ٱلْمُفْسِدِينَ

2:52.

Commentary:

The promised nights were only thirty, and ten were added subsequently to increase the favour. In fact, God’s communion with Moses was completed in the promised thirty nights, as hinted in the next verse. So the prolongation of the period by ten nights, which was due to the request of Moses to God to manifest Himself to him, did not form part of the promise but was something additional.

The words, Act for me among my people in my absence, clearly indicate that Aaron’s position was subordinate to that of Moses. Moses called the Israelites "my people" and directed Aaron to act for him, i.e. officiate in his place during his absence, which shows that Aaron occupied no independent position but was only a subordinate Prophet to Moses.

The words, and follow not the ways of those who cause disorder, are intended as a warning to Aaron to beware of the mischief-makers and adopt a strong policy.

The use of the word "nights" is significant. As this period was meant to be passed in meditation and devotion for which the quiet and calmness of the night is much more suitable than the day, so God used the word "nights".

3:182; 36:48.

5:69.

3:56; 5:15.

2:18.

Important Words:

یداه (both His hands). The word ید (hand or arm) is derived from یدی (yadyun) and, besides its literal meaning, gives a number of figurative meanings e.g., (1) favour, benefit, bounty or generosity; (2) power, dominion, control, authority or superiority (Aqrab & Lane).

Commentary:

The expression: Their own hands shall be tied up, signifies that the Jews shall be suitably punished for their insolent saying expressed in the words, The hand of Allah is tied up. The sentence may also be taken as optative, meaning, "may their hands be tied up." But as what Allah wills must come to pass, therefore the expression may be better rendered in the form of a positive statement, meaning that the Jews shall become miserly and stingy.

The clause, Nay, both His hands are wide open, constitutes a crushing reply to the taunt of the Jews, that the hand of Allah is tied up. The Quran says that not only is the hand of God not tied up but that both His hands are wide open—the one to give to the believers in plenty and the other to punish the Jews for their insolence. The sentences which follow the clause, Nay, both His hands are wide open, refer respectively to the work of the two hands of God, namely (1) the bestowal of special bounties upon believers, and (2) the exemplary punishment of Jews for their sins. It will be noted that the hand is used both as an instrument for bestowing a favour or bounty and as a symbol of power and dominion for seizing and punishing an offender.

The enmity and hatred referred to in the verse are to exist and continue not only among Jews themselves but also among Christians, as well as between Jews and Christians.

The expression, Whenever they kindle a fire for war, refers to the attempts of Jews to incite the idolaters of Arabia to wage war against Muslims, as well as to their own hostile activities against Islam.

7:46; 11:20; 14:4; 16:89.

3:124; 8:27.

Commentary:

The tribe of Shu‘aib appears to resemble very much the Arabs in their ways and customs; for, the Meccans did with the Holy Prophet exactly what the people of Shu‘aib did with him. Both of them hindered the outsiders from approaching their respective Prophets. The words, لا تقعدوا بکل صراط besides the meaning given in the text, may also be interpreted as, "have not recourse to every means", and taken in this sense, the prohibition shows that the people of Shu‘aib tried all means in their power to dissuade men from accepting the truth.

The children of Abraham from Keturah, who was a bondwoman, were despised by both Israelites and Ishmaelites. They were looked down upon as weak and despicable, but God increased their number and gave them wealth and power. They are, therefore, asked to remember this favour of God and be grateful to Him.

17:102; 28:37; 43:47.

Commentary:

The clause, Then after them We sent Moses, does not mean that Moses appeared directly or immediately after the Prophets mentioned in the preceding verses. Other Messengers may have intervened between Moses and these Prophets, of whom Shu‘aib appears to be the nearest in time to Moses. In fact, the use of the words, Then after them, in the above clause only means that Moses appeared and lived sometime after them. The expression also contradicts the popular view that Shu‘aib was a contemporary and the father-in-law of Moses.

The words ظلموا بھا (they unjustly rejected them) literally meaning "they did wrong by means of the signs, or did them wrong", really signify that "they rejected the signs and treated them as lies, or they made them the means of doing wrong to men by ridiculing them and in this way deceiving the people."

The word ظلم also means, "to put a thing in the wrong place, or to make a wrong use of a thing" (Lane). Taking the word in this sense, the clause would mean, "they made a wrong use of the signs", i.e. though the signs were meant to engender fear of God in the hearts of men, the disbelievers, instead of profiting by them, jeered and mocked at them.

7:119; 20:70.

Commentary:

See note on the preceding verse.

10:52.

Commentary:

The eloquent words, What! Now!, show that it is only in specified circumstances that faith proves to be of any avail. When truth becomes quite clear and there remains no doubt or ambiguity about it, faith loses all value. In fact, it is only effort and sacrifice that make a person deserving of reward, and where these are absent, man forfeits all title to it.

2:88.

10:84.

2:50; 7:142; 14:7.

Commentary:

The policy of "divide and rule" which has been practised with such deadly effect by the Colonial Powers of the west in this twentieth century was also followed by Pharaoh. He had split the people of Egypt into parties and sections and had made invidious distinctions between them. Some of them he favoured and others he exploited and suppressed. Moses’ people belonged to the latter unfortunate class.

The words, "he slew their sons and spared their women," besides bearing the apparent sense, viz. that in order to keep the Israelites under permanent subjection, Pharaoh destroyed their manhood and kept alive their women, may also signify that by his policy of exploitation and heartless suppression, Pharaoh sought to kill all manly qualities among the Israelites and thus made them timid like women.

Commentary:

Islam does not view with favour such flight from the world as Christianity inculcates among its votaries. One should not deny one’s portion of the good things of the world. As a matter of fact at another place in the Quran the believers are enjoined to pray to God "to grant them the good things of this world as well as the good things of the world to come" (2:202), only the pursuit of the good things of this world should not make one neglect the seeking of the good things of the Hereafter. Islam is not a religion of monks and recluses but of pious and righteous men of the world.

26:170.