Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Footnotes

1. For example:

And We have guarded it (i.e. the heaven) against every accursed Satan, but he who steals a hearing; so there follows him a visible flame (15:17-18).

2. The first and third replies seem strange, to say the least. The author himself has said (while commenting on the phrase, ” . the Satan made them both slip from it”) that the order to “get down” or to “get out” may mean, “Get down from the company of the angels; or, get down from the heaven”.

But here he rejects the second alternative altogether! The third reply is based on القياس مع الفارق an unacceptable analogy - that which overlooks the important differences between the two sides. If the Satan is governed by time and space how does it imply that Allah too should be governed by them?

Moreover, in the same commentary the author has proved on the strength of this same verse that “the Satan had visited them near that tree in the Garden. He entered the Garden . (and) Adam, his wife and the Satan all were removed from the Garden together.” This leaves us with the second reply, which is doubtlessly without any flaw and is supported by the Qur'an. (tr.)

3. That is, Abu 's-Salt Abdu 's-Salam ibn Salih al -Harawī.

4. 'Uyūnu 'l-akhbar

5. Kamalu 'd-dīn

6. al-Amalī, as-Sadūq

7. al-Kafī

8. It is not in accord with the author's earlier assertion that the verse 2:36 describes Adam's removal from the earlier-held place of honour to the courtyard of the Garden; after which he learned “some words” from Allah and repented (2:37); and it was later that he was sent down from the courtyard to the Garden (2:38). (tr)

9. at-Tafsīr, al-Qummī

10. 'llalu 'sh-shara' i'

11. al-Ihtijaj

Suratul Baqarah: Verses 40-44

(٤٠) يا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُواْ نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَوْفُواْ بِعَهْدِي أُوفِ بِعَهْدِكُمْ وَإِيَّايَ فَارْهَبُونِ

(٤١) وَآمِنُواْ بِمَا أَنزَلْتُ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا مَعَكُمْ وَلاَ تَكُونُواْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرٍ بِهِ وَلاَ تَشْتَرُواْ بِآيَاتِي ثَمَنًا قَلِيلاً وَإِيَّايَ فَاتَّقُونِ

(٤٢) وَلاَ تَلْبِسُواْ الْحَقَّ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَتَكْتُمُواْ الْحَقَّ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

(٤٣) وَأَقِيمُواْ الصَّلاةَ وَآتُواْ الزَّكَاةَ وَارْكَعُواْ مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ

(٤٤) أَتَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبِرِّ وَتَنسَوْنَ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ تَتْلُونَ الْكِتَابَ أَفَلاَ تَعْقِلُونَ

O children of Israel! Remember My bounties which I be­stowed on you, and be faithful to (your) covenant with Me, I will fulfil (My) covenant with you; and of Me, Me alone, should you be afraid (40).

And believe in what I have sent down verifying that which is with you, and be not the first to deny it, neither take a mean price in exchange for My signs; and Me, Me alone, should you fear (41).

And do not mix up the truth with the falsehood, nor hide the truth while you know (it) (42).

And keep up prayer and pay the zakdt and bow down with those who bow down (43).

What! do you enjoin men to be good and forget your own selves while you read the Book? Have you then no sense? (44)

General Comment

Now begins the rebuking of the Jews that continues for more than a hundred verses. Allah reminds them of the bounties bestowed, of the honours given; contrasting it with their ingrati­tude and disobedience; showing how at every juncture they paid the favours of Allah with disregard of their covenant, open rebel­lion against divine commands and even with polytheism.

The series reminds them of twelve events of their history - like res­cuing them from Pharaoh and his people by parting the river, drowning of Pharaoh and his army, the appointed rendezvous at the mount Sina'i, the Jews' starting calf-worship in Mūsa's absence, and Mūsa's order to them to kill themselves, their de­mand from Mūsa to show their Lord to them face to face, their death by lightning and then their arising from dead etc. - all of which shows how they were chosen to receive the especial favours of Allah.

But their ingratitude runs parallel to it. They repeatedly broke the covenants made with Allah, committed capital sins, hideous crimes and shameful deeds; more despic­able. Was their spiritual poverty and moral bankruptcy - in open defiance to their book and total disregard to the reason? It was all because their hearts were hardened, their souls lost and their endeavours worthless.

Commentary

Qur’an: . and be faithful to (your) covenant with Me: (العَهد = covenant) literally means guarding and“al-'Ahd” maintenance. By association it has come to mean covenant, oath, testament, will, encounter, house, etc.

Qur’an: . and of Me, . should you be afraid: “ar-Rah-bah” (الرّهبة = fear ) is opposite ofar-raghbah (الرغبة= desire ).

Qur’an: . and be not the first to deny it: That is, first among the people of the book, or first among your own people. This first­ness is not all-inclusive, because the disbelievers of Mecca had rejected the Message before the Jews.

