Indexed OCR Text

224
Surah Al-Baqarah 2 :61
يُخْرِجْ لَنَا مِمَّا تُنْتُ الْأَرْضُ مِنْ ◌َبَقُلِهَا وَقِتَّائِهَا وَفُوْمِهَا
وَعَدَسِهَا وَبَصَلِهَا،قَالَ آَتَسْتَبْدِلُوْنَ الَّذِىُّ هُوَاَدْنَى بِلَّذِىُ
هُوَ خَيْرٌِّهُبِطُوا مِصْرًا فَإِنَّ لَكُمُ مَاسَاَلْتُمْ وَضُرِبَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ
الذِّلَّهُ وَالْمُسَكَنَةُ وَبَاءُ وُ بِغَضَبٍ ◌ِنَ اللَّهِ ذْلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا
يَكْفُرُوْنَ بِأَيْتِ اللهِ وَيَقْتُلُوْنَ النَّبِيِّنَ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ ذَلِكَ بَِا عَصَوُا
وَكَانُوا يَعْتَدُونَ ١
And when you said, "Musa we will no longer stay on a
single food: So, pray for us to your Lord that He may
bring forth for us of what the earth produces -- its
wheat, its lentils and its onions." He said, "Do you want
to take the inferior in exchange of what is better? Go
down to a town, and you will have what you have asked
for." And disgrace and misery were stamped over them
and they returned with wrath from Allah. That was
because they used to deny the signs of Allah, and would
slay the prophets unjustly. That was because they
disobeyed and would go beyond the limits. (Verse 61)
This episode has been indirectly referred to in verse 58, and it also
occurred in the wilderness of Tih. The Israelites grew weary of eating
the Mann and the Salwa (manna and quails) everyday, and wished to
have ordinary vegetables and grain. Allah commanded them through
Sayyidna Musa > JI ue to go to a certain town which lay somewhere in
the wilderness, to till the land there, to grow to eat whatever they
liked.
The Israelites were thus being ungrateful and impertinent. Even
otherwise, it was so usual with them not only to transgress divine
commandments but also to deny them outright. They had also been
slaying a number of prophets at different times - they knew they were
committing a misdeed, but their hostility to the truth and their
stubbornness in disobedience made them blind to the nature of their
conduct and its consequences. Through such persistent and wilful
misdemeanour they drew upon themselves the wrath of Allah.
Disgrace and degradation settled upon them for ever. That is to say,

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 61
they no longer had any respect in the eyes of others, nor magnanimity
in themselves.
One form of this disgrace is that temporal power has been taken
away from them for ever. For only forty days, however, - and that too
when the Day of Judgment will have come close - the Dajjal (Anti-
Christ) belonging to the Jewish race, will have an irregular dominion
like that of a robber. This cannot be described as having temporal
power, in the proper sense of the term. Allah had made it quite clear
to the Jews through Sayyidna Musa (Moses ,WJI ue ) that if they con-
tinued to be disobedient, they would always have to live under the
وَإِذْ تَكَذَّنَ رَبُّكَ لَيَبْعَثَنَّ عَلَيْهِمْ إِلى : domination of other nations. Says the Holy Qur'an
And when your Lord proclaimed He would": يَوْم الْقِيَامَةِ مَنْ يَّسُوْ مُهُمْ سُوءَ الْعَذَابِ
send forth against them, unto the Day of Resurrection, those who
should visit them with evil chastisement." (7:167)
As to how the Companions, their successors and the great
commentators have interpreted the disgrace and degradation which
has settled on the Jews, let us present a summary in the words of Ibn
Kathir: لا يزالون مستذلين من وجدهم استذلهم وضرب عليهم الصغار :"No matter how wealthy
they grow, they will always be despised by other people; whoever gets
hold of them will humiliate them, and attach to them the emblems of
servitude." The commentator Dahhak Ibn Muzahim reports from the
blessed Companion 'Abdullah Ibn 'Abbas that the Jews will always
remain under the domination of others, will be paying taxes and
tributes to them - that is to say, they will themselves never have
power and authority in the real sense of the term.
Another verse of the Holy Qur'an also speaks of the disgrace of the
Jews, but with some addition:
ضْرِبَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ اللَّلَّةُ أَيْنَمَا تُوَّا إِلَّا بِحَبْلٍ ◌ِنَ اللهِ وَحَبْلٍ ◌ِنَ النَّاسِ
And disgrace has been stamped over them wherever they are
found, unless (saved) through a rope from Allah and through
a rope from men." (3:112)
Now, the 'rope' or means from Allah refers to the case of those
whom Allah Himself has, through His own commandment, saved from
this disgrace - for example, children, women, or those who are totally
devoted to prayer and worship and never go to war against Muslims.

