In The Name of Allah, the Beneficent and the Most Merciful

Volume 1: Surah Baqarah, Verses 49-61

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COMMENTARY

QUR’ĀN: and sparing your women:

They left your women alive in order that they (i.e. the women) might serve them. "al-Istihyā "' means to wish someone to remain alive. The word may also mean: They behaved indecently with the women until they (i.e. the women) lost their modesty."Yasūmūnakum" . translated here as "they subjected you to", literally means, they imposed upon you.

QUR’ĀN: And when We parted the sea for you:

al-Farq . is opposite of al-jam' .; the words mean to separate and to gather, respectively. The same is the case of al-fasl . vis-a-vis "al-wasl" .. To separate the sea means to part its water. "Bikum" ., translated here as "for you", may also mean, "soon on your entering the sea".

QUR’ĀN : And when We appointed (a time of) forty days with Mūsā:

The same event has been described in Chapter 7 in these words: And We appointed with Mūsā a time of thirty nights and completed them with ten (more), so the appointed time of his Lord was complete, forty nights (7 :142) . This verse mentions the total duration of the two promises together, as a tradition says.

QUR’ĀN : therefore turn to your Creator (penitently):

al-Bāri’ . is one of the beautiful names of Allāh, as Allāh says: He is Allāh, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner; His are the most beautiful names. . . (59:24). This name has been used three times in the Qur’ān: twice in the verse under discussion and once in Chapter 59, quoted just above. Perhaps Allāh used this name here because it was most suitable in the context of the event described. While it is nearer in meaning to al-Khāliq (= the Creator) and al-Mūjid (= the Inventor), it is derived from bara'a, yabra'u, bar'an  (= he separated, he separates, to separate). Allāh thus separates His creation from in­existence, or He separates man from the earth. This name in this context conveys the following idea: No doubt it is very hard to repent by killing your own people. But Allāh, Who now orders you to destroy yourselves by killing, is the same God who had created you. He was pleased to create you when it was good for you; and now He has decreed that you should kill your own people, and this order too is good for you. How can He decide anything for you except that which is good, and He is your Maker and Creator. The phrase, "your Creator", points to a special relation which they have with Him, and it emphasizes the fact that the given command is not for revenge; it is based on divine love, in order to purify them.

QUR’ĀN: that is best for you with your Creator:

This and the preceding verses (that enumerate their transgressions and sins) are addressed to the whole Jewish nation, although the sins were committed by only some groups of them and not by all. Obviously it is because they were very much united as a nation; if one did a thing, others were pleased with it. It was because of this feeling of their national unity that one group's action is attributed to the whole nation. Otherwise, not all the Israelites had killed the prophets, nor had all of them indulged in the calf-worship, or committed other sins mentioned herein. It proves that the order, "kill your people", actually meant, kill some of your people, i.e., the calf-worshippers. It may also be inferred from the words, "you have surely been unjust to yourselves by taking the calf for worship", and the words, "that is best for you with your Creator" (which apparently is the final part of the speech of Mūsā).

The words, "so He turned to you (mercifully)", prove that their repentance was accepted. Tradition says that their repent­ance was accepted and sin forgiven when only a few of them had been killed. This forgiveness before the order was fully complied with shows that the command was given as a trial. The case is somewhat similar to the dream of Ibrāhīm (a.s.) and his being told to sacrifice Ismā’ī1; before he could reach the ultimate stage, he was told, O Ibrāhīm! You have indeed made the vision come true (37 :104 -105) . Likewise, Mūsā (a.s.) told his people "turn to your Creator (penitently) and kill your people, that is best for you with your Creator", and Allāh confirmed the order, yet He took the killing of some as equal to the execution of all, and informed them that their repentance was accepted, "so He turned to you (mercifully)".

QUR’ĀN: a pestilence from heaven:

"ar-Rijz" (= punishment) .

QUR’ĀN: do not act corruptly:

"Lā ta'thaw" . is derived from al-`ayth and al-`athy . it means the biggest chaos and mischief.

QUR’ĀN: and its cucumbers and its garlic:

"al-Khiyar" . is cucumber; "al-fum" .  is garlic or wheat.

QUR’ĀN: and they returned with Allāh's wrath:

"Bā'ū" (= they returned).

QUR’ĀN: this was so because they disbelieved:

It gives the reason of preceding statement; and the next sentence, "this was so because they disobeyed and exceeded the limits" is the reason of that reason. Their disobedience and perennial excesses caused them to reject the signs of Allāh and kill the prophets. Allāh says in another verse: Then evil was the end of those who did evil, because they rejected the signs of Allāh and used to mock them (30:10). How was the disbelief caused by disobedience? One of the coming traditions explains it.

TRADITIONS

Abū Ja'far (a.s.) said about the words of Allāh: and when We appointed (a time of) forty nights with Mūsā: "It was thirty nights in the (divine) knowledge and measure, then some­thing else happened (to show that it was not the final decree) and Allāh added ten more; and in this way the appointed time of his Lord, the first and the last, was completed forty days." (al-`Ayyāshī )

The author says: This tradition supports what we have mentioned earlier that the forty was the total of the two ap­pointed times.

