Jewish carpings at the Apostle’s calling for subscriptions, The Jews rejecting every Prophet who did not follow the Mosaic Law, Muslims to bear losses and hardships.

Aal ’Imran Verses 181 – 189

لَقَدْ سَمِعَ اللَّهُ قَوْلَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ فَقِيرٌ وَنَحْنُ أَغْنِيَاءُ ۘ سَنَكْتُبُ مَا قَالُوا وَقَتْلَهُمُ الْأَنْبِيَاءَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ وَنَقُولُ ذُوقُوا عَذَابَ الْحَرِيقِ

“Surely hath God heard the saying of those who say “Aye, God is poor, and we are rich1” Certainly, shall we record what they say and their slaying the Prophets unjustly and We shall say “Taste ye the torment of burning.”” (3:181)

ذَٰلِكَ بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ لَيْسَ بِظَلَّامٍ لِلْعَبِيدِ

“This, is for what your (own) hands have forwarded before you and because God is not (in the least) unjust to (the) servants.” (3:182)

الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَهِدَ إِلَيْنَا أَلَّا نُؤْمِنَ لِرَسُولٍ حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَنَا بِقُرْبَانٍ تَأْكُلُهُ النَّارُ قُلْ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِنْ قَبْلِي بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ وَبِالَّذِي قُلْتُمْ فَلِمَ قَتَلْتُمُوهُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

“(To those) who say, “Verily God hath covenanted with us that we believe not in any apostle until he presenteth to us an offering which is devoured by fire (from heaven)’, Say (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) “Indeed did come unto you apostles before me with miracles and with that which ye (now) said; Why then did ye slay them? if ye be truthful2.”” (3:183)

فَإِنْ كَذَّبُوكَ فَقَدْ كُذِّبَ رُسُلٌ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ جَاءُوا بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ وَالزُّبُرِ وَالْكِتَابِ الْمُنِيرِ

“And if they belie thee; then verily have already been belied apostles before thee (who) came with clear evidences (miracles) and the scriptures and the illuminating Book3.” (3:184)

كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّوْنَ أُجُورَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَمَنْ زُحْزِحَ عَنِ النَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ الْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ فَازَ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ

“Every self-tastes4death; and verily ye shall be paid in full your recompenses on the Day of Resurrection; and whoso is removed away from the (Hell) fire and admitted into Paradise, has indeed gained his object; and the life of this world is not, but a provision of vanity5.” (3:185)

لَتُبْلَوُنَّ فِي أَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنْفُسِكُمْ وَلَتَسْمَعُنَّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا أَذًى كَثِيرًا وَإِنْ تَصْبِرُوا وَتَتَّقُوا فَإِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ

“Certainly ye shall be tried in your possessions and in your (own) selves; and certainly ye shall hear from those who have been given the Book before you and those who join other gods with God, much annoyance; and if ye be patient and guard yourselves (against evil) then verily that is a matter of (very great) resolve6.” (3:186)

وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَاقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ لَتُبَيِّنُنَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا تَكْتُمُونَهُ فَنَبَذُوهُ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِهِمْ وَاشْتَرَوْا بِهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا فَبِئْسَ مَا يَشْتَرُونَ

“And (Recall thou O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) when God took a pledge7from those who were given the Book; “Ye shall surely make it known to mankind and ye shall not hide it8; then they cast it behind their backs and bought9therewith a small price10; How bad (then is what they purchase11).” (3:187)

لَا تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ يَفْرَحُونَ بِمَا أَتَوْا وَيُحِبُّونَ أَنْ يُحْمَدُوا بِمَا لَمْ يَفْعَلُوا فَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّهُمْ بِمَفَازَةٍ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

“Think not that those who rejoice for what they have brought on and love that they be praised for what they have not done, and think not that they would escape the chastisement; for them is a grievous torment12.” (3:188)

وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

“And God’s (alone) is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; and God hath power over all things13.” (3:189)

Commentary

Verse 181

Charity or spending money to help the cause of truth or to help the needy is metaphysically described in Islam as giving to God Himself. Subscriptions were raised by the Muslims to defend Islam against the unprovoked aggressions from the Non-Muslims, terming such monetary help to the cause of the faith as a goodly loan to God:

مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا فَيُضَاعِفَهُ لَهُ أَضْعَافًا كَثِيرَةً وَاللَّهُ يَقْبِضُ وَيَبْسُطُ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ

“Who is it that will lend unto God a goodly loan, so that He may give it increased manifold? God holdeth and extendeth. Unto Him ye will return.” (2:245)

The Jews mocked at this and said that: “So God is poor, and we are rich.” This Verse was revealed in reply to the scoffing by the Jews. The Jews had a similar ridiculous remark made on another occasion14.

وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ يَدُ اللَّهِ مَغْلُولَةٌ غُلَّتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَلُعِنُوا بِمَا قَالُوا ۘ بَلْ يَدَاهُ مَبْسُوطَتَانِ يُنْفِقُ كَيْفَ يَشَاءُ وَلَيَزِيدَنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ طُغْيَانًا وَكُفْرًا وَأَلْقَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَاءَ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ كُلَّمَا أَوْقَدُوا نَارًا لِلْحَرْبِ أَطْفَأَهَا اللَّهُ وَيَسْعَوْنَ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَسَادًا وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُفْسِدِينَ

“The Jews say: Allah’s hand is fettered. Their hands are fettered, and they are accursed for saying so. Nay, but both His hands are spread out wide in bounty. He bestoweth as He will. That which hath been revealed unto thee is from thy Lord, is certain to increase the contumacy and disbelief of many of them, and We have cast among them enmity and hatred until the Day of Resurrection. As often as they light a fire for war, Allah extinguisheth it. Their efforts is for corruption in the land, and God loveth not corrupters.” (5:64)

This blasphemy was of apace with all their conduct in history about their slaying the apostles and men of God.

Everything, good as well as bad, brought by every individual shall be recompensed and none would lose his due. This term warns the evil doers as well, and encourages the righteous with the assurance that whatever good they do will not be wasted but will be returned to them. This is the Jewish mentality and attitude which is true of all people who attach importance to temporal possessions and wealth, and fail to value the spiritual and godly force and power15. (A.P.)

Verse 182

Here the infidels are warned saying: ‘do not think that your evil deeds end here and have no echo in your life hereafter. God is All-Just every evil doer shall be duly punished.’

مَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلِنَفْسِهِ وَمَنْ أَسَاءَ فَعَلَيْهَا وَمَا رَبُّكَ بِظَلَّامٍ لِلْعَبِيدِ

“Whoso doeth right it is for his self and who doeth wrong it is against it. And thy Lord is not at all a tyrant to His slaves.” (41:46)

مَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلِنَفْسِهِ وَمَنْ أَسَاءَ فَعَلَيْهَا ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمْ تُرْجَعُونَ

“Whoso doeth right, it is for his self, and whoso doeth wrong, it is against it. And then unto your Lord ye will be brought back.” (45:15)

فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ

“And whoso doeth good of an atom’s weight will see it then.” (99:7)

وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ

“And whoso doeth evil an atom’s weight will see it then.” (99:8)

Verse 183

The Mosaic law had burnt offerings Lev. 1/9. Lev. 8/18, Deut. 33/10.

“But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water, and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.” Lev. 1/9.

“And he brought the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.” Lev. 8/18.

“They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.” Deut. 33/10.

Thus, the Jews demanded of the Holy Prophet a sacrifice which the fire should consume. Their persistence was that the promised Prophet in Deut. 18/18 was about a prophet from among them, (i.e., the Israelites) and not from their brethren, i.e., the Ishmaelites, and that to be like Moses, who could be a Lawgiver like Moses and not a Law-abider, i.e., a follower of any other law.

The Jews said that all the prophets sent to them could get their sacrifices burnt by a fire from heaven and they wanted the Holy Prophet also to do it. The Jews depended upon the statement of Lev. 9:/24. 1 Chron. 21/26, II Chron. 71, 1 Ki. 18/38.

“And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.” Lev. 9/24.

“And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and Offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord, and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.” 1 Chron. 21/26.

“Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.” II. Chron. 7/1.

“Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” I. Kings. 18/18.

It must be remembered that the manifestation of God’s power need not necessarily be always through one and the same kind of a miracle. It will and must vary with the character of the people and the kind of the impression which they needed to believe in any factor.

“The hardened Israelites required a sort of terror of the Almighty to start with and for them Fire was a proper form of God’s manifestation and as such it appeared to Moses. The descent of fire to consume sacrifices offered was only agreeable to this. In Islam, on the other hand, the leading idea of God is that of the Beneficent, the Merciful, and so in all accounts where a manifestation of God is spoken of allegorically, He is represented as ‘Noor’, i.e. Light, never as Fire. Even in the Parable of God as Light in Surah ‘Noor’ 24:35, it is distinctly stated that the glow is without fire. Fire is always associated with wrath and punishment. So the bringing down of destructive fire on sacrifices devoutly offered, which are held to be monuments of God (Sha’airullah) in 22:36, would be the oddest thing possible, inconsistent with the very spirit of Islam. Clearly people have no right to insist which miracle they would have and which not, evidence of the Prophet’s claims any miracles should do.” Page 101, B.H. Vol. II.

