وَدَّ

3:101, 150; 4:90.

a5:14.

b5:53; 16:34.

Important Words:

فاعفوا (forgive) is derived from عفا. They say عفا عنه or عفا له or عفا ذنبه or عفا عن ذنبه meaning, he forgave and pardoned him and did not resort to punishment; he connived at his fault or offence. عفا الله عنه means, God obliterated the traces of his sin. عفا عن الشیء means, he withheld or restrained himself from it (Aqrab).

اصفحوا (turn away) is derived from صفح. They say صفح عنه meaning, he turned his face from it, he avoided it and left it alone; he pardoned him his sin. الصفح means, the side of a thing; or the side of a face, i.e. the cheek, etc. (Aqrab).

امر (decree). The verb امر means, he commanded or he enjoined or he asked. So امر means, a command; an order; a decree; a judgement; an affair; a thing; a condition or state; an event. امرالله means, the promised or the decreed punishment of God (Aqrab & Lane).

Commentary:

By manifold devices, some of which have been referred to above, the Jews wished to lead the Muslims astray, and their designs had their basis in jealousy. Muslims are exhorted not to quarrel with them but to wait patiently in a spirit of forbearance, till God Himself should finally decide the matter.

As explained under Important Words above, there is a subtle distinction between the meanings of عفو (forgive) and صفح(turn away). Whereas the former means, abstaining from punishment, the latter signifies, turning one’s face away or leaving a thing alone. By using the words together, God exhorts Muslims not only to forgive the Jews and refrain from punishing them for their overt hostile acts and covert machinations, but to leave them alone and remain aloof from them till God Himself opened out a way for them, which He eventually did, as soon afterwards the Jews themselves declared war against the Muslims.

It is wrong to think that the words, till Allah brings His decree, refer to aggressive war. It is God’s general decree or judgement that is meant here, as may be inferred from the words that follow, viz. surely, Allah has the power to do all that He wills. Some of the Jews embraced Islam and the rest perished as a result of divine punishment.

The phrase, out of envy from themselves, means that the Holy Prophet had done nothing to excite their jealousy, but that it was their own evil nature that had given rise to it. The disease of حسد (jealousy) originated in their own hearts and had no infection from outside.

10:27, 28; 39:61; 80:39-43.

Important Words:

تبیض (shall be white) is derived from باض. They say باض فلانا i.e. he exceeded him in whiteness. ابیض means, he or it turned white. بیاض signifies whiteness, and ابیض means white (Aqrab). The expression ابیض وجھه means, his face became white, meaning, his face became expressive of joy, i.e. he became joyful (Lane).

تسود (will turn black) is derived from ساد. They say ساد فلانا i.e. he exceeded him in blackness. اسود means, he or it turned black. سواد means, blackness, and اسود means, black (Aqrab). اسود وجھه means, his face became black, meaning, his face became expressive of grief or sorrow (Lane). Whiteness is sometimes used to denote a good and happy condition; while blackness is a token of a bad condition and failure (Aqrab under بیاض).

Commentary:

The Quran itself explains "whiteness" and "blackness" as emb-lematic of "happiness" and "sorrow", respectively (see 3:108 and 16:59 and also compare 75:23 and 80:39, 40). Similarly, when a person does a deed for which he is praised, the Arabs say of him ابیض وجه فلان i.e. the face of such a one has become white or قد بیض الله وجه فلان i.e. God has made the face of such a one white. On the contrary, if a person does a deed for which he is reproached, it is said of him اسود وجھه i.e. his face has become black, or سود الله وجھه i.e. Allah has blackened his face. Thus, the words یوم تبیض وجوہ و تسود وجوہ (lit. when some faces shall turn white and some faces shall turn black) mean, when some will be praised for their deeds, and some will be reproached; or they mean, when some will rejoice and some will grieve.

The present verse speaks of discord and disagreement mentioned in the preceding verse as disbelief; for the ultimate end of such disagreement and dissension is nothing but disbelief.

