138. " (receive) the baptism of allah and who is better than allah
in baptizing? and him do we worship."
139. " say (to the jews and christians): ` would you dispute with us
concerning allah who is our lord and your lord?
for us are our deeds and for you are your deeds: and
we are sincere to him '."
140. " or do you claim that abraham, ismail, isaac, jacob,
and the tribes were jews or christians? say: ` who then knows best,
you or allah? ' who is more unjust than he
who conceals testimony received from allah? and allah
is not heedless of what you do."
141. " that is a nation that has passed away; theirs is that which they have
earned and yours is what you earned; you shall not be questioned for
what they had been doing."

commentary :

following the invitation, in the former verses, to the adherents of
all religions to accept the divine messages of all prophets, in the first
verse of this group of verses, it commands them all to:

" (receive) the baptism of allah ..."

which is the same as the purification by faith and true monotheism
resulting in the manifestation of one true colour. then, it adds:

"... and who is better than allah in baptizing? and him do we worship."

thus, the qur'an commands that all racial, tribal and other
separative colours be put aside and that every one take on
(symbolically) the colour of allah.

some commentators have recorded that it was a custom among
the christians to baptize their new-born children in baptismal water
which was mixed with dye or a colour, signifying that the baptized
person received new colour in life. they said that this baptism,
especially with this particular colour, caused the person to be cleaned
from the original sin that he had inherited from adam (a.s.).

the qur'an rejects this baseless logic and tells them that in order
to purify their souls and minds from any stain of sin instead of using
colours of rituals, superstitions and dispersiveness, they had better
accept the colour of truthfulness and godliness.

truly, what a delicate and beautiful sentence it is! how nice it
would be if all people accepted the godly colour, i.e. the colour of unity,
purity and virtue! viz the colour of colourlessness, the colour of justice,
equality, patience and perseverance. under the light of the colour of
unity and sincerity, all conflicts and fights can be put to an end and the
main weed of polytheism and dispersion might be rooted out.

this is, in fact, that very colournessless, or in other words, pulling
away of all colours.

in several traditions, commenting on this verse, it is narrated from
imam sadiq (a.s.) who has said that the objective meaning of
/sibqatallah / ` the baptism of allah' is the pure creed of islam. 1 this
idea is also a reference to what was said in the above.

some of the jews, and some others, occasionally disputed with the
muslims claiming that all the prophets were chosen from among them
and their religion was the oldest of all religions, and their book was the
most ancient of divine books. they said that if muhammad (p.b.u.h.)
had really been a prophet, he would have been appointed from among
them. they sometimes said that their race was superior to the arab
race, for the acceptance of creeds, and they were more receptive to
revelation than arabs, because they had practically been
idol-worshippers while the jews were not.

the jews considered themselves the sons of god, the ones who
claimed heaven exclusively theirs. the qur'an refuses all of these false
imaginations. at first, it tells the prophet (p.b.u.h.):

" say (to the jews and christians): ` would you dispute with us
concerning allah who is our lord and your lord? ..."

this lord is not exclusively for one particular tribe or a certain
race. he is the lord of all human beings and all creatures in the world
of existence.

addressing them, it adds that they should also know that: there
are no privileges for anyone except for those attained by a person's
good deeds:

"... for us are our deeds and for you are your deeds: ..."

but there is a difference between those deeds. we serve him
sincerely and associate none with him, (while most of you have poluted
unity with polytheism):

"...and we are sincere to him '."  

* * * *

the next verse replies to some other vain claims of theirs. it says:

" or do you claim that abraham, ismail, isaac, jacob,
and the tribes were jews or christians?..."
"... say: ` who then knows best, you or allah? '..."

allah knows best of all that they were neither jewish nor
christian.

you also know, whether you admit it or not, that many of those
prophets came in to this world before moses (a.s.) and jesus (a.s.), and
if you do not know it, then you have ignorantly charged them with such
a belie which in itself, is a great sin and an attempt at hiding the true
fact. thus:

"... who is more unjust than he who conceals testimony received
from allah? ..."
"... and allah is not heedless of what you do."

what a wonder! when it happens that a person's mind is
dominated by obstinacy and prejudice, he denies even the well-known
facts of history. for instance, the jews counted the prophets such as
abraham (a.s.), isaac (a.s.) and jacob (a.s.), who came into the world
and passed away before moses and jesus, as being from among the
followers of moses (a.s.) and jesus (a.s.). they denied the above
mentioned fact which is pertinent to the fate of their people and
defines their faith and religion. it may be for this very reason that the
qur'an introduces them as the most unjust. there is no unjust action
worst than that some persons intentionally deny some facts in order to
misguide people so that they wander aimlessly in that misguidance. 

* * * *

in the last of the verses under discussion, which is also the last
verse of the first part (out of the thirty parts) of the holy qur'an, the
qur'an answers them in another style indicating that supposing all these
claims were correct, then, this is the answer:

" that is a nation that has passed away; theirs is that which they
have earned..."
"...and yours is what you earned; you shall not be questioned for what
they had been doing."

in conclusion, a nation should rely upon its own deeds, not on its
past history. as a person should thrive on his own excellencies, not on
those of his ancestors. 

1 nur-uth-thaqalayn, vol.1,p.132

 

the end 

of
 
part one