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There are many ways of preventing the access of people to the truth. One is to tamper with it, or trick it out in colours of falsehood: haf-truths are often more dangerous than obvious falsehoods. Another is to conceal it altogether. Those who are jealous of a prophet of Allah, whom they actually see before them, do not allow his credentials or virtues to be known, or vilify him, or conceal facts which would attract people to him. When people do this of set purpose, against their own light ("of which ye are yourselves witnesses"), they are descending to the lowest depths of degradation, and they are doing more harm to themselves than to anyone else.
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Most of the commentators, relying on views current among some of the tabi'un (i.e., the generation that came after the Companions of the Prophet), understand this passage thus: "Declare at the beginning of the day your belief in what has been revealed unto those who believe in Muhammad, and deny the truth [thereof] in its latter part." This rendering would imply that the Judaeo-Christian attempts at confusing the Muslims, to which the above verse refers, consisted in alternatingly declaring belief and disbelief in the Qur'anic message. On the other hand, the rendering adopted by me (and supported by Al-Asam, whose interpretation has been quoted by Razi in his commentary on this verse) implies that some Jews and Christians have been and are hoping to achieve this end by admitting, however reluctantly, that there may be "some truth" in the early Qur'anic revelations ("that which has been revealed at the beginning of the day"), while they categorically reject its later parts inasmuch as they clearly contradict certain Biblical teachings.
Wajh here has the sense of "beginning", early part. The cynics who plotted against Islam actually asked their accomplies to join the believers and then repudiate them.
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This refers to the Jews and the Christians, who are not prepared to accept the Qur'anic message on the ground that it conflicts with parts of their own scriptures.
In this context, the term fadl ("bounty") is synonymous with the bestowal of divine revelation.
The two clauses following have been variously construed, and some translations leave the sense ambiguous. I have construed the conjunction "an" to mean "lest", as it undoubtedly does in vii. 172. 'an taqulu", etc.
Cf. ii. 76. The People of the Book were doubly annoyed at the Muslims: (1) that they should (being outside their ranks) receive Allah's revelations, and (2) that having received such revelations, they should be able to convict them out of their own scriptures before their Lord.
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Lit., "this, because they say". In Arabic usage, the verb qala (lit., "he said") often signifies "he asserted" or "expressed an opinion". As is evident from many Traditions, the people referred to are the Jews.
I.e., they falsely claim that God Himself has exempted them from all moral responsibility towards non-Jews (contemptuously described as "unlettered folk"), knowing well that their own scriptures provide no basis whatever for such a claim.
“Gentiles” here refers to the pagans of Arabia.
Hoard of gold: qintar: a talent of 1,200 ounces of gold. See iii. 14. n. 354.
Silver coin: dinar. In the later Roman Empire, the denarius was a small silver coin. It must have been current in Syria and the markets of Arabia in the time of the Prophet. It was the coin whose name is translated in the English Bible by the word penny. Matt. xxii, 19: hence the abbreviation of penny is d (= denarius). The later Arabian coin dinar coined by the Umaiyads, was a gold coin after the pattern of the Byzantine (Roman) denarius aureus and weighed about 66349 grains troy, just a little more than a half-sovereign.
Every race imbued with race arrogance resorts to this kind of moral or religious subterfuge. Even if its members are usually honest or just among themselves, they are contemptuous of those outside their circle, and cheat and deceive them without any qualms of conscience. This is a "lie against Allah."
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Some of the commentators relate the personal pronoun in 'ahdihi to the person or persons concerned, and therefore take 'ahd as meaning "promise" - thus: "[as for] him who fulfils his promise...", etc. It is, however, obvious from the next verse that the pronoun in 'ahdihi refers to God; consequently, the phrase must be rendered either as "those who fulfil their duty towards Him", or "those who keep their bond with Him" - the latter being, in my opinion, preferable. (For the meaning of man's "bond with God", see surah {2}, note [19].)
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All our duties to our fellow creatures are referred to the service and faith we owe to Allah. But in the matter of truth an appeal is made to our self-respect as responsible beings: is it becoming that we should be false to our own word, to ourselves? And then we are reminded that the utmost we can gain by falsifying Allah's word or being untrue to ourselves is but a miserable price. We get at best something very paltry as the price for selling our very souls.
Even on sinners-ordinary sinners-Allah will look with compassion and mercy: He will speak words of kindness and cleanse them of their sins. But those who are in active rebellion against Allah and sin against their own light,-what mercy can they expect?
