Prophet. But when they were away from Muslims and mixed with their own people, they behaved in quite a different way. On such occasions other members of the community would reproach them for their enlightening the Muslims on what God had revealed to them, i.e., for letting the Muslims know the prophecies about the Holy Prophet contained in the Jewish scriptures. In that case, they would say, the Muslims would argue with them before God, blaming them before Him on the Day of Judgement for their rejection of the Holy Prophet. And yet they well knew the prophecies which spoke of his advent and bore witness to his truth. That there will be such contentions on the Day of Judgement has also been mentioned elsewhere in the Quran which says: Then surely on the Day of Resurrection you will contend with one another in the presence of your Lord (39:32). It is a weakness of human nature that a culprit, even when knowing that the judge knows the truth, tries to put up pleas in his favour. Moreover, there is a sect among the Jews who, against the teachings of their own scriptures, hold that God does not know the details of all things, and quite possibly those who reproached their brethren for disclosing such prophecies to the Muslims held a similar view and feared lest the latter should place these facts before God on the Day of Resurrection and blame them in the presence of their Lord.

2:121.

2:77.

57:30.

Commentary:

The construction of this verse, though seemingly rather complicated, is designed to make it capable of different interpretations. We will give here those most apparent:

(1) The clause, And obey none but him who follows your religion, is a continuation of the concluding clause of the preceding verse. Thereafter comes a parenthetical clause beginning with the words, Say, surely the true guidance, and ending with the words, the like of that which has been given to you. Then comes again the speech of the Jews in the words, Or they would dispute with you before your Lord, the verse finally ending with the Divine commandment, Say, All bounty, etc. The style is peculiar to the Quran and is intended to produce a good psychological effect.

The words, that one be given the like of that which has been given to you, which Muslims are bidden to say are in fitting contrast to the words of the Jews quoted in the beginning of the verse, i.e. obey none but him who follows your religion. Jews make God a national deity, debarring all others from His favours, whereas Muslims believe in Him as the Lord of all, basing His right to greatness on the bestowal of His favours in whatever form and to whatever people they may come. Moreover, they believe that the fold of Islam, which is Allah’s universal guidance, is open to all peoples. The words of the Jews, Or they would dispute with you before your Lord, mean that if the Jews follow any dispensation other than their own, they would thereby prove their own guilt in the sight of God, for in that case they would be tacitly admitting that the door of God’s favours is open to others as well, and thus they would make themselves liable to punishment for rejecting Islam. The words, All bounty is in the hand of Allah, mean that the bestowing of the gift of prophethood upon a people is in the hand of God alone and He confers it on those who are deserving of it.

(2) According to another interpretation, only the words قل ان الھدی ھدی الله which in this case would be translated as "Say, the true guidance is the guidance of Allah," would be considered as being parenthetical and the following words, i.e. that one be given the like of that which has been given to you, etc. would be taken to form part of the speech of the Jews. In this case the clause would signify that the Jews say to one another that the guidance that has come to the House of Israel, or the favours that have been bestowed on them, can never be vouchsafed to any other people. They are the exclusive privilege of Israel.

(3) Yet another interpretation is obtained, if the speech of the Jews is taken to end with the words, obey none but him who follows your religion, the succeeding clauses being considered to be all Divine speech put in the mouth of believers. In this case the words فتقبلوه would be considered to be understood before the clause او یحاجوکم عند ربکم and the entire expression would mean, "so they should accept it, or they should dispute with you before your Lord", signifying that, as true guidance is the guidance contained in the Quran, so either the Jews should accept it or they and Muslims should place their case before God for decision, i.e. they should have a مباھله (Mubahalah), i.e. a prayer contest with them and pray to God to help the righteous and destroy the wicked as already explained in 3:62.

20:87.

20:95.

Important Words:

فلاتشمت (make not rejoice). تشمت is formed from اشمت which is derived from شمت. They say شمت or شمت به i.e. he (an enemy) rejoiced; or he (someone) rejoiced at his enemy’s affliction. اشمته الله به means, God made him (the enemy) rejoice at his affliction. شمت علی العاطس means, he prayed for the sneezer that he might not be in a state in which his enemy might rejoice at his affliction (Lane).

Commentary:

When the return of Moses was delayed owing to the ten additional nights, his followers became impatient and thought that he was lost. They expressed their impatience in the words "we wot not what is become of him" (Exod. 32:1).

According to the Bible, Moses cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them beneath the Mount, so that they had to be renewed (Exod. 32:19; 34:1). But this is not borne out by the Quran which simply states, And he put down the tablets and this is more in harmony with the dignity of a Prophet.

