58. " and (remember) when we said, ` enter this city
(jerusalem)
and
eat of the plentiful therein, wherever you desire,
and
enter the gate with humility and ask forgiveness,
we
shall forgive you your sins, and give more (the portion of)
those
who do good '."
59.
" but those who were unjust substituted a saying other than that
which
had been spoken unto them, so we sent down upon those who
were
unjust a torment from heaven for what they used to pervert."
commentary :
the
israelites' intensive obstinacy
here we are dealing
with another aspect of the life of the
children of israel
concerning their entrance in the holy land. it says:
" and
(remember) when we said: ` enter this city (jerusalem)..."
the term /qaryah/ in
our ordinary speaking usually means: ` a
village or a town ',
but in the qur'an it is applied for any place where
people are gathered
to live in, whether it is a city, town, or village. the
meaning, here, is
jerusalem and the holy land.
then it adds:
"...and eat
of the plentiful therein, wherever you desire, ..."
"...and
enter the gate with humility and ask forgiveness, ..."
"...we shall
forgive you your sins, and give more (the portion of)
those who do good
'."
it should be noted
that the term /hittah/ philologically means: ` a
putting down ', and,
here, it means: ` a petition for the putting down of
a heavy burden of
sin from them and asking allah to forgive their
faults.'
the lord commanded
the israelites to say that phrase with their
whole hearts and
spirits for the purpose of asking, thereby, for the
putting down of
their heavy burdens from them,because they needed to
be put down from
them before entering the holy land. and, they were
promised that they
would be forgiven their sins if they did perform the
the command
accordingly. maybe, it is for the same reason that one of
doors of heaven is
entitled ` bab-ul-hittah ' (the door of forgiveness).
abu hayyan andulusi
says that the objective meaning of /bab/, here, is
one of the doors of
jerusalem which is known as ` bab-ul-hittah '. 1
the verse finally
proclaims that as for the doers of good, besides
forgiving their
sins, there will be endowed some additional bounties and
rewards upon them,
too. it says:
"...and give
more (the portion of) those who do good."
however,
allah ordered them to express this phrase sincerely as
a sign of their
repentance and request for forgiveness in order to show
their humility unto
him. the lord promised them that he would
forgive them their
sins if they followed through with the command. in
that case, he would
also increase his favour and reward for the good
doers among them along
with the forgiveness of their faults.
but, as we know and
are acquainted with the stubbornness and
obstinacy of the
children of israel, some of them even refused to utter
the phrase and
mockingly they said another incongruous word (hinta)
`wheat' instead of
it. then, the qur'an says:
" but those
who were unjust substituted a saying other than that
which had been
spoken unto them, ..."
"...so we
sent down upon those who were unjust a torment from heaven
for what they
used to pervert."
divine punishment in
some form or other awaits those who
unwarrantedly and
unjustly change the word of allah and his
covenant, to
something other than the original presented to them.