The reply to the Jews is given in the words of this Verse.

Verse 184

‘Zabur’, the Scriptures given to Apostles of God and the illuminating Book may be the ‘Torah’ given to Moses and ‘Evangel’ given to Jesus which contained clear guidance.

Verse 185

‘Kullu nafsin’ - A strong conviction about the certainty of death makes one automatically reform himself and if he be sufficiently wise to get prepared for the inevitable event and be ready to meet it, with all the preparedness one wants for himself, lest it may surprise him when he is not ready for it. And about death it has been said: -

قُلْ إِنَّ الْمَوْتَ الَّذِي تَفِرُّونَ مِنْهُ فَإِنَّهُ مُلَاقِيكُمْ ثُمَّ تُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ

“Say (unto them, O’ Our Apostle Muhammad): Verily, the death from which ye run away will surely meet you, then ye will be returned unto the Knower of the Invisible and the Visible and He will inform you what ye used to do.” (62:8)

ا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تُلْهِكُمْ أَمْوَالُكُمْ وَلَا أَوْلَادُكُمْ عَنْ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ

“O ye who believe! let not your wealth nor your children distract you from remembrance of God, those who do so, they are the losers.” (63:9)

أَنْفِقُوا مِنْ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ فَيَقُولَ رَبِّ لَوْلَا أَخَّرْتَنِي إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ فَأَصَّدَّقَ وَأَكُنْ مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ

“And spend of that wherewith We have provided you before death cometh unto one of you and he saith : My Lord if only thou wouldst reprieve me for a little while, then I would give alms and be among the righteous.” (63:10)

وَلَنْ يُؤَخِّرَ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِذَا جَاءَ أَجَلُهَا وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ

“But God reprieveth no soul when its term cometh, and God is informed of what ye do.” (63:11)

Everything besides God is continuously undergoing change after change. Every change is a death and thus, everything save God, is ever tasting death after death. Nothing besides God is permanent. Permanence is only for God and for none else. (A.P.)

‘Mata ul-Ghuroor’ - Object of delusion-without stability or reality in it.

Verse 186

This happened and is still happening in a constitutional way-Muslims are still persecuted and their properties confiscated, their lives have been mercilessly taken for their merely being Muslims.

Verse 187

Refers to those who had been given the Scriptures viz. the Jews and Christians. The covenant was to make known to the people the description of the Last Apostle of God which had been given in their holy books, but they did not abide by it for the sake of worldly profit which act is condemned as a very mean barter.

Amir Al-Mu’minin ‘Ali Ibn Abu Talib says that the covenant God makes with the ignorant is that they should learn from the learned and the covenant with the learned is that they should teach the ignorant.

Cursed be the learned one who is quiet and does not teach the others.

Verse 189

This Verse is a repeated assertion of the idea given in the concluding words of Verse 179.

This idea has been repeatedly mentioned at the end of many other verses to sink it deep into the minds of men and women that there is none for them to worship except God who alone is the Creator Lord Master of the whole universe.

• 1. This is the Jewish mentality and attitude which is true of people attaching importance to temporal possessions, power and wealth who fail to value the Spiritual and Godly force and power. Refer to Verses 2:247; 5:64; 47:38.
• 2. Refer to Verse 35:25.
• 3. The Book of one and the same. All the different Scriptures are the various aspects or the versions of one and the same Universal Book. Refer to verse 15:1.
• 4. Everything besides God is ever undergoing change after change. Thus, everything save God is ever tasting death. Nothing besides God is permanent or stationary in its existence. Permanence absolute is only for God and for none besides Him.
• 5. Ar. ‘Ghoroor’.
• 6. Result of firm determination of affairs.
• 7. Compare this to the pledge taken from the Muslims at ‘Ghadir Khumm’ under Verse 5:67.
• 8. The Book.
• 9. Exchanged it for a small return.
• 10. See Verse 176.
• 11. Bargain.
• 12. Compare to Verse 3:177.
• 13. Refer to Verse 3:179.
• 14. Refer to Verse 5:64.
• 15. Refer to Verse 2:247.