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 :61
The 'rope' or means from men refers to a treaty of peace with the
Muslims, or a permission to live in a Muslim country on payment of
the Jizyah (the tax levied on non-Muslims living in a Muslim country,
which exonerates them from military service etc.) Since the Holy
Qur'an uses the expression "from men" and not "from Muslims", a
third situation is also possible - the Jews may make political
arrangements with other non-Muslims, live under their backing and
protection, and thus be in 'peace'.
There is another aspect to the question - we must look into the
nature of the exception that has been made in the verse which we have
just cited. Now, when an exception is added to a statement, the
exception may fall into either of these two categories: (1) What has
been excepted formed, or still forms, a part of what it has been
excepted from. For example, take this statement: "The tribe came
except Zayd." Zayd was and still is a member of the tribe, but he has
been excepted from it in so far as the act of coming is concerned. (2)
What has been excepted did not form, or no longer forms, a part of
what it has been excepted from. For example: "The tribe came except
the donkey." The donkey, of course, never formed a part of the tribe,
and he has been excepted from the act of coming in so far as the act
pertains to the tribe. If the exception made in the present verse is of
the first kind, then the statement would mean that all the Jews
always and everywhere live in disgrace with the exception of two
situations - protection provided to women and children etc. by the
commandment of Allah Himself, or by a treaty of peace with the
Muslims or with some non-Muslim nations. On the other hand, if the
exception is of the second kind, the verse would mean that the Jews as
a group would essentially and always remain in disgrace with the
exception of some who may find protection under the commandment of
Allah, or of some others who may receive support from other nations
and thus disguise their own disgrace.
Thus, Verse 3:112 helps to elucidate Verse 2:61, and also dispels
the doubt which sometimes arises in the minds of the Muslims at the
sight of the so-called "Israeli state" imposed on Palestine. For, they
find it difficult to reconcile the two things - the Holy Qur'an seems to
indicate that the Jews will never have a sovereign state, while they

227
Surah Al-Baqarah 2: 62
have actually usurped Palestine and set up a state of their own. But if
we go beyond the appearances, we can easily see that "Israel" is not an
independent sovereign state, but only a stronghold of the Western
powers which they have established in the midst of Muslim countries
in order to protect their own interests; without the backing of these
super-powers the Jewish "state" cannot survive for a month, and the
Western powers themselves look upon the Israelis as their henchmen.
The "Israeli state" has been living, as the Holy Qur'an says, "through a
rope from men," and, even at that, living as a parasite on the Western
powers. So, there is no real occasion to have a misgiving about what
the Holy Qur'an has said on the subject.
Moreover, the half of Palestine which the Jews have usurped and
the parasite state they have set up there is no more than a spot on the
map of the world. As against this, we have vast expanses of the globe
covered by Christian states, by Muslim states, and even by the states
of people who do not believe in Allah at all. Can this tiny blot on the
map and that too under the American-British umbrella, negate the
disgrace which Allah has made to settle upon the Jews?
Verse 62
إِنَّ الَّذِيْنَ امَنُوا وَاَلَّذِيْنَ هَادْوًا وَالنَّصْرِى وَالضُّبِنِيْنَ مَنُ أَمَنَ
بِاللهِ وَالْيَوْعِ الْأُخِرِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلَا
خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَاهُمْ يَحْزَنُوْنَ 0
Surely, those who believed in Allah, and those who
became Jewish, and Christians, and the Sabeans --
whosoever believes in Allah and in the Last Day, and
does good deeds -- for them, with their Lord, is their
reward, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they
grieve. (Verse 62)
The previous verse spoke of how the Israelites drew upon
themselves the wrath of Allah through their habitual insolence and
disobedience. Now, this account may lead the listeners, or the Jews
themselves, to suppose that, in view of such transgression, their
Taubah (repentance), if they agree to offer it, would not be acceptable
to Allah. In order to dispel such a misgiving, the present verse lays

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 62
down a general principle: no matter how a man has been behaving
earlier, so long as he submits himself fully to the commandments of
Allah in his beliefs and in his deeds both, he is acceptable to Allah,
and will get his reward. It is obvious enough that after the revelation
of the Holy Qur'an, which is the last message of Allah, perfect
obedience to Allah can only mean accepting Islam and following the
Last Prophet Muhammad - . 23 The verse, in effect, assures everyone
that once a man has accepted Islam, all his former transgressions,
whether in the matter of beliefs or in that of deeds, will be forgiven,
and he will become worthy of receiving the rewards of the other world.
Let us note, in passing, that nothing is definitely known as to the
beliefs and the practices of the Sabeans, and different opinions have
been expressed on the subject. (Most probably they used to worship
the stars).
One might also ask why the verse mentions the Muslims, for if it is
an invitation to Islam, there is no need to extend the invitation to
those who have already accepted Islam. But if we keep in mind the
richly concentrated style of the Holy Qur'an, and try to look beyond
the literal sense of the words into the implications and suggestions
contained in the verse, we would find that the inclusion of the Muslim
factor has added a new dimension to the meaning. It is as if a king
should, in a similar situation, say that his laws are impartially
applicable to all his subjects, and that whosoever obeys them shall
receive his reward for obedience irrespective of whether he has earlier
been a friend or a foe. Obviously, the friend has always been loyal and
obedient, and the warning and the promise have really been addressed
23.Contrary to the flaccid fancies of some "modernizers" who are very happy
with themselves over their "liberalism" and "tolerance", the present
verse does not open the way to salvation for each and every "man of good
will" irrespective of the creed he follows. If one reads the verse in its
proper context and along with other relevant verses of the Holy Qur'an,
one will easily see that the verse, in fact, promises salvation in the other
world only to those who accept Islam. It is an invitation to Islam
extended to the Jews, the Christians, the Sabeans and, as a matter of
fact, to the followers of all possible religions, and even to non-believers --
specific names only serve as examples.

