حَمَلَ

6:152; 19:33; 29:9; 46:16.

Commentary:

This and the next verse form a parenthetical clause and refer to the second most important duty of man, after his duty to God—his obligations to mankind, which begin with his obligations to his parents. He is told that he must be good and kind to his parents. Luqman only referred to man’s duty to God, but God Himself supplements his exhortation by adding man’s duty to his parents and also gives the reason for doing so, viz. that parents undergo all sorts of sacrifice for their children, particularly the mother. She has, therefore, secured a special mention here.

16:119.

Commentary:

The reader is referred to the Bible (Lev. 3:17) where it is said, "Ye eat neither fat nor blood." Again, in Lev. 7:23 it is said "Ye shall eat no manner of fat of ox or of sheep or of goat." In the Talmud, exception is made of the fat that sticks to the ribs. Similarly, the Jews regard as lawful any fat that cannot be separated from the intestines and the flesh (Enc. Bib., cols. 1544-45). This corroborates the Quran which says, and of the oxen and the sheep and goats did We forbid them their fats, save that which their backs bear or the intestines, or that which is mixed with a bone.

It is declared in the previous verse that the only things forbidden in Islam are (1) carrion, (2) blood poured forth, (3) flesh of swine, and (4) the slaughtered animal on which the name of anyone other than God is pronounced. The Jews might, however, say that there are other things beside the above which are also forbidden them by God. The Quran, therefore, adds that it is true that there are other foods which are forbidden to Jews, but they have not been included in the prohibited things here enumerated; for, these things had been forbidden them not because they were unclean but as a punishment for their transgression. So the declaration of the previous verse still remains true.

4:2; 16:73; 39:7.

30:22.

Commentary:

By the words, a single soul, is here meant the father. The verse does not refer to Adam or for that matter to any particular man but speaks of men generally. See also 4:2.

The verse describes one of the objects of marriage, which is that man and woman may be a source of comfort and solace to each other. Man is highly social by nature, and it is his natural craving for a close companion that is supplied by marriage. Without the institution of marriage man, in most cases, would have vainly spent his whole life in search of a true and loyal companion.

Important Words:

حملھا (bore it). حمله means, he bore or carried it, or carried it off or away; he gave him a beast upon which to ride. حمل بدینmeans, he bore or took upon himself the responsibility for the payment of debt. حمل الامانة means, he took upon himself or accepted the trust, or he betrayed the trust, he proved false to it (Lane & Aqrab). See also 7:177.

ظلوما (unjust) is the intensive form of ظالم which is active participle from ظلم which means, he did wrong or acted unjustly, wrongfully or tyrannically; he put the thing in a wrong place or in a place not its own. ظلمه means, he imposed upon him a thing that was beyond his power or ability (Lane & Aqrab). See also 2:36 & 17:60.

جھولا (neglectful) is the intensive form of جاھل which is active participle from جھل (jahila) which means, he was ignorant. جھل علیه means, he acted towards him in a silly and foolish manner and wrongly. جھل الحق means, he neglected or ignored the truth. جاھل means, ignorant, neglectful; foolish or silly and wrong in conduct (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

This verse has presented commentators of the Quran with some difficulty. In view of different significations of the words used, the verse seems to be susceptible of the following interpretations:

(1) Taking the word حمل as meaning to accept, and امانة as signifying the trust of man’s love of God, the verse would mean that a great spiritual destiny awaited man. He was made God’s vicegerent on earth (2:31). He was gifted with the great capacities and powers to assimilate and manifest in his person Divine attributes and to become the image of his Creator. This was indeed a great trust which man, alone of all the universe, was found capable of discharging, other beings and things—the angels, the heavens, the earth and the mountains—being quite unequal to the task. They refused, as it were, to bear it. Man accepted this responsibility because he alone could discharge it, as he had been endowed with great natural qualities. He was capable of being ظلوم (unjust to himself) and جھول (neglectful of himself) i.e. he could be unjust to himself in the sense that he could bear any hardship and undergo any sacrifice for the sake of his Creator, and he was capable of being neglectful in the sense that in the discharge of his great and sacred trust he could be neglectful of his own interest and desire for a life of ease and comfort.

(2) Taking امانة (trust), however, in the sense of the Law of the Quran and الانسان signifying the perfect man, i.e. the Holy Prophet, the verse would mean that of all the denizens of the heavens, and earth, and of all great men, and leaders of thought, the Holy Prophet alone was found to be capable of being entrusted with the revelation of the most perfect and final Law—the Quran, because no other man, or being was endowed with those great qualities which were indispensable for the full and adequate discharge of this great responsibility.

(3) Taking حمل in the sense of betraying or proving false to a trust, the verse would mean that the trust of the divine law was imposed upon man and other terrestrial and celestial beings. All of them with the exception of man refused to betray this trust, i.e. they carried out fully and faithfully all the laws to which they were made subject. The whole nature was true to its laws and the angels also carried out their duties loyally and faithfully (16:51). It is man alone who having been endowed with discretion and volition defies and violates Divine commandments because he is unjust and neglects and ignores his duties and responsibilities. This meaning of the verse is supported by 41:12 wherein it is stated that the heavens and earth were commanded to carry out the laws that were imposed on them and they gave their willing and unconditional obedience to them.