4:90.

Commentary:

The simplicity, straightforwardness and perfection of the faith of Islam very often create such strong feelings of appreciation in the hearts of the People of the Book that they feel irresistibly drawn towards it but, being inimical and jealous, their appreciation often takes the queer though not unpsychological course that they begin to wish that Muslims may become like themselves.

Taking the word ضلالة in the sense of ruin (see 2:27), the expression یضلونکم (lead you astray) may also be rendered as "lead you to ruin" and the next clause, but they lead astray none except themselves, may in that case mean that by seeking to ruin the Muslims, they only ruin themselves, because the rise of one’s enemy signifies one’s own fall.

16:87.

Commentary:

The expression مودة بینکم may be interpreted as follows:

(1) Social relations or the desire to win each other’s love and not reason or sound arguments are the basis of your idolatrous ideals and practices; or

(2) you have made your idolatrous beliefs and practices the foundation of your love with each other, i.e. you have made the identity of your idolatrous beliefs the means to preserve the homogeneity of your community; or

(3) your idolatrous practices have proceeded from your love of each other, i.e. first you conceived love and affection for some persons and then let that love degenerate into their worship.

Commentary:

Whereas the preceding verse spoke of the Prayer in time of fear in the case of individuals, the present one gives the details of the manner of its performance when the Faithful are in the form of a company or group and the Prayer is to be performed in congregation. Apparently the Holy Prophet alone seems to have been addressed here, but really the verse possesses general application. When a Muslim army is about to say their Prayer in congregation, half of them should say the Prayer with the Imam, carrying their arms, and the other half should stand facing the enemy, to fight him or repulse his attack, as the case may be. When the first half have finished one Rak‘at, they should retire to take the place of those who are facing the enemy. The latter should then come forward and say one Rak‘at with the Imam.

As many as eleven different ways in which these Prayers were said on different occasions are described in the Hadith(for details see Al-Bahrul-Muhit). In some cases, each of the two parties said only one Rak‘at of Prayer, while the Imam said two. In other cases, each of the parties said two Rak‘at, one Rak‘at with the Imam and the other alone, thus all saying two Rak‘at. On yet other occasions each of the two parties said two rak‘at of Prayer with the Imam, the Imam himself having said four Rak‘at—two Rak‘at with each party. These different methods were observed in different circumstances. If the danger was great, each of the parties said only one Rak‘at of Prayer with the Imam while the Imam himself said two; but if the danger was not so great, each party said two Rak‘ats while the Imam said four. Again, methods varied with the varying position of the army. If the enemy, for instance, was in front of the Imam, the congregation followed a method different from that which they followed on other occasions.

To sum up, whereas Prayer in a state of simple journey consists of two Rak‘ats in such Prayers as ordinarily consist of four Rak‘ats, the Prayer in time of fear may assume different forms, the more important being:

(a) Splitting up the worshippers into two parties, each party either saying one part of its Prayer with the Imam and then retiring, or saying one part of its Prayer with the Imam and the other part separately, the number of Rak‘ats performed by the worshippers being either one or two as the case may be (the present verse);

(b) Shortening the duration of Prayers only (the preceding verse);

(c) Doing away with all form and repeating the words of Prayer while walking, running or riding (2:240).

The verse observes a difference between: اسلحة (arms) and حذر (means of defence or simply precautions). Whereas the former may be put aside in moments of comparative security, the latter should always be adhered to and never neglected. See also 4:72.

4:2; 7:190; 16:73; 39:7.

Commentary:

The verse gives another argument to prove the existence of God and of life beyond the grave, viz. that God has created a pair—man and woman—and has engendered love between them. This leads to procreation and continuity of human life on earth. This continuity of life shows a design and a purpose behind it and thus it proves the existence of a Designer and a better and fuller life after the life on this earth.