229
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:63
to the foe. But the suggestion contained in such a formulation is that
the favours of the king do not proceed from any personal attachment
to the friends, but depend on the quality of obedience and loyalty, and
hence the foes too will become worthy of his favours if they acquire the
necessary quality. This is the raison d'etre of mentioning the Muslims
along with the non-Muslims in this verse, which should never be taken
to imply that salvation can be attained without accepting Islam.
We had better dispel another misunderstanding which is likely to
arise from the wordings of the present verse -- and, which is actually
being promoted by certain 'modernizers'. The verse mentions only two
articles of faith of the Islamic creed -- faith in Allah and faith in the
Day of Judgment. This should not be taken to mean that in order to
attain salvation it is enough to have faith only in Allah and in the Day
of Judgment. For, the Holy Qur'an repeatedly declares that he who
does not believe in the prophets, in angels and in the Books of Allah is
not a Muslim. Faith in Allah is the first article in the Islamic creed,
while faith in the Day of Judgment is the last. By mentioning only
these two, the verse intends to say in a succinct manner that it is
necessary to have faith in all the articles of the creed, from the first to
the last. Moreover, it is through the prophets and the Books of Allah
alone that man can acquire any knowledge of the essence and the
attributes of Allah and of what is to happen on the Day of Judgment,
while the Books of Allah are revealed to the prophets through an
angel. So, it is not possible to have faith in Allah and the Day of
Judgment until and unless one has faith in the angels, in the Books of
Allah and in the prophets.
Verse 63
وَإِذْ آَخَذْنَا مِيْنَاقَكُمْ وَرَفَعْنَا فَوْقَكُمُ الْطُوْرَهِ خُذُوْا مَآ أَتَيْئُكُمُ بِقُوّةٍ
وَاذْكُرُوْا مَافِيْهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ )
And when We took pledge from you, and raised high
above you the (Mount of) Tur: "Hold fast to what We
have given to you, and remember what is there in it, so
that you may become God-fearing." (Verse 63)
Having received the Torah from Allah, Sayyidna Musa
(Moses >JI ue ) returned from Mount Tur (Sinai) and recited it to the

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 63
Israelites. The injunctions contained in the Book were rather rigorous,
but their conduct and habits of mind really called for such strict disci-
pline. To begin with, they replied that they would not obey the injunc-
tions until and unless Allah Himself told them that it was His book.
Seventy men, as we have related above, were selected to go to Mount
Tur and to hear Allah attest the authenticity of the Torah. On their re-
turn, they bore witness to the Torah being a Book of Allah, but added
something on their own to what Allah had actually said. For, they told
the Israelites that Allah had allowed them to act upon the injunctions
only as much as they could, and had promised to forgive them for what
they could not accomplish. They had always and instinctively been
prone to rebellion against Allah, then, the injunctions were, no doubt,
stern, and now they got a new pretext for being negligent. So, the Is-
raelites flatly refused to obey the injunctions, insisting that it was be-
yond their endurance to act upon such harsh regulations. In reply to
this insolence, Allah commanded the angels to raise Mount Tur and let
it hang in the air above their heads as a threat that if they did not ful-
fil their covenant with Allah, it would fall on them and crush them.
The Israelites, then, had no choice but to submit.
A doubt is quite likely to arise here. The Holy Qur'an says in
another place that force should not be used to make a man change his
religion, while in the present instance it appears that force is being
used. But, in fact, force is not being used to make the Israelites change
their religion, for they had already accepted Sayyidna Musa WI ule as
a prophet of Allah, and willingly made a covenant with Allah that they
would act upon the Book of Allah, if one was given to them. So, they
now stand as rebels, and are being threatened with dire punishment
for persisting in their rebellion. This is exactly how even a secular
state deals with rebels, and how it adopts towards them an attitude
quite different from that towards aliens or enemies, for it leaves only
two ways open to the rebel -- either to submit himself, or to lose. his
life. That is why it is only an apostate (Murtadd) who is, according to
the Islamic Shari'ah, condemned to capital punishment, and not an
outright disbeliever. Moreover, the Israelites were being threatened
with death as criminals and offenders against the law which they
acknowledged to be the divine law, but which they refused to obey.

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 64
Verse 64
ثُمَّ تَوَلَّيْتُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذْلِكَ فَلَوْلاَ فَضْلُ اللهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُ
لَكُنُمْ مِنَ الْخُسِرِيْنَ 0
Then even after that, you did turn away. So, had it not
been for the grace of Allah upon you, and His mercy,
you surely would have been among the losers.
(Verse 64)
The Israelites went against the Covenant they had made with
Allah. The sin was so grave that one could have expected utter
destruction and ruin to descend on them as a punishment. But Allah,
in His mercy, spared them in so far as physical life is concerned,
although they will have to pay for their treason in the other world.
Allah's mercy is of two kinds. One is general and extends to believers
and disbelievers alike -- its action is to be seen in the shape of worldly
well-being and prosperity. The other is special, an pertains to believers
alone -- it will manifest itself particularly in the other world in the
shape of salvation and closeness to Allah.
It appears that the last phrase of the present verse has been
addressed to the Jews who were the contemporaries of the Holy
Prophet . Since having faith in him is also a part of the Covenant,
these Jews too have been included among those who had been guilty of
infringement. In this verse, Allah asks them to realize that it is in His
mercy alone that he has not, in spite of their treason, sent down on
them the kind of catastrophic punishment in this world as used to
descend on the other infidels and traitors who have gone before.
Since a number of authentic ahadith declare that it is the barakah
of the Holy Prophet _ that catastrophic punishments no longer
descend on any people, some commentators have identified this
particular mercy and grace of Allah with the sending down of
Muhammad & as a Prophet and Messenger of Allah.
In order to emphasize what the present verse has said, the next
verse tells the story of another group of earlier transgressors and of
the dreadful punishment which overtook them all of a sudden.