Moses caught hold of Aaron’s head, not because the latter had abetted calf-worship, as he is represented to have done in the Bible (Exod. 32:2-4), but because he did not successfully prevent the people from worshipping the calf. As Moses’ representative, he should have effectively prevented the people from idol-worship, but he failed to do so. So the display of anger on the part of Moses was due not to any religious or legal offence committed by Aaron, but to his failure to manage affairs properly in the absence of Moses. Aaron had hoped that Moses would set things right on his return. That was only an error of judgement or lack of proper control, not a legal or religious offence.

The way in which Moses treated Aaron also shows that the latter was subordinate to the former. The treatment, however, should not be taken as a display of rough manners on the part of Moses. The anger of Moses was justified because a great sacrilege had been committed and the very work of his life was jeopardized; and Aaron being subordinate to Moses, the latter was entitled to take disciplinary action.

The words, Son of my mother, were used by Aaron not because Moses was a half-brother to him but because he wished to make an effective appeal to his feelings of tenderness and affection, and in this he succeeded.

The meaning of the particle مع (with) in the clause, and place me not with the unjust people, helps to explain its real sense in 4:70. Here, as well as there the particle gives the meaning of "among".

Commentary:

This verse shows how necessary it is to preach the truth to others. We must not fail to tell our brethren what is good for them and what is not. The thought that those in whom we inculcate the doing of good will not benefit by our advice should not deter us from doing our duty. Our preaching may or may not produce any good result, but we will have done our duty and will not be held answerable before God for neglecting to do what we should have done. The verse mentions two possible results of preaching and both are equally meritorious: (1) either our preaching will take effect and the people preached to will become righteous, or (2) we will at least have done our duty to God.

31:11.

7:55; 16:13; 29:62; 31:30; 35:14; 39:6.

32:6.

Commentary:

The Arabic expression رفع السموات بغیر عمد ترونھا rendered as, Who raised up the heavens without any pillars that you can see, means: (1) you see that the heavens stand without pillars; or (2) the heavens do not stand on any pillars which you may see, i.e. they have supports but you cannot see them. Both these meanings are correct and agree with the sense of the text. If the word عمد (pillars) be taken in its ordinary sense, i.e. in the sense of material columns which bear the weight of other things, then the verse would mean that the heavens stand without the support of pillars. But if the word be taken in the figurative sense, i.e. in the sense of anything that helps to keep another thing in place, then the verse would mean that the heavens or, for that matter, the heavenly bodies do stand on supports but these supports are not visible to the human eye, e.g. the force of gravity, or magnetic power or the special movements of planets or other means which men of science have discovered so far or which may be discovered in future.

The verse seeks to disabuse the minds of disbelievers of the notion that because the Holy Prophet possessed no material support or means which are considered essential for success, therefore he could not succeed in his mission. The verse says that it is not necessary that all things should have material supports or that these supports should be visible to the human eye. It is, indeed, true that everything must have some sort of prop to support it; but all things need not have the same kind of support. Material things which are the result of man’s handiwork need material supports, for even a small roof cannot stand without walls or pillars. But such is God’s handiwork that heavy stars stand in their places without visible support or without any support which may be called "a pillar" in the ordinary sense of the word. Although long ages have passed since this system came into being, yet nothing has gone wrong with it. There lies a world of difference between the way in which God works and the working of man. Man cannot do without support but God can, and this is why He has caused millions of stars to stand in their places without support or at least without visible support. The same divine law operates in the spiritual realm. When God desires to make a man succeed, He needs no material or visible means for it. He works in subtle ways that remain hidden from human gaze till the end is reached; and that which man in his ignorance regards as impossible becomes possible.

The expression, Then He settled Himself on the Throne, means that just as God first created the celestial bodies without any visible support and then began to manifest His attributes in a perfect manner, similarly in the spiritual world He has brought to perfection the spiritual firmament through the Holy Prophet; and now through the perfect teaching given to him, God’s attributes are going to find their complete manifestation. The word عرش or Throne, for which see 7:55, is used in the Quran to express the bringing to perfection of spiritual or physical laws. The expression is analogous to the ways of worldly monarchs. The rulers and monarchs of this world make their important proclamations "from the throne." To keep up the metaphor the clause, He settled Himself on the Throne, is intended to express the perfect manifestation of Divine attributes, meaning thereby that when a new spiritual heaven and a new earth have come into being, Divine attributes will necessarily find their requisite manifestation. See also 10:4.

