Appearance
Summaries of Sūrat al-Baqarah
The summary with which Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī opens his commentary on each verse of Sūrat al-Baqarah, in the order of the verses. To read the summary of one verse, type it on the Summary page.
2:1 — Alif, Lam, Mim.
Alif, Lam, Mim.
Some chapters of the Noble Qur’an open with letters known as “the disjoined letters” (al-ḥurūf al-muqaṭṭaʿah), because they are read separately.
The concern to explain these letters has occupied the attention of exegetes and researchers in Qur’anic studies from the beginning of the history of exegesis to the present day, and they have divided into two groups in their analysis of them. Some held that they are a secret between God (s.w.t.) and His Noble Messenger (s.a.w.), and so, in this respect, cannot be interpreted. The others, who are the great majority of exegetes and scholars of the Qur’an, held that these letters, even if their true nature (kunh) cannot be known, are open to interpretation like the other verses of the Qur’an.
These scholars have put forward various views on the interpretation of the disjoined letters of the Qur’an. Since these views do not contradict one another, we may accept all of them, provided each is established by a reliable proof. Even so, the door remains open to further examination and a final assessment of these letters, and the subject may be taken up on other occasions.
2:2 — This is the Book, there is no doubt in it
This is the Book, there is no doubt in it, a guidance to the Godwary,
The Noble Qur’an is one of the most comprehensive of the divine Books. It contains all the teachings (maʿārif) of the heavenly Books that came before it and stands guardian (muhaymin) over them all, and doubt or uncertainty never comes near its precincts. This is because the Qur’an is pure truth, and doubt arises only when truth is mixed with falsehood, so that falsehood appearing in the guise of truth is what gives rise to doubt. As for the doubt of the hypocrites and the faithless about the Qur’an’s claim and its call, it springs from their sick hearts, just as a blind man, because of his blindness, doubts the sun at high noon.
The Noble Qur’an is a means of guidance for the Godwary. The Qur’an’s legislative guidance (irshād) is general and not confined to any one group. But its creative guidance (qiyādah), which is meant in this verse and which comes after legislative guidance, belongs only to the Godwary: those who have kept their innate nature (fiṭrah) sound and have also benefited from the Qur’an’s legislative guidance. Those who have buried their innate nature in the depths of the pits of their desires have no share in the guidance of the Qur’an.
2:3 — who believe in the Unseen
who believe in the Unseen, maintain the prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them;
The Qur’an is the guide of the Godwary who believe in the unseen (God (s.w.t.), His Most Beautiful Names, revelation, the angels and the Return), even though the absolute unseen, that is, the essence (kunh) of God’s Being, is not witnessed in detail by the gnostic, nor grasped by the reason of the philosopher and the theologian, nor the object of any believer’s detailed faith.
The Godwary are people of prayer, and they also establish its reality. They take the essential message of prayer out of its framework of words and concepts and bring it into concrete existence. That is, they first make the reality of prayer take form within their own souls, and then bring it out into society through their constant practice. By calling others to prayer and teaching it to them, they make others, too, an embodiment of the spirit of prayer. In this way the reality of prayer takes form in society: the prayer that restrains from indecency and wrongdoing, and that heals the ailments that afflict worldly man and make him anxious, fretful and grudging.
Through spending from the share of sustenance God has given them, they first strengthen their bond with Him (s.w.t.), and then, in the light of that, devote themselves to strengthening their ties with His servants.
The spending of the Godwary is not limited to wealth. They are ready to give any sustenance they have, such as wealth, knowledge, intellect, authority, standing and influence, and their own selves, in the way of the Truth.
2:4 — and who believe in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down before you
and who believe in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down before you, and are certain of the Hereafter.
The guidance of the Qur’an is the gain of the Godwary, who believe in all that was sent down upon the purified heart of the Most Noble Prophet (s.a.w.), whether of the Qur’an or of the ḥadīth qudsī, and in all the heavenly Books that came before.
Faith in the Qur’an and in the earlier heavenly Books entails faith in the prophets of God (a.s.) and their miracles, and faith in the existence of the angels as well. On this basis, the Godwary believe in and affirm all these teachings.
Besides faith in revelation and prophethood, the Godwary are certain of the Return, which is among the most prominent teachings of religion. For the religion of God (s.w.t.) is the path, and belief in the path is of no benefit without belief in the destination, which is the Return.
The obstacles to belief in the Return are either “intellectual doubts” or “practical desires”. The Godwary have removed both from the precincts of their thought and their conduct, and have benefited from the purest and rarest kind of divine sustenance: the sustenance of true “certainty” (yaqīn).
2:5 — Those follow their Lord’s guidance and it is they who are the felicitous
Those follow their Lord’s guidance and it is they who are the felicitous.
The Godwary of high rank enjoy a guidance that is like a docile mount: it carries them swiftly toward their destination, and it also raises them up. This is precisely the divine creative guidance that prepares the way for benefiting fully from the guidance of the Qur’an. These are the people distinguished by their lofty station and steadfast upon divine guidance. Just as their Godwariness prepared them to benefit from the Qur’an, so it will also be the source of their felicity (falāḥ). They have freed themselves from every obstacle and reached their true destination.
A human being’s felicity lies in reaching absolute perfection, and absolute perfection is none other than God (s.w.t.). So the felicity of the Godwary lies in “meeting God” (liqāʾ Allāh). For this meeting to come about, the first stages of the way must be travelled with the guidance of innate nature (fiṭrah) and with Godwariness in belief, in worship and in wealth. Then comes the leadership of the speaking Qur’an and the silent Qur’an (the Two Weighty Things, al-thaqalayn), which they must follow until they reach the final goal.
2:6 — As for the faithless, it is the same to them whether you warn them or do not warn them
As for the faithless, it is the same to them whether you warn them or do not warn them, they will not have faith.
Although the guidance of the Qur’an is general and not confined to the Godwary, the faithless reap no fruit from it. Through their deliberate obstinacy they have shut the door of guidance in their own faces, until it has become all the same to them whether they are warned or not.
Warning is the central mission of the prophets, and the aim for which the jurists go forth in pursuit of learning (nafr). It plays an effective role in guiding those who are receptive. But unbelief that comes from obstinacy is an obstacle to the effect of warning. This is unlike simple unbelief arising from heedlessness, which warning removes.
2:7 — Allah has set a seal on their hearts and their hearing
Allah has set a seal on their hearts and their hearing, and there is a blindfold on their sight, and there is a great punishment for them.
The secret behind the obstinate faithless not accepting guidance is that God (s.w.t.) has set a seal on their hearts and their ears, and drawn a thick veil over their eyes, as a punishment for their obstinacy and their crimes. That is why they neither understand the truth, nor hear it, nor see it. And since knowledge is the prelude to faith, and they are deprived of the means of attaining it, they do not believe either.
The heart, hearing and sight of the faithless on which the seal is set are the inner heart, hearing and sight, not the outward ones. Each of these three has its own veil, formed as a result of obstinacy and following desire. Such a veil is a punitive leading astray (iḍlāl jazāʾī) on the part of God (s.w.t.), not an initial leading astray (iḍlāl ibtidāʾī).
These faithless, whose hearts are overturned and sealed, have been struck with blindness and deafness because of their unbelief and disobedience, and so they are caught up in a great punishment.
2:8 — Among the people are those who say
Among the people are those who say, ‘We have faith in Allah and the Last Day,’ but they have no faith.
The hypocrites are faithless inwardly, but they conceal the unbelief they harbour. Although they share some legal rulings with the faithless and the polytheists, they are more deviant and more harmful than the faithless. That is why the Noble Qur’an counts them worse than the faithless.
In many verses of the Noble Qur’an, the Creator (s.w.t.) exposes the hypocrites and unmasks their unbelief in the Origin, prophethood and the Return, and their show in prayer and in spending.
The hypocrites’ aim in professing faith was to spy for the faithless, or to enjoy additional social advantages.
2:9 — They seek to deceive Allah and those who have faith
They seek to deceive Allah and those who have faith, yet they deceive no one but themselves, but they are not aware.
“The hypocrites’ deceiving God” has three possible meanings. It may be a figurative expression. It may reflect the hypocrites’ own false and mistaken notion, since they believed such a deception was possible. Or what is meant is deceiving the Messenger of God (s.a.w.). Whichever is the case, the hypocrites’ deception of God and of the faithful is in reality a deception of themselves. A deed is not only inseparable from its doer; it also brings about his punishment or reward.
Likewise, the hypocrites’ deception is a fire that burns none but the hypocrites themselves. And by the principle of the embodiment of deeds (tajassum al-aʿmāl), their trickery against the faithful is itself God’s (s.w.t.) punitive “deception” of them. Since the hypocrites are not granted the understanding of this subtle truth, God says that they are not aware that they deceive none but themselves.
2:10 — There is a sickness in their hearts
There is a sickness in their hearts; then Allah increased their sickness, and there is a painful punishment for them because of the lies they used to tell.
It is not the way of the divine law (sunnah) to make the human heart sick, or to increase its sickness from the outset. Rather, it helps to prevent sickness of the heart, or to cure it, by commanding faith and Godwariness. But as for those whose hearts are sick, and who by their own wrong choice do not benefit from the divine remedy, God increases them in their sickness.
The secret of attributing the increase of sickness to God is that all the affairs of the world are directed by God’s (s.w.t.) governance (tadbīr), even the growth of the heart’s sickness. So it is attributed to God (s.w.t.) indirectly, through intermediate causes. Otherwise, from God, the All-peaceful (al-Salām), nothing emanates but well-being (salāmah).
The severe punishment that befalls the hypocrites as a result of their hypocrisy and their lying in belief is that very lie in belief, which became the source of their evil conduct.
2:11–12 — When they are told, ‘Do not cause corruption on the earth,’ they say
(11) When they are told, ‘Do not cause corruption on the earth,’ they say, ‘We are only reformers!’ (12) Behold! They are themselves the agents of corruption, but they are not aware.
As a result of the hypocrites’ deceiving themselves, their minds hold the false notion that they really are reformers. Their lie in this matter is therefore a lie in what is reported (khabarī), not a lie on the part of the one reporting (mukhbirī); whereas their professing faith is a lie of both kinds at once.
But God (s.w.t.) removed the veil from the hypocrites’ lie, affirming emphatically that it is they who are “the corrupters”. The secret behind the hypocrites’ ignorance of their own corruption is that their theoretical intellect is captive to estimation (wahm) and imagination (khayāl), and their practical intellect is captive to lust and anger.
2:13 — And when they are told, ‘Believe like the people who have believed,’ they say
And when they are told, ‘Believe like the people who have believed,’ they say, ‘Shall we believe like the fools who have believed?’ Behold! They are themselves the fools, but they do not know.
To honour the Emigrants (al-Muhājirūn) and the Helpers (al-Anṣār), God (s.w.t.) says to the hypocrites: Believe as the people, the Muslims, have believed. But the hypocrites, whose materialist outlook led them to imagine that revelation is a myth and that faith in the Unseen is foolishness, considered themselves enlightened and rational, and regarded the Muslims as lacking in intellect and foolish.
Then God (s.w.t.) says emphatically: It is they who are the fools, though they do not know it. The hypocrites’ not knowing their own foolishness is because their intellect is shackled and captive.
2:14–15 — When they meet the faithful
(14) When they meet the faithful, they say, ‘We believe,’ but when they are alone with their devils, they say, ‘We are with you; we were only deriding [them].’ (15) It is Allah who derides them, and leaves them bewildered in their rebellion.
In these two verses the hypocrites’ inward inclination towards unbelief is exposed in various expressions. Since “devil” (shayṭān) means a cunning being who flees from the truth, the term “devils” has been applied to them. The hypocrites would profess faith when they met the faithful, but when they were alone with their companions they would say to them: We are with you; we were only mocking the faithful.
But God, too, says: God mocks them and leaves them to wander blindly in their rebellion, so that they remain in severe bewilderment about their affair. These two kinds of mockery differ. The hypocrites’ mockery is of the conventional kind (iʿtibārī) and lacks any real effect, but the mockery of the Creator (s.w.t.) is a mockery in the order of creation (takwīnī): it makes their intellects and hearts light of weight.
Keeping the hypocrites in their rebellion and deviation is the work of the agents of divine subjugation (Satan and the deviant), and belongs to punitive misguidance (al-iḍlāl al-jazāʾī). Yet since all the affairs of the world are in the hand of God (s.w.t.), He attributes this act to Himself.
2:16 — They are the ones who bought error for guidance
They are the ones who bought error for guidance, so their trade did not profit them, nor were they guided.
From the Noble Qur’an’s point of view, a human being’s life is either a field of profitable trade with God or a ruinous barter with Satan. The capital of this trade is inward guidance (the primordial nature, fiṭrah) and outward guidance (revelation), the powers of perception and of motion, and the human being’s lifetime. If this capital is spent on reaching true beliefs and righteous deeds, the trade is profitable; but if it is spent on other things, it is a losing exchange.
All six pillars of trade (the seller, the buyer, the thing sold, the price, the deed and the witness) are present in this trade. Yet, unlike the trade common among people, here the seller is himself the thing sold, and the buyer is himself the price; for the seller gives his very existence to the buyer, and the buyer makes meeting Him the seller’s portion.
The hypocrites, in the market of this world, sold the capital of guidance to obtain error. Since they lost the capital, there is no way for them to reap profit or to obtain new capital. Whoever, by his own ill choice, sells the capital of his very being will never again be receptive to guidance.
2:17–18 — Their parable is that of one who lighted a torch
(17) Their parable is that of one who lighted a torch, and when it had lit up all around him, Allah took away their light, and left them sightless in a manifold darkness. (18) Deaf, dumb, and blind, they will not come back.
The human being is a traveller heading towards the meeting with the Truth (al-Ḥaqq). He needs a light to illuminate his path, so that in the end he may be honoured with meeting the Truth’s kindness and beauty. But the hypocrite, who has no light of his own and does not benefit from the light of God, lives always in darkness. His likeness in this is that of one who kindles a fire to light up what is around him amid layers of darkness, but God puts it out with a violent wind, leaving him in the darkness. The secret of God giving the hypocrites the chance to kindle the fire and then putting it out is that the torment of being stranded midway along the path is harsher, and the bewilderment it brings greater.
The hypocrites, who lost the great wealth of intellectual and practical felicity (sound powers of perception and of motion), are deaf, dumb and blind. They have no way of returning to their original primordial nature (fiṭrah), for there is no turning back on the road of hypocrisy and unbelief, and it leads a person to everlasting ruin. Indeed, the Noble Qur’an regards the hypocrites as the worst of creatures on the face of the earth.
2:19–20 — Or that of a rainstorm from the sky
(19) Or that of a rainstorm from the sky, wherein is darkness, thunder and lightning: they put their fingers in their ears due to the thunderclaps, apprehensive of death; and Allah besieges the faithless. (20) The lightning almost snatches away their sight: whenever it shines for them, they walk in it, and when the darkness falls upon them, they stand. Had Allah willed, He would have taken away their hearing and sight. Indeed Allah has power over all things.
In the two previous verses a parable was given of “the life of the hypocrites, empty of light”; in these two verses another parable is set out, of “their life, beset with terror”.
The previous parable concerns the hypocrites’ deprivation of sound “vision”, and the present parable their deprivation of sound “inclinations” and right conduct. The bewildered and entangled hypocrites are like travellers who have lost their way and wander aimlessly, and are then struck by a heavy rain, with thick dark clouds, thunder and lightning that bring terror and death.
They put their fingers in their ears for fear that death will come to them from the roar of the thunderbolts. The intense lightning almost snatches away their sight as it flashes across the sky. They take a few steps with every flash of lightning, but as soon as its light fades and plunges them into the gloom again, they stop once more, bewildered about their affair.
So the hypocrites, by means of their outward faith and in the calm that Islamic society enjoys, take a few steps forward. But when their affair is laid bare and their secrets are uncovered, they stop where they are, unable to do anything. Had God willed, He would have taken away their light from the very beginning; but they were given a respite of a few days so that they might be tested.
Each of the two verses ends with a warning to the hypocrites. The first verse closes by speaking of God’s (s.w.t.) “all-encompassing dominion” over the hypocrites, and the end of the second verse speaks of the “surpassing power” of the Truth (s.w.t.) to make His threats come true.
2:21 — O mankind! Worship your Lord
O mankind! Worship your Lord, who created you and those who were before you, so that you may be Godwary
The Noble Qur’an uses direct address in setting out the divine laws, so that the human being may feel responsible, and may also taste the delight of being present in the sanctuary of the Truth. The calls of the Qur’an, which come without an intermediary, reflect the direct and present relationship between God and the human being.
The idolaters of the Ḥijāz clung, in their worship of idols, to the custom of their forefathers. In this noble verse God (s.w.t.), first, establishes the necessity of worship through the lordship and creatorship of the Truth, and also through Godwariness being a perfection. Second, He answers the idolaters that their forefathers were like them in being God’s creatures, and that they ought not to follow their forefathers’ custom, which springs from ignorance. Worship (which is servanthood to God in belief, character and action) is what secures human life; without it the human being sinks to the level of plants or animals, and even lower than animals.
Worship prepares the ground for Godwariness, and Godwariness is the provision, the means and the ground for attaining true success (falāḥ); and the ultimate success of the human being lies in meeting God (s.w.t.). So Godwariness is the goal of worship, and is itself the preliminary to the worshipper’s success.
2:22 — —He who made the earth a place of repose for you
—He who made the earth a place of repose for you, and the sky a canopy, and He sends down water from the sky and with it brings forth crops for your sustenance. So do not set up equals to Allah, while you know.
At the beginning of this verse, which completes the previous one, God (s.w.t.) turns the human being’s attention to the Oneness of Lordship (al-tawḥīd al-rubūbī). He does this by setting out His (s.w.t.) lordship through mentioning some of the signs of the horizons (āyāt al-āfāq), as a sample of the whole order of creation. Then, at the end of the verse, He forbids him every kind of polytheism, open or hidden, so that the human being, who is a traveller towards God, may take, through worship, the provision for the journey, which is Godwariness.
The management of the world’s affairs, universal and particular, is directly in the hand of God, and the links in the chain of causes are nothing but channels of God’s grace (fayḍ) and His signs. Accordingly, the causes and conditions that play a part in the creation and growth of things have no independent role whatsoever. So God has no partner in creatorship and lordship, ever.
So if the human being, who was fashioned upon the primordial nature (fiṭrah) of tawḥīd, returns to his primordial nature, he will hear the call of tawḥīd rising from within, and will find it in harmony and accord with the call of the horizons of the cosmos.
2:23 — And if you are in doubt concerning what We have sent down to Our servant
And if you are in doubt concerning what We have sent down to Our servant, then bring a surah like it, and invoke your helpers besides Allah, if you are truthful.
What is meant here by negating rayb (doubt joined with an accusation of fabrication) of the Qur’an is either that there “ought not” to be doubt about the Qur’an, or that there “is no” ground at all for doubt about it; doubt arises only on the part of one who looks at it from a motive of unbelief and hypocrisy, or out of ignorance.
The verse under discussion is one of the verses of challenge (taḥaddī). It establishes the inimitability (iʿjāz) of the Qur’an and the truth of the claim of the Noblest Prophet (s.a.w.) on the one hand, and the falsehood of his opponents on the other. The challenge is made at times with the whole Qur’an, at times with ten sūrahs of it, and at times with a single sūrah. Since the Noble Qur’an rests upon a loftier reality (the Hidden Book, al-kitāb al-maknūn), no one is able to produce even a short sūrah like it. The inimitability of the Qur’an is bound up with its content itself, although the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) being unlettered (ummī) is also a reason that confirms its inimitability.
The one who received this Book is an absolute servant, belonging purely to God (s.w.t.). That is why this noble verse refers to him as “Our servant”, without any qualification or restriction.
2:24 — But if you do not—and you will not—then beware the Fire whose fuel will be humans and…
But if you do not—and you will not—then beware the Fire whose fuel will be humans and stones, prepared for the faithless.
Since the Noble Qur’an is a book prepared for the guidance and nurturing of the knowing, rational and religious human being, it is full of warning and caution, unlike human scholarly and intellectual books. In this noble verse, too, it warns the obstinate of a torment whose burning material, its fuel and kindling, is people and the stones they used to worship. It has been prepared for the faithless, the hypocrites and the transgressors. It is a fire that blazes from within the human being, and for this reason there is no escape from it at all; rather, it burns the body and the spirit of the criminal and deviant human being alike.
It is understood from the expression “prepared” (uʿiddat) that Hell, like Paradise, exists at present, and that the faithless, who form the material of its burning, its kindling and its fuel, are burning in it now, from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet, even if they do not know it.
Affirming the torment for the faithless in this noble verse does not conflict with affirming it for the hypocrites and the transgressors among the Muslims. Besides the faithless, the painful torment of Hell also encompasses the hypocrites and the disobedient among the faithful, though its levels and the length of the torment differ.
2:25 — And give good news to those who have faith and do righteous deeds
And give good news to those who have faith and do righteous deeds, that for them shall be gardens with streams running in them: whenever they are provided with their fruit for nourishment, they will say, ‘This is what we were provided before,’ and they were given something resembling it. There will be chaste mates for them, and they will remain therein [forever].
Step by step with setting out the laws and wisdom of religion, the Noble Qur’an also tells of the effects and fruits of faith and unbelief. In the previous verse it set out the punishment of the criminal and the deviant; in the verse under discussion it gives the faithful the glad tidings of gardens beneath which rivers flow, of a continuous provision of similar fruits, of purified spouses, and of abiding in them forever.
The glad tidings of the Qur’an are for those who have combined goodness of the agent (al-ḥusn al-fāʿilī: faith and sincere intention) with goodness of the act (al-ḥusn al-fiʿlī: righteous deeds). For entering Paradise, goodness of the act and goodness of the agent must come together, whereas for falling into Hell the lack of just one of them is enough.
Whenever the righteous faithful are given some blessing in Paradise, they say: This is what we were provided with before. By this they mean the faith and righteous deeds they were granted in the world, which have now taken on a body and appeared in the form of the blessings of Paradise. In addition to the other blessings of Paradise, the faithful among the people of Paradise receive spouses purified of every filth and impurity, and their lives and the lives of their spouses in Paradise are everlasting and eternal.
The secret of abiding forever in Paradise goes back to this: the recompense of the Hereafter turns on the belief and the worldview of the human being who believes in one God. Since the people of Paradise firmly resolved in the world to remain upon faith and righteousness forever, they enjoy eternity in an everlasting Paradise.
2:26 — Indeed Allah is not ashamed to draw a parable whether it is that of a gnat or something…
Indeed Allah is not ashamed to draw a parable whether it is that of a gnat or something above it. As for those who have faith, they know it is the truth from their Lord; and as for the faithless, they say, ‘What did Allah mean by this parable?’ Thereby He leads many astray, and thereby He guides many; and He leads no one astray thereby except the transgressors
In reply to the opponents’ objection to the parables of the Qur’an, God (s.w.t.) says: God is not ashamed to give parables using things such as the gnat. In the face of such parables people divide into two groups: the faithful, who regard these parables as true and as coming from God, and the faithless, who direct misplaced criticism at them. God guides a group of people by these parables, and leads many of them astray by them; but God’s punitive misguidance befalls only the transgressors, who have turned away from obedience to the Truth and from His straight path.
The Qur’an is a universal book, and must set out its teachings in a way that all human beings can understand; and the best language for conveying lofty teachings to the minds of ordinary people is the language of parable. Some of the parables of the Noble Qur’an concern great things, and some small things; though the greatness and smallness of things are only relative to one another, and creating them all is the same for God.
In this verse God praises the faithful for their knowledge, and rebukes the faithless for their implicit ignorance. At the end of the verse, divine guidance and misguidance are spoken of. God’s guidance is of two kinds, initial and punitive, but divine misguidance is punitive only; God never leads anyone astray as an initial act.
2:27 — —those who break the covenant made with Allah after having pledged it solemnly
—those who break the covenant made with Allah after having pledged it solemnly, and sever what Allah has commanded to be joined, and cause corruption on the earth—it is they who are the losers.
The previous verse spoke of God’s punitive misguidance of the transgressors, and the present noble verse speaks of some of the attributes of the transgressors, such as “breaking the divine covenant”, which gathers all their base attributes. Between God (s.w.t.) and people there is a covenant, which some keep and others break. What is meant by the divine covenant is this religion. God took this covenant through the intellect and revelation, and the laws set down by the intellect and revelation are its interpreter.
The covenant has a special standing. Keeping covenants is counted among the attributes of God and the conduct of those possessed of understanding (ulū al-albāb), while breaking them is among the causes of transgression, among the occasions of God’s punitive misguidance and His curse, and among the causes of division among people.
Breaking the covenant takes various forms. Among its blameworthy forms is cutting the bonds with members of the family, with kin, with brothers in religion, with neighbours, with the Islamic community (ummah) and with the Imam of the Muslims.
Another attribute of the transgressors is causing corruption in the earth, which also takes various forms, the worst of them being the spread of unbelief and of all other deviations in belief.
At the close of the verse it is declared that the transgressors are the losers: whoever squanders his capital of the guidance of the primordial nature (fiṭrah) will be deprived of guidance, and afflicted with God’s punitive misguidance.
2:28 — How can you be unfaithful to Allah
How can you be unfaithful to Allah, [seeing that] you were lifeless and He gave you life, then He will make you die and then bring you to life, and then you will be brought back to Him?
Even if the faithless accept the basic fact of the life and death of the children of Adam, they attribute life and death to other than God on the one hand, and confine them to this world on the other; and so they deny the human being’s life in the barzakh and his life at the Resurrection. For this reason the Creator (s.w.t.) asks, in wonder or in reproach: How can you disbelieve in God, who gave you life after you were dead (birth into this world), then makes you die once more, then gives you life again after that (birth into the barzakh), and then to Him you will be returned (birth at the Resurrection)?
At his beginning the human being is nothing but dust, or a lifeless drop of sperm, and it is God who sends life into him. After the life of this world has been rolled up, He moves him by means of death to the world of the barzakh; and after the life of the barzakh has run its course, He moves him by another death to the Resurrection. So the human being is connected on one side to the pre-eternal Origin, and on the other to the everlasting place of return.
Reflecting on these stages is among the signs within the souls (āyāt al-anfus), and is one of the best ways of knowing God (s.w.t.). For a needy being is neither created without an efficient cause, nor is it its own creator, nor are others, who are as needy as it is, able to create it. The human being’s passing from one mode of existence to another is likewise.
The human being is a traveller who, after passing through the stages of the journey, arrives either at meeting God’s beauty and compassion, or at meeting His majesty and subjugation; and the meeting with God has degrees. The possessors of the soul at peace (al-nafs al-muṭmaʾinnah), after being content with God’s decree and becoming well-pleasing to the Truth (s.w.t.), are invited to traverse stages loftier and higher than that.
2:29 — It is He who created for you all that is in the earth
It is He who created for you all that is in the earth, then He turned to the heaven and fashioned it into seven heavens, and He has knowledge of all things.
God’s bounties (ālāʾ) are the signs of the Truth’s Oneness. They were created so that people may benefit from them materially and rise through them spiritually; and the aim of setting them out in the Qur’an is the call to tawḥīd and to self-refinement. The heavens and the earth were created for the sake of the human being, but the human being was not created for them. So it is a loss for the human being if his striving is for the sake of reaching the blessings of the earth and the sky.
In some of its verses the Noble Qur’an speaks of the subjection of the earth and the seven heavens to the human being (general subjection, al-taskhīr al-ʿāmm), just as in other verses it tells of the subjection of the earth and the heavens to the friends of God (awliyāʾ Allāh) and of their miraculous disposal of them (special subjection, al-taskhīr al-khāṣṣ). This subjection is not at all in the sense of delegation (tafwīḍ), which is impossible.
The heavens are seven in number. The first of them is the one that contains the stars, fixed and moving. As for the other heavens, it appears that they have not been explained in the Qur’an. A number of verses of the Qur’an indicate that the earths, too, are seven. The account of the creation of the earth and what is in it comes before the account of fashioning the seven heavens. God knows all things.
2:30 — When your Lord said to the angels
When your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed I am going to set a viceroy on the earth,’ they said, ‘Will You set in it someone who will cause corruption in it and shed blood, while we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your sanctity?’ He said, ‘Indeed I know what you do not know.’
This verse, which can be divided into two parts—the declaration of human successive authority or vicegerency (khilāfah) by God the Glorified, and the exchange between God and the angels about this declaration—marks the beginning of a significant section of ten verses. These verses determine the position of man within the divine cosmic order. The verse highlights that man possesses a unique capacity for understanding realities, distinguishing him in the divine order. It also clarifies the position of the angels in relation to man, emphasizing their lack of capacity and capability for the role of divine vicegerency.
It cannot be conclusively established that the mention of the angels in this verse applies to all angels, particularly to the group who are constantly annihilated in and immersed in God, and thus do not perceive themselves in any way, making them incapable of comparing themselves to Ādam.
The use of the emphatic particle inna (“Indeed”) at the beginning of the nominal sentence (“Indeed, I will make...”) emphasizes the seriousness of God’s decision to appoint a vicegerent and also highlights the continuity of the existence of God’s vicegerent. The singular pronoun in innī may suggest the absence of angelic mediation in this appointment, as the foundation of vicegerency lies in the reality and essence of God’s vicegerent—a stage of existence that serves as the teacher of the angels and remains incomprehensible to them, thereby not requiring their mediation.
The phrase fī l-arḍ (upon the earth) serves as a restriction on the appointment itself, not the appointee. This indicates that the origin of man in the arc of ascent and the location of his elemental body is the earth. However, the perfect man, at least, is the vicegerent of God across all worlds, both hidden and visible.
The intended meaning of “vicegerent” is not the individual person of Ādam, but rather the legal personality of Ādam and the station of humanity. In other words, the vicegerents of God encompass all human beings, or at the very least, the type of perfect human beings. The one who is “succeeded” by this authority on earth is God the Glorified, not a group of angels who lived on earth, nor some corrupt and violent jinn who became extinct, nor the earlier humans known as nasnās, nor any other beings of the world.
The question posed by the angels was not asked in denial, objection, or out of pride. Rather, it was an inquiry driven by astonishment, coupled with a desire to understand the wisdom behind assigning vicegerency to Ādam. This inquiry was also mixed with a concern for the potential outcomes of this divine decision.
The expression “who will cause corruption therein” (man yufsidu) instead of “what will cause corruption therein” (mā yufsidu) may suggest that the angels were aware of the free will, choice, intellect, and the specific existential composition of Ādam and the implications of these attributes. The response “Indeed, I know that which you do not know” directly addresses this point, indicating that the angels had only perceived one aspect of this composition and were unaware of the pure and righteous individuals who would also emerge from it.
The addition of praise (ḥamd) in the phrase “with Your praise” (bi ḥamdika) to the verb of glorification highlights that the glorification performed by the glorifiers should always be accompanied by praise.
In the phrase “and we sanctify for You” (wa nuqaddisu laka), the object of sanctification is the pure essence of God, not the world and its creatures, nor the angels themselves or their actions.
The concise response, “Indeed, I know that which you do not know,” might be implying that for a servant who submits to the Wise Lord, a detailed explanation of the wisdom behind His decrees is not necessary.
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2:31 — And He taught Adam the Names
And He taught Adam the Names, all of them; then presented them to the angels and said, ‘Tell me the names of these, if you are truthful.’
This verse primarily addresses two points: first, the teaching of the names to Ādam, and second, the presentation of these names to the angels, highlighting their inability to comprehend them.
Teaching (taʿlīm) differs from instruction (tadrīs). Teaching, particularly when it occurs outside the realm of nature, is inseparable from the process of learning and the acquisition of knowledge. This is unlike instruction, which can occur even if the recipient remains ignorant and does not learn.
In the teaching of the names to Ādam, the angels did not serve as intermediaries, for mediation in grace requires complete awareness of what is being mediated. The teaching of the names was directly accomplished through God’s communication with man, meaning it was a revelation without any intermediary.
The “names” in this context refer to the unseen realities of the world, which are termed “names” because they signify and represent God. These realities are conscious and intelligent, hidden behind the veil of the unseen, and are treasured with God. At the same time, they are the treasuries of all things in the world, encompassing both the unseen and the visible. Consequently, becoming acquainted with these realities leads to an understanding of the mental concepts that correspond to these names, as well as the verbal names that signify these mental forms—essentially, the names of the names of the names of God.
The word “then” (thumma) in this verse signifies an existential order rather than a temporal delay. It indicates that first, Ādam received divine teaching concerning the names and gained direct access to these realities without any intermediary. In the subsequent stage, these realities were presented to the angels. This sequence pertains to the reality of the names, the manner of witnessing them, the presential teaching of them, and their presentation to the immaterial angels and other entities free from temporal constraints. However, in relation to the process of teaching the names to Ādam’s physical body, the sequence is temporal, and naturally, this process follows a temporal order.
The meaning of “presenting” in the phrase “then He presented them” refers to exposing or providing a summary awareness through inspiration or similar means—essentially, a cognitive presentation rather than a physical one. Similarly, the veil or obstacle that hindered comprehension and understanding after the presentation was a spiritual and luminous veil, representing the depth and loftiness of the divine names and their elevated status. It is also possible that presenting the names to the angels was synonymous with presenting the reality of the perfect human being, who is the manifestation of all the beautiful names of God.
The use of the term “truthfulness” in the phrase “if you are truthful” may indicate that the implicit message in the angels’ claim of glorification and sanctification was their assertion of being more worthy of vicegerency than Ādam. This assertion, which can be true or false, pertains to the vastness and perfection of existence. In this context, “truthfulness” and “falsehood” in a completely immaterial being are related to existence itself, rather than to notions of what should or should not be.
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2:32 — They said, ‘Immaculate are You
They said, ‘Immaculate are You! We have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed You are the All-knowing, the All-wise.’
In this verse, the angels, after understanding the exalted status of Ādam and recognizing God’s profound wisdom and knowledge in appointing him to this position, express their reverence and submission. They begin their acknowledgment with the words “Exalted are You” (subḥānak), glorifying God and affirming His absolute purity. At the conclusion of their response, they offer praise by declaring, “Indeed, it is You who is the Knowing, the Wise” (innaka anta al-ʿalīm al-ḥakīm), highlighting God’s encompassing knowledge and wisdom.
In doing so, they affirm their recognition of God’s superior knowledge and wisdom and simultaneously acknowledge their own limitations by confessing, “we have no knowledge except what You have taught us” (lā ʿilma lanā illā mā ʿallamtanā).
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2:33 — He said, ‘O Adam, inform them of their names,’ and when he had informed them of their…
He said, ‘O Adam, inform them of their names,’ and when he had informed them of their names, He said, ‘Did I not tell you that I know the Unseen of the heavens and the earth, and that I know whatever you disclose and whatever you conceal?’
After the angels realized their ignorance, inability, and unsuitability for the position of vicegerency, God the Exalted told Ādam to inform the angels about the names of the realities of the world, so that they would also realize Ādam’s knowledge and suitability.
The use of the term “informing” (inbāʾ) in relation to Ādam, whereas the term “teaching” (taʿlīm) was used previously, indicates that what the angels attained through Ādam’s informing is different from what Ādam acquired after God’s teaching. What was given to Ādam was knowledge and comprehension of the reality of things, while what the angels attained was merely news and a report about things.
The addition of “unseen” (ghayb) to “the heavens” is a genitive construction using “of” (lām), not “from” (min), which necessitates that this unseen (which is the names) is external to and absent from the heavens and earth, not of the same kind as them or a part of them (whether a part of their inner reality or a part of their outward form). The phrase “and I know what you reveal...” alludes to the relative unseen and alerts to the equality of what is manifest and hidden from the angels for God.
“What you reveal” refers to what the angels expressed in the phrase “Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein...?” The phrase “what you concealed” refers to their hidden desire to remove the vicegerency from Ādam and grant it to themselves, or it refers to Iblīs’ arrogance in the incident of the command to prostrate, or it refers to some of the thoughts that occurred to them after the announcement of granting vicegerency, based on the idea of how it is possible for an earthly being to gain authority over everything, even over them. It is also possible to combine the three possibilities.
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2:34 — And when We said to the angels
And when We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate before Adam,’ they prostrated, but not Iblis: he refused and acted arrogantly, and he was one of the faithless.
This verse, like the three preceding it, highlights the greatness of Adam and his qualification for the position of vicegerency. The previous three verses focus on the knowledge of God’s vicegerent, while this verse emphasizes his honored and sanctified status, which is rooted in his position of knowledge.
The prostration of the angels was an act of salutation and respect toward Adam and an expression of humility and worship to God, akin to the prostration made by Joseph’s father, mother, and brothers before him. This prostration was not a reprimand to the angels, as an interrogative question does not entail punishment.
While some exegetes believe that the command to prostrate was issued before the teaching of the names, and others think it occurred right after the spirit was breathed into Adam, the sequence and context of the verses in Sūrah al-Baqarah, which dominate over similar verses in other chapters, indicate that the prostration occurred after Adam was appointed as vicegerent and after he was taught the names, becoming their teacher.
Although the phrase “except Iblīs” seems grammatically connected, since Iblīs appeared to be part of the angels, it is, in fact, disconnected, as it is explicitly mentioned elsewhere that he was of the jinn.
The sequence of “he was arrogant” (istakbara) following “he refused” (abā) signifies that Iblīs’ refusal was due to arrogance, unlike the heavens’ refusal regarding the bearing of the trust, which was due to compassion and fear of incapability. What leads to a downfall from a high status is an arrogant refusal, not one based on compassion.
The use of “was” (kāna) in the phrase “he was of the disbelievers” (kāna min al-kāfirīn) suggests that disbelief was already present within Iblīs and does not imply that he “became” (ṣāra) a disbeliever.
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2:35 — We said, ‘O Adam, dwell with your mate in paradise and eat thereof freely whencesoever…
We said, ‘O Adam, dwell with your mate in paradise and eat thereof freely whencesoever you wish, but do not approach this tree, lest you should be among the wrongdoers.’
This verse hints at the educational and preparatory stage of Adam’s (a.s.) journey, preparing him for his eventual life on earth. It also reflects the inherent nature of human susceptibility to sin and the situational impacts of sin.
The term “paradise” here does not refer to the eternal paradise nor a garden from the gardens of this world. The definite article “al-” in “al-janna” specifies an external reference rather than denoting genus or comprehensiveness. This suggests that the paradise mentioned was an intermediary state between this world and the hereafter, embodying some features of the eternal paradise—such as constant joy and the absence of hunger, thirst, cold, and heat—as well as characteristics of worldly gardens. It was a comfortable abode for Adam (a.s.), distinct from any earthly location.
The phrase “and eat from it” extends beyond the literal meaning of eating, serving metaphorically to imply that Adam could freely enjoy everything within this paradise as he wished.
The command “do not approach” is not just a prohibition against eating from the tree but symbolizes a broader restriction on engaging with it. This language emphasizes the importance of staying away from not just the forbidden act itself but also its vicinity, akin to the directive in “and do not approach the wealth of the orphan” (6:152). Such phrasing underscores the gravity of the matter—it is not merely about avoiding the act, but also about not even nearing it. This is a guiding prohibition rather than a legislative one, steering away from discussions about whether the act was forbidden or merely disliked, and sidestepping debates on its compatibility with the infallibility of prophets.
The forbidden tree is not like the trees of this world, which bear only one type of fruit. Due to its archetypal nature, this tree has the capacity to produce multiple types of fruit. Additionally, it encompasses both material and spiritual dimensions; it provides physical nourishment for the body and spiritual sustenance for the soul.
Another unique characteristic of this tree is that it is exclusive to Muḥammad and the family of Muḥammad (s.a.w.), with access restricted to them alone. Others can only approach it by God’s permission. Those who access it with divine permission gain profound knowledge of the first and the last. However, anyone who partakes of it without God’s consent has disobeyed the Lord and will not achieve success.
The term al-ẓālimīn (wrongdoers) in this verse refers to ẓulm in the sense of oppression, rather than ẓulmat, which denotes darkness. The oppressed (maẓlūm) in this context are Adam and Eve themselves. Thus, the oppression mentioned here is self-inflicted (referring to any deficiency or deprivation), not an oppression against God or others.
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2:36 — Then Satan caused them to stumble from it
Then Satan caused them to stumble from it, and he dislodged them from what [state] they were in; and We said, ‘Get down, being enemies of one another! On the earth shall be your abode and sustenance for a time.’
After the divine prohibition on benefiting from the forbidden tree, Satan intervened and, through temptation, facilitated the expulsion and descent of Adam and Eve from their former status, as indicated in the first part of the verse. The second part addresses their unworthiness to remain in Paradise, resulting in their descent from a peaceful, comfortable, and pain-free environment to a world characterized by hardship, toil, conflict, and enmity: the earth.
The plural form of the command “descend” (ihbiṭū) includes Iblīs, indicating that although he had already been expelled from Paradise for refusing to prostrate before Adam out of arrogance, he managed to infiltrate it again to seduce Adam and Eve. This suggests two types of descent for Iblīs: first, from his former rank among the angels, and second, from Paradise as a temporary abode.
The phrase “some of you are enemies to others” (baʿḍukum li-baʿḍin ʿaduwwun) may refer to the enmity among humans driven by Satan’s temptations or the inherent enmity between Satan and humans—or perhaps both interpretations are intended.
The phrase “for a time” (ilā ḥīnin) underscores the temporary nature of human existence on earth and the impermanence of worldly enjoyment. Moreover, the expression “on the earth is your place of settlement and provision for a time” (wa lakum fī l-arḍi mustaqarrun wa matāʿun ilā ḥīnin) not only emphasizes that the earth serves as a dwelling and source of provision for humans but also conveys that all enmities will ultimately be resolved in the divine court of justice.
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2:37 — Then Adam received certain words from his Lord
Then Adam received certain words from his Lord, and He turned to him clemently. Indeed He is the All-clement, the All-merciful.
After Satan’s temptation led to Adam’s descent to earth, Adam realized his mistake and sought to make amends. He received words from his Lord for repentance and rectification. With those words, Adam repented, and God accepted his repentance, for He is the Acceptor of Repentance, the Merciful.
The term “receiving” (talaqqī) suggests that Adam eagerly and consciously sought the words and knowledge as an act of obedience. It may also refer to a detailed learning of the names that were initially taught in summary form to Adam during the teaching of the names, as mentioned in “and He taught Adam the names, all of them.”
According to a less common reading where Adam is the object of fa-talaqqā and the words (kalimāt) are its subject, the words themselves went to Adam. This implies that spiritual blessings are a result of God’s favor and bestowal, rather than solely human effort.
The words received by Adam could be seen as the detailed form of the names initially taught in summary—these are not just words or concepts but represent external realities, including the existential signs (āyāt) of the Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.). As these words, understood as objective realities, manifest uniquely in the world, all interpretations in narrations concerning them are valid, reflecting lower stages of those same realities.
The reception of these words varies in degrees, depending on the nature of the words themselves. Sometimes, the word refers to a literary sentence, understood through hearing and mental perception. Other times, it refers to an external essence, received as an actual presence in the material world. There are also instances where the word denotes divine decree, received as an intuitive connection to the immutable divine tablet, transcending ordinary fate.
Thus, the term “word” is not confined to mere expressions or conceptual meanings, nor is its reception limited to sensory perception. What Adam (a.s.) received encompasses both intelligible and sensory levels, with the degrees of reception corresponding to the levels of the words and the spiritual rank of the recipient.
The apparent meaning of the verse under discussion suggests that God’s bestowal and Adam’s (a.s.) reception were direct, without any intermediary or veil. However, the possibility of the other two forms of divine communication mentioned in Surah al-Shura, verse 51 also exists.
The use of the explanatory fāʾ in describing the reception of the words indicates that Adam (a.s.), after his error of engaging in the forbidden act, immediately turned towards and sought the bestowal of the appropriate divine words. Adam’s quickness to seek divine pleasure shows that the effects of Satan’s whisperings were short-lived. Consequently, the wrathful divine punishment was swiftly replaced with a compassionate address, and with the pure water of the bestowed words from the Kawthar, the disobedient Adam became once again chosen and guided.
Perhaps the reason for using the masculine pronoun is that Adam was considered the origin and Eve the branch, or because Adam’s transgression was regarded as more significant than Eve’s. Therefore, terms such as forgetting the covenant, lack of determination, disobedience, and misguidance were attributed solely to Adam.
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2:38–39 — We said, ‘Get down from it
(38) We said, ‘Get down from it, all together! Yet, should any guidance come to you from Me, those who follow My guidance shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve. (39) But those who are faithless and deny Our signs, they shall be the inmates of the Fire and they shall remain in it [forever].
After the descent and settlement of Adam and Eve on earth, along with the descent of Satan and the establishment of enmity between him and humankind, the need for revelation and religion arises, as well as the way humans respond to it. The above two verses highlight the beginning of divine law and religion following the descent to earth, the dual paths humans may take, and the resulting guidance for one group and misguidance for another, ultimately leading to the happiness of the guided and the misery of the disbelievers and deniers.
Verses 38 and 36 align in terms of describing the beginning and end of the descent, expressing both its source and destination, thereby presenting a unified message. The command to “descend” (ihbiṭū) in verse 38 reiterates the command given in verse 36. Various explanations have been offered to justify this repetition, and these explanations can be harmonized without conflict.
Although the term “all” (jamīʿan) encompasses everyone commanded to descend, it differs from the term “group” (jamʿ). It means that every individual, without exception, must obey the command to descend, whether collectively or separately. This does not imply that they must descend as a single group; rather, it suggests that each of them—Adam, Eve, and Iblīs—may have experienced their descent differently in terms of origin, path, distance, and purpose. Similarly, their motives for descending and their respective programs afterward also differ.
The term “guidance” (hudā) here is not limited to the guidance of prophets or revealed scriptures but extends to include any form of complete rational and textual authoritative evidence.
Given that physical and natural life on earth for human beings is incomplete without divine guidance, and since human society can never be separate from such guidance—with revelation and prophethood being necessary—it is important to address why the process of revelation and legislation in the verse under discussion is framed as a conditional sentence. This framing might be misunderstood as implying doubt. However, the proper interpretation is that a conditional sentence does not, in its actual existence, negate the necessity of its conditions (antecedent and consequent), nor does it, in mental perception, imply doubt regarding their realization or certainty.
The reason the process of legislation and the sending of messengers is not expressed in a declarative sentence could be because this concept was new for the generation that descended from Adam and Eve, and it had not been previously introduced. Other explanations may also be considered.
The phrase “from Me, guidance…” with the first-person singular pronoun indicates that whatever is truly beneficial for guidance must come from God. If it is not from God, it is merely a desire, not true guidance. The expression “comes to you” highlights that when divine guidance takes effect and becomes an authoritative proof, it reaches and is conveyed to humanity.
Following divine guidance has both positive and negative implications; however, in the second verse under discussion, only the negative effect—namely, the negation of fear and grief—is mentioned. The context suggests that those who rebel against divine guidance are afflicted with fear and grief.
While adherence to the guidance of reason or revelation is necessary, and rebellion against it is harmful, simply emphasizing the term “divine guidance” effectively conveys these two points. Nevertheless, to firmly establish the truth and negate any potential deviation, God Almighty emphasizes, clarifies, and consolidates the matter through several measures. One such measure is explicitly mentioning the apparent name instead of merely using the pronoun, as seen in “whoever follows My guidance” (faman tabiʿa hudāya).
Furthermore, the comprehensive principle of these verses also encompasses rational proofs. Consequently, the two elements of the verse—hudā (guidance) and āyātunā (Our signs)—are in harmony with each other.
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2:40 — O Children of Israel, remember My blessing which I bestowed upon you
O Children of Israel, remember My blessing which I bestowed upon you, and fulfill My covenant that I may fulfill your covenant, and be in awe of Me [alone].
God (s.w.t.) addresses the Jews and the Christians without an intermediary, using the words “O Children of Israel” as a title of honour, and calls them to the three principles: tawḥīd, prophethood and the Return.
Reminding them of God’s blessings and favours counts as “a call to tawḥīd”, since all blessings, material and spiritual, are from God. Asking them to keep the covenant of God, which is one of the clearest forms of religion and of treading the straight path under the guidance of the prophets and the intellect, is “a call to revelation and prophethood”. And the warning to fear God also stands for “a call to the Return”.
The creator of the blessing, and the one who bestows it on the human being, is God (s.w.t.). So the human being who remembers the abundant material and spiritual blessings does not see himself as the owner of those blessings, on the one hand, and knows no master (walī) of them but God, on the other. On this basis, remembering the blessing prepares the ground for remembering the master of that blessing, for thanking Him, and for using it in the way of the Truth; and in the end it becomes a means to felicity.
What is meant by “the covenant of God”, the keeping of which is the condition for God (s.w.t.) keeping His covenant with the Children of Israel, is the legislative covenant: that is, the whole body of revelation and laws that came down from God (s.w.t.) to the Children of Israel, within the scope of religious obligation (taklīf). The complete instance of this covenant is faith in the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.). The pivot of God’s undertaking is His grace (fayḍ), which takes place at the level of the act of the Necessary Being (s.w.t.), not at the level of the Essence, nor as an attribute of the Essence.
Keeping the covenant of God has a positive side, which is the “promise”, and a negative side, which is the “threat”. So the human being must be a monotheist in fear, fearing God alone and dreading no one else; just as, on the basis of tawḥīd, he ought not to place his hope and his sense of safety in anyone other than God. Without these two wings, flight is impossible; for one who only fears is deficient, and so is one who only hopes.
The fruit of awe and dread of God is remembering His blessings and paying attention to them; and keeping the covenant of God (s.w.t.) will surely be followed by God keeping His covenant with His servants.
2:41–42 — And believe in that which I have sent down confirming that which is with you
(41) And believe in that which I have sent down confirming that which is with you, and do not be the first ones to deny it, and do not sell My signs for a paltry gain, and be wary of Me [alone]. (42) Do not mix the truth with falsehood, nor conceal the truth while you know.
The Creator (s.w.t.) says to the common people and the scholars of the Children of Israel: Believe in the verses of the Noble Qur’an. The Qur’an confirms the content of the unaltered Torah and Gospel and the glad tidings found in them; it contains all the matters and teachings that came in these two Books, and it also has authority over them (muhaymin). The Qur’an’s being a confirmer is one of its distinctive attributes, and is sometimes mentioned to encourage the People of the Book to believe. It neither implies that the level of the Qur’an is equal to the level of the teachings of the two Testaments, nor is it inconsistent with abrogating some of the laws and particular matters of the past and limiting them to particular times.
Since the People of the Book believe in the source from which revelation descends, and in the principle of revelation and of prophethood in general, the command to believe here is confined to the particular prophethood: believing that the Qur’an is true. Faith in the truth of revelation and in the Qur’an being true goes together with faith in the one to whom it was sent down, and accompanies believing in the truth of the claim of the one who claims prophethood.
Unbelief after the proof and the evidence have been established is gross and open unbelief, and in this respect it counts as “the first unbelief”. On this basis, if the People of the Book disbelieve, their unbelief will be more severe, because they had accepted the principle of prophethood in general, and, besides witnessing the miracle of the Qur’an, had seen the miracles of the earlier prophets; and they themselves will be “the first of the faithless”, especially their scholars. For the unbelief of these scholars, who are people of influence and on whom the great mass of people rely, is apt to become a custom that the rest of the People of the Book follow; and so, because of the custom of unbelief they established in society, they will become the heads and leaders of unbelief.
God (s.w.t.) asks the People of the Book not only not to be the first of the faithless, the first to sell religion, the first to confound the truth and the first to conceal it, but also to be the first of the faithful. So their affair turns between the first faith and the first unbelief, and not merely between faith and unbelief.
Selling the divine verses, together with breaking God’s covenant, abandoning religion, concealing the truths, and interpreting the Torah and the Gospel according to the inclinations of the self and the desires of others, even in exchange for the whole world, is selling the precious soul for a paltry price.
The monotheist human being has the character of “oneness”, and seeks “the One” in all his affairs: he seeks God alone, and is ashamed before Him and dreads Him alone.
Besides their personal unbelief and their concealing of the truth, the crime of the heads of the Children of Israel and their deviation included both “confounding” (talbīs) and “false embellishment” (taswīl). That is, they would dress the truth in the garment of falsehood so that no one would incline to it, and adorn their falsehood with the cloak of truth so that the common Israelites would not flee from it. One instance of this confounding and mixing of truth and falsehood was that they falsely spread the claim that the Noblest Prophet (s.a.w.) was, God forbid, one of those who falsely claim prophethood. For this they relied on the warning of the Torah and the Gospel against inclining towards those who falsely claim prophethood, and on the glad tidings of the two Testaments that a prophet would appear from the descendants of Ishmael, together with a statement of his signs and features.
The leaders of the Children of Israel knew that the revelation sent down (the Qur’an) was true, that the prophethood of the one who carried it was true, and that what had come in the two Testaments matched the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.). They knew that accepting was right and refusing was false, and they also knew that what they were doing was confounding or concealment. Since they upheld falsehood while having the knowledge that should have deterred them from abandoning the truth and forbidden them from it, the qualification “while you know” shows the extent of their inner malice, and how deeply the residues of the first Ignorance (al-jāhiliyyah al-ūlā), rigidity, unbelief, bigotry and rancour were rooted in them.
2:43 — And maintain the prayer, and give the zakat
And maintain the prayer, and give the zakat, and bow along with those who bow [in prayer].
After God (s.w.t.) has encouraged the People of the Book towards goodness of the agent, that is, faith in the divine teachings and the heavenly traditions, He (s.w.t.) goes on to make them and the other addressees eager for goodness of the act: strengthening their practical relationship with God (prayer), firming up their economic ties with the needy (zakāt), and preserving the unity and greatness of the Islamic community (ummah) in congregational prayer and the like.
