CHAPTER 3 (Surah Āl ‘Imrān), VERSES 98 - 101
قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لِمَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّـهِ وَاللَّـهُ شَهِيدٌ عَلَىٰ مَا تَعْمَلُونَ ﴿٩٨﴾ قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لِمَ تَصُدُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّـهِ مَنْ آمَنَ تَبْغُونَهَا عِوَجًا وَأَنتُمْ شُهَدَاءُۗ
وَمَا اللَّـهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ ﴿٩٩﴾ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن تُطِيعُوا فَرِيقًا مِّنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ يَرُدُّوكُم بَعْدَ إِيمَانِكُمْ كَافِرِينَ ﴿١٠٠﴾ وَكَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ وَأَنتُمْ تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتُ اللَّـهِ وَفِيكُمْ رَسُولُهُۗ
وَمَن يَعْتَصِم بِاللَّـهِ فَقَدْ هُدِيَ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ ﴿١٠١﴾
Say: ‘‘O People of the Book! why do you disbelieve in the communications of Allāh? and Allāh is a witness of what you do’’ (98). Say: ‘‘O People of the Book! why do you hinder him who believes from the way of Allāh? You seek (to make) it crooked, while you are witnesses, and Allāh is not heedless of what you do’’ (99). O you who believe! if you obey a party from among those who were given the Book, they will turn you back as unbelievers after you have believed (100). But how can you disbelieve while it is you to whom the communcations of Allāh are recited, and among you is His Messenger? And whoever holds fast to Allāh, he indeed is guided to the straight path (101).
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COMMENTARY
The verses as is evident from themetic continuity, indicate that the People of the Book (a group of them - i. e., the Jews - or a group of the Jews) disbelieved in the Divine Revelation, and hindered the believers from the way of Allāh by trying to show that it was a crooked and unright way, and presenting to them the actually crooked misleading way as the way of Allāh. They did so by creating doubts in the believers’
minds, in order that the believers would see the truth as falsehood and the falsehood (to which they invited them) as truth. The preceding verses had pointed to the Jews’ deviations, for example, their denial of the fact that all food was lawful to them before the revelation of the Torah, and their rejection of the abrogation of the previous qiblah, that is, Baytu ’l-Maqdis.
These verses therefore put the finishing touches to the preceding ones which had described the lawfulness of all food before the Torah and declared that the Ka‘bah was the first House appointed for the men. Now these verses admonish the Jews because they were constantly trying to create doubts and mislead the believers; also the verses warn the believers against following the advice of those unbelievers, because if they listened to their call, they would themselves become unbelievers; then they exhort and encourage them to hold fast to Allāh so that they would be guided to the path of true faith and their guidance would continue for ever.
It has been narrated by Zayd ibn Aslam (as as-Suyūtī has reportedly
written in Lubābu ’n-nuqūl) as follows:
‘‘Shāsh ibn Qays, a Jew, saw some people of the tribes of Aws and Khazraj engaged in (friendly) talk, and he was incensed by what he saw of their friendship and unity after their (hereditary) enmity. Therefore, he ordered a young Jew (who was with him) to sit with them and remind them of the Battle of Bu‘āth. He did and they started boasting and quarelling with each other. The argument continued until two men - Aws ibn Qurazī from the Aws and Jabbār ibn Sakhr from the Khazraj -
jumped up and abused each other; the two groups were enraged and stood against each other for fighting. The news reached the Messenger of Allāh (s.a.w.a.); he came and admonished them and established peace between them. They heeded his call and obeyed. Then Allāh revealed about Aws and Jabbār: ‘O you who believe! if you obey a party from among those who were given the Book ...’; and about Shāsh ibn Qays: ‘Say: ‘‘O People of the Book! why do you hinder him who believes from the way of Allāh?’’ ’ ’’
This tradition is abridged from the one narrated (by as-Suyūtī) in ad-Durru ’l-manthūr in detailed form from Zayd ibn Aslam; he has narrated nearly similar traditions from Ibn ‘Abbās and others.