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Most of the commentators assume that this refers specifically to the Jews, whom the Qur'an frequently accuses of having deliberately corrupted the Old Testament. However, since the next two verses clearly relate to Jesus and to the false beliefs of the Christians regarding his nature and mission, we must conclude that both Jews and Christians are referred to in this passage. For this reason, the term al-kitab, which occurs three times in this sentence, has been rendered here as "the Bible". - According to Muhammad 'Abduh (Manar III, 345), the above-mentioned distortion of the Bible does not necessarily presuppose a corruption of the text as such: it can also be brought about "by attributing to an expression a meaning other than the one which was originally intended". As an example, 'Abduh quotes the metaphorical use, in the Gospels, of the term "my Father" with reference to God - by which term, as is evident from the Lord's Prayer, was obviously meant the "Father" - i.e., the Originator and Sustainer - of all mankind. Subsequently, however, some of those who claimed to be followers of Jesus lifted this expression from the realm of metaphor and "transferred it to the realm of positive reality with reference to Jesus alone": and thus they gave currency to the idea that he was literally "the son of God", that is, God incarnate.
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This obvious reference to Jesus reads, literally, "It is not [possible] for a human being that God should grant him...and that thereafter he should say...". Zamakhshari regards the term hukm ("judgment" or "sound judgment") occurring in the above sentence as synonymous, in this context, with hikmah ("wisdom").
According to Sibawayh (as quoted by Razi), a rabbani is "one who devotes himself exclusively to the endeavour to know the Sustainer (ar-rabb) and to obey Him": a connotation fairly close to the English expression "a man of God".
It is not in reason or in the nature of things that Allah's messenger should preach against Allah. Jesus came to preach and convey the true message of Allah.
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I.e., to attribute divine or semi-divine powers to them: a categorical rejection of the adoration of saints and angelic beings.
Jesus was a prophet, and the Holy Spirit "with which he was strengthened" was the Angel who brought the revelations to him.
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Lit., "the solemn pledge of the prophets". Zamakhshari holds that what is meant here is a pledge taken from the community as a whole: a pledge consisting in their acceptance of the messages conveyed through the prophets.
Lit., "and I am with you among the witnesses".
Muḥammad (ﷺ).
Cf. ii. 63. n. 78. The argument is: You (People of the Book) are bound by your own oaths, sworn solemnly in the presence of your own Prophets. In the Old Testament as it now exists, Muhammad is foretold in Deut. xviii. 18: and the rise of the Arab nation in Isaiah. xlii. 11. for Kedar was a son of Ismail and the name is used for the Arab nation: in the New Testament as it now exists. Muhammad is foretold in the Gospel of St. John. xiv. 16, xv. 26, and xvi. 7: the future Comforter cannot be the Holy Spirit as understood by Christians, because the Holy Spirit already was present, helping and guiding Jesus. The Greek word translated "Comforter" is "Paracletos", which is an easy corruption from "Periclytos", which is almost a literal translation of "Muhammad" or "Ahmad": see Q lxi. 6. Further, there were other Gospels that have perished, but of which traces still remain, which were even more specific in their reference to Muhammad; e.g., the Gospel of St. Barnabas, of which an Italian translation is extant in the State Library at Vienna. It was edited in 1907 with an English translation by Mr. Lonsdale and Laura Ragg.
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Lit., "[any] other than God's religion".
Lit., "will be returned". For an explanation of this sentence, see 13:15 and the corresponding notes.
Allah's Truth is manifest, and all that is good and true and sane and normal accepts it with joy. But even where there is "disease in the heart" (Q. ii. 10), or judgment is obscured by perversity, every creature must eventually see and acknowledge Allah and His power (ii. 167). Cf. R. Bridges: "Testament of Beauty": iv. 1419-22:-"For God's love is unescapable as nature's environment, which if a man ignore or think to thrust it off, he is the ill-natured fool that runneth blindly on death." All Nature adores Allah, and Islam asks for nothing peculiar or sectarian; it but asks that we follow our nature and make our will conformable to Allah's Will as seen in Nature, history, and revelation. Its message is universal.
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See 2:136 and the corresponding note [112].
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i.e., full submission to the Will of Allah.
The Muslim position is clear. The Muslim does not claim to have a religion peculiar to himself. Islam is not a sect or an ethnic religion. In its view all Religion is one, for the Truth is one. It was the religion preached by all the earlier Prophets. It was the truth taught by all the inspired Books. In essence it amounts to a consciousness of the Will and Plan of Allah and a joyful submission to that Will and Plan. If any one wants a religion other than that, he is false to his own nature, as he is false to Allah's Will and Plan. Such a one cannot expect guidance, for he has deliberately renounced guidance. (A) Cf. ii. 161-62.
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