In the culture of divine revelation, prayer is the pillar of religion; and so tending it and keeping it sound has been expressed as “establishing” it (iqāmah), since a pillar is something set up, not something recited. What is meant by establishing prayer is preserving it, reviving it in society, and performing it as is its due by observing all its outward and inward conditions, not contenting oneself with its outward form.
The command directed to the People of the Book is to establish the prayer of the Muslims, not the principle of prayer, which is a single shared reality that does not change in any of the religions. This is evidence that the faithless are obliged to observe the branches of religion (furūʿ), just as they are bound to accept its principles (uṣūl).
The one who establishes prayer, who has firmed up his tie with God, the Bestower of blessings, and drawn near to Him, is not heedless of creation. One consequence of this is working to remove the problems of creation, among them fighting poverty and material and economic need by paying zakāt and the various kinds of spending of wealth. Using the word “giving” (īṭāʾ) and the plural form in the command to pay zakāt is meant to remind people to revive this social duty and to wipe out poverty generally at the level of society. Of course, the original aim of making zakāt obligatory is to attain purity of spirit and the elevation of the human soul; otherwise God is able to secure the needs of the needy and the deprived in the best way.
The encouragement to bow with those who bow, which refers to prayer by one of its particular forms (bowing, rukūʿ), is to urge establishing the congregation and taking part in it. The People of the Book are commanded, first, that each one of them should be among the people of prayer and bowing, and second, that they should perform the prayer together. The criterion of this “togetherness” is the unity of the prayer, and this conventional unity is realised only in congregation (which is broader than the Friday prayer and others). By the words “bow with those who bow”, the prayer of the Jews, which has no bowing and is prayed individually, is excluded.
2:44 — Will you bid others to piety and forget yourselves
Will you bid others to piety and forget yourselves, while you recite the Book? Do you not exercise your reason?
God (s.w.t.) rebukes all people, and especially the scholars of the Jews, the leaders of the hypocrites, and that group among the leaders of religion who command people to virtue and then forget themselves and do not act on what is right, saying: Why do you not do the virtue that you command others to do?
The pivot of the rebuke in this verse is forgetting oneself, and the one who commands what is right not acting on it; it is not the principle of commanding what is right itself, lest it be imagined that commanding what is right is not obligatory on such people.
The criterion in this rebuking address is reciting the Book of God and knowing revelation without acting on them. This naturally includes all who know religion, scholars who do not act on their knowledge, and every Muslim who preaches but does not take heed.
To perceive reality, the human being places revelation and the intellect before his eyes. So consider one who is in the presence of the heavenly Book and knows its teachings, and likewise one who, according to his position, is acquainted with the premises, both of conception and of assent, of theoretical and practical wisdom. If he commands people to virtue and encourages them in it, and then forgets himself and commits the evil deed, he will be the target of reproach, censure and real rebuke. It will be said to him: Although you know perfectly well, through transmitted evidence, that such an act is ugly, and are fully aware, through rational evidence, of its foulness, your practical intellect is captive to lust and anger, and you are completely overpowered in the field of practical resolve. So you do not listen so as to heed the transmitted evidence, nor do you reason so as to make your practical resolve and your sound motive follow your certain knowledge and right thinking.
Likewise, the secret of denying intellect to this group in His words “Do you not then reason?” lies in this: combining commanding people to do virtue with forgetting oneself does not accord with the intellect.
2:45–46 — And take recourse in patience and prayer
(45) And take recourse in patience and prayer, and it is indeed hard except for the humble (46) —those who are certain that they will encounter their Lord and that they will return to Him.
The human being is utterly poor and in need of help in all his affairs; so seeking help is a necessity for him, and for him it is an existential perfection. The affairs of a needy being lie within the radius of its existence, and the human being is likewise pure relation, dependent on another in all his affairs; so what that seeking of help is for is all his affairs of growth towards perfection.
The way to seek the help of God (s.w.t.), who alone is the One whose help is sought, is to draw near to that Source of power; and this is realised only through obedience, of which patience and prayer are instances.
As eloquence requires, patience was chosen out of all the noble traits of character to be mentioned alongside prayer, after some obligations and prohibitions that call for patience and steadfastness had been set out. For a station such as this (seeking help from God) fits with the advice to be patient, on the one hand, and the advice to be bound to God (prayer), on the other.
Patience is restraining the soul by means of the divine command. The virtue of patience is not limited in its effect to solving the problems of life; rather, it springs from the colour of tawḥīd within it, and such a lofty and exalted quality comes only with a humble heart. Through patience, and holding the soul back from attending to the appetites of the belly and the private parts (the clear instance of such patience being fasting), the wayfarer is able to seek help from what comes upon the heart (al-wāridāt al-qalbiyyah).
Prayer, because it contains bowing and prostration, embodies the model of humility and submission. So performing such a great act is extremely hard and burdensome, except for one who has a humble heart.
Prayer is the protected ground and sanctuary of God, which Iblīs keeps his distance from. In this respect it is an ideal means of seeking help to overcome difficulties and to attain the stations of steadfastness, through which the one who prays becomes a place where the angels descend with glad tidings. This humility, which makes the weight of prayer light, is the result of a special guidance whose share has been given from the Source of grace.
The faithful are certain of the Hereafter, and this certainty makes the human being’s humility certain and definite: the humility by which he is able to carry on his shoulders the heavy burden of prayer, that divine trust. Naturally, the events of the death throes, of death and of the Resurrection are so severe and painful that even thinking of them is enough to make a person humble.
The humble, who are certain of the Return and of going back to Him, are driven by the hope of reaching the meeting with God’s special mercy, His good pleasure and His honours; a hope mixed with fear and anxiety about an evil end and the possibility of not reaching those bounties and honours. In this respect, a praiseworthy grief constantly holds sway over their hearts and makes them broken-hearted; and this brokenness and grief are a cause of humility.
At the meeting with God (s.w.t.), the immaterial spirit of the perfect human being is honoured, in the light of witnessing the divine beauty, with meeting that Essence which is beyond all likeness. This return does not imply that this spirit is pre-eternal, either in essence or in time.
2:47–48 — O Children of Israel, remember My blessing which I bestowed upon you
(47) O Children of Israel, remember My blessing which I bestowed upon you, and that I gave you an advantage over all the nations. (48) Beware of the day when no soul will compensate for another, neither any intercession shall be accepted from it, nor any ransom shall be received from it, nor will they be helped.
The Noble Qur’an repeats the command to remember the bounties and blessings of God (s.w.t.), especially in the hearing of the stubborn Israelite community, which was, and still is, in need of repeated and eloquent admonition. This repetition is because the causes of heedlessness are many, and it is meant to remove the ground for heedlessness in any of its forms. In these verses encouragement and warning have been brought together, so that remembering the blessings, and spending them in their proper places without rebellion, will not be forgotten.
One of the most prominent blessings bestowed on the Children of Israel is the virtue of being preferred over the worlds. God (s.w.t.) preferred the Children of Israel as a whole (not every one of them) over the peoples of the world of their time as a whole (not every one of them), in general and in certain matters, such as the great number of prophets and the raising of kings from among them. But because they were not thankful for that blessing, they gave in and humbled themselves (O God, except for a very few of them) to other peoples, and were afflicted with humiliation, wretchedness and internal disputes.
The Children of Israel imagined that, because of their imagined racial superiority and their tie with the family of revelation and with God’s prophet Jacob (a.s.), they would live in luxury in the Hereafter as they did in this world; and that if they were punished, they would remain in the punishment only for a counted number of days, after which they would be saved from it. Refuting such illusions, God (s.w.t.) says: The Resurrection is not like this world. At the Resurrection every person comes as a guest of his own belief, character and deeds alone, and he will have nothing in his hand but these with which to reap profit or ward off harm. So all the ways of escape (close friendship, ransom, an equivalent, help, guarantee and sponsorship, and even independent intercession) are blocked. And even the Creator’s (s.w.t.) permission for the mediation of an intercessor is, at that time, confined to a particular group of intercessors and of those for whom intercession is made.
In the verse under discussion, the command to be Godwary is made with respect to the end of existence and the Return. But since the Return goes back to that Source of existence (indeed, He is God, mighty are His names), this central element always refers, in the Noble Qur’an, to God (s.w.t.), and means guarding against disobeying His command.
Every person, whatever class or race he belongs to, is responsible for himself and his deeds. No one is able to pay a due in place of another or on his behalf, whether it is a due owed to God or to people; and this also means being unable to ward off the punishment from him.
The qualification “anything” is an indefinite noun in the context of a negation, with the nunation of smallness and belittling. This calls for emphasising that the denial of one person sufficing for another, or standing in for another, is absolute. It is also evidence that the denial of intercession, the denial of an equivalent and the denial of help are absolute: that is, intercession, substitute and help will not come about at all, in any way, to any extent, in any place or at any stage.
Intercession is a means of completing the conveying of grace from its agent and its reception by its recipient. In legislative intercession, the problem of the one for whom intercession is made is either a deficiency in the receptivity of the recipient, or the lack of the necessary breadth in the agency of the agent. So the intercessor’s role is only to complete the receptivity of the recipient, or to supply a quality of the agent; he has no agency of his own, but is used as a third means alongside these two. On the basis of what has been said, in legislative intercession the source of effect is another being, and the intercessor is nothing but a link and an intermediary in completing the measure of acceptance, or in completing the measure of the breadth of grace. This is unlike intercession in the order of creation (takwīnī), and seeking help from causes and drawing aid from means. There, all the causes and means in the order of creation are intercessors for the effect, and make up the very cause and the working means in meeting the need; and their effect, as a source that can be relied on, is a reason for drawing aid from it.
Possessing the right of intercession, and likewise the power over it, are counted among the existential perfections. Their establishment and realisation belong to God (s.w.t.) by essence and originally, and to other beings accidentally and derivatively. However, for intercession to come down in actuality, the measure of readiness to receive it must be complete.
The intercession denied in the Qur’an is intercession in the order of creation, and its denial goes back to refuting the specious argument of the idol worshippers. For all or most of the proofs that the learned among the idol worshippers put forward for their worship of idols went back to intercession in the order of creation. The polytheists held that the idols were their intercessors and intermediaries in their provision and in their blessings in the order of creation (in this world), not in matters of rights, or in social, judicial and conventional matters.
In a great many verses of the Qur’an that put forward legislative intercession at the Resurrection, its appearance at the Return goes back to intercession in the order of creation. For the Hereafter is the abode of creation, not the abode of convention and appointment, and the recompense of the Hereafter is a recompense in the order of creation, not a conventional one.
The verse under discussion, which speaks of intercession not being accepted, and the verses that deny intercession absolutely, conflict with the verses that affirm intercession only at first sight, in the way that the absolute and the qualified conflict. What is understood from both groups of verses together is that intercession at the Resurrection exists in general, even though it is of no benefit to the polytheists.
There are various ways of resolving the imagined conflict between the proofs that deny intercession and those that affirm it: in terms of faith and unbelief, of permission and its absence, of a change in the very self of the one for whom intercession is made or its absence, and of the many stations of the Return. The best of them is independence and permission. That is, the proofs that affirm it refer to intercession that is permitted, and the proofs that deny it refer to independent intercession that does not rest on His (s.w.t.) permission.
In the Hereafter no ransom or equivalent is accepted from the corrupt and criminal human being to ward off the punishment from him. Through intercession the punishment is lifted freely, whereas through an equivalent it would be lifted by way of compensation and exchange.
Although guarantee, sponsorship, intercession and the like all fall under the heading of help, God (s.w.t.) denies to the criminals at the Return, separately and emphatically, every kind of assistance and aid. In this respect, no one who thirsts on the Day of Resurrection has any way at all to quench his thirst; just as the burning at the Return is neither something that a remedy removes, nor something that one escapes by dying.
2:49 — [Remember] when We delivered you from Pharaoh’s clan who inflicted a terrible torment on…
[Remember] when We delivered you from Pharaoh’s clan who inflicted a terrible torment on you, and slaughtered your sons and spared your women, and in that there was a great test from your Lord.
The important role that freedom and independence play in the destinies of peoples is the reason for giving importance to that blessing and mentioning it at the head of the list of blessings showered on the Children of Israel. For a community that has been saved from the claws of enslavement and despotism, and has become free and independent, is apt to have its receptivity to the doctrinal, moral and behavioural programmes of the prophets (a.s.) burst forth, in the light of the opening and flourishing of its various capacities.
God (s.w.t.) addresses the Jews who lived when the Qur’an came down, since their ancestors had been saved from the torment, and through the blessing of their ancestors’ rescue the present generation came into being and the torment was warded off from them. He says: “We saved you from the oppression of the people of Pharaoh.” The reason for attributing the oppression to Pharaoh’s helpers is that they were pleased, without any excuse, with Pharaoh’s oppression of the Children of Israel, and carried out Pharaoh’s decrees by inflicting various kinds of torment. So in this world they bear the marks of crime and sin, and in the Hereafter they will be consigned to the fire of Hell.
What is meant by rescue from the people of Pharaoh here is deliverance from their tyranny by uprooting their way and their creed, not the lifting of their oppression for a particular period of time.
One of the most prominent instances of the severe torment to which the Children of Israel were subjected is enslavement and absolute servitude, which is worse than exploitation, colonialism and despotism. For all evils and bitter tragedies are among the consequences of enslavement, and all the injustices mentioned fall under this heading.
In order to weaken the Children of Israel, to prevent their power from growing and leading them to the seat of government and authority, and to stand in the way of the appearance of the truth and the growth of its strength, Pharaoh set about severing the heads of the sons of the Children of Israel from their bodies, and keeping their women alive and taking them as captives. This killing and captivity may include both what took place before the birth of Moses, the one who spoke with God (al-Kalīm) (a.s.), and what took place after he rose up and began his movement.
Keeping the women alive is an instance of torment because of its evil effects, namely, imposing the humiliation of bondage and the consequences of servitude; otherwise, merely keeping women and girls alive is not a torment.
All the events of the world are divine tests, each accompanied by a particular obligation. So there is no affliction that is not accompanied by the obligation of patience, and no blessing that is not joined to the duty of thanks. On this same basis, and since the word “trial” (balāʾ) is used equally for prosperity and adversity, for gift and ordeal alike, what “that” refers to may be the blessing of rescue from the people of Pharaoh, or the affliction of torment by slaughter and the like, or both together.
If it includes the torment of Pharaoh’s people and the pressures they exerted, then the sentence “in that was a great trial from your Lord” shows that some troubles and evils may come from God (s.w.t.) to test His servants and try them. For on the basis of tawḥīd, the source of evil is itself the source of good, and evils do not need a separate source; this is so even though evil is a matter of non-being, and it is attributed to the Source of creation with respect to its existential aspect, which is good.
2:50 — And when We parted the sea with you
And when We parted the sea with you, and We delivered you and drowned Pharaoh’s clan as you looked on.
In the course of setting out another of the blessings showered on the Children of Israel, namely the blessing of deliverance from the domination of the people of Pharaoh, and so that the greatness of this blessing may be laid bare, and as a reminder of the great blessing of being kept safe from drowning in the sea, God (s.w.t.) says: Remember when We parted the sea for you, and by this saved you, and drowned the people of Pharaoh in it while you looked on and listened.
Through this parting of the sea, the Children of Israel who were with Moses, the one who spoke with God (al-Kalīm) (a.s.), were saved from the torment of the people of Pharaoh by entering it, and were kept safe from drowning in it; and the people of Pharaoh were prevented from catching up with them, and all who were with Pharaoh drowned in the sea. For a people whose senses get the better of them, such as the Children of Israel, witnessing a scene like this is apt to lend the divine miracle eloquence and the divine blessing greatness.
2:51–52 — And when We made an appointment with Moses for forty nights
(51) And when We made an appointment with Moses for forty nights, you took up the Calf [for worship] in his absence, and you were wrongdoers. (52) Then We excused you after that so that you might give thanks.
One of the greatest blessings of God (s.w.t.) on the Children of Israel in general, and on Moses, the one who spoke with God (al-Kalīm) (a.s.), in particular, is the divine hospitality that continued for forty nights. Bearing forty days of spiritual exercises and of cutting himself off from all but God had prepared his heart to receive the Torah. So God (s.w.t.) bestowed on the Children of Israel the blessing of the Book, that is, the blessing of the law and of religion, the two blessings counted among the necessities and requirements of a society that has gained its independence.
God (s.w.t.) made an appointment with Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), to complete those forty nights, and Moses agreed to it. This appointment, which was fixed by agreement between the two sides, is of the kind of God’s (s.w.t.) names of likeness (al-asmāʾ al-tashbīhiyyah), which carry within them honour and dignity for God’s prophet Moses (a.s.).
Because of haste and impatience, the Children of Israel could not bear the appointment mentioned, which drove them, under the temptation of Satan, to take the delay of Moses (a.s.) (since God (s.w.t.) extended His first appointment with him from thirty nights to forty) as proof that he would never return. So they turned, through al-Sāmirī’s exploitation of their weak thinking, to the worship of the calf.
As for the cultural temptation and the intellectual fallacy that were the cause behind the apostasy of the Children of Israel and their turning to the worship of idols, it was this: because they imagined a likeness between the lowing of the calf’s body, devoid of spirit, and the staff of the prophet Moses (a.s.) becoming a living serpent, they regarded the first as a miracle of al-Sāmirī; or, because of the resemblance between the lowing of the calf and the call “Indeed I am God”, which came from the tree, they regarded the first as the speech of God (s.w.t.).
After witnessing all those clear proofs and plain signs, these people set about weighing themselves down with polytheism, which is the most hideous kind of wrongdoing, while being aware of its ugliness. In the second verse, to make this wrongdoing plain to see, to draw attention to the hideousness and ugliness of exchanging the worship of God for the worship of the calf, and also to bring out more clearly the greatness of divine pardon, the demonstrative pronoun for what is far is used: “Then We pardoned you after that.”
God (s.w.t.) pardoned the general body of the Children of Israel, though not al-Sāmirī and his followers, despite the great sin they had committed. This pardon and acceptance of repentance, which may have been because of the lowliness and baseness of the Children of Israel, had a manner, conditions and preliminaries. One of its preliminaries was that they were given respite until the time when Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), returned from the appointed meeting, so that he might tell them how to atone for their sin.
The Children of Israel did not thank God for His bounties to them; indeed, by worshipping the calf they had disbelieved. But God pardoned this wrongdoing of theirs so that they might perhaps thank Him for His earlier blessings, and become, after that, among the thankful.
2:53 — And when We gave Moses the Book and the Criterion so that you might be guided
And when We gave Moses the Book and the Criterion so that you might be guided.
The Book and the Criterion (al-furqān) are another blessing that God (s.w.t.) bestowed on the Children of Israel for their guidance.
The Book mentioned in this verse is the Torah. The Criterion, which is one of the divine gifts, is counted as being of the kind of praiseworthy separation; and it has a comprehensive meaning and is not limited to the heavenly Book. Rather, it is something absolute, and miracles, rational proofs, sensory experiences and complete historical evidence may also be instances of it.
The Torah, which is one of the instances of the Criterion mentioned in this verse, is the original, unaltered Torah. For that original divine Book, protected and kept safe from being effaced, forged and altered, is the one that can serve as a criterion between theoretical truth and falsehood, and between practical good and evil, and be a source of guidance and right direction. On this basis, if those addressed in this verse are the Jews who lived when the Qur’an came down, then the Torah’s being described as the Criterion, and likewise the guidance of those who hold fast to it, refers only to the part of it that has remained protected from being effaced and altered. And taking into account the glad tidings found in this part of the Torah about the religion of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh (s.a.w.), the guidance of the Jews who were contemporaries of the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.) through the Torah depends on their believing in him (s.a.w.); and this faith is, in reality, a command of the Torah.
2:54 — And [recall] when Moses said to his people
And [recall] when Moses said to his people, ‘O my people! You have indeed wronged yourselves by taking up the Calf [for worship]. Now turn penitently to your Maker, and slay [the guilty among] your folks. That will be better for you with your Maker.’ Then He turned to you clemently. Indeed, He is the All-clement, the All-merciful.
This verse explains the manner of the pardon mentioned in the two previous verses. Since it teaches the Children of Israel the way to repent and to purify themselves of their great sin of apostasy and polytheism, so as to keep them from becoming entangled in everlasting torment, it is a reminder of one of the greatest spiritual blessings given to them.
The worship of the calf by the Children of Israel, after they had witnessed all those miracles and clear proofs of tawḥīd, counts as the greatest deviation from the most important principle or pillar of belief. In this respect, the conditions and preliminaries of pardon for this sin, and of repentance from it, had to be extremely hard and without precedent, so that this principle, which is the essence of all the heavenly religions, would not be exposed to harm, and so that this act would not become an evil custom for later generations.
To establish that worshipping the calf is wrongdoing, to show the ugliness and falsehood of such an act, to establish the necessity of repentance, and also to commend obeying the command to kill, the name “the Maker” (al-Bāriʾ) is mentioned twice in this verse. This blessed name points to a creation that is wise, purposeful and ordered. It is explained as follows. God (s.w.t.) is the Maker of people, who separated them from non-being into existence, and from deficiency into perfection. He created people in the best of stature and the best of forms; and one of the requirements of this best order is to be free of disparity, deficiency, defect and the like. So He is the creator of people, and they, in that they were created in an ordered and purposeful way in the most complete manner, are free of deficiency and defect. On the basis of these three aspects, putting the dull-witted calf in the place of the Wise God, exchanging such a divine object of worship for the calf, disowning this Lord who is worshipped, and following the calf of al-Sāmirī all count as gross and great wrongdoing. So it befits everyone, before such a Lord, who is the Maker of people and who bears love for them (“your Maker”), to turn back to Him and obey His command; for He (s.w.t.), beyond doubt, wants their good and their felicity.
God (s.w.t.) made the killing of one another by the Children of Israel the completion of their repentance. This ruling, even if outwardly hard and harsh, is a mercy for purifying the polluted society of the Children of Israel. It is like a defence of the most fundamental pillar of all the heavenly religions, namely tawḥīd, and like a fight against the worst germ of thought, namely polytheism.
The command to kill themselves here does not mean suicide. What is meant by “yourselves” is the selves of relatives and kin, and of everyone counted among the Children of Israel and bound to one another by the tie of kinship and blood, directly or through intermediaries.
The killing of one another, especially of relatives and friends, even if hard and painful for both the killer and the killed, was good for all of them. For this limited and temporary torment of this world, through the purification from the filth of polytheism that it brought, was apt to keep the Children of Israel safe from the everlasting torment of the Hereafter, and to lead them to attain eternal triumph and joy. Likewise, remembering this painful event was apt to deter the descendants and children of these ancestors from thinking of worshipping idols. Naturally, the one killed in the battle to defend the sanctuary of tawḥīd, who turned to repentance and to being content with his execution, and who bore this fate in the way of defending the sanctuary of tawḥīd, is a living being. Even if his killing is to his benefit, he will also receive what is to his benefit and good. This good is with God, and the one killed has a way to what is with God, and will receive his good with God. On this basis, His words “That is better for you with your Maker” are like His words “Alive with their Lord, they are provided for”; and this is a good support for affirming the martyrdom of those of the Children of Israel who were killed.
The repentance of the Children of Israel, with all the conditions it involved, in which the killing, in the form of outward execution, certainly took place, was accepted. The evidence for this, apart from the acceptance of their repentance (“so He turned to you”), is that the word “killing” is plainly explicit in taking away the spirit, and has not come in the Qur’an in the sense of disciplining the soul at all, on the one hand; and, on the other, the word “pardon” clearly means not exacting the punishment in this world. Of course, it was enough for a considerable number of the Children of Israel to submit to the command to kill for the divine pardon to be issued; and the command to kill was halted after a group of them had been killed, and after the humble pleading and the earnest appeal of Moses and Aaron (a.s.). On the basis of what has passed, the command to kill, as regards killing them all, was like the command to slaughter Ishmael (a.s.), but not as regards the principle of killing; that is, the principle of killing certainly took place, even though pardon came at the stage of remaining alive.
As for the reason for accepting the repentance of the Children of Israel and the return of divine grace to them, it is that God is the Oft-returning, the All-merciful.
2:55–56 — And when you said, ‘O Moses
(55) And when you said, ‘O Moses, we will not believe you until we see Allah visibly.’ Thereupon a thunderbolt seized you as you looked on. (56) Then We raised you up after your death so that you might give thanks.
One of the blessings God bestowed on the Children of Israel is the blessing of being raised up after the destruction that befell them as a result of their demand, born of ignorance, to see God, and in the wake of the thunderbolt that struck them. It appears from some verses that this event took place before the apostasy and the worship of the calf, or at the same time as them.
Those who demanded to see God were few (they did not exceed seventy). But the likeness of heart among the different generations of the Children of Israel and the unity of their thinking, the national and racial ties that bind them, and the Jewish community’s acceptance of this chosen group’s demand, have placed all the Jews, especially those who lived when the Qur’an came down, in the position of those addressed by this verse.
The group who demanded to see God, who formed the elite of the Children of Israel and the faithful among them, had made their faith in the Torah and their acknowledging it conditional on seeing God (s.w.t.) with the senses, and considered Moses’ (a.s.) claim that the Torah had come down from God (s.w.t.) not enough for them to accept it and acknowledge it.
The insistence of those who put forward the demand to see God, who were people of a sensory bent, quarrelsome, ungrateful, persistent in dispute and quick with excuses, was that they should see God with their outward eyes in the form of open sight, and hear His speech with their outward ears through open hearing, so that they could openly believe the claim of Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.); otherwise they would consider his claim rejected and not acceptable.
In answer to the demand to witness Him with the senses, God sent a thunderbolt upon them, to make them understand that whoever cannot bear a limited, finite and created being will never be able to see the pure, immaterial and infinite light of the Creator of all things; for the purely immaterial being will never be open to material sight by a material being.
So those who demanded open sight were afflicted with an open thunderbolt because of their ignorance in knowledge and their ignorance in practice, just as the worshippers of the calf were sentenced to death. As for the one who spoke with God (a.s.), he was not included in this destroying and tormenting thunderbolt, even though he had his own swoon and his own bewilderment.
The thunderbolt mentioned, which is also referred to as “the quake” and “the Lord’s manifesting Himself”, was a heavenly fire that took in all seventy people who were with Moses (a.s.) and burnt them. These people saw the thunderbolt with their own eyes, and saw it coming down and the first signs of death with their own eyes.
God’s prophet Moses (a.s.) was grieved at what he witnessed of the destruction of the elite of the Children of Israel, since it would cause new problems to arise among them. So he asked forgiveness for them, and God (s.w.t.) brought them back to life in answer to his prayer. With this death and raising up, God’s proof against the Children of Israel was complete.
What is meant by death here is the very separation of the spirit from the body, and the end of life; not unconsciousness and fainting, nor collapse, nor ignorance, nor the like. What is meant by raising up is also bringing back to life; not bringing out from a straitness resembling death, nor a return like the return of the Companions of the Cave, nor an increase in the children of the Children of Israel and their descendants.
The blessing of raising up after death is one of the signs within the souls, added to the signs of the horizons such as the parting of the sea. The Children of Israel must give thanks for both blessings together, just as others must take heed of them so as not to go astray. As for what the thanks mentioned at the end of the second verse is for, it is either all the blessings showered on the Children of Israel, among them this bringing back to life, or particularly the blessings for which they were ungrateful before the event of the thunderbolt and death.
2:57 — We shaded you with clouds
We shaded you with clouds, and sent down to you manna and quails [saying]: ‘Eat of the good things We have provided for you.’ And they did not wrong Us, but they used to wrong [only] themselves.
The ingratitude and disobedience of the Children of Israel, and likewise their shirking of fighting the Amalekites in order to enter Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis), were the reason behind their wandering for forty years in the scorching, open desert of Sinai, and so behind their being deprived of the blessings that used to come down on them. Yet even in that situation the Lord, who had prepared for them the means of crossing the sea without any material resources being available for it, closed off the way for them to cross an open desert free of obstacles.
After the voices of the Children of Israel were raised in complaint of the fierce heat, and following the prayer of the prophet Moses (a.s.), the Gracious God sent clouds over them to shade them, from which a cool breeze blew. And after they complained of hunger, He sent down on them manna and quails.
The cloud mentioned blocked the heat of the sun, but did not block its light and brightness. And to provide coolness, it carried a moderate moisture and did not rain. Such shading, like all the other blessings granted to the Children of Israel, ought to be a cause for gratitude and thanks.
What came down on the Children of Israel from the treasury of the Unseen, or from the upper atmosphere, was not a variety of food, nor did it include both material and spiritual food. Rather, manna and quails, as the word for eating, “Eat”, which refers to material eating, shows, were two things to be eaten and two material blessings.
Manna is a substance with a sweetness like that of honey, which God (s.w.t.) used to send to the Children of Israel, most likely without toil or farming. This substance would settle on the rocks and the leaves of trees like drops of dew, and the Children of Israel would gather it. Quails, likewise, are a very delicious food; according to the well-known view, it is a bird very like the pigeon, or a little smaller. It has also been counted as a special blessing that deserved to be mentioned separately.
The command in the form of permission and allowance, “Eat”, and the sentence “Eat of the good things We have provided for you”, point to what has been reported of the prohibition of storing up the manna and the quails. What is meant is: Do not exchange the good provision and the delicious, pure and lawful food for impure and forbidden food by storing it up. Likewise, if “of” in the sentence mentioned means “some of”, it hints at eating little; for as long as eating little does not harm the digestive system, it has an ample and abundant share in purifying the spirit. But the Children of Israel disobeyed, went to excess in eating it, and set about storing it up.
At the end of the verse, God (s.w.t.) says, addressing the greatest Messenger (s.a.w.), or the faithful who lived when the Qur’an came down: The deviants among the Children of Israel, who disobeyed and did not meet blessings with thanks and gratitude, imagined that by opposing Us they had wronged Us, heedless of the fact that they wronged none but themselves. Indeed, for wrongdoing to come from God is ugly and impossible, and for it to befall God is impossible.
The turn from the form of direct address to the third person in this part of the verse indicates that the Children of Israel were no longer worthy of being addressed, because they persisted in wrongdoing and ingratitude (“they were… wronging”); and it also involves a kind of disclosing of truths particular to them.
The holy court of God (s.w.t.) is protected from wrongdoing. But since the divine manifestations are exposed to the help of friends and the wrongdoing of enemies, if wrong befalls the Noblest Prophet (s.a.w.) or the Imam of any age, who are among the divine manifestations and among those charged with spreading the divine traditions and the religious legacy, it is like wrong befalling God (s.w.t.). Besides this, the use of the plural pronoun and of the first person specifically for God (s.w.t.) in His words “and they did not wrong Us” is either a magnifying of the station of Lordship, or a pointer to the angels who direct affairs.
The human being is not the real owner of all his affairs; rather, he is the trustee of God over the divine deposit, which is the soul. In this respect, putting out of action or altering the soul’s rulings of knowledge and its wisdom of action is a betrayal of the trust; and giving sense, imagination, estimation, lust and anger rule and command over the intellect is a wrong done to the soul’s most important affairs of life.
The secret of confining the return of wrongdoing to the wrongdoers themselves is that every sin sets the sinful human being on a line of confrontation with the order of existence, which is subject to law, harmonious and consistent, and likewise with the primordial nature (fiṭrah), which is part of the body of this order. This leads a person only to failure, downfall, and withdrawal from this order.
2:58–59 — And when We said, ‘Enter this town
(58) And when We said, ‘Enter this town, and eat thereof freely whencesoever you wish, and enter while prostrating at the gate, and say, ‘‘Relieve [us of the burden of our sins],’’ so that We may forgive your iniquities and We will soon enhance the virtuous.’ (59) But the wrongdoers changed the saying with other than what they were told. So We sent down on those who were wrongdoers a plague from the sky because of the transgressions they used to commit.
After the period of punitive wandering came to an end, which the Children of Israel spent as a punishment for forty years in the scorching desert of Sinai, the command came to enter the land, entry to which had been forbidden to them for forty years, and to choose to settle there. This town, judging by its being blessed, by the abundance of its blessings and the ease of comfortable living in it, as well as by its holiness and nobility, was part of the Holy Land, and a particular city other than Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis). For the city of Jerusalem was built after the time of Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), by the command of God’s prophet Solomon (a.s.); unless, O God, it is said that this command given to Moses (a.s.) was directed to the descendants of the Children of Israel and their later generations, or that it is one of the commands that came down over the course of the history of the Children of Israel and in the times of their other prophets; as it has been said that the command “Enter…” was conveyed by Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), himself, but that he had left this world by the time it was carried out.
It was binding on the Children of Israel, as thanks for the divine blessings (especially deliverance from the land of wandering), to enter by the particular gate of this town, or by the gate of the tent and dome set up for worship, or by a particular gate of Jerusalem, and that their entering should be with complete humility and submission.
It has been said that, on entering that gate, the Children of Israel were commanded, as an act of devotion, to utter the very word ḥiṭṭah. Although uttering this particular word carries a sense of admitting the sin, and calls for being adorned with the spirit of devotion and a humble heart, it is hard to establish such a devotional act without reliable narrations being available; especially since the language of the Nabataeans was Hebrew, Syriac or something like them, not Arabic, whereas the word ḥiṭṭah is an Arabic word. On this basis, it appears that what is meant here is seeking forgiveness, and asking for sins to be put down and wiped away.
Those who carried out the three commands (entering the town, coming in by the gate in a state of humility, and seeking forgiveness and saying ḥiṭṭah) in the best way gained divine mercy and reward in addition to the forgiveness of their sins. If “the doers of good” (al-muḥsinūn) are those who passed the forty-year test of the wandering without the least sin or slip, then their carrying out these three commands was a reason for their good deeds to be multiplied. As for His words “and We will give more to the doers of good”, rather than saying “and We will give more to the doers of good” in the same form as “We will forgive”, they point to the fact that the human being who does good certainly obeys the commands mentioned.
One of the greatest acts of wrongdoing and ingratitude that the Children of Israel committed was their shameful conduct when entering the Holy Land. For a number of the quarrelsome and obstinate Israelites did not obey the third command, which called for humility and submission and indicated servanthood and seeking forgiveness. Through their practical disobedience, and by changing the manner and the words into another manner and other words, they refused to humble themselves and to seek forgiveness. So the persistent transgression and continuous deviation of the Children of Israel paved the way for the punishment to come down. The outcome for that rebellious group among the Children of Israel was that, because of their serious disobedience and their particular wrongdoing, they deserved the punishment. So God sent down on them a heavenly scourge; and it was a scourge that could not be pushed back or warded off.
2:60 — And when Moses prayed for water for his people
And when Moses prayed for water for his people, We said, ‘Strike the rock with your staff.’ Thereat twelve fountains gushed forth from it; every tribe came to know its drinking-place. ‘Eat and drink of Allah’s provision, and do not act wickedly on the earth, causing corruption.’
During the journey in the land of the wandering and the Sinai desert, the Children of Israel were commanded to settle in a particular town or place, and to choose to remain there for a period of time. Since the limited sources of water were not enough to meet the various needs of a huge number of people, the Children of Israel were afflicted with a shortage of water, and complained of this to Moses (a.s.). The request for water was first put to Moses (a.s.) by the Children of Israel, and then he put it before the Lord (s.w.t.). Since his (a.s.) asking for water had the character of worship and was joined to divine favour, God (s.w.t.) attributed it to Himself alone; and so the answer to the prayer of Moses, the one who spoke with God, was the coming down of divine revelation.
As for the evidence that the Children of Israel’s asking for water, and the rock gushing with water when struck with the staff, took place in the desert and before they entered the town known to them, it is, first, that this town was inhabited and drinking water was plentiful in it; and second, that the command “Drink”, which came as a completion of the verse alongside the command “Eat”, refers only to the “manna and quails” that had become the portion of the Children of Israel in the desert.
Because of the sensory bent of the Children of Israel, the blocking of every pretext before them, and the completing of the proof against them, the way of miracle was chosen, from among the spiritual ways of obtaining water: striking the rock with the staff; for its effect surpasses the effect of other causes and factors.
The splitting of the rock by striking it with the staff, and the bringing out of twelve springs from it, was a great and astonishing matter, one of the greatest signs of divine power and of the truth of the claim of Moses (a.s.) to prophethood, and one of God’s blessings on the Children of Israel.
That rock was not small or something that could be carried; rather, it was a particular rock set in a particular place, wide enough for twelve separate springs to flow from it. This rock was split, and water gushed from it, by that same well-known staff that would turn into a serpent and with which Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), parted the sea. The result was that twelve separate springs of water gushed from the rock, each of them in a particular direction and with a mark that distinguished it, so that each of the twelve tribes knew its own place. Each drinking place was wide enough to give water easily and readily to the large number in the tribes (six hundred thousand souls).
In that situation the Children of Israel were enjoying manna and quails, and had also gained a relative stability. With the gushing of the twelve springs, the problem of drought or shortage of water was solved for them; and by dividing the springs according to the number of the tribes, the pretext for quarrel and disagreement was also taken away from them. So the divine address came: Eat and drink of God’s provision, that is, of the manna and quails and the water of the springs, and do not quarrel, and do not cause corruption in the earth, and do not let God’s blessing become a cause of your rebellion. This address contains a picture of the comfortable life of the Jewish people, and gives body to a particular change that had come about for them after the blessing.
God (s.w.t.) warned the Jews, who had attained the utmost of mercy, blessing and ease of living, against every form of corruption, the most prominent instances of which are disagreement and quarrelling, individual, national or tribal, and He forbade them to exchange thanks for the blessing for ingratitude towards it. So thanks for this great blessing is that they should never cause corruption, nor spread corruption in the earth by creating a model of corruption that others would follow.
2:61 — And when you said, ‘O Moses
And when you said, ‘O Moses, ‘We will not put up with one kind of food. So invoke your Lord for us, so that He may bring forth for us of that which the earth grows—its greens and cucumbers, its garlic, lentils, and onions.’ He said, ‘Do you seek to replace what is superior with that which is inferior? Go down to any town and you will indeed get what you ask for!’ So they were struck with abasement and poverty, and they earned Allah’s wrath. That, because they would deny the signs of Allah and kill the prophets unjustly. That, because they would disobey and commit transgressions.
The sameness of the food, and its being all of one kind (manna and quails), became a new pretext for the Jewish people to demand, out of obstinacy and with contempt and mockery, some of the produce the earth grows, such as green herbs, cucumbers, garlic, lentils and onions, instead of asking and requesting.
The blameworthy inclination of the Jewish people towards variety, and their ill-omened bent towards fickleness, which showed itself in exchanging the beautiful for the ugly and forgiveness for punishment, divine ordaining for human planning, and the food of the heavenly realm (malakūtī) for the food of the earthly realm (mulkī), spread so far as to exchange the higher for the lower, that is, garlic and onions for manna and quails. They declared this with all obstinacy, insolence and fierce resistance, saying to Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), in the form of an explicit negation, that they had run out of patience: We will not bear with what God sends down from the sky; so ask your Lord to bring out for us now from the earth these blessings we have proposed, without labour or toil, just as until now He has sent down on us from the sky manna and quails without tiring or wearying us. As for their aim in this demand, it was to exchange the heavenly blessings entirely for earthly blessings, not to add to them and complete them.
Since insisting on pretexts and obstinacy sacrifices the blessing of freedom and independence that one has won for the sake of desire for variety and the appetite of the belly, they were met with force and anger, and Moses (a.s.) answered them in the language of making them helpless, or rather, of rebuke. He asked of them the very thing they used to fear: entering the city, which required confrontation and war with the Amalekites or with other tyrants and oppressors. Naturally, divine ordaining and the planning of Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), called for the Children of Israel to enter the Holy Land, the virtuous city, in which there were abundant farming resources and the like, so that they might combine settled life with the social, legal and political principles accompanied by morals and worthy virtues.
The command to go down, given in rebuke or to make them helpless, carries a hint of a fall and a descent. This going down, from the garden of safety, freedom, independence and dignity to the land of enmity, quarrelling and material appetites, is an image and a bodying forth of the going down of the prophet Adam (a.s.).
A people who clung to pretexts, persisted in obstinacy, and cared only about filling their bellies, ignoring the loftiness and greatness of freedom and independence and putting forward lowly and contemptible demands: such a people could have no other end than that the punishment of humiliation and worldly disgrace should be decreed for them. The tent of humiliation, wretchedness and misery pitched over their heads surrounded them, and coins of humiliation and wretchedness were struck in their name, and sealed with this seal on their foreheads. So its mark stayed with them and its trace went with them always; and the end of their entanglement, because of the severity of their ingratitude, will be the punishment of the Hereafter and the accumulated anger and actual divine subjugation, which will be a cause of falling down through the lower levels.
The cause of such an evil end is that unbelief, the killing of God’s prophets (a.s.), disobedience in the face of the divine laws, and transgressing God’s limits had become a continuing habit of the Children of Israel, as a settled trait and an evil custom.
The killing of the prophets by the Children of Israel was not limited to aggression and the crime of disclosing the prophets’ secrets to the rulers and tyrants of the age; rather, they used to kill the prophets with their own swords, without an intermediary, as well. Moreover, their killing of the prophets, which is practical unbelief, did not come from a mistake in carrying things out, nor against a background of believing this act to be right. They were aware of the ugliness of what they did, and what drove them to do it knowingly and deliberately was nothing but the spirit of disobedience and aggression, love of the world and following desire.
Since the prophets turn on the truth and their pivot is justice, killing them is certainly falsehood. The truth of the prophets was settled for the Children of Israel, both established and proven, and they had in their hands no divine permission and no human justification for killing the prophets.
2:62 — Indeed the faithful, the Jews
Indeed the faithful, the Jews, the Christians and the Sabaeans—those of them who have faith in Allah and the Last Day and act righteously—they shall have their reward from their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.
The names of religions and schools, and religious titles and labels, have no weight on their own, and are not counted as a criterion for a human being’s felicity or for his being deprived of felicity. No one is counted among the people of salvation merely because he belongs to a particular community or religion. The followers of the various religions and sects are equal before the scale of justice and divine equity, until they are weighed and it becomes clear how far they submit to the religion of truth, by believing in its principles and worshipping according to its branches. The criterion and the factor for a human being’s felicity is faith and righteous deeds, and possessing goodness of the agent and goodness of the act: that is, correct belief and righteous deeds.
This noble verse divides each of the four groups, the Muslims, the Jews, the Christians and the Sabians, into two kinds: true believers and believers who are not true. It is like a report that serves as a directive, setting out the way of salvation for the groups that existed at the time the Qur’an came down. It says: If you want felicity and wish to be free of fear and grief, you must believe in God and the Return and do righteous deeds. Naturally, righteous deeds must match unabrogated revelation and accord with the law of the prophet of the age; and the accord of action with revelation also follows from faith in the principle of revelation and in the truth of the one who conveys it. That is precisely why prophethood is not mentioned here.
Righteous deeds, which leave out no branch of religion and include the prohibitions under their heading as well, are among the manifestations and effects of complete and true belief. Mentioning them after faith, which includes belief of the heart, acknowledgement with the tongue and action with the limbs, is a case of mentioning the important part after mentioning the whole, to draw attention to how important righteous deeds are; it is not a case of mentioning the instance after mentioning the universal. Of course, the role of righteous deeds in securing felicity and deserving the divine reward and safety from fear and grief is not like the effect of faith in, and belief in, the principles of religion.
True faith, which means complete faith that brings together the Torah, the Gospel and the Qur’an, the past prophets and the present prophet, that is, the Seal of the Prophets (s.a.w.), is a cause for deserving the divine reward. The reward of the faithful is present now with their Lord, and exists in the inner side of the world of nature; it is a reward that is everlasting and does not admit of ceasing. The true believer finds his reward firmly established with God (s.w.t.). So he is neither grieved over what has passed, since he has lost nothing in what has gone by, nor afraid of what is to come, since a bright future awaits him. The explicit statement denying fear and grief for the true believers is set against affirming humiliation and wretchedness for the criminals among the People of the Book, since the humiliated and wretched one lives in constant fear and continuous grief.
As for the People of the Book who did not follow the religion of truth, those who believe in the four perfections of tawḥīd, prophethood, the Return and righteous deeds: because of their affliction with dualism or the Trinity, their denial of the true Return, their not accepting the prophethood of the Seal of the Prophets (s.a.w.), and their committing what Islam forbids, they will never be an instance of the end of the verse under discussion. In this respect, there is no room for any religious pluralism on the basis of this verse. Through setting out blessings by way of encouragement, the verse gives non-Muslims hope of salvation and gives them the glad tidings that repentance will be accepted and humiliation and wretchedness lifted, on the one hand; and, on the other, it closes the door before the arrogance of the Muslims, warning the faithful, the Jews, the Christians and the Sabians that merely claiming faith is not enough for salvation.
2:63–64 — And when We took a pledge from you
(63) And when We took a pledge from you, and raised the Mount above you, [declaring], ‘Hold on with power to what We have given you and remember that which is in it so that you may be Godwary.’ (64) Again you turned away after that; and were it not for Allah’s grace on you and His mercy, you would have surely been among the losers.
God took a pledge from the Children of Israel that they would accept the Torah and act on it with strength and resolve, bodily and material, and of the heart and spiritual. To take this covenant, by which He meant that the laws of the Torah should be realised in fact, not merely accepted in the heart, He raised above their heads the mountain known as Mount Sinai, where Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), held intimate converse in the holy valley of Ṭuwā. Of course, raising the Mount, lifting the mountain and taking the pledge did not negate free choice or run counter to consent; it was nothing more than a sign of punishment, to take a firm pledge of obedience at the level of action after they had believed, not to compel them to the principle of faith.
Witnessing such a sign and great miracle, which is unusual according to custom but not impossible according to the intellect, is a cause for strengthening faith and stirring the spiritual conscience and the sense of the primordial nature (fiṭrah). It prepares the ground for taking a firm and strong pledge, creating a deep-rooted resolve, and holding firmly to what concerns acting on the laws of the Torah. Moreover, holding with the strength of the body depends on holding the religion in knowledge with the strength of thought, and holding it in resolve with the strength of motive; and whoever holds the religion with a strength that is comprehensive and complete will never be afflicted with doubt in the dimension of knowledge, nor with lust in the dimension of practice.
God (s.w.t.) commanded the Children of Israel to hold the Torah with strength and to act on it, at the stage of continuing as well as at the stage of beginning, by remembering its contents. This remembering is a preliminary to knowledge and prepares the ground for Godwariness to come about. The use of the particle of wishing and hoping (“perhaps”, laʿalla) on the part of God (s.w.t.) here refers to the level of action, not to the level of the Essence; and because the ruling on the future outward act is not known, the human being must live, to the end of his life, between the two states of fear and hope.
The Children of Israel, who witnessed all those clear miracles at the hand of Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), set about, after a time, breaking the covenant and turning away from this firm and strong pledge. So they deserved curse, destruction and punishment for that, and had no claim to salvation before the law of justice and equity. Indeed, all the ground for loss and punishment had been prepared for them; yet at the same time they were included in a special divine kindness, and divine punishment was warded off from them through the success granted them to repent, and they were saved from loss and torment by the immense favour and mercy of God; whereas, had God’s favour and mercy and the success He granted them not included them, they would have been among the losers. In this way the raising of the Mount, which carried an outward terror, ended with divine favour and mercy, which kept them from loss.
2:65–66 — And certainly you know those of you who violated the Sabbath
(65) And certainly you know those of you who violated the Sabbath, whereupon We said to them, ‘Be you spurned apes.’ (66) So We made it an exemplary punishment for the present and the succeeding [generations], and an advice to the Godwary.
The Children of Israel, who were preferred over others because of the abundant blessings and clear proofs they gained, instead of rising above the other nations through thanks, obedience and faith, became the lowest and basest of nations because of their ingratitude, their placing obstacles, and their committing the ugliest sins. They exchanged Friday for the Sabbath, and set it apart for worship, claiming that God created nothing on that day. Then God (s.w.t.) commanded Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), to leave them to themselves; and He also forbade them to work on it, especially to fish. But their catching fish by cunning and trickery ended in the loss of being turned into apes and swine; and this last act of aggression was the final part of the complete cause of their becoming apes.
In this settled story and historical event, which took place in the time of God’s prophet David (a.s.), and which the Jews of the time the Qur’an came down knew for certain had happened, the aggressive group, who were fully aware that their aim was to catch fish unlawfully by trickery on the Sabbath, were afflicted with a change of form, and its members were really turned into apes, while the rest of the Israelites remained safe from this exemplary punishment.
The command “Be” is a command in the order of creation (takwīnī), not a verbal one, and is a way of expressing the swiftness of creation and the effectiveness of the divine will in changing the aggressors into apes; just as the quarrelsome Jews were turned into apes at once, with the swiftness of response in the order of creation, without delay or hesitation in obeying.
The outward sense of the noble verse suggests that the real meaning of the word was realised: that is, the aggressors on the Sabbath were transformed both inwardly and outwardly, not merely that they took on animal qualities and that their hearts in particular were transformed. Likewise, what is understood from it is not that one individual among people was annihilated and an individual ape brought into being, or that a human spirit was made to enter the body of an ape. In this kind of transformation, the humanity of the transformed human being is not cancelled and does not cease to exist; he simply becomes “a human ape”. This transformation goes together with preserving knowledge and the perception of human identity. In this respect, perceiving the fall and the downfall, and feeling the shame, humiliation and punishment, are the portion of those addressed in His words “Be apes”. The apes are transformed and driven away; they are not ordinary, untransformed apes.
This is simply God’s custom in His creation: a particular and new sin is followed by a particular and new punishment. God’s custom is constant through the ages and one wherever the place, and the disciplining, punishing and recompensing nature by which it is distinguished is the same for those of the present and those of later times. It carries a warning to all who are charged with obligations that if they transgress the limits of God’s rule, a danger like this lies in wait for them. So if the far-reaching divine wisdom requires discipline and punishment whenever a society hurries to crime and deviation, that society will be the place of God’s (s.w.t.) subjugation, and God will take the region of sin with the ill-omened effects of disobedience. On this basis, the story of transformation may be repeated in any period of history.
Reminding peoples of the sins of their ancestors, to warn and awaken them, and so that the present generation may disown the bitter and ugly acts of those who have passed, is one of the old literary customs followed among all peoples and communities. But if the present generation does not disown the acts of their ancestors, and instead boasts of their crimes and takes pride in their ugly deeds, then the reminder referred to will be necessary. On this basis, God (s.w.t.) has made this historical story, like all the other kinds of recompense in the order of creation and in the order of law, which are an exemplary punishment for the disobedient criminal and a reason for others to recoil and avoid committing crimes and sins, a lesson for those present and those to come, and an admonition for the Godwary.
2:67–74 — And when Moses said to his people
(67) And when Moses said to his people, ‘Allah commands you to slaughter a cow,’ they said, ‘Are you mocking us?’ He said, ‘I seek Allah’s protection lest I should be one of the ignorant!’ (68) They said, ‘Invoke your Lord for us that He may clarify for us what she may be.’ He said, ‘He says, she is a cow, neither old nor young, of a middle age. Now do what you are commanded.’ (69) They said, ‘Invoke your Lord for us that He may clarify for us what her colour may be.’ He said, ‘He says, she is a cow that is yellow, of a bright hue, pleasing to the onlookers.’ (70) They said, ‘Invoke your Lord for us that He may clarify for us what she may be. Indeed all cows are much alike to us, and if Allah wishes we will surely be guided.’ (71) He said, ‘He says, She is a cow not broken to till the earth or water the tillage, sound and without blemish.’ They said, ‘Now have you come up with the truth!’ And they slaughtered it, though they were about not to do it. (72) And when you killed a soul, and accused one another about it—and Allah was to expose what you were concealing— (73) We said, ‘Strike him with a piece of it:’ thus does Allah revive the dead, and He shows you His signs so that you may exercise your reason. (74) Then your hearts hardened after that; so they are like stones, or even harder. For there are some stones from which streams gush forth, and there are some of them that split, and water issues from them, and there are some that fall for the fear of Allah. And Allah is not oblivious of what you do.
In order for God (s.w.t.) to remove the unacceptable love and sanctity towards the cow that had been instilled in the hearts of some of the Children of Israel in the event of the worship of the calf, and also to establish that slaughtering the cow not only does not create a problem but may even be a solution to problems, in the event of the doubtful killing of a person from the Children of Israel the choice of the Creator (s.w.t.) fell on the cow, to identify the killer and uncover the hidden aspects of that crime.
But the Children of Israel, who looked for pretexts, and because of the poverty of their knowledge and the weakness of their spirit of submission to the commands of the Truth (s.w.t.), imagined that Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), was only mocking them; whereas he (a.s.) was a man of reason, and would not commit any sin in conveying the divine message, not even mockery. So he said, declaring himself free of it: “I seek refuge with God from being one of the ignorant.” Then they said with insolence and arrogance, in a manner that showed a demand that does not accord with the spirit of tawḥīd: Ask your Lord to make clear to us the features of this cow. Their use of the expression “what is it?” conveys their great astonishment; for at that time it was not known that a dead person could come back to life by slaughtering a cow, as if the reality of a cow bearing such wondrous features differed from the reality of all other cows.
Since both the name of the cow and its nature were known, what was meant by “what is it?” was the features of the cow in terms of age, colour, extent of service, and how far it was tame and obedient. Given the importance of age in an animal, He first made clear the cow’s age, then its colour, and then its not being tame. Naturally, what they were commanded to slaughter at first was any cow at all; but the slackness of the Children of Israel, their sluggishness in obeying, their clinging to pretexts and their obstinacy were the reason behind new features being put forward and the absolute initial ruling being restricted by several conditions.