Suratul Baqarah: Verses 45-46

(٤٥) وَاسْتَعِينُواْ بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاَةِ وَإِنَّهَا لَكَبِيرَةٌ إِلاَّ عَلَى الْخَاشِعِينَ

(٤٦) الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُم مُّلاَقُو رَبِّهِمْ وَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

And seek assistance through patience and prayer; and most surely it is a hard thing, except for the humble ones (45),

who know that they shall meet their Lord and that they shall return to Him (46).

Commentary

Qur’an:And seek assistance through patience and prayer: Man seeks assistance in such affairs and tasks as he cannot manage alone, and in hardships and difficulties which he cannot overcome himself. In reality there is no helper except Allah.

Man can, therefore, manage all his affairs and overcome all his difficulties by courage and steadfastness (i.e. by patience) and by looking towards Allah (i.e. by prayer).

These two factors are the best way to get assistance: patience makes even the great misfortunes look trivial, and putting all his confidence in Allah awakens the spirit of faith; and thus man comes to realize that the cause which he is relying upon can never fail to produce the desired effect.

Qur’an:and most surely it is a hard thing except for the humble ones: The pronoun, it, refers to the “prayer”. It is difficult to relate it to “seeking the assistance”, because it will then cover patience too, and the word “the humble ones” will not look appropriate - humbleness does not fit very much with patience.

The word used here for humbleness is“khushū'” (الخشوع); “khudu'” (الخضوع) too has the same meaning but with one difference: while the latter shows itself in the limbs of the body, the former refers to the inner feeling.

Qur’an:who know that they shall meet their Lord . .: The word used in this verse for “knowing” is“yazunnūn” (يظنون);

it literally means “they think”. But the context, that is, the belief in the hereafter, demands a firm conviction that would leave no room for any doubt or supposition. Allah says:

and they are sure of the hereafter (2:4).

Or, may be, Allah, by using this word, makes us realize that even an elementary idea of the hereafter is sufficient to create in a man humility and humbleness before his Lord. Many a knowledge comes to man in stages:

(1) first he becomes aware of an idea;

(2) then he has some doubts about its correctness;

(3) then he becomes inclined to accept it;

(4) then gradually the possibility of his accepting the opposite view vanishes completely and he becomes firmly convinced of the truth of that idea - and this firm conviction is called knowledge.

If such knowledge is concerned with some frightening affair, then his worry and disquiet will begin as soon as he reaches the third stage when he is only inclined to accept it - is only “thinking” that probably it may be true.

This Qur'anic expres­sion, in other words, says that man, for showing humbleness before Allah, needs only to be aware of the idea that there is a Lord Whom he may return to after his death. In this context only a strong supposition should be enough to make him desist from disobeying his Lord; it would not be necessary, for this purpose, to reach the stage of firm knowledge.

From this point of view, the verse looks almost similar to the verse:

. . there­fore, whoever hopes to meet his Lord, he should do good deeds, and not join any one in the worship of his Lord (18:110).

The above discourse is based on the assumption that the words, “they shall meet their Lord . .”, refer to the Day of Resurrection. But if they are interpreted in, another way (as we shall describe in Chapter 7), there should be no difficulty at all in its explanation.

Tradition

as-Sadiq (a. s.) said: “Whenever 'Alī (a.s.) faced a difficulty, he used to stand up for the prayer and then recite this verse:and seek assistance through patience and prayer.” 1

The same Imam said about this verse: “The patience means fasting.” Also he said: “When a man is confronted by a hard misfortune, he should fast. Surely Allah says: and seek assistance through patience, that is, fast.”2

The author says: al-'Ayyashī too has narrated the theme of these two Tradition in his at-Tafsīr. Interpretation of “patience” as fast is based on the “flow” of the Qur'an.

Abu 'l-Hasan (a.s.) said about this verse: “The patience means fast; when a man is visited by a hardship or misfortune, he should fast; surely Allah says:And seek assistance through patience and prayer; and most surely it is a hard thing except for the humble ones. And the humble one is he who shows humility in his prayer, turning all his attention to it; and it means the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) and the Leader of the faithful (a.s.).”3

The author says: The Imam has inferred from this verse the desirability of fasting and praying when one is facing any hardship or turmoil; and likewise, the desirability of seeking the divine help through the medium of the Prophet and 'Alī (a.s.) at that time. In this way, the tradition interprets the fast and the prayer as the Prophet and 'Alī (a.s.).

'Alī (a.s.) said about the verse,who know that they shall meet their Lord . : Allah says that they are sure that they would be resurrected. And the suppositionaz-zann (الظن) means certainty. (ibid.)

The author says: as-Sadūq also has narrated this tradition, al-Baqīr (a.s.) said that this verse was revealed about 'Alī, 'Uthman ibn Maz'ūn, 'Ammar ibn Yasir and (some of) their friends4 .

Footnotes

1. al-Kafī

2. al-Kafī

3. al-'Ayyashī

4. al-Manaqib, Ibn Shahrashūb