232
Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 65 - 66
Verses 65 - 66
وَلَقَدٌ عَلِمُتُمُ الَّذِيْنَ اعْتَدَوْا مِنْكُمْ فِى السَّبْتِ فَقُلْنَا لَهُمُ
كُوُنُوا قِرَدَةً خُسِئِيْنَ ا فَجَعَلَنْهَا نَكَالًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيُهَا وَمَا
خَلْفَهَا وَمَوْعِظَةً لِلْمُتَّقِيْنَ 0
And certainly you have known those among you who
transgressed in (the matter of) the Sabbath. So, We said
to them, "Become apes, living in disgrace." Thus, We
made it a deterrent for those around and after them --
and a lesson for the God-fearing. (Verses 65 - 66)
This episode belongs to the time of Sayyidna Dawud (David Mulle
Allah had appointed Saturday as the Sabbath, or the sacred day, for
the Israelites; it was specially set apart for prayers and worship, and
hence fishing was prohibited on this day. But these people lived on
the sea-shore, and were very fond of fish. Al-Qurtubi says that the Is-
raelites, at first, invented all sorts of clever pretences for catching fish
on Saturday, and gradually started doing so openly. There now grew a
division amongst them on this point. On the one hand were these
transgressors, and, on the other, some scholars and pious men who
tried to dissuade them from such disobedience. When the former paid
no heed to them, the latter broke away altogether from the sinners,
and began to live in a separate part of the town. One day they felt no
sound was coming from the other part of the town. Growing curious,
they went there and found that all the transgressors had been
changed into apes. Qatadah says that the young ones had become
apes, and the old ones swine. The apes could recognize their relatives
and friends, and would approach them weeping out of remorse, and
seeking their sympathy and help. Then all of them died after three
days.
As to the question whether the apes and the swine we see today
bear any kinship to these Israelites who had been metamorphosed, the
correct position is that people who have been metamorphosed into
beasts by Allah as a punishment cease to breed, and leave no progeny
behind. According to a hadith reported by Imam Muslim from the
blessed Companion 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud Le Al +), some people asked
the Holy Prophet & whether the apes and the swine were the descen-
1

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 65 - 66
dants of the metamorphosed Jews. The Holy Prophet j reminded
them that apes and swine existed in the world even before, and said
that when Allah sends down this particular kind of punishment on a
people, the race comes to an end with this, and there is no further
breeding. 24
Let us now go back to the verse under discussion. The people who
witnessed the event, or heard of it, were of two kinds - the disobedient
and the obedient. For the disobedient, it served as a 'deterrent', an
example and a warning, which persuaded them to repent of their
disobedience. For the obedient, it was a lesson and a reminder that
they should be steadfast in their obedience. It serves these two
purposes even now.
Injunctions and related considerations
We have been saying that the Jews who were changed into apes
had used certain ruses or pretences to justify their sin in their own
eyes. This brings us to a rather delicate question of Fiqh (Islamic ju-
risprudence). Certain 'modernists' have quite shamelessly been busy
maligning the master-jurists of Islam by suggesting that these mas-
24. Some 'modernizing' Muslims have tried to explain away this
metamorphosis by suggesting that these disobedient Jews did not
actually and physically turn into beasts, but that the change was only
psychological in so far as they acquired the evil characteristics of apes
and swine. To say such a thing is to deny an explicit statement of the
Holy Qur'an, which no Muslim can do, if he wishes to remain a Muslim.
Moreover, in denying the possibility of physical change, the
'modernizers' are also denying the power of Allah, and putting
limitations on it. Even as a piece of literary exegesis, the 'modernist'
interpretation is flimsy. For, even before the punishment fell on them,
these Jews had been displaying the moral and psychological traits of
beasts: the greed of swine and the craftiness of apes. Where was, then,
the change which the Holy Qur'an declares to be a punishment for the
offenders and a warning for others? Our 'modernists' are, in fact, all too
ready to swallow without batting an eye-lid the most preposterous and
unfounded notions, only if they come from the West. So, they have
complete certitude with regard to Darwin's speculation, that the apes
evolved into man, although no verifiable data has yet been gathered to
support the contention; but when it comes to the statement in the Holy
Qur'an that men were changed into apes, they look askance at it,
although this kind of change is rationally and logically as possible as the
other.