Since Moses (a.s.) had said “God commands you to slaughter a cow”, it is God who must specify all the features of what they were commanded. That is why Moses (a.s.) attributed the answers to the three questions of the Children of Israel to the Creator (s.w.t.), which carries within it the fullest help in answering their request, as they said: “Ask your Lord to make clear to us.”
Following the repeated and many questions of the Children of Israel, which were nothing but a pretext for lifting the obligation from them, and to deprive them of every form of pretext, God (s.w.t.) says in setting out the features of the female cow: it is neither advanced in age and unable to work, so that it neither conceives nor gives birth because of old age, nor a young one that has not reached the stage of work and bearing young. That cow must also be of a pure yellow colour that delights the onlookers when they look at it; it must not be marked by softness and tameness, nor be led and made to serve any work entrusted to it, neither ploughing the earth nor watering the crops. Naturally, it must be stronger than a sound animal and free of every defect, to the extent that no deficiency can be found in it at all; indeed, even in terms of colour it must be free of any patch of a different colour.
After the colour of the cow was specified, the Children of Israel said: Cows look alike to us. If their claim of likeness was true in reality, and the cow they had been commanded to slaughter was not clearly known to them, then they would clearly be excused for repeating the question, on the one hand; and it is possible that the meaning of the sentence “if God wills, we will be guided” is being guided to the object of the divine obligation, that is, the particular cow, on the other. Of course, it is also possible that what is meant is being guided to identifying the killer, or to understanding the wisdom behind this act, or being guided to the straight path and obeying the divine command; and that the will and the actual intention of God (s.w.t.) should relate to that is something possible, and there is nothing objectionable in bringing in the expression “if God wills” specifically about it. Likewise, assuming the claim mentioned was true, they bear no blame in their expression “Now you have brought the truth”; but the outward sense of this expression suggests that Moses (a.s.) had held back from setting out the truth until that moment. This impolite expression is one of the signs of the sensory bent of the Children of Israel and of their keeping away from the intellect.
Although the Children of Israel acknowledged that the command to slaughter was true, right up to the last moment they had no desire to act according to the divine obligation. But it seems that they were compelled to carry it out after they had used up every pretext, so they slaughtered the cow in any case; whereas their carrying it out was not expected or anticipated, and they had been very far from it. One of the reasons for their not hurrying to slaughter the cow was their fear that the hidden secret of the crime of killing would be uncovered, and likewise their not believing in the link between the act of slaughter and finding the killer.
In one way or another, all the Children of Israel had a hand in that crime, and the person or persons who directly carried it out were nothing but deputies and representatives of these people; it was not that a stranger killed him and threw the body into the land of their tribe. In this respect, all of them insisted on concealing this crime and the collective conspiracy. Likewise, the Jews of the time the Qur’an came down bore a particular likeness of heart to their ancestors, and were pleased with what they did.
But a quarrel broke out among the killers, and each one would ward off the accusation from himself and attribute it to another, loading him with its sin. By this process of each of them repelling and pushing the accusation away from himself, they decided to conceal the matter, heedless of the power of God (s.w.t.) to disclose the crime.
So God (s.w.t.) commanded them to strike the murdered man about whom they disputed with part of the body of the slaughtered cow, so that life would return to him and he would make known to them who the killer was. After the slaughter of the cow and the striking of the murdered man with a part of the body of this dead animal, life returned to this murdered man through a real bringing back to life. In this way, all the possibilities that might cast doubt on the miraculous nature of the well-known story of the cow were refuted.
The disclosure of the crime of killing, which the Children of Israel firmly insisted on concealing, contains a warning to all criminals and sinners that the disclosure of secrets, the uncovering of what is concealed, and the exposure of what is hidden are possible even in the world of this life.
As for the aim behind adopting this method, that is, life returning by the will of God through striking a dead person with another dead thing, in order to settle the dispute and identify the killer: it was to establish the proof of the Return, of God’s power to bring the dead to life, and of the disclosure of secrets on the Day of Resurrection, in addition to its containing a demonstration of the Oneness of Lordship and of divine power. People of a sensory bent, because of the knowledge they have, which rests on that bent, will not become aware of the truth or remember it unless they live within the domain of the miracle and the region of the sensory sign; and when they leave this region, heedlessness overtakes them one after another, and in the end they are afflicted with hardness of heart. To be freed from this fate, one must cross over, by using the intellect, from sensory signs and miracles to intelligible teachings and truths, and move from sensory events to the intelligible lesson and the lasting teaching.
The Children of Israel, instead of taking heed of what they had witnessed with their senses, and moving from rigidity and ignorance to alertness and the intellect, and coming to know the greatness of God (s.w.t.) and His power to bring the dead to life, were content with the resolving of the dispute and the settling of the disagreement, and did not travel on to tawḥīd and the Return; so they were struck for that with hardness of heart.
As a result of rebellion, transgression and disobedience, their hearts went down in their descending course and fell below the animal, the plant and the inanimate, until they became harder even than stone, which is counted as an example of hardness and rigidity. Yet a river of water, which is a symbol of freshness and gentleness, may gush from some hard stones and flow as a result of a bursting that takes place inside them; just as some kinds of rock split so that a spring of water flows from them, while some other rocks fall down and come down from the fear of God; and all these three kinds depend on praiseworthy fear of God. But the hearts of the Children of Israel, after witnessing all those signs and clear proofs, and because of turning away from the truth, suffer from a hardness with which no access to them is possible at all; so much so that witnessing signs and miracles will not only fail to have any effect on them, but will increase their stiffness and hardness, so that they become lower and baser than solid rock.
2:75 — Are you then eager that they should believe you
Are you then eager that they should believe you, though a part of them would hear the word of Allah and then they would distort it after they had understood it, and they knew [what they were doing]?
Through calling with insight and conveying with wisdom (the principle that makes hope valid without greed, and the possibility of having an effect without despair), the eagerness of the Muslims was directed at spreading the religion, not at a particular group entering it. For the Jews, who were afflicted with hardness of heart and inward hypocrisy, were not at all the object of the Muslims’ eagerness, that is, of their strong desire for them to believe, for their hearts to soften, for their intention to be sincere, and for them to come into agreement.
So God (s.w.t.), through an address that treats the matter as unlikely, a rhetorical question of denial, and a negation of eagerness that suggests guidance as to the uselessness of the faithful’s keenness and eagerness to win the Jews over to Islam, and to drive away their anxiety at the Jews not believing in the Prophet of Islam (s.a.w.), says, consoling the Noble Messenger (s.a.w.) and the Muslims: How will one who has no heart that understands and no ear that listens believe in the original religion? Or one who, after hearing the verses of God and grasping them, has been afflicted with altering those verses, or with following those of the scholars who alter them? Or one who is of the descendants of the seventy men who accompanied Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), and who is like them in hardness and lack of feeling? Or one who is of the line of those who received the speech of God without an intermediary, by being present at the appointed meeting and at the Mount, or those who heard the Torah through the intermediary of the tongue of the prophet Moses (a.s.), joined with many miracles and plain signs, yet, after knowing its truth and that it is God’s (s.w.t.) conclusive proof against them, set about altering the speech of God and interpreting it according to what their desires dictated to them and their impulses drove them to?
Those who altered the Torah, who were only a particular group of the Jews of the time of Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), or of the Jews who lived when the Noble Qur’an came down, and whose altering was against a background of their rigidity, their obstinacy, the malice of their inner selves and the evil of their secret hearts, not arising from poor understanding or from oversight and forgetting; and likewise those who came after them of their descendants and offspring, who handed over the reins of their reasoning and their worship to the hands of the alterers: these people are not fit for anyone to hope for their success and their righteousness.
2:76–77 — When they meet the faithful
(76) When they meet the faithful, they say, ‘We believe,’ and when they are alone with one another, they say, ‘Do you recount to them what Allah has revealed to you, so that they may argue with you therewith before your Lord? Do you not exercise your reason?’ (77) Do they not know that Allah knows whatever they hide and whatever they disclose?
Some of the Jews of Medina, because of the soundness of their primordial nature and the simplicity of their make-up, or as a result of their hypocrisy and their double-dealing, would say to the faithful when they met them, out of sincerity and pure intention or out of hypocrisy: We have believed. Some of those who professed their faith hypocritically were simple and naive people, to the point that they would reveal what the Torah had brought of the attributes and features of the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.), and disclose the secrets. The religious and social leaders among the Jews would object to those who disclosed the secrets in their private gatherings, and rebuke them, saying: Why do you not reason? Why do you disclose to the Muslims the truths of the Torah that God taught you, so that they may argue against you with them to your disadvantage? This expression and rebuke was against the background of disclosing the secrets and revealing them, not because of professing the principle of faith; and the factor behind it was fear of the truth itself coming to light. That is why, had the motive behind revealing the secrets been the Muslims’ arguing against the Jews, or had they hurried to it knowing that they were preparing the ground for it, the rebuke and censure of them would have been more severe and harsher.
The Jews of a sensory bent regarded professing faith and disclosing the secrets of religion to the Muslims as a kind of foolishness and lack of reasoning, because they lacked any support from the senses. They would call foolish the hypocrites and the middling ones among the Jews who professed their faith when they met the Muslims, revealing to the Muslims some of the true matters of the Jews that had been concealed before them, and describe what they did as something that shows no reason.
The ill-omened source of concealing the secret is, first, avoiding giving the Muslims a pretext, so that they would not draw on the Jews’ knowledge of the secrets of the Torah as evidence, and establish their superiority over them in the field of divine revelation, and then argue against them on the Day of Resurrection before God with this proof. They were heedless of the fact that the very Source of the Unseen, the Opener who uncovered the hidden matters for Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), by opening the gates of the Unseen to him, and through whose blessing, by the presence of the one who spoke with God (a.s.), the Jewish community gained an ample share of knowledge, is the same One who opened the gates of the Unseen to the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.), and showered blessings on the Islamic community through the blessing of the Seal of the Prophets (s.a.w.).
Second, it is hiding the secret and concealing the mystery from God (s.w.t.), so that God (s.w.t.) would not come to know it through this secret about the hidden recesses of the Jews and their inner selves being revealed. For God, in their view, is not acquainted with the secrets hidden in human beings (we seek refuge with God from this), and has no knowledge of them except through others reporting them by the senses. The Jews, with their sensory inclinations, did not believe that the Creator (s.w.t.) argues in places that are not perceived by the senses; and although what appears from their belief is that what matters is God’s arguing, they imagined that as long as the Muslims did not disclose the secrets at the Return, He (s.w.t.) would never come to know of them and would never argue against them. They were heedless of the fact that the secret and the open, the past and the future, the whisper and the loud, and the like are all the same in the absolute knowledge of God, and that all these things are known to Him (s.w.t.). For the Creator (s.w.t.), who witnesses the whole universe and to whom no thing is unseen, knows every open thing and every human secret; and He is the One who argues in the court of the Return, and argues against the Jews and shows them the proof in favour of the Muslims; whether the Jews disclosed the secrets or did not disclose them, and whether the Muslims argued against the Jews or did not.
The hint in putting the secret before the open in the second verse is that the open is the effect of secret thought and concealed resolve; and likewise the relation of God’s knowledge to the cause comes before its relation to the effect. It also contains an indication that the hypocrites are condemned and afflicted with the disgrace of the secret before they are exposed in the open.
2:78–79 — And among them are the illiterate who know nothing of the Book except hearsay
(78) And among them are the illiterate who know nothing of the Book except hearsay, and they only make conjectures. (79) So woe to them who write the Book with their hands and then say, ‘This is from Allah,’ that they may sell it for a paltry gain. So woe to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they earn!
The unlettered among the Children of Israel, who did not learn to read and write, know nothing of the Book of God, that is, the Torah. These people follow the rabbis and the monks in blind imitation, and know nothing but forged narrations and the altered Book, and in their belief they rely on nothing but conjecture and unscientific guessing. In this respect, nothing can be hoped from people like these by way of accepting the truth, and faith is not expected of them.
Nothing goes through the minds of these unlettered people but the imaginary, forged legends, the made-up superstitions of the forgers, and the flimsy fancies and wishes that the rabbis of the Jews have cast into their minds. In this respect, they do not enjoy scientific thought, on the one hand, for conjecture, which means doubt and the like, is not like knowledge and cannot be relied on for that reason in matters of belief; and they have no acceptable motive, on the other, for legend and superstition are naive wishes that do not rise to the level of mature hope and aspiration.
The fundamental reason for the rebellion of the Jews, their transgression and their shirking of the religion, is the alteration, made knowingly, by those of their religious scholars who have no religion. This group of religious scholars and learned men were not content with directing and causing the alteration; rather, they carried out the alteration of God’s Torah with their own ill-omened hands, claiming that it was the very Torah that God (s.w.t.) had sent down. These people had no aim behind the act of alteration and of forging lies in religion other than selling religion for the goods of the life of this world. Since the sin of this misguided and misguiding group, namely alteration, causes the principle of religion to be exposed to danger, it counts among the most dangerous kinds of sin and the greatest forms of wrongdoing. For this reason the gravity of the punishment of these people has been set out by repeating three times the terrifying word “woe” (wayl), and these deviant alterers and forgers, who sell religion, have been threatened that an utterly harsh and painful punishment awaits them. In this verse He first set out the alterers’ deserving the principle of woe, and then mentioned the word woe in detail against each of their two important sins, namely the principle of alteration and taking the compensation, that is, the price or the wage. It is also a possibility that the three woes and punishments are set against three sins: the principle of alteration, attributing what was altered to God, and taking the bribe for it.
2:80–82 — And they say, ‘The Fire shall not touch us except for a number of days.’ Say
(80) And they say, ‘The Fire shall not touch us except for a number of days.’ Say, ‘Have you taken a promise from Allah? If so, Allah will never break His promise. Do you ascribe to Allah what you do not know?’ (81) Certainly whoever commits misdeeds and is besieged by his iniquity—such shall be the inmates of the Fire, and they will remain in it [forever]. (82) And those who have faith and do righteous deeds—they shall be the inhabitants of paradise; they will remain in it [forever].
Because of their conceit, their arrogance, their racist spirit and their sense of superiority, the Jews reckoned that they enjoyed a special nearness to God. They would repeat expressions that reflect this spirit: The fire will touch us only in the form of a touch, and, first, it will last only a counted number of days, not exceeding seven or forty days; and second, it will fall only on the worshippers of the calf among the Jews; otherwise there will be no entering or burning in the matter at all.
The claim of a temporary, limited touch of the fire of the Resurrection, counted out, and of salvation after it, is one for which they offered no clear evidence or proof, rational or transmitted; and it is a sign of their making light of the sins they commit and their not caring about them.
The good opinion the Israelites held, and their false illusion in regarding their release from the fire as the rule, except for a counted number of days, arises from a disease shared by all the Jews, namely, being immersed in wishes, which is counted as the capital of fools.
Making light of the most hideous sins, namely alteration, legislating and innovation, and limiting the eternal punishment to a counted number of days, must rest on a particular covenant, and that is something there is no sign of at all. In other words, the claim of the Jews must either be true, built on a promise from God (s.w.t.), or false, resting on lying against God out of ignorance. Since God (s.w.t.), whose divinity requires keeping the covenant and not failing in it (and who is it that keeps what he pledges himself to more than He?), did not make the Jews any promise in the first place, nor undertake any pledge to them from one side, nor conclude with them a covenant of this kind, and they did not receive from God any covenant or promise, their claim does not go beyond being a lie.
Just as the criterion for abiding forever in Hell is sin encompassing the human being, the scale of salvation and the criterion for being among the people of Paradise and abiding in it forever is goodness of the agent and goodness of the act, that is, faith and doing every good deed and righteous action, not wishes, naive hopes, and empty and false claims. On this basis, everyone who has believed and done righteous deeds is classed among the people of Paradise and abides in it forever. And everyone who sins knowingly and willingly, with the illusion that sin benefits him and that leaving it harms him, until disobedience encompasses all his limbs and organs, as a result of being entangled in polytheism, unbelief, apostasy, denying the signs of God and other sins that lead to this kind of disobedience, deserves to abide forever in Hell and to be immersed in the fire and to stay with it always; even if he did not intend that state, which takes hold of the whole being of the sinful human being and his polluted soul.
2:83 — When We took a pledge from the Children of Israel
When We took a pledge from the Children of Israel, [saying]: ‘Worship no one but Allah, do good to your parents, relatives, orphans, and the needy, speak kindly to people, maintain the prayer, and give the zakat,’ you turned away, except a few of you, and you were disregardful.
God (s.w.t.) took a pledge from the Children of Israel in matters of belief and morals, in the rulings of law, and in rights; and He (s.w.t.) mentions some instances of His pledge in this way:
Forbidding every kind of polytheism, in belief and in practice. The principle of worship, its necessity, being committed to it and continuing in it were something settled among the followers of Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.). That is why the emphasis here falls on denying polytheism, since most of the faithful were afflicted with it; and on denying the influence of the desires of the self, and denying the influence of Satan, in its efficient source, its final cause or its inner order.
Doing good to the parents. Doing good to them and avoiding disobedience to them are among the general and universal rulings of Islam. As for the reason for this doing good, which includes praying for them and asking forgiveness for them, it goes back to their nurturing the child, refining him, feeding him and bringing him up, spiritually and physically. Of course, since doing good is offering service that has not been preceded by its like, the child’s service to his parents is in reality justice, that is, a recompense for their doing good and nurturing, and the paying of a debt, not doing good.
The secret in recommending doing good to the parents, and not stating the like explicitly regarding the spouse and the children, goes back to this: founding the family leads to a weakening of the emotional tie between the child and his parents, so they are exposed to being forgotten; whereas inclination towards the spouse and the child usually goes beyond what is necessary, and so does not call for a recommendation. It should also be pointed out here that the doing good whose abandonment necessitates disobedience, severing kinship and harming the parents is obligatory.
As for the secret hidden behind mentioning dutifulness to the parents alongside the command of the tawḥīd of worship and the holy name of God (s.w.t.), it goes back, besides setting out the particular importance of this divine duty, to the following. First: they are among the channels, in the vertical order, of the grace of creatorship and lordship of God (s.w.t.). Second: their doing good to the child resembles God’s (s.w.t.) bestowing blessings and doing good to the servant, in being free of any desire for recompense, praise and reward, and in being for the child’s benefit and for his growth and right guidance. Third: just as the Creator (s.w.t.) is not miserly, the parents are not miserly in bringing good to their child; and just as God’s (s.w.t.) kindness to His servant does not depend on his obeying well, the parents are not miserly with their generosity even towards an unrighteous child.
Observing the moral principles with the family and with near kin. Near kin are like one single limb; in this respect God (s.w.t.), when He wants to make understood the importance of harmony in the family, avoiding scattering and division, and the necessity of preserving unity and accord in the family, mentions the members of the family using the word “kin” (dhī al-qurbā) in the singular form.
Feeling responsible for taking care of the orphans of society, its needy and its weak. Those who have means in the various affairs of knowledge, economics, politics and society are commanded to lift neediness from society.
Each of the headings “the parents”, “kin”, “orphans” and “the needy” is an independent subject for the ruling of doing good; and what appears is that the order of the headings in words is the order of mention, on the basis of priority and of the importance of doing good to those concerned.
Doing good to each of those concerned under these headings is according to his state. The criterion for doing good to the orphan is his having lost a guardian or a custodian, not his neediness; and the ruling of doing good to orphans, like doing good to the parents, is not restricted by neediness, just as the ruling of doing good to the needy is not restricted by faith.
The secret of putting the orphan before the needy is that the needy one, even if he lacks wealth, does not lack the ability to approach the centres of power and put his need before them.
- Good companionship, good speech and good conduct in dealing with people in general, whether with the faithful or with the faithless. Each of the manner and the content, the form and the substance, must be marked by beauty and goodness, whether the one addressed or spoken with is opposed or in agreement. For good speech is what contains good and benefit, and whose manner is acceptable and approved; not merely what pleases the one addressed. So this good moral and social matter also includes commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong.
This moral pledge and human law, embodied in good speech, gentleness in dealing with people, and answering the evil deeds of others in a good manner, is one of the universal rulings of Islam and one of the best general principles in the upbringing of human societies. Of course, this ruling has its particular setting and its specific place; it is not the case that speech with the faithless must always be in a good manner, whatever the circumstances.
Establishing prayer. The secret in referring to performing prayer as “establishing” it is that prayer is the pillar of religion, and a pillar is something set up, not something recited or read.
Giving zakāt. Every blessing has its zakāt, whether it is the blessing of knowledge, of rank, of position, of authority, of wealth or of courage; even if these are not included under the heading and ruling of zakāt as the term is used in jurisprudence.
Paying obligatory zakāt is paying a debt; it is justice, and one of the duties obligatory on the human being, not a case of doing good, which is one of the preferable social virtues.
After the pledge was concluded, the Children of Israel remained obedient for a period of time, and then turned away from all the pledges after that. Naturally, breaking all the pledges may take the form of each provision of this pledge being broken by an individual or a group, not that every individual Israelite broke all the provisions entirely.
2:84–86 — And when We took a pledge from you
(84) And when We took a pledge from you, [saying]: ‘You shall not shed your [own people’s] blood, and you shall not expel your folks from your homes,’ you pledged, and you testify [to this pledge of your ancestors]. (85) Then there you were, killing your folks and expelling a part of your folks from their homes, backing one another against them in sin and aggression! And if they came to you as captives, you would ransom them, though their expulsion itself was forbidden you. What! Do you believe in part of the Book and deny another part? So what is the requital of those of you who do that except disgrace in the life of this world? And on the Day of Resurrection, they shall be consigned to the severest punishment. And Allah is not oblivious of what you do. (86) They are the ones who bought the life of this world for the Hereafter; so their punishment shall not be lightened, nor will they be helped.
Avoiding the killing of one another and the driving out of one another are two further covenants among those that take the character of a pledge in matters of belief, morals, law and rights for all the followers of the religions of tawḥīd. These two covenants were made with the Jews of the time the Torah came down. But the Jews of the time the Qur’an came down did not deny the pledge of their ancestors; and because of the unity of thought and practice that joins them with their ancestors, and because they are counted, given their faith in the message of Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), and in the Torah, among those who undertook these covenants and pledges and are bound by them, the breaking of the pledge has been attributed to those contemporaries of the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.), and they have been rebuked as follows: You who bear witness to that pledge and acknowledge it, you shed one another’s blood and drive one another out of your homes, and so break the pledges in this way, and are afflicted with contradiction in conduct; and your disobedience and your breaking of the covenant come not from oversight or forgetting, but from deliberate rebellion, after the clear proof had been established, the proof completed, and the sight of the truth perceived.
The reality of the human being is his religion, and those who follow one religion have one reality. In this respect, the blood, spirit and home of any individual of the community is the blood, spirit and home of all its members. On this basis, if someone kills an individual of the community, or drives him out of his home, it is as if he had shed his own blood and driven himself out of his home. Besides this, since the legal penalty is carried out on the killer himself, so that he is put to death, he is like one who has shed his own blood.
The Children of Israel broke these two covenants, and some of them would help others in this disobedience and aggression. It is hard to drive out the inhabitants of a region from their familiar lands; that is why it was not possible without mutual backing, cooperation and support from others.
Driving out and expelling from homes had no justification whatsoever; rather, it was forbidden, a wrong and a gross aggression. For, besides the unity of religion and community, that land belonged to those who were sent away and driven out. Likewise, giving support and help to the enemy in this sin did not come from ignorance, oversight or forgetting; they were aware of the ugliness of this act and that it was one of the sins, and they committed this wrong knowingly and deliberately.
When some of those who had been driven out fell captive, they would release them in exchange for ransom and money, or exchange them for other captives. What is strange is that the Children of Israel would pay the ransom acting on the command of the Torah to ransom captives so as to free them; knowing that the Torah had forbidden killing and driving out from homes, and that expelling the sons of the community from their homes does not accord with releasing them by paying ransom. So this contradiction, and preferring without anything to tip the balance in acting on the laws of the heavenly Book, is evidence that their actions sprang from the impulses of their selves and not from revelation, and that the motive for ransoming captives was nothing but their racial disposition, not obeying the rule of God (s.w.t.); for unbelief in some of the verses does not go together with faith in others. Rather, it reveals that faith in some of them was not real. What is certain is that killing, driving out and banishment, or cooperating in aggression while holding it lawful, is unbelief. Besides, no deliberate sin is free of a weak unbelief, and persisting in deliberate disobedience and insisting on rebellion in practice will lead a person to unbelief.
Taking money from a captive who is one of the sons of one’s own community in order to release him is forbidden, like the principle of captivity itself; but the principle of ransoming and freeing the captive by ransom is something praiseworthy. And what appears from the verse is that it too points to praiseworthy ransoming, not to that blameworthy kind; and the rebuke the verse adopts is directed only at the many sins of the Israelites, and their discriminating among the commands of the Torah.
The worldly recompense of those who break God’s pledge and covenant is disgrace. Disgrace is not limited to one punishment rather than another; rather, it applies to every trial or evil that brings humiliation, scandal and submission with it, and it includes all that the Children of Israel were afflicted with over the course of history, such as the expulsion of Banū al-Naḍīr from their homeland, the killing of Banū Qurayẓah, the enemy’s overpowering them, paying the jizyah and other punishments.
On the Day of Resurrection, the Israelites who committed killing and expulsion against the sons of their own religion will be exposed to the harshest kinds of punishment at the Resurrection, which is harsher than the punishment of this world. And because of the gravity of the sin, the disgrace of this world, which is basically a kind of torment, will never be counted as an atonement for their sins.
The Children of Israel were charged with taking their pledge with strength of knowledge and power of action, but they took it with the utmost feebleness and weakness. Declaring that God is not heedless of what they do is one of the most prominent instances of divine admonition; and since it carries the form of good tidings, it also includes the character of warning.
The basis of all the kinds of rebellion and aggression the Jews practised is the trait of love of this world. These people sold the everlasting Hereafter, which is the original capital of the human primordial nature (fiṭrah) and what it seeks, and bought in exchange this passing, perishing world. The source of this losing trade is yielding to the desires of the self. But God (s.w.t.) threatens these people, who were, and still are, a mine of naive ambitions, broad wishes and the germs of corruption, and in whose imagination the idea of quick salvation from the punishment of the Return stirs, by returning them to the harshest punishment, by its not being lightened, and by the lack of outside help. On this basis, the likes of these people, who made light of the gravest sins and did not refrain from the most severe acts of disobedience, will not only fall into severe punishment; they will never be saved from this punishment, and it will never be lightened for them. They do not enjoy the help of an intercessor to assist them as an outside factor, nor is there an inner factor that would hurry to rescue them, so that the punishment would be lightened for them and its severity reduced.
2:87–88 — Certainly, We gave Moses the Book and followed him with the apostles
(87) Certainly, We gave Moses the Book and followed him with the apostles, and We gave Jesus, the son of Mary, manifest proofs and confirmed him with the Holy Spirit. Is it not that whenever an apostle brought you that which was not to your liking, you would act arrogantly; so you would impugn a group [of them], and slay a[nother] group? (88) And they say, ‘Our hearts are uncircumcised.’ Rather, Allah has cursed them for their unfaith, so few of them have faith.
The stream of prophethood and messengership did not stop at all after Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.). God (s.w.t.) sent messengers (a.s.) one after another after Moses, so that the Children of Israel were left with no excuse to plead in this matter, nor could they use the absence of prophets and the cutting off of contact with the world of the Unseen as a pretext.
The prophets who came after Moses and before Jesus the Messiah (a.s.), such as David, Solomon, Elias, Elisha, Dhū al-Kifl, Jonah, Zechariah and John (a.s.), were messengers; that is, Gabriel would come down to them and speak with them in the language of revelation. But all of them acted on the Torah and conveyed it.
As for Jesus the Messiah (a.s.), he came with a law independent of the law that Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), brought. God (s.w.t.) gave him the clear proofs, and strengthened him and supported him with a particular support, embodied in the Holy Spirit. He is the one who was born without a father; but it was stated explicitly that he is “the son of Mary”, to refute the illusion that he is the son of God.
Besides the heavenly Book, these “clear proofs” included plain miracles such as bringing the dead to life, creating birds from clay, giving sight to those blind from birth, healing the leper, telling of hidden things, and so on.
God (s.w.t.) gave Jesus the Messiah (a.s.) a holy spirit, free of deficiency and defect, and clear of any slip, oversight, forgetting or disobedience. So he (a.s.) enjoyed a high degree of the Holy Spirit, so much so that he was singled out among the prophets by the title of support by it. That spirit undertook a particular task regarding his support, his steadfastness and his firmness (a.s.).
The Holy Spirit is a holy reality; and just as it is free, by God’s permission, of every defect and deficiency, its place of descent and its abode are also free of deficiencies and defects. The Holy Spirit has many instances.
Besides the rational proofs available for the truth of God’s religion, the Children of Israel enjoyed the blessings of the Book of the Torah, on the one hand; a great number of prophets came to them with knowledge, giving it support and strength, on another; they witnessed the particular and plain signs given to Jesus (a.s.), on a third; and they knew of his (a.s.) support by the Holy Spirit, on a fourth. Yet at the same time, after the truth had been made manifest, since the rulings of God did not accord with the inclinations of their selves and their sensual impulses, they regarded themselves as above the truth and grew arrogant. The result of those desires and that arrogance was that they denied a group of the prophets and killed another group, until the hideous act of killing the prophets became a settled trait and disposition of the Israelites. The Jews behaved badly towards every prophet they met, whether he was from the Children of Israel or from other peoples. The Jews who lived when the Noble Qur’an came down were one in thought with their ancestors in this hideous act, and they too went to great lengths in trying to kill the Noblest Prophet (s.a.w.).
The Jews would say: Our hearts are in coverings and veils, so your words have no effect on them. These words are either a way of saying that you have brought us nothing new and have not spoken to us intelligibly, and the part of your words that can be understood deals only with the sciences already within our reach; or else what they meant is: We are not at fault or to blame for not understanding and grasping your words, since we were created with closed and covered hearts.
The answer to these words came: their hearts were not created like this; rather, they deserved the seal and the stamp on their hearts because of their unbelief, so they were cursed and driven away. For if the criminal does not turn back after respite upon respite is given and room is made for repentance and turning back, then God (s.w.t.), who blocks his path and his affair, takes from him His special grace, His success and His support, and his heart is closed, so that he becomes cursed and driven away from God’s (s.w.t.) mercy. For this reason, the Israelites who broke the covenants and pledges do not understand the verses of God; their hearts have come to be behind a veil and have been afflicted with hardness; and the cause behind their denying and killing the prophets is also the closing of their hearts and their being veiled.
The secret in turning away from addressing the Jews in the last verse, and excluding them from the honour and nobility of being present, is to show how greatly ugly their acts are. According to the end of this verse, none of the Jews believed except a very few.
2:89–90 — And when there came to them a Book from Allah
(89) And when there came to them a Book from Allah, confirming that which is with them—and earlier they would pray for victory over the pagans—so when there came to them what they recognized, they denied it. So may the curse of Allah be on the faithless! (90) Evil is that for which they have sold their souls, by defying what Allah has sent down, out of envy that Allah should bestow His grace on any of His servants that He wishes. Thus, they earned wrath upon wrath, and there is a humiliating punishment for the faithless.
In their intimate prayers, and in their political and social dealings, the Jews used to seek victory and help against the polytheists of the Ḥijāz and deliverance from them. In reply to the aggressions of the idol worshippers they would say to them: In the future a prophet will be sent who will confirm the revelation and message of Moses (a.s.), and we will rise against you under the banner of faith in him; we will overcome you and drive you out of these lands. On the basis of the clear glad tidings of the Torah, these people knew that a great man would appear, sent with a particular Book and religion, and they regarded this joyful news as paving the way for their victory over the polytheists. They saw themselves as of higher standing than the idol worshippers, the faithless who were deprived of the teachings of divine revelation and far from the Book of God. But these same people, who were waiting for the Noble Qur’an to come down and for the greatest Prophet (s.a.w.) to be sent, and who used to seek victory and help through him, deliberately, despite knowing him and the Noble Qur’an, turned to unbelief in the Prophet after he was sent, and joined in alliances with the faithless and the polytheists; indeed, they sometimes put them ahead of the Muslims.
The ugliness of these people’s unbelief shows more clearly when one notices, first, that the Torah was with the Jews and within their reach, and by going back to it they could come to know its glad tidings of the Noblest Prophet (s.a.w.) and confirm that the Noble Qur’an confirms the Torah; and second, that the Noble Qur’an, which came from God, and which is the truth, the true word and the measure of truth, is a witness to the truth of the Torah and the soundness of its prophecies.
The Jews’ lack of thanks, and their unbelief after seeking victory and boasting, are evidence of their arrogance and their obstinacy. And since their unbelief did not come from excuse or ignorance, they became the object of the curse of the Creator (s.w.t.).
The Jews imagined that by their unbelief in the Qur’an they would win back their lost identity and be saved from the punishment; whereas if a human being trades in the market of this world with his identity, which was fashioned upon the divine primordial nature (fiṭrah) and whose price is Paradise, with anyone other than God, he will be exposed to loss. The Children of Israel traded in a hateful trade because of love of this world, injustice and envy; they paid their identity in exchange for unbelief. So they sold themselves in the field of trade and the race of this world for a wretched thing and a paltry price, and that brought them nothing but God’s accumulated anger and His humiliating punishment. So they turned back to God and to His anger, sunk low and come down from their spiritual standing, accompanied by multiplied divine anger.
As for the source of that lack of thanks and this losing trade, it was the envy and injustice of the Jews. This injustice, as is the case with most of its instances, is wrongdoing and going beyond the limit of moderation, and from there sinking and falling low.
One of the most prominent instances of divine favour is the station of prophethood, which God, the Wise, sends down on whomever He wills and whomever He sees as worthy of it, whether from the family of Isaac or from the family of Ishmael. The envy of the Children of Israel towards the Noblest Prophet (s.a.w.), where the expression of revelation and prophethood as “favour” points to it, goes back to their imagining that the prophet whose sending they were waiting for was of the line of Israel and Isaac (a.s.). So when the virtue of prophethood was granted to the greatest Prophet (s.a.w.), and this divine gift took in the family of Ishmael instead of the family of Isaac, the fire of envy blazed in them. The racist trait among the Children of Israel and the imagined holiness they claimed for their race, together with their disposition of envy, was the motive behind their not believing in God’s Messenger (s.a.w.). And whoever is arrogant in the face of revelation and disbelieves in the signs of God can expect nothing but a disgraceful and severe punishment.
The Children of Israel were included in the emphatic, severe divine anger and became entangled in the humiliating, disgracing punishment, either as a result of their unworthy beliefs and their repeated deeds, or because of their unbelief in the Messenger of Islam (s.a.w.) and the injustice and aggression they practised against him. This punishment being humiliating and degrading follows from their dealing with the divine signs and with other peoples and races in a way that showed contempt and disdain; and on the Day of Resurrection, which is the arena where the truth is manifested, the inner reality of arrogance, of self-exaltation, of pride and of false dignity will appear, and will take the form of baseness, disgrace, meanness and true humiliation.
2:91 — And when they are told, ‘Believe in what Allah has sent down,’ they say
And when they are told, ‘Believe in what Allah has sent down,’ they say, ‘We believe in what was sent down to us,’ and they disbelieve what is besides it, though it is the truth confirming what is with them. Say, ‘Then why would you kill the prophets of Allah formerly, should you be faithful?’
In reply to the call of God’s Messenger (s.a.w.) to them to accept Islam, the Jews used to say: We believe only in what was sent down to us, that is, we believe in the prophets of the Children of Israel and what was sent down to them of the scriptures. Yet there is no criterion or pivot for the truth of a Book other than its coming from God and being sent down from Him. So if a Book other than the Torah came down from God (s.w.t.), believing in it would be right, and disbelieving in it false and forbidden.
If what the quarrelsome Israelites meant was, “We believe only in what we have been charged with”, the answer is: The Noble Qur’an is the explicit speech of God, and it has often stated plainly that the call, the glad tidings, the warning, the encouragement, the threat, the promise and the menace are addressed to you. So, as with all other religious communities and human races, you are charged with believing in the Qur’an and in the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.).
So their not believing in the Noble Qur’an, which was, in its time, and still is, the absolute truth, whose truth is not marred by any defect or deficiency, has no factor behind it but obstinacy, injustice, envy, and national and racial bigotry.
The Qur’an is what confirms the original Torah and is the way to establishing it; for by its coming down the prophecies of the Torah were fulfilled. The Qur’an either confirms all the contents of the Torah, or confirms that part of it which contains the description of the attributes and features of the Prophet of Islam (s.a.w.), and which remained protected from alteration until the time the Noble Qur’an came down. In this respect, disbelieving in it is disbelieving in the Torah itself, and a sign of how severe the Jews’ quarrelsomeness and their ingratitude were. So the pivot in the faith of people like these is national belonging, not the truth of what comes down from heaven. For if they believed in the Torah, which came down to an Israelite prophet, they ought not to have denied their prophets or killed them, nor to have denied the Qur’an that confirmed that heavenly Book; just as it was binding on them to believe in the glad tidings of the Torah about his honour, the Seal of the Prophets (s.a.w.).
One of the consequences of this claim, “We believe in what was sent down to us”, is faith in the prophets of the Children of Israel; and if they were truthful in this claim of theirs, they ought not to have killed these prophets of God, since the manner of action reflects the manner of belief. The unity of thought and the likeness in action between the Jews of the time the Noble Qur’an came down and their ancestors, and the pleasure of these descendants with the custom of those ancestors, as shown by their not shrinking from attempting to kill the greatest Prophet (s.a.w.), was the reason behind attributing the killing of the prophets, which was the act of the ancestors, to the descendants, who are the Jews who lived when the Qur’an came down.
2:92–93 — Certainly Moses brought you manifest proofs
(92) Certainly Moses brought you manifest proofs, but then you took up the Calf in his absence and you were wrongdoers. (93) And when We took covenant with you and raised the Mount above you, [declaring], ‘Hold on with power to what We have given you, and do listen!’ They said, ‘We hear, and disobey,’ and their hearts had been imbued with [the love of] the Calf, due to their unfaith. Say, ‘Evil is that to which your faith prompts you, should you be faithful!’
Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), set before the Children of Israel many miracles and clear proofs; yet, even so, they turned to the worship of the calf in the short period while the one who spoke with God (a.s.) was absent. This is the best evidence that their claim to believe in the Torah was a lie.
The Children of Israel had no pretext or excuse for their worship of the calf, and the factor behind their grave deviation was nothing but their wrongdoing. For the Israelite Jews were a wrongdoing people, and the worship of the calf was merely one example of their wrongdoing. They practised wrongdoing in the field of knowledge, of worldview and of moral teachings; so nothing but disasters in knowledge and in morals can be expected from this group, whose life revolves around wrongdoing.
The aim of raising the mountain above the heads of the Children of Israel was to urge them to submit to the pledge, and to accept the Book of the Torah and act on it with strength and seriousness.
So there is no weakness and no leniency at all in taking the divine laws and limits and carrying them out. The Children of Israel were also commanded to hear the divine commands “with the strength of knowledge” and “the power of action”, with the ears of their hearts, to believe in them with complete faith, and to obey them and carry them out with the hearing of obedience, which is righteous action. But at the level of action they rebelled so boldly that it was as if they had openly declared their disobedience with their tongues; it was as if they were saying: We have heard the command to hold with strength, the command to remember, and the command to hear in obedience, but we have thrown them all behind our backs. The source of all those vices is the gross wrongdoing and the outrageous injustice of this group; and the secret of their not turning towards what the intellect perceives and towards the transmitted commands is their excessive love and their extreme passion for the calf. Love of the calf penetrated the hearts of the Children of Israel so strongly that it became like water poured into the tree of their being, so that it was mixed with it. Naturally, the pouring in of the love of the calf was the evil effect of their initial unbelief.
Here the Creator (s.w.t.) says to the Children of Israel, by way of mockery and derision: If the matter is as you claim regarding faith, then your faith has led you to unworthy things; for there is no accord between faith in the heavenly Book and turning to deeds that give off the smell of polytheism, since religion and the divine Book never command false deeds at all. The source of giving rulings in favour of falsehood, of being pleased with lying, and of commanding what is ugly is altered faith.
2:94–96 — Say, ‘If the abode of the Hereafter were exclusively for you with Allah
(94) Say, ‘If the abode of the Hereafter were exclusively for you with Allah, and not for other people, then long for death, should you be truthful.’ (95) But they will not long for it ever because of what their hands have sent ahead, and Allah knows best the wrongdoers. (96) Surely, you will find them the greediest for life, of all people even the idolaters. Each of them is eager to live a thousand years, though it would not deliver him from the punishment, were he to live [that long]. And Allah watches what they do.
Because of their racist spirit and their sense of superiority, and because of the many prophets they saw sent from among the Children of Israel, the Jews imagined themselves to be the friends and beloved of God, and even His sons. As a result of their false illusion that whoever is not a Jew will certainly not enter Paradise, they regarded Paradise as reserved for them, and themselves as protected from the punishment. They would say: By God’s command, the Hereafter is ours, pure and free of any blemish; it is not like the pleasures of this world, which are mixed with pain and suffering and open to being shared. It was as if they had taken an undertaking from God to protect them from the punishment; whereas this claim is a lie against God, and such claims, without proof, are nothing but naive wishes.
The condition for the truth of such a claim, that they are the friends and beloved of God and that the blessings of the Hereafter belong to them alone, is accepting what it entails, among which is wishing for death. For, first, the lover and the beloved long to meet each other, and the way to meeting God is death. Second, certainty of enjoying the blessings of the Hereafter entails holding the blessings of this world in contempt, cutting the heart’s attachment to them and longing for the Hereafter, and the road to reaching that is also death.
The human being in the Hereafter is fed from the table of his deeds. On this basis, disobedience to God takes away from the human being, or weakens, the hope of enjoying the bliss of the Hereafter and the longing for death; and it is one of the factors of fear of death. In this respect, the Jews’ greed for the passing material life, and, as a result, their being stained with sins, was the obstacle to such wishes and the cause of their fear of death.
The intensity of the Jews’ greed for this world and their attachment to it was plain in their situation and their circumstances, to a degree that could be clearly uncovered. Their claim to be the friends and beloved of God, and likewise their claim of attachment to the life of the Hereafter, together with all this passion for this world, is evidence of their audacity and arrogance, and a sign that they were not truthful in the claim mentioned. For this passion is the source of the sins of the Jews, of their kinds of wrongdoing, their false claims and their fear of death. And since they surpassed everyone in their love of this world, their sins surpassed the sins of others. In this respect, the Jews are worse even than the polytheists; for although they believed in the Hereafter and imagined themselves to be among the people of Paradise, they were greedier than others for this world, and loved it more.
The secret of the noble verse’s concern, and its figure of speech, in attributing deeds to the hand is that most of the sins of the Jews, such as killing the prophets, and writing the forged book and attributing it to God, were committed with their hands.
The use of the number “a thousand”, which expresses abundance, is to show how intensely the Jews loved the lowly life of this world, and to convey their desire to remain in this world for as long as human desire and wishes can take in.
2:97–98 — Say, ‘Whoever is an enemy of Gabriel [should know that] it is he who has brought it down…
(97) Say, ‘Whoever is an enemy of Gabriel [should know that] it is he who has brought it down on your heart with the will of Allah, confirming what has been [revealed] before it and as a guidance and good news for the faithful.’ (98) [Say,] ‘Whoever is an enemy of Allah, His angels and His apostles and Gabriel and Michael, [let him know that] Allah is the enemy of the faithless.’
The Israelites, who seized every pretext in trying to justify their enmity towards Islam, can be seen taking up at one time Hebrew and Arabic, at another the children of Isaac and the children of Ishmael, and at yet another Gabriel and Michael, as a pretext so that they could always profit from division. Besides the fruits they reaped from sowing division in the ranks of the Islamic community and from talk of discriminating between the prophets, they went beyond this with that ill-omened factor, until they carried it to the level of the angels; so that they began to distinguish between the bearers of God’s (s.w.t.) Throne, calling this one the beloved and that one the hated. Among the excuses the Jews gave for not believing in the Qur’an was that the one who brought it down was Gabriel, and he is our enemy.
As for the answer to the pretext of enmity towards Gabriel and not believing in the Noble Qur’an, it is, first: Gabriel is sent by God and comes down by His (s.w.t.) permission. He came down to Moses, the one who spoke with God, and to the prophets of the Children of Israel (a.s.), and when he now came down with the Noble Qur’an on the purified heart of the Prophet of Islam (s.a.w.), he did not convey or deliver anything but the divine message. So enmity towards him entails enmity towards God, and this does not accord with claiming faith in God and claiming love for Him (s.w.t.).
Second: what Gabriel brings is a confirmation, completion and explanation of the very teachings whose broad outlines were mentioned in the earlier heavenly Books, among them the Torah. So enmity towards him is enmity towards the Torah and the other divine scriptures.
Third: what Gabriel brought down (which is the Qur’an) is guidance and good tidings for human beings, even if the only ones who benefit from it are the people of faith and Godwariness. So if the bearer of this guidance and good tidings is Gabriel, then quarrelling with him is a quarrel far removed from reason, along with the guidance and the good tidings.
In sum, the efficient source of the Qur’an is God the Most High, who, after bringing it into being, entrusted it to noble and righteous angels to convey it to the purified heart of God’s Messenger (s.a.w.). Likewise, its inner source is made up of contents that are consistent and in harmony with the general outlines of the scriptures of the past, and its final source is guidance and good tidings. Following from this, the Noble Qur’an, from its beginning to its end, and from its agent to its aim and purpose, is full of kindness, faithfulness and purity; so it is no one’s enemy, and is not something anyone should take as an enemy.
So whoever shirks accepting the firm speech and the religion of truth, and acting on them, is set by God (s.w.t.) in a state of hostility; and whoever quarrels with God and quarrels with the angels, who, despite the difference of their ranks, are equal in infallibility, in purity, and in the task entrusted to them by God (s.w.t.), especially Gabriel and Michael; and likewise whoever is hostile to God’s prophets, who carry one single message, is faithless, and God is the enemy of the faithless. Naturally, God’s enmity is because of their unbelief, not because of their identity, their lineage or their descent.
All the forms of enmity mentioned, each of which is a cause of unbelief, do not have to come together as a condition for its being forbidden and ugly; rather, enmity towards any one of those holy beings, that is, God (s.w.t.), the angels and the prophets, is unbelief.
2:99–101 — We have certainly sent down manifest signs to you
(99) We have certainly sent down manifest signs to you, and no one denies them except transgressors. (100) Is it not that whenever they made a covenant, a part of them would cast it away? Rather, the majority of them do not have faith. (101) And when there came to them an apostle from Allah, confirming that which is with them, a part of those who were given the Book cast the Book of Allah behind their back, as if they did not know [that it is Allah’s Book].
The Jews clung to pretexts even in the field of revelation itself, so as not to believe in the Qur’an; and they said to the Prophet (s.a.w.): The verses that come down to you are neither clear nor understandable.
The answer to this pretext, which may also be a continuation of the answer to their pretexts concerning the bearer of revelation, is that God (s.w.t.) joined matters of belief to proofs, supported the rulings of practice, of morals and of rights by mentioning their benefits and advantages, and sent down the theoretical and profound matters with the simplest and clearest explanation, so that He left not the least obscurity in the light of those clear verses and their truth, and left not the least room for excuses and pretexts. So instead of using pretexts about the bearer of revelation, they should have looked at the content of revelation itself. Following from this, the only obstacle standing before the faith of the Jews, just as the fundamental source of their not respecting the mutual pledges and undertakings and their throwing them aside, is their transgression and their following the path of aggression. The eyes of the hearts of these transgressors were blinded by what struck them of the darkness of sins, so that they were no longer able to see the clear verses; and so they were driven to disbelieve in them. Naturally, some of these people disbelieved in the Qur’an after it was established that it is a clear sign; another group came to transgression and apostasy as a result of throwing aside what the Torah had stated explicitly; and as for the third group, who were not among the people of research into the Qur’an and the interpretation of the Torah, their transgression was against a background of blind imitation.
God (s.w.t.) consoles His noble Prophet (s.a.w.) that the Jews not believing is not something to cause anxiety; for they are not people whose pledges can be relied on, nor people from whom faith is expected. For breaking covenants and violating pledges has become the habit and custom of the Jews, and most of them will never believe. Of course, not all of the Jews were people who broke covenants and threw aside the Book of God. Those of the Jews who broke the pledges, especially the scholars among them, were the ones who threw the Book of God behind their backs by way of altering its teachings and concealing them. At that point, the general body of them could only throw the Book of God aside in practice as well, through forgetting, feigning ignorance and not caring for it; for what makes the Book of God be before a person, and in front of him, is believing in its truth and acting on its rulings.
By disbelieving in the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.), whose embodiment was the Qur’an that confirms the Torah, these people deliberately, without doubt, set about casting the Torah aside and throwing it away. First, by disbelieving in God’s Messenger (s.a.w.) they disregarded the glad tidings of the Torah, which counts as disregarding this Book as a whole. Second, all the heavenly scriptures set out one single reality, and throwing aside one of them amounts to throwing aside all of them.
So how can faith in the confirming Messenger be expected from people like these, when a group of the well-informed among them threw their own Book, that is, the Torah, behind their backs? For the human being who throws the Book of God behind his back, despite knowing it, as if he had not the least knowledge or awareness that it is from God, or, at the very least, as if he had no knowledge of what it contains about the prophethood of the Prophet of Islam (s.a.w.), is obstinate, and his unbelief is nothing but unbelief from knowledge and from persistent quarrelsomeness.
2:102–103 — And they followed what the devils pursued during Solomon’s reign —and Solomon was not…
(102) And they followed what the devils pursued during Solomon’s reign —and Solomon was not faithless but it was the devils who were faithless—teaching the people magic and what was sent down to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut, who would not teach anyone without telling [him], ‘We are only a test, so do not be faithless.’ But they would learn from those two that with which they would cause a split between man and his wife—though they could not harm anyone with it except with Allah’s leave. They would learn that which would harm them and bring them no benefit; though they certainly knew that anyone who buys it has no share in the Hereafter. Surely, evil is that for which they sold their souls, had they known! (103) Had they been faithful and Godwary, the reward from Allah would have been better, had they known!
Besides denying the glad tidings of the Torah about the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.) and throwing the Book of God behind their backs, the Jews also sought the help of sorcery in confronting the Prophet (s.a.w.) and in trying to weaken Islam, by following what the devils used to recite to people about the reign of Solomon (a.s.). And in order to give their seeking help from sorcery a religious justification, they attributed it to some of the prophets, such as the prophet Solomon (a.s.), making out that the power and authority he (a.s.) enjoyed came only through sorcery. Naturally, it is possible that sorcery was the work of the ancestors of the Jews, and that attributing it to the descendants who lived at the same time as the Noble Qur’an is a case of the likeness of thought that joins the Jews of the time the Qur’an came down with their ancestors.
Sorcery had a particular currency in the time of the prophet Solomon (a.s.) or after his death. The devils among the jinn, who had been prevented from corrupting society and leading it astray because the prophet Solomon (a.s.) had subjected them, were saved from his bonds and his subjection after his death, and set about spreading havoc in the land, corrupting and leading astray.
These devils became faithless in belief and in action, and the source of their unbelief was this sorcery. For sorcery, which is a great sin, is a cause of unbelief in belief when one believes it to be independent in its effect, and necessitates unbelief in action if it is used only in practice, far from this belief. What is meant by unbelief in this noble verse is specifically fabricating sorcery and compiling it and then attributing it to an infallible prophet, or teaching sorcery, or using it, or all three of these acts together. And since the only way for the devils of the Jews to spread the illusion that Solomon (a.s.) was faithless and to attribute unbelief to him was to imagine that he (a.s.) was involved with sorcery, clearing the prophet Solomon (a.s.) and keeping him free of unbelief in reality means keeping him entirely free of sorcery. Solomon (a.s.) was never stained by the principle of sorcery, nor by what follows from it of unbelief in belief and in action. His authority and his kingdom were nothing but a divine gift, not the outcome of sorcery.
Sorcery is a knowledge that can be passed on to others, and its being false and forbidden is not counted as evidence that it is not a knowledge.
Besides sorcery, the devils also used to teach people what was sent down to Hārūt and Mārūt. The devils, and likewise these two angels, used to teach sorcery; but with one difference, namely that the devils’ aim was corruption. For this reason their act was forbidden, and indeed necessitated unbelief as well. As for the intention and the aim of Hārūt and Mārūt, who were two infallible angels, it was to ward off the corruption of sorcery and to cancel the sorcery of the sorcerers. In this respect, their act was permissible, and indeed preferable. These two angels were protected from the principle of practising sorcery, on the one hand, and free of any intention of it, on the other; and their teaching sorcery was most like teaching fallacies in logic, where it aims at uncovering fallacies and keeping away from them in demonstration.
People used to learn from Hārūt and Mārūt things that cause separation between husband and wife. As for mentioning specifically the effect of sorcery in separating husband and wife, it is, apart from the care and attention given to the harmonious family setting, the shaking and collapse of which leads to tremors of apostasy that afflict the order of society and destroy its strongest fortress, a case of this social disaster being widespread and important; it is not a case of limiting the effect of sorcery to this instance.
Sorcery has an effect in the order of creation (takwīnī), but its effect is not independent of the divine custom and of the law of cause and effect. Rather, it is included in the general law of causality, and its effect does not conflict with the lordly will of God (s.w.t.) or with the tawḥīd of acts. For sorcery is part of the divine decrees, and it is not within the power of any sorcerer to inflict harm on anyone without the permission of God (s.w.t.). On this basis, the effect of sorcery is because the divine will does not come between the cause and the effect, and the permission of the Creator (s.w.t.) in the order of creation for the effect of sorcery is based on wisdom. So in every passage where the talk is of good and of beauty in knowledge, that is from God (s.w.t.); and in every place where the talk turns on ugliness and on falsehood in action, that is from the person of the sorcerer and his like.
