قَبْلَ

5:118.

Important Words:

The pronoun "it" in the clause, believe in it, stands for the false belief (referred to in the preceding verses) that Jesus met his death on the cross. So the verse signifies that both Jews and Christians will continue to believe in the supposed crucifixion of Jesus till the time of their death, when the veil will be lifted and everything will become clear. They are indeed bound to believe in the alleged death of Jesus on the cross. If the Jews do not do so, his truth becomes established and their whole position becomes indefensible. Similarly, if the Christians do not believe in it, the doctrine of Atonement becomes untenable and the entire fabric of Christianity crashes to pieces. So both these peoples go on sticking to this absurd and unfounded belief in the face of all reason and all established facts of history.

The attempts to make the words لیؤمنن به قبل موته (will believe in it before his death) mean "will believe in him (Jesus) before his (Jesus’) death" is simply ridiculous. The context spurns the idea, as does the second reading of the expression موته (his death) viz. موتھم (their death) reported by Ubayy (Jarir, vi. 13).

20:72; 26:50.

Commentary:

The sudden change in the magicians, brought about by the powerful hand of God, gave rise to doubts and misgivings in the mind of Pharaoh; or it may be, he simply used it as an excuse to hide his own discomfiture.

By the words "its inhabitants" are here meant Pharaoh’s people, who, however, were not the real inhabitants of Egypt, having wrested the country from the sons of the soil.

The Bible also agrees with the Quran in saying that the magicians became believers in Moses (Exod. 8:19), with the difference that whereas, according to the Quran, the magicians became believers on the spot immediately after witnessing this miracle of Moses, according to the Bible, they believed in Moses sometime later. The Quranic account is certainly more natural.

Commentary:

The people of Salih here complain that they had hoped that he, promising and talented as he was, would bring them prosperity and glory; but, quite contrary to their expectations, he was going to ruin them by forbidding them to worship what their fathers worshipped. This threw them into disquieting doubt about the truth of his mission.

The above-mentioned expression of opinion by the people of Salih about him was no flattery. He really was the centre of their hopes, as are all Messengers of God who impress their people with their extraordinary talents and great righteousness of conduct from their very childhood, and such was the Holy Prophet of Islam. Abu Bakr, ‘Ali, Zaid and Khadijah all believed in him before they had any knowledge of the details of his teachings or had seen any sign in support of his mission. They accepted him on the basis of the evidence that his life was spotlessly pure.

The words, And we are surely in disquieting doubt concerning that to which thou callest us, mean that, just as the taste of the mouth of a man who is suffering from some internal malady becomes vitiated, similarly, the hearts of these people having become corrupt, the very teaching which had come to remove doubts and misgivings appeared to them as creating doubts in their minds.

Commentary:

This verse provides a very useful lesson for preachers, for it shows that a preacher should preach his message in a manner as not to tire or bore his hearers. Joseph assured the young men that he would not detain them long and would finish his discourse before their meal-time. The verse also shows how solicitous Joseph was in preaching the truth. Like Joseph, the Holy Prophet was also ever on the lookout for an opportunity to preach to the people and sometimes he had had recourse to extraordinary devices such as inviting them to a feast.

6:84.

Commentary:

The words, Thus did We plan for Joseph, make it clear beyond any shadow of doubt that the whole thing was planned by God Himself, Joseph having no hand in it. Quite inadvertently Joseph happened to place the King’s measuring cup in Benjamin’s luggage and his brothers happened themselves to make the suggestion which enabled Joseph to detain Benjamin.

Incidentally, the verse also shows that even a Prophet living under an alien government should abide by its laws and give it his full cooperation. Joseph desired to keep his brother with him, but the law of the land forbade him to do so. A Providential combination of circumstances, however, enabled him to satisfy his heart’s desire. The mistaken view held by some Muslims that a foreign Government is not entitled to their loyalty and cooperation finds no support in Islam. It tends adversely to affect their morals, and their whole attitude towards their rulers is calculated to become based on insincerity, even hypocrisy.

The words, then he began the search with their sacks before the sack of his brother, do not mean that Joseph made the search personally. The pronoun "he" refers to the man who announced the loss of the measuring cup and who naturally himself came forward to make the search. The reason why he searched Benjamin’s luggage last lies in the fact that, owing to Joseph’s kindly attitude towards him, the proclaimer naturally desired to show the greatest possible deference to Benjamin.

22:48; 29:54-55.

41:44; 53:33.

Important Words:

المثلات (exemplary punishments) is the plural of المثلة which is derived from مثل. They say مثل فلان فلانا i.e. he became like such a one. مثل بفلان means, he punished such a one in an exemplary manner. مثلة means, calamity; punishment serving as a warning to others; punishment which visited past generations and which served as a warning for others (Aqrab).