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 65 - 66
ters have invented very intricate "stratagems" (Hiyal, plural of Hilah)
for helping the rich and powerful to infringe the laws of the Shari'ah
and get away with it. This is a petty calumny, and should not have
been worthy of consideration except for the fact that such 'modernists'
have had some success with the gullible and the ignorant by playing
upon the Arabic word Hilah. As everyone knows, the lexical meaning
of a word is one thing, and its technical signification, when it is used
as a term in some science, is another. In its literal sense, the word Hi-
lah no doubt means "a trick, a stratagem", but as a technical term in
Fiqh it signifies a device for and a means of giving legitimacy to an ac-
tion in a contingency by making certain necessary modifications in it
in consonance with the Shari'ah. Thus, it is not a way of by-passing
the Shari'ah, but of helping people to conform to it even in a situation
where necessity or human weakness would compel them to go against
it.
The present verse has a particular relevance to the question, and
would help to clarify it a great deal. The transgression on the part of
the Jews which the verse speaks of, and which drew upon them such
dreadful punishment, was not a clear and explicit infringement of
divine law, but the use of certain "tricks" which necessarily involved
the negation of the divine commandment. For example, on Saturday
they would tie one end of a cord to the tail of a fish and the other end
to something on the shore, and leave the fish in the water; on Sunday,
they would take it out and eat it. Such a ruse not only negates an
injunction of the Shari'ah, but is actually a mockery. That is why
those who practised such "stratagems" were considered to be
disobedient and rebellious, and subjected to dire punishment.
But this particular instance does in no way go to prove that the
Hiyal are impermissible. We have explained the nature and purpose
of such "devices" alone. Not only do they form an integral part of Figh,
but some of them have actually been suggested by the Holy Prophet
himself . For example, bartering a kilo of good dates for two kilos of
bad dates is, according to the Shari'ah, a kind of usury. The Holy
Prophet ; has suggested a "device" (Hilah) for avoiding the
infringement of this regulation in a situation where such a transaction
becomes necessary - that is, instead of bartering one commodity for

235
Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 67 - 71
another, one may employ the exchange value of money: first sell two
kilos of bad dates for two rupees, and then with the two rupees thus
obtained buy a kilo of good dates. The intention in using this "device"
is to conform to the Shari'ah, and not to by-pass it. The negation of
the Shari'ah is neither intended here, nor does it actually take place.
This principle holds good in the case of all the Hiyal which the Fuqaha'
(jurists) have proposed in order to save people from practicing what
the Shari'ah has prohibited. It is a travesty of the truth to compare
them to or represent them as the "tricks" employed by the Jews to
negate and mock the Shari'ah.
Verse 67
وَإِذْ قَالَ مُؤْسِى لِقَوْمِةٍ إِنَّ اللّهَ يَأْمْرُكُمْ آَنْ تَذْبَحُوا بَقَرَّةَّ قَالُوًّا
أَتَتَّخِذُنَا هُزْوَاء قَالَ أَعُوذُ بِاللهِ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْجُهِلِيْنَ 0
And when Musa said to his people, "Allah commands
you to slaughter a cow." They said, "Are you making us
a laughing stock?" He said, "I seek refuge with Allah
that I be one of the ignorant." (Verse 67)
According to Mirqat, a commentary on Mishkat, a man among the
Israelites wanted to marry a girl, but her father refused. The suitor
was so incensed that he killed the father, and disappeared. It is
mentioned in Ma'alim al-tanzil which says on the authority of Kalbi
that Allah had not yet sent down any injunction with regard to
man-slaughter. If it was so, this shows that the incident happened
before the Torah was revealed. Anyhow, the Israelites requested
Sayyidna Musa WILL to tell them how to trace the culprit. Under
the commandment of Allah, he asked them to sacrifice a cow. As was
their regular habit, they started raising all kinds of doubts and
objections, of which the next verses give us the details.
Verses 68 - 71
قَالُوا ادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَيِّنُ لَّنَاَ مَاهِىَْ قَالَ أَنَّهُ يَقُولُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌ لَّ
فَارِضٌ وَلَابِكُرُّ عَوَانٍ، بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ فَافْعَلُوا مَا تُؤْمَرُوْنَ ا قَالُوا
ادُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَّنْ لَّنَا مَالَوْنُهَا ،قَالَ إِنَّهُ يَقُولُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌ

