146. " those to whom we have given the (earlier) book,
recognize him (the prophet) as they recognize their sons,
but a group of them most surely conceal the truth while they know
(it)."
147. " the truth is from your lord, therefore
be not one of the doubters."
commentary :
following the former discussions about the
obstinacy and bigotry
of a party of the people of the book, the first verse of the above says:
" those to whom we have given the (earlier) book,
recognize him (the prophet) as they recognize their sons,...."
they have learnt about his name and his
specific characteristics in
their religious books.
"....but a group of them most surely conceal the truth while they know (it)."
some of them, of course, having seen those
clear signs of the promised prophet
(p.b.u.h.) embraced islam. it is quoted from 'abdillah- ibn-salam, who
previously had been one of the jewish scholars and then accepted islam, that
he said that from before, he knew the prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.) better
than he know his son, 1 and
the other scholars know the prophet of islam
well, too.
this verse uncovers an important fact. it denotes that the earlier
divine books had contained a very vivid and distinct illustration of the
physical and spiritual characteristics of the prophet of islam ( p.b.u.h.).it
had been so clear that those who were acquainted with those books
could draw a clear image of him in their minds.
can anybody imagine that any name or description about the
prophet of islam's (p.b.u.h.) characteristics could not be found
mentioned in the turah and the evangel? certainly not, because, as
the above verse indicates, the prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.) was
announced openly and very clearly before their eyes by his epithets that
were cited in the books of the ` people of the book '. if this statement
were not true, might the scholars of the ` people of the book ' not rise
against it? would they not present their books to him and insist that he
should prove his claim thereby according to their books? was it
possible that even one of their learned men would surrender to the
invitation of the prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.) without sufficient cause ?
thus, such verses in the holy qur'an are, themselves, clear
evidence for them to the rightfulness of the prophethood of the
prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.)
then, to emphasize upon the former statements
about the
change of the qiblah or the ordinances of islam in general, it says:
" the truth is from your lord, therefore be not one of the doubters."
the announcement to the holy prophet
(p.b.u.h.) that he, in fact,
is the apostle from allah sounds to some as a consolation to the holy
prophet himself (p.b.u.h.) so that he would never doubt when the
enemies sneered or scorned upon either the change of the qiblah or
about other problems, even if all of them allied with each other against
him. as it was mentioned before, any warning or threat addressed to
the holy prophet (p.b.u.h.) is always and invariably meant, not for the
holy prophet (p.b.u.h.), but for his followers. he never doubted in the
divine revelation because the revelation was, for him, on the level of
`certainty of sight '.