Surah 62. Al-Jumu'ah, Ayah 5

Connecting with the idea - implied in the preceding passage - that God's revelation is a sacred trust as well as a bounty, the discourse turns now to the problem of man's betrayal of this trust, exemplified by the Jews of post-Biblical times. They had been entrusted by God with the task of carrying the message of His oneness and uniqueness to all the world: but they failed in this task inasmuch as they came to believe that they were "God's chosen people" because of their descent from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that, therefore, the divine message was meant for them alone and not for people of other nations. Hence, too, they came to deny the possibility of prophethood being bestowed on anyone who did not belong to the children of Israel (cf. 2:90 and {94}, and the corresponding notes [75] and [79]), and so they summarily rejected the idea of Muhammad's prophethood despite the clear predictions of his advent in the Torah itself (see note [33] on 2:42 ). By thus corrupting the innermost purport of the divine writ bestowed on Moses, they themselves became unable to derive any real spiritual benefit from it, and to live up to its teachings.

 Meaning, they can carry the physical burden of the books, but not understand a word of them.

The Children of Israel were chosen as special vehicles for Allah's Message early in history. When their descendants corrupted the Message and became guilty of all the abominations against which prophets like Isaiah inveighed with such zeal and fire, they merely became like beasts of burden that carry learning and wisdom on their backs but do not understand or profit by it.