The words, pressed the sun and the moon into service, mean that God has not only caused the heavenly bodies to stand without the support of pillars, but has also subjected them to the service of man. Man’s paid servants may, and indeed sometimes do, shirk their duty, but these heavenly bodies, in obedience to divine laws, serve us with perfect regularity and faithful-ness. What wonder then if God should have enforced the same inexorable law in favour of the Holy Prophet and should have subjected everything to his service?

The expression, He regulates all affairs, is also intended to signify that God will make all things serve the cause of the Prophet. The whole universe will, as it were, become his servant.

16:113.

Commentary:

The preceding verses having made a mention of the blessings and favours which God had bestowed upon the Israelites and which found their fullest expression in the highly prosperous reigns of David and Solomon, the present verse proceeds to refer to another very prosperous and happy people of their time—the people of Saba’. Saba’, as is mentioned under 27:23, was a city of Yemen situated about three days’ journey from San‘a’, also called Ma’arib.

"This town finds frequent reference in the Old Testament and in Greek, Roman and Arabic literature, especially in the South Arabian inscriptions. The Sabaeans were a highly civilized and prosperous people. The finds made in the country itself are in harmony with the various classical literary sources, which agree in showing that the Sabaeans attained the greatest importance of all Arab peoples of the pre-Muhammadan period, in particular of the four leading peoples of South Arabia who were known even to the Greeks. . .these still extant monuments of the once highly developed civilization, to which Sabaea mainly owed its historical importance...Agatharchides’s re-marks on the splendid buildings of the kings and private individuals in Saba’ and the descriptions of Sabaean castles by the Arabs are confirmed by the testimony of the inscriptions, which to a great extent commemorate the building of houses (palaces) and fortifications. Of public works built to assist agriculture like barriers and dams, the most celebrated was the dam of Ma’arib" (Enc. of Islam. vol. 4. p. 16).

Tirmidhi quotes a tradition on the authority of Farwah bin Malik that when asked whether Saba’ was the name of a land or of a woman, the Holy Prophet is reported to have said, 'It is neither the name of a land nor that of a woman but the name of a man in Yemen who had ten sons. Six of them remained in Yemen while four of them went to Syria. As for those who made Syria their home, they were Joham, Ghassan and Amila; and as for those who stayed back in Yemen they were Ash‘ariyyun, Himyar, Kandah, Madhpih and ‘Ammar. On being asked who were Ammar, the Prophet replied "Of them are Khath‘am and Bajilah"' (Taj).

The whole tenor of the verse shows that the Sabaeans were a highly prosperous and cultured people whom God had blessed in great abundance with all the comforts and amenities of life. The whole country seems to have been rendered very fertile by dams and other irrigation works and was full of gardens and streams.

According to Muir there were 70 stages or stops from Hadramaut to Aila on the road from Yemen to Syria. These stages even exist today. It was a very frequented and safe route, flanked on both sides by shady trees.

23:17.

Commentary:

Whereas the preceding verse holds out to sinners the message of hope and good cheer, the verse under comment warns them that they will themselves have to work out their destiny by submitting to Divine laws. God’s mercy comes only to those who obey His laws.

19:87.

6:131; 40:51; 67:9-10.

Commentary:

This and the next few verses deal with the end and destiny of both believers and disbelievers. The disbelievers end by burning in the fire of frustration, failure and regrets in this world, and in the fire of Hell in the next world.

11:42; 23:29.

Important Words:

مقرنین (capable of subduing) is derived from قرن. They say أقرن للشیء و أقرن الشیء i.e. he had the power and the strength to do the thing, he had the requisite ability and strength for it. مقرنین means, having the power or being able to do a thing (Aqrab).

6:161; 29:7.

3:119; 4:145; 5:58.

17:77.

Commentary:

The prohibitory injunction contained in the verse is of a very strict character. Muslims are not to have friendly relations with the avowed enemies of God—those who drove out the Prophet and the Muslims from their hearths and homes and sought to destroy Islam. The prohibition is all-comprehensive in this respect that no consideration of bonds or ties of even the nearest blood relationships is allowed to interfere with it. The enemy of Islam is God’s enemy, whosoever he may be.

The immediate occasion of the revelation of the verse under comment was that when the Quraish did not honour the Treaty of Hudaibiyyah, and the Holy Prophet had to take stern punitive action against them, Hatib bin Abi Balta‘h had written a secret letter to the Meccans informing them of the Holy Prophet’s intended march on Mecca. The Prophet, informed by revelation about it sent ‘Ali, Zubair and Miqdad, in search of the bearer of the letter. They overtook the messenger—she was a woman—on the way to Mecca and the letter was brought back to Medina. Hatib’s offence was extremely grave. He had sought to divulge an important State secret. He deserved exemplary punishment. Incidentally, the episode of the letter fixes the date of revelation of the Surah.