The occurrence of any matter, whether good or evil, depends on the permission of God (s.w.t.) in the order of creation; otherwise impossible things would necessarily follow, such as delegation (tafwīḍ), the effect being independent of the cause, or a thing depending on itself.
Sorcery is not only of no benefit at all; it is also harmful. In this respect, using it is forbidden by the law, except in particular cases and with a legislative permission from God (s.w.t.); for even in this case its benefit is only by the care of God (s.w.t.), and no one else.
Naturally, what is blameworthy is occupying oneself with sorcery, or teaching it with the aim of occupying oneself with it, not the knowledge of sorcery or merely learning it. For knowing it, in order to keep the scholar himself from being polluted with sorcery and to warn others against being afflicted with it, is something beneficial.
At the same time as the followers of the devils know that they have no share in the Hereafter, they do not know that unbelief, practising sorcery, or insulting God’s prophet and accusing the state of Solomon (a.s.), which rested on miracle, of drawing its authority from sorcery, amounts to selling their identity and confiscating the soul, and offering it in a public auction.
Likewise, seeking this world and the inclination towards imaginary benefits, and also the obstinacy and quarrelsomeness of the Jews of the time the Qur’an came down, reached such an extent that it drove them to turn to sorcery, while knowing that the art of sorcery, teaching it and using it would lead to their being deprived of all the benefits and gifts of the Hereafter. If only the Jews had known that the only price for the human spirit is Paradise, and that making the teaching and use of sorcery its price is nothing but a very losing deal for oneself. For a person’s belief in a matter, and spending his life in its way, amounts to trading with his life and his being, and giving his spirit in exchange for this matter. For that reason, whoever buys himself at the price of Hell, and squanders his identity in exchange for the imaginary benefits that come from sorcery, is a trader in a losing trade.
As for the faithful, who act as obedience requires and follow the path of Godwariness, then besides their deliverance from the bonds of servitude to desire and to Satan, a single reward, even if it seems small outwardly, which God grants them as a recompense for their faith and their Godwariness, is dearer to them than all the benefits that all the sorcerers gain over the length of their lives. For what is from God cannot be measured or compared by worldly standards in any way at all.
2:104 — O you who have faith! Do not say Ra‘ina
O you who have faith! Do not say Ra‘ina, but say Unzurna, and listen! And there is a painful punishment for the faithless.
Some of the Muslims used to say to the greatest Messenger (s.a.w.): Have regard for us in what you say, and speak to us slowly so that we may take in what you say and memorise it by heart, with its fine points. They expressed what they meant by using the word rāʿinā.
In the Hebrew language, a base and wicked person is called rāʿ. The Jews who altered the scripture, who looked out for opportunities, the insolent ones who, with the motive of attacking religion, insulting the Noblest Prophet (s.a.w.) and showing contempt and mockery for the Muslims, took the Arabic word rāʿinā, which means asking for regard and patience in speaking, and treated it as Hebrew, used to intend by it the meaning of insult and abuse mentioned, so that the meaning would become, God forbid, “You are the wicked and evil one among us”. At other times they would twist their tongues with it, playing with the letters, and pronounce it rāʿīnā, that is, “our shepherd of sheep”.
For this reason God (s.w.t.) forbade the Muslims to utter that word in their conversations with the Prophet (s.a.w.), saying to them: Choose the word unẓurnā to express what you mean; for besides conveying the intended meaning, you will by this pull out from under the feet of others the carpet of exploiting this atmosphere, and you will single out the obstinate Jews by mention.
Insulting the real person of the Noblest Prophet (s.a.w.) is insulting God (s.w.t.). In this respect, through God’s (s.w.t.) emphasis on the necessity of obeying this command, He regards disregarding it and not acting on it as “unbelief in practice”; just as those who insult the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.) deliberately are entangled in “unbelief in belief”. And to warn both groups, He, mighty is the One who speaks, says: The faithless have a painful punishment awaiting them.
2:105 — Neither the faithless from among the People of the Book nor the idolaters like that any…
Neither the faithless from among the People of the Book nor the idolaters like that any good be showered on you from your Lord; but Allah singles out for His mercy whomever He wishes, and Allah is dispenser of a mighty grace.
The faithless (among the People of the Book or the polytheists), against the background of the envy their hearts hide, do not want even the least good from God (s.w.t.) to be sent down on the Muslims; so how much less the good embodied in prophethood and messengership! Besides this, they spare no effort in leading the Muslims astray and returning them to unbelief, so that the Muslims would have no distinction to set them above them. But the vain wishes of the faithless are of no use at all in preventing prophethood and messengership from coming, or in making them cease. For prophethood and messengership are God’s great favour and among the most prominent manifestations of His special mercy, and the One who holds the reins of this mercy and this favour is God the Most High, who gives them, according to the wisdom that distinguishes Him, to whomever He wills of His servants.
God’s favour and mercy are vast and without end, and God, majestic are His bounties, grants them as accords with His will and His wish. But God’s will turns wherever His knowledge and His wisdom turn; and since He knows even the inner selves of people, He knows to whom to give His special favour and mercy.
2:106–107 — For any verse that We abrogate or cause to be forgotten
(106) For any verse that We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring another which is better than it, or similar to it. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things? (107) Do you not know that to Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth? And besides Allah, you do not have any guardian or helper.
The Jews imagined that the source of abrogation is the limitation of the lawgiver’s knowledge of what is beneficial, or his not taking those benefits into account when laying down laws. In this respect, they regarded the abrogation of some rulings in Islam as evidence that they were not divine, and as a sign that this law was false. They would say: A ruling or a law whose basis is God’s unlimited knowledge and power does not admit of change; and since some rulings of the religion of Islam, such as the qiblah, have been subject to change, such a religion counts as a lie against God.
The answer to this is that abrogation in the rulings of God is the result of a change in the interests of the human being who is subject to the law, not the result of a change in the knowledge of the lawgiver. For God, who knows absolutely all the interests of people at all times, knows which law secures their interests at a particular stage of time. God’s taking interests into account does not necessarily mean that those interests do not change. On this basis, the spirit of abrogation in the divine laws goes back to limitation in time, and the change of rulings in them is a divine substitution, not a human lie against God. Naturally, this change takes place only in the particulars of the branches of religion, not in its universals, nor in the principles of religion.
Every “sign” (āyah), whether among the verses and legislated rulings or among the signs in creation and in concrete reality, that God’s will decides to abrogate and remove, or to make forgotten, must have a substitute that is like it or better than it. If human society comes to be worthy of a particular ruling that it did not have this worthiness for before, the earlier ruling of God will be replaced by what is “better” than it. But if the past of this society is equal to its present, yet the difference between present and past interests calls for a difference in the particular character of the ruling, God will grant them a ruling that is “like” the earlier ruling in virtue and reward; and the difference, naturally, will be only in carrying it out.
God (s.w.t.) is able to abrogate verses and make them forgotten, and to remove them from the page of existence or from the knowledge of the children of Adam. There is no deficiency in His (s.w.t.) absolute power, and no impossibility in what lies within power; for the whole universe is the possession and the kingdom of God, majestic and exalted is He, and all beings are subject to His guardianship and His power, and present before Him. So apart from God, no being has any guardian who takes charge of all its affairs, or helper and supporter who takes it by the hand and undertakes a part of its affairs.
The making forgotten mentioned, if it means removing the remembrance of something from human minds, is conceivable with regard to the community, but not with regard to the Messenger of God (s.a.w.); for he (s.a.w.), by rational and transmitted proofs, is free of forgetting.
2:108 — Would you question your Apostle as Moses was questioned formerly
Would you question your Apostle as Moses was questioned formerly? Whoever changes faith for unfaith certainly strays from the right way.
It was to be expected that the Muslims who were new to Islam, or the practised Jews, or the polytheists of the Ḥijāz, would ask the Messenger of Islam (s.a.w.) for what the Children of Israel had asked of Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), such as a written Book coming down, an angel coming down who could be seen and perceived, being shown God and the angels openly, making a spring gush from the earth, and so on.
But God (s.w.t.) warned them against wanting to put forward such feeble and blameworthy requests, and cautioned them that whoever asks out of obstinacy is like one who exchanges faith for unbelief; just as the unreasonable and unacceptable requests that sprang from the quarrelsomeness and obstinacy of past nations, which do not even deserve to have their names mentioned, led to unbelief. So let the Muslims be on their guard, so as not to return to unbelief after their faith, and not to imitate the Jews and the polytheists, who preferred to continue in unbelief over inclining towards Islam.
Whoever squanders faith and adopts unbelief has lost the level road and strayed from the straight path into wandering and error; whether this exchange is carried out at the hands of a Muslim who sold his faith to buy unbelief, or at the hands of a Jew or a polytheist who preferred to remain faithless over accepting faith, and sold the capital of his primordial nature (fiṭrah) and its precious goods, embodied in divine inspiration, for unbelief, exchanging this for that.
2:109 — Many of the People of the Book are eager to turn you into unbelievers after your faith
Many of the People of the Book are eager to turn you into unbelievers after your faith, out of their inner envy, [and] after the truth had become manifest to them. Yet excuse [them] and forbear until Allah issues His edict. Indeed Allah has power over all things.
The Children of Israel, who treated their prophets badly and were ungrateful for the bounties of God (s.w.t.), met Islam and the Muslims with envy, and confronted them with rancour, intrigue and the weaving of conspiracies. Against the background of the envy they hid in their inner selves, they sought to ward off good from the Muslims or to take it away from them; that is, either to prevent them from faith, or to drag them into apostasy and unbelief after their faith. The malicious inner nature of the Jews and their evil conduct were the witness to their continuing rancour and their lasting hatred towards Islam and the Muslims.
The source of envy among the faithless whose hearts are black was nothing but their corrupt inner selves. Likewise, their envious practices were not the result of a mistake, or of a doubt in knowledge, or the like; rather, they came after the truth had been made clear and plain to them.
God (s.w.t.) says to the Muslims: Pardon these faithless people for the present, until a change takes place, in the order of creation or in the order of law, and the right time comes, and another command is issued. For pardoning and overlooking are the most effective way of carrying out power, and they prepare the ground for the one pardoned to turn back. Naturally, overlooking, which is turning a blind eye to the principle of the offence, is higher than pardoning.
The present command to the Muslims to pardon suggests the strength and power of the Muslims; it also hints that the next command will be fighting or the like, not patience, pardon and overlooking. It likewise reassures the Muslims that they will be victorious in both cases: it is not within the power of the faithless now to turn the Muslims away from Islam, nor will the Muslims meet failure, or have their strength broken, in the future. So the Muslims rely on the help of God (s.w.t.), and He is able to do all things.
2:110 — And maintain the prayer and give the zakat
And maintain the prayer and give the zakat. Any good that you send ahead for your own souls, you shall find it with Allah. Indeed Allah watches what you do.
The steadfastness that consists of pardoning and overlooking in the face of the intrigues of the faithless, especially the obstinate Jews, and living in the hope of help and victory, needs power. Establishing prayer and giving zakāt are the factors of power and strength. The reason is that prayer and zakāt are apt to strengthen the human being’s bond with his Lord, that is, with the only One who is able to give aid and help, on the one hand, and with the general body of the Muslims, on the other. In this respect God (s.w.t.) commanded prayer and zakāt; and because of the pressing need for pardoning and overlooking for prayer and zakāt, He, great is His praise, joined the command to prayer and zakāt to the command to pardon and overlook.
The good deeds of the human being remain kept with God and protected from vanishing. In this respect, everyone who does a good deed will obtain, in the Hereafter, where this good appears in various forms, that very good as a recompense.
All good deeds are accepted, whether those a person sends ahead himself, or what is sent on after his death of the effects of his good and his bequests; although what a person sends ahead himself of good deeds surpasses what he leaves for later in merit with God and in reward in the Hereafter. And this matter is not limited to deeds that are witnessed only; for God (s.w.t.) sees all deeds, witnessed and hidden.
As for the closing sentence of the verse, besides its being put forward for a theological discussion, it contains a promise with regard to good, and a threat with regard to evil; though what the declarative sentence before it requires is the promise. This is so that the one who does good may know that his deed remains, and may obtain it afresh, and so hurry to do it with greater drive and longing.
2:111–113 — And they say, ‘No one will enter paradise except one who is a Jew or Christian.’ Those…
(111) And they say, ‘No one will enter paradise except one who is a Jew or Christian.’ Those are their [false] hopes! Say, ‘Produce your evidence, should you be truthful.’ (112) Certainly, whoever submits his will to Allah and is virtuous, he shall have his reward from his Lord, and they will have no fear, nor shall they grieve. (113) The Jews say, ‘The Christians stand on nothing,’ and the Christians say, ‘The Jews stand on nothing,’ though they follow the [same] Book. So said those who had no knowledge, [words] similar to what they say. Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that about which they used to differ.
The Jews and the Christians each used to say, out of vain wishing: None will enter Paradise except those who belong to our group. Yet none of these titles and labels, and no mere claim or naive wish, has any effect on a person’s becoming one of the people of Paradise. For the condition for entering Paradise is faith in God (s.w.t.), which goes with tawḥīd, and belief in revelation, messengership and the Return, as well as righteous deeds that match the revelation that abrogates; that is, at the same time as one must possess goodness of the agent by directing the spirit towards the face of God, one must also possess goodness of the act, through doing good and performing righteous deeds, in such a way as to preserve sincerity in belief and in action alike. So whoever reaches the lofty station of submitting the face (islām al-wajh), so that his whole identity becomes submissive to God and all his directions are divine, is then able to come to know, by this blessing, that his reward is with God. That the reward of such a human being is with God (s.w.t.), and likewise that fear and grief are denied for him, is not something particular to the Hereafter.
Each of the two groups, the Jews and the Christians, despite their opponents being in general on the truth, imagined, through total negation and universal denial, that the other was on falsehood. So they monopolised the truth, denying it to the other absolutely, even if that other was acting on its own particular heavenly Book. As for Islam, by confirming the heavenly Books of the earlier prophets, it did not regard Judaism or Christianity as a false religion without value, except in the case where their followers do not act on the original Torah and Gospel.
The words of the polytheists, purely denying that others are on the truth, closely resemble the claim of the Jews and the Christians, which limits Paradise to them and denies that others deserve it. So the flimsy words of the polytheists resemble the words of that group of the People of the Book who recite the Torah and the Gospel; for the People of the Book do not believe in their heavenly Books and do not act according to them.
On the Day of Resurrection, which is the vessel of the manifestation of the truth, the truth or falsehood of the various present-day views and schools of thought, many as they are, will be uncovered, and God the Most High, who is the absolute Judge, will judge between the followers of those schools. In this final and divine government, the disagreement of views will be settled, on the one hand; the one who opposed the truth will be punished, on another; and the one who followed it will be rewarded with a complete reward, on a third; so that a distinction is made between the sound claim and the unsound, and the righteous ones who were called separate from the wrongdoing claimants.
2:114 — Who is a greater wrongdoer than those who deny access to the mosques of Allah lest His…
Who is a greater wrongdoer than those who deny access to the mosques of Allah lest His Name be celebrated therein, and try to ruin them? Such ones may not enter them, except in fear. There is disgrace for them in this world and a great punishment in the Hereafter.
Every sin is, in reality, a form of wrongdoing; and polytheism, which is the source of all sins, is the greatest form of wrongdoing. This truth leads us to see that whoever prevents the building up of the centres of religion, or strives to ruin them, is in reality at war with tawḥīd and in harmony with polytheism; so he is among the most violent of wrongdoers. And since the worst kind of wrongdoing is wrongdoing against the foundation of religion and the centres of tawḥīd and of reforming society, defending them in order to protect them will be among the holiest forms of defence. For by making these things firm, wrongdoing will be lifted and warded off from people, and by wronging them and attacking them, others too will be exposed to wrongdoing. In this respect, in order to ward off wrongdoing from society and lift it from it, places of worship must be kept flourishing and mosques well built.
The mosque was built only to bring the name of God and His remembrance to life, and this is precisely the reason that drives the wrongdoers to ruin mosques. Naturally, just as building up the mosque inwardly, through worship, teaching and learning within it, is more important and better than building up its outward form, destroying it inwardly, by keeping people away from it and fighting the forms of reviving the traces of religion in it, is far more dangerous than ruining its outward form.
So the Muslims must prevent those who ruin mosques and places of worship from reaching those centres, and indeed drive them away from them. And if this prevention and driving away are achieved, their possible entry into those centres will certainly be accompanied by fear and terror.
No one is able to destroy the places of worship, the mosques and the noble shrines, which have been raised by God’s permission in the order of creation, or to prevent the remembrance of God the Most High in them. Whoever wrongs those centres and strives to turn people away from them, or to ruin them, besides his entanglement in the punishment of the Hereafter, will also suffer disgrace and humiliation in this world; though the punishment of the Resurrection will be harsher in disgrace and greater in shame.
2:115 — To Allah belong the east and the west
To Allah belong the east and the west: so whichever way you turn, there is the face of Allah! Allah is indeed all-bounteous, all-knowing.
The two directions of east and west depend on the existence of a heavenly body, and rest on its movement, its rising and its setting. Since the star is created by God (s.w.t.), on the one hand, and its movement takes place only by His (s.w.t.) choice, on the other, east and west (of which one counts as the root, and the other as a branch following it and derived from the absence of light) are the possession and the kingdom of God, blessed and exalted is He.
The face of God is not in a particular place and a particular direction, so that He could be faced only by turning towards that direction, by restricting the qiblah to it. Likewise, the obligation to face the Kaʿbah, or Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis), rests on a ruling of jurisprudence; otherwise it is not possible to fix a particular direction for facing God (s.w.t.). So all directions are equal in turning towards the face of God, and there is no barrier or veil at all that stands before His face, majestic and exalted is He, and prevents a person from facing Him.
So whatever direction a person turns his face to, the face of God may be there, and he will have turned his face towards it. The latitude allowed in the direction of the qiblah for prayer in a state of necessity, when performing a supererogatory prayer while moving, and likewise in prayer inside the Kaʿbah and when making supplication, also rests on this same basis.
The face of God is His absolute grace, vast and all-embracing, which is with every thing and present in every thing. It is predicated of its instances by the predication of reality and its attenuated form (ḥaml al-ḥaqīqah wa-al-raqīqah); meaning that every thing is the face of God, on the one hand (for what is predicated here is the attenuated form of the reality, not the reality itself), and that nothing among them is the face of God, on the other (by common technical predication). So the union of the face of God with things is such that the face of God (s.w.t.) does not take on the colour of any thing, is not called by its name, and its ruling does not apply to it. In this respect every thing is perishing and passing away, except the face of God, which is not perishing.
The words just mentioned mean, first, that the face of God (s.w.t.) and His grace are all-embracing, and no place can be found, inside the human being or outside him, far from it or near it, that is empty of God’s grace and His face; and second, that every place, time and direction is under the dominion of God’s knowledge, and however much a person aims at something, and wherever he turns his face, God knows that thing. We say: These words, at the same time as they are good tidings for the righteous, so that anxiety at not attaining the holy places and times does not seize them, are also a warning to the wrongdoers that there is no difference between sins committed in secret and those committed openly, in that all of them are before the face of God, blessed and exalted is He; for God, majestic is His affair, has the breadth and the encompassing of all things, and He knows all matters as well.
2:116 — And they say, ‘Allah has taken a son.’ Immaculate is He
And they say, ‘Allah has taken a son.’ Immaculate is He! Rather, to Him belongs whatever there is in the heavens and the earth. All are obedient to Him,
Attributing the taking of a son to God (s.w.t.), which reveals the ignorance of the one who says it, is a saying shared by the faithless of all kinds. It brings together the unbelief of the idolaters, who imagined the angels to be daughters of God, and the unbelief of the Jews and the Christians, who imagined Ezra and the Messiah (a.s.) to be sons of God.
Taking a son, whether real (by way of multiplying and producing one’s like) or honorific, does not accord with God’s being glorified (subbūḥ). For taking a son, even in honorific form, and whether it is for benefit or for companionship, reveals the deficiency and the need of the one who takes him; whereas God is the absolutely Self-sufficient, glorified above every deficiency and need. He is, in this respect, free of real multiplying, and transcends taking a son as an honour, both at once.
So God is not a father; for being a father requires possessing a body and choosing a spouse, and God (s.w.t.) is far above both these matters, greatly exalted. Likewise, He, majestic is His affair, does not choose a son either. The reason is, first: He is the Glorious and the Glorified (Subḥān and Subbūḥ), and has no need to adopt a son by His choice. Second: in order for the adopted son to be able to take charge of some of the affairs of the one who takes him, the adopted one must resemble the one who takes him; whereas God, exalted be His remembrance, is the real Owner and King of all beings, and they are all His servants, devoutly obedient and submissive to Him, and it is not fitting for the pure servant to resemble his lord and owner so as to be counted his son. In this respect, nothing at all is fit for sonship to God (s.w.t.), whether real or honorific. And just as God (s.w.t.) is glorified above need, He is free of likeness; for His subduing oneness leaves no partner, equal or likeness to Him at all.
So all those whom people imagine to be God’s children are purely His servants, and God does not take His servants as children; for He is far too great to take a son, on the one hand, and the adopted children, whether angels, kings or others, are lower and less than to be taken as children by God, blessed and exalted is He, on the other.
The whole world of creation enjoys awareness and knows that it must bow down at the threshold of the presence of Lordship. In this respect they are all devoutly obedient, praying, and glorifying out of perception and awareness; their devout obedience and their submission are continuous and lasting, and they themselves perceive, and encompass in knowledge, that they glorify God and pray to Him, majestic are His names.
2:117 — the Originator of the heavens and the earth
the Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decides on a matter, He just says to it, ‘Be!’ and it is.
God (s.w.t.) has no need of means for carrying out affairs, and does not wait for preliminaries to be prepared; for all things are devoutly obedient and submissive to Him. For this reason He is not only a Creator, but also an Originator (Badīʿ) and Innovator (Mubdiʿ). He creates the principle of things and their simple, primary matter, on the one hand, and grants them new and original forms, on the other; so that their matter is without precedent, and their forms new and original.
God (s.w.t.) is purely and absolutely the Originator; for He is absolutely powerful, and there are no limits to His power, on one side; and on the other, everything other than Him neither relies on itself nor depends on anything other than God.
Reason and transmitted texts support the fact that the creation of the whole of the heavens and the earth, and their principle, is new and original; not that every individual and every particle in them is so. For every individual and every particle is joined with the other individuals and particles by a common species, and some of them are preceded by a matter, in such a way that God is the One who created them.
Nor is God only an Originator and Innovator in creation; rather, all things come into being purely by His (s.w.t.) will. His command for bringing a thing into being is not a verbal command; it is embodied in His will in the order of creation, which can never fail. In this command in the order of creation, for which the mere willing is enough, God’s (s.w.t.) address is what creates the one addressed, and His command is what makes the one commanded.
Likewise, the Creator, majestic and exalted is He, is free of time and motion. For that reason His bestowing of grace takes place all at once and not gradually; gradualness is only in the one addressed and the receiver of grace.
All those addressed by the command “Be” are known to God, blessed and exalted is He, and exist in the mode of the knowledge of the Truth (s.w.t.). That is why the address mentioned is a real address directed to an existent, not to something non-existent; and in this respect it is neither metaphorical nor figurative.
2:118 — Those who have no knowledge say
Those who have no knowledge say, ‘Why does not Allah speak to us, or come to us a sign?’ So said those who were before them, [words] similar to what they say. Alike are their hearts. We have certainly made the signs clear for a people who have certainty.
Proceeding from the ignorance that marks those who deny the prophethood of the Messenger of God (s.a.w.), who resembled in heart and thought those who came before them in ancient times among the faithless and the polytheists, they asked that God (s.w.t.) speak to them without an intermediary, so that they would hear His (s.w.t.) speech themselves and receive from Him scriptures and heavenly Books, as the prophets (a.s.) did. This is a request that cannot be realised for one who lacks the worthiness for it; besides which, God’s speaking with them and making them hear it would have no effect on them.
As for the other request of these ignorant people, it was for a sign to come down or a miracle to occur to confirm the messengership of the Noblest Prophet (s.a.w.); whereas many miracles and signs, some for a stage and some lasting, had been set before them. It is enough for the people of certainty that the signs whose indications are clear and plain be used to derive the teachings of revelation and to argue for them. But these ignorant people were not searching for clear proof; rather, they were looking for pretexts.
2:119 — Indeed We have sent you with the truth
Indeed We have sent you with the truth, as a bearer of good news and as a warner, and you will not be questioned concerning the inmates of hell.
The greatest Prophet (s.a.w.) has a station that is “with God” (s.w.t.), since he was sent from there to people, and from there, too, the Noble Qur’an was sent down in his company.
The Noble Qur’an, which from the beginning of its descent until it settled on the heart of the Messenger of God (s.a.w.) was with the truth, is like a garment of truth and a true companion for the Prophet (s.a.w.) on the path of his messengership. For God, blessed and exalted is He, says to His noble Prophet (s.a.w.), to make him firm: You have come with the truth, and you are distinguished by the two qualities of bringing glad tidings and warning.
The duty of the Prophet (s.a.w.) and his work as a messenger is clear conveying. And since he is responsible for pointing out the way, and is not commanded to bring people to the destination, on the Day of Resurrection he will be asked about his own work, and will not be asked about the deeds of the community.
2:120 — Never will the Jews be pleased with you
Never will the Jews be pleased with you, nor the Christians, unless you followed their creed. Say, ‘Indeed it is the guidance of Allah which is [true] guidance.’ And should you follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, you will not have against Allah any guardian or helper.
The polytheists used to call the prophets of God to follow their false creed, threatening them with stoning and banishment; and nothing would please them from the prophets (a.s.) but their supporting the worship of idols. Likewise the People of the Book, proceeding from their likeness in thought to the polytheists, and from their not acknowledging any creed other than their own as true, which is what drove each group of them to deny the other, and drove both groups to deny Islam: they did not call for peace and the like, and would not be pleased with the Prophet (s.a.w.) unless he followed their religion and accepted their creed.
God’s guidance is the true guidance. As for the creed and law of those who altered their heavenly Book and did not act on the original Torah and Gospel, it is a fabrication, error and ignorance, not truth, guidance and knowledge.
God (s.w.t.) warns His noble Prophet (s.a.w.) against following a course of gentleness with the faithless in the hope of easing the wheel of religion and spreading it. For they are a people from whom nothing can be hoped, on the one hand; and, on the other, they will never hurry to the aid of God’s religion in time of need and when it is exposed to an overwhelming danger. So the least inclination towards them and leaning on them after the truth has been made clear will certainly bring about divine punishment; and when the danger comes, a person will find himself without a guardian who could rescue him from the punishment independently, and without a helper who could assist him in being saved from it. For there is no form of aid, whether it is aid through guardianship or through help, that is not from God (s.w.t.); and the human being condemned to this punishment has no guardianship or help from God.
2:121 — Those to whom We have given the Book follow it as it ought to be followed
Those to whom We have given the Book follow it as it ought to be followed: they have faith in it. As for those who deny it—it is they who are the losers.
Not all those to whom the heavenly Book was sent down are equal. God (s.w.t.) praised some of them and mentioned them with all reverence and honour, as in this noble verse, where He honoured them by attributing the “giving” to Himself (s.w.t.). The members of this fair-minded group, who seek the truth, recite the heavenly Book in the best way recitation can be, and give it its due. Such a recitation comes with awareness and in search of the truth, and is mixed with reflection and action.
If everyone who was given the revealed Book hurried, far from idle bigotry and false imitation, to recite it as is its due and to reflect on it, he would certainly believe in what came in it. For the heavenly Book, whether the original Torah and Gospel or the Qur’an, is all light, free of obscurity, and known to the human primordial nature of tawḥīd. So when the inner self of the one reciting the heavenly Book is free of the veil of bigotry, and there is no curtain in the heavenly text arising from obscurity or weakness of expression, nothing will stand in the way of the reciter’s faith in it. In this respect, those who recite the heavenly Book believe in it and in the one by whom it was sent; and the better they grasp it, the more their faith in it grows.
2:122 — O Children of Israel, remember My blessing which I bestowed upon you
O Children of Israel, remember My blessing which I bestowed upon you, and that I gave you an advantage over all the nations.
God (s.w.t.) calls the perfect among people to remember Him, and calls those of middling rank among them to remember His blessings and bounties. And so that servants do not, through heedlessness and ingratitude, forget the blessing showered on them, and so be deprived of it and become entangled in affliction instead of it, God has joined the mention of His beauty with the putting forward of His majesty; He has followed the reminder of His anger with a reference to His kindness, and followed the reminder of blessing with the reminder of His punishment; so that the yearning and encouragement in mentioning the blessing come alongside warning and making people fear the punishment.
The Creator (s.w.t.) preferred the Children of Israel, relatively, in their time, over the other nations. Among the high blessings by which they were preferred, and which they denied, is the blessing of many prophets being raised up from among them. And in order to rescue them from this ingratitude, we see God repeating His warning to them and renewing the reminder of His blessings and His punishments.
2:123 — Beware of the Day when no soul will compensate for another
Beware of the Day when no soul will compensate for another, neither will any ransom be accepted from it, nor will any intercession benefit it, nor will they be helped.
For those human beings who are marked by luminosity, the Day of Resurrection, which is the vessel of the manifestation of the truth, is all light and brightness, and like the daytime. But for others it is always dark and gloomy, and like the night.
The Day of Resurrection is called the Day of Separation (yawm al-faṣl), and the order that rules over it is an individual order, not a social one. That is, even though all creatures gather on that day, each person comes as an individual, cut off from others; indeed, cut off from all the causes, factors, means and matters that bound him to them in this world by a tie in the order of creation or a conventional tie. On this basis, no factor there, with its rules and ties, will have any effect in lessening or lightening the punishment of the criminal. On this basis the Creator (s.w.t.) has emphasised, explicitly and repeatedly, the denial of the things that are thought to suffice on the Day of Resurrection. So on the Day of Resurrection no one will stand in for anyone, and nothing that comes from any person then will benefit him, whether through earning, buying and selling, taking an equivalent and a ransom, paying compensation, preferring another, or even an emotional support.
On that day, what the sinner’s hands have earned will close in on him, and he will not be able to do anything for himself, let alone help another; rather, he will even long to ransom himself with another in the hope of escaping the punishment. And even the pious, Godwary one will not be permitted then to do anything for another. In this respect, the intercession of the intercessors, who intercede only by God’s permission, will not in the Hereafter benefit the state of the criminals; except, O God, for one whose religion is pleasing to God (s.w.t.), for in this case some intercessors may be permitted to intercede for those whose religion is pleasing.
2:124 — When his Lord tested Abraham with certain words and he fulfilled them
When his Lord tested Abraham with certain words and he fulfilled them, He said, ‘I am making you the Imam of mankind.’ Said he, ‘And from among my descendants?’ He said, ‘My pledge does not extend to the unjust.’
God Almighty tests His prophets and saints with distinct trials. Like all other human beings, the prophets (a.s.) bear moral responsibility. However, their tests are uniquely significant, as they are God’s chosen ones. Abraham, the Friend of the Merciful (a.s.), faced crucial challenges. These included combating idolatry to the extent of breaking idols, enduring the ordeal of being cast into fire, migrating from his homeland, among others. Abraham (a.s.) successfully navigated these trials and was subsequently granted the position of imāma (leadership).
Imāma is a divine gift, not a status one can attain through personal efforts. Abraham had been a prophet and a societal role model for many years before receiving imāma. Since prophethood inherently includes aspects of imāma such as societal leadership and being an exemplar, his request for his descendants to inherit a similar imāma does not imply a continuation of prophethood per se. Rather, the imāma referred to here predominantly signifies internal and celestial guidance—guiding to the ultimate truth as ordained by God.
The Qur’an emphasizes that Imāms guide by God’s command, a principle reflecting the immutable and heavenly nature of the universe. An Imām connects with the divine command of “Be and it is” (kun fa-yakūn) and influences the spirits of humankind, serving as a manifestation of the Turner of Hearts (muqallib al-qulūb). This type of guidance demands that the guide himself is deeply rooted in divine essence. It is an internal grace flowing from God to the luminous hearts of the Imāms (a.s.) and, subsequently, to the believers.
In this celestial sense, imāma transcends mundane and worldly concerns. Attaining it involves embracing divine revelations, ascending to the highest levels of devotion, patience, forbearance, certainty, and perceiving the hidden dimensions of existence. Abraham (a.s.) desired this form of imāma for his progeny as well. However, God’s response—“My covenant does not extend to the wrongdoers”—clarifies that only the righteous and infallible among Abraham’s lineage, which includes divine prophets and saints, are eligible for imāma. This divine covenant is inherently incompatible with oppression and sin, and thus, it does not extend to any who engage in such actions, regardless of their repentance or persistence in wrongdoing. Divine wisdom dictates that significant and sensitive roles are not assigned to those with tainted records.
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2:125 — And [remember] when We made the House a place of reward for mankind and a sanctuary
And [remember] when We made the House a place of reward for mankind and a sanctuary, [declaring], ‘Take the venue of prayer from Abraham’s Station.’ We charged Abraham and Ishmael [with its upkeep, saying], ‘Purify My House for those who go around it, [for] those who make it a retreat and [for] those who bow and prostrate.’
The Kaʿba is one of the divine blessings that God, the Glorified, has intended to be constantly remembered. It stands as a place of return and refuge for all people, serving as a sacred sanctuary with absolute security where no harm can be willed against it.
The Kaʿba is not just a physical structure but a place of ritual circumambulation (ṭawāf), followed by prayer at the Station of Abraham, which marks the spot where Abraham (a.s.) stood. The constancy of worshipers at this location is so persistent that it feels as though the act of praying there is an inherent attribute of the place itself.
God commanded the founders of the Kaʿba—Abraham and Ishmael (a.s.)—to ensure its purity, both outwardly and inwardly, for those performing ṭawāf, staying for worship, bowing, prostrating, and praying. They accepted this pledge, committing themselves to safeguarding the sanctity of the Kaʿba.
This command also implies two significant points:
Continuity of Worship: The acts of ṭawāf, staying for worship, bowing, prostrating, and praying, though having different qualities, were practiced even before Islam.
Dedication to Worship: There were already individuals dedicated to these principles, undertaking acts of worship and purification of the sacred site.
In the verse, “those who stay there for worship” (ʿākif) refers not to the residents or locals of Mecca, but to those engaged in acts of devotion, such as iʿtikāf (spiritual retreat), ṭawāf, prayer, or gazing in contemplation at the Kaʿba.
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2:126 — And when Abraham said, ‘My Lord
And when Abraham said, ‘My Lord, make this a secure town, and provide its people with fruits—such of them as have faith in Allah and the Last Day,’ He said, ‘As for him who is faithless, I will provide for him [too] for a short time, then I will shove him toward the punishment of the Fire and it is an evil destination.’
Among the blessings that God, the Glorified, desires to be remembered is Abraham’s (a.s.) supplication for the land of Mecca and its inhabitants. His requests for the city to become inhabited and secure were two absolute, sequential petitions for the barren, uninhabited land of Mecca, both of which were granted absolutely. Abraham, the Friend of the Merciful, whose pure nature and unwavering practice was to disavow disbelievers, specifically prayed only for the believers of this city to be provided with various fruits and provisions. Nonetheless, out of respect for the Sanctuary and due to the blessings associated with the Kaʿba, God extended blessings to the disbelievers as well.
While believers receive both worldly blessings and rewards in the Hereafter, God’s response regarding disbelievers was measured: disbelievers are granted limited and transient worldly security and sustenance. Afterward, they will face the punishment of the Fire—a wretched outcome in a grievous place. Compared to the Hereafter, this world’s enjoyment is meager; thus, even if a disbeliever experiences prosperity throughout life, their benefit remains insignificant. This worldly enjoyment is ultimately a punishment, not mercy, as it leads to increased affliction in the Hereafter.
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2:127 — As Abraham raised the foundations of the House with Ishmael
As Abraham raised the foundations of the House with Ishmael, [they prayed]: ‘Our Lord, accept it from us! Indeed You are the All-hearing, the All-knowing.
The history of the Kaaba extends back to times long before the prophethood of Abraham, the Friend of God. Thus, he was not its original founder. Rather, God Almighty revealed to him the former location of the Kaaba and provided the plan for its reconstruction so that he could restore it.
Reconstructing the Kaaba was an act of worship, performed under the command and guidance of God Almighty. Throughout the building process, Abraham and his son Ishmael continuously murmured and supplicated, repeating the melodic phrase: “Our Lord, accept [this] from us.” The Kaaba was thus raised upon this invocation, embodying the pure sincerity of the architect and his assistant. By choosing the term “accept” (taqabbal) over “receive” (qabūl), they sought a special divine favor. In response, as a mark of full acceptance of this sincere act, God designated the reconstructed Kaaba as His own house, affirming its title as the “House of God” as it had been known before.
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2:128 — ‘Our Lord, make us submissive to You
‘Our Lord, make us submissive to You, and [raise] from our progeny a nation submissive to You, and show us our rites [of worship], and turn to us clemently. Indeed You are the All-clement, the All-merciful.’
Abraham and Ishmael, seeking to save their children from the fate of Noah’s unrighteous son and following a worthy tradition—praying for children and descendants at appropriate times and critical moments—requested several things from God Almighty during and after the reconstruction and renovation of the Kaaba:
The complete stage of Islam; that is, the position of absolute and total submission and obedience for themselves, their children, and their descendants.
The quality of devotional use of the Kaaba and its associated boundaries, so that they would become aware of how to worship there. Therefore, the rites of Hajj were shown to them.
The return of divine grace and the continuation of the Lord’s favor upon them.
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2:129 — ‘Our Lord, raise amongst them an apostle from among them
‘Our Lord, raise amongst them an apostle from among them, who will recite to them Your signs and teach them the Book and wisdom and purify them. Indeed You are the All-mighty, the All-wise.’
The emergence of the Islamic community and the formation of the Islamic system require the establishment of a general religious and devotional center on one hand, and its proper utilization under the guidance of divine leaders on the other. The establishment and formation of such a lofty and impenetrable base and sanctuary necessitates the distinguished attribute of impenetrable dignity and wisdom immune from pursuit, which is alluded to at the end of the verse. Abraham (a.s.), as the origin of the Islamic community and the father of Muslims, accomplished the first part of the task, which was within his and his son Ishmael’s capacity, with divine assistance. He then requested the realization of the second part from God Almighty, in harmony with his son, hoping that his descendants would also become worthy for a prophet to be sent among them, and that they would attain such elevation as to be worthy of reaching the station of prophethood themselves.
God Almighty, by answering this prayer, gave the Book and wisdom to the family of Abraham and sent Muhammad (s.a.w.), who was one of the best examples of their supplication, as a messenger. The scientific endeavors of the Noble Messenger in explaining the rulings and teachings are examples of teaching the Book and wisdom, and his practical actions that purify the Islamic society from impurities and vices are examples of purification.
Just as divine wisdom, meaning rational knowledge, moral issues, and jurisprudential and legal rulings, is not attainable merely through lessons and discussions, but its foundation depends on God’s special grace, the purification of the soul, meaning liberation from vices and attainment of virtues, is also not achievable through mere teaching and instruction. Rather, its foundation is connected to God’s special grace.
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2:130 — And who will [ever] forsake Abraham’s creed except one who debases himself
And who will [ever] forsake Abraham’s creed except one who debases himself? We certainly chose him in the [present] world, and in the Hereafter he will indeed be among the Righteous.
The life of Abraham is a life of growth, and his religion, which is the religion of all prophets, is the criterion and measure of reason and growth. Therefore, turning away from it is a sign of foolishness, and on this basis, whoever does not accept the religion of Islam has made himself foolish, not others.
The secret of Abraham’s life being the criterion of growth is that he is the chosen one (ṣafwa) and righteous (ṣāliḥ) of God, and the mystery of his being chosen and righteous is his acceptance of a religion that is the chosen one of religions and the chosen one of God.
Abraham, the chosen one (ṣafī), is ultimately joined with the purely righteous and the perfect people of righteousness whose essential nature is righteous and from whom nothing but righteousness appears.
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2:131 — When his Lord said to him
When his Lord said to him, ‘Submit,’ he said, ‘I submit to the Lord of all the worlds.’
The secret of Abraham’s growth, the Friend of the Merciful, and the criterion for his way of life being a model of growth, his selection, and his joining the righteous, lies in his unique submission (islām). This special submission was manifested in the difficult test of sacrificing his son and appeared in the soundness of his heart; a sound heart that was filled with pure submission, complete obedience, and absolute humility.
In his perfect vision, Abraham saw the submission of the entire creation to God, the Glorified, and thus he said: “I have submitted to the Lord to whom all are obedient.”
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2:132 — Abraham enjoined this [creed] upon his children
Abraham enjoined this [creed] upon his children, and [so did] Jacob, [saying], ‘My children! Allah has indeed chosen this religion for you; so do not die except as those who have surrendered themselves [to Allah].
Abraham, as a recommendation which causes attraction, commanded his children to the religion of Islam, which is the chosen religion of God. This recommendation is a recommendation to reason and an invitation to a proven religion and encouragement to investigate; not blind imitation.
In this recommendation, by reminding of death, which is an urgent matter and its time is unknown, it points to the necessity of establishing a stable faith, lest one dies in a state of negligence and without Islam.
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2:133 — Were you witnesses when death approached Jacob
Were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, when he said to his children, ‘What will you worship after me?’ They said, ‘We will worship your God and the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac, the One God, and to Him do we submit.’
The Glorious God, addressing the People of the Book and refuting the Jews or Christians who considered Jacob to be of their faith and claimed that he advised his children to follow Judaism or Christianity at the time of his death, says: You were not present at the time of Jacob’s testament to his children and did not witness that scene and what transpired between them.
Jacob, fearing the dangers of idol worship, which was the prevalent thought and dominant religion in ancient Egypt, said to his children: “Whom will you worship after me?” They replied: “We will worship your God and the God of your forefathers, who is the one and only deity for all, and Islam is our firm attribute.” Thus, in that scene, there was only talk of encouragement and recommendation to Islam, not Judaism or Christianity.
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2:134 — That was a nation that has passed
That was a nation that has passed: for it there will be what it has earned, and for you there will be what you have earned, and you will not be questioned about what they used to do.
The deeds of each nation are specific and belong to that nation; no nation is responsible for the work of another nation and does not take on the responsibility of another nation, therefore it is not held accountable for the crime and burden of another nation.
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2:135 — They say, ‘Be either Jews or Christians
They say, ‘Be either Jews or Christians, that you may be [rightly] guided.’ Say, ‘No, rather, [we will follow] the creed of Abraham, a Hanif, and he was not one of the polytheists.’
The Jews and Christians each considered their distorted religion to be true and believed it to be the only path to guidance and salvation. They regarded other religions and nations as entirely false and excommunicated their followers.
Based on this ignorant prejudice, they invited Muslims to their religion. Therefore, the Glorious God instructed the Noble Prophet to say: We do not absolutely judge Judaism and Christianity as false, and we only consider those groups among the People of the Book who do not act according to the original and undistorted heavenly book to be in error. However, we will not convert to either Judaism or Christianity. Rather, we have accepted the religion and nation of Abraham, which is innate and free from polytheism and inclination towards falsehood, and we will follow it and invite you to it as well.
This statement indicates that neither distorted Judaism nor Christianity is based on the religion of Abraham, just as the emphasis on Abraham’s freedom from polytheism is to invalidate the polytheistic Judaism and Christianity.
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2:136 — Say, ‘We have faith in Allah and what has been sent down to us
Say, ‘We have faith in Allah and what has been sent down to us, and what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus were given, and that which the prophets were given from their Lord; we make no distinction between any of them and to Him do we submit.’
In contrast to the racist prejudice of Jews and Christians in accepting only prophets sent from their own tribe, God Almighty commanded the Noble Prophet and other Muslims to believe in both specific prophethood and its message, as well as general prophethood and its message, without considering the race or tribe of the prophets, just as they believe in their own specific prophethood and its message, and not to differentiate between them.
Muslims should say: We believe in God Almighty and in all the teachings revealed by Him. Of course, belief in “what God has sent down” (mā anzala Allāh) is a necessary part of belief in “God” (Allāh). The precedence and separate mention of belief in God in this noble verse is due to the innate nature of monotheism and its importance.
The Qur’an is dominant over all previous books and scriptures, and human society is also commanded to believe in previous prophets like Abraham because of this final written proof of God. For this reason, the Qur’an precedes “what was sent down to Abraham…” (mā unzila ilā Ibrāhīm).
The Qur’an, which is the most complete book of divine teachings, while being revealed to the Noble Prophet and for the guidance of people, has also been sent down to the people, and from its source of descent to the hearing of humans, its revelatory nature is preserved. The only difference is in receiving it directly or indirectly.
The believers, who are obedient and submissive to God Almighty, believe in what was revealed to the prophets and in everything given to them, from the status of prophethood to the book and miracles and the like. They do not differentiate between any of the prophets in the principle of prophethood, in a way that they would consider some to be right and others to be wrong, or believe in one of them or their book and not believe in another.
Some prophets have virtue and superiority over others in terms of the degree of their mission; however, there is no difference between them in general prophethood, and for this reason, the principle of prophethood is indivisible. Division in the chain of prophets is incompatible with belief in the origin.
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2:137 — So if they believe in the like of what you believe in
So if they believe in the like of what you believe in, then they are surely guided; but if they turn away, then [know that] they are only [steeped] in defiance. Allah will suffice you against them, and He is the All-hearing, the All-knowing.
The only divine religion is Islam, and since there is no example for its truth in being right, only those who believe in this religion are guided. If someone turns away from this sole path of guidance and does not have faith like the faith of Muslims, and separates his position from the realm of Muslims, he has placed himself in another faction and is threatened with divine punishment in Hell and severe torment. As the Glorious God, by stating the benefit of the Noble Prophet and the believers from His special sufficiency, has promised them victory and triumph, and has warned the disbelievers and threatened those in dissension with defeat.
God, who is the absolute All-Hearing and All-Knowing, hears the words of those in dissension and hypocrisy and the statements of Muslims, and knows what is hidden in the hearts and innermost beings of both groups.
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2:138 — ‘The baptism of Allah, and who baptizes better than Allah
‘The baptism of Allah, and who baptizes better than Allah? And Him do we worship.’
God (s.w.t.) addresses everyone, and especially the People of the Book, who wash their children with the washing of baptism in coloured water, saying: Take on the colouring (ṣibghah) of Islam, which purifies the human being of every kind of stain, and whose effects appear on the sincere monotheist. So there is no colour better than the divine colour that has no colour; for no one can colour more sweetly and more beautifully than God’s colouring, the colouring that brings about the purification of the soul, and stirs up and brings to life the buried divine primordial nature (fiṭrah).
And “the colouring of God” among the Muslims means this: God (s.w.t.) is worshipped as He truly deserves only by these people, with constant and lasting worship.
2:139 — Say, ‘Will you argue with us concerning Allah
Say, ‘Will you argue with us concerning Allah, while He is our Lord and your Lord, and to us belong our deeds, and to you belong your deeds, and we worship Him dedicatedly?’
There is no room for argument among the true followers of the religions of tawḥīd in matters that go back to the decrees of the Origin (God, s.w.t.).
First: the object of worship of all of them is one.
Second: the relation of that one object of worship to the followers of all the religions is one.
Third: the relation between all these followers and that one object of worship is one.
Deeds, whether righteous or wicked, in this world or in the Hereafter, are a matter bound up with the doer and particular to him. All monotheists are bound to God (s.w.t.) through the deeds they perform; so they draw near to Him through those deeds, and nothing but righteous deeds is the criterion for being bound to Him (s.w.t.) and drawing near to Him.
On the basis of what has passed, there is no special relation between those who claim to follow the earlier heavenly Books and God (s.w.t.); rather, they are polytheists in belief and in worship, and none worships Him (s.w.t.) sincerely but the Muslims, with their firm and lasting sincerity.
2:140 — [Ask them,] ‘Do you say that Abraham
[Ask them,] ‘Do you say that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes were Jews or Christians?’ Say, ‘Is it you who know better, or Allah?’ And who is a greater wrongdoer than someone who conceals a testimony that is with him from Allah? And Allah is not oblivious of what you do.
Just as the Jews and the Christians interpreted the Torah and the Gospel by their own opinion, they also took the way and practice of Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and his grandsons, down to Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), foolishly in favour of their own religion; and in an arbitrary manner they regarded these (a.s.) as like themselves and as belonging to them. Yet the prophets mentioned (a.s.) lived many years before the Torah and the Gospel came down, and these two Books are the source of Judaism and Christianity.
God (s.w.t.) bore witness in the Torah and the Gospel to the pure monotheism (ḥanīfiyyah) of Abraham (a.s.) and to his submission (islām); but the rabbis and the monks concealed that testimony. And since there is no wrongdoing greater than concealing God’s (s.w.t.) testimony in the field of tawḥīd and prophethood and the like, there is no one more wrongdoing than those scholars of the Jews and the Christians who concealed the testimony.
The People of the Book must not deceive themselves with what they claim in attributing their religion to these prophets (a.s.), and with their concealing God’s (s.w.t.) testimony. For God (s.w.t.), the All-knowing, is not heedless of what these people do; rather, He (s.w.t.) knows what is hidden from others or what they have forgotten, and counts it.
2:141 — That was a nation that has passed
That was a nation that has passed: for it there will be what it has earned, and for you there will be what you have earned, and you will not be questioned about what they used to do.
What the Jews and the Christians claimed about their belonging to the earlier prophets will not solve any problem for them, nor benefit them in anything. For just as those who come later will not be asked about what their ancestors did, nor punished for it, belonging to the ancestors and relying on them will not benefit those who come later in any way. No individual or community is responsible for what came from another.
2:142 — The foolish among the people will say
The foolish among the people will say, ‘What has turned them away from the qiblah they were following?’ Say, ‘To Allah belong the east and the west. He guides whomever He wishes to a straight path.’
The verse tells of something unseen: the objection of the fools among the polytheists, the Jews and the hypocrites to the change of the qiblah from Jerusalem (al-Quds) to the Kaʿbah, and gives the fitting answer to that objection. This in itself counts as a miracle. Besides announcing the change of the qiblah in advance, and likewise preparing the ground for it, all of this prepared the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.) inwardly to bear that new ruling.
The illusion that the Muslims had turned away from the truth by turning away from the former qiblah, that is, Jerusalem, was the basis of the objection of the fools among the Jews, who held that the true qiblah is Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) and nothing else.
This objection was answered in the noble verse by saying that all directions belong to God (s.w.t.) and are His possession, and that the efficient source of the qiblah is His (s.w.t.) appointing it.
A direction’s being a qiblah is not something essential to any direction, such that turning away from that direction would be rationally impossible or, likewise, ugly. On this basis, changing the qiblah from Jerusalem to the Kaʿbah counts as a shift from truth to truth; and whoever objects to turning from a truth at one stage to another truth at another stage, without committing himself to His (s.w.t.) wisdom, is nothing but a fool.
The aim of changing the qiblah was divine guidance. Just as taking Jerusalem as the qiblah was in the face of the ignorant bigotry of the polytheists, taking the Kaʿbah as the qiblah was a rebuttal of the illusion that the Muslims were following the Jews in the matter of the qiblah to which the Muslims turn in their prayer.
The straight path for the Islamic community in the matter of the qiblah is turning towards the Kaʿbah, which came about through His (s.w.t.) guidance of the Muslims.
2:143 — Thus We have made you a middle nation that you may be witnesses to the people
Thus We have made you a middle nation that you may be witnesses to the people, and that the Apostle may be a witness to you. We did not appoint the qiblah you were following, but that We may ascertain those who follow the Apostle from those who turn back on their heels. It was indeed a hard thing except for those whom Allah has guided. And Allah would not let your prayers go to waste. Indeed Allah is most kind and merciful to mankind.
God (s.w.t.) has chosen servants from among the Islamic community who attained the lofty rank through their bond with the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.). So they became intermediaries between Him and people: they receive grace from on high and convey it to those below. The complete instance of this special group is the infallible Imams (a.s.). These (a.s.), who are within the sight and the presence of the Noblest Prophet (s.a.w.), are witnesses over the beliefs of others, their deeds and their characters.
God (s.w.t.) has mentioned the blessing of being in the middle with reverence and magnification, by using the word “thus” (kadhālika), which is used to point to what is far.
The pivot of this middle position is “witnessing”. One of its two ends is the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.), and the other end is ordinary people. For this reason, what is meant by “middle” (wasaṭ) in the noble verse under discussion is not being between the excess of the Jews and the shortfall of the Christians; just as what is meant by “the middle community” (al-ummah al-wasaṭ) is not the Islamic community.
What is meant by witnessing in this noble verse is witnessing over people’s deeds. The witnesses are aware of people’s beliefs and their deeds, and will bear witness to them on the Day of Resurrection.
Witnessing in matters of belief, morals and deeds rests on mystical witnessing (shuhūd ʿirfānī) and on what belongs to the inner realm (malakūtī), not the outward realm (mulkī); it means inner insight, which means that the witnesses must also be aware of what is inside the members of society.
The witnessing of the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.) over people’s deeds extends with the reach of the ray of his message (s.a.w.), which means that it is general and lasting. That is why he (s.a.w.) is the witness of the witnesses.
The way to attaining the station of witnessing over people’s deeds and awareness of their inner selves is following the religion of Abraham (a.s.), acting on the religious commands, and being bound to the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.) through teaching and purification.
The change of the qiblah during prayer from Jerusalem, towards which the Muslims had grown used to praying, was a hard test for them, just as their turning towards Jerusalem before that had been hard for the Arabs of the Ignorance, since the Kaʿbah was a place of honour among their forebears, as a result of their blind bigotry.
