3:101 Aal-i-Imraan (The Family of Imraan)

تفسير الآيات من 98 الى 101 :ـ يوبخ تعالى أهل الكتاب من اليهود والنصارى على كفرهم بآيات الله التي أنزلها الله على رسله، التي جعلها رحمة لعباده يهتدون بها إليه، ويستدلون بها على جميع المطالب المهمة والعلوم النافعة، فهؤلاء الكفرة جمعوا بين الكفر بها وصد من آمن بالله عنها وتحريفها وتعويجها عما جعلت له، وهم شاهدون بذلك عالمون بأن ما فعلوه أعظم الكفر الموجب لأعظم العقوبة { الذين كفروا وصدوا عن سبيل الله زدناهم عذابا فوق العذاب بما كانوا يفسدون } فلهذا توعدهم هنا بقوله: { وما الله بغافل عما تعملون } بل محيط بأعمالكم ونياتكم ومكركم السيء، فمجازيكم عليه أشر الجزاء لما توعدهم ووبخهم عطف برحمته وجوده وإحسانه وحذر عباده المؤمنين منهم لئلا يمكروا بهم من حيث لا يشعرون، فقال: { يا أيها الذين آمنوا إن تطيعوا فريقا من الذين أوتوا الكتاب يردوكم بعد إيمانكم كافرين } وذلك لحسدهم وبغيهم عليكم، وشدة حرصهم على ردكم عن دينكم، كما قال تعالى: { ود كثير من أهل الكتاب لو يردونكم من بعد إيمانكم كفارا حسدا من عند أنفسهم من بعد ما تبين لهم الحق } ثم ذكر تعالى السبب الأعظم والموجب الأكبر لثبات المؤمنين على إيمانهم، وعدم تزلزلهم عن إيقانهم، وأن ذلك من أبعد الأشياء، فقال: { وكيف تكفرون وأنتم تتلى عليكم آيات الله وفيكم رسوله } أي: الرسول بين أظهركم يتلو عليكم آيات ربكم كل وقت، وهي الآيات البينات التي توجب القطع بموجبها والجزم بمقتضاها وعدم الشك فيما دلت عليه بوجه من الوجوه، خصوصا والمبين لها أفضل الخلق وأعلمهم وأفصحهم وأنصحهم وأرأفهم بالمؤمنين، الحريص على هداية الخلق وإرشادهم بكل طريق يقدر عليه، فصلوات الله وسلامه عليه، فلقد نصح وبلغ البلاغ المبين، فلم يبق في نفوس القائلين مقالا ولم يترك لجائل في طلب الخير مجالا، ثم أخبر أن من اعتصم به فتوكل عليه وامتنع بقوته ورحمته عن كل شر، واستعان به على كل خير { فقد هدي إلى صراط مستقيم } موصل له إلى غاية المرغوب، لأنه جمع بين اتباع الرسول في أقواله وأفعاله وأحواله وبين الاعتصام بالله.

قال تعالى وكيف تكفرون وأنتم تتلى عليكم آيات الله وفيكم رسوله يعني أن الكفر بعيد منكم وحاشاكم منه فإن آيات الله تنزل على رسوله ليلا ونهارا وهو يتلوها عليكم ويبلغها إليكم وهذا كقوله تعالى وما لكم لا تؤمنون بالله والرسول يدعوكم لتؤمنوا بربكم وقد أخذ ميثاقكم إن كنتم مؤمنين الآية بعدها. وكما جاء في الحديث أن النبي صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم قال لأصحابه يوما " أي المؤمنين أعجب إليكم إيمانا "؟ قالوا: الملائكة قال " وكيف لا يؤمنون والوحي ينزل عليهم " قالوا: فنحن قال " وكيف لا تؤمنون وأنا بين أظهركم؟ " قالوا: فأي الناس أعجب إيمانا؟ قال " قوم يجيئون من بعدكم يجدون صحفا يؤمنون بما فيها " وقد ذكرت سند هذا الحديث والكلام عليه في أول شرح البخاري ولله الحمد. ثم قال تعالى "ومن يعتصم بالله فقد هدي إلى صراط مستقيم" أي ومع هذا فالاعتصام بالله والتوكل عليه هو العمدة في الهداية والعدة في مباعدة الغواية والوسيلة إلى الرشاد وطريق السداد وحصول المراد.

Warning Muslims Against Imitating People of the Scriptures

Allah warns His believing servants against obeying the People of the Book, who envy the believers for the favor that Allah gave them by sending His Messenger . Similarly, Allah said,

وَدَّ كَثِيرٌ مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَـبِ لَوْ يَرُدُّونَكُم مِن بَعْدِ إِيمَـنِكُمْ كُفَّارًا حَسَدًا مِّنْ عِنْدِ أَنْفُسِهِمْ

(Many of the People of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) wish that they could turn you away as disbelievers after you have believed, out of their own envy) 2:109.

