,islam,quran,tafsir,the light of the quran

247. " and their prophet said to them: ` verily allah has raised up saul for
you as a king.' they said: ` how can he hold kingship over us,
while we are more rightful to kingship than he,
and he has not been given abundance of wealth? ' he said:
` verily allah has chosen him over you,
and he has increased him abundantly in knowledge and stature.
allah gives his kingdom unto whomso he wills;
and allah is all-embracing, all-knowing '."

commentary:
this group of oppressed israelites, though they had asked their
prophet to appoint a chief for them to guide them to be able to escape
from the torturous subjection of the tyrant rulers, failed in the field of
trial.

" and their prophet said to them: ` verily allah has raised up
saul for you as a king.'..."

it is appropriate to note that their prophet was samuel. talut,
who is the same as saul, was called ` talut ' (according to the bible) on
account of his height and the strength of his stature, for he was the
tallest of his people (sam. 10: 23). the proper names used in arabic
are different from their hebrew originals.

so, when their prophet, samuel, appointed saul (talut), who was
an unknown poor shepherd, as their chief, they, being affected by their
proud and vain consideration that they had from their own leader and
leadership, despised saul's kingship for the lack of wealth and
reputation. those people, who had wealth in abundance, said that they
were worthier than him for the position because of the gross great
wealth they had.

"... they said: ` how can he hold kingship over us, while we are more
rightful to kingship than he, and he has not been given
abundance of wealth? ' ..."

when the prophet heard their pretexts about the poverty and lack
of wealth of saul, he told them that undoubtedly allah had appointed
him as a king for them, and, instead of wealth, he had ability in
knowledge and in body. besides that, he had the necessary authority
and ability of command of an army in fight.

"... he said: ` verily allah has chosen him over you, and he has increased
him abundantly in knowledge and stature.

so, allah selects whosoever he wills for leadership due to his
efficiency and his inner faculties.

"... allah gives his kingdom unto whom so he wills; and allah is
all-embracing, all-knowing '."

* * * *

conclusion:
whatever be the details of the israelites' history referred to here,
the instructions to be inferred from it regarding the religious authority
who can wage war in the way of god is as follows:

1. besides the presence of a divine legislator and a religious judge
sometimes an excutor is also needed. it should be borne in mind that all
the three aspects of government (aamiriyat)... i.e. legislation, justice and
execution are included in the sovereignty of god. he may delegate all
the aspects to any one man as his vicegerent and he may distribute the
various functions to different persons. in any case the appointment
rests with god and none else. here the prophet represents the divine
authority in law and justice. when the people asked him to appoint a
king as an executor, he said that god has appointed `talut' as their king,
indicating that he (the prophet) had no right to do it. this refutes the
tendency now developing among the people that in the establishment of
the legislative and the judicial bodies the `kitab', i.e., the book and the
`sunnat', i.e., the tradition to be the final authorities, and the people
should have no voice in the matter. but in the establishment of the
final executive authority people may have voice and call it the
theodemocratic form of government.

the sovereignty (`aamiriyat') is exclusively god's. to allow the
public to have any say in it, means return to the age of ignorance and
not islam.

2. `jehad', i.e. war in the way of god was prescribed and practiced
by the previous prophets also, and the reaction favourable or
unfavourable, to this precept had been the same as in islam.

3. the unfavourable reaction of the people to the divine
appointment as based on temporal consideration which are known to
the limited and narrow views, as was the case with the angels regarding
the vicegerency of adam. the answer to this criticism is almost the
same that it was god's selection and the selection is based on the
extensity and the intensity of knowledge, strength and character and
that the kingdom is god's and he alone has the right to give to any one
whom he likes, but his liking is not arbitrary or unreasonable. it is
based on the superiority and the excellence of the person, known only
to him as he alone is the all-pervading and the omniscient. this
discards the importance of the temporal consideration as wealth,
seniority in age, racial or parochial. therefore whenever the question
of the authority succeeding the holy prophet in regard to legislation,
justice and execution, is dealt with, the implication of this exemplary
passage should be taken into consideration, as the method of the
succession to the holy prophet has continued to be the same as before
(see the qur'an, 24: 55).