لِلۡمُؤۡمِنِیۡنَ

26:194, 195.

See 2:90.

Important Words:

جبریل (Gabriel) is a compound word made up of جبر (גבך) which in Hebrew means a man or a mighty man or a hero, and ایل (א ל) which means God (Hebrew-English Lexicon by William Geseneus, Boston, 1836. Also see Bukhari, chap. onTafsir). The latter word occurs in many combinations (e.g. in the word Ishmael in Gen. 16:11 which means "God heareth" or "God has heard"). In Arabic, which is the mother of Hebrew, the word جبر means, mending a broken thing; giving a poor man so liberally as to make him well off; a brave man. The word ایل is either derived from the Arabic word الله (God) or from the root آل, the active participle from which is آئل meaning Controller or Ruler, i.e. God (Aqrab). Ibn ‘Abbas relates that the other name of جبریل is عبدالله i.e. the servant of God (Jarir), which is simply another rendering of the word جبریل. Thus the angel جبریل (Gabriel) is so called because he is the servant of God; he is the strong and brave servant of God; he looks after the repairing or reformation of the universe, he bestows God’s bounties on mankind and is a liberal giver.

In Islam جبریل has been described as the chief among the angels (Manthur) and was therefore selected by God to be the bearer of the Quranic message, the best and the last شریعة (Law) to descend from Heaven. Many commentators consider that جبریل (Gabriel) is synonymous with روح القدس (the Spirit of Holiness) spoken of in the Quran and the Hadith. Similarly, Gabriel has been spoken of as روح الامین (the Trusty Spirit) in the Quran (26:194).

Commentary:

The Jews had been invited to believe in the Quran, but they refused to accept it (v. 92 above) on the ground that it was said to have been brought by Gabriel while, according to them, the bearer of Divine Revelation was Michael, and not Gabriel (Musnad). The function of Gabriel, as we learn from the Bible, is to convey the messages of God to His servants (Dan. 8:16; 9:21; and Luke 1:19, 26. It is strange that Gabriel is mentioned in the Old Testament for the first time in Daniel and not earlier). The Quran, as the verse under comment points out, assigns the same function to Gabriel. But in some later writings of the Jews, he is described as "the angel of fire and thunder" (Enc. Bib. under Gabriel).

Such was the idea of the Jews in the days of the Holy Prophet. They looked upon Gabriel as an angel of wars, calamities and hardships (Jarir under 2:98). Muslim historians tell us that this idea had such a firm hold on the minds of the Jews that when they were told that the bearer of the Quranic revelation was Gabriel, they said: جبریل ذالك الذی ینزل بالحرب والقتال والعذاب- عدونا i.e. "Gabriel is the angel who is associated with war and bloodshed and punishment. He is our enemy." By saying this, they meant that they would not believe in a revelation brought by Gabriel (Musnad). The reason why the Jews bore enmity to Gabriel seems to be that they had fallen on evil days and as, according to them, Gabriel was the angel of war and punishment, therefore they ascribed their misfortunes to him. There is no doubt that the Talmudic traditions and the Targums were the origin of this notion which gained such a firm footing among Jews; otherwise originally the Bible declares Gabriel to be the angel of good tidings and of the Divine Word. It is evident that with the lapse of time legends and myths grew round the original truth, which was subsequently lost; and the Jews clung fast to their erroneous belief, which stood in the way of their accepting the Quran or, for that matter, any revelation coming through the agency of Gabriel.

The Quran has, in the verse under comment, brought forward four arguments in refutation of the Jewish plea for rejecting the Quran:

Firstly, that no angel can bring down any revelation unless he receives direct command from God. Hence the angel who brings the revelation, whether he is Gabriel or Michael or any other, is only a vehicle for the Divine Word; and even if Jewish tradition associates an angel with calamities, it cannot call into question the authority from which his message originates.

Secondly, that the revelation sent down to the Prophet of Islam is مصدق (in fulfilment) of the previous Books and in it all the prophecies about the promised Lawgiver contained in the earlier Scriptures find their fulfilment, which is a clear proof of its Divine origin.

Thirdly, that when it is practically established that the teachings of the Quran are a guidance for mankind, its acceptance becomes binding upon all right thinking men.

Fourthly, that the Quran contains teachings which, besides being right, are also بشری (bearers of glad tidings) to its followers and harbingers of God’s mercy and favours. Such revelation should not be rejected simply for the reason that it has been brought down by Gabriel.

8:10.

Commentary:

The verse means that if the Meccans made another attack upon Muslims sometime after Uhud, God would help the latter by sending down a force of three thousand angels. It is a mistake to think that these words refer to the Battle of Badr which has been mentioned in the preceding verse only incidentally in order to cite an illustration of how God helped steadfast Muslims in times of danger. Moreover, the number of angels sent at the Battle of Badr was, according to 8:10, one thousand and not three thousand, as here stated. The fulfilment of the present promise is referred to in 3:152 below.