However, these verses obviously fit more properly on the explanation given by us than on this tradition. Moreover, they speak about disbelief and belief, and also about testimony of the Jews, recitation of the revealed verses to the believers, and things like that; and all these matters are more revelant to the explanation given by us. It is also supported by the words of Allāh: Many of the People of the Book wish that they could turn you back into unbelievers after your faith, out of envy on their part, (even) after the truth has become manifest to them (2:109). Therefore, the fact is, as we have said, that these verses are a sort of prologue to the preceding ones.
QUR’ĀN:
Say: ‘‘O People of the Book! why do you disbelieve in the communications of Allāh and ’’: The continuation of the context indicates that ‘‘the communications’’ refers to the lawfulness of food before the revelation of the Torah and to the Ka‘bah being the qiblah in Islam.
QUR’ĀN:
Say: ‘‘O People of the Book! why do you hinder him who believes from the way of Allāh? You seek (to make) it crooked,: ‘‘as-Sadd’’ (اَلصَّدُّ
= to hinder; to divert); ‘‘you seek it,’’ that is, you want this way to be crooked; ‘‘ ‘iwajan’’ (عِوَجاً
= crooked, perverted); it refers to the fact that they wanted the way of Allāh to be deviated, not straight.
QUR’ĀN:
‘‘while you are witnesses, and ’’: You know very well that all food was lawful before the revelation of the Torah, and that one of the signs of the promised prophet was that he would change the qiblah to the Ka‘bah. The Jews have been counted as witnesses in this verse, while the preceding verse declared Allāh to be a witness of their activities and disbelief. The implication of this fine juxtaposition cannot be lost on a man of literary taste. They are witnesses of the truth of what they deny; and Allāh is a witness of their denial and disbelief. As ‘‘witnessing’’ was ascribe to them in this verse, the ending clause of the preceding verse (And Allāh is a witness of what you do) was changed here to: ‘‘and Allāh is not heedless of what you do’’. The implication is that they are witnesses for the truth of the Prophet’s claim while Allāh is a witness for everyone and everything.
QUR’ĀN:
O you who believe! If you obey a party from among those who were given the Book, and among you is His Messenger? ...: As mentioned earlier, ‘‘a party’’, refers to the Jews or a Jewish group. ‘‘while it is you to whom the communications of Allāh are recited, and among you is His Messenger’’: It is possible and easy for you to hold fast to the truth (which has been sent and explained to you) if you just listen to the verses recited to you and then meditate on them; then if you encounter any difficulty because of faulty meditation, you may to the Messenger of Allāh (s.a.w.a.) for clarification; you may refer to the Messenger even before meditating on the verses to explain it to you: he is present among you, it is not difficult for you to approach him because he is neither hidden nor far away from you; you may easily find the reality by referring to him, then you may clear the doubts which the Jews try to create in your minds. To hold fast to the Messenger of Allāh (s.a.w.a.) and the Divine Communications is to hold fast to Allāh; ‘‘And whoever holds fast to Allāh, he indeed is guided to the straight path.’’
The disbelief, mentioned in the clause, ‘‘But how can you disbelieve’’, refers to disbelieving after believing; the clause, ‘‘while it is you to whom the communications of Allāh are recited,’’ points to the possibility of holding fast to the communications of Allāh and the Messenger of Allāh (s.a.w.a.) in order to protect oneself from disbelief; the clause, ‘‘And whoever holds fast to Allāh,’’ is a sort of the major premise of a syllogism, [the full form of which has been given above]. The guidance to the straight path means being guided to the firmly-rooted true belief; it is the path that does not deviate nor does it fail to reach the destination; it keeps all those who proceed on it in proper line without letting them deviate hither or thither lest they go astray.
The Arabic word translated here as, ‘‘is guided’’, is a past tense in passive voice; it implies that they have been guided without realizing who has guided them.
The verse shows that the Book of Allāh and the verbal and practical guidance given by the Messsenger of Allāh (s.a.w.a.) are sufficient to guide a man to every truth and reality in which he could possibly go astray.
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Author: Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai
