نَجۡعَل

Commentary:

This verse refers to Cyrus’ expedition to the East—to Afghanistan and even Baluchistan. The words, on a people for whom We had made no shelter against it, signify that at that time the Afghans were an uncivilized people. They did not live in houses made of brick and stone but in huts and tents. The words may also apply to Baluchistan. But very sketchy references about Cyrus’ expeditions to Afghanistan and Baluchistan are found in books of history. Contemporary historians, most of them being Greek, have given detailed accounts of the conquests of Cyrus in the West but have very little to say about his conquests in the East. They do not go beyond remarking that in the East Cyrus attacked regions in the neighbourhood of Afghanistan. But as Sistan then formed a part of the Persian Empire we are inclined to the view that the verse can apply to Baluchistan also because the words, for whom We had made no shelter against it, give an apt description of this barren and arid country, full of deserts and rocks. The verse may also apply to the people who lived in the plains which have extended for hundreds of miles to the east of Sistan and Herat and to the north of Duzdab up to Meshed.

3:40; 21:91.

19:66.

Important Words:

سمیا (of that name) is derived from سمی. They say سما و سمی الرجل زیداً i.e. he named the man Zaid. سما means, it became high. سموت الیه ببصری means, I raised my eye towards him. سمی means, competitor or contender for superiority, in eminence or glory or excellence; a like or an equal; a namesake of another. ھو سمیک means, he is thy namesake or he is thy equal or like (Aqrab & Lane).

Commentary:

The two words غلام and یحیٰی used in this verse are very significant. The word غلام signifies three periods of one’s life i.e. childhood, youth and middle age. Applied to Yahya or John it embodied a prophecy that he shall not die in childhood but shall grow up to be a young man before the eyes of his father and shall live up to middle age and so it actually came to pass. Yahya lived up to middle age and then was killed by the order of Herod to satisfy the wish of a dancing girl. The word یحییٰ literally meaning, "he lives" or "he shall live," also implied a great prophecy, viz. that he will die the death of a martyr and thus will become immortalized. Of the martyrs the Quran says: Say not of those who are killed in the cause of Allah that they are dead; nay they are living; only you perceive not (2:155). Again it says: Think not of those who have been slain in the cause of Allah as dead. Nay, they are living in the presence of their Lord and are granted gifts from Him(3:170). Thus those who are killed in the way of God get everlasting life and so did Yahya or John. His ministry terminated in his imprisonment in the fortress of Machaerus, where he was executed by the order of Herod Antipas (Matt. 14:10 & 11). See also 3:40.

The words, We have not made anyone before him of that name, do not mean that there had lived before him no man whose name was John. From the Bible it appears that there had been several persons before him who were called John. (II Kings 25:23; I Chronicles 3:15; Ezra 8:12). Nor does the verse mean that John was peerless and was unequalled in every respect. He himself confesses that "there cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose" (Mark 1:7). The verse only signifies that in some respects Yahya had no equal, i.e. he enjoyed a partial superiority in some respects over other Israelite Prophets. Abraham, Moses and Jesus were Prophets of much higher spiritual status than John, the Baptist, who had come only to prepare the way for Jesus (Mark 1:3). Yahya was peerless only in this respect that he was the first Prophet to come as a precursor and harbinger to another Prophet—Jesus. And he was peerless in this respect also that he was the first Prophet who came with the power and spirit of another Prophet—Elias.