كِتَٰبِ

24:49.

Commentary:

The expression, portion of the Book, may refer to (1) the prophecies contained in the Bible concerning the Holy Prophet which formed a portion of the Book; or (2) the genuine portion of the Bible, because only a part of it had remained safe from interpolation and this alone could be called a part of the true Book; or (3) the expression may also mean that as compared with the Quran, which is the Book par excellence, being the eternal and perfect Divine Book, the Bible is but a portion and a part. In view of these different explanations, the verse would give different meanings: (a) that when the attention of Jews and Christians is drawn to the prophecies embodied in their Scriptures, they refuse to be guided by them. Or (b) that if the People of the Book had adhered to the genuine portion of their own Scriptures, the criteria laid down therein for testing the truth of a claimant to prophethood would have surely led them to accept the Holy Prophet. Or (c) that if they had faithfully acted on the teachings of their own Scriptures, which was in fact a part of the perfect and eternal teachings contained in the Quran, they would have certainly recognised the truth of the new Faith.

6:92; 7:155.

2:42.

5:46, 48.

Important Words:

ربانیون (godly people). See 3:80.

احبار (learned men) is the plural of حبر. They say حبره i.e. he made it beautiful; or he made him happy; or he treated him with honour. حبر (hibr) or حبر (habr) means, a learned man of the Jews; or any learned man; a good or righteous man (Lane & Aqrab).

استحفظوا (were required to preserve) is in the passive voice being formed from حفظ. They say حفظه i.e. he kept it or preserved it or guarded it or protected it; or he prevented it from perishing or becoming lost. استحفظه (in the active voice) means, he asked him to keep or guard or preserve it from perishing or becoming lost; or he asked him to be careful of, or attentive to, it; or he placed it with him to preserve or guard or take care of it; or he entrusted him with it or gave it to him in trust (Lane).

Commentary:

In this verse the Quran brings home to the Jews the charge mentioned in the previous verse. When even the Prophets of God who followed Moses were required to judge according to the Torah, who are they to refuse to refer their disputes to it?

The words, Therefore fear not men but fear Me, and barter not My Signs for a paltry price, mean that the referring by the Jews of their disputes to the Holy Prophet meant that they no longer looked upon the Torah as the revealed Word of God, and also that they had complete faith in the honesty, truthfulness and justice of the Holy Prophet. If such was the case, and there were also clear prophecies in their Scriptures bearing witness to his truth, then their refusal to believe in him showed that they feared men more than they feared God. Moreover, the rejection of the Holy Prophet meant not only the rejection of those prophecies but of Moses himself, who brought the Book which contains those prophecies.

It is also clear from this verse that it is not necessary for every Prophet to bring a new Law and not to be the follower of another Prophet or Book. The Prophets that appeared among the Jews after Moses, including Jesus, brought no new Law but followed Moses and acted upon the Law that was revealed to him. Says the verse, By it did the Prophets, who were obedient to Us, judge for the Jews. The Prophets who judged the Jews by the Torah were obviously subject to the Law of the Torah and had no Law of their own.

Important Words:

اولی (nearer) means more entitled or having a better right or more deserving or more worthy. It also means, more regardful or more considerate. See 4:136.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that the promise of "forgiveness and honourable provision" given to migrants (see preceding verse) is not confined to the early migrants only. It extends to the later migrants also and is meant to continue while persecution or, for that matter, sincerity of faith continues.

The verse also gives another injunction. As all Muslims were declared to be brothers one to another (8:73), some persons might have been led to think that they might also inherit one another’s property; so the verse fittingly declares that only blood relations are entitled to inheritance and that other Muslims are only brothers in faith, but not heirs.

Important Words:

کتاب (ordinance) is derived from کتب i.e. (1) he wrote; (2) he prescribed or ordained. کتاب means, a book or a writing; Divine prescript or ordinance or decree (Lane). See also 2:54 & 2:130.

Commentary:

The words فی کتاب اللّٰه (by Allah’s ordinance) mean that God so ordained on the day when He created the heavens and the earth that the number of months should be twelve, i.e. the law of nature determines that number, which holds true both in the solar and the lunar system.

The four sacred months are Dhul-Qa‘dah, Dhul-Hijjah, Muharram, and Rajab. These months have been held sacred by the Arabs, who are mostly descended from Abraham, from time immemorial and Islam confirmed their sacredness. It is considered unlawful to wage war or, for that matter, to continue a state of war in these four months unless, as the Quran points out, the enemy is the first to violate their sanctity. See also note on 2:218.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that when disbelievers will have realized to their discomfiture that the time of their prosperity and progress was very short, they will be told by true believers that according to divine decree they (disbelievers) were left alone to indulge in vice and sin up to the Day of Resurrection i.e. till the advent of a Divine Prophet, when all their prosperity and grandeur was to have come to an end. Thus the words "Day of Resurrection" do not refer to Resurrection after death but to the rise and fall of nations in this world.

The disbelievers or Christian nations of the West are here warned that their final destruction will take place after the renaissance of Islam in the Latter Days and not, as they misunderstand, in the time of its first phenomenal rise and spread.

8:76.

Commentary:

This verse clears a possible ambiguity that might have arisen from misunderstanding the injunction contained in v. 6 above. While in that verse the believers were enjoined to "call them by the names of their fathers," in the present verse the Holy Prophet by implication has been called the father of the Faithful. In fact, the preceding verse speaks of blood-relationship and the verse under comment speaks of the spiritual relationship that subsists between the Holy Prophet and the Faithful. It purports to say that in his capacity as their spiritual father, the Holy Prophet stands closer to them than even their own selves and that his wives being their spiritual mothers ought to be treated by them with greater regard and respect than the mothers who gave them birth, because spiritual relationship stands on a much higher plane than physical relationship. It is to this supreme reality that the Holy Prophet has drawn attention in a well-known saying of his, viz. "the faith of a believer does not become perfect unless the love he bears to me transcends all worldly connections and relationships" (Bukhari, Kitabul-Iman).

The verse removes another possible misunderstanding. The Islamic brotherhood which had come into being through the spiritual fatherhood of the Holy Prophet might have led to the misconception that Muslims could inherit each other’s property. It is this misconception that the verse under comment seeks to remove. It purports to say that (1) only blood relations can inherit each other and (2) that from among the blood relations only the believers can inherit, the disbelievers having been debarred from inheriting their believing relatives.

The verse also abolished that form of brotherhood which was established between the Migrants of Mecca and the Helpers of Medina, on the former’s arrival in Medina, according to which a مھاجر (Migrants) would even inherit the property left by an انصاری (Helper). After this verse was revealed that form of brotherhood which was but a temporary measure, adopted to rehabilitate the Migrants from Mecca, ceased to exist, and blood relationship and not faith alone, became the decisive factor in determining inheritance and other kindred matters. But the wider brotherhood of Islam continued and Muslims were expected to treat one another like brothers.