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120. " for, never will
the jews be pleased with you nor the christians
unless you follow their religion. say:
` behold allah's guidance is the only (true)
guidance.'
and verily if you follow their desires after
the knowledge has come to you,
you shall have from allah neither protector
nor helper."
121. " those to whom we have given the book
read it as it ought to be read,
they are the ones that truly believe in it,
and whoever disbelieves in it, they shall
(surely) be the losers."
occasion of revelation :
on the occasion of revelation of the first of the above verses, it is
narrated from ibn abbas that the jews in medina and the christians
from najran expected that the prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.) would
traditionally accept the same qiblah as they had. when allah altered
the qiblah from jerusalem to the ka`bah, they became disheartened
with the prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.). (perhaps, some of the muslim
believers, too, criticized that they should not do anything that would
offend the jews and the christians).
the above verse was revealed and informed the prophet (p.b.u.h.)
that that group of jews and christians would be satisfied with him
neither by coming into agreement upon the qiblah nor by anything else
except that he would follow their creeds.
1
some others have narrated that the prophet (p.b.u.h.) insisted
very much on convincing them to accept islam. the above verse was
revealed telling him (p.b.u.h.) to disregard that idea because never
would they be pleased with him unless he followed their religion. 2
there are also various narrations upon the occasion of revelation
of the second of the above verses. some of the commentators believe
that this verse was revealed about those people who came with
ja`far-ibn-abitalib from abyssina to medina. they had joined islam
and accompanied him when he left there. they were 40 men,
thirty-two of whom were from abyssina and eight men were from the
monks of syria among whom there was a famous christian monk by the
name of bahira. 3
some other commentators believe that the verse was revealed
about some people from among the jews such as abdillah-ibn-salam,
shu`bat-ibn-`amru, tamam-ibn-yahuda, and so on who accepted the
invitation of prophet muhammad (p.b.u.h.) and became true
believers. 4
* * * *
commentary :
two unsatisfiable groups !
the previous verse relieves hadrat muhammad (p.b.u.h.) of any
responsibility concerning those stubborn misguided people. now, this
verse, elaborating on the same idea, informs the prophet (p.b.u.h.)
of
the reason why it is so:
" for, never will the jews be pleased with you nor the christians
unless you follow their religion. ..."
"... say: ` behold allah's guidance is the only (true) guidance'.
..."
allah's guidance is a guidance which is not adulterated with
superstitions and wrong thoughts of ignorant people. yes, such pure
noble guidance should be followed.
then, it adds:
"... and verily if you follow their desires after the knowledge
has come to
you, you shall have from allah neither protector nor helper."
* * * *
but, since some of the jewish and christian truth-seekers
accepted the invitation of the prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.) and embraced
islam, the holy qur'an, after scorning the aforementioned group,
commemorates this group well by saying:
" those to whom we have given the book read it as it ought to be
read,
they are the ones that truly believe in it, ..."
"... and whoever disbelieves in it, they shall (surely) be the losers."
these people were those who truly read their divine book as it
ought to be read and followed it accordingly. this manner of striving
resulted in their being guided. therein, they had studied the glad
tidings of the advent of the promised prophet and they found those
attributes congruous with muhammad, the prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.),
so thereby they submitted, and allah, therefore, appreciated them.
* * * *
explanation :
the phrase / wa la 'initaba`ta 'ahwa'ahum /, ` and verily if you
follow their desires ', may prompt the readers of the verse to ask
this
question: was it possible that muhammad (p.b.u.h.) would, with his
inerrant position of prophethood, follow the desires of those misguided
jews?
in answer to this question we say that these statements, which are
frequently cited in the verses of the qur'an, do not contradict with
the
state of inerrancy of prophets (p.b.u.th.), because on one hand, it
is a
conditional sentence, therefore the mentioning of the protasis does
not
mean that the action will definitely be performed.
on the other hand, the state of being immune from sin does not
refute the capability of committing sin and err by prophets (p.b.u.th.).
although prophets and imams (p.b.u.th.) are able to commit sin and
their free will is not taken away from them, they would
never contaminate themselves with corruption or even taint their souls
with a
single sin. in other words, they can commit sins but their belief,
knowledge, and virtue is so intense that they never dras near to any
sin.
therefore, such admonishments as the above are completely
appropriate for them.
therdly, this statement, although addressing the holy prophet
(p.b.u.h.), may envelop all believers entirely.
