2. Surah al-Baqara, Medina 87
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
ثُمَّ
أَنتُمْ هَـؤُلاء
تَقْتُلُونَ
أَنفُسَكُمْ
وَتُخْرِجُونَ
فَرِيقاً مِّنكُم
مِّن دِيَارِهِمْ
...
2: 85. After this it is ye, the same people, who slay among yourselves, and banish a party of you from their homes;
... تَظَاهَرُونَ عَلَيْهِم بِالإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ...
assist (their enemies) against them, in guilt and rancor;
... وَإِن يَأتُوكُمْ أُسَارَى تُفَادُوهُمْ وَهُوَ مُحَرَّمٌ عَلَيْكُمْ إِخْرَاجُهُمْ ...
and if they come to you as captives, ye ransom them, though it was not lawful for you to banish them.
C89. I understand "ransom them" here to mean "take ransom for them" though most of the Commentators take it to mean "give ransom for them".
Mustafa had made a Pact which, if it had been faithfully observed by all parties, would have brought a reign of law and order for Madinah. But some of the treacherous Jews never intended to observe its terms. They fought and slew each other and not only banished those who were obnoxious to them but intrigued with their enemies. If by chance they came back into their hands as captives, they demanded ransom for them to return to their homes although they had no right to banish them at all.
If we understand by "ransom them" pay "ransom for them to release them from the hands of their enemies," it would mean that they did this pious act for show, although they were themselves the authors of their unlawful banishment.
I think the former makes better sense.
... أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ...
Then is it only a part of the Book that ye believe in, and do ye reject the rest?
... فَمَا جَزَاء مَن يَفْعَلُ ذَلِكَ مِنكُمْ إِلاَّ خِزْيٌ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا...
But what is the reward for those among you who behave like this but disgrace in this life?
... وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى أَشَدِّ الْعَذَابِ ...
and on the Day of Judgment they shall be consigned to the most grievous penalty.
... وَمَا اللّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ ﴿٨٥﴾
For Allah is not unmindful of what ye do.
أَمْ
تَقُولُونَ
إِنَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ
وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ
وَإِسْحَـقَ
وَيَعْقُوبَ
...
2: 140. Or do ye say that Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob
... وَالأسْبَاطَ كَانُواْ هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى ...
and the Tribes were Jews or Christians?
C138. The alternative is with the question in the last verse.
Do you dispute with us although we worship the same God as you and claim that ours is the same religion as that of your ancestors?
Or do you really assert that Abraham and his son and his sons' sons, who founded the Tribes long before Moses, followed your Jewish religion as you know it?
History of course proves that claim absurd. If the Christians claim that these Patriarchs knew of and followed the teaching of Jesus, the claim is still more absurd, - except in the sense of Islam that Allah's teaching is one in all ages.
... قُلْ أَأَنتُمْ أَعْلَمُ أَمِ اللّهُ ...
Say: Do ye know better than Allah?
... وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّن كَتَمَ شَهَادَةً عِندَهُ مِنَ اللّهِ ...
Ah! who is more unjust than those who conceal the testimony they have from Allah?
... وَمَا اللّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ ﴿١٤٠﴾
But Allah is not unmindful of what ye do!
تِلْكَ
أُمَّةٌ قَدْ
خَلَتْ لَهَا
مَا كَسَبَتْ
وَلَكُم مَّا
كَسَبْتُمْ...
2: 141. That was a people that hath passed away.
They shall reap the fruit of what they did, and ye of what ye do!
... وَلاَ تُسْأَلُونَ عَمَّا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ ﴿١٤١﴾
Of their merits there is no question in your case.
C139. Verse 134 began a certain argument, which is now rounded off in the same words in this verse. To use a musical term, the motif is now completed.
The argument is that it is wrong to claim a monopoly for Allah's Message: it is the same for all peoples and in all ages: if it undergoes local variations or variations according to times and seasons those variations pass away.
This leads to the argument in the remainder of the Surah that with the renewal of the Message and the birth of a new People, a new symbolism and new ordinances become appropriate, and they are now expounded.
وَمِنْ
حَيْثُ خَرَجْتَ
فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ
شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ
الْحَرَامِ...
2: 149. From whencesoever thou startest forth, turn thy face in the direction of the Sacred Mosque;
C154. The simile of a race is continued, and so the Qiblah command is repeated from that point of view.
In 2:144 it was mentioned as the new symbol of the new nation (Muslim): now it is shown as the symbol of Good, at which we should all aim, from whichever point we started, e.g., as Jews or Christians, or our individual point of view; the Qiblah will unite us as a symbol of the Goal of the Future.
In 2:150 below, it is repeated:
- First for the individual, on the ground of uniformity and the removal of all occasions of dispute and argument; and
- secondly for the Muslim people, on the same ground, as a matter of discipline.
There is another little harmony in the matter of the repetitions.
Note that the race and starting point argument begins at 2:149 and is rounded off in the latter part of 2:150. The latter argument includes the former, and is more widely worded:
"wheresoever ye are": which in the Arabic expression would imply three things;
- in whatever circumstances ye are, or
- at whatever time ye are, or
- in whatever place ye are.
I have spoken before of a sort of musical harmony in verbal repetitions: here there is a sort of pictorial harmony, as of a larger circle symmetrically including a smaller concentric circle.