In setting out the secret of the change of the qiblah, God (s.w.t.) mentioned that it was only so that He might know who rises higher, obeys and follows the religion among people, and so he is distinguished from others. What is meant by knowledge in cases like these is knowledge in act (al-ʿilm al-fiʿlī), not the knowledge of the Essence.
Knowledge in act, which is the very act and not the very Essence, is something that comes into being; and in this respect it is one with Him (s.w.t.) at the level of His act, blessed and exalted is He, not at the level of His Essence. And since His (s.w.t.) knowledge is by witnessing and presence, it is natural that it is of the kind of the act truly witnessed; just as an act that has not come into being and is not present is not known in act, and becomes so only after it exists. In reality, what is known is what comes into being, not the knowledge.
The follower of the Messenger takes his (s.a.w.) path as his own path, and his (s.a.w.) aim as an aim he wants to reach. As for the one possessed by bigotry, he took turning back on his heels as his way; and his movement on this way only increases his distance from the truth and his nearness to error.
The change of the qiblah was a hard test, heavy on the bigoted and the rigid, because it did not accord with their desires and their bigotry. As for those whom God (s.w.t.) guided and supported, it was easy and simple for them.
Changing the qiblah is a change from truth to truth, since the spirit of abrogation in divine legislation goes back to limitation in time, not to the falsehood of the earlier ruling, as has passed. This means that the prayers performed facing Jerusalem were valid, and that they are not ruled to be void.
Prayer is the most important manifestation of faith, the root of all virtues, and the cure for many moral vices. This explains why prayer is referred to as faith in the noble verse under discussion.
2:144 — We certainly see you turning your face about in the sky
We certainly see you turning your face about in the sky. We will surely turn you to a qiblah of your liking: so turn your face towards the Holy Mosque, and wherever you may be, turn your faces towards it! Indeed those who were given the Book surely know that it is the truth from their Lord. And Allah is not oblivious of what they do.
Making Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) the qiblah succeeded in standing up to the spread of the ignorant bigotry of the polytheists. But the Emigration to Medina made the Prophet (s.a.w.) face the bigotry of the Jews. They claimed that Jerusalem was their qiblah, and that the Muslims followed them in it and were not independent. That bigotry left behind it a great sense of humiliation among the Muslims, just as it was the source of some people’s illusion that the Muslims followed the Jews in this matter and were not independent in it.
The matter just mentioned made the Noblest Prophet (s.a.w.) pray, in the language of his state, in this sensitive affair. He kept turning his face to the sky, waiting for revelation to come to him with the solution. This turning, which was by His (s.w.t.) permission, was carried out at one time with the outward face, at another with his (s.a.w.) turning of the heart, and at a third with the prayer of his state and his inward prayer.
The desire of the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.) for the change of the qiblah, and his asking for it by His (s.w.t.) permission, was not because he (s.a.w.) had any personal, national or tribal pleasure set against God’s pleasure. He was pleased with the qiblah with which God (s.w.t.) was pleased, and He (s.w.t.) would be pleased only with a qiblah that, besides preserving the sanctity of the prophets, would prevent the attack that was aimed at the Muslims by the fools. The Kaʿbah met all of this: besides its being the Ancient House for the prophets (a.s.) and the place where they circled, it was the qiblah protected from every attack and belittling on the part of non-Muslims.
The stage of the test of the qiblah came to an end, and its everlasting sun rose: the qiblah pleasing to the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.), whose pleasure is the sign of divine good pleasure.
In the matter of the change of the qiblah, things did not stop at the command to face the Kaʿbah coming down; rather, they went beyond that, so that He (s.w.t.) attributed the matter of that change to Himself. So the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.) turned towards the Kaʿbah.
His (s.a.w.) turning towards the Kaʿbah in prayer, and his leaving off facing Jerusalem, counts as one of the miracles that appeared at his hands (s.a.w.).
What is meant by “the face” in the divine command just mentioned is all the front parts of the body, not the face only.
Facing the Kaʿbah is a condition for the validity of prayer itself. For this reason it is not particular to the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.); rather, it is general, including all who pray in all ages.
The qiblah is the Kaʿbah, not the Sacred Mosque or Mecca or the Sanctuary. The qiblah is purely that particular dimension in which the Kaʿbah lies; which means that the further a person is from the Kaʿbah, the wider the ray of his facing it becomes. That is, facing becomes wide, not the qiblah. What is meant by facing during prayer is real facing in common understanding, not real geometric and mathematical facing.
Although the People of the Book knew that the qiblah of the Muslims was true, and that the change that had taken place over it was true, they used to attack the Muslims over it. But He (s.w.t.) lies in wait for the criminals and is not heedless of what they do, and He will punish them with what they deserve of punishment.
2:145 — Even if you bring those who were given the Book every [kind of] sign
Even if you bring those who were given the Book every [kind of] sign, they will not follow your qiblah. Nor shall you follow their qiblah, nor will any of them follow the qiblah of the other. And if you follow their desires, after the knowledge that has come to you, you will be one of the wrongdoers.
The qiblah of every creed is the emblem of the very being of that creed’s religion, and accepting that emblem is like accepting the principle of the religion. This explains why the People of the Book, despite knowing that the qiblah of the Muslims was true, and despite the many miracles they saw, did not accept that qiblah. Likewise with regard to the Prophet of Islam (s.a.w.) in what concerns the qiblah of those people and their abrogated law: he (s.a.w.) will not follow them in that.
The Jews and the Christians do not accept one another’s qiblah; for each of them acknowledges only itself as true, and not others. As for others, they are false, with no truth in them in the view of these people.
After the truth and justice have appeared, facing Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) is one of the desires and nothing else; just as whoever faces it after knowing the truth is a wrongdoer among the wrongdoers.
2:146 — Those whom We have given the Book recognize him just as they recognize their sons
Those whom We have given the Book recognize him just as they recognize their sons, but a part of them indeed conceal the truth while they know.
The earlier heavenly Books set out the attributes and features of the Prophet of Islam (s.a.w.) that go back to his person and his character, as well as his conduct (s.a.w.), to such a degree that he (s.a.w.) was known to the scholars of the People of the Book with a knowledge close to that of the senses; indeed, they knew him as a person knows his own sons. For this reason they were fully aware of the truth of his message, and, following from that, of the truth of the qiblah of the Muslims; so that they ought to have submitted to that completely. But the bigotry with which they were afflicted, together with practical ignorance, injustice and envy, in a word, love of this world, all of it became an obstacle to accepting the clear, known truth and acknowledging it. This is what made a group of them conceal the truth and deny it while they knew.
2:147 — This is the truth from your Lord
This is the truth from your Lord; so do not be among the skeptics.
God (s.w.t.) is the root of every truth and its source. He is the pure Truth, and nothing but truth springs from Him; just as everything that comes from Him or appears from Him, whether it is the prophethood of the Prophet (s.a.w.), the Kaʿbah’s being the qiblah, or other matters, is only truth. Within the enclosure of tawḥīd and of divine grace, and its sanctuary, there is no room for falsehood, contention, doubt and hesitation. This is what directs the forbidding of doubt and suspicion to those who have entered the sanctuary of divine tawḥīd.
God (s.w.t.) has also expressed the knowledge and the revelation that He sent to the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.) as “the truth”, so that this would be a cause of firmness for him (s.a.w.) and for those of the Muslims who follow him.
2:148 — Everyone has a cynosure to which he turns
Everyone has a cynosure to which he turns; so take the lead in all good works. Wherever you may be, Allah will bring you all together. Indeed Allah has power over all things.
Just as every community has a particular law, way and rite, it likewise has a particular direction and qiblah. Naturally, the one who turns and leads in all affairs is God (s.w.t.), while the human being’s free choice remains.
Without the faithful turning to the east or the west, they must travel in the direction of good, and hasten to do good and righteous deeds, and outstrip others in that. Good, and racing towards it in the course of the straight path and in obeying the divine commands to reach the goal: the goal that has its particular way of reaching it, which differs with the difference of ages and times; and in our age it is the way of Muḥammad and the law of Muḥammad brought by the Prophet Muḥammad (s.a.w.).
The ways are different and varied, and each person travels on what he has chosen of those ways and approved as a course for himself. But the end of every way and the destination of every course is God (s.w.t.).
Everything is in the presence of God (s.w.t.) and before His sight. Nothing at all goes out of the enclosure of His (s.w.t.) unlimited knowledge and His absolute power. Wherever the human being may be, He (s.w.t.) has complete power to bring him forth for the reckoning.
The message the noble verse conveys, taking the last two points into account, is a promise to the righteous and a threat to the wrongdoers.
2:149 — Whencesoever you may go out
Whencesoever you may go out, turn your face towards the Holy Mosque. Indeed it is the truth from your Lord, and Allah is not oblivious of what you do.
The ruling on turning towards the Kaʿbah is not limited to the state of being present and residing in one’s homeland, such as Medina, for example. So the one who prays, whether on a journey or at home, and whether near or far, even if he is beside the Rock of Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis), which was the qiblah until now (the coming down of the noble verse), must turn towards the Kaʿbah.
The one addressed by this noble verse is the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.); but the message the noble verse carries is general and not particular to him (s.a.w.). For he (s.a.w.) is the original receiver of revelation and the model for everyone. Apart from the few particular cases in which there is evidence that a ruling is particular to him (s.a.w.), he has no ruling particular to him; rather, it is a ruling general to all. So the qiblah of all is the Kaʿbah, and this ruling is a firm truth that does not admit of abrogation, and is not false; for it is from Him (s.w.t.).
2:150 — And whencesoever you may go out
And whencesoever you may go out, turn your face towards the Holy Mosque, and wherever you may be, turn your faces towards it, so that the people may have no allegation against you, neither those of them who are wrongdoers. So do not fear them, but fear Me, that I may complete My blessing on you and so that you may be guided.
The Muslims’ facing Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) in their prayers had many reactions. Besides its being a cause of attack and of reproach for following, on the part of the Jews, and of not being independent in the qiblah, as has passed, it was a cause of two different objections being raised, which at first sight wore the garment of fairness and argument. These two objections are:
The objection of the polytheists about the Prophet of Islam (s.a.w.) not facing the lasting relic of Abraham (a.s.), that is, the Kaʿbah, even though he claimed to follow his pure monotheistic (ḥanīf) religion.
The difficulty that the People of the Book used to raise, since what came in their heavenly Books is that Jerusalem could not be a lasting qiblah for him (s.a.w.).
The change of the qiblah was the close of this kind of attacks, reproaches and objections that had been stirred up against the Muslims. But they found themselves facing a foolish objection of another kind, namely the objection against the Muslims that their qiblah was not fixed and settled.
The earlier objection was answered by saying that all directions belong to God (s.w.t.), and that no direction has an essential designation as being the qiblah rather than other directions.
The earlier answer led to the objections after it taking a dangerous, deviant turn and another shape; they became wrongful objections stirred up by quarrelsomeness. But the firmness of the Muslims in their religion, and their steadfastness in its truth, which their monotheistic awe drove, was the cause of the clarity of their stance on the unobjective, wrongful objections stirred up around them.
The completion of the divine blessing on the Muslims in the matter of the qiblah, and His (s.w.t.) guiding them to the straight path in this important and sensitive matter, which led as a result to their deliverance from the shackles of bewilderment from which they used to suffer because of the objections that the faithless and the polytheists kept raising, was among the other great results of the divine decision issued on changing the qiblah.
2:151 — Even as We sent to you an apostle from among yourselves
Even as We sent to you an apostle from among yourselves, who recites to you Our signs and purifies you, and teaches you the Book and wisdom, and teaches you what you did not know.
The message of the Prophet of Islam (s.a.w.) is the answered prayer of Abraham (a.s.). A prophet’s being a stranger, not known among people, and the difference of nation, race and language between the prophet and society, all count among the factors that prevent the message of that prophet from being accepted by people.
God (s.w.t.) removed all those matters with regard to the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.); for he was from among the people and in their midst. In this respect he had what counts as the full measure for his being accepted and for his legitimacy in the eyes of society.
Reciting the divine verses to people, purifying their souls, teaching them the Book (that is, the body of the laws and decrees of religion), teaching wisdom (that is, theoretical and practical knowledge resting on demonstration, which contains secrets about what was and what was not, and what must be and what need not be, in the fields of beliefs, morals, jurisprudence and rights), and likewise teaching the sciences that cannot be reached except by way of revelation: all of this is among the aims of the message of the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.). And society’s attention to these various programmes prepares the ground for accepting the message from him.
Recitation is reading accompanied by teaching and showing the way to travel; or it is a kind of reading that draws the listener to reflect on what he hears. His (s.w.t.) speech is a sign of His existence, mighty and majestic is He; and for this reason it is expressed here as “the verses” (literally, “the signs”).
Purification (tazkiyah) is the final cause and the original aim of the sending of the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.); as for teaching, it is the means of reaching that aim.
As for putting purification before teaching in mention in this verse, it is only from the point of view of the aim coming before the means, and the final cause coming before it in its existence in knowledge, and so on. And in the setting of bestowing favour, hastening to mention it has a better benefit.
The putting first just mentioned also has another aim, namely pointing out that he (s.a.w.) must first purify people of the filth of polytheism, so that after that comes the stage of teaching these people the rulings and teachings of religion. This is in addition to the fact that the art of putting purification first and teaching later in different places shows that each of these two is in itself one of His (s.w.t.) blessings on the servants, which calls for a special thanks as well.
Revelation and prophethood are two matters always necessary for human societies. For the teachings that the messengers teach human societies are teachings that it is necessary to reach, on the one hand; and on the other, there is no way to reach those necessary teachings except revelation, whether at the level of individual reason or at the level of collective reason.
2:152 — Remember Me and I will remember you
Remember Me and I will remember you, and thank Me, and do not be ungrateful to Me.
After counting a number of His blessings, and proceeding from His special kindness, God (s.w.t.) shows that kindness in the form of a covenant between Himself and others, saying: “Remember Me, and I will be one who remembers you.”
The word “Remember Me” is general, including all blessings, outward and inward. But taking into account the difference of people’s ranks and degrees, each one’s understanding of it differs. For this reason many hold that it is a call to “remembering the blessing”; as for those who say that it is “remembering Him (s.w.t.)” Himself, they are rare individuals.
It is impossible to suppose ignorance, forgetting or pure heedlessness in Him (s.w.t.). On this basis, what is meant by His remembering the human being is a special, honouring remembrance, which is a cause of insight of the heart.
What the positive interdependence among the remembrances requires, and the negative interdependence among the different causes of forgetting, is that the human being be in constant remembrance of the Truth (s.w.t.).
Thanking God (s.w.t.) is an instance of remembering Him, mighty and majestic is He. But since this remembrance in the noble verse is set against ingratitude, it means that its particular meaning is intended. So, according to this noble verse, the One thanked by the human being must be God (s.w.t.) in all states; and so one must keep far from ingratitude and denial towards Him. Bringing together the command to remember and to thank, on the one hand, and the forbidding of ingratitude, on the other, in this noble verse, conveys the necessity of constant remembrance of Him (s.w.t.).
2:153 — O you who have faith! Take recourse in patience and prayer
O you who have faith! Take recourse in patience and prayer; indeed Allah is with the patient.
Help and aid are in His (s.w.t.) hand, not in the hand of another; there is no helper and none whose help is sought but Him, majestic and exalted is He. But sending help from Him (s.w.t.) is something conditional, not absolute. The condition that completes the receptivity for help to come down is obeying the divine commands, especially patience and prayer. So whoever desires divine help must be patient and must establish prayer.
Patience is among the effective factors in resisting the enemy, repelling him and lifting him away, just as it is so at the stage of the victory of Islam and the defeat of unbelief. And since prayer is the pillar of religion, from which nothing of the matters of religion is separate, it is not permitted to abandon it in any state; just as patience will not bring the human being to good without prayer.
The result: in striving (jihād) and defence, there must be patience alongside prayer, whose role is not limited to its being the pillar of religion, but goes beyond that to its being the pillar of the stability of society, its independence, its freedom and its life of dignity. These two matters (patience and prayer) are the two means for the help and aid of the Creator. It is natural that what is given to patience in the noble verse under discussion is a greater importance than the importance of prayer; for that is required by the particular nature of the case, namely the effect of patience and its direct role in bearing problems and hardships and getting past them successfully.
Patience and prayer complete the receptivity of the receiver so that He (s.w.t.) may come down into it; they are not the helpers and the active ones whose help is sought. This is why the mention of patience and prayer is directed as the means of seeking help, in His (s.w.t.) words “Seek help through patience and prayer”, not as those from whom help is sought.
Patience and prayer each help the other in fighting the inner and the outer enemy. Just as a degree of patience helps prayer in the field of patience in obedience, the strongest degree of patience comes about only by way of prayer, which makes the anxious human being patient.
God (s.w.t.) has a “withness” (maʿiyyah) with regard to all beings; but that withness, with regard to the patient human being, is of a special kind, all kindness and mercy. And it is natural that the One who bestows the principle of this perfection of being is also God (s.w.t.).
2:154 — Do not call those who were slain in Allah’s way ‘dead.’ No
Do not call those who were slain in Allah’s way ‘dead.’ No, they are living, but you are not aware.
The belief that the martyr has a better and more pleasant life is among the important factors of steadfastness and victory. In the early days of Islam, because the principle of the life of the barzakh was not self-evident, or not stated to everyone, a group of those who believed in the Return held that martyrdom is a kind of deprivation; just as the hypocrites and the faithless held, on the basis of the mistaken notion they had of death, that martyrdom is a ceasing to exist and throwing oneself into destruction. This mistaken notion made the hypocrites refuse fighting and confrontation, so as to be among the people who hold back, postpone and delay.
Death is a passing away and a moving from one mode of existence to another, not a ceasing, a non-existence and a vanishing. As for the secret of His (s.w.t.) expressing some of the faithless and the hypocrites, in some places, as dead, it is that death may sometimes mean the passing away of the human effect, not the passing away of existence. So applying it to the faithless is only with regard to the absence of any effect of theirs. On this basis, the forbidding in this noble verse of using the expression “dead” for the martyrs serves to remove the illusion of passing away and non-existence with regard to the martyr, on the one hand, and to ward off the illusion that the effect of the martyrs passes away, on the other. For the martyr is alive and a source of effect: he makes the people of this world, and those he left behind among his relatives and those who know him, alert and enlightened; just as he brings to the barzakh repose and ease.
All people are alive after death, and the meaning of death is not annihilation and passing away for any person. But the secret in forbidding the illusion of death with regard to the martyrs, as it is imagined with regard to others, is the reminder that these martyrs have a life better and more beautiful than the life of others.
The earlier illusion was answered in other noble verses, by setting out the special, good provision the martyr has with Him (s.w.t.).
Most people do not perceive the life of the martyr and do not attend to it. But this never means that understanding the life of the martyr is impossible, or that it is not possible to attend to it.
2:155 — We will surely test you with a measure of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth
We will surely test you with a measure of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth, lives, and fruits; and give good news to the patient
Trial, testing and examination play a part in the flourishing of the human being’s capacities and powers and their opening up, and bring his capacities and perfections out from potentiality into actuality. Trials differ with the difference of capacities and perfections. In the trial by hardships and problems mentioned in the noble verse, the patient are known; and in the test by ease and plenty of living, the thankful are distinguished.
The emphasis of the noble verse under discussion, and of others like it, on the certainty of testing and trial is a witness that no individual escapes divine trial.
The setting of the noble verse is trial before victory and help. What is meant by the trial by fear and hunger mentioned in it is the trial by lack of security and lack of security on the economic side.
What is meant by the “loss” (naqṣ) mentioned in the noble verse is something other than non-existence; for a person may be tried by not having wealth at all, just as he may be tried by its being lessened in this respect. As for the expression “with something” (bi-shayʾin) in the noble verse, it is a pointer to smallness, and to the fact that trials are temporary, passing matters.
Being killed in the way of God (s.w.t.), and likewise ordinary death, count among the instances of “loss of lives”.
What is meant by fruits in “loss of fruits” is broader than those benefits being agricultural, or…: it brings together economic benefits and emotional benefits, such as children.
Not mentioning what the glad tidings given to the patient relate to is only by way of guiding to its importance and its breadth; for the reward of the patient cannot be counted.
2:156 — —those who, when an affliction visits them
—those who, when an affliction visits them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah and to Him do we indeed return.’
The description of the constantly patient is that they say in events and afflictions: “Our Origin and our place of return are God.” This saying is their belief and their character in all the particulars and details of their lives.
The other descriptions of the patient also rest on this basic description. For it is this belief that supplies the patient with strength for steadfastness, uprightness and balance in all the states and circumstances they pass through, and makes them come out of all the tests they face with their heads held high.
The patient human being who believes in this original logic of tawḥīd (the Origin and the Return are God) is a human being who is thankful for the divine blessings, and is not seized by conceit when blessed; just as he is patient with the afflictions he faces in his life, without losing hope and falling into despair and anxiety. He seeks grace from Him (s.w.t.) in all his deeds, and always waits for the result of those deeds.
As for the one who is not patient, he is not like this. For he believes he deserves the blessing when blessed; so you find him glad and joyful, insolent, wanton and arrogant when blessed. For, according to his belief, it came only through what he did. But if affliction strikes him, he falls into deviations of thought that appear even on his tongue, attributing that to bad luck, falling into the pit of despair and unbelief.
2:157 — It is they who receive the blessings of their Lord and [His] mercy
It is they who receive the blessings of their Lord and [His] mercy, and it is they who are the [rightly] guided.
His (s.w.t.) special kindness to the patient is the coming down of divine blessings (ṣalawāt) and mercy upon them, and, as a result, their being guided.
God (s.w.t.) blesses the faithful to bring them out of darkness into light. As for the patient, He, mighty and majestic is He, repeats the blessings on them, so that by this the special, varied and many-sided manifestation of the blessed name “the Tender” (al-Ḥannān) is realised with regard to these people. Blessings are a special grace whose effect is the feeling of light and purity within the human being.
His (s.w.t.) mercy is vast and all-embracing; but His special mercy is only for the patient faithful: the reward that flows upon these people with the light necessary for the continuance and permanence of the manifestation of the Tender.
The patient human being is one who is guided, and being guided is the higher guidance, which means reaching the goal, from His (s.w.t.) guidance in the order of creation (takwīnī), not merely the guidance in the order of law (tashrīʿī), from which all can benefit.
2:158 — Indeed Safa and Marwah are among Allah’s sacraments
Indeed Safa and Marwah are among Allah’s sacraments. So whoever makes hajj to the House, or performs the ‘umrah, there is no sin upon him to circuit between them. Should anyone do good of his own accord, then Allah is indeed appreciative, all-knowing.
The idol worshippers set up on the two hills of al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah two idols called Isāf (Asāf) and Nāʾilah, and they used to run between them. This made some of the Muslims avoid running between these two hills. To remove the illusion that running between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah was forbidden because of the presence of these two idols, God (s.w.t.) said: “Indeed al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah are among the sacred signs of God.”
Al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah, like the Kaʿbah, Mount ʿArafāt and the like, are among the sacred signs (shaʿāʾir) and markers laid down by legislation; God has made them means and signs for worshipping Him. Running between these two hills is part of the rites of the ḥajj and the ʿumrah. In this binding ruling, God (s.w.t.) used the expression “there is no blame” (lā junāḥa), which shows that it is not forbidden, and which includes both the permissible and the obligatory, in order to remove the illusion of some Muslims that running between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah was forbidden.
“Doing good of one’s own accord” (taṭawwuʿ) means willing obedience, and it is not limited to the supererogatory and the recommended. Likewise the word “good” (khayran): it does not look specifically at the recommended, but includes the obligatory too. So everyone who does good, whether obligatory or recommended, willingly and gladly, God (s.w.t.) will reward with a fine recompense.
Running between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah is good; but it has no independent preference in itself, and it is described as good only because it takes place within the ḥajj and the ʿumrah, which are both good.
God (s.w.t.) ended the verse by describing Himself as “Appreciative, All-knowing”, to urge the human being and encourage him to perform the obligatory and recommended acts he is called to perform.
2:159–160 — Indeed those who conceal what We have sent down of manifest proofs and guidance
(159) Indeed those who conceal what We have sent down of manifest proofs and guidance, after We have clarified it in the Book for mankind—they shall be cursed by Allah and cursed by the cursers, (160) except such as repent, make amends, and clarify—those I shall pardon, and I am the All-clement, the All-merciful.
God has made clear the true religion, and what is bound up with it, in the best way and the most complete form. The angels, who are God’s trustees over His revelation, conveyed this religion to the prophets; and since the prophets are free of miserliness, they delivered the trust and concealed nothing of it. And since the true religion has been made clear by God and His messengers, it is obligatory for the scholars to teach and obligatory for the ignorant to learn. Whoever falls short in this field, and so conceals a right among the rights of God (s.w.t.), or a knowledge among His sciences, whether an individual or a group, is included in God’s anger, and everything of blame and curse in the verse mentioned applies to him.
Concealing some rulings and teachings, if it is bound up with one of the principles of religion, is a barrier and an obstacle to reaching religion. From here, the end of the one who conceals this matter leads to unbelief: the curse reaches him in this world and the Hereafter, and his recompense is to abide forever in the punishment on the Day of Resurrection.
And since religion contains clear proofs and guidance, concealing the truth is at one time a concealing of the clear proofs and at another a concealing of divine guidance. The clear proofs are the principles of belief, their foundations and their proofs; and the guidance is the rulings of the branches and the rules bound up with conduct and action. The rulings of the branches (the guidance) rest on the clear proofs and the principles of belief.
God (s.w.t.) has made clear in His Books, the Torah, the Gospel and the Qur’an, for all people. From here there is no particularity, neither by way of a condition nor by way of an obstacle that prevents divine guidance from spreading. This is evidence that guidance includes all humanity, and that part of religion, which is the rulings, is not particular to ordinary people, while another part of it, which is the teachings and proofs, is particular to the elite. Even though the elite and the select benefit from teachings of revelation that ordinary people do not reach by their natural, common understanding.
The one who conceals the truth is cursed; and the divine curse is not a mere word, but an act of His: a driving away from the enclosure of divine nearness, and a putting far from and depriving of the mercy of the Truth. For the curse strikes the human heart, making it hard and leaving its owner forsaken. The curse from God is a punishment that strikes the one cursed, whether an individual or a group. The circle of the cursing and of those who curse widens to include others than God, such as some of His creatures; for His (s.w.t.) creatures are the channels of His mercy and also the channels of His anger.
Repentance from concealment, confounding and the like is only by making clear, by putting right what followed from the concealment, of confounding and casting into doubt, by guiding those who went astray because of the concealment or the confounding, and by declaring the falsehood of what was said or written in the name of the truth and giving it the lie. From here it is known that repentance from the sin of concealment reaches the utmost difficulty, and it is part of the greater striving (al-jihād al-akbar). For this reason those who repent of this act deserve a divine attention and a special mercy.
2:161–162 — Indeed those who turn faithless and die while they are faithless—it is they on whom shall…
(161) Indeed those who turn faithless and die while they are faithless—it is they on whom shall be the curse of Allah, the angels and all mankind. (162) They will remain in it [forever] and their punishment shall not be lightened, nor will they be granted any respite.
Those who disbelieved and died in the creed of unbelief deserve, according to the noble verse, the curse of God, the angels and all people. The continuance of the curse upon these people is one of the effects of their persisting in unbelief and their obstinacy until death came upon them; and their remaining in unbelief is only by their own ill choice and their abandoning repentance. This group of people is immersed in the everlasting curse: the punishment will not be lightened for them, nor will they be given respite.
The divine curse is an attribute of God’s (s.w.t.) act, and punishment is one of the instances of the curse. And since the divine curse and the curse of those who curse are constant and continuous, the one cursed burns constantly in God’s anger. So whoever has the constant curse descend upon him is in a state of constant burning in the fire, even if he does not feel this while he is in this world, because of his immersion in it and his intoxication with its goods.
Those who abide forever in the fire: the punishment will not be lightened for them, neither from within nor from without; there is no factor of lightening, whether from within themselves or from another. Nor are they given respite to think about deliverance from the punishment; for besides the burning of their bodies, their faculty of thought burns with spiritual punishment.
2:163 — Your god is the One God; there is no god except Him
Your god is the One God; there is no god except Him, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful.
Your object of worship is One: He is one Lord and one Creator, and He is the Necessary Being. The oneness of God, blessed and exalted is He, which, like His existence, is His very Essence, is something absolute: it has no limit and no number.
One of the proofs establishing tawḥīd is the witness of divinity and its indication of oneness. For divinity does not agree or accord with multiplicity, so there is no room at all for the existence of another god alongside the absolutely Subduer (s.w.t.). Another proof of the tawḥīd of divinity and lordship is the oneness of order, which tells of the oneness of the one who orders: the oneness of order establishes the oneness of the one who orders. This is on the basis of the proof of “mutual hindrance” (al-tamānuʿ). It is explained as follows: the multiplicity of gods leads to the corruption of the world; and the consequent (the corruption of the world) is false, so the antecedent (the multiplicity of gods) is like it in falsehood.
The good word “There is no god but God” is not made up of two separate propositions, so that one could say that one of them is negative, containing the denial of gods, and the other affirmative, establishing the existence of God. Rather, it is one proposition, whose meaning is: the primordial nature (fiṭrah) accepts no god other than God.
“God” (ilāh) is the one who deserves servanthood; and the sentence “There is no god but God” means that worship is not fitting for anyone other than God. The meaning of this word is not bound up with essential necessity, creatorship and the like; nor is what is intended by it the denial of necessary existence to other than God. And if that were what was intended by it, it would not indicate tawḥīd in worship. For the polytheists, besides the faith of some of them in tawḥīd in necessary existence and tawḥīd in creatorship, did not believe that idols were necessary beings. And if the meaning of the word “There is no god but God” were the denial of necessary existence to other than God, it would not be possible to object, on the basis of this verse, that the polytheists believe in its content and do not oppose what it indicates, even though they believe that their idols and images deserve worship.
God’s oneness and His being unique are the source of divine mercy, and not a source of subjugation and overpowering. For God (s.w.t.) is All-merciful (Raḥmān) by Essence and Compassionate (Raḥīm) originally; His being All-merciful is the proof of His deserving divinity, and the restriction of mercy to Him is the support for the restriction of divinity to Him, blessed and exalted is He.
2:164 — Indeed in the creation of the heavens and the earth
Indeed in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, and the ships that sail at sea with profit to men, and the water that Allah sends down from the sky—with which He revives the earth after its death, and scatters therein every kind of animal—and the changing of the winds, and the clouds disposed between the sky and the earth, there are surely signs for a people who exercise their reason.
A “sign” (āyah) in the Qur’an means a divine mark by which the existence of God and His attributes are argued for. Everything mentioned in the noble verse is among the divine signs, and it is a complete and independent proof for establishing the existence of God (s.w.t.) and His attributes. The middle term shared among these proofs is that everything whose existence is not its very essence is in need of the Origin.
The first proof mentioned in this verse is the creation of the heavens and the earth. It is a great divine sign and a proof that points to the tawḥīd of God (s.w.t.). For no one other than God created the world; and since the Creator is the Lord, and the Lord is the one worshipped, God the One is the one worshipped.
All the phenomena in the world are divine signs, such that their essences are signs of God’s Essence, and their attributes are also signs of His attributes.
On this basis, the principle of night and the principle of day, which arise from the relation of the earth to the sky, and their alternation in the seasons of the year, are two of the divine signs. And the alternation of night and day has different aspects and meanings, each of which is one of the divine signs.
Each of night and day is a successor (khalīfah) to the other that comes after it. God (s.w.t.) alone is the One who set this movement going and took this order upon Himself; He alone ordered the opposites of darkness and light by which night and day are born.
At first sight, a ship ought to sink in water, considering its weight. But God (s.w.t.) created water, wood and air according to physical equations that allow the ship to float on the face of the water and not sink into the depths, but run on the surface of the water. This is among the signs of God to which this blessed verse points.
Rain is among the manifestations of divine mercy, and in some cases it is also among the manifestations of anger. Not only is the principle of water coming down from the sky a sign pointing to the Creator (s.w.t.); rather, the manner of its coming down, in the form of drops that come down gently and sink into the depths of the earth, forming what is known as groundwater, is also a sign pointing to God, to His oneness, and to His other attributes.
God (s.w.t.) brings the dead earth to life with the rain that comes down from the sky. The verse conveys that describing the earth with death and life is real, not figurative. It is a description of the state of the thing described (the earth), not a description of the state of what is connected with it, as the scholars of rhetoric put it; that is, it is not a description of fields, gardens and crops attributed figuratively to the earth. This understanding is supported by the verse’s arguing from the phenomenon of bringing the earth to life after its death for the Return, which means that death and life are a description of the earth itself.
Just as creation is a proof and a sign pointing to His (s.w.t.) existence, the spreading of creatures and moving beasts on the earth is also a proof. The winds sent from God (s.w.t.) bear the task of fertilising the clouds and the crops, the task of gathering the clouds and moving them from place to place, and driving them to a dead land in need of water through thirst; just as they are the means by which ships move with sails. With these tasks they perform, and their being subjected before Him (s.w.t.), they point to His (s.w.t.) existence. This great sign (the winds), despite the blessings and effects that follow from it, is at the same time a means for the punishment and vengeance to come down on some people, and a warning of ill omen for them.
The clouds are among the signs and marks mentioned in this verse. God, blessed and exalted is He, subjected them and led them without force or compulsion to the straight path, and brought them to their particular aim. Among the marks, too, is the subjection of the heavy clouds and their being held in open space without pillars, as well as their running and moving in the air.
The things and phenomena mentioned, in all their developments, their roles and the particular features of their existence, are marks and proofs of the existence of God (s.w.t.); and they are signs for people of intellect. Whoever reflects on them far from bigotry and prejudged rulings will be guided through them to the existence of God, His All-mercifulness and His oneness.
Supposing the existence of a thing in the world of creation that is not a sign of the Truth, even from one aspect, is an impossible supposition; for such a supposition entails that thing’s not existing, or its being a proof and a sign of an existent other than God, and both consequences are impossible.
Considering that the whole world of creation points to God (s.w.t.), even the human being’s thought is a mark and a divine sign. For whoever worships other than God is astray. Things being signs pointing to the existence of God (s.w.t.) is essential to them, from their very essence; and it is like the constituent differentia (al-faṣl al-muqawwim) of the identity of contingent beings. In this respect there is no difference between the miracle and all other things. Whoever does not see God in things is blind of insight. There is no difference in this matter between ordinary people and the elite, even though the responsibility of the elite and of people of intellect is greater than the responsibility of others, because of how greatly they benefit from the signs of God and how greatly people benefit from them.
2:165 — Among the people are those who set up compeers besides Allah
Among the people are those who set up compeers besides Allah, loving them as if loving Allah—but the faithful have a more ardent love for Allah—though the wrongdoers will see, when they sight the punishment, that power, altogether, belongs to Allah, and that Allah is severe in punishment.
The human being is a needy being. And since he cannot make himself self-sufficient, and cannot meet his needs by himself, he has no way before him but to love the person or the thing that meets his need. On this basis, every outward following is the result of an inward inclination. And every inward inclination in a thinking, choosing being like the human being is the result of his outlook in thought; this is in cases where the inward inclination does not rest on mere nature or instinct, but rests on the outlook of the primordial nature (fiṭrah) and on the divine inspiration of wickedness and Godwariness.
If a person removes a harm from another person, or helps to secure a benefit for him, the eyes of this person remain fixed on these two matters in the future, even if the thing referred to happened in the past. And sometimes obedience and love for a person or a thing come about merely through knowing that it is marked by a perfection among the perfections; and obedience and following follow from this love. From here, what is meant by the polytheists taking equals (andād) to God (s.w.t.) is their obeying these equals as a result of their love for them; and so you see them giving to these equals what ought to be purely for God.
On the basis of what has passed, no human being can live without love. But there is a difference between people in this matter: the rational human being regards God (s.w.t.) as the only beloved who meets his need, on the basis of rational and transmitted proof. As for the one who is not rational, he is unable to perceive the oneness of God (s.w.t.) and that He is able to fulfil his needs, because he does not attend to the proofs that point to God’s oneness and His being marked by all kinds of perfection. That is why he takes refuge in the stranger: that is, idols, rabbis, monks and the like.
The polytheists expect the idols to perform the most important works of rational beings, so they love them as they love God; that is, they love the idols as they love God, and give them the love they give to God (s.w.t.). But their love for the idols does not reach the love of the friends of God for God; for the intensity of love is usually bound up with the greatness of the beloved, on the one hand, and with the depth of the lover’s knowledge, on the other. That is why the foundations of the monotheists’ love and its principles were firm in their basis, while the motives of the polytheists’ love were weak and imaginary. The polytheists worship the idols out of fear and greed, not on the basis of freedom and rational love. And if they worshipped them out of love, their love would be like all other forms of love that spring from false worldly greed, not rational and true love; for they have not reached the stage of rational maturity, since their thought has not gone beyond estimation and imagination, and they have not reached the level of the intellect.
As for the source of the inclination towards other than God, it is the illusion of its power. And since other than God is not powerful, nor strong independently, it is not loved nor obeyed. And since strength and power belong to God alone, no one other than Him deserves the love of worship.
The reality that power in its entirety belongs to God (s.w.t.) is perceived by the rational human being through proof, and perceived by the knower (ʿārif) through witnessing; and the faithless witness it after this world, at the punishment and the penalty, to the extent that words fall short of encompassing the greatness of the punishment and the severity of the divine penalty. For strength belongs to God alone, and His punishment is very hard and cannot be described; just as the regret and remorse of the polytheists do not admit of description.
It may be possible to perceive the reality that all power belongs to God, to witness it and to understand it, in the abode of this world. For just as the passengers of a ship exposed to the danger of drowning turn to God and perceive His existence truly, far from the possibilities of lying or error that arise from the lying of the report or of the one who reports, since there is no report and no reporter between them and God, but a direct perception that reaches the utmost in clarity and precision; perhaps what happens in states like these is an awakening of the primordial nature deposited in the human being.
As for the Resurrection, it is the vessel of the manifestation of the reality mentioned, not the vessel of its coming about. This reality is clear to the rational person in this world; as for the ignorant, he is delayed in understanding it until the Day of Resurrection.
2:166 — When those who were followed will disown the followers
When those who were followed will disown the followers, and they will sight the punishment while all their means of recourse will be cut off,
The polytheists take others than God as equals and partners to God, since they imagine that they are people of power. The equals work to call their followers to obedience, drawing on worldly means. But on the Day of Resurrection every bond of the means and instruments that the equals and those followed misuse in this world comes undone; for example, affection, pledges, and all relations and means of social ties. All these matters will be shown on the Day of Resurrection to be weak in themselves, and the hands of their owners will fall short of reaching the means of enslaving others. For this reason each of these complains of the other. This disowning tells of the state of real enmity between the parties to these relations; this enmity appears between them, and one separates from the other.
As for the cutting off of the means at the Resurrection, it means that the matter that is clear today to the monotheists will become clear to the polytheists on that day. The matter is that the order mentioned is in the hand of God (s.w.t.), that He is the Creator of all causes and means, and that the channels of grace go back to Him. There, worldly means such as selling, hiring, partnership and the like have no existence. These means are not existent but ineffective; rather, they have no share in existence. And if they were existent, they would have an effect; for the order of causality and causation is not suspended on the Day of Resurrection.
However things may be, the Resurrection is the vessel of the manifestation of the absolute power of God (s.w.t.), and it is the vessel of the manifestation of the helplessness of others. These two matters (the absolute power of God (s.w.t.) and the helplessness of others) are different: the first is affirmative and the second negative. Each of them is bound up with the other, and each of them establishes the other by implication.
2:167 — and when the followers will say
and when the followers will say, ‘Had there been another turn for us, we would disown them as they disown us [now]!’ Thus shall Allah show them their deeds as regrets for themselves, and they shall not leave the Fire.
Love of other than God, with the aim of gaining power and might, is false and lying love. And since within every false and lying love there is a state of enmity towards the truth and towards sincerity, on the Day of Resurrection, which is the vessel of the manifestation of truth and sincerity, enmity towards truth and sincerity appears, and false and lying love turns into enmity towards truth and sincerity. For within every false and lying follower there is a state of aversion, cutting off and disowning of truth and sincerity.
When the relation between the follower and the followed is cut off, the followers wish to return to this world, to announce their disowning of those they followed, as these disowned them, and as these say to them on that day: We have no might and no strength today, so we cannot benefit you or harm you.
On the Day of Resurrection, deeds are presented to their owners, and every person sees the inner reality of his deed. Deeds that seemed a lying “joy” in this world appear in the form of a true “sorrow” (ḥasrah), and that is when no real relation remains between the followers and those followed. And since ugly deeds in this world are the cause of sorrow at the Return, the name of the effect has been given to the cause. These sorrows include several matters, the most prominent of which are: leaving the path of right and sincerity; leaving true worship and being deprived of obedience and its reward; being afflicted with forbidden and ugly deeds and with sin and its punishment; being deprived of degrees of Paradise that they could have reached but did not; not being gathered with the friends of God; and being deprived of many other blessings in the everlasting Paradise.
At the Resurrection all past deeds become present to the human being and witnessed by him. On that day no person doubts that any deed he performed in this world is truly his. As for the secret of deeds appearing at the Resurrection in various forms, it is that intention and settled traits (malakāt) are the basis of deeds; and these intentions and qualities of the soul are what give deeds their shape and form.
The most important matter put forward in this verse after the matter of the embodiment of deeds is the everlasting abiding of the faithless and the corrupt in the fire. It is clear that everlasting abiding is not for all of them; for those who abide forever in Hell are the faithless sunk in unbelief and the hypocrites in whose hearts hypocrisy has taken root.
On the basis of the noble verse, the followers and those followed among the people of falsehood and evil are judged not to come out of the fire: “and they will not come out of the fire.” This verse does not convey, as is clear, that everlasting abiding in Hell is limited to this group of people; but it is in any case an explicit text on the continuance of their punishment, and a refutation of their belief that the punishment will be cut off.
It is explained as follows: the spirit is something immaterial and fixed, not open to perishing. From here, if unbelief, hypocrisy and disobedience, whose inner reality is the fire, turn into firm qualities and settled traits of the spirit, then that makes their owner abide forever in the fire and in the punishment. Beliefs, qualities, settled traits of the soul and deeds of the heart are things that are unlimited, fixed, and outside the circle of time. A fixed and lasting deed is followed by a fixed punishment and a lasting effect. This concept is expressed by the technical term “everlasting through another” (al-abadī bi-al-ghayr).
2:168 — O mankind! Eat of what is lawful and pure in the earth
O mankind! Eat of what is lawful and pure in the earth, and do not follow in Satan’s steps. Indeed, he is your manifest enemy.
The command to eat in this noble verse indicates permission; it does not indicate that eating and making use are obligatory.
It is understood from the partitive “of” (min) in His words “of what is in the earth” that not everything God created in the earth may be made use of by all people, even though God created things for the sake of the human being and to benefit him at the level of the general order.
Whether eating a thing is lawful or forbidden turns at times on the eating, and at times on the food itself. This noble verse, in which permission is defined by the lawful and good, looks at whether the food is lawful or forbidden, not at whether eating is lawful or forbidden. Lawful, good food is every permitted food that suits one’s nature; that is, pure, and desirable according to the human primordial nature (fiṭrah).
His words “in the earth” do not include the earth itself. And supposing they did include it, the description “good” takes things such as dust and stones out of the circle of what may lawfully be eaten.
The criterion of things being lawful or forbidden is the command and prohibition of the holy Lawgiver. From here, excess and shortfall in forbidding and permitting, and attributing that to God, is an innovation (bidʿah) and a fabrication against God (s.w.t.).
Eating what is forbidden counts as following Satan. For eating what is forbidden, like innovation, is among the footsteps of Satan, considering that the first of the means he used in leading astray was “eating”. The footsteps of Satan are not limited to innovation; rather, he has footsteps in every forbidden thing, and God (s.w.t.) has mentioned a number of them in other verses. It is understood from the forbidding of following the footsteps of Satan, coming after the setting out of divine permission, that everything that stands against the ruling of God is the ruling of Satan.
Satan’s enmity towards the human being is clear and plain. He does not even refrain from showing this enmity and declaring it. For that reason he works his enmity in many ways, some of them alongside others, and towards many people. He lies in wait for the human being to cut off the road for humanity, and spends all his effort to take the human being’s reins in his hand; but he does not always reach what he wants, and his authority remains limited to those who enter his guardianship (wilāyah). As for the true believers, they are safe from his authority.
2:169 — He only prompts you to [commit] evil and indecent acts
He only prompts you to [commit] evil and indecent acts, and that you attribute to Allah what you do not know.
The first of the footsteps of Satan in leading the human being astray, after the stage of instilling ignorance in knowledge and casting in false ideas, is practical whispering (waswasah). After that comes the role of “commanding”, which completes the whispering and multiplies it. At the stage of commanding, too, his first step, or his first command, is commanding evil, and then indecency. After that the command reaches legislating and innovation. In other words: first rebellion in knowledge against the law of the Lawgiver, and then the audacity of legislating, by issuing laws.
Satan’s affair and his station is commanding what is ugly and what is vile; he has no affair and nothing more important than this work. And those who take his commands are people in general.
Satan’s commanding evil and what is worse than it (that is, indecency) stands only against God’s (s.w.t.) commanding justice and what is better than it (that is, doing good).
Whispering and commanding, as is the case with “enmity”, are attributed at one time to the self and at another to Satan. But the whisperer and the first one who commands is Satan. As for the deluded and deceived self of the disobedient human being, it is the direct and near agent, and the one who carries out the plans and commands of Satan.
After Satan pushes the human being towards evil and indecency, and after making him used to ignorant speech, he pushes him gradually to bring in these false ideas, which rest only on ignorance, into belief, morals and laws, and to attribute them to God as an innovation and a fabrication against Him. Attributing to God what there is no evidence for attributing to Him is an innovation, a legislating and an aggression against the rights of God; and it is among the major sins, which may reach the level of unbelief.
2:170 — When they are told, ‘Follow what Allah has sent down,’ they say
When they are told, ‘Follow what Allah has sent down,’ they say, ‘No, We will follow what we have found our fathers following.’ What, even if their fathers neither exercised their reason nor were guided?!
Following the way of the forefathers is the answer shared by the polytheists and by those who oppose the heavenly messages obstinately. They used to arm themselves with this answer when the prophets (a.s.) called them to follow “what God has sent down”; that is, to follow what agrees with rational and transmitted proofs.
Many of the ways of the forefathers do not rest on revelation and do not lean on the intellect. Someone who founds his beliefs on bases not supported by rational proof, nor confirmed by transmitted evidence, cannot be counted as rational. From here, reviving the way of such forefathers is nothing but answering the call of Satan.
The misguided faithless are neither people of rational inquiry nor people of transmitted guidance; just as they were not people who follow rational, guided people. The basic principle from which they set out is the necessity of following the way of those who came before, not following the truth and being guided by its guidance. And since their criterion was the way of their forefathers, they would follow their forefathers step by step, even if those forefathers understood nothing and were not guided. The secret of the polytheists’ being afflicted with obstinate opposition to the divine religion is their abandoning research and inquiry, and their shortcoming, negligence or slackness in what is bound up with the sources of knowledge, its principles and its foundations.
The human being, in order to travel the path of guidance, needs to follow the commands of a being who is marked by guidance by essence, and who does not rely on a guidance that comes to him from outside; just as the human being in his creation needs a being whose existence is His very Essence and not drawn from another. On this basis, demonstrative reason or transmitted evidence is the only path recognised for establishing the necessity of following; and it is the method by which one knows how far the way of the one followed accords with the way of those who are guided by essence. So deviating from the path of reason and revelation, and standing against them because of doubts in knowledge or appetites in practice, is foolishness and error.
2:171 — The parable of the faithless is that of someone who shouts after that which does not hear…
The parable of the faithless is that of someone who shouts after that which does not hear [anything] except a call and cry: deaf, dumb, and blind, they do not exercise their reason.
The Noble Qur’an likens the faithless to animals in the pattern of their life, their way of thinking and their living. What came in the previous verse, the caller, the one called, the call of those who call to the truth, and the negative answer of those called, has been likened by the following image: the likeness of the one who calls the faithless to follow revelation is like the shepherd who shouts at sheep and cattle. According to this likeness, which turns on the heading of “unbelief”, the one who calls to the truth is likened to the shepherd, and the faithless are likened to a flock of sheep. That is, just as sheep and cattle do not perceive and do not understand the shepherd’s words and his shouting when he drives the flock and guides it to pasture, or when he warns the flock of danger, but hear only the bare sound, likewise the faithless, like those animals, do not understand what they hear, and nothing of the call reaches their ears but the sound. In other words: they hear the words of the prophets (a.s.), and do not reflect even a little on the content of their words and their message, so as to understand it and perceive it. And so the lack of harmony between the answer of these people and the call of the prophets (a.s.) shows that they do not perceive the meaning of the words of the one who calls to the truth, even though they hear the words and the sounds.
So the faithless “do not understand”, for they have been deprived of the powers of perception, such as the powers of hearing and sight, which have a central role in understanding for which there is no substitute: “deaf, dumb, blind”. On this basis, their not understanding and not perceiving is not because of obscurity or ambiguity in the call of the one who calls to the truth, but because of the shortcoming of the faithless who are called, in understanding; so they understand only vaguely. And the shortcoming of understanding, blindness and deafness were not matters with which they were afflicted from the outset; rather, they were a punishment for them for their ill choice, and for their deliberate rebellion against the commands of God and His guidance, and their not benefiting from respite after respite.
It is possible that the meaning of the noble verse is without supposing an omitted governing noun, that is, the word “caller”, in the following way: the likeness of the faithless is like the ignorant one who claims; who is not only not understood, but does not understand the meaning of what he shouts and says.
According to the mystical (ʿirfānī) conception, it is not far-fetched that the one who shouts is the faithless person himself, and the one shouted at is the idols. Although this possibility does not fit, except on that mystical basis, with the exception of the call and the cry: “except a call and a cry”.
2:172 — O you who have faith! Eat of the good things We have provided you
O you who have faith! Eat of the good things We have provided you, and thank Allah, if it is Him that you worship.
The good command from God (s.w.t.), who is free of every fault, to eat pure and good things, is to set out that these things are permitted, and a preliminary to making known some forbidden things, and to uncovering what the rabbis and the monks concealed of the divine verses and rulings. This verse, and the verses that follow it, forbid the excess and shortfall of the ignorant, that is, forbidding the lawful and making the forbidden lawful.
What God created in the order of creation (takwīnī) and placed in the hands of people is God’s provision. Nothing of it can be forbidden, attributing this innovated ruling to God (s.w.t.). Indeed, there is a difference and a distinction between provision in the order of creation and provision in the order of law (tashrīʿī). The human being is permitted to benefit only from what is good and lawful of what God created. This lawful and good is his legitimate provision; and not everything is provision, nor whatever comes by any way at all, even if it is a forbidden way. The understood sense of the verse, according to what its outward meaning indicates, is the forbidding of foul things and the prohibition of eating them.
The ruling on benefiting from good things is general to all people, and not particular to the faithful, whether they are just or transgressors. But those who benefit from this ruling in a sound way are those who seek what is pure and lawful of provision.
Thanking the Bestower of blessing is obligatory on the one blessed. Thanking God, the Master of blessings, is one of the necessary consequences of worship; indeed, it is in itself worship. It can also be said that worshipping God is the complete instance of thanking Him (s.w.t.). And since worshipping other than God is not permitted, and the one who is sincere and monotheistic in his worship ought to be sincere and monotheistic in his thanks, harmony between the forms of worship is realised, and the human being reaches the tawḥīd of worship in its most splendid forms.
2:173 — He has forbidden you only carrion
He has forbidden you only carrion, blood, the flesh of the swine, and that which has been offered to other than Allah. But should someone be compelled, without being rebellious or transgressive, there shall be no sin upon him. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.
The authority to make lawful and to forbid belongs to God (s.w.t.) alone. For this reason, forbidden things are known only through the explanation of revelation, as is the case with good things; even though certain reason, which is a legal proof, is sufficient with regard to some of them.
This verse sets out some of the forbidden things that were forbidden in general; and these are other than what God forbade by way of punishment, or for any other reason. The restriction mentioned in the verse is a relative and comparative restriction, not an absolute and essential one. And the forbidding of these things, as is the case with all of God’s rulings, is bound up with interests and benefits, hidden or well known.
Carrion is among the impurities, and eating it is forbidden. Likewise every animal not slaughtered according to the law is ruled to be carrion as far as being forbidden is concerned. There is no difference in the forbidding of eating between carrion and what was not slaughtered according to the law, which the people of the Ignorance did not count as carrion; and whatever of what was not slaughtered according to the law is taken out of the generality of this verse is taken out only by a particular proof.
Eating blood is forbidden, not injecting it into the body. And there is no difference between kinds of blood in the forbidding of eating, even if the various kinds of blood differ in all their other rulings. Indeed, it is permitted to eat the blood left over in the slaughtered animal; that is, the blood that remains in the parts of the slaughtered animal after slaughter and is consumed when it is used.
The pig is among the things forbidden in themselves. Mentioning specifically that its flesh is forbidden in the verse is because the main benefit from the pig lies in its flesh; otherwise it is, like carrion, forbidden in all its parts.
An animal whose flesh is lawful, if the name of other than God is mentioned over it at slaughter, or it is slaughtered “for other than God”, is not slaughtered according to the law; and slaughtering it in this way is an instance of transgression (fisq), and it has the ruling of carrion as far as being forbidden to eat is concerned.