Important Words:

قسیسین (savants) is the plural of قسیس which is formed from قس. They say قسه i.e. he sought after or pursued it; or he sought after or pursued it leisurely or repeatedly or by degrees. The word also means, he became a قسیس which means, the head or chief of the Christians in knowledge or science, or one of their heads or chiefs; a learned man of the Christians who has sought after and acquired great knowledge; an intelligent and learned man (Lane).

رھبانا (monks) is the plural of راھب which is derived from رھب which means, he feared, or he feared with caution. راھبmeans, a fearer or a cautious fearer; a fearer of God; an ascetic, because he fears God much; a Christian devotee or monk; a religious recluse; one who devotes himself to religious services or exercises in a cell or monastery. رھبانیة means the state of a (monk), and راھب signifies excess in religious exercises and discipline and detaching oneself from mankind; monkery; asceticism (Lane).

Commentary:

As a rule, the followers of a new Prophet meet with greater opposition from the followers of the Prophet immediately preceding him than from the followers of those Prophets who had appeared in the remote past. But, contrary to this general practice, Jews, who should have been less inimically disposed towards the Muslims than Christians, proved at least in the Holy Prophet’s time to be bitterer enemies of Islam than Christians, who were comparatively less inimical. This state of affairs, however, was not to last forever. The Quran elsewhere warns Muslims that they were destined to suffer most grievously at the hands of Christians, who would attack them from all directions, (21:97). In the Hadith also there are prophecies to this effect. So the verse under comment may not be taken to apply to Christians of all times but only to those of the Holy Prophet’s time who lived round about him; and history bears out this inference. Najjashi, the Christian King of Abyssinia, gave shelter to Muslim refugees; and Muqauqas the Christian ruler of Egypt, sent presents to the Holy Prophet.

It appears that humility formed one of the chief characteristics of early Christians, and the teachings of Jesus about turning the other cheek to the striker seems to have exercised its influence on their lives for some centuries. This is evident from the different ways in which the epistles of the Holy Prophet were treated by the King of Persia, who was a heathen, and by Heraclius, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, who was a Christian. The former tore the letter to pieces, while the latter received it respectfully and even evinced some inclination towards Islam.

So long as the above qualities formed distinctive features of the Christian character, Muslims generally met with fairer treatment at their hands. But as time passed, these qualities gradually took leave of them and now there are very few among Christian divines and religious leaders who are engaged in real and honest religious research, withdrawing from the cares of the world and taking an active and living interest in spiritual matters. Christian scholars began to meddle in politics in the 13th or 14th century, with the result that they became hostile to Islam.

3:107; 10:28.

Commentary:

Whiteness of face is symbolic of happiness while blackness is a token of sorrow and grief (16:59; 80:39, 40). When a person does a good deed for which he is praised the Arabs say of him ابیض وجه فلان i.e. the face of such a one has become white. And when he does a deed for which he is reproached and rebuked, it is said of him اسود وجھه i.e. his face has become black. The verse means to say that the day of reckoning will be a day of regrets and sorrow for the disbelievers.

25:58; 38:87.

Commentary:

The expression لا أسئلکم علیه أجرا إلا الـمودة فی القربی is supposed to bear several interpretations. Some of these are as follows: (1) I ask of you no reward for calling you to the way of God except that, being related to you by ties of kinship, my solicitude for your spiritual well-being impels me to invite you to accept the message of truth. In this case إلا is إستثناء منقطع; (2) I ask of you no reward for the great work I am doing for your spiritual benefit except that you should learn to live and behave like blood relations; (3) I ask no reward or return for my solicitude and love for you except that in offering opposition to me you should at least have some regard for the ties of relationship that I have with you; and (4) I want no reward from you except that you should learn to develop a liking for attaining nearness to God (the word قربی meaning قربة i.e. nearness). This last meaning agrees with 25:58 where the Holy Prophet is stated as saying to his people: "I ask of you naught in return for it except that he who will, may take a way to his Lord."