* * * *
pleasing enemies has its limits
it is true that one should attract the enemis' attention towrds
his invitation with the magnetic power of excellent ethice and superior
charcter, but there are some who never accept the truth, they are not
worth worrying about. they will never believe in the true path, hence,
endeavouring to attract their attention is a waste of time.
* * * *
allah's guidace is the only true guidance
tis fact is also understood from the above verses that the only
law which can lead man towards salvation and happiness is the law and
guidace of allah, because to whatever extent the knowledge of man
progresses, it is still interwoven with ignorance, doubt anddeficiency
from the pointsof view of variouse aspects. hence, the guidance which
comes forth uder the shade of such incomplete knowledge connot be
considered an absolute guidance. the only one who can provide
' absolute guidance' is the one who possesses' absolute knowledge'
without anygnorance or imperfection. this attribute applies only to
allah.
how should the book be read?
this meaning is an expressive one which defines a clear path for
us regarding the holy qur'an, the divine book. now, those who read
the verses of the qur'an are defined in several groups:
one of these groups emphasize of the forms of pronunciation
and artifculation of the phonemes and morphemes and also the overall
intonation of the verses of the qur'an with their own proper arabic
points of articulation. they always think of linguistical regulations
for
the arabic pronunciation of the signs and soundes, pauses and
extensions, and finally, for observing the special letters in the qur'an
known as / yarmalun /.they usually are not particularly concerned with
the meaning and the content of the verses they read. when they
disregard the meaning of the qur'an, their actions accordingly are
obvious. the example of this kind of people is depicted in the qur'an
saying: "...is as the likeness of the ass bearing books...",
(sura
al-jumu`ah, no. 62, verse 5).
the second group are those who, in addition to the verbal
utterances, pay close attention to the meanings of the verses and
contemplate over the elegancies and exquisite points of the qur'an.
they try to understand the sciences described therein, but they do
not
actually comply with its ordinances.
the third group are those true believers who accept the qur'an as
a mandate of action and use it as a comprehensive program for their
lives. they consider the recitation of this great book, contemplation
over its meanings, and conception of its purposes as preliminary for
their actions. that is why whenever they recite the qur'an, a fresh
and
pleasing state encompasses their souls allowing them to make new
decisions with vigorous intention and a strong inner feeling of
preparedness for their actions. this is, perhaps, the privilege granted
for reading the book in the way in which it ought to be read.
a tradition from imam sadiq (a.s.), commenting on this verse,
says: " they recite its verses slowly, and understand it, and act according
to its orders, and hope for its promises, and are afraid of its threats,
and
take lessons from its stories, and obey its commandments, and desist
from what it prohibits. by god, it does not mean memorizing its verses,
and studying its letters, and reciting its chapters, and learning
its
one-tenths and one-fifths. they remembered its words and neglected
its
boundaries. and what it means is meditating on its verses and acting
according to its orders. allah, the high, has said: ` (it is) a
book we
have sent down to you abounding in good,so that they may ponder
over
its verses'...", (38: 29), (irshadul-qulub, ad-daylami). 5
-
1 abul-futuh
razi, commentary, vol. 1, p. 308
- 2 majma`-ul-bayan,
vol. , p. 197
-
3 majma`-ul-bayan,
vol. 1, p. 198
-
4 ibid,
& tafsir abul-futuh razi, vol.1 , p.310
-
5 al-mizan,
commentary, vol.2, p.70 (english version)
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