Eating forbidden meat is lawful in a state of necessity, coercion and compulsion. Another exception comes upon this exception from the prohibition: that the necessity and the falling into it must not be caused by deviation, or be the result of falling into sin. The more precise exception from this exception is the exception specifically of the rebel (bāghī) and the transgressor (ʿādī) among those in necessity. On the basis of this last exception, whoever rebels against his Imam, and likewise the highway robber and the like, if he is forced by hunger and fear of death to eat carrion, or anything else forbidden, in order to preserve his life, it is not permitted for him to eat it; and if he eats it, it is counted against him as a sin, even though his legal and personal obligation is to preserve his life as long as he is able to do so. In other words: eating is forbidden to him, and preserving his life is obligatory on him; but the obligation to preserve life by way of committing the lighter of the two forbidden things does not lift the prohibition and the deserving of punishment.
As for the one in necessity without ill choice (not a rebel and not a transgressor), not only is carrion and other forbidden things lawful for him; rather, eating is obligatory on him by way of the obligation to preserve a life that is held sacred, and the prohibition and the punishment are lifted from him; and his ruling is not that of prohibition and divine pardon. God (s.w.t.) is the source of prohibition, and in His hand is lifting it in some particular states; and that is because the prohibition of some things is legislative (tashrīʿī), not in the order of creation (takwīnī).
2:174 — Indeed those who conceal what Allah has sent down of the Book and sell it for a paltry…
Indeed those who conceal what Allah has sent down of the Book and sell it for a paltry gain—they do not take in, into their bellies, [anything] except fire, and Allah shall not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection, nor shall He purify them, and there is a painful punishment for them.
Whoever alters the Islamic teachings and the Book of God (s.w.t.), by changing its verses or interpreting the Qur’an according to his own desires, inclinations and wishes, with the aim of hiding the truth from people, so that he makes religion a means of reaching his aim: his destiny is loss and painful punishment.
There is no doubt that the one who conceals the truth, who sold his everlasting and precious religion, which cannot be priced, and bought in exchange for it a base, passing good at a paltry price, is the real loser and the one cheated in this deal, even if he took the whole of this world as the price for it. For nothing remains for the one who sells religion but the fire that fills his belly and his insides. And as a result of that, God (s.w.t.) on the Day of Resurrection will not speak to those who sell and trade in religion, ever, and will not purify them; for they deprived themselves, by their ill choice, of His success-giving, His grace and His blessings.
As for the final ruling and the certain punishment for those who conceal the truth and sell religion, it is the painful punishment. Between the evil beginning, embodied in their eating the fire in their bellies, and the wretched end, embodied in their outward burning, they spend their whole life in a continuous fire.
2:175 — They are the ones who bought error for guidance
They are the ones who bought error for guidance, and punishment for pardon: how patient of them to face the Fire!
The secret of the loss of those who conceal the truth and trade in religion, in their dealings in belief and morals and in the practical sides of life, is their loss of knowledge, reason, guidance and forgiveness because of their love of this world and their passion for it. They exchanged those things for ignorance and foolishness, misguidance and punishment: they exchanged guidance for misguidance and forgiveness for punishment. And just as we know that guidance is the source of forgiveness and misguidance is the source of punishment, the source of guidance is knowledge and reason, and the source of misguidance is ignorance and foolishness. For that reason, the order of mention matches the natural order and resembles the basis of that dealing.
That dealing, in which the buyer is not known, and which it is emphasised takes place within the framework of exchange and barter between religion and unbelief, takes place within the bounds of the human self, not outside it. For the corrupt person, in that dealing and in an ugly way, sells his identity, created with the divine primordial nature (fiṭrah), which was a factor of his guidance; and so he loses the very capital. In this way he is deprived of any path or means to make up what he lost, and to trade a second time on new conditions. This is the result of one who sold himself to the fire, so that its master and its identity became unable to resist it and unable to be rid of it and escape it.
What is meant by being patient in the fire and bearing it is that the fire is embodied in the inner reality of sin, and that the corrupt person who persists in committing it lives continuously in the fire. And since the human being is unable to bear the fire and its pains, the question that arises here is: how can a person be patient in bearing the fire? It is not far-fetched that the sentence “How patient they are in the fire!” bears the meaning of wonder; for there is nothing rationally objectionable in God’s wondering, established at the level of act.
2:176 — That is so because Allah has sent down the Book with the truth
That is so because Allah has sent down the Book with the truth, and those who differ about the Book are surely in extreme defiance.
God (s.w.t.) sent down the heavenly Books in the mould of truth. So turning away from this truth, and objecting to this sincerity, opposing it or resisting it (since there is nothing after truth and sincerity) has grave consequences, such as being sentenced to eat the fire, being deprived of legislative speaking (from God), losing purification, and deserving painful punishment.
The heavenly Books are a criterion and a scale for testing different ideas and motives. For that reason one must not play with this scale, so that difference in points of view may disappear, a limit may be set to differences of thought among individual human beings, and all may unite according to the aim sought in sending down those Books.
So whoever objects to the very truth of the heavenly Books, or differs about some of their matters, is far from the truth, because of the vast distance between the bounds of truth and the bounds of falsehood. Then he will not be able to draw near to the truth or its people. This kind of deep, unsettled difference of heart and belief is called “a far schism” (shiqāq baʿīd), because of the hardship and lack of stability this difference causes its owner.
2:177 — Piety is not to turn your faces to the east or the west
Piety is not to turn your faces to the east or the west; rather, piety is [personified by] those who have faith in Allah and the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets, and who give their wealth, for the love of Him, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveller and the beggar, and for [the freeing of] the slaves, and maintain the prayer and give the zakat, and those who fulfill their covenants, when they pledge themselves, and those who are patient in stress and distress, and in the heat of battle. They are the ones who are true [to their covenant], and it is they who are the Godwary.
After the qiblah of the Muslims was changed from Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) to the noble Kaʿbah, the People of the Book, who used to see good in the Muslims’ facing Jerusalem, began to wound the Muslims with words and claims against them, saying: “You have deprived yourselves of a great righteousness and good!” God (s.w.t.) answered them, denying that righteousness is limited to turning towards the east (the qiblah of the Christians) or the west (the qiblah of the Jews of the Ḥijāz before it was abrogated), and denying the principle of righteousness and any necessary tie between it and turning to this direction or that after abrogation. For the prayer (the prayer of the Muslims) towards Jerusalem before it was abrogated was righteousness on the whole, not in every respect.
Righteousness is the meeting point of true beliefs with morals and righteous deeds; and the People of the Book lacked such basic elements of this comprehensive righteousness, which rests on perfections in belief, in morals and in action. Here the opening of the noble verse must be explained, since the Noble Qur’an points to this righteous matter by the word “righteousness” (al-birr) in its broad sense.
Righteousness is not something purely conventional, nor something essential to things; rather, it is among external matters, in many cases that follow hidden interests and particular circumstances. For this reason the one ultimately responsible for setting it out is God (s.w.t.). By defining righteousness, God (s.w.t.) wanted the righteous (al-abrār) to be known, so that the landmarks of “righteousness” and its meanings would become clear through mentioning the personalities known in this field, encouraging people and making them eager to do the thing itself; for the aim of the Noble Qur’an is the upbringing of individuals, not the definition of concepts.
“Righteousness in belief” means faith in the Origin and the Return, in all the angels, and in all the heavenly Books and the prophets. “Righteousness in righteous action” is a person’s spending of the wealth he loves, by way of keeping ties of kinship, and in the way of the orphans who have no wealth and no provider, the needy, the wayfarer, those who ask, and the freeing of slaves. There is no doubt that spending wealth out of love of God and in His way is among the highest ranks of righteousness in this field, not that this should be out of love for wealth and spending it with the aim of hypocrisy, or out of love of being described with generosity and liberality, or out of love for the one who spends wealth on his kin.
Righteousness in righteous action also includes establishing prayer and giving zakāt. Reaching the pillars mentioned calls for patience with painful events and bearing hardships. For this reason God (s.w.t.) mentioned “righteousness in character” alongside the other virtues; for righteousness in character includes keeping one’s word and patience in adversity and affliction, and this is, without doubt, among the important matters of morals. It is among the traits of the righteous to keep all their covenants with the Creator and with creation, including covenants in belief, in morals and in trade and the like; and among their qualities is patience with hardships and bearing every harm and burden.
Among the qualities of the righteous, too, is their truthfulness in all fields and matters, in belief, morals and deeds. God (s.w.t.) Himself has confirmed the Godwariness of these people and their truthfulness, saying: “Those are the ones who are truthful, and those are the Godwary.” That means that the righteous are marked by all the perfections of belief and morals and by righteous deeds; and for this reason this group deserved all the honours granted to the patient and the Godwary.
2:178 — O you who have faith! Retribution is prescribed for you regarding the slain
O you who have faith! Retribution is prescribed for you regarding the slain: freeman for freeman, slave for slave, and female for female. But if one is granted any extenuation by his brother, let the follow up [for the blood-money] be honourable, and let the payment to him be with kindness. That is a remission from your Lord and a mercy; and should anyone transgress after that, there shall be a painful punishment for him.
God (s.w.t.) has laid down, for the family of the one killed (or the murdered person) without right, an enforceable right against his killer, embodied in retaliation (qiṣāṣ), which is the name given to punishment or equal recompense. In the age of the Ignorance, powerful individuals or tribes were not content with killing the killer in return for their dead; rather, they would take revenge for their dead many times over. Then Islam came and abolished that unjust custom, and laid down a scale for justice and equality, and commanded the guardian of the blood not to go to excess in revenge, and not to go beyond the measure of the crime, the recompense or the revenge.
As for what concerns retaliation, there are many matters and issues bound up with this subject: such as the parties who demand the right, the ruling and the preliminaries of exacting the right and applying the rulings, and so on. All of them turn on the axis of the guardian of the blood, the killer, the government and the Islamic society. For that reason it was necessary to set down the law and set out the legal ruling of retaliation. With regard to the killer, it is a decree; as for the guardians of the blood, the matter is a permission. On this basis, the killer is obliged to hand himself over to the guardians of the blood, and to comply and submit to the command of retaliation if the heirs of the one killed demand it. But the guardians of the blood are not compelled to apply retaliation; rather, they have a choice between applying retaliation and pardon or a financial settlement.
In retaliation, equality between the killer and the one killed is a condition, in what concerns freedom, slavery, womanhood and the like; and it is possible to draw on other proofs if equality between the killer and the one killed in other descriptions and conditions is sought, such as Islam.
Leaving aside whether the one killed was killed wrongfully or rightfully, the killer is not stripped of his Islam or his faith if he did not hold the very principle of killing to be lawful, or if he did not kill the one killed because of his faith; in this way the latter remains keeping his brotherhood in religion within society.
If the guardian of the blood gives up retaliation and pardons the killer, regarding him as his brother in religion, or makes a settlement with him by what is right (what is good and recognised by the law), or they agree on paying blood money (diyah), then the offender, or the killer who undertakes to pay the blood money, must follow what is right, or do good, without delay or putting off in paying the blood money.
The leadership of social affairs and the guidance of collective matters is entrusted to rational and transmitted mercy. The lightening and the divine mercy in retaliation are embodied in God (s.w.t.) leaving the door open for pardon, settlement and agreement on blood money.
But any turning away from the rulings of retaliation, or going to excess in applying it, or harassing the offender or attacking him after the guardian of the blood has pardoned him, or after the two parties have agreed on blood money and the right of retaliation has fallen, counts as wrongdoing; and whoever does that, God has prepared for him a painful punishment. On the other hand, if the offender persists in attacking others after being pardoned, and repeats the killing, a painful punishment likewise awaits him on the Day of Resurrection. It should be pointed out that the painful punishment of the Hereafter does not conflict with applying retaliation, carrying out a legal penalty (ḥadd), imposing blood money and the like.
2:179 — There is life for you in retribution
There is life for you in retribution, O you who possess intellects! Maybe you will be Godwary!
The law of retaliation, which rests on justice and wisdom, appears outwardly as an obligation (taklīf) and a binding, imposed ruling. But its content includes nothing but “the truth”, and it is only in the interest of all, including the killer, even though its final result for him is death. The reality of the matter and its inner side point to the existence of a unique, effective factor of life for society and its members, under the shade of faith in retaliation and acting on its principles. From here, applying retaliation in cases like these, which threaten the security and stability of society, is a fixed principle in which pardon or lightening is counted a branch. When there is a clash between pardon and retaliation, or between blood money and retaliation, retaliation must be preferred and favoured, setting aside the external causes and grounds for preference. Added to this, the right of pardon should not be applied in a way that harms the general life of society.
Those possessed of understanding (ulū al-albāb) and those of complete intellect, who look into the depths and inner sides of things and distinguish ignorance from seduction and deception, and who have no room to exchange the better for the baser, and whose Godwariness is the kernel of others’ Godwariness: these know that it is not right to let mercy, pardon and emotional, sentimental equality prevail over justice, fairness and reasonable wisdom; or to regard justice and fairness, and acting on the basis of truth, by applying retaliation and executing the corrupt fighter, as hardness and violence, or as something worn out, an old-fashioned ruling, or something fallen away.
The Godwariness put forward in the subject of retaliation is a social and political matter alongside its being a matter of worship. It is not purely Godwariness; for the society that applies retaliation will certainly be protected from the shedding of blood and the killing of innocents without right, in addition to the spiritual benefits that arise from that. Such a society is established on the rules of justice and fairness.
2:180 — Prescribed for you, when death approaches any of you and he leaves behind any property
Prescribed for you, when death approaches any of you and he leaves behind any property, is that he make a bequest for his parents and relatives, in an honourable manner—an obligation on the Godwary.
In the Ignorance, women, and likewise children and all who were unable to fight, were deprived of inheritance. So this noble verse came down to take the place of that hateful custom of the Ignorance. Some expressions of this verse about the bequest (waṣiyyah) being obligatory go back to the early years of the appearance of Islam, even though the bequest is sometimes obligatory in our present age.
The bequest being recommended is not limited to a particular period of a person’s life. As for the qualification in this verse, a person feeling despair of remaining alive and the well-known sense of death being near, which is the time when the causes and grounds of the collapse of health are present and the signs of death and the non-certain indications pointing to it appear, such as old age, general weakness that strikes the body, and incurable illnesses: this qualification is one that holds in most cases.
In the noble verse above, God (s.w.t.) called good, lawful wealth in general, not specifically the wealth that exists, “good” (khayr). This expression points clearly to the necessity that wealth be earned by lawful ways and used in sound spending that leads to good and blessing.
The Islamic law has made the Muslim individual eager to do good to his kin in his life, and to make bequests for them after his death, and has counted that among the preferable acts and the praised and desired deeds. “The relatives” (al-aqrabīn) is a word that includes all kin. As for mentioning the parents (father and mother) separately alongside the relatives, it is to set out the importance of these two persons in the matter of the bequest; for their inheriting does not conflict with the bequest being permitted for them, with something of the wealth. That is because it is possible for any of them to give up his right, which is a third of the wealth, to some of the heirs, alongside his share of the inheritance that he obtains. Likewise it is possible to give the class barred from inheritance something of the third mentioned by the bequest. For that reason there are different ways and many methods according to the persons and circumstances. But the bequest must be just, as necessity requires the root of the wealth to be good and lawful. In all cases the bequest and its content must not go outside the framework of what is right (maʿrūf); that is, it must be valid and recognised on the scale of the law by a valid rational or transmitted proof.
The bequest is a divine right that lies on the shoulders of the Godwary among people. There is no doubt that His words “on the Godwary” point to the greatness of the matter of the bequest and its importance, such that none are granted success in reaching that lofty station but the people of Godwariness.
2:181 — And should anyone alter it after hearing it
And should anyone alter it after hearing it, its sin shall indeed lie on those who alter it. Indeed Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing.
It is not permitted, indeed it is forbidden, to change a bequest or alter it, whether by partly or wholly leaving it aside, or by changing its subject; and whether that is by concealing the testimony or by preventing the wealth from reaching the one to whom the bequest was made; and whether that is on the part of the executor or any other person who knows of the bequest in one way or another; except in a bequest that contains something unjust, or something that leads to sin. As for the sin of altering and changing, it is on the one who alters or changes, who is answerable for all of that.
In this matter God (s.w.t.) has warned the one who hears the text of the bequest of the one making it, with what is right (maʿrūf) and the one who knows of it; and likewise the one who hears the text of the bequest of the one making it with what is wrong, and the one who alters or changes it; adding that He knows the words and deeds of all these persons.
2:182 — But should someone, fearing deviance or sin on the testator’s behalf
But should someone, fearing deviance or sin on the testator’s behalf, set things right between them, there is no sin upon him. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.
If the bequest of the one making it would lead to what is wrong, or to deviation from the path of truth, or if it contains what may be counted a sin or a cause of something bad happening in the future, then it is permitted for the guardians of the deceased to make sound changes with the aim of putting it right. There is no sin on whoever changes such an unjust bequest, or one that causes discord and corruption; rather, putting right such bequests counts as a collective obligation (wājib kifāʾī), and the one who changes them obtains divine forgiveness and mercy. And if the one making the bequest is himself granted success in changing this bequest after writing it, he too will be included in forgiveness and mercy.
2:183–184 — O you who have faith! Prescribed for you is fasting as it was prescribed for those who…
(183) O you who have faith! Prescribed for you is fasting as it was prescribed for those who were before you, so that you may be Godwary. (184) That for known days. But should any of you be sick or on a journey, let it be a [similar] number of other days. Those who find it straining shall be liable to atonement by feeding a needy person. Should anyone do good of his own accord, that is better for him, and to fast is better for you, should you know.
Fasting appears outwardly to be a hard and tiring obligation. For that reason God (s.w.t.) pointed to it with various expressions, among them that fasting was laid down for earlier peoples. Then He set out some of the benefits of fasting, making plain that it is obligatory by the declarative sentence and the verbal noun, in His words: “O you who believe”. This shows the importance of the subject of fasting and the honouring of those addressed, with expressions that stir the emotions and encourage taking on responsibility; and that you (O Muslims), if you are truly believers in God, then your obeying this divine ruling is the measure of your faith.
It is clear that fasting was laid down and obligatory for earlier communities too. The state of the Muslims in the principle of this obligation, that is, fasting being obligatory on the whole, and not in its particular features, its length or its manner, resembles the state of others among other communities or earlier prophets. This statement (likening the principle of the legislation of fasting, and comparing it with the process of legislation, not likening kinds of fasting to one another) comes to urge fasting, to encourage it, to keep the self company and to put the mind at ease.
There is no doubt that the aim of fasting is Godwariness, and it is the cause of attaining Godwariness in worship. The use of the word “perhaps” (laʿalla) in this verse goes back to the level of act; and it is the benefit the travellers on the way gain from it, and the beginning of acting on it and the possibility of continuing in it. It does not go back to God’s (s.w.t.) knowledge, nor to fasting being necessarily joined to Godwariness and bound up with it.
The sick person and the traveller are excepted, under particular conditions, from the general ruling that fasting is obligatory, so that they must make it up at another time when their excuses are lifted. What the noble verse sets out on this subject is only like a firm decree (ʿazīmah), not a concession (rukhṣah). On this basis, the fasting of the sick person or the traveller (with particular conditions) is not permitted; rather, the initial, particular ruling for them is fasting on other days. As for the expression that fasting is “better”, the matter is not bound up with fasting in a state of illness or travel.
As for those who must spend and use up all their strength in order to be able to fast, such as the very old and those afflicted with some illnesses like the illness of thirst, and those who cannot fast because it is hard for them and burdens them with what they cannot bear: such people may pay the ransom (fidyah) (or the expiation) instead of fasting, even though their fasting is better if it is with their consent and their desire, and better for them than paying the expiation. The obligation to make up the fast on other days has been lifted from those who can fast only with great hardship, and has been replaced by giving the expiation and financial compensation, which is feeding the needy, and which is counted as obligatory for them by way of an optional obligation (al-wājib al-takhyīrī).
We all know the good effects and many blessings of fasting. A person can be sure of those benefits and good effects that fasting contains in the light of faith in revelation, of listening to its verses, and of analysing all those advantages in a deep, scholarly analysis.
2:185 — The month of Ramadan is one in which the Quran was sent down as guidance to mankind
The month of Ramadan is one in which the Quran was sent down as guidance to mankind, with manifest proofs of guidance and the Criterion. So let those of you who witness it fast [in] it, and as for someone who is sick or on a journey, let it be a [similar] number of other days. Allah desires ease for you, and He does not desire hardship for you, and so that you may complete the number and magnify Allah for guiding you, and that you may give thanks.
What is meant by His words “a counted number of days”, in which fasting is obligatory, is the month of Ramaḍān. The greatness of this noble month shows in the coming down of the one reality and the gathered existence, complete, immaterial, simple and undivided, of the Noble Qur’an, which came down all at once. This Qur’an is the root of the Qur’an that came down, and is independent of it in its rank of existence: lofty and wise, free of detail, protected and kept safe from gradualness and change, written in the Mother of the Book (umm al-kitāb), the Preserved Tablet (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ) and the Hidden Book (al-kitāb al-maknūn). The greatest Messenger (s.a.w.) received the essence of the existence of the Noble Qur’an all at once, with complete clarity and perception, on the Night of Power (laylat al-qadr), at his ascent and rising up to the station of the Mother of the Book. This is multiplicity mixed with unity and summary knowledge in the very midst of detailed disclosure. But naturally, the descriptions of circumstance and the particular aims bound up with the Noble Qur’an depend on its coming down to earth and its existence within people’s reach.
Only the detailed existence of the Noble Qur’an came down gradually; but its coming down by manifestation (tajallī) (not by removal, tajāfī) is what preserves its comprehensiveness and the unity that binds its degrees of existence.
In the blessed month of Ramaḍān, in which the greatest of the signs of lordship came down, by which we mean the Noble Qur’an, the greatest of the signs of worship also became an obligation laid on the Islamic community, namely fasting. There is no doubt that there is a special fit between the coming down of the Noble Qur’an in this noble month and fasting being obligatory in it. Fasting being obligatory in the month in which the Noble Qur’an came down may be like a pointer to the fact that fasting and abstaining in this month on God’s behalf means the opening of the wide gates of the Unseen to the one who fasts. As for mentioning the coming down of the Noble Qur’an among the verses of fasting, it counts as a cause for creating the greatest incentive for those under obligation to benefit from their fasting in this month, out of longing to perceive the teachings and rulings of the Qur’an, of which fasting counts as one; quite apart from setting out the greatness of fasting in terms of the time particularly set for it. But there is no doubt that fasting itself contains many blessings; and perhaps the central place that fell to fasting is only to set out the virtue of the month of Ramaḍān. For it becomes clear to us from this noble verse that the month of Ramaḍān was honoured by the coming down of the Qur’an in it and by fasting being obligatory in it at the same time.
As for the final cause of sending down the glorious Qur’an, it is summed up in guiding people; even though this heavenly Book is the real guide in act for the Godwary, who alone are able to benefit from what this Book contains of the secrets and the summary of all the heavenly Books and the other sciences, and which brings together the good of this world and the Hereafter. It is a Qur’an that contains all the proofs and the special witnesses of guidance; it is the criterion between truth and falsehood; it is the guide for all people, their ordinary members and their elite; it is a clear proof of the kind of special guidance (not mere guidance); and for some of it it is like a support, and for some a witness to the support. And since this heavenly Book contains all the criteria of testing and comparing between truth and falsehood, it has the right to be called the Criterion (al-furqān), that is, what separates and distinguishes between truth and falsehood; and also because it contains separate and independent sūrahs and verses.
After the previous verses set forth fitting preliminaries and preparations for setting out the ruling of the fast of the sick, the traveller, the aged and the helpless, this noble verse came to set out the decisive ruling on fasting for two groups of people, saying: fasting is obligatory with the arrival of the month of Ramaḍān and the knowledge of its beginning for every adult, sane person who is neither sick nor travelling. God (s.w.t.) wants ease for people and does not want hardship for them; for that reason, mighty and majestic is He, He does not burden them with what they cannot bear. And since the basic pillars of the branches of jurisprudence rest on ease, not hardship, both the sick person and the traveller who witness the month are excepted from the general ruling of the obligatory fast in the month of Ramaḍān, if fasting is hard for them in one way or another, together with the obligation of making up the days on which they did not fast later. It is understood from making up being obligatory, as a consequence of illness and travel only in this verse, that breaking the fast for the traveller falls within the framework of a firm decree (ʿazīmah), not a concession (rukhṣah).
As for what is meant by completing the number in His words “and that you complete the number”, it may mean completing the principle of the month as thirty days or by sighting the new moon; or completing the days that passed without fasting because of illness or travel, by making up what equals them; or completing the five pillars of Islam, of which fasting is counted one.
In fasting and abstaining from all desires of the self there shows the acknowledgement of God’s (s.w.t.) greatness in His sending down the Noble Qur’an to guide His servants and their acknowledging their servanthood to Him; in addition to its being a clear indication of the greatness of the One who commands fasting, who is God (s.w.t.). Pure and sincere fasting may be like thanks and sincerity towards God, mighty and majestic is He, as is the case with any other worship. Indeed, thanking God is because He bestowed on His servants guidance and separated, by His Book, clearly between truth and falsehood.
From the theological side, magnifying (takbīr) in His words “and that you magnify God” means the obligation to venerate Him (s.w.t.), considering that He is the master of the blessing of existence, the blessing of teaching the Book and wisdom, and the blessing of purification through His prophets (a.s.). From the point of view of jurisprudence, magnifying is recommended after the four prayers at the beginning of the month of Shawwāl.
2:186 — When My servants ask you about Me
When My servants ask you about Me, [tell them that] I am indeed nearmost. I answer the supplicant’s call when he calls Me. So let them respond to Me, and let them have faith in Me, so that they may fare rightly.
The Most Noble Prophet (s.a.w.) was asked about Lordship and about how God Almighty governs, oversees, is present and answers supplication (not about the origin of existence and its creation), and about the way in which He (s.w.t.) responds to needs. God (s.w.t.) answered them in words full of tenderness and mercy, affirming to them that in supplication there is no intermediary at all between creation and Him. He said to them: I am near to every servant who calls on Me alone (who does not call on another than Me, nor on Me and another than Me at the same time); I will answer him and will not disappoint his hope.
This response to that petitionary question — with its emphasis on the nearness of God (s.w.t.) to all without exception; its statement that this nearness abides and is constant and that the answering is swift; and then its statement that God Almighty’s answering of supplication is renewed and continuous — indicates beyond any doubt the kindness of God (s.w.t.) and His care for all His creatures.
God (s.w.t.), the One who answers, will without doubt respond, as a favour, to sincere supplication that accords with [the servant’s] good. For supplication is a kind of worship, and no worship that is free of taints will remain without reward; besides this, not responding to supplication would disappoint the supplicant’s hope and the seeker’s expectation of continuing in supplication and of the promise of answering. Neglect and disregard do not befit the absolutely Wise, just as breaking a promise does not befit the One and Only God. For this reason no supplication will remain without answer and reward, even if [what it asks for] is contrary to wisdom.
Here the call of God (s.w.t.) ought to be answered with submission and surrender to Him and with faith in Him, so that the ground needed for the other requirements of faith may be provided. For supplication to be responded to, the supplicant, too, must be near to God (s.w.t.). To bring about this nearness, God Almighty has commanded that His request be heeded, that His commands be obeyed and that there be faith in Him; and this includes all the ethical, juristic and legal commands, after faith in the basic principles. Accordingly, Godwariness (taqwā) is nothing other than responding to God Almighty and having faith in Him and in His power to fulfil the requests and requirements of supplication. The supplication of the supplicants, and their ranks, also differ according to the differing degrees and ranks of nearness, answering, response and faith.
On the Summary page · Read the commentary on 2:186 →
2:187 — You are permitted on the night of the fast to go into your wives
You are permitted on the night of the fast to go into your wives: they are a garment for you, and you are a garment for them. Allah knew that you would betray yourselves, so He pardoned you and excused you. So now consort with them and seek what Allah has ordained for you, and eat and drink until the white streak becomes manifest to you from the dark streak at the crack of dawn. Then complete the fast until nightfall, and do not consort with them while you dwell in confinement in the mosques. These are Allah’s bounds, so do not approach them. Thus does Allah clarify His signs for mankind so that they may be Godwary.
This noble verse contains another part of the rulings of fasting, such as making it lawful to approach one’s wives on the night before the day on which a person intends to fast. Alongside the permission and the making lawful, God (s.w.t.) pointed to a moral and social point, namely that each of the two spouses is like a garment for the other. For that reason a person ought, before entering into marriage, to examine carefully and look into the choice of a suitable spouse, so that each of them may afterwards become a garment that covers the faults of the other, and each may guard the reputation of the other and be eager for his or her interests. Through the firm relation that binds the two spouses, they close the way before every person who intends to set them against each other, and keep him from slipping into their private life; in addition to securing their intimate enjoyment between them.
As for the reason for making it lawful to approach wives on the nights of the blessed month of Ramaḍān, it is that God, mighty and majestic is He, knew that if this were not made lawful and permitted for those who fast, some who had grown used to disobedience and betrayal might fall into what is forbidden, commit forbidden things, and carry burdens beyond their strength. So God (s.w.t.) made clear in this verse that He forgave those who used to betray themselves and commit disobedience, accepted their repentance and pardoned what had passed from them. Then He made easy for them their duty in the future, so that they could avail themselves of the permission God (s.w.t.) granted them, and lifted hardship from them in approaching what God made lawful to them, and in obtaining its fruit, which is having children and preserving the human race by way of good and lawful marriage. For the main aim of marriage is forming the family and securing rest, peace of mind and happiness for each of husband and wife, and the continuation of descent; not passing enjoyment and temporary pleasure and quenching the fire of desires. Those pleasures are only like the toil of the man and the woman and their wage, not the aim sought from their marriage.
Eating and drinking are permitted on the nights of fasting, as is the case in the blessed month of Ramaḍān, until the first rising of the true dawn, which is the time at which the blackness of night separates from the light of morning. On this basis, the possibility of seeing and distinguishing the white thread from the black thread is counted as a measure for the rising of the day and the beginning of its coming out. “The white thread” is a figure for the dawn, the white band on the horizon that lights up the eastern side completely; and “the black thread” is a figure for the night, pointing to the black band that lies above the white thread and that also separates gradually on the eastern side.
Fasting is nothing but a light, simple, complete, single and continuous act, which begins with the rising of the true dawn and ends with the coming on of the darkness of night. For that reason any intention or act that could harm this continuous process may lead to the whole fast being invalidated; in addition to the fact that fasting is an act by which nearness and worship are intended. And since its end and its completion are at the beginning of the night, it is not permitted for the one fasting to intend to fast the night too; for by the mere coming on of the night the fast ends of necessity.
What is forbidden for the person in retreat (iʿtikāf) in the mosque, as is the case for the one fasting, is intercourse (not mere touching), with a simple difference: in the case of fasting the prohibition is bound up with the fast itself; as for the state of retreat, it holds through the hours of the retreat and has no connection with fasting. Alongside the prohibition, because of being present in the mosque and the obligation of fasting in a state of retreat, intercourse makes the retreat lose its validity; for what is understood from the prohibition in the verse is intercourse in the state of retreat. And retreat is permitted in any congregational mosque in which the establishing of congregational prayer is valid.
All the faithful ought to respect the divine limits and rulings that include fasting and retreat, and not go beyond them or cause them to be broken and attacked; for that leads to the voiding of deeds and to manifest loss. Changing any of God’s rulings, whether in the field of legislation and law-making or in the arena of action and applying the law, is a going beyond and an attack on the divine limits. On this basis, a person’s bringing a particular period of time, deliberately, within the limit of fasting when it is not part of its legal limit is counted as a clear going beyond and transgression.
God (s.w.t.) has set out clearly, with nothing confusing in it, the rest of His verses, as He did with the rulings of fasting and retreat, so that the believer may be able to reach Godwariness in the light of those verses.
2:188 — Do not eat up your wealth among yourselves wrongfully
Do not eat up your wealth among yourselves wrongfully, nor proffer it to the judges in order to eat up a part of the people’s wealth sinfully, while you know [that it is immoral to do so].
Islam forbade consuming the wealth of others without right, or by forbidden ways, after it had specified the right of every person to dispose of his wealth. The wealth of others must be preserved by ordering the financial relations between individuals on the basis of truthfulness and justice, and by not permitting any attack on the rights of others. Indeed, all must regard an attack on the rights of others as meaning an attack on their own rights; for they all make up the elements and members of one community.
Disposing of the wealth of others depends on right and truthfulness, and any method that goes outside the framework of right and truthfulness is apt to fall within the list of consuming wealth by falsehood and without right. There are many examples and witnesses of consuming wealth by falsehood and disposing of the rights of others without a right aspect; but among the clearest of those examples, and the most prominent of them, are: bribery, usurpation, attacking the wealth of orphans and squandering it, as well as usury (ribā) and giving short measure.
The material bribe is a sum of wealth that a person gives, for example, to the judge or the ruler so that the latter will make the truth appear false and the falsehood appear true, in the hope of taking control of the wealth of others and their rights by falsehood. The bribe can be likened to letting a bucket down into a cesspit and drawing out mud and filth: the briber, by paying the bribe to the judge, is as if drawing out the false, defiled ruling with mud and filth from the inner self of this polluted judge, smearing his outward and his inward with what is unfitting; and this is the utmost of foolishness and madness. In this way the unjust judge pretends to blindness and loss of sight and insight in specifying the wronged and the just, or in distinguishing the wrongdoer from the just; and all that is because of the bribe paid to him.
The wealth a person obtains in this way is counted as usurped wealth; for the outward ruling of the judge or the ruler is not marked by truth and reality. Through an individual’s going to the ruler or the judge who takes bribes, giving him the bribe and receiving forbidden wealth, many disobediences and sins are committed. The briber, for example, commits the greatest of sins, such as swearing falsely, bringing false witnesses, threatening or tempting opponents, drawing the attention of the ruler and alerting and tempting him, attacking the rights of individuals and usurping their wealth and adding it to his own wealth; and finally, making himself a strange member and element within the Islamic society and the Islamic community as a whole.
There is no doubt that the likes of these, who commit disobediences and acts while knowing they are ugly, forbidden and false, deserve God’s (s.w.t.) rebuke and reproach. For committing disobedience deliberately and knowingly is among the most hideous and vile of deeds.
2:189 — They question you concerning the new moons
They question you concerning the new moons. Say, ‘They are timekeeping signs for the people and [for the sake of] hajj.’ It is not piety that you enter houses from their rear; rather, piety is [personified by] one who is Godwary, and enter houses from their doors and be wary of Allah, so that you may be felicitous.
There is no doubt that the lesson in reflecting on the creation of the heavens and the earth, and looking at their landmarks and forms, is uncovering the secrets of creation and the causes of the signs those worlds contain. God (s.w.t.) has called the human being to observe all those wonders, as the Noble Qur’an has provided the ground for deep research in natural matters and what lies beyond nature, opening before him the doors of inquiry and study, starting from experimental reason and reaching abstract reason. And although some of the questions put by the unlettered among people were complex questions that called for careful thought in their answers, the Qur’anic answer was convincing and sufficient every time.
The Messenger of God (s.a.w.) was often asked about the wisdom in the appearance of the new moon at the start of every lunar month, the benefit of the changing shapes of the moon from crescent to full moon to the dark of the moon, and likewise how God’s (s.w.t.) management of all this works, and the lesson in it.
We all know that the basic axis of the wise Qur’an, whether in setting out on the spot or through realised or anticipated answers, is teaching the Book and wisdom, with the aim of deepening sound teachings and purifying souls, to reach the righteous goal. For this reason the greatest Messenger (s.a.w.) was commanded to answer the question mentioned and to say that the aim of the shapes of the moon and their changes over the days of the month is the natural and general calendar, enabling people to know times (the beginning, middle and end of the month), making known and teaching them how to count months and years, and ordering the times of worship, dealings and other matters, so that by this they can manage their works and their accounts; in addition to ordering the programme of the ḥajj. However things may be, the final cause, and how the heavenly bodies are arranged and ordered, may be something else, and a subject entirely different from the subject of the calendar and the like. But the direct benefit that concerns the human being, which can be made clear in a few simple words, does not go beyond his benefiting from those shapes and forms in ordering his life’s affairs.
The answer, as is clear, contains a statement of value, since it is a wisdom, a benefit and an aim. Yet what is meant by the question may be the principle and the natural and mathematical cause of those shapes and changes. In that case, the answer would have had to deal with mathematical and astronomical matters, which are things all people may not understand at one level; and then the answer would not be useful to the measure required. So God, the All-knowing, the Wise, gave an answer that benefits people and is at the level of their understanding and perception. As for what confirms this point, it is the end of the noble verse mentioned, where God wanted to alert the questioner that putting such questions is a journey on the wrong road; quite apart from the fact that putting a question like this to an unlettered man, the Prophet (s.a.w.), is not logical. Nor let us forget the verses that call the human being to think and reflect on the secrets of creation and its complex order. And although all have the right to ask and question, and are even obliged to, the problem lies in those unlettered people sunk in the chronic Ignorance not distinguishing the house of the knowledge of prophethood, not knowing how to enter by the original door of that house, and not being able to find the key by which that great door could be opened at all!
As for the reason for confining the mention to the subject of the ḥajj rather than other subjects, it is its supreme importance to the people of the Ḥijāz at that time, and their special concern with the new moons and the changing of the moon from one period to another, which gives the subject legitimacy, especially during the three months particular to the ḥajj; and likewise to set out and fix the season of the ḥajj and prevent the pilgrim from falling behind the season of the ḥajj, especially if we know that the polytheists very often deliberately changed the sacred months and played with their times, even though those months include the two months of the ḥajj too. There is no doubt, moreover, that what is meant by mentioning the matter of the ḥajj is pointing to the verses connected with the same subject after that.
In this verse God (s.w.t.) defines righteousness by pointing to the way and the conduct of the righteous, saying that righteousness means the Godwary, and that Godwariness is the axis of righteousness, especially in matters of belief, morals, practice, society and economics. The reason for defining righteousness in this way is that knowing righteousness through the way of the righteous leads to guidance and direction towards righteousness, which is counted one of the aims of the Noble Qur’an; whereas merely understanding the meaning of righteousness is a purely academic work with no great benefit in it.
Among the innovations and customs that prevailed in the society of the Ignorance was that the pilgrim in the state of iḥrām would enter the house from its back, and not by the main door. So God (s.w.t.) wanted by this to abolish that silly custom and make its people understand that entering houses from their backs is not righteousness in anything, and that virtue calls for entering houses by their doors; as for what you used to do, it is nothing but vice.
Godwariness represents the main goal in some matters, while it is counted a means for the perfection of the future when success and felicity are the goal sought. Here the traveller on the way ought to put on the armour of Godwariness in his journey and his conduct, so that he can reach the intended goal, which is felicity.
Drawing on the context of the noble verse, the command to Godwariness means fear of God (s.w.t.), not asking about what is of no benefit, not resorting to changing God’s rulings, and establishing every obligation and worship at its appointed time. And if you want, O people, to research a matter or a subject, you must follow its particular ways and not go into it by crooked and winding ways, nor enter from the back of the house. There is no doubt that success will be the ally of the Godwary alone; for whoever enters the house from its back is not Godwary.
2:190 — Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you
Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress. Indeed Allah does not like transgressors.
In the hard days before their Emigration to Medina, the Muslims had no choice but to bear and endure patiently all kinds of harm and torment. But after the Emigration, the founding of Islamic government and their gaining the power to defend themselves, God, mighty and majestic is He, permitted them to repel aggression from themselves and from what they had achieved, and to fight the polytheists and the faithless if their selves tempted them to attack them.
It is natural that the value of the battle lies in its aim, not in mere fighting and war. Putting the adverbial phrase “in the way of God” first shows that the aim of Islam in war is establishing the pillars of the pure monotheistic (ḥanīf) religion and defending its sanctuary. For this reason the war against the faithless must take on a religious colouring, and the Muslim fighter must fight in the way of God alone. The importance and the holiness of the aim also appear through putting the phrase mentioned first.
To urge the Muslims to fight and to stir up their zeal and their honour, God (s.w.t.) commanded them to fight the faithless, reminding them of the past days in which those faithless did not hesitate to fight them, torment them and make an example of them for a long period, and that they still plotted against them and lay in wait for misfortunes to befall them. The expression “those who fight you” came to warn the members of the Islamic society and caution them against the conspiracies the faithless weave against them, and that they must take care and follow caution, so as not to allow their enemies to take them by surprise.
At the same time God, mighty and majestic is He, alerted the Muslim fighters and warned them against attacking, or going beyond the limits of justice and fairness in the field of war and defence and the like; indeed He made clear to them that He (s.w.t.) hates the aggressors and does not love them.
2:191–192 — And kill them wherever you confront them
(191) And kill them wherever you confront them, and expel them from where they expelled you, for persecution is graver than killing. But do not fight them near the Holy Mosque unless they fight you therein; but if they fight you, kill them; such is the requital of the faithless. (192) But if they desist, then Allah is indeed all-forgiving, all-merciful.
In the two verses above, God (s.w.t.) commands the Muslims to kill the polytheists wherever they find them, and to drive them out of Mecca the Ennobled. For they stood in the way of others believing and entering the enclosure of Islam, through their obstinate stance towards divine revelation, their mockery of the Messenger (s.a.w.) and the faithful, their killing of many Muslims, their tormenting others and making an example of them, their seizing their wealth and possessions, and their driving them out of their houses and homes empty-handed. He also commands them to kill all the polytheists who were, and still are, in a state of war and fighting with the Muslims, and to drive them out of Mecca and the whole Arabian Peninsula, to prevent the spread of their unbelief and polytheism, their evil propaganda, and their base conspiracies in all their shapes and forms.
The secret in the ruling of fighting coming down, even in the absence of fighting and aggression in the first place, is that sedition (fitnah) is more severe than killing. That is, what the polytheists and the faithless attribute to the Muslims of wrong and slander (and this is sedition) is more severe in its effect and worse than what the Muslims do to those people.
The divine wisdom requires putting an end to the polytheists who cause sedition and stir up rancour, killing them or keeping them away and driving them out, through initiated striving (al-jihād al-ibtidāʾī), whose spirit and essence is defence; until the roots of unbelief, polytheism and idol worship are uprooted. This is the policy the polytheists followed and defended by every means, and it counts as the greatest of seditions, their most prominent model, and the greatest of them in threat and danger to human life.
The Sacred Mosque has, from of old, an exceptional distinction and holiness. For this reason God, mighty and majestic is He, commands the faithful among the Emigrants and the Helpers to preserve the sanctity of this pure mosque, and so not to begin fighting or launch an attack on the enemies near the Sacred Mosque. But if the polytheists begin fighting and are the ones who initiate war, the faithful are permitted to fight them and kill them, even if that is inside the Sacred Mosque; for the sanctity of this mosque and the other holy places depends on the sanctity of God (s.w.t.) and the sanctity of His religion.
Yes, this deadly and severe recompense is the recompense deserved by the faithless who sow the seeds of sedition and attack the sanctity of holy things, who turn people away from entering Islam and compel some to apostasy by force, trickery, intrigue, scheming and deceit, and political, military, social and cultural plotting; except if they turn to God’s command, turn back from their wrongdoing, and leave off fighting the Muslims. In that case God (s.w.t.) is Forgiving, Compassionate, and God pardons what has passed from them.
2:193 — Fight them until persecution is no more
Fight them until persecution is no more, and religion becomes [exclusively] for Allah. Then if they desist, there shall be no reprisal except against the wrongdoers.
In this verse God (s.w.t.) commands the Muslims, saying: Fight the polytheists until polytheism and its landmarks are put an end to, and the religion of God, Islam, and its landmarks prevail in every quarter. For even if all the polytheists were driven out of the whole land of the Ḥijāz, they would not stop stirring up seditions and weaving cultural, political, social and even military conspiracies, and working to tempt the Muslims to leave their religion, and to promote polytheism. So you must fight them until the traces of polytheism are wiped out.
By comparing “sedition” (fitnah) and “religion” (dīn), it appears that what is meant by sedition is polytheism and unbelief that drive intrigues and conspiracies. The command to fight the polytheists without truce until the landmarks of polytheism that cause seditions are removed points to the aim of fighting in Islam, embodied in realising the motto “There is no god but God” in all its meanings. The sentence “there is no god” matches His words “until there is no sedition”, and the phrase “but God” corresponds to His words “and religion is for God”. This means that no religion other than the religion of tawḥīd ought to exist and stand. There is no doubt that what is meant by fighting is wiping out the traces of sedition; while the stability of religion, preserving Islamic government and rejecting every thought hostile to religion depend on cultural matters, foremost among them teaching, purification, conveying the message and the like.
The government bears the responsibility of directing fighting and striving in its practical and scholarly kinds, until the foundations of sedition are undermined and Islam is accepted as the one religion. So if the polytheists give up their polytheism, they should not be fought; fighting is only against the aggressors. So stopping war is conditional on sedition disappearing. It should be pointed out that the polytheists wronged themselves by their polytheism and their unbelief, and at the same time they caused wrong to others too. When they desist and stop the polytheism that stirs up seditions, the aggressor will not be punished. The secret of attributing “aggression” to the wrongdoers lies in what they hold of corrupt belief and deviant views, and their regarding what the faithful do of fighting and war as like aggression.
2:194 — A sacred month for a sacred month
A sacred month for a sacred month, and all sanctities require retribution. So should anyone aggress against you, assail him in the manner he assailed you, and be wary of Allah, and know that Allah is with the Godwary.
Retaliation (qiṣāṣ) is counted among the well-known principles and foundations in the Noble Qur’an in all fields of rights. On the basis of this principle, retaliation is taken when any right among rights is lost, including lives, persons, wealth, honour, reputation, and social, political and legal standing; except where a restriction or a specification comes in.
As for what concerns violating sacred things: if the polytheists and the faithless violate sacred things by lighting the fire of war in the sacred month (when fighting is forbidden in it), or inside the Sanctuary and the Sacred Mosque, or during the period of iḥrām, or at any holy time or place, then the Muslims are permitted to answer them with the like, to fight them and kill them in that same place and time. Indeed, whoever oversteps or attacks a Muslim, the Muslim may likewise deal with the aggressor in kind, since keeping silent in the face of wrong is not permitted; for that would be equal to the wrong itself. There is no difference in time, land or language when dealing in kind, even though what is meant by dealing in kind is answering in the principle of the matter, not in the means and tools. So the equality between the recompense and the initial wrong must be in the principle of the matter, its measure and its size; and for that reason it was permitted to describe the recompense mentioned, and the just one, as “the like”.
Divine Godwariness must be observed in all matters, including retaliation; for God (s.w.t.) is with the Godwary, and He is the One who protects them and keeps them safe by His mercy.
2:195 — Spend in the way of Allah
Spend in the way of Allah, and do not cast yourselves with your own hands into destruction; and be virtuous. Indeed Allah loves the virtuous.
In this noble verse God (s.w.t.) commands the Muslims, saying: Spend in the way of God, and help the households and families of the fighters with your financial help, which is equal to striving (jihād) in the way of God, mighty and majestic is He; and by covering the costs and expenses of fighting and preparing equipment and the means of fighting, so that those who strive may be able to defend Islam and the Muslims with strength and resolve, and prevent the front of unbelief and hypocrisy from prevailing. For the dominance of unbelief and polytheism over you means your destruction.
It is known that holding back from spending will lead either to the enemy appearing, or to stirring up his greed towards the lands of Islam and strengthening it; and both states result in destruction and annihilation. Either the Islamic society falls into the trap of colonialism, exploitation and servitude, and in that is certain destruction; or it is afflicted with unbelief and hypocrisy, which is spiritual destruction. Likewise the state of excess and shortfall in spending: it is equal to abandoning the very principle of spending, and in it is certain destruction.
For this reason the Muslims must preserve what God (s.w.t.) has given them of abilities and resources, and must not cause their own destruction with their own hands. Spending in the way of God (s.w.t.) means providing the costs of defending Islam and the Islamic order, which counts as a prominent example of the noble verse, and a preventer of destruction and a giver of life and dignity. For striving with wealth and life, and answering the call of God in defence, represents a factor of life that stands between the Muslims and their destruction and annihilation; and in abandoning it and neglecting it is a failure to continue in life and a fall towards the abyss. On this basis, some people’s readiness for martyrdom of their own free will when needed, preparing what victory requires, winning over the enemy, freeing the Islamic lands from the claws of enemies, preserving the sanctuary of religion and protecting the being of the Islamic community, is counted a praiseworthy valour and an exceptional, commended courage that falls within the chapter of lawful defence, and is not the blameworthy throwing oneself into destruction and recklessness.
So all Muslims ought, in all individual and social fields, to be doers of good, truthful, sincere, trustworthy, striving with their wealth and their lives, and helping the needy and the poor; for God (s.w.t.) loves the doers of good.
Doing good (iḥsān) and righteous action are counted the root of spending in the way of God (s.w.t.), whether that is through providing weapons and military equipment (which does not represent doing good to another), or through help and assisting persons to continue in living and a life of dignity (and this is doing good to another). Doing good in any act is sincerity in it, such that it gathers in itself all the required elements and components, and drives away all that is counted an obstacle or a restriction on the way to applying it and carrying it out.
The context of the noble verse being explained points to the necessity of the Islamic society’s concern with social expenditure alongside individual or personal expenditure, so that all feel their responsibility and observe moderation in spending, in a way that does not lead to their impoverishment and wretchedness, and so that they do not refrain from spending altogether in a way that turns them into miserly, stingy people. They should share in providing the running costs of the Islamic government and help it to solve problems and remove obstacles. In the absence of that, the government will enter the tunnel of poverty and the corridors of need, and the Islamic society as a whole will be exposed to danger and destruction. Accordingly, among the social duties and responsibilities that fall on the Islamic community is wiping out poverty, so that it may preserve itself and its religion from destruction and annihilation, and keep the poor from falling into the abyss of deviation, confusion and chaos, which may force them to commit disobediences and indecency, or to light the fire of sedition and riot, so that security and stability in the Islamic lands are exposed to danger.
2:196 — Complete the hajj and the ‘umrah for Allah’s sake
Complete the hajj and the ‘umrah for Allah’s sake, and if you are prevented, then [make] such [sacrificial] offering as is feasible. And do not shave your heads until the offering reaches its [assigned] place. But should any of you be sick, or have a hurt in his head, let the atonement be by fasting, or charity, or sacrifice. And when you have security—for those who enjoy [release from the restrictions] by virtue of their ‘umrah until the hajj—let the offering be such as is feasible. As for someone who cannot afford [the offering], let him fast three days during the hajj and seven when you return; that is [a period of] ten complete [days]. That is for someone whose family does not dwell by the Holy Mosque. And be wary of Allah, and know that Allah is severe in retribution.
It is obligatory to perform the acts of the ḥajj and the ʿumrah, which are acts of worship for God (s.w.t.), and it is obligatory to complete them once they have been begun. If the pilgrim in iḥrām is unable to complete them, because of his illness or because he faces an enemy, he must offer whatever offering for God (s.w.t.) is easy for him. Nor is it permitted for him to shave his head and come out of his iḥrām before he offers his sacrifice in its place (Mecca or Minā), or in the place where he was prevented from completing the acts; for observing the order in the acts of the ḥajj and the ʿumrah is one of their requirements. And whoever is ill, or suffers from a pain in his head, so that he has no escape from shaving his head before the slaughter, must offer an expiation: fasting, or giving charity, or offering a sacrifice. For even though shaving or shortening the hair are the two acts that end the rites of the ḥajj and the ʿumrah, it is forbidden to bring them forward; just as the salutation with which the prayer ends may not deliberately be uttered in the middle of the prayer.
As for the person free of illness and safe from the danger of the enemy, who lives in a region more than 96 kilometres from Mecca, he must perform the ḥajj al-tamattuʿ and offer a sacrifice. If he does not find a sacrifice to offer, or does not have enough money to buy one, he must instead fast ten days: three of them on the ḥajj journey, and the remaining seven after he returns to his homeland.
The human being must be adorned with Godwariness of God, and accept the ḥajj al-tamattuʿ alongside the ḥajj al-qirān and the ḥajj al-ifrād, and not object to its legislation or reject it; for he must know that God’s punishment is very severe.
It appears that the warning of God’s punishment that comes at the end of the verse, and the severe threat that has no precedent, together with the repetition of the explicit name (God) in place of the pronoun, were all to warn those who insisted on persisting in their rejection of the tamattuʿ of the ḥajj, and forbade it after they came to the caliphate.
2:197 — The hajj [season] is in months well-known
The hajj [season] is in months well-known; so whoever decides on hajj [pilgrimage] therein, [should know that] there is to be no sexual contact, vicious talk, or disputing during the hajj. And whatever good you do, Allah knows it. And take provision, for indeed the best provision is Godwariness. So be wary of Me, O you who possess intellects!
The rites of the ḥajj, whether performed on time or made up, are carried out only in the three months of Shawwāl, Dhū al-Qaʿdah and Dhū al-Ḥijjah; for it is permitted to begin the iḥrām for the ʿumrah of tamattuʿ at the start of the month of Shawwāl, while the season of the ḥajj is confined to a short period of these three months. But common usage and the literature in circulation have called these three months the time of the ḥajj.
Everyone who enters iḥrām for the ḥajj in the months mentioned, and makes the ḥajj obligatory upon himself, must complete it, even if the act itself was not originally obligatory on him. The pilgrim in iḥrām must avoid approaching women absolutely, whether lawfully or unlawfully, and must refrain completely from transgression (fusūq), from swearing by God, and from disputing.