236
Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 72 - 73
صَفُرَاءٌ فَاقِعٌّ لَّوْنُهَا تَسْتُ التَّظِرِيْنَ ﴾ قَالُوا ادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَيْنُ
لَّناَ مَاهِىَ إِنَّ الْبَقَرَ تَشْبَهَ عَلَيْنَاءِ وَإِنَّا إِنُ شَآءَ اللّهُ لَمُهُتَدُوُنَ 0
قَالَ إِنَّهُ يَقُوُلُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌ لَذَلُولٌ تُثِيْرُ الْأَرْضَ وَلَا تَسْقِى
الْحُرْثَ مُسَلَّمَةٌ لَأَشِيَةَ فِيْهَاءِقَالُوا الْتّنَ جِئْتٌ بِالْحَقِّ فَذَبَهُوُهَا
وَمَا كَادُوا يَفُعَلُونَ )
They said, "Pray for us to your Lord that He makes it
clear to us what sort she be." He said, "He says she be -
a cow neither too old, nor too young - of some middle
age in between. Now, do what you are being asked to
do." They said, "Pray for us to your Lord that He make
it clear to us what colour she be." He said: "He says
that she be a yellow cow, rich yellow in her colour,
pleasing for all to look at." They said, "Pray for us to
your Lord that He makes it clear to us of what sort she
be, for we are confused about this cow, and if Allah
wills, We shall certainly take the right course." He said,
"He says that it be a cow which is not tractable for
tilling the soil or in watering the fields, sound and
without blemish." They said, "Now, you have come up
with the truth." Then, they slaughtered her, although it
did not appear they would do it. (Verses 68-71)
These Verses show how the Israelites were disposed to disobedi-
ence, and how this inclination expressed itself in different forms. The
Hadith says that if these people had obeyed Allah's commandment
without raising so many doubts and asking unnecessary questions,
such strict condition would not have been imposed on them, and the
sacrifice of any cow whatsoever would have been accepted.
Verses 72 - 73
وَإِذْ قَتَلْتُمْ نَفْسًا فَاذُرَ ◌ْتُمْ فِيْهَادَوَ اللَّهُ مُخِرِجٌ مَّاكُنتُمْمُ تَكُتُمُوْنَه
فَقُلْنَاَ اضْرْوُهُ بِبَعْضِهَاء كَذَلِكَ يُحِّى اللهُ الْمُؤْتِى وَيُرِبُّكُمْ أَيْتِهِ
لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ ﴾
And when you killed a man, and began to push and pull

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 72 - 73
each other for it; while Allah was to bring forth what you
were holding back. So, We said, "Strike him with a part
of it." Similar to that, Allah revives the dead. And He
shows you His signs, so that you may understand.
(Verses 72-73)
The murderer had his supporters who wanted to hide his crime,
and hence began accusing different people. But Allah willed that the
criminal should be brought to book, and appointed a miraculous way of
identifying him -- that is, the dead body of the murdered man should
be touched with a part of the flesh of the sacrificial cow. When this
was done, the dead man came back to life, announced the name of his
murderer, and died again.
This miraculous event is a manifestation of the omnipotence of
Allah, and Holy Qur'an presents it as an argument against those who
deny the Resurrection of the dead for the Last Judgment. Verse 73
says that this precedent should induce people to make use of their
reason, and see that what has happened in a past instance can as
easily happen in a future instance.
With regard to this event one may ask as to why Allah made the
resurrection of the dead man depend upon his being touched with a
part of flesh when he had the power to bring the man back to life
without the intervention of any such device; or, one may ask as to why
the dead man should have been brought back to life when the name of
the murderer could have been revealed even otherwise. In answer to
this, we shall say that Allah is omnipotent, and does not act under any
kind of compulsion, but that all His actions proceed from His
all-embracing wisdom. Moreover, it is He alone who knows, and can
know, the raison d'etre of what He does. The Shari'ah does not oblige
us to discover the raison d'etre of each and every divine act, nor is it
necessary or possible that we should be able to comprehend the raison
d'etre in each case. The best way in such a case is to accept ·what
Allah or the Holy Prophet & has said, and to keep quiet.
Let us say a word about the arrangement and sequence of the
events. Verse 72 relates how a man was murdered, and how people
started accusing each other. This is the beginning of the story which
has been related earlier in Verses 67-71. This chronological order has

238
Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 74
not been preserved in the narration, but inverted, and this
re-arrangement has a subtle significance. This long section of the
Surah (Chapter) has been dealing with the transgressions of the
Israelites, and this is just what the Holy Qur'an intends to bring out in
narrating different stories, the narrating of stories not being an object
in itself here. The present story is meant to show two misdeeds -
firstly, committing a murder and then trying to hide it; secondly,
raising uncalled-for objections to divine commandments. If the
chronological order had been kept up, the readers would have
supposed that it was only the first of these that was really intended,
while the second was added only by way of completing the story. The
present arrangement clearly shows that both the misdeeds have been
equally emphasized.
Injunctions and related consideration
In this incident the statement of the murdered man was considered
evidence for condemning the murderer, because Allah had informed
Sayyidna Musa WWWJI_le through revelation that the man would, on
coming back to life, speak the truth. Otherwise, one cannot be
declared as being guilty of murder without proper evidence, the rules
of which have been laid down by the Shari'ah.
Verse 74
ثُمَّ قُسَتْ قُلُوبُكُمُ مِّنْ بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ فَهِىَ كَالِحِجَارَةٍ أَوْ اَشَدُّ قِسُوَةَ
وَإِنَّ مِنَ الْحِجَارَةِ لَا يَتَفَجِّرُ مِنْهُ الْآَنْهُ، وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَتَّقَقُ
فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ الْمَآءُ، وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَهْبِطُ مِنْ خَشُيَةِ اللَّهِ وَمَا
اللهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ )
When, even after that your hearts were hardened, as if
they were like the rocks, or still worse in hardness. For
surely among the rocks there are some from which
rivers gush forth, and there are others which burst out
and water flows from them, and there are still others
which fall down in fear of Allah. And Allah is not
unaware of what you do. (Verse 74)
The Surah has been relating a number of incidents which show
that the Israelites were always prone to disobedience and rebellion