`Alī (a.s.) said about the words of Allāh: and when Mūsā said to his people: "0 my people! you have surely been unjust to yourselves. . . ": "They asked Mūsā: `How should we repent?' He said: `Some of you should kill the others.' Thereupon, they took the knives and everyone started killing (the others), even his brother, father and son, without caring, by God! whom he killed. (It continued) till seventy thousand of them were killed. Then Allāh revealed to Mūsā: `Tell them to stay their hands;' and he who was killed was forgiven and he who remained, his repentance was accepted. " (ad-Durru 'l-manthūr)

The Imām said: "Mūsā (a.s.) went to the appointed place and time, and then came back to his people; and they had started worshipping the calf; then he told them: ‘0 my people! you have surely been unjust to yourselves by taking the calf (for worship), therefore turn to your Creator (penitently) and kill your people, that is best for you with your Creator.' They asked him: `How should we kill our people?' Mūsā said to them: `Tomorrow every­one of you should come to Baytu '1-Maqdis with a knife or a piece of iron or a sword; when I ascend the pulpit of the Children of Israel you should all keep your faces hidden, so that nobody should recognize the other at his side; then you should kill each other.' Thus seventy thousand of those who had worshipped the calf assembled in Baytu '1-Maqdis. When Musa finished praying with them and ascended the pulpit, they started killing each other. (This continued) until Jibrīl came down and said: `Now tell them, O Mūsā! to stop killing (each other), because Allāh has ac­cepted their repentance.' And (by that time) ten thousand of them had been killed. And Allāh revealed: that is best for you with your Creator; so He turned to you (mercifully), for surely His is Oft­returning (with mercy), the Merciful. "(at-Tafsīr, al-Qummi)

The author says: According to this tradition, the sentence, "that is best for you with your Creator", was said by Mūsā (a.s.) and was also used in the divine speech. In this way, Allāh con­firmed the word of Mūsā (a.s.), and made it clear that what had actually happened - the execution of ten thousand calf-worship­pers - was all that was intended from the very beginning; and that the order of Musa was carried out in full, and not partially. According to what appears from the wording of Mūsā (a.s.) , it was best for them if all of them were killed; but only some of them got killed, not all. By repeating the same words, Allāh made it clear that what Mūsā (a.s.) had meant from the words, "the best for you", was not the execution of all.

The same at-Tafsīr says about the words of Allāh: and We made the clouds to give shade over you: "When Mūsā crossed the sea with the Israelites, they landed at a desert. They said: ‘O Mūsā! you have really destroyed and killed us, by bringing us from an inhabited land to a desert where there is , either any shadow or tree nor even water.' At daytime a cloud appeared over them to protect them from the sun; and at right, manna came down to them, settling on leaves, trees and stones, and they ate it; and at dinner time roasted birds fell on their dinner­-spread, and when they finished eating and drinking, the birds (became alive and) flew away. And Mūsā had a stone which he used to place in the midst of the station (of the caravan), striking it with his walking-stick and, lo! twelve springs gushed from it, as Allāh described, every spring going to the station of a particular tribe - and they were twelve tribes." (ibid.)

Abu l-Hasan al-Mādī (a.s.) said about the words of Allāh: and they did not do Us any harm but they did harm their own selves: "Surely Allāh is too powerful and too unassailable to be harmed or to ascribe any harm to Himself. But He has joined us to Himself and took any injustice done to us as an injustice done to Him, and treated our love as His love; then He revealed it in a (verse of the) Qur’ān to His Prophet, and said: and they did not do Us any harm, but they did harm their own selves. The narrator says: "I said, `This is the revelation?' He said, `Yes."' (al- Kāfi )

The author says: Nearly the same thing has been narrated from al-Baqir (a.s.).

". . . too unassailable to be harmed ": It is the explanation of the Qur’ānic expression, "they did not do Us any harm"; the next sentence, "or to ascribe any harm to Himself", rejects also the opposite proposition. Allāh can neither be harmed nor does He do any injustice Himself. Why did the narrator ask the ques­tion, "This is the revelation?" Obviously, for a negative sentence to be plausible there should be a real or hypothetic possibility of a positive connection between the subject and its predicate. We do not say, "This wall does not see". Why? Because wall has no possible connection with seeing. Now, Allāh can have no possible connection at all with injustice or oppression. Therefore, the sentence, "they did not do Us any harm", would seem a super­fluous and implausible assertion, because there was no need for saying that Allāh could not be harmed nor did He harm anyone - unless it was meant to convey some fine point to the listeners. And that point is this: Great persons often speak on behalf of their servants and dependants; likewise, Allāh in this verse is speak­ing on behalf of Muhammad and his progeny (peace be on them all), joining them to Himself in this declaration.

as-Sādiq (a.s.) recited the verse: this was so because they disbelieved in the signs of Allāh and killed the prophets unjustly; this was so because they disobeyed and exceeded the limits, and then said: "By God, they did not hit them with their hands, nor did they kill them with their swords; but they heard their talks and announced it (to their enemies); so the prophets were caught on that charge and killed; this was the killing, the exceeding the limit and the disobedience." (al-`Ayyāshī)

The author says: A similar tradition from the same Imām is found in al-Kāfi. Apparently, the Imam inferred it from the words, "this was so because they disobeyed . . ." Needless to say that murder, and especially of the prophets, and rejection of the signs of Allāh cannot be termed as mere disobedience. It should be the other way round. But if we take the disobedience to mean disclosing the secrets then it would be perfectly right to say that they killed the prophets, because they (disobeyed them and) did not keep their secrets and thus delivered them into the hands of their enemies who killed them.