109. "many of the people of the (earlier) book wish they could turn you back 
to be infidels, after you have believed, 
out of their own envy, even after thr truth was manifest to them. 
(neverthless) forgive and overlook till allah brings about 
his kommand, truly allah has power over all things." 
110. " and keep up the prayer, and pay the poor-rates; whatever good you 
shall forward for yourselves, you shall find it with allah; 
surely allah sees what you do." 

commentary:

envy and obstinacy 

there were many members of the people of the book, especially those of 
the jews, who not only disbelieved in islam but they also urged the believers 
to abandon their faith. their motive, for this action, was nothing but envy. 

through the above mentioned verses, the qur'an addresses this matter by 
saying: 

"many of the people of the (earlier) book wish they could turn you back 
to be infidels, after you have believed, out of thir own envy, even after the 
truth was manifest to them. ..." 

here, the qur'an bids the believers to forgive them their evil endeavours 
aiming at the destruction of faith until allah sends his command: 

"... (neverteless) forgive and overlook till allah brings about his 
command, truly allah has power over all things." 

this is, in fact, a tactical instruction 
given to muslims that they should stand firm before the intense pressure of 
the enemies; and in this particular circumstance utilize the weapon of 
forgiveness while they focus their abilities upon constructing themselves 
and their islamic society, and wait for the command of allah. 

as a great many of the commentators have said, the purpose of 'the command 
of allah ',her, is ' the command for the holy war 'which at that time had not 
been revealed yet. the reason for the delay may have been that their 
conditions were not completely appropriate for that command. that was why, 
according to many of the commentators, the idea in this verse was changed by 
the subsequent verses regarding ' the holy war', which will be referred to 
later.    

* * * *

the verse following the above one bids the believers to perform 
two great constructive commands. one of them is about ` prayer ' 
which establishes a firm relationship between the servant and his lord. 
the second is alms-giving which is the secret of cohensiveness among 
the members of societies. these two are necessary for defeating 
enemies. it says: 

" and keep up the prayer, and pay the poor-rates; ... " 

by these two deeds you may strengthen both your spirit and body. 
then, it adds that you should not think that the good deeds you do and 
the material wealth you pay as poor-rates in the way of allah will be 
lost totally. it is not so, but: 

"... whatever good you shall forward for yourselves, you shall find it 
with allah; ..." 
"... surely allah sees what you do." 

thus, he definitely knows which deeds you have done for his 
sake and which ones for the sake of other than him.