239
Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 74
and had to undergo punishment again and again. Such an experience
should have taught them humility and obedience. On the contrary,
their hearts became all the more hardened against divine guidance.
This insensibility led them into further misdeeds and transgressions.
The present verse describes their degeneracy, and warns them that
Allah knows everything they have been doing, and will punish them
for their evil deeds.
In contrasting the hearts of the Israelites with stones, the verse
refers to three states of the latter: (1) Some stones give forth a great
amount of water. (2) Others give forth only a small quantity. (3) Still
others do not give forth water, but fall down from their place for fear of
Allah.
The first two of these states are a matter of everyday observation,
but the third may be subject to doubt, for the ability to feel fear
requires reason and sensibility, and the stones, as one supposes, do
not possess these faculties. But reason is not always a necessary
requisite for the ability to feel fear - after all, animals do feel fear, even
though they do not possess reason. Sensibility is, of course, necessary.
But there is no rational argument which should deny sensibility to
minerals. For sensibility depends on life, and the minerals may
possibly possess a kind of subtle life which man may not be aware of.
In fact, scientists have recently discovered the signs of life and
sensibility in minerals too. Anyhow, an explicit statement in the Holy
Qur'an carries a validity and an authority which no physical science or
rational argument can dispute.
Then, we do not claim that fear of Allah is always the only cause
which makes a stone fall down. For, the Holy Qur'an itself says that
this cause operates only in the case of some stones. So, there may be
different causes which make stones fall down; some of these causes
may be purely physical, while one of them may be the fear of Allah.
The order in which the three kinds of stones have been mentioned
is very subtle, and, in view of the meaning and purpose intended,
extremely expressive and significant. The verse places in the highest
degree those stones whose affectivity is so strong that rivers gush
forth from them, and provide sustenance to beasts and men. In

240
Surah Al-Baqarah 2 :75
contrast to them, it has been suggested, the hearts of the Jews are so.
hard that they are incapable of feeling any sympathy for their
fellow-men even in suffering and pain, and hence incapable of wishing
to do them good. In the second degree come the stones which do serve
the creatures of Allah, but to a lesser extent. But the hearts of Jews
are harder than even these. To the lowest degree of affectivity belong
those stones which do not benefit anyone, but can at least 'feel' the
fear of Allah. But the Jews are devoid of even this minimum degree of
sensitivity.
Verse 75
اَفَتَطْمَعُوْنَ آَنْ تُؤْمِنُوا لَكُمْ وَقَدْ كَانَ فَرِبُّقٌّ ◌ِنْهُمُ بَسْمَعُونَ
كَلاَمَ اللّهِ ثُمَّ يُحِّفُؤْنَهُ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا عَقَلُوُهُ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُوْنَ ٥
Do you still fancy that they will believe you, although a
group of them used to hear the word of Allah, and then,
after having understood it, used to distort it
knowingly? (Verse 75)
The Muslims used to take great pains in trying to make the Jews
accept Islam. Having recounted so many stories of the perversity of
the Jews, the Holy Qur'an points out to the Muslims that they cannot
expect such a people to be sensible, and asks them not to worry much
about them. For, some of the Jews have been committing an even more
heinous sin - they used to change and distort the Word of Allah in
spite of knowing the ignominy of such a deed. So, the Holy Qur'an
wants the Muslims to realize that men who are so enslaved to their
desires and so shameless in their pursuit of evil, cannot be expected to
listen to anyone.
The "Word of Allah" mentioned in the verse refers to the Torah
which the Jews had "heard" from the prophets, and the distortion
pertains to the changes made in the words themselves or in the sense
or in both; or it refers to the words of Allah which the seventy men
had heard directly on the Mount Tur (Sinai) where they had gone to
seek divine confirmation of what Sayyidna Musa (Moses >JI ue ) had
been telling and the distortion pertains to their declaration before
their people that Allah had promised to forgive them if they could not
act upon certain commandments.
The Jews who were the contemporaries of the Holy Prophet
& may

241
Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 76 - 79
not have themselves been involved in some of these transgressions,
but since they did not abhor the misdeeds of their forefathers, they are
to be considered as their counterparts.
Verse 76
وَإِذَا لَقُوا الَّذِيْنَ أمَنُوا قَالُوا أَمَنَاءِ وَإِذَا خَلَا بَعْضُهُمُ إِلى
بَعْضٍ قَالُوا أَتْحَدِّنُوْنَهُمْ بِمَا فَتَحَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمُ لِيُحَآجُّؤُكُمْ بِهٍ
عِنْدَ رَبِّكُمْ عَفَلَا تَعْقِلُوْنَ 0
And when they meet those who believe, they say, "We
believe." But when some of them meet others in
private, they say, "Do you tell them what Allah has
disclosed to you so that they may thereby argue
against you before your Lord? Have you, then, no
sense?" (Verse 76)
Some of the Jews, seeing the growing power of the Muslims in
Madinah and around it, pretended to have accepted Islam. In order to
assure the Muslims of their sincerity and to win their favour, these
hypocrites would now and then disclose to them that the Torah itself
had given out the good tidings of the coming of the Holy Prophet
and mentioned the Holy Qur'an. But when they met other Jews who
openly declared their adherence to Judaism, they would admit that
they were only trying to deceive the Muslims, and were otherwise
quite loyal to their own faith. On such occasions, those of the other
group used to reprimand them for revealing to the Muslims what they
themselves were trying to keep concealed, for a knowledge of the
relevant verses of the Torah could be very useful for the Muslims in
order to defeat the Jews in their argument.
Verses 77 - 79
أَوَلاَ يَعْلَمُوْنَ آَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَايُسِتُوُنَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُوْنَ ا وَمِنُهُمُ
أُقِتُّوْنَ لَا يَعْلَمُوْنَ الْكِتَبَ إِلََّ آَمَانَِّ وَإِرُهُمْ إِلَّ يَطُتُّونَ ﴾
فَوَيْلٌ لِلَّذِيْنَ يَكُتُبُوُنَ الْكِتُبَ بِآَيْدِيْهِمْ ثُمَّ يَقُوُلُوْنَ هُذَا مِنْ
عِنْدِاللَّهِ لِيَشْتَرُوا بِهِ ثَمَنَّا قَلِيْلًا،فَوَيُلٌ لَّهُمُ نِّمَا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيُّهِمْ
وَ وَيْلٌّلَّهُمْ مَِّا يَكْسِبُونَ )

