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.
1 at-tafsir-ul-kashif,
vol. 1, p. 109
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