In this Ayah 3:100, Allah said,

إِن تُطِيعُواْ فَرِيقاً مِّنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُواْ الْكِتَـبَ يَرُدُّوكُم بَعْدَ إِيمَـنِكُمْ كَـفِرِينَ

(If you obey a group of those who were given the Scripture (Jews and Christians), they would (indeed) render you disbelievers after you have believed!), then said,

وَكَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُتْلَى عَلَيْكُمْ ءَايَـتُ اللَّهِ وَفِيكُمْ رَسُولُهُ

(And how would you disbelieve, while unto you are recited the verses of Allah, and among you is His Messenger), meaning, disbelief is far from touching you, since the Ayat of Allah are being sent down on His Messenger day and night, and he recites and conveys them to you. Similarly, Allah said,

وَمَا لَكُمْ لاَ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالرَّسُولُ يَدْعُوكُمْ لِتُؤْمِنُواْ بِرَبِّكُمْ وَقَدْ أَخَذَ مِيثَـقَكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ مُّؤْمِنِينَ

(And what is the matter with you that you believe not in Allah! While the Messenger invites you to believe in your Lord; and He has indeed taken your covenant, if you are real believers) 57:8. A Hadith states that one day, the Prophet said to his Companions,

«أَيُّ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَعْجَبُ إِلَيْكُمْ إِيمَانًا؟»

قالوا: الملائكة. قال:

«وَكَيْفَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ وَهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِم»

؟ وذكروا الأنبياء، قال:

«وَكَيْفَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْوَحْيُ يَنْزِلُ عَلَيْهِمْ؟»

قالوا: فنحن. قال:

«وَكَيْفَ لَا تُؤْمِنُونَ وَأَنَا بَيْنَ أَظْهُرِكُمْ؟»

قالوا: فأي الناس أعجب إيمانًا؟ قال:

«قَوْمٌ يَجِيئُونَ مِنْ بَعْدِكُمْ يَجِدُونَ صُحُفًا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا فِيهَا»

("Who among the faithful believers do you consider has the most amazing faith" They said, "The angels." He said, "Why would they not believe, since they are with their Lord" They mentioned the Prophets, and the Prophet said, "Why would they not believe while the revelation is sent down to them" They said, "Then, we are." He said, "Why would not you believe when I am among you" They asked, "Who has the most amazing faith" The Prophet said, "A people who will come after you and who will find only books that they will believe in.")

Allah said next,

وَمَن يَعْتَصِم بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ هُدِىَ إِلَى صِرَطٍ مّسْتَقِيمٍ

(And whoever depends upon Allah, then he is indeed guided to the right path) 3:101 for trusting and relying on Allah are the basis of achieving the right guidance and staying away from the path of wickedness. They also represent the tool to acquiring guidance and truth and achieving the righteous aims.

How can you disbelieve this is an interrogative of amazement and rebuke while you have God’s verses recited to you and His Messenger is in your midst? Whoever holds fast to clings to God he is guided to a straight path.

Commentary

Several verses earlier, the text was dealing with the people of the Book, their false beliefs and their doubts. Then, appeared the mention of بیت اللہ Baytullah and Hajj. Now once again, the people of the Book are the addressees. These verses relate to a particular event. There was a Jew, Shammas ibn Qays, who harboured a chronic malice against Muslims. Once, when he saw two Ansar tribes, Aws and Khazraj, gathered together amiably at one place, his malevolence got the better of him and he went about looking for ways to sow seeds of discord between them. Finally, he set up a man suggesting to him that these two tribes have fought much long-drawn war in pre-Islam days and both parties had recited poetical compositions highlighting their tribal pride. So why not recite these self-congratulating poetical compositions while both sit together. The moment these poems were recited there, emotions rose high, there were charges and counter-charges to the limit that the place and time of a fresh war was all set. When the Holy Prophet ﷺ heard about this, he came to them and said: 'What is all this? Here I am present amidst you and you are doing this after having become Muslims and after having become united and friendly with each other. This is sheer ignorance. Do you want, in this state of yours, to revert to kufr?'

They took the warning to their hearts. They knew this was a slip caused by شیطان Satan. They embraced each other, wept and repented. These verses were revealed in the background of this event.

This event appears in Ruh al-Ma'ani as narrated by Ibn Ishaq while there are others who narrate it from Zaid ibn Aslam. This subject continues through several verses after this. Here, the verses begin with an admonition to the people of the Book who had engineered this in triage, and this admonition has been done with great eloquence when, before admonishing them for what they did, they were taken to task for their disbelief as well, which meant that it would have made better sense if they themselves had taken to the right path, and become Muslims, rather than devoting themselves to distract others to the wrong track. Following this, Muslims have been addressed, and served with a word of caution, especially when they have by their side, the Book and the Messenger of Allah, two powerful, never-failing sources, which would help them stay firm in their belief.

The expression وَمَن يَعْتَصِم بِاللَّـهِ ,'translated as 'And whoever holds on to Allah' means one who stays firm in, and totally committed to, his ایمان 'iman or faith, for اعتصام 'i` tisam', the act of holding on to Allah firmly, denotes that one should affirm His Being and His Attributes, be staunchly faithful to what He has ordained, and in the process, be sure not to be lured into supporting the position of any adversary whoever that may be. One who acts in this manner 'is surely guided to the straight path'. It means that such a person is on the 'straight path', and being on the 'straight path' is the key to all that is good and beneficial which the Word of Allah promises to him.

(How can ye disbelieve�.) [3:101]. Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Hiri informed us> Muhammad ibn Ya'qub> al-'Abbas al-Duri> Abu Nu'aym al-Fadl ibn Dukayn> Qays ibn al-Rabi'> al-Agharr> Khalifah ibn Husayn> Abu Nasr> Ibn 'Abbas who said: �The Aws and the Khazraj had a feud in the pre-Islamic period. One day, they mentioned to each other what had happened in that period and this led them to brandish their swords at each others. Upon being informed of what was happening, the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, went to them and this verse was revealed (How can ye disbelieve, when it is ye unto whom Allah's revelations are recited, and His messenger is in your midst?) up to His saying (And hold fast, all of you together, to the cable of Allah, and do not separate) [3:103]�. Al-Sharif Isma'il ibn al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Naqib informed us> his grandfather Muhammad ibn al-Husayn> Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Hafiz> Hatim ibn Yunus al-Jurjani> Ibrahim ibn Abi al-Layth> al-Ashja'i> Sufyan> Khalifah ibn Husayn> Abu Nasr> Ibn 'Abbas who said: �The Aws and