العقاب (condign punishment) is derived from عاقب which is derived from عقب (‘aqaba). They say عقبه i.e. he struck his heel; he came after him (as though at his heels). عاقبه means, he did a thing with him alternately, each taking his turn; he punished him as denoting consequence or retribution. عقب (‘aqib) means, the heel or the hinder part of the human foot. العقاب means, requital or punishment that is awarded as a result of some offence or sin (Lane & Aqrab). Hence in the text it has rightly been rendered as "condign punishment."

Commentary:

The verse refers to an evil practice of disbelievers. When they are told that if they do not remove their shackles and do not avail themselves of the guidance of God and if they persist in their wicked ways, they will become like a piece of dry wood, which is thrown into the fire, they hasten to demand where that fire is. So, instead of soliciting God’s mercy these unfortunate people invoke His punishment. The advent of every Prophet of God is attended by both God’s mercy and His punishment but wicked people invariably demand the latter.

The words, verily, thy Lord is full of forgiveness for mankind despite their wrongdoing, set forth the great truth that the purpose of God in sending Prophets is not to destroy men, but to save them. This is why He continues to forgive them, despite their persistence in wrongdoing. But this repeated forgiveness does not mean that the wicked will never be punished. If they do not give up their evil ways, they will not escape God’s punishment. They will indeed be given every opportunity to reform themselves; but if they persistently refuse to do so, Divine punishment will finally descend on them.

The words, thy Lord is strict in condign punishment, do not mean that God makes use of severity in inflicting punishment but that the punishment inflicted by God is severer and more painful than that inflicted by men.

21:12; 22:46; 28:59.

Commentary:

In the previous verse it was stated that false deities could not save their devotees from Divine punishment. The present verse gives a specific illustration of this. It purports to say that the time was coming when idolatry would spread all over the world and in consequence thereof the whole of mankind would suffer for its sins and iniquities. At that time no human device and no seeking of help from false deities would save their devotees from Divine wrath. This subject has been dealt with at greater length in the next Surah.

The verse contains a warning for Muslims to beware of "the second great punishment" to which an allusion has already been made in v. 57. The words "before the Day of Resurrection" allude to a prophecy which was to be fulfilled in the latter days. From the Hadith it appears that this prophecy about "the second punishment" was to be fulfilled after the advent of the Promised Messiah, and we find that it is already being fulfilled.

33:63; 35:44; 48:24.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that it is invariably God’s way with His Messengers that whenever anyone of them is expelled from his native land by his people with indignity and dishonour, that people is visited with Divine punishment. A striking illustration of this divine law is to be found in the case of the tribe of Thamud and the Jews. The former sought to put obstacles in the way of the Prophet Salih’s missionary expedition by killing his she-camel and the latter put Jesus on the cross. The Thamud met with the destruction of their bodies and souls while the Jews suffered only moral and political death. But the Meccans were spared this punishment because the Holy Prophet left Mecca in pursuance of God’s own command and was not expelled from it by his people.

31:28.

Commentary:

Christian nations of the west boast of their great inventions and scientific discoveries and seem to labour under the misconception that they have succeeded in fathoming the secret of creation itself. But, says the verse, this is nothing but a vain boast. God’s secrets are so inexhaustible and He has endowed His creatures with such wonderful powers and attributes that far from fathoming the secret of creation, what these people will be able to discover after all their striving will not be even as much as a drop in the ocean.

The verse also hints that those will be the days of publicity and innumerable books on all sorts of subjects will be published but even then the vast ocean of knowledge will remain unfathomed.

Important Words:

مخاض (pains of childbirth) is derived from مخض. They say مخض اللبن i.e. he churned the milk and took the butter out of it. مخض الشیء means, he violently agitated the thing.مخضت المرأة means, the woman suffered the pains of childbirth. مخاض means, the pains of childbirth (Lane & Aqrab).

منسیاً(a thing forgotten) is derived from نسی (nasiya). نسیا لشیء means, he forgot the thing. نسیاًmeans, anything forgotten or worthy of being forgotten or anything that must be forgotten. It also means, one who is counted for nothing, who is despised; a thing which the members of a caravan leave behind as worthless or of little use or importance. منسیاً also means, a thing that is forgotten or neglected. The use of these two words together in this verse denoting the same sense is intended to intensify the sense of forgetting or neglect (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

As it appears from the Gospels there was no room in the inn in which Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary must have stayed in the open field and Mary might have betaken herself to the trunk of a palm-tree in order to take rest under its shade and possibly also to find some support in her throes of childbirth.

The words, 'had become a thing quite forgotten' indicate the extreme severity of the pains of childbirth. In the case of first delivery the throes of childbirth ordinarily are extremely severe and in the intensity of pain women generally give utterance to some such words as those spoken by Mary.