God’s (s.w.t.) knowledge is not limited to the human being’s abandoning the things forbidden in iḥrām; rather, He knows every good deed the human being does. The words “whatever good you do, God knows it”, besides setting out that God knows the human being’s deeds, contain implicit good tidings and an implicit warning.
The human being must prepare material and spiritual provision for the journey of the ḥajj, just as he must prepare the provision and the requirements of the journey to the Hereafter. The best kinds of provision and goods (indeed, the only useful provision) on the human being’s journey towards God, in this world and the Hereafter, is Godwariness; and the finest instance of Godwariness is Godwariness of God.
Godwariness in any of its forms comes about only through understanding and the intellect; for the intellect is the cause of Godwariness. And since the person of understanding, steady and firm of heart, is the one marked by Godwariness, God calls him to it; indeed He calls him to its highest ranks, even though all are charged with Godwariness.
2:198 — There is no sin upon you in seeking your Lord’s bounty [during the hajj season]
There is no sin upon you in seeking your Lord’s bounty [during the hajj season]. Then when you stream out of ‘Arafat remember Allah at the Holy Mash‘ar, and remember Him as He has guided you, and earlier you were indeed among the astray.
There is no blame on you if you strive during the journey of the ḥajj to obtain the bounty of God. The secret of calling material benefits “the bounty of the Lord”, besides removing the illusion that trade is forbidden in the days of the ḥajj and encouraging the faithful to engage in trading activities, is that lawful material benefits described as obtaining divine bounty are, like spiritual benefits, all from the bounty of the Creator.
After the pilgrims stand in the open land of ʿArafāt, which is the starting point of the rites after iḥrām, all must set out at one moment in a collective movement towards al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām, to stand there and occupy themselves with the remembrance of God in it. This remembrance must be joined to thanking Him for the blessing of His guidance, and be in keeping with His teachings and directions on the basis of tawḥīd and declaring Him free of polytheism, and with the expressions that have come in the Book and the Sunnah. For all were in misguidance before the grace of lordly guidance came; just as is the case now too, since many people still suffer from the chains of misguidance, unbelief and atheism, despite the immense industrial developments.
The remembrance of God invites the one who remembers to the great table of the divine Beautiful Names, so that he may enjoy them until that remembrance becomes a settled trait (malakah) in him. From here God’s (s.w.t.) call is repeated in the verses of the ḥajj to the pilgrims of His House to remember Him in all the moments and instants of the ḥajj, and in all the spots and corners of the place where revelation came down, striving for greater nearness to Him through their glorifying, their praising, their seeking forgiveness and their supplications.
2:199 — Then stream out from where the people stream out
Then stream out from where the people stream out, and plead to Allah for forgiveness; indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.
After the standing at ʿArafāt has ended (following the example of God’s prophet Abraham, the Friend of the All-merciful, of the Abrahamic prophets and the Infallibles (a.s.), and of those who worship by their directions), one must turn to al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām and stand there, and then move on from it and turn towards Minā from the same place towards which they turned.
To ward off conceit and self-delusion, you must seek forgiveness in Minā for your ways in the Ignorance, of changing the rites and the like, and likewise for your excessive tribal bigotries, after obtaining the great blessing. That seeking of forgiveness is a prominent instance of the remembrance of God, so that perhaps God (s.w.t.) may appear to you in His attribute “the Forgiving” (al-Ghafūr), which is the intensive form in forgiveness, and indeed by His special mercy.
2:200–202 — And when you finish your rites
(200) And when you finish your rites, then remember Allah as you would remember your fathers, or with a more ardent remembrance. Among the people there are those who say, ‘Our Lord, give us in this world,’ but for such there is no share in the Hereafter. (201) And among them there are those who say, ‘Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and save us from the punishment of the Fire.’ (202) Such shall partake of what they have earned, and Allah is swift at reckoning.
After performing the rites of the ḥajj in Minā, the pilgrims must remember God with an open heart, with a remembrance more intense than their remembrance of their forefathers.
The people who stretch out the hands of need to God, the Bestower of favours, whether they are pilgrims or others, are of two kinds:
One group of them are heedless of drawing near to God and to the Hereafter and to all spiritual values, and have no concern but securing their worldly life. These have no share, whatever it may be, in the Hereafter.
As for the second group, their way in knowledge and in practice is always thinking about nearness to God and the Hereafter. Their aim is to win the good of this world and the Hereafter, and deliverance from the fire of Hell; and “the good” (al-ḥasanah) includes all material and spiritual gifts. And everything this group obtains in this world, it will obtain in the Hereafter too.
Whether the supplication is for this world or for the Hereafter, its effect is conditional on earning, striving and sound action. God’s acts in this world and the Hereafter rest on precise reckonings, and these precise reckonings take place swiftly in the Hereafter, because of the presence of all the deeds of all people, the presence of the comprehensive, complete and guaranteeing Book, the presence of the inner and outer witnesses, and God’s (s.w.t.) encompassing in knowledge all the matters, in knowledge and in practice, of individuals.
The threat to the criminals of swiftness in reckoning goes back only to the swiftness of their punishment.
2:203 — Remember Allah in the appointed days
Remember Allah in the appointed days. Then whoever hastens off in a couple of days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him—that for one who has been Godwary—and be wary of Allah and know that toward Him you will be mustered.
The pilgrims must, during their short stay in Minā, which does not go beyond a few days (the Days of Tashrīq), occupy themselves with the remembrance of God; especially the magnifications (takbīrāt) that come at the close of the fifteen prayers in Minā, which, besides being preferable, have a particular manner.
Among the effects of the accepted ḥajj for the people of Godwariness, who observe the limits of the ḥajj and all the rulings of command and prohibition in the days of iḥrām and the ḥajj, is the forgiveness of all the pilgrim’s sins; whether he hastens to leave Minā at the first departure, that is, the twelfth day, or delays entering Mecca until the second departure, that is, the thirteenth day. And if a person has refrained from the things forbidden in iḥrām, he has a choice between the first and the second departure on the one hand, and on the other he returns to his homeland without any sin on him; indeed, forgiven.
God (s.w.t.) has repeated, at the end of the verses of the ḥajj, His call to all to Godwariness and to remember the Return, so that in the shade of Godwariness they may be able to prepare themselves for the best application of the hard rulings of the ḥajj and to bear the heavy burdens of the journey to Mecca, and so that the great gathering of the ḥajj may remind them of the greatest gathering of the Resurrection. On the journey of the ḥajj the pilgrims must remember the journey of the Hereafter, the Gathering and the Resurrection, just as they must prepare the provision for that journey; and the best provision is Godwariness.
2:204 — Among the people is he whose talk about worldly life impresses you
Among the people is he whose talk about worldly life impresses you, and he holds Allah witness to what is in his heart, though he is the staunchest of enemies.
Some people make a show, in their polished and honeyed speech, of fairness and justice and of holding fast to values, to such an extent that they win the admiration of everyone in this world, including the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.), before God exposes them and uncovers the reality of their inner selves. These hypocrites, the bitterest enemies of justice, call God (s.w.t.) to witness to the truth of the words they make a show of and to the soundness of their intentions, and swear solemn oaths that what they say with their tongues matches the love of good their hearts hold; whereas they hide the most violent enmity towards Islam and the Islamic society.
2:205 — If he were to wield authority
If he were to wield authority, he would try to cause corruption in the land and to ruin the crop and the stock, and Allah does not like corruption.
The hypocrite, the tyrant and the rebel are callers to reform as long as they have not reached power; but as soon as they obtain a position, they begin causing corruption in the earth. In the cultural field they work to shake the faith of the simple and the naive by stirring up atheistic doubts. In the emotional field they turn the love and affection between people into disagreement and enmity by stirring up contrived whisperings. Indeed, they do not hold back from spying for foreigners and lighting the fire of wars on the face of the earth if they are able, replacing security and life with fear and death, and driving all the economic and human wealth to ruin; which leads to corrupting society and wasting generations.
There is no doubt that what is meant by the corruption that stirs up God’s (s.w.t.) anger and displeasure is of the kind of the matters mentioned, not corruption in the order of creation (takwīnī), which stands opposite coming-to-be in the order of creation and is necessary for the order of the cosmos.
As for the words “and God does not love corruption”, they are like an explicit giving of the lie to what the people of hypocrisy claim, lying, in calling God (s.w.t.) to witness.
2:206 — And when he is told, ‘Be wary of Allah,’ conceit seizes him sinfully
And when he is told, ‘Be wary of Allah,’ conceit seizes him sinfully; so let hell suffice him, and it is surely an evil resting place!
When the hypocrite is asked in plain words to fear God, the false, imagined pride (ʿizzah) he gained through disobedience and corruption overcomes him, making him its captive and its prisoner, and drags him towards sins, until he takes an obstinate stand, refusing any call to Godwariness and to keeping away from hypocrisy, quarrelling, spreading division, corruption, and destroying crops and offspring. This means that there is a two-way relation between disobedience and false pride.
The trait of hypocrisy and disobedience brings about the hypocrite’s loss of receptivity to reform and of readiness to accept Godwariness; for accepting Godwariness depends on humility.
The false pride of the hypocrite is uncovered, in the vessel of the manifestation of realities (the Resurrection), as a real humiliation. That is when the recompense of hypocrisy is a fire that encompasses the hypocrite from above him and below him and reaches his outward and his inward. So he is punished in a way that fits his general corruption, embodied in destroying the crops with his limbs on the one hand, and corrupting ideas by casting doubts on the other. And since all his desires were in Hell, the fire of punishment will encompass him from every side, and Hell will be enough to punish him.
2:207 — And among the people is he who sells his soul seeking the pleasure of Allah
And among the people is he who sells his soul seeking the pleasure of Allah, and Allah is most kind to [His] servants.
Unlike the corrupting hypocrites, who spare no effort in their striving to cause corruption in the earth and destroy crops and offspring, there are those who sacrifice in the way of reforming society by giving all they possess, that is, their lives, their wealth and their reputation, and who have no aim but the good pleasure of God and His contentment. Others strive to obtain the bounty of God and lawful worldly benefits, or the divine blessings of the Hereafter; whereas the perfect friends of God seek nothing but the good pleasure of God.
The creation of these self-sacrificing givers, and the sending of truthful conveyors of religion and true reformers, are among the most prominent manifestations of the compassion of God, the Bestower of favours, towards His servants, and of the continuance of the best order. For a group of the corrupters do not stop their corruption merely through admonition, the call to Godwariness and the threat of the fire; rather, they wait for the opportunity to destroy lands and servants.
2:208–209 — O you who have faith! Enter into submission
(208) O you who have faith! Enter into submission, all together, and do not follow in Satan’s steps; he is indeed your manifest enemy. (209) And should you stumble after the manifest proofs that have come to you, know that Allah is all-mighty, all-wise.
All the faithful must enter the impregnable fortress of unity, submission, obedience and peace, so as to protect themselves from many dangers.
Reaching the stage of harmony and sincerity among all the people of Islam comes about through their embracing the teachings of revelation and the instructions of Islam, which put an end to people’s disagreements in belief, in morals, in jurisprudence and in rights, and to what they were afflicted with before knowledge came.
And since the unity of the faithful is the emphatic divine demand, in which lies the secret of their victory, division is the aim of Satan, the manifest enemy of the human being; and spreading disagreements is following the footsteps of Satan.
Starting from the principle that punishment without clear statement, or before clear statement, is ugly, God, the Bestower of favours, warns all people, by clear rational and transmitted proofs and by admonition, of the danger of division and disagreement, which Satan wants to spread just as he wants to spread indecency and wrongdoing, eating what is forbidden, innovating in religion and the like. Indeed, He may warn those who stir up disagreements by implicitly threatening them and reminding them that they do not go out of the grip of the power of God, the Mighty, and the range of the justice of the Wise Lord.
Here it must be remembered that the two important duties of commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong must be carried out, and that neglecting them is not justified on the pretext of preserving unity.
2:210 — Do they await anything but that Allah [’s command] should come to them in the shades of…
Do they await anything but that Allah [’s command] should come to them in the shades of the clouds, with the angels, and the matter be decided [once for all]? To Allah all matters are returned.
Do the people of schism and division wait for anything but the coming down upon them of piled-up clouds, embodying divine punishment? They are striving towards the punishment by their deeds and the speaking tongue of their state, even if they claim the opposite with their words and their tongues. The punishment this group deserves as a result of their sowing division is that divine anger should come to them, embodied in the appearance of piled-up clouds and angels of punishment, so that what they deserve of penalty may come down upon them.
The threat of punishment coming down from piled-up clouds, which are mostly the source and origin of rain and of divine mercy in its various kinds, represents a terrifying warning, within which lies a psychological warning in addition to the outward, bodily alarm it contains.
And since the source of all matters and their outcome is only in the hand of God, and the realisation of His (s.w.t.) acts comes about by His mere will in the past, no obstacle can be imagined to the carrying out of the command of the Mighty, the Wise. So the punishment of those who stir up division, whose implicit threat came in the verse mentioned, will be a certain and definite punishment, because the decree of their punishment has been issued in this world, in the barzakh and in the Hereafter.
2:211 — Ask the Children of Israel how many a manifest sign We had given them
Ask the Children of Israel how many a manifest sign We had given them. Whoever changes Allah’s blessing after it has come to him, indeed Allah is severe in retribution.
O Messenger, ask the scholars of the Children of Israel and make them speak: how much We preferred them with the material and spiritual blessings with which We singled them out, and how many clear divine signs We sent them. Yet most of them rejected them and disbelieved in them, despite the completeness of the signs sent down and the completing of the proof against them. They altered the words of the Torah or interpreted them as they pleased, and by their legislations they turned those blessings into vengeance. But God’s general and lasting custom is to punish any community severely if it deliberately disbelieves in the divine blessings.
The previous verses restricted their implicit threat of punishment to the coming of clear signs from God; and this noble verse too is explicit about the custom of punishing the faithless after the sign has come. That is when ingratitude for the blessing comes with awareness, not as a result of oversight, heedlessness, forgetting or wrong understanding.
The punishment by which the One who punishes is described (He is God, whose explicit name is mentioned even though a pronoun could have been used to refer to Him) as “severe in punishment” is a punishment beyond human capacity to bear.
2:212 — Worldly life has been glamorized for the faithless
Worldly life has been glamorized for the faithless, and they ridicule the faithful. But those who are Godwary shall be above them on the Day of Resurrection, and Allah provides for whomever He wishes without any reckoning.
Among the most common ways of influencing and penetrating the thinking human being is influencing his thought and the channels of his perception. And since Satan, from the first day of the human being’s creation, has taken it upon himself to strive as far as he can to put him far from God and make him his follower, he deceives him with all kinds of means and tricks, so as to slip into his thought and his insight in order to shackle them and make him heedless of his everlasting life in the Hereafter, by adorning for him the life of this world and the conventional matters bound up with it. This adorning, which seduces and misleads (not adorning in the order of creation), has Iblīs as its direct source; but since it is by God’s permission, it can also be attributed to God (s.w.t.), from the angle of the tawḥīd of acts.
And since Satan has penetrated the channels of perception of the faithless, they imagine the beauty and goodness of this world, heedless of its baseness in their beliefs and their conduct; just as, because of their view of the principles of religion and their belief that it is foolishness and misguidance, they have grown used to mocking the faithful, who are mostly deprived of worldly conventional titles or do not strive for them at all. And since the value and perfection of the human being are measured only by his faith, his righteous deeds, and his freedom from the chains and shackles of this world, the true rank and the real elevation in standing and station belong to the Godwary. This will become clear to all on the Day of Resurrection, which is the vessel of the appearance and manifestation of all realities.
God, the Bestower of favours, whose gifts match His unlimited bounty and generosity, provides for whom He wills what He wills, by His wisdom. Indeed, some of His blessings and provisions may not be paid attention to, because of their being everlasting and unending. The special provision God gives to someone, He will not call him to account for at the Return; just as God, in His distinctive attribute of provider, cannot be objected to or called to account by others; for all His gifts are given by a special reckoning.
2:213 — Mankind were a single community
Mankind were a single community; then Allah sent the prophets as bearers of good news and warners, and He sent down with them the Book with the truth, that it may judge between the people concerning that about which they differed, and none differed in it except those who had been given it, after the manifest proofs had come to them, out of envy among themselves. Then Allah guided those who had faith to the truth of what they differed in, by His will, and Allah guides whomever He wishes to a straight path.
Before the sending of the prophet Noah (a.s.), people lived a simple life. They were one community, sharing simple thoughts and shared conduct, and they were in harmony in their view of the world, just as they were agreed in distinguishing truth from falsehood. As for their simple and partial disagreements, they used to deal with them by what their intellects pointed out to them and what the prophets sent to them after the prophet Adam (a.s.) guided them to.
With the development of knowledge and industry, and the branching out of social relations, disagreements in knowledge and in practice appeared in the field of individual and social relations and the exploitation of natural resources, and views began to differ in distinguishing truth from falsehood and interests from harms.
One of the results of this was the necessity of the sending of the messengers of firm resolve (ulū al-ʿazm) and the coming down of the Book. It was among the kindness and blessings of God (s.w.t.), in meeting the pressing need of human society, that He sent His prophet Noah (a.s.) and the other prophets of firm resolve (a.s.) after him, and sent down the Book and the law with them, so that they might work, through bringing glad tidings and warning on the one hand, and through forming government on the other, to resolve those natural disagreements among people and to wake them from their sleep and their dormancy and to revive the buried treasures of their intellects.
When God sent His messengers of firm resolve (a.s.), He sent down the Book with them; and the perfect human being, the best of creatures, is, in this “withness”, the root, and the heavenly Book is the branch; for God sent the Book with the messenger. The Book of God’s prophet Noah (a.s.) was the first of the prophets’ Books to contain laws.
And since all that is in the heavenly Books is pure truth, free of every kind of dispute and disagreement, it is right that it be the only reference throughout the ages and times for removing disagreements among the children of Adam, and the only scale for setting straight different schools of thought and human inclinations.
The joining of bringing glad tidings and warning with judging between people in their disagreements points to the reality of the importance of joining cultural work with establishing religious government. For the divine rulings cannot be applied and carried out completely merely by teaching and guidance, nor can people’s quarrels and disagreements be overcome merely by admonition and judgement without an executive power. Rather, what is obligatory is establishing divine government on the part of the messengers and their faithful followers, so that those disagreements may be overcome and the divine rulings applied.
Disagreement is acceptable and desired if it arises from scholarly development and the widening of social relations, and in the way of reaching the truth; for it is a motive for steady scholarly development and a preparation for unity. Thus the sending of the prophets (a.s.) was a statement of the truth and a judgement in such disagreements. But after the truth has become clear in the shade of the sending of the prophets (a.s.) and the coming down of the heavenly Book, disagreement then belongs to persistent quarrelling, rebellion, and casting doubt on the clear religious texts, which are the scale of truth and the best means of removing disagreements; and it will only be blameworthy and a cause of their punishment in this world and the Hereafter.
Opposite these divisive wrongdoers, who, despite the light of the intellect in their inner selves and the firm sun of transmission shining in their surroundings, take only the road of misguidance, the sincere faithful stand with their arms stretched out in all fields to receive the truth, following what revelation dictates to them in resolving their disagreements. So they obtain the reward of the Lord, the Bestower of favours, which He gives them particularly, embodied in His guiding them to the straight path as a recompense for their faith.
There is no doubt that the less ignorance in knowledge and ignorance in practice there is, the less disagreement there is too; and the more there is of them, the more severe and greater the disagreement.
2:214 — Do you suppose that you will enter paradise though there has not yet come to you the like…
Do you suppose that you will enter paradise though there has not yet come to you the like of [what befell] those who went before you? Stress and distress befell them and they were convulsed until the apostle and the faithful who were with him said, ‘When will Allah’s help [come]?’ Behold! Allah’s help is indeed near!
The divine custom has decreed from of old, in all communities, that winning Paradise and attaining lofty stations can be realised only by steadfastness in the way of religion and passing the divine tests. On this basis the Islamic community, like all the earlier communities, is never free of facing hardships and adversities. The earlier prophets and their communities, according to this custom, were exposed to many tests, until they tasted severe disturbance and violent shaking as a result of what they faced of outward hardships (al-baʾsāʾ), such as wars, and inner pressures (al-ḍarrāʾ), such as injury and killing. And with all they were exposed to, they had no hope but what they hoped for from God, and what He had promised them of help. These people were marked by spiritual steadfastness and inner stability; even in the worst circumstances, failing, weakness and despair found no way to them. Rather, the pivot of their speech was: Our Lord, overlook our shortcomings and our failings, forgive us our sins, make our feet firm and help us.
The words “When is God’s help?” point to the state of tranquillity and spiritual calm they were in, and to their asking for divine help; not to objecting boldly to the delay of divine help. And God’s answer to them, “Indeed God’s help is near”, is evidence of their seeking help and of God answering them.
What is meant by the Messenger’s and the faithful’s asking for help, and God’s promising them help, is help for themselves and their own victory, and not merely the victory of their religion and their belief; for the victory of belief and the help of religion are God’s certain promise, and God’s promise cannot fail. So God (s.w.t.) here promises the Messenger and the faithful that their victory is near.
It appears from the opening and the close of this noble verse that if the Islamic community is patient in adversity and takes refuge in God in hardship, help will be its ally in this world and Paradise its share in the Hereafter.
2:215 — They ask you as to what they should spend
They ask you as to what they should spend. Say, ‘Let whatever wealth you spend be for the parents, relatives, orphans, the needy, and the traveller.’ Allah indeed knows whatever good you do.
After the upbringing of the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.) and the guidance of the Qur’an had refined them, the faithful had freed themselves from the captivity of miserliness and the blameworthy love of wealth, and they regarded spending as a means of their nearness to God. So they would come to the Prophet seeking that he teach them what they should spend; and God (s.w.t.) answered their question in this way:
What you spend must be of the good and desirable kind, not what you would disdain to accept for yourselves.
Spending must follow these priorities: the father and the mother; relatives and neighbours; orphans and those who have no provider; the poor and the needy; and the one cut off on the road.
The essence of spending is that it be sincere, not mixed with show, love of reputation, or reminding others of the favour; for God knows every good deed you do.
2:216 — Warfare has been prescribed for you
Warfare has been prescribed for you, though it is repulsive to you. Yet it may be that you dislike something, which is good for you, and it may be that you love something, which is bad for you, and Allah knows and you do not know.
Striving (jihād), which is one of the vital social rulings of Islam and one of the manifestations of the harmony of divine majesty and beauty, is obligatory on the faithful to carry out, even if it does not suit their natures. But the dislike of striving does not rise to the limit that brings hardship and cancels the obligation.
The cause of the faithful’s dislike of war lies in what goes with it of hardships, financial and human losses, and the disturbance of security and rising prices that follow wars; and it is the nature of every human being to flee from such things. The cause is not that they see themselves as weak before the enemy and fear the defeat of Islam; nor is it that, as a result of the kindness and compassion they gained in the shade of Islamic upbringing, they became unable to bear fighting and shedding blood, even with the faithless and the polytheists, and instead hoped to guide these stubborn opponents to the path of truth by conveying the message and admonition; even if the possibility of such things existing is not far-fetched.
Moreover, this verse is not concerned with blaming the faithful for their lack of inclination to war. Rather, it means to say that the measure of love and dislike, of good and evil, is what the intellect and valid transmission establish, not what nature inclines to. For God alone is the absolute Knower who knows all things, while the human being is ignorant; and from here he is in great need of the intellect and valid transmission to distinguish good from evil. So if he wants to reach good and be saved from evil, he has no escape but to submit to the divine teachings.
Those who have been refined by the lights of faith in God, and whose selves have turned away from the deceptive appearances of this world, are the ones who are able to turn the hardship of fighting into ease, and the natural aversion to war into love of striving.
2:217 — They ask you concerning warfare in the holy month
They ask you concerning warfare in the holy month. Say, ‘It is an outrageous thing to fight in it, but to keep [people] from Allah’s way, and to be unfaithful to Him, and [to keep people from] the Holy Mosque, and to expel its people from it are more outrageous with Allah. And persecution is graver than killing. They will not cease fighting you until they turn you away from your religion, if they can. And whoever of you turns away from his religion and dies faithless—they are the ones whose works have failed in this world and the Hereafter. They shall be the inmates of the Fire, and they shall remain in it [forever].
The Muslims, or the polytheists, ask you about the ruling on fighting in the sacred month (Rajab). Say to them: Fighting in the sacred month, when there is no competing consideration, is a great sin. But what the polytheists commit, of actions such as preventing people from worshipping God, or their unbelief in Him, or their preventing the faithful from entering Mecca and the Sacred Mosque and driving its people out of their homeland: all of that is greater than the sin of fighting in the sacred month. And the sedition (fitnah) of polytheism and spreading the worship of idols is greater than every kind of killing. As for killing to prevent the greater sin from happening, in a situation of competing considerations, it may not be forbidden.
The war of the polytheists against the faithful is the continuing war between faith and unbelief, which strives to wipe out religion. These polytheists always strive, if they are able, to put out the light of religion and to make the Muslims apostatise from their religion, by spreading military, political and social seditions, and so on; but God will never allow the light of that religion to be put out.
And if some of the Muslims apostatise from the religion of God as a result of being influenced by the poisoned propaganda of the polytheists, then God’s custom decrees that all their acts of worship, their political and service works, and all their ordinary efforts in this world and the Hereafter are voided and their traces wiped out; and these are the companions of the fire, abiding in it forever.
2:218 — Indeed those who are faithful and those who have migrated and waged jihad in the way of…
Indeed those who are faithful and those who have migrated and waged jihad in the way of Allah—it is they who expect Allah’s mercy, and Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.
The faithful, the Emigrants, and those who strive in the way of God hope with a strong hope that the special divine mercy will reach them. The believer always lives between the two states of fear and hope: not fear alone, which leads to despair of God’s mercy, nor absolute hope, which leads him to feel safe from God’s plan. Despair of God’s mercy and feeling safe from His plan do not fit with believing in God’s vast mercy and His unlimited power.
Despite the existence of repeated, certain and definite divine promises of mercy and Paradise for the people of faith and striving, the secret of the expression “they hope for the mercy of God” in this verse is the possible dangers that always threaten the faithful, the Emigrants and those who strive: such as doubt whether Godwariness and sincerity, which are a condition for deeds to be accepted, have been realised, and the danger of committing sins in the future, which leads to the voiding of deeds.
2:219–220 — They ask you concerning wine and gambling
(219) They ask you concerning wine and gambling. Say, ‘There is a great sin in both of them, and some profits for the people, but their sinfulness outweighs their profit.’ And they ask you as to what they should spend. Say, ‘All that is surplus.’ Thus does Allah clarify His signs for you so that you may reflect (220) about the world and the Hereafter. And they ask you concerning the orphans. Say, ‘It is better to set right their affairs, and if you intermingle with them, they are of course your brothers: Allah knows those who cause corruption from those who set things right, and had Allah wished He would have put you to hardship.’ Indeed Allah is all-mighty, all-wise.
The widespread drinking of wine and playing of games of chance in the age of the Ignorance, and Islam’s rejection of that, led the Muslims to ask about their legal ruling. Whereas the Messenger had earlier been content with advice, he was now commanded to declare plainly that wine and gambling (maysir) are two great sins, and that they have outward, imagined benefits that are equal to nothing beside the sins they contain.
The second axis of the first verse is a question about what to spend. God (s.w.t.) answers that you must spend what is surplus to your customary needs. Then He says: Thus God makes clear to you the signs of creation and of legislation, so that perhaps you may reflect on this world and the Hereafter, and see that the divine rulings lead to what is good, and so seek from God the good of this world and the Hereafter.
As for the axis of the second verse, it is the question of how to deal with orphans. Among the results of the many verses that came down about observing the right of the orphan, and the severe warnings to those who waste the rights of orphans by their unjust and exploitative conduct, was that many of the faithful avoided bringing up orphans and caring for them, and refrained from managing their wealth and dealing with it, and so kept away from them. This was what drove some to ask how to deal with orphans and their wealth.
God (s.w.t.) said to the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.): Say to them: If you mix with them and put their affairs right, that is better for you than keeping away from them; for mixing to put things right is to their benefit. They are your brothers, and they need this good conduct more than others do; in it is good and right for you and for them. God knows the one who causes corruption from the one who puts things right. Had God willed, He would have burdened you and exhausted you by commanding you not to go near the wealth of orphans; and in that case no one would have been able to change His invincible and wise will.
2:221 — Do not marry idolatresses until they embrace faith
Do not marry idolatresses until they embrace faith. A faithful slave girl is better than an idolatress, though she should impress you. And do not marry [your daughters] to idolaters until they embrace faith. A faithful slave is better than an idolater, though he should impress you. Those invite [others] to the Fire, but Allah invites to paradise and pardon, by His will, and He clarifies His signs for the people so that they may take admonition.
The word “better” (khayr) in this verse comes for specifying, not for comparing. Likewise the two words “polytheist women” and “polytheist men” do not include the women and men of the People of the Book (the Jews and the Christians), but include only the worshippers of idols. And if it is established in jurisprudence that a Muslim woman may not marry one of the People of the Book, that ruling rests on a proof other than this verse.
It is understood from this verse that the marriage of daughters must be arranged in coordination with their fathers. For the second part of the verse, concerning the ruling on Muslim women marrying, also repeats the address to men (the girl’s father or guardian): that they must not marry their daughters to polytheist men.
The final cause of the prohibition on choosing a polytheist spouse, and of the believer being “better” than the polytheist, lies in the fact that the polytheists call others, by request or by what their state requires, to polytheism, which is in reality the fire. The outward sense of the Qur’an is that the reality of some sins, such as polytheism and consuming the wealth of orphans, is the fire; and this reality will appear clearly to all at the Resurrection, which is the place where all realities appear.
The contrast between the polytheists and the faithful requires saying that “the polytheists call to the fire, and the faithful call to Paradise”. But God set His own call against the call of the polytheists, so that the hearer may understand that He is the guardian (walī) of all the affairs of the faithful.
As for putting “Paradise” before “forgiveness”, it is to make clear that Paradise (adornment, taḥliyah) is the final aim of the call, and forgiveness (cleansing, takhliyah) is the intermediate aim; and pointing to the final aim comes first in the call.
The call to Paradise and forgiveness is by permission in the order of creation as well as by legislative leave. God’s permission in the order of creation is divine success-giving, and His legislative permission is the laying down of rulings.
The aim of making the verses clear is not to teach the wisdom and set out the benefits and harms of the rulings, but to remind, and to lift the veil from the knowledge hidden within the human being.
2:222 — They ask you concerning [intercourse during] menses
They ask you concerning [intercourse during] menses. Say, ‘It is hurtful.’ So keep away from wives during the menses, and do not approach them till they are clean. And when they become clean, go into them as Allah has commanded you. Indeed Allah loves the penitent and He loves those who keep clean.
They ask you about women’s monthly courses. Say: Menstruation is a bodily and spiritual harm for the woman, and for her husband as a consequence; for the woman in that state is not ready for intercourse. So keep away from them and do not lie with them.
Leaving intercourse in the days of menstruation is so important that, although the command to keep away would have been enough, emphasis is added by forbidding coming near women; and the penalty for it is so heavy that it does not stop at being forbidden: it also has a declaratory ruling (ḥukm waḍʿī), which is the expiation, and a governmental ruling too, which is discretionary punishment (taʿzīr).
The words “when they have become pure” are a connected indication that the end of the time when intercourse is forbidden, and the beginning of its being permitted, is when purity comes about, not the mere stopping of the flow of blood. As for which means of purity (washing the place, ablution, or the full bath) is meant, that can be known from the narrations.
As for “come to them from where God has commanded you”, it is a figure for intercourse in the womb; and the “command” is either the command in the order of creation or the legislative one. And if someone has intercourse in the days of the monthly courses and commits the sin and is polluted, he must purify himself by repentance so as to become beloved of God; for God loves all who repent and all who purify themselves.
2:223 — Your women are a tillage for you
Your women are a tillage for you, so come to your tillage whenever you like, and send ahead for your souls, and be Godwary, and know that you will encounter Him; and give good news to the faithful.
Women have been made fields (ḥarth) for men for the continuance and procreation of the human species. This verse aims to set out the matter of marriage and procreation for the continuance of the human species. It regards the man as like the farmer who scatters his seeds, and the woman as like the field in which the man’s sperm grows in her womb; and the woman, by giving birth to children, becomes a cause of the continuance of the human race.
The word “field” is repeated in the verse to emphasise the preservation of offspring, which is the original aim of marriage. The aim of intercourse, which can be practised at any time, in any place and in various ways, is not limited to obtaining pleasure; rather, pleasure is the cash wage for bearing the hard troubles of producing a child and bringing him up.
To make people eager to give their intercourse an aim, He addresses them, saying: You must send ahead for the Hereafter worthy children, by way of intercourse with your women. So procreation and the continuance of offspring are important; but what is also important is that the child be useful and righteous.
It is also important to observe divine Godwariness and certainty of meeting God, and what follows from that of carefulness and watchfulness in all family matters.
As for the divine good tidings, the greatest Messenger (s.a.w.) undertakes to convey them to the faithful.
2:224 — Do not make Allah an obstacle
Do not make Allah an obstacle, through your oaths, to being pious and Godwary, and to bringing about concord between people. And Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing.
Several meanings have been mentioned for the first sentence of this verse and for the word ʿurḍah:
Do not make your swearing by God an obstacle (māniʿ) to doing good deeds, to your Godwariness, and to your making peace between people. On this reading, ʿurḍah means an obstacle and a barrier.
Do not make your swearing by God an excuse (ḥujjah) for abandoning the things mentioned. On this reading, ʿurḍah means an excuse, by the indication of the context.
Do not swear by God much, to the effect that you will not do the deeds mentioned. On this reading, ʿurḍah means exposing (ʿarḍ).
They have also given several meanings for the phrase “that you be righteous, be Godwary and make peace between people”:
The particle of negation (“not”) has been omitted, and this phrase is an explanation joined to “oaths”; meaning: do not make your oath by God an obstacle or an excuse for abandoning good deeds, Godwariness and making peace between people.
The particle of negation (“not”) has been omitted, and this phrase sets out the reason for the prohibition “do not make”; meaning: do not swear by God often, for by that you will not become doers of good or Godwary, and you will be deprived of success in making peace.
There is no omitted particle of negation in this phrase; it sets out the wisdom of forbidding much swearing by God; meaning: do not swear by God often, so that you may obtain success in doing righteous deeds, in Godwariness, and in making peace between people.
This last meaning fits best with the outward sense of the verse.
Although the outward sense of the prohibition “do not make” is that it is a binding (mawlawī) prohibition and a forbidding, its being explained by “that you be righteous” conveys that this prohibition is not purely binding. And supposing its outward sense is forbidding, the next verse also restricts its absoluteness; for many oaths, by force of habit, fall within the framework of the idle oath (al-yamīn al-laghwiyyah), for which there is no taking to account. This is unlike a serious oath, on which follows a ruling of obligation, namely being forbidden, or a declaratory ruling, namely the expiation, or both.
And since righteous and Godwary individuals are the only ones granted success in making peace between people, as being a loftier aim, righteousness and individual reform are mentioned first in this verse as the preliminary to collective reform.
2:225 — Allah will not take you to task for what is unconsidered in your oaths
Allah will not take you to task for what is unconsidered in your oaths, but He will take you to task for what your hearts have incurred, and Allah is all-forgiving, all-forbearing.
An oath is either deliberate and serious, or idle and without intention, coming rather from habit, excessive anger and the like. Questioning and reckoning follow on the first kind, not the second.
Serious oaths are of different kinds:
An oath to do or leave a deed in the future: failing to keep it is a disobedience on which expiation follows.
A false oath about something in the past: there is no expiation in it, but it brings the punishment of Hell.
An oath in courts of law: if it is true, a right is established by it; and if it is false, then, where the judge does not know, the ruling is issued in favour of the liar. In this case the oath is a disobedience, even though the right does not change in reality.
Swearing to another person that he do or leave a deed (adjuring, munāshadah): no obligation follows from this oath for the person sworn to.
2:226–227 — For those who forswear their wives shall be a waiting [period]of four months
(226) For those who forswear their wives shall be a waiting [period]of four months. And if they recant, Allah is indeed all-forgiving, all-merciful. (227) But if they resolve on divorce, Allah is indeed all-hearing, all-knowing.
Īlāʾ is a kind of swearing by God, in which the husband swears not to share a bed with his permanent wife for ever, or for a period of more than four months, intending by that to harm the wife with whom he used to lie before. Once the īlāʾ has taken place, the husband has a period of four months in which he can return to his wife or divorce her. If the wife is not patient after the īlāʾ and goes to the legal court, the judge must summon the husband and give him four months, beginning from the time of the appeal to the judge. If the husband does not return within this period, the judge obliges him, after the period has ended, to one of these two matters; and in both cases the husband must pay the particular expiation for īlāʾ.
If the husband returns to his wife after the īlāʾ, God is Forgiving and Compassionate and includes him in His forgiveness and mercy; and if he divorces her, God is All-hearing and All-knowing: He hears that divorce and knows it.
The attribute “All-hearing” indicates that resolving on divorce is not enough; rather, its formula must be carried out.
2:228 — Divorced women shall wait by themselves for three periods of purity [after menses]
Divorced women shall wait by themselves for three periods of purity [after menses], and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs if they believe in Allah and the Last Day; and their husbands have a greater right to restore them during this [duration], if they desire reconcilement. The wives have rights similar to the obligations upon them, in accordance with honourable norms; and men have a degree above them, and Allah is all-mighty and all-wise.
This verse contains six parts:
- The length of the waiting period (ʿiddah) of divorce. 2. The duty of women not to conceal what God has created in their wombs. 3. The husband’s right to take his wife back during the days of the waiting period in a revocable divorce. 4. The rights of the woman and of the man towards each other. 5. The man’s having a degree above the woman. 6. God (s.w.t.) being Mighty and Wise.
Women divorced by a revocable or an irrevocable divorce, at whatever age they are, or in whatever state (with respect to maturity, consummation, menstruation, pregnancy or reaching the age of menopause), must wait after the divorce for a period of three courses of purity (qurūʾ), during which they do not marry.
Since the definite article in “divorced women” is not for something previously mentioned, as there is no witness to that, it conveys generality and includes all groups of divorced women. But by the indication of “three courses” in the verse under discussion, and by the indication of some other verses too, a specification comes upon the generality of “divorced women”, not an abrogation; and as a result some divorced women are excepted from this waiting period of divorce.
The qualification “by themselves” discloses the hardship of the waiting period and the difficulty of women holding back from marrying again. To show the importance of this matter, the emphasis on it is repeated twice in the verse under discussion: the ruling on the waiting period is set out in a nominal sentence, as it is set out in a declarative sentence that is meant as a command.
The sentence “if they believe in God and the Last Day” is not a condition, such that it would have an implied converse; rather, it is a moral ruling, to encourage faith and practical commitment to it.
Women who believe in God and the Hereafter must not conceal menstruation, purity, or pregnancy in the womb; and their word is an acceptable proof in these matters, unless there are signs to the contrary.
In a revocable divorce, the husband has the right to take his wife back during the days of her waiting period without a new contract, on condition that his intention is not to harm her. If he intends that harm, the declaratory ruling on his taking her back is that it is valid, but its ruling of obligation is that it is forbidden.
The husband and the wife have rights that correspond and are balanced against each other, not rights that are equal or of the same kind; for woman and man are two classes of the human being, not two separate kinds, and there is no way to speak of rights particular to either of them in the shared human reality.
In distributing family and social responsibilities, Islam has taken into account the bodily make-up and the capacities of each of the woman and the man; so it has entrusted some responsibilities, such as managing the family, to the man. This does not mean that the man has an essential superiority over the woman with God.
2:229 — [Revocable] divorce may be only twice
[Revocable] divorce may be only twice; then [let there be] either an honourable retention, or a kindly release. It is not lawful for you to take back anything from what you have given them, unless the couple fear that they may not maintain Allah’s bounds; so if you fear they would not maintain Allah’s bounds, there is no sin upon them in what she may give to secure her own release. These are Allah’s bounds, so do not transgress them, and whoever transgresses the bounds of Allah—it is they who are the wrongdoers.
In the first two revocable divorces, the husband can take his wife back without a contract if she is in her waiting period, and with a new contract after the waiting period. But, unlike the custom that prevailed in the Ignorance before Islam, he has no right to take her back in the third, irrevocable divorce.
The husband’s keeping his wife and his releasing her must be with what is right and with kindness. The Qur’an repeats the emphasis on the necessity of keeping to this divine limit four times, in different expressions and at short intervals, and regards whoever oversteps it as a wrongdoer.
It is not permitted for the man to take wealth from his wife in order to divorce her, except in a khulʿ divorce, when the woman does not want her husband, and likewise in a mubārāh divorce, when neither of them wants the other. But if the husband and wife fear at times that they cannot observe the limits of God and that they will disobey them, then the husband can take wealth from the wife in return for her accepting the proposal of divorce. However, deciding on this fear is not a matter for the opinion of the husband and wife alone; those responsible in society and the families of the two spouses also share in it. That is why God directed His address in this verse to the officials and to the families of the wife and the husband, saying: “If you fear”. As for using the expression “ransom” (iftidāʾ) instead of “giving”, it is because this wealth was not given to the man without a return, but in return for the right of divorce and the right to take her back in the waiting period.
All the rulings of jurisprudence that have come, and the moral principles and divine teachings mentioned that came to guarantee the application of the rulings, are divine limits, each of which has been pointed out. If a person oversteps these limits, he is among the wrongdoers deprived of the blessing of God’s guidance.
2:230 — And if he divorces her, she will not be lawful for him thereafter until she marries a…
And if he divorces her, she will not be lawful for him thereafter until she marries a husband other than him, and if he divorces her, there is no sin upon them to remarry if they think that they can maintain Allah’s bounds. These are Allah’s bounds, which He clarifies for a people who have knowledge.
The husband’s marrying a woman whom he has divorced for the third time is a void marriage, just as every kind of enjoyment of her is forbidden. For his wife becomes forbidden to him after her third divorce, and from that follows the prohibition of every kind of enjoyment of her too.
This prohibition ends when this woman marries another man in a permanent marriage and he then separates from her after intercourse, by divorce or by the man’s death. Then the woman can agree with her former husband on marrying again, after they are confident of observing the divine limits. But the necessity of being confident of observing the divine limits is not a condition for the validity of the renewed marriage; rather, it is a guiding ruling whose aim is that the earlier problems and the divorce should not be repeated, and an encouragement to the husband and wife to observe the limits of the heavenly laws.
The first “limits of God” in this verse concern specifically the corresponding religious rights of husband and wife; and the second “limits of God”, by the indication of the demonstrative for what is far (“those”), is all the rulings and teachings of this verse.
The secret in confining the setting out of these limits to those who know, even though the setting out is for all, lies in the fact that only scholars benefit from this setting out directly, and then spread it among people.
2:231 — When you divorce women and they complete their term [of waiting]
When you divorce women and they complete their term [of waiting], then either retain them honourably or release them honourably, and do not retain them maliciously in order that you may transgress; and whoever does that certainly wrongs himself. Do not take the signs of Allah in derision, and remember Allah’s blessing upon you, and what He has sent down to you of the Book and wisdom, to advise you therewith. Be wary of Allah and know that Allah has knowledge of all things.
Keeping a divorced woman is of two kinds: 1. By taking the woman back in her waiting period. 2. By marrying her anew after the waiting period. On this basis, “reaching the term” also has two instances: the waiting period being about to end, and the waiting period having ended.
Keeping or releasing a divorced woman must be acceptable; that is, in accordance with the legal standards and the moral principles of Islam.
It is also necessary that keeping the woman be with what is right and with observing her rights in the days of the waiting period, whether the woman is pregnant or not; for in the waiting period of a revocable divorce the woman counts as a wife and enjoys the rights of a wife, such as maintenance, housing and clothing, and the man must strive to fulfil these rights as far as he is able.
The man’s taking back the woman in order to keep her must not be with the intention of harming her and leaving her suspended. And if he does not want to live with her anew, he must not hurt her or put obstacles in the way of her marrying others by mistreating her and listing her faults. Whoever does not beware of setting such a wrong upon the woman has wronged himself in the first degree, even if he has mistreated the woman too; for every act affects first the one who does it directly, and then affects others indirectly.
“The signs of God” in this verse are God’s rulings of jurisprudence and of rights; and “taking the signs in mockery” is mocking them in practice and in belief. Through the prohibition of mocking the rulings, God (s.w.t.) emphasised the previous laws and forbade every kind of mockery, playing with them and misusing them.
The divine rulings are among God’s spiritual blessings, which must not be met with ingratitude, just as that is required with His material blessings. The reference specifically to the Qur’an and wisdom, which represent two of God’s blessings, after mentioning the generality of the blessing, is only to make known their importance, considering that they are among God’s means for admonishing people. The Muslims must preserve their Godwariness, and not make light of God’s rulings in thought and in action; for God knows all the deeds and desires of the human being.
2:232 — When you divorce women and they complete their term
When you divorce women and they complete their term, do not hinder them from [re]marrying their husbands, when they honourably reach mutual consent. Herewith are advised those of you who believe in Allah and the Last Day. That will be more decent and purer for you, and Allah knows and you do not know.
When divorced women have completed the waiting period of their divorce, their former husbands and their guardians and relatives have no right to stand in the way of their marrying husbands they are pleased with, in accordance with standards acceptable to reason and revelation. The condition “mutual agreement with what is right” is a guiding condition that has no implied converse; so even if they agree on something not right, the former husbands and the fathers of the women have no guardianship over them, and are obliged only to guide them.
God (s.w.t.) makes clear that the duty of men is to accept the divine admonitions, and makes them eager for faith in God and the Resurrection, counting that a support for carrying out duties and applying the rulings of jurisprudence and the divine rights.
Knowing the teachings and acting on the religious rulings help prepare the means of purifying and cleansing the human heart.
God knows all things, and the human being is ignorant. However far he reaches in the ranks of knowledge, he must draw the programme of his happy life only by way of revelation and prophethood; for he does not become happy except by acting on revelation.
2:233 — Mothers shall suckle their children for two full years—that for such as desire to…
Mothers shall suckle their children for two full years—that for such as desire to complete the suckling—and on the father shall be their maintenance and clothing, in accordance with honourable norms. No soul is to be tasked except according to its capacity: neither the mother shall be made to suffer harm on her child’s account, nor the father on account of his child, and on the [father’s] heir devolve [duties and rights] similar to that. And if the couple desire to wean with mutual consent and consultation, there will be no sin upon them. And if you want to have your children wet-nursed, there will be no sin upon you so long as you pay what you give in accordance with honourable norms, and be wary of Allah and know that Allah watches what you do.
Mothers who want to complete the period of breastfeeding their children, according to the right of custody and the right of breastfeeding, must breastfeed them for two full years, that is, twenty-four lunar months.
The reason for using the expression “mothers” (al-wālidāt) rather than “wives” or “mothers” in the general sense (ummahāt) is to make the right of breastfeeding include the divorced woman who is breastfeeding, and at the same time to make clear that this is particular to the child’s birth mother, and does not include others who are called “mother” but who did not give birth to the child.
As long as the mother is breastfeeding her child for two years or less, it falls on the child’s father to pay her living costs in that period, such as the costs of food and clothing. He must pay these from the child’s wealth if the child has wealth. If the child has no wealth, he must pay it from his own wealth, within the customary limits and to the extent he is able, even if this mother is divorced, and even if her waiting period has ended. If the father dies, those costs fall on the heir.
Neither of the parents may cause harm to their child, just as neither of them may harm the other by way of the child.
Weaning the child, if it is with the agreement and consultation of the parents and with regard to the child’s interest, has no difficulty or sin in it.
Hiring a wet-nurse is permitted if the father commits himself to the financial duties that follow from it towards the breastfeeding mother or the wet-nurse.
Godwariness must be observed in all matters, especially in the rulings of the family; just as one must know that God sees the deeds of His servants.
2:234 — As for those of you who die leaving wives
As for those of you who die leaving wives, they shall wait by themselves four months and ten days, and when they complete their term, there will be no sin upon you in respect of what they may do with themselves in accordance with honourable norms. And Allah is well aware of what you do.
Women whose husbands die must keep themselves for a period of four months and ten days, refraining in it from marrying anew during this period.
The waiting period of death is obligatory on all women to whom the name “wife” applies, such as the woman in a revocable divorce whose husband dies during the days of her waiting period; for the ruling of a wife applies to her in this period. Likewise the pregnant woman divorced by a revocable divorce, not an irrevocable one, since the divorced woman in this case is one of the instances of a wife: she must observe the longer of the two periods, the time remaining until childbirth or the period of four months and ten days, and keep her waiting period by it.
After the waiting period of death has ended, the woman can act as she sees fit, and no one has the right to prevent her from that; for others have no guardianship over her, unless she is still a virgin, in which case the guardian’s permission is taken into account, according to the view of those who hold that the father has guardianship over a virgin.
Legislating the rulings that order how people act is God’s prerogative; for He alone is acquainted with distinguishing good deeds from bad, and He knows all the deeds of the human being.
2:235 — There is no sin upon you in what you may hint in proposing to [recently widowed] women
There is no sin upon you in what you may hint in proposing to [recently widowed] women, or what you may secretly cherish within your hearts. Allah knows that you will be thinking of them, but do not make troth with them secretly, unless you say honourable words, and do not resolve on a marriage tie until the prescribed term is complete. Know that Allah knows what is in your hearts, so beware of Him; and know that Allah is all-forgiving, all-forbearing.
Hinting at a proposal to women who are still in the period of their waiting period (women whose husbands have died, and women divorced by an irrevocable divorce), or keeping it hidden in the heart without stating it openly, is permitted. But stating it openly is forbidden, even though the declaratory ruling of the marriage being void does not follow from it, and no obstacle appears to the marriage after the waiting period.
Making promises in secret with women in their waiting period is forbidden. As for speaking with them in a way that reason and revelation approve, there is no difficulty in it. The permission for these matters springs from God’s respect for the natural and innate needs of the human being; for He knows that these men, driven by what their nature requires, will draw near to these women to catch their attention and then marry them. So He did not command them what their nature and their primordial nature cannot bear to obey, and He lightened the ruling of obligation.
Just as marrying women in their waiting period is forbidden and void, the importance of that led God to forbid even resolving on it, so that the human being would not be afflicted with what is forbidden.
There is no legal prohibition in resolving to marry women in the days of the waiting period, but it leads to deprivation of spiritual degrees and stations, as is the case in similar matters.
God (s.w.t.) knows what passes in people’s souls, so they must be wary of opposing Him, abandon sins, and repent of them if they are afflicted with them.
2:236–237 — There is no sin upon you if you divorce women while you have not yet touched them or…
(236) There is no sin upon you if you divorce women while you have not yet touched them or settled a dowry for them. Yet provide for them—the well-off according to his capacity, and the poorly-off according to his capacity—with a sustenance that is honourable, an obligation on the virtuous. (237) And if you divorce them before you touch them, and you have already settled a dowry for them, then [pay them] half of what you have settled, unless they forgo it, or someone in whose hand is the marriage tie forgoes it. And to forgo is nearer to Godwariness; so do not forget graciousness among yourselves. Indeed Allah watches what you do.
There is no difficulty in divorcing women with whom intercourse has not taken place, or for whom no dowry was named at the time of the contract; it does not count as a disobedience, even though the man and the woman must strive as far as possible to avoid divorce.
The declaratory ruling of providing a gift (tamtīʿ) arises when a woman for whom no dowry was named in the text of the contract is divorced. According to this ruling, the man must pay the woman an amount of wealth that custom decides, fitting his means before the divorce and the standing of both parties. But if the divorce is after intercourse, he must pay her the customary dowry of her equals (mahr al-mithl) before the divorce.
The dowry is not a pillar of the contract; so a contract without a dowry is valid. But a woman cannot give herself in marriage as a gift; for that matter is particular to the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.).
The gift is obligatory on all the men to whom the previous conditions apply. Mentioning the doers of good is not evidence that the ruling is particular to them; rather, it is because these people keep to the divine limits and observe them.
The woman, or her guardian, can give up all of the dowry or part of it, or all of the gift or part of it; for the dowry and the gift are a right, and a woman can do with her right what she wishes; they are not a ruling of God.
Pardon over the dowry or the gift is by gift or by release from the debt. Pardon has an outstanding importance; for whoever pardons attains the settled trait of Godwariness more quickly and is included in divine mercy. From here one must not be heedless of being adorned with pardon in personal and social relations.
2:238 — Be watchful of your prayers
Be watchful of your prayers, and [especially] the middle prayer, and stand in obedience to Allah;
The Muslims must keep up the five daily prayers, especially the noon (ẓuhr) prayer, and guard them in both their quantity and their quality, so that they may obtain the wide effects and blessings of this great divine obligation.
At the stage of coming into being, the prayer must be performed with its proprieties and its particular conditions; just as it must be guarded at the stage of continuing. So one must beware of doing deeds that cause a breach in the sincerity of the prayer.
Just as the one who prays must guard the prayer, the prayer itself is one of the manifestations of the guarding of God, the Guardian; it guards the one who prays and protects him from evil deeds and appetites.
Every Muslim must stand for God and in His way, and join that to his lasting humility, just as all beings are always humble and obedient to God (s.w.t.).
2:239 — and should you fear [a danger]
and should you fear [a danger], then [pray] on foot or mounted, and when you are safe remember Allah, as He taught you what you did not know.
The obligation of prayer must be performed in all circumstances and states, among them states of fear and during wars; it is not permitted to leave it in any state at all. Prayer in a state of fear is distinguished by changes to its pillars, its parts and its conditions, and the prayer is not voided by this change, on condition that the fear is one a reasonable person would feel. Besides this, changing the manner of the prayer requires other conditions to be present; otherwise the manner of the prayer cannot be changed.