Important Words:

انتبذت (she withdrew) is derived fromنبذ. They say نبذہ i.e. he cast, threw or flung it away. انتبذ means, he withdrew or retired aside or apart from others; separated himself from others. انتبذ عن القوم means, he withdrew or retired from his people. انتبذ مکاناً قصیا means, he retired to a place from his family; he retired to a distant place from his people (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

How Mary came to conceive Jesus without the agency of a husband is one of those divine secrets which at present may be considered beyond human intellect to fathom. It may be regarded as above the ordinary natural law as we now know it. But the knowledge of man, at best, is limited. He has not been able to comprehend all divine secrets. There are mysteries in nature which man has not been able to solve as yet; perhaps he may never be able to solve them. Among them may be included the fatherless birth of Jesus. God’s ways are inscrutable and His powers limitless. He Who could create the whole universe by uttering the word, کن (be), surely can bring about such changes in matter as should make this apparently insoluble mystery yield to a solution.

Medical science, however, has not altogether ruled out the possibility, from a purely biological standpoint, under certain conditions, of natural parthenogenesis or the production of a child by a female without any relation to a male. Medical practitioners call attention to this possibility as a result of a certain type of tumour, which is occasionally found in the female pelvis or lower body. Such tumours which are known as arrhenoblastoma are capable of generating male sperm cells. If living male sperm-cells are produced in a female body by arrhenoblastoma the possibility of self-fertilization of a woman, even though virgin, cannot be denied. That is to say, her own body would produce the same result as though sperm-cells from a man’s body had been transferred to hers in the usual way, or by a physician’s aid. Recently a group of gynaecologists in Europe have published data to prove instances of childbirth where the mother had had no contact with a male (Lancet). For a detailed note on parthenogenesis see 3:48.

Jesus’ birth is perhaps not altogether unique in this respect that he was born without the agency of a human father. Cases are on record of children having been born without fathers for which see Enc. Brit. under "Virgin Birth" and "Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine" published by W. B. Saunders & Co., London.

If we dismiss all these possibilities, then Jesus’ birth will have to be regarded, God forbid, as illegitimate. Christians and Jews are both agreed that the birth of Jesus was something out of the ordinary—the Christians holding it as supernatural and the Jews as illegitimate (Jew. Enc.). Even in the family birth register, the birth of Jesus was recorded as such (Talmud). This fact alone should constitute a valid proof of Jesus’ birth being out of the ordinary. Joseph, Mary’s husband, according to the Gospels, had not established conjugal relations with her till after the birth of Jesus (Matt. 1:25). So the words, 'she conceived him', refer to this extraordinary conception of Mary without the agency of any man.

The words, 'a remote place', refer to Bethlehem which is about seventy miles south of Nazareth. There Joseph took Mary sometime before Jesus’ birth which took place in that town.

Commentary:

The theme of the preceding verses regarding destruction of the power of the great and powerful western nations and their abasement continues in this verse. The verse may also signify that these great nations will humble themselves before God—they will humbly accept God’s true religion—Islam.

6:152; 19:33; 29:9.

27:20.

Important Words:

أشد (full maturity) is derived from شد. They say شد الشیء i.e. he made the thing hard, firm, compact, strong, or he bound it fast. أشد (ashudd) means, physical and intellectual and also spiritual maturity as gives evidence of rectitude of conduct or course of life; firmness or soundness of judgement produced by experience. (Lane).

Commentary:

The word seems to have been used in the sense of spiritual maturity in the present verse and in 12:23; and in the sense of intellectual and physical maturity in 6:153 and 18:83. Generally, Divine Messengers are invested with their divine mission at the age of forty. The belief that Jesus was made a Prophet at the age of 33 seems to be an historical anachronism, as recent research into Christian history has proved his birth to have taken place about six years earlier than generally understood (Enc. Brit. under "Chronicle").

أوزعنی (grant me the power) is derived from وزع. They say وزع فلاناً او بفلان i.e. he hindered or led or drove forth such a one and restrained him; he urged or incited such a one. أوزع اللّٰه فلانا means, God inspired or granted such a one the power to do a thing. See also 27:18.

In verse 13 above a brief reference has been made to محسنین (doers of good). The present verse enjoins a believer to do good (احسان) to all his fellow beings, irrespective of caste, colour or clime, starting, however, with his parents, the mother having secured a special mention, as also in 31:15 because "she bears him with pain, and brings him forth with pain".

In 31:15, it was stated that the weaning of a child takes two years, but in the verse under comment the combined period of pregnancy and suckling is given as thirty months which leaves six months as the period of gestation, and that seems to be the period during which a pregnant woman feels the burden of pregnancy, the fourth month being the time when she begins to have such a feeling.