9:128; 21:108.

Commentary:

The hypocrites, by using the words, ھو اذن i.e. he gives ear to all, (lit. "he is all ear") with regard to the Holy Prophet, meant to say that he was always listening to the reports of his reporters and thus, by reason of the excess of this practice, he had become, as it were, the very organ of hearing. The verse replies to this taunt of the hypocrites by saying that the Prophet did indeed receive reports but this practice was essential for good administration; for if he who is in power does not keep himself well-informed, he cannot rule with justice.

Moreover, by using the words, is good for you, the verse hints that though the Prophet did listen to reports about the machinations of the hypocrites, he never punished them merely on the basis of these reports without first ascertaining whether they were true or false, and even when they proved to be true, he very often pardoned them. So, it was not right for them to taunt him for keeping himself informed of what went on around him.

6:52; 19:98; 25:2.

Commentary:

This verse is addressed to each and every believer, and not particularly to the Holy Prophet. The believers are told that the Quran is God’s own revelation and not the outcome of the Prophet’s mind, and since it is the revealed Word of the All-Knowing God, they should feel no straitness or hesitance in acting upon its injunctions and preaching them to others.

25:33.

Commentary:

This verse clearly proves that the accounts of the previous Prophets have not been narrated in the Quran merely as simple facts of history, but contain prophetic allusions to similar incidents that were to occur in the life of the Holy Prophet. If it had not been so, how could these accounts be said to bring satisfaction to his mind and "make his heart firm." It was only when these accounts were to be taken as future incidents of his own life, that they could bring satisfaction to the Holy Prophet. In these accounts he saw how his enemies were to behave towards him, how they were to be discomfited and how his cause was to triumph in the end. As he was the representative of all previous Prophets, therefore, more or less, he was to pass through all the experiences through which his predecessors in the prophetic office had passed.

20:132.

Important Words:

تمدن (stretch) is derived from مد which means, he strained, extended or stretched a thing. مدنظرہ الیه means, he stretched his eyes towards it (Aqrab).

ازواجا (some classes) is the plural of زوج which means, any sort of thing; sort or species i.e. class; one of a pair or couple of things; a thing having with it a thing of the same kind; a woman’s husband or a man’s wife (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The words, Stretch not thine eyes towards that what We have bestowed on some classes of them, do not mean that the Holy Prophet is here bidden not to covet the worldly possession of disbelievers, for such an interpretation is not only inconsistent with his dignity and nobility of character but also is in conflict with the clauses that immediately follow, viz.and grieve not over them and lower thy wing of mercy for the believers. The real significance of these words is that the Holy Prophet has here been told not to grieve over the fact that disbelievers, instead of feeling grateful to God Who had bestowed riches and prosperity on them, had incurred His wrath on account of their wickedness and now all their glory and power was going to depart and they were about to be destroyed. In fact, it had very much grieved the Holy Prophetthat the disbelievers whom God had blessed with such prosperity were going to be destroyed for their disobedience. He had wished and prayed that they should have believed in him and thus have inherited the spiritual blessings promised to his followers. But instead of this they disobeyed God and defied His Prophet and therefore were going to be destroyed as God had informed the Holy Prophet in the words: and the hour is sure to come (v. 86). This naturally caused much grief to the Holy Prophet who has been here bidden not to grieve for the Meccans, for they had made themselves deserving of this fate, but to devote his merciful attention to the up-bringing of the small community of believers and to look after their moral and spiritual welfare. Incidentally, this injunction also implied a veiled hint about the impending migration of the Holy Prophet and his followers to Medina; for it was not possible to train and bring up the small band of believers as pioneers of the new world order so long as they were in Mecca, where they had no freedom of action. The verse also hints that the Holy Prophet desired to delay and postpone his departure from Mecca out of a heartfelt desire to save the disbelievers, if possible. He is bidden here to wait no longer and prepare for departure.

The words, Stretch not thine eyes towards what We have bestowed on some classes of them, do not refer even to the Companions of the Holy Prophet, as suggested by some commentators, who assert that these words depict the mental condition of some of the Muslims at the time when they saw the caravans of the two Jewish tribes of Banu Quraizah and Banu Nadir laden with jewels, scents, etc. The fact that the whole Surah has been admitted by the consensus of scholarly opinion to have been revealed at Mecca, where there were no Jews, knocks the bottom out of this baseless insinuation.

2:3; 10:58; 12:112; 31:4.

Commentary:

The verse points to the two prominent characteristics of the Quran to which repeated reference has been made in it, viz. (1) that it is a guidance and (2) that it gives good tidings to the believers. These characteristics signify that the Quran contains all those rules of conduct, precepts and ordinances which are required for man’s moral and spiritual development and progress, and are essential for the achievement of the goal of human life, and that it also holds out to believers the promise that if they acted upon its teaching they will enjoy prosperity, prestige and power in this world and the pleasure and nearness of God in the life to come.