Performing the prayer in a state of fear is valid sitting or lying down too, even though that is not stated explicitly in the verse under discussion.
After safety has been restored, God (s.w.t.) must be remembered in the way that God Himself taught people.
2:240 — Those of you who die leaving wives shall bequeath for their wives providing for a year
Those of you who die leaving wives shall bequeath for their wives providing for a year, without turning them out; but if they leave, there is no sin upon you in respect of what they may do with themselves in accordance with honourable norms. And Allah is all-mighty, all-wise.
The content of this verse is a report meant as a command (al-ikhbār bi-qaṣd al-inshāʾ), aiming to set out a ruling of rights that was current in the past and to confirm it, not merely to report it.
What is meant by the bequest is the husband’s bequest, not a charge from God; just as “those who die” in this verse means those approaching death.
In the Ḥijāz before Islam, a woman whose husband had died had no right to marry before a year had passed since his death, just as her guardians were bound in this period to provide the woman’s costs of food, clothing and housing from the wealth of the dead man. From here came the charge to men who are about to die to write a bequest, and the imposing of a waiting period of a full year on women too, and the obligation of the executor to act on this bequest. On this basis, what is meant by the women’s going out is their going out of that waiting period of one year, not going out of the house or giving up the right to housing.
Among the confirmed rulings pointed to in this verse, the ruling on the waiting period of death was abrogated, but the ruling on the husband’s bequest to his wife from a third of the wealth remains in force as a recommended ruling.
There is no doubt that what is meant in the verse under discussion, if all the customs before Islam particular to the woman whose husband had died (such as a waiting period of death lasting one year, the right to food, clothing and housing, and deprivation of inheritance) are meant, is that the ruling of a waiting period of a year was abrogated by the verse of the waiting period of death (2:234), just as the woman’s deprivation of inheritance was abrogated by the verse of inheritance (4:12).
As for the gist of the verse’s recommendations, it is that men who are about to die should bequeath to their heirs that they pay the costs of food and clothing of their wives for a period of a year from the wealth they leave behind, and that they not put them out of their husbands’ houses.
2:241–242 — For the divorced women there shall be a provision
(241) For the divorced women there shall be a provision, in accordance with honourable norms—an obligation on the Godwary. (242) Thus does Allah clarify His signs to you so that you may exercise your reason.
The first verse is concerned with setting out the ruling of obligation on whether giving wealth to divorced women is obligatory or recommended. If giving the gift is judged obligatory, the declaratory ruling of liability is also understood from the verse. But the generality of “and for divorced women” has been specified, since other proofs convey that the gift is not obligatory except for women who have no dowry and with whom intercourse has not taken place, not for all divorced women.
The obligation to give wealth to all divorced women is among the rulings particular to the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.); so this ruling cannot be widened to include the rest of the Muslims. Likewise, giving the provision, whether obligatory or recommended, must be in the manner that reason and revelation approve; that is, it must be free of every form of excess or shortfall.
The aim of making clear the divine rulings and signs is to make people understand them and act on what they require. If a person does not commit himself to acting according to the divine rulings, he is not a person of reason or right guidance; rather, he is foolish and ignorant.
What is meant by “reason” in the second verse is practical reason, which carries out purification by following the directions of theoretical reason; not merely pure theoretical reason, which is content with mere thinking.
Ignorance stands opposite reason, not opposite knowledge; for ignorance can come together with knowledge (as in the transgressing scholar), but it does not come together with reason. The aim of religious teachings is to make the human being reasonable, knowledge being the bridge that leads to reason.
2:243 — Have you not regarded those who left their homes in thousands
Have you not regarded those who left their homes in thousands, apprehensive of death, whereupon Allah said to them, ‘Die,’ then He revived them? Indeed Allah is gracious to mankind, but most people do not give thanks.
This verse addresses the Noblest Messenger (s.a.w.), saying to him: Have you looked with your insight at those thousands of people who, in earlier ages, fled their houses and their city for fear of the plague, intending to take refuge in safe regions? God made them die a collective death, and then brought them to life so that they might continue their lives and realise that life and death are bound up with the divine will, not with what they imagine of causes.
Making this group die and bringing them to life is a favour from God to people; for by this deed God has made clear to all the answer to what may be asked about the possibility of the Return (rajʿah) and of life after death; even though most people do not thank God for what He bestows on them.
2:244 — Fight in the way of Allah
Fight in the way of Allah, and know that Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing.
Striving (jihād), both initiated and defensive, is among the obligatory religious rulings. The striving that is sought and accepted is that which is “in the way of God”: that which is for the spread of religion and the widening of the field of its rule, not that which is for love of worldly power and seizing lands.
The coming of the two attributes “All-hearing” and “All-knowing” at the end of the verse is a threat to the hypocrites who undermine, that God hears their words: the hypocrite who incites others not to spend, mocks those who do so, and dampens people’s resolve to strive in the way of God. So He exposes their plotting and makes it useless. That is on one side.
On the other side, these two words say to the faithful fighters that God hears your supplications and your entreaties, and that He answers them.
The fruit of God’s hearing and knowledge appears at one time in the form of making hearts firm and sending angels of help and timely rain, and at another in the form of striking terror into the enemy, and of answers in knowledge and in action to the doubts of the hypocrites.
2:245 — Who is it that will lend Allah a good loan that He may multiply it for him severalfold
Who is it that will lend Allah a good loan that He may multiply it for him severalfold? Allah tightens and expands [the means of life], and to Him you shall be brought back.
In the verse under discussion God (s.w.t.) calls the faithful to do good deeds, among them spending; and this call comes in a stirring, musical tone: “Who is it that…?” What is termed in the Qur’an “a goodly loan” includes the loan in jurisprudence too; and it is every good deed a person does for the sake of God, whether among the customary acts of worship, financial spending, or a work of general benefit.
The secret of calling this general meaning “a goodly loan” is that the root of the deed remains kept with God, as in a loan contract, where the wealth returns and God rewards the lender many times over. There is no doubt that God does not accept some loans, because they lack goodness of the act or goodness of the agent, or because reminders of favour and hurt follow them, or because they lack goodness and purity.
The complete goodness of lending depends on all the causes of a goodly loan coming together, among them uprooting from the heart the love of wealth and attachment to it, and obeying the command to lend out of thanks to God and love of Him.
Goodly financial loans also have good social benefits: they help to rescue society from poverty, unemployment and misery, just as they play an effective role in refining souls and making them generous.
As for rewarding those who spend with multiplied rewards, it is evidence that God is Self-sufficient and has no need of this spending; and only God, the One who withholds and the One who extends, is able to give such a recompense.
Each of the last three sentences of the verse makes clear that God has no need; and in addition, confining withholding and extending to God points to pure tawḥīd.
What prepares the ground for withholding is the human being himself, because of the weakness of his receptivity; otherwise the lordly graces continue always and for ever.
The explicit statement of the general return to God is good tidings for the good and a warning to sinners, and it comes to encourage financial spending and not abandoning it.
2:246 — Have you not regarded the elite of the Israelites after Moses
Have you not regarded the elite of the Israelites after Moses, when they said to their prophet, ‘Appoint for us a king that we may fight in the way of Allah.’ He said, ‘May it not be that you will not fight if fighting were prescribed for you?’ They said, ‘Why should we not fight in the way of Allah, when we have been expelled from our homes and [separated from] our children?’ So when fighting was prescribed for them, they turned back except a few of them, and Allah knows well the wrongdoers.
After Moses, the one who spoke with God (a.s.), departed to the mercy of his Lord, a group of the Children of Israel who sought to revive life anew among their people and to recover the homeland they had lost became active. They asked their prophet to bring them a leader, so that they might prepare what the holy striving required.
But when their prophet chose Ṭālūt (Saul) as their leader and the command to strive came, only a small group of them responded, while most of them turned away from obeying.
These people’s accepting wrong and keeping silent before it means that they placed themselves in the ranks of the wrongdoers; for their yielding to captivity and displacement, and their refusing to resist, is a contribution to strengthening the wrongdoer, and that is no less than wrongdoing itself.
The reason these people turned to their prophet and asked him to appoint a leader for the war lies in the fact that the conduct of striving and holy defence must be in the hand of the prophet or his deputy; and such striving and defence counts as striving “in the way of God”, even if it is for the defence of the homeland or for recovering it.
2:247 — Their prophet said to them
Their prophet said to them, ‘Allah has appointed Saul as king for you.’ They said, ‘How can he have kingship over us, when we have a greater right to kingship than him, as he has not been given ample wealth?’ He said, ‘Indeed Allah has chosen him over you, and enhanced him vastly in knowledge and physique, and Allah gives His kingdom to whomever He wishes, and Allah is all-bounteous, all-knowing.’
When the chiefs of the Children of Israel asked their prophet for what they asked, he said to them: God has chosen Ṭālūt to lead you. And as a precaution against the disobedience he expected from them, he told them that the sending of Ṭālūt had come from God (s.w.t.).
In response, the chiefs and notables of the Children of Israel objected to the choice of Ṭālūt, setting out from their arrogance, their conceit and their mistaken thinking, which denies abrogation in legislation and badāʾ in creation. Their prophet answered them: first, that the One who chose Ṭālūt is God, who knows secrets; second, that the measure of individuals’ superiority for leadership is their scholarly expertise in the field of conducting war and their superior bodily strength; third, that God gives His authority to whom He sees, on the basis of His wisdom, that it is right to give it; and fourth, that God’s power is wide enough for all fields, for He knows all things.
2:248 — Their prophet said to them
Their prophet said to them, ‘Indeed the sign of his kingship shall be that the Ark will come to you, bearing tranquillity from your Lord and the relics left behind by the House of Moses and the House of Aaron, borne by the angels. There is indeed a sign in that for you, should you be faithful.’
Since the Children of Israel were not convinced by their prophet’s answers, they asked him to bring them a miracle to establish that the divine choice of Ṭālūt was true. Their prophet answered them that the sign of the divine leadership of Ṭālūt is the coming of the holy Ark known to them, which had been hidden from their sight for many years.
This Ark returned, under the guidance and leading of God’s angels, to the Children of Israel. In it was what brings them tranquillity (sakīnah), and what reminds them of the family of Moses and Aaron. And since nothing remained, after the return of this Ark, by way of any pretext for not submitting to the leadership of Ṭālūt, their prophet asked them to hold fast to what their faith required of them, and to get ready for fighting.
2:249 — As Saul set out with the troops
As Saul set out with the troops, he said, ‘Allah will test you with a stream: anyone who drinks from it will not belong to me, but those who do not drink from it will belong to me, barring someone who draws a scoop with his hand.’ But they drank from it, [all] except a few of them. So when he crossed it along with the faithful who were with him, they said, ‘We have no strength today against Goliath and his troops.’ Those who were certain that they would encounter Allah said, ‘How many a small party has overcome a larger party by Allah’s will! And Allah is with the patient.’
After Ṭālūt and his troops left their camp and set out to meet their enemy, Ṭālūt told the thirsty troops, midway along the road, of the Lord’s test by a river of clear water. He said to them that whoever drinks of the water of this river will have his outward and inward tie with him cut off; unlike whoever refrains entirely from drinking from it, who keeps his outward and inward tie with him. As for whoever is content to drink the measure of one scoop from it, he is not of him with respect to final perfection, but he will be granted success in outward accompaniment only.
Most of his troops drank of the water, and as a result they fell behind him and did not accompany him, except for a small number of them who were either in the second group or in the third; that is, either they did not taste this water, or they were content with one scoop from it. These continued on their way with him, crossed the river, and faced Goliath (Jālūt) and his vast army.
At that point, failing began to creep into the ranks of some of the fighters, and their resolve to fight weakened on the pretext that they were unable. But they regained their morale after they listened to the words of the sincere individuals in Ṭālūt’s army, who were certain of the Resurrection and thirsty for martyrdom.
This special group among the supporters of Ṭālūt reminded the rest of the coming down of divine help in earlier ages on small groups and their victory over their many enemies; and they likewise strengthened their morale and prepared them for fighting by giving them the glad tidings of God’s special care for the patient.
2:250 — So when they marched out for [encounter with] Goliath and his troops
So when they marched out for [encounter with] Goliath and his troops, they said, ‘Our Lord, pour patience upon us, make our feet steady, and assist us against the faithless lot.’
When the troops of Ṭālūt, who had no brilliant record before this stage, came out to face the enemy army, they ignored and forgot their small number and their weak military equipment, and were content to rely on their Creator. They raised their hands in supplication, asking Him for patience, firmness of their feet, and the winning of victory.
The filling of the human soul with the trait of patience makes his feet firm on the field of battle, and this in its turn becomes a cause of achieving victory.
The supplication of Ṭālūt’s troops before entering the battle makes it understood that remembering God and His oneness, and not associating numbers and equipment with Him in His lordship, are among the important military matters that must not be neglected on the fields of war.
2:251–252 — Thus they routed them with Allah’s will
(251) Thus they routed them with Allah’s will, and David killed Goliath, and Allah gave him kingdom and wisdom and taught him whatever He liked. Were it not for Allah’s repelling the people by means of one another, the earth would surely have been corrupted; but Allah is gracious to the world’s people. (252) These are the signs of Allah, which We recite for you in truth, and you are indeed one of the apostles.
Immediately after the supplication of Ṭālūt’s followers, help came to them from God, who is swift to answer; and they defeated their enemies with divine help. There God’s prophet David (a.s.) was able to kill the leader of the tyrants, Goliath; and God gave him authority and wisdom, and taught him what He willed.
The story of Ṭālūt’s followers is an instance of the continuing divine custom of repelling the corrupters, which aims to remove corruption from the earth. The secret of keeping corruption from the earth is God’s favour on the worlds, and this favour is not particular to a special people or a special age.
The expression “repelling” (dafʿ), not “defending” (difāʿ), is used of God’s act because defending is used of a person who has something opposite him, whereas nothing stands opposite God; rather, all beings are His troops, even the limbs and organs of the faithless.
In the second verse God (s.w.t.) addresses His greatest Messenger (s.a.w.), saying to him: What We have set out to you of the stories of those who came before is like signs and proofs of God’s power, knowledge, will and encompassing, not mere stories without meaning; just as they are evidence that your message is true, and that there is no doubt that you are one of the messengers.
2:253 — These are the apostles, some of whom We gave an advantage over others
These are the apostles, some of whom We gave an advantage over others: of them are those to whom Allah spoke and some of them He raised in rank, and We gave Jesus, son of Mary, manifest proofs and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. Had Allah wished, those who succeeded them would not have fought one another after the manifest proofs had come to them. But they differed. So there were among them those who had faith and there were among them those who were faithless, and had Allah wished, they would not have fought one another; but Allah does whatever He desires.
All of God’s messengers and prophets have the required qualities that make them fit to reach the station of messengership. Yet God (s.w.t.) has preferred some of them over others: He spoke to some of His prophets in a special way, raised some of them to higher degrees and loftier ranks, while He supported another of them with the Holy Spirit (Jesus, a.s.) and gave him clear proofs.
And since all of God’s prophets and messengers were truthful and sincere in their call in carrying out their messages, it was expected that the members of their communities would live with the prophets and messengers side by side in peace and purity, in the shade of their faith in God. But those communities chose disagreement, and put enmity and hatred before love and harmony; so they divided into two groups, a believing group and a faithless group, and quarrelling, mutual hostility, boasting and vying in glory multiplied among their members.
God (s.w.t.) willed that human beings should travel the road of perfection by their own choice and will. For that reason He gave them freedom, and did not will to compel them to faith, nor did He stand in the way of their fighting and quarrelling, so that the road of perfection would not be blocked before those who want to travel it. Had God willed, He would have prevented them from fighting one another and stood between them and their carrying burdens and loads. God’s will is nothing but carrying out, and His promise is nothing but the truth; but He (s.w.t.) did not will that in the order of creation (takwīnī), even though He forbade the faithful, by way of legislation (tashrīʿī), from disagreement and shedding blood, and commanded them to disown that.
2:254 — O you who have faith! Spend out of what We have provided you before there comes a day on…
O you who have faith! Spend out of what We have provided you before there comes a day on which there will be no bargaining, neither friendship, nor intercession. And the faithless—they are the wrongdoers.
The faithful ought to spend in the way of God out of what He has provided them and given them, so that it may benefit them on the Day of Resurrection, when there is no place for worldly deeds.
Abandoning obligatory spending counts as a kind of unbelief in practice; and like it in that is abandoning the ḥajj by someone who is able.
2:255 — Allah—there is no god except Him—is the Living One
Allah—there is no god except Him—is the Living One, the All-sustainer. Neither drowsiness befalls Him nor sleep. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is it that may intercede with Him except with His permission? He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they do not comprehend anything of His knowledge except what He wishes. His seat embraces the heavens and the earth and He is not wearied by their preservation, and He is the All-exalted, the All-supreme.
The noble sentence “There is no god but He” is a negative proposition whose content is the denial and rejection of polytheism. As is clear, it is not made up of two propositions, one meant to deny false gods and the other to affirm the existence of God (s.w.t.).
The pre-eternal and everlasting life that is the very Essence of God (s.w.t.) is an unlimited life confined to Him alone. It is free of every deficiency, weakness or ceasing; no helplessness strikes it, nor does tiredness or weariness befall it, nor a lapse from sleep or drowsiness. Everything that exists in the heavens and the earth is the possession of God (s.w.t.), and no one can intercede with Him, or seek intercession from Him for another, except by His permission. He knows what is in the heavens and the earth, and nothing escapes Him, whatever it is and wherever it is; and no one knows anything of Him except in the measure He wills. His Footstool (kursī), glory be to Him, encompasses the heavens and the earth, all of them; and He is free of tiredness in managing their affairs or ordering what their affairs require. He is the Most High, the Greatest, the Supreme.
2:256 — There is no compulsion in religion
There is no compulsion in religion: rectitude has become distinct from error. So one who disavows fake deities and has faith in Allah has held fast to the firmest handle for which there is no breaking; and Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing.
Every person under legal obligation must embrace the religion of God. But the legislative order in Islam has not laid down a law by which the individual is compelled to embrace religion; just as delegation (tafwīḍ) is wholly false in the order of creation of the world.
The secret of the freedom to choose the religion a person wants, and of not compelling him to it, lies in the clarity and transparency of the truth and its being plainly distinguished from falsehood. There is no doubt that compelling a person to accept a clear matter, in which there is no confusion or obscurity, is illogical and not at all necessary; quite apart from the fact that compelling a person to accept something from the depths of his heart and to be content with it may have no effect on that person at all.
Disbelief in the false deity (ṭāghūt) and faith in God are precisely one thing, which we call practical commitment in the matter of tawḥīd. Putting disbelief in the ṭāghūt before faith in God is meant to remove the dust and rust from the human primordial nature (fiṭrah), so that after that faith may shine in it like a precious jewel. So disbelief in the ṭāghūt is not a root, as is clear, so that faith in God would be a branch of it.
Disbelief in the ṭāghūt is a responsibility that falls on every Muslim who belongs to the Islamic community, and must be observed in social and individual affairs alike. It (that is, disbelief in the ṭāghūt and faith in God) is likewise like holding fast to the firm and strong handhold of religion, which prevents the one who holds it from slipping into the valley of material and spiritual problems, and from reaching the ports of happiness in this world and the Hereafter. So religion is an armour for the human being; and God is All-hearing, All-knowing.
2:257 — Allah is the wali of the faithful
Allah is the wali of the faithful: He brings them out of darkness into light. As for the faithless, their awliya are the fake deities, who drive them out of light into darkness. They shall be the inmates of the Fire, and they will remain in it [forever].
The fruit of holding fast to the firmest handhold is strong faith and pre-eternal light. But the result of worshipping the ṭāghūt can only be the growing of unbelief in the hearts of the friends of the ṭāghūt, their remaining and stumbling blindly in the darknesses that cover them.
God (s.w.t.) is the guardian (walī) and leader of the faithful, who drives away from them every darkness and pitch blackness. But the ṭāghūt is the enemy of all, faithful and faithless alike; it teaches nothing but the rebellion that leads to putting out the light of the human primordial nature (fiṭrah), and drives the faithless to be lost in the mazes of darkness and drowned in the depths of unbelief and the abysses of polytheism.
There is no doubt that God (s.w.t.) is the efficient source for bringing out from the darknesses into the light whoever wants that. As for revelation and the individual’s faith, they are only a means of preparing the particular means for the process of coming out. The faithful have only one guardian, and they carry no aims but becoming enlightened and taking provision with the greatest measure of light. As for the faithless, their guardians are many, their masters cannot be counted, and their aims are many and scattered.
The ṭāghūt has no fitness for guardianship in itself, as is known; it is only the faithless taking it as a guardian that gives it the title of guardian. Apart from that, it is their manifest enemy.
2:258 — Have you not regarded him who argued with Abraham about his Lord
Have you not regarded him who argued with Abraham about his Lord, [only] because Allah had given him kingdom? When Abraham said, ‘My Lord is He who gives life and brings death,’ he replied, ‘I [too] give life and bring death.’ Abraham said, ‘Indeed Allah brings the sun from the east; now you bring it from the west.’ Thereat the faithless one was dumbfounded. And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing lot.
Instead of thanking God (s.w.t.) for granting him the blessing of authority and kingship, Nimrod set about disputing with our master Abraham (a.s.) and arguing against what he told him of the truth. He did not slacken in insisting on claiming lordship for himself. It is clear that God’s absolute lordship was the axis of the discussion and the dispute; for the polytheists did not object to the principle of God’s (s.w.t.) existence and His general lordship in the order of creation in the system of existence, but they would deny the elements of His particular lordship, in creation and in legislation, completely, as we will explain later.
So our master Abraham (a.s.) began his speech with the subject of causing the living to die and bringing the dead to life. He saw nothing from Nimrod but obstinacy and sophistry. Then he (a.s.) set about pointing to God’s lordship through the sign of the rising of the sun. Here Nimrod, who had disbelieved the first proof and denied it, was dumbfounded, and was at a loss how to answer and respond to our master Abraham (a.s.).
Nimrod was one of the band of wrongdoers and the company of tyrants and despots. The wisdom of God (s.w.t.) has decreed that the likes of these be deprived of the blessing of guidance in the order of creation granted to others, because of their wrongdoing and their not acknowledging the legislative guidance of God (s.w.t.).
2:259 — Or him who came upon a township as it lay fallen on its trellises
Or him who came upon a township as it lay fallen on its trellises. He said, ‘How will Allah revive this after its death?!’ So Allah made him die for a hundred years, then He resurrected him. He said, ‘How long did you remain?’ Said he, ‘I have remained a day or part of a day.’ He said, ‘No, you have remained a hundred years. Now look at your food and drink which have not rotted! Then look at your ass! [This was done] that We may make you a sign for mankind. And now look at its bones, how We raise them up and clothe them with flesh!’ When it became evident to him, he said, ‘I know that Allah has power over all things.’
It is related that a righteous servant, or a prophet called Jeremiah (Irmiyā) or ʿUzayr, passed during his journey by a town that was ruined and deserted, its inhabitants having perished. He asked himself, wondering how God (s.w.t.) would bring these dead to life after they had become dust and decayed bones. So God (s.w.t.) made him die, and then brought him to life after a century of time. It seems that someone asked him how long he had stayed in that place; and perhaps this question arose within himself, and it was he who answered his own question, saying: Perhaps I stayed here a day or part of a day. At that, a voice called to him from the world of the Unseen, or God (s.w.t.) spoke to him by way of revelation, and said to him: You stayed here dead for a hundred years. This person or prophet may have known that after returning to his family, his clan and his people, and seeing signs and indications pointing to his sleep and his death for all that period, such as his grandchildren and his peers having become old men unable to do anything, and indeed some of them having died during the century that had passed. So he accepted that he had been dead for a period of a hundred years.
Then it seems that someone said to him: If you want to know the unlimited power of God (s.w.t.) and what has befallen you, look at your food and drink that you had with you on your journey then, and notice how they have not changed and their taste has not altered, when it is well known that such things spoil and rot within a short period. But look at your donkey that carried you on your journey a hundred years ago: how it perished and was destroyed, and nothing remained of it but a heap of decayed bones; and watch how God (s.w.t.) will bring your donkey to life for you by His power, step by step, beginning with the joints of the bones and joining some of them to others, then watch how those bones will be clothed with flesh, so that the creation of that animal is completed fully before your eyes.
When the righteous servant witnessed with his own eyes the power of God (s.w.t.) to bring to life what had been dead and perished, and to return it to its first state, he acknowledged, as a truthful believer, that God is able to do all things.
2:260 — And when Abraham said, ‘My Lord
And when Abraham said, ‘My Lord! Show me how You revive the dead,’ He said, ‘Do you not believe?’ He said, ‘Yes indeed, but in order that my heart may be at rest.’ He said, ‘Catch four of the birds. Then cut them into pieces, and place a part of them on every mountain, then call them; they will come to you hastening. And know that Allah is all-mighty and all-wise.’
The noble verse tells us that our master Abraham (a.s.) asked God (s.w.t.) to show him how the greatest Gathering takes place and how the dead are brought to life. God (s.w.t.) asked him the reason behind this request; for the monotheist and believing human being, who believes that God (s.w.t.) is the Creator of this world, cannot doubt the matter of the Return and the Day of Resurrection, and is never troubled by a doubt about the details of it that would drive him to put such a question.
Our master Abraham (a.s.) answered that he remained on his earlier faith in the Origin and the Return (that is, that he still believed with the knowledge of certainty and the eye of certainty, through acquired knowledge and the lower rank of knowledge by presence and witnessing), and that he longed, by his question, to reach the truth of certainty, which counts as a higher rank among the ranks of knowledge by presence (al-ʿilm al-ḥuḍūrī). So that he could then say that his knowledge of God’s power to bring the dead to life was no longer confined to perceiving that power and understanding it by acquired knowledge only, but that he witnessed it with his own eye as it brings to life and causes to die; in addition to his desire and longing to be a manifestation of the One who brings to life and the One who causes to die, and to reach a higher stage of the heart’s tranquillity.
In fact, He answered His prophet’s (a.s.) question and showed him His unlimited power. He commanded him to bring four birds, cut off their heads, pound their flesh and mix all of it together, so that it would be hard to recognise any bird among them. Then He commanded him to divide the mixture into four parts and put each part on the top of one of the mountains around him, and then He asked him to call them to him.
So the Friend of God (a.s.) did everything his Lord commanded him, and witnessed with his own eye the process of bringing those birds to life a second time and returning them to their earlier forms. He became the manifestation of the will of the Truth in bringing to life and causing to die, and so reached the stage of the truth of certainty; that is, God (s.w.t.) brought those birds to life for him. And our master Abraham (a.s.) reached the best of the stations of the heart’s tranquillity after he saw the wisdom of God and His might; and this is what God (s.w.t.) mentioned at the end of the verse, saying: “And know that God is Mighty, Wise.”
2:261 — The parable of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is that of a grain which…
The parable of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is that of a grain which grows seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains. Allah enhances severalfold whomever He wishes, and Allah is all-bounteous, all-knowing.
What those who spend their wealth in the way of God (s.w.t.) do is likened to sowing a grain or seed, which after a time grows seven ears, each ear bearing a hundred grains from the first grain (this is an example of likening the intelligible to the sensible). God (s.w.t.) is able to multiply the fruit of the spending of whom He wills of His faithful servants; for He is All-embracing and All-knowing, and He (s.w.t.) knows best who deserves the reward of spending and its increase.
2:262 — Those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah and then do not follow up what they have…
Those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah and then do not follow up what they have spent with reproaches and affronts, they shall have their reward near their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.
God (s.w.t.) promises the faithful for whom spending has become a habit and a settled trait, who go on spending their wealth in the way of God, hoping for His good pleasure and seeking it; who do not remind others of their favour, whoever they may be, by their spending, nor hurt them, nor treat them with arrogance. He (s.w.t.) promises them a great reward kept with Him, which will be given to them complete and undiminished on the Day of Resurrection; besides granting them safety on the day when neither wealth nor sons will benefit, and keeping every fear and dread far from them.
2:263 — An honourable reply [in response to the needy] and forgiving [their annoyance] is better…
An honourable reply [in response to the needy] and forgiving [their annoyance] is better than a charity followed by affront. Allah is all-sufficient, most forbearing.
In its content this noble verse is a continuation of the previous verse. It teaches those who spend how to deal with the needy and the poor with respect, and to treat them with dignity if they do not wish to give any charity; to overlook them and forgive them if they show any unfitting behaviour towards them; and to keep away from giving charity followed by hurt.
A kind word and forgiveness bring a person to the aims sought from spending, which are purifying the soul, bringing hearts together and solving the problems of others. And God (s.w.t.) is the Self-sufficient, the Forbearing.
2:264 — O you who have faith! Do not render your charities void by reproaches and affronts
O you who have faith! Do not render your charities void by reproaches and affronts, like those who spend their wealth to be seen by people and have no faith in Allah and the Last Day. Their parable is that of a rock covered with soil: a downpour strikes it, leaving it bare. They have no power over anything of what they have earned, and Allah does not guide the faithless lot.
In this noble verse God (s.w.t.) speaks in a severe tone. He threatens the faithful and warns them of the loss of the reward of their charities and their recompense if they spend on those who ask with reminders of favour and hurt; and He cautions them that this will make them like the person who spends his wealth to be seen by people, contrary to what he intends and aims at; and the like of this person, it is emphasised, does not believe in God or in the Last Day.
Then God (s.w.t.) likens the deed of the one who does things to be seen to a smooth rock covered with a little earth, holding a few seeds, when suddenly a strong storm strikes it and a violent wind blows, removing what earth was on that rock and stripping it, leaving it smooth and hard, carrying not a single particle of earth on its surface.
This likening of the state of those who spend to be seen is beyond doubt a warning to those who spend while reminding those who ask of their favour with their charities and hurting them: that their situation is extremely critical and dangerous if they persist in what they do, and that what they hope for in their sowing will reap nothing but emptiness, nothingness and disappointed hope; besides the fact that the parable mentioned is a warning that God (s.w.t.) will not guide the faithless people (what is meant by guidance here is not legislative and general guidance).
2:265 — The parable of those who spend their wealth seeking Allah’s pleasure and to confirm…
The parable of those who spend their wealth seeking Allah’s pleasure and to confirm themselves [in their faith], is that of a garden on a hillside: the downpour strikes it, whereupon it brings forth its fruit twofold; and if it is not a downpour that strikes it, then a shower, and Allah watches what you do.
The likeness of those who spend what God has given them to win His good pleasure and to obtain steadfastness and peace of the soul, and who do not follow their spending with reminders of favour, hurt or showing off that would lead to its voiding and its ceasing, is like a garden lying in a high place, protected from the destructive effects of torrents and floods and kept safe from storms and the effects of falling cold. The open air blows on it and the rays of the sun reach it easily, in the measure that its trees bear double their crops and fruits. And even if not enough rain falls on this garden, it enjoys dew and drops of rain that are enough for its plants to grow and its trees to bear fruit.
At the end of the noble verse, God (s.w.t.) promises and threatens both those who do righteous deeds and those whose deeds are followed by reminders of favour, hurt and showing off; and He tells them that He (s.w.t.) knows everything these and those do, and is aware of what they make.
2:266 — Would any of you like to have a garden of palm trees and vines
Would any of you like to have a garden of palm trees and vines, with streams running in it, with all kinds of fruit for him therein, and old age were to strike him while he has weakly offspring; whereupon a fiery hurricane were to hit it, whereat it lies burnt? Thus does Allah clarify His signs for you so that you may reflect.
This noble verse likens the person who spends his wealth with reminders of favour, hurt and showing off to people, and so causes his spending to be voided, to an old man who supports the members of his family, when fire suddenly burns up everything he owns, and he is able neither to do anything nor to recover what he has lost.
This parable aims to set out the evil end that befalls this person and those like him because of the corrupt deeds they committed, and to reflect on these realities and take lessons and warnings from them.
2:267 — O you who have faith! Spend of the good things you have earned [through trade and the…
O you who have faith! Spend of the good things you have earned [through trade and the like] and of what We bring forth for you from the earth, and do not be of the mind to give the bad part of it, for you yourselves would not take it, unless you ignore. And know that Allah is all-sufficient, all-laudable.
This noble verse commands us to spend from our lawful and good wealth, by setting out the quality of the wealth meant to be spent, and forbids us from giving wealth that is not lawful. It points to the measure for knowing wealth that is not good: that we ourselves would not take such wealth if it were given to us, except with some fear or embarrassment towards the giver. At its close, the noble verse describes God (s.w.t.) with two of His Beautiful Names: “the Self-sufficient” and “the Praiseworthy”.
2:268 — Satan frightens you of poverty and prompts you to [commit] indecent acts
Satan frightens you of poverty and prompts you to [commit] indecent acts. But Allah promises you His forgiveness and bounty, and Allah is all-bounteous, all-knowing.
God (s.w.t.) says: Satan, the accursed, strives to prevent your spending in the first place, by frightening you with the consequences of poverty and the decline of your financial situation. If he fails to persuade you to refrain from spending, he then resorts to suggesting to you that you spend the worst of what you own of wealth, and that you not spend good and lawful wealth. This is the way of the accursed Satan, who never ceases to command you and tempt you to do everything ugly. Against that, God (s.w.t.) promises people forgiveness and good, and a great bounty from Himself, and makes them eager to spend from their lawful wealth.
Yes, God (s.w.t.) knows best who deserves the promise of good; and He, majestic is His affair, is able to carry out all His promises, for He is All-embracing and Generous, the One who bestows forgiveness on His creatures; and He likewise knows all matters particular to spending.
2:269 — He grants wisdom to whomever He wishes
He grants wisdom to whomever He wishes, and he, who is given wisdom, is certainly given an abundant good, and none takes admonition except those who possess intellect.
Wisdom (al-ḥikmah) is the highest degree of divine bounty and gift, the most precious prize and the greatest reward that God (s.w.t.) gives to the true spenders among His servants. It is a gift not given to just anyone; rather, His will and His wisdom have decreed that He grant it to whoever deserves it, by merit.
It is no wonder that wisdom is described with the highest degree and the greatest reward; for it is a blessing that protects the human being from diseases in knowledge and in practice, and it is the much good (al-khayr al-kathīr), as God (s.w.t.) described it, because it is lasting and everlasting and does not perish or pass away; unlike this world and what is in it, which is little, perishing and passing.
There is no doubt that wisdom is the lost property of the reasonable person who takes heed, and his capital that cannot be replaced; for it is the degree of the complete intellect, and this is a truth that only people of intellect perceive and take heed of.
2:270 — Allah indeed knows whatever charity you may give
Allah indeed knows whatever charity you may give, or vows that you may vow, and the wrongdoers have no helpers.
God (s.w.t.) knows all the kinds of financial spending and material giving that the human being does, and He (s.w.t.) rewards him and gives him the good recompense he deserves, in accordance with His knowledge.
As for those who bear the responsibility of obligatory spending or an obligatory financial vow, but do not pay what they owe to God (s.w.t.) and do not fulfil their pledges, God (s.w.t.) will count them among the wrongdoers; and these will have no one to help them or assist them on the Day of Resurrection.
2:271 — If you disclose your charities
If you disclose your charities, that is well, but if you hide them and give them to the poor, that is better for you, and it will atone for some of your misdeeds, and Allah is well aware of what you do.
There is no harm in showing one’s spending openly as long as its inner side is sincerity. But spending in secret may sometimes be better, because it contains many social benefits; and because spending that is not open is more careful to preserve the dignity of the poor person, to safeguard his honour, and to avoid wounding his feelings.
Spending on poor and needy people who deserve respect, in secret, which counts as another way to be rid of the dangers of falling into the snares of showing off, is a cause of the forgiveness of some sins, major and minor, and of wiping them out. And God (s.w.t.) knows the deeds of His servants and is acquainted with their secrets and their intimate converse.
2:272 — It is not up to you to guide them
It is not up to you to guide them; rather, it is Allah who guides whomever He wishes. Whatever wealth you spend, it is for your own benefit, as you do not spend but to seek Allah’s pleasure, and whatever wealth you spend will be repaid to you in full and you will not be wronged.
The Noble Qur’an has brought a parenthetical sentence in the middle of the verses on spending, in which God (s.w.t.) makes clear that the guidance of people in the order of creation (takwīnī) is not among the responsibilities of His noble Messenger (s.a.w.) and does not fall within the list of the tasks of his mission, even though there is no doubt that the Prophet (s.a.w.) represents the channel of inner grace. Then God (s.w.t.) explains the causes and reasons for the necessity of avoiding reminders of favour, hurt and showing off when spending, or spending wealth that is foul or forbidden, as follows:
His words “And whatever good you spend, it is for yourselves” point to the necessity of avoiding reminders of favour and hurt in spending; for doing good and its results all return to the one who does it. For that reason the person who acts for himself ought not to remind others of his favour or cause them hurt.
His words “and you do not spend except seeking the face of God” set out the reason for keeping away from arrogance and boasting; for a deed cannot be effective and beneficial unless what is aimed at by it is the face of God (s.w.t.). On this basis, spending must not be stained by showing off to people or seeking fame.
As for His words “And whatever good you spend will be repaid to you in full”, they make clear the reason for forbidding spending from foul or forbidden wealth; for the effects of such spending will all return to the one who spends himself without any shortfall. For that reason the one who spends ought to take care not to store up for himself bad results because of his spending from foul wealth.
2:273 — [The charities are] for the poor who are straitened in the way of Allah
[The charities are] for the poor who are straitened in the way of Allah, not capable of moving about in the land [for trade]. The unaware suppose them to be well-off because of their reserve. You recognize them by their mark; they do not ask the people importunately. And whatever wealth you may spend, Allah indeed knows it.
The poor are among the best places in which charity must be given, among genuine persons; for they have been deprived of trading or of working in some economic fields because of a set of outside or inner factors or obstacles.
It is known that these individuals strive to live while preserving their dignity and refusing to ask anything of people, and do not press in asking even in emergencies, so that many people, ignorant of their real situation, think them rich and not in need. But the Prophet (s.a.w.) can distinguish these poor by looking at them; yet the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) knowledge of them and of the extent of their poverty never harms their dignity or lessens their respect.
2:274 — Those who give their wealth by night and day
Those who give their wealth by night and day, secretly and openly, they shall have their reward near their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.
God (s.w.t.) makes clear in this noble verse that those who spend from their good wealth by night and by day, in secret and openly, will be given their reward in full; in addition, God (s.w.t.) will shade them with His care and surround them with His concern, so that after that they will fear nothing and dread no one but Him.
The talk of spending by night and by day, in secret and openly, is a figure for spending that is continuous and connected; and the verse makes permanence and continuance in spending a condition for obtaining the great reward.
2:275 — Those who exact usury will not stand but like one deranged by the Devil’s touch
Those who exact usury will not stand but like one deranged by the Devil’s touch. That is because they say, ‘Trade is just like usury.’ While Allah has allowed trade and forbidden usury. Whoever relinquishes [usury] on receiving advice from his Lord shall keep [the gains of] what is past, and his matter will rest with Allah. As for those who resume, they shall be the inmates of the Fire and they shall remain in it [forever].
Each of us may have noticed that professional usurers behave like the mad in all the affairs of their lives, like someone whom Satan rides and steers as he pleases; for the madness that strikes the usurer affects his thoughts, his qualities and his other deeds. This group of people think that the process of usury (ribā) is a sound business dealing with no fault in it, and that it does not differ at all from buying and selling. Indeed, they regard usury as the root of dealing in trade, and buying and selling as a branch of trade; but they are ignorant that God (s.w.t.) has made buying and selling lawful and forbidden usury in all its forms.
It is known that the divine rulings, which include the lawfulness of selling and the prohibition of usury, are like an admonition and a strong barrier in the way of any kind of wrong appearing. Moreover, the declaratory ruling on usurious wealth, according to the order of the Ignorance, required the validity of owning it and possessing it. After Islam came and the divine ruling on usury was issued, usurious wealth was no longer counted as property of the usurer. As for the fate of the usurers before that date and the ruling on them, it rests with God (s.w.t.). Those who remained in their state after the Islamic ruling on usury was issued, persisted in usurious dealing, did not take heed, had usury soaked into their hearts and their deeds, and did not accept the ruling mentioned, will be fuel for Hell, abiding in it for ever. As for those who acknowledged that usury is forbidden, their recompense is to stay in Hell for a period that fits what they used to do.
2:276 — Allah brings usury to naught
Allah brings usury to naught, but He makes charities flourish. Allah does not like any sinful ingrate.
God’s (s.w.t.) wisdom has decreed, contrary to what the usurers wish, that the individual and social results and effects of usury be wiped out gradually; and, against that, that the beneficial and useful effects of giving charity and alms be made to grow in the Hereafter as in this world.
Usury has other consequences besides those mentioned before: the usurer is counted among the ungrateful (kaffār) and the sinful, and both groups are deprived of God’s love and good pleasure. There is no doubt that this deprivation is enough of a cause for the ruin of those people and their usurious dealings.
2:277 — Indeed those who have faith
Indeed those who have faith, do righteous deeds, maintain the prayer and give the zakat, they shall have their reward near their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.
The true spenders rise to the highest degrees of intellect and the loftiest ranks of spiritual elevation in the shade of the charities they spend sincerely in the way of God (s.w.t.), which show in their most splendid forms through their faith, their establishing prayer, their persevering in righteous deeds and their paying zakāt. The rewards of these sincere spenders, who are granted success in doing what has been mentioned, are kept with God (s.w.t.), in addition to the reward they will obtain for their spending and their charity. People like these feel no fear and know no grief.
2:278–279 — O you who have faith! Be wary of Allah and abandon [all claims to] what remains of usury
(278) O you who have faith! Be wary of Allah and abandon [all claims to] what remains of usury, should you be faithful. (279) And if you do not, then be informed of a war from Allah and His apostle. And if you repent, then you will have your principal, neither harming others, nor suffering harm.
Godwariness is a settled trait of the soul with ranks and degrees, and Godwariness must fit with the act that calls for it. The Godwariness these two noble verses point to at the top of the page is economic Godwariness and the observing of others’ financial rights and their interests. The faithful must be Godwary and leave what remains of the effects of usurious wealth.
The first verse, which begins by addressing the faithful, shows that their leaving usurious wealth and dealings means their faith is sound; and faith is mentioned at the beginning of the verse, “O you who believe”, and at its end, “if you are believers”, as an emphasis that the spirit of faith does not fit with usury and usurious dealings.
The second verse emphasises that the usurer’s persisting in his deeds is like declaring war on God (s.w.t.) and His Messenger (s.a.w.), and that he (that is, the usurer) is the one who begins the war. But if he repents and turns back, he will have his capital without the usurious profits; besides which, the verse does not deny individual ownership.
And since usury counts as wrongdoing, and the usurer is the owner of his capital, then when he repents no one may take this right away from him, for that would be wrongdoing and aggression. The verse points at its end to a noble principle, namely lifting wrongdoing from the wrongdoer and the wronged together: “you will not wrong, nor be wronged”.
2:280 — If [the debtor] is in straits
If [the debtor] is in straits, let there be a respite until the time of ease; and if you remit [the debt] as charity, it will be better for you, should you know.
Creditors who have lent money at usury to people in hardship, or to any other debtors, ought to give those debtors a suitable period of respite to recover their capital, so that the opportunity becomes available to them and they are able to pay those debts. If the debtor is unable to return his debts or pay them, God (s.w.t.) asks the creditors to count that as charity for them and to give up what remains owed to them of the debts; for that is better and purer for them, if they knew the reward of this generosity of theirs.
2:281 — And beware of a day in which you will be brought back to Allah
And beware of a day in which you will be brought back to Allah. Then every soul shall be recompensed fully for what it has earned, and they will not be wronged.
In this noble verse God (s.w.t.) warns the usurers of the terrors of the Day of Resurrection and its dangers, when they will be returned to Him to be shown the reality of the deeds they did in this world. On that hard day every human being will take his reward in full, and no one of creation will ever be wronged: nothing will be taken from the reward of a person’s good deeds, nor will anything likewise be added to his punishment; each person will take what he deserves of just reward or punishment.
2:282 — O you who have faith! When you contract a loan for a specified term
O you who have faith! When you contract a loan for a specified term, write it down. Let a writer write with honesty between you, and let not the writer refuse to write as Allah has taught him. So let him write, and let the one who incurs the debt dictate, and let him be wary of Allah, his Lord, and not diminish anything from it. But if the debtor be feeble-minded, or weak, or incapable of dictating himself, then let his guardian dictate with honesty, and take as witness two witnesses from your men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women—from those whom you approve as witnesses—so that if one of the two defaults the other will remind her. The witnesses must not refuse when they are called, and do not consider it wearisome to write it down, whether it be a big or small sum, [as a loan lent] until its term. That is more just with Allah and more upright in respect to testimony, and the likeliest way to avoid doubt, unless it is an on-the-spot deal you transact between yourselves, in which case there is no sin upon you not to write it. Take witnesses when you make a deal, and let no harm be done to the writer or witness, and if you did that, it would be sinful of you. Be wary of Allah and Allah will teach you, and Allah has knowledge of all things.
This noble verse, which counts as the longest verse in the Noble Qur’an, points to a very important and sensitive subject. It requires the Muslims to write down and draw up contracts when a deferred debt is one of their two sides and goods are the other side, so that these contracts become a proof in the legal courts of Islam.
The command to draw up a debt contract is counted a guiding (irshādī) command, not a binding (mawlawī) one, since a guiding command follows what it guides to. Except that drawing up a debt contract in the Islamic order represents a collective obligation (wājib kifāʾī), while learning to read and write is recommended for every individual Muslim as an individual recommendation. If one of the two parties to the contract is unlettered, or both are, then whoever is knowledgeable in financial matters and present in the gathering ought to write the contract and draw it up in a just and sound way; and he has no right to refuse that, but must write the contract as his pure monotheistic religion has taught him, with justice, soundness and the required precision. And if such a writer is not present or available in the gathering, it becomes obligatory on him afterwards to draw up the contract as it is dictated to him precisely.
The debtor must be Godwary of God when the debt contract is written, and must never lessen anything of its wording or its terms. If the debtor is foolish or of unsound mind, or weak, or unable to write and draw up the contract for any other reason, such as being dumb for example, then his guardian or his father or grandfather or his agent or the one in charge of him or the legal judge must write the contract with care and justice. Two men must be called to witness the drawing up of the contract; and the command to call witnesses is likewise a guiding command, not a binding one.
If two men are not found as witnesses, the testimony of one man and two women is enough, on condition that all of them are among the people of known integrity, known for their justice in such matters. And the two women ought to be present together at the testimony, so that one of them may remind the other if she forgets something of the testimony in the future. No person may refuse to bear witness to the contract, or to give testimony if he is asked for that afterwards.
It is known that securing the justice of the two witnesses is enough for testimony to a debt.
In this noble verse God (s.w.t.) charges us not to grow weary or tired of following precision in it, whether it is short and brief or extended and detailed, until it reaches its term and its end. This form of contract is acceptable to God (s.w.t.), just, and most upright for testimony, reliance and proof; besides being nearer to caution and to being rid of doubt. The noble verse makes clear that all this is not necessary if the dealing between the two parties is paid in cash and on the spot, that is, hand to hand with both taking possession: in this case there is no blame on anyone for not writing the contract, though calling witnesses is preferable even in this kind of dealing.
In addition to what the verse has mentioned, it warns all parties against harming the witnesses or the writer, provoking them or pressuring them in any matter particular to the writing of the contract, whatever the circumstances; for that counts as going out of obedience to God’s command. At the end of the noble verse God (s.w.t.) points to three important matters: Godwariness of God and fear of His punishment; that He is the One who teaches the Muslims what they know; and finally, that they must know that God knows all things and encompasses what they do not encompass in knowledge. There is no doubt that each of those points counts as a pure divine admonition in itself.
2:283 — If you are on a journey and cannot find a writer
If you are on a journey and cannot find a writer, then a retained pledge [shall suffice]. And if one of you entrusts [an asset] to another, let him who is trusted deliver his trust, and let him be wary of Allah, his Lord. And do not conceal your testimony; anyone who conceals it, his heart will indeed be sinful, and Allah knows well what you do.
The noble verse makes clear that travellers who are unable to write the contracts or documents of their dealings or their debts, and who do not find someone to write those contracts and record them on their behalf, should take from the debtor what deserves to be called a pledge (rahn) in return for the debt he has taken from the creditor, to increase the latter’s peace of mind about his wealth, and so that it may serve as a document between them.
But travel, the absence of a writer and the taking of a pledge do not point to any particular meaning, nor is any of them a condition for the validity of the pledge. When there is no one to write the contract and draw it up, nor anyone to witness the pledge, and the creditor decides to carry out the dealing between himself and the debtor out of mere trust in the latter and reliance on his promise to pay, then the debtor must preserve for the creditor the sanctity of his good character with him and his humane conduct towards his request and his reliance on his promise, and so keep this promise by paying the debt and returning the creditor’s right at the set time. In this case, the guarantee for carrying out the terms of such a contract is divine Godwariness, which ought to have great importance among the members of the Islamic society, exceeding the importance of writing contracts and testimony.
As for the witnesses to the carrying out of the dealing and the fixing of the terms of the debt in it, they may not hide their testimony; rather, they must cooperate with the judicial centres and the courts concerned to secure the right, and give testimony in the way God (s.w.t.) commanded them. Nor may the debtor deny that the right is established or escape acknowledging it; for concealing testimony and denying the right are counted as two sins and transgressions. And God (s.w.t.) knows what the human being does, and is aware of his intentions and his secrets.
2:284 — To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth
To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth. Whether you disclose what is in your hearts or hide it, Allah will bring you to account for it. Then He will forgive whomever He wishes and punish whomever He wishes, and Allah has power over all things.
Creation, with all it contains, and the kingdom, all of it, belong to God alone, and no one disputes Him in that. People’s intentions, and what is apparent and hidden of their deeds, are all within the circle of His knowledge. The outward and inward of the human being, the kingdom (mulk) and the inner realm (malakūt), are known to God (s.w.t.), who reckons every small and great thing of the human being’s thoughts and deeds and will recompense him according to their good or evil. But His vast mercy has excepted from the reckoning the passing thoughts of the human being that he does not actually carry out.
After the reckoning, perhaps God (s.w.t.) will pardon much, or punish with truth and justice, according to what His wise will requires; for He is able to do all things, and is worthy of answering.
2:285 — The Apostle and the faithful have faith in what has been sent down to him from his Lord
The Apostle and the faithful have faith in what has been sent down to him from his Lord. Each [of them] has faith in Allah, His angels, His scriptures and His apostles. [They declare,] ‘We make no distinction between any of His apostles.’ And they say, ‘We hear and obey. Our Lord, forgive us, and toward You is the return.’
God (s.w.t.) says that His noble Messenger (s.a.w.) and the faithful with him have believed in what God sent down to His Prophet, and in His angels, the heavenly Books, the messengers and the prophets whom God (s.w.t.) sent to creation.
There is no doubt that mentioning the name of the greatest Messenger (s.a.w.) separately from the rest of the names and personalities indicates his distinguished standing and his lofty rank with his Lord compared with the faithful; besides attributing his (s.a.w.) faith to him separately from their faith. For the faith of the noble Messenger (s.a.w.) is faith by witnessing (shuhūdī), and the witnessing of the Infallible is of the kind of first witnessing, into which error does not creep and doubt and hesitation do not enter.
What is meant by the angels in the noble verse is all the angels, despite the difference of their kinds and the variety of their stations. What is meant by the Books is the heavenly Books that God (s.w.t.) sent by the hands of His prophets, in addition to the Book known by the name “the Mother of the Book” and “the Preserved Tablet”. As for the messengers, they are the human personalities and individuals whom God (s.w.t.) chose as prophets to His servants, just as He chose the angels who bear the divine revelation.
So the greatest Messenger (s.a.w.) and the faithful with him believed in the messages of the prophets all together, without distinction or preference, and did not deny any of those messages or messengers.
Then God (s.w.t.) praises the faithful in the noble verse, pointing out that they are people obedient to God, who hope for His forgiveness and look to win His good pleasure, knowing that the completion of existence and its destination are in the hand of God alone.
2:286 — Allah does not task any soul beyond its capacity
Allah does not task any soul beyond its capacity. Whatever [good] it earns is to its own benefit, and whatever [evil] it incurs is to its own harm. ‘Our Lord! Take us not to task if we forget or make mistakes! Our Lord! Do not place upon us a burden as You placed on those who were before us! Our Lord! Do not lay upon us what we have no strength to bear! Excuse us, forgive us, and be merciful to us! You are our Master, so help us against the faithless lot!’
The initial obligations that God (s.w.t.) has laid on people are easy obligations, indeed less than the level of a person’s capacity. As for the difficult and hard obligations, God (s.w.t.) laid them on the faithless and the criminals to punish them.
There is no doubt that the good results of righteous deeds return, in the first degree, to the one who does those deeds, and that the divine reward is nothing but the product of the human being’s own deeds. Likewise, the harms that result from committing evil deeds return to the one who does them; and no one other than him bears the burdens of his deeds and the sins he committed.
Good deeds and good works are easy and fit with the human primordial nature (fiṭrah); but evil deeds are forced upon the primordial nature and burden it against its will. The noble verse points to what the faithful wish for and long for, namely their asking God (s.w.t.) not to call them to account for their forgetting nor punish them if they commit errors; not to burden them with obligations, responsibilities and religious duties they cannot bear; and to forgive them and pardon them, and not to recompense them or punish them because of their disobedience and their sins, but rather to cover the ugliness of their deeds for them and pardon them by His vast mercy.
The faithful know well that God (s.w.t.) is their true Master (mawlā), and that He is able to help them against their enemies within and without, and in the two strivings: the greater and the lesser.