242
Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 77 - 79
Are they not aware that Allah knows what they
conceal and what they manifest? And some among
them are illiterate who have no knowledge of the Book
but have some fancies, and they do nothing but make
conjectures. So, woe to those who write the Book with
their hands and then say, "This is from Allah", so that
they may gain a small price out of it. Then, woe to
them for what their hands have written, and woe to
them for what they earn. (Verses 77-79)
Allah reminds the Jews that He is omniscient, and knows what
they try to keep concealed as well as what they say or do openly. So, it
would make no difference at all, if the hypocrites tried to conceal their
infidelity from the Muslims, or the other group, not to disclose the
verses of the Torah which speak of the Holy Prophet & . For, Allah
Himself has, on different occasions, informed the Muslims in the Holy
Qur'an as to the hypocrisy of certain Jews and as to the testimony of
the Torah also.
Verse 77 deals with the educated ones among the Jews, while
Verse 78 speaks of those who were unlettered. These men had no
knowledge of the Torah, and were even deficient in their
understanding. Then, the Jewish scholars did not give them correct or
proper information about their religion. No wonder, their minds were
stuffed only with baseless superstitions which they found very
pleasant and flattering.
Since the dishonesty of their scholars was the real cause of their
superstitiousness, the crime of the former was greater than that of the
latter. So, Verse 79 turns to the Jewish scholars. They were greedy
and self-seeking, and in order to please the people for receiving money
and respect from them, they used to misrepresent divine injunctions,
going so far as to change the words of the Torah or distort the sense,
pretending all the while that this was just what Allah had said or
meant. The Verse 79 announces a grievous punishment for these two
sins - distorting the Word of Allah and earning money by doing so.
A doctrinal point
Verse 78 says that the illiterate Jews follow their 35 : Zann, that is
to say, their fancies or conjectures. Some people do not pay any
attention to the context in which the word has been used here, and

243
Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 80
come to the erroneous conclusion that it is not legitimate to accept or
follow any view or injunction based on Zann, which they always
translate as "a fanciful supposition." This, no doubt, is one of the
lexical meanings of the word, but only one. Let us explain that the
Holy Qur'an uses the word Zann in three ways :-
(1) To signify perfect certitude -"Those who are certain that they
are going to meet their Lord" (2:46). (2) To signify the greatest
likelihood - "And he said to him whom he thought was the more likely
of the two to be released from the prison" (12:42). (3) To signify a mere
fanciful supposition - as in the present verse. The Zann which the
Holy Qur'an prohibits us to follow is that of the third kind. This verse
condemns the Jews for having followed this kind of Zann which
consists in a fanciful opinion that is not supported by a respectable
argument or goes against a valid one. On the contrary, it is necessary
to follow the Zann of the first two kinds. When certain ahadith or
certain arguments and conclusions in the Shari'ah are described as
resting on Zann, it is done according to the second signification of the
word. One cannot avoid this kind of Zann in any sphere of life, and the
Shari'ah requires us to accept and follow it. Certain verses of the Holy
Qur'an, of course, condemn those who follow their Zann, but to apply
this condemnation to all the possible cases, and to use such verses for
rejecting all the legitimate arguments and injunctions of the Shari'ah
based on Zann is to betray one's ignorance of the Holy Qur'an.
Verse 80
وَقَالُوْا لَنْ تَمَسَّنَا النَّارُ إِلَّ آَيَّامًا فَعُدُودَةَ، قُلُ أَتَّخَذُتُمُ
◌ِنْدَاللّهِ عَهْدًا فَلَنْ تُخْلِفَ اللَّهُ عَهْدَةَ أَمْ تَقُؤُلُونَ عَلَى اللّهِ
مَالَا تَعْلَمُوْنَ 0
And they say, "The fire shall not touch us but for a few
days." Say, "Have you taken a pledge from Allah and
Allah will not go against His promise? Or, do you say
about Allah what you do not know?" (Verse 80)
The claim of the Jews that they would not be sent to Hell for their
sins, or, if at all, only for a few days, has been interpreted by the
Commentators in different ways. One of them is as follows :-