... وَإِنَّهُ لَلْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ وَمَا اللّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ ﴿١٤٩﴾
that is indeed the truth from thy Lord. And Allah is not unmindful of what ye do.
2: 85 And yet, it is you who slay one another and drive some of your own people from their homelands, aiding one another against them in sin and hatred; but if they come to you as captives, you ransom them – although the very [act of] driving them away has been make unlawful to you! [note 69]
Do you, then, believe in some parts of the divine writ and deny the truth of other parts? What, then, could be the reward of those among you who do such things but ignominy in the life of this world and, on the Day of Resurrection, commitment to most grievous suffering? For God is not unmindful of what you do.]
Then is it only a part of the Book that ye believe in and do ye reject the rest? But what is the reward for those among you who behave like this but disgrace in this life? and on the Day of Judgment they shall be consigned to the most grievous penalty. For Allah is not unmindful of what ye do.
Pickthall Yet ye it is who slay each other and drive out a party of your people from their homes, supporting one another against them by sin and transgression, and if they came to you as captives ye would ransom them, whereas their expulsion was itself unlawful for you.
Believe ye in part of the Scripture and disbelieve ye in part thereof? And what is the reward of those who do so save ignominy in the life of the world, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be consigned to the most grievous doom. For Allah is not unaware of what ye do.
Transliteration Summa antum ha_'ula_'i taqtulu_na anfusakum wa tukhriju_na fariqam minkum min diya_rihim, taza_hara_na 'alaihim bil ismi wal'udwa_n(i), wa iy ya'tu_kum usa_ra_ tufa_du_hum wa huwa muharramun 'alaikum ikhra_juhum afatu'minu_na bi ba'dil kita_bi wa takfuru_na bi ba'd(in), fama_ jaza_'u may yaf'alu za_lika minkum illa_ khizyun fil haya_tid dunya_, wa yaumal qiya_mati yuraddu_na ila_ asyaddil 'aza_b(i), wa malla_hu bi ga_filin 'amma_ ta'malu_n(a).
2: 140
Asad “Do you claim that Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and their descendants were “Jews” or “Christians”? [note 114] Say: “ Do you know more than God does? And who could be more wicked than he who suppresses a testimony given to him by God? [ note 115] Yet God is not unmindful of what you do.
Pickthall Or say ye that Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes were Jews or Christians? Say: Do ye know best, or doth Allah? And who is more unjust than he who hide a testimony which he hath received from Allah? Allah is not unaware of what ye do.
Transliteration Am taqu_lu_na inna ibra_hima wa isma_'ila wa isha_qa wa ya'qu_ba wal asba_ta ka_nu_ hu_dan au nasa_ra_, qul a'antum a'lamu amilla_hu, wa man azlamu mimman katama syaha_datan 'indahu_ minalla_h(i), wa malla_hu bi ga_filin 'amma_ ta'malu_n(a).
[ Asad’s note 113: ……….The Jews believe that prophethood was a privilege granted to the children of Israel alone, while the Christians maintain that Jesus – who, too, descended from the Children of Israel – was God’s final manifestation on earth; and each of these two denominations claims that salvation is reserved to its followers alone [see 2:111 and 135]. The Quran refutes these ideas by stressing, in the next sentence, that God is the Lord of all mankind, and that every individual will be judged on the basis of his own beliefs and his own behavior alone.
Note 114: Regarding the term ‘asbat’ (rendered here as well in verse 136 as “descendants”), see note 111 above. In the above words the Quran alludes to the fact that the concept of “Jewry” came into being many centuries after the time of the Patriarchs, and even long after time of Moses, while the concepts of “Christianity” and “Christians” were unknown in Jesus’ time and represent later developments.
Note 115: A reference to the Biblical prediction of the coming of the Prophet Muhammad (see note 33 on verse 42 on this surah), which effectively contradicts the Judeo-Christian claim that all true prophets, after the Patriarchs, belong to the children of Israel.]
[ Ali’s notes: 138 ………….. Or do you really assert that Abraham and his son and his sons' sons, who founded the Tribes long before Moses, followed your Jewish religion as you know it? History of course proves that claim absurd. If the Christians claim that these Patriarchs knew of and followed the teaching of Jesus, the claim is still more absurd, - except in the sense of Islam that God's teaching is one in all ages. (2.140)
139 …………….The argument is that it is wrong to claim a monopoly for God's Message: it is the same for all peoples and in all ages: if it undergoes local variations or variations according to times and seasons those variations pass away. This leads to the argument in the remainder of the Sura that with the renewal of the Message and the birth of a new People, a new symbolism and new ordinances become appropriate, and they are now expounded. (2.141)]
2: 141
Pickthall Those are a people who have passed away; theirs is that which they earned and yours that which ye earn. And ye will not be asked of what they used to do.
Tilka ummatun qad khalat, laha_ ma_ kasabat wa lakum ma_ kasabtum, wa la_ tus'alu_na 'amma_ ka_nu_ ya'malu_n(a).
2: 149
Asad ………..God is not unaware of what you do.
Pickthall And whence so ever thou comest forth (for prayer, O Muhammad) turn thy face toward the Inviolable Place of Worship. Lo! it is the Truth from thy Lord. Allah is not unaware of what ye do.
Transliteration Wa min haisu kharajta fawalli wajhaka syatral masjidil hara_m(i), wa innahu_ lal haqqu mir rabbik(a), wa malla_hu bi ga_filin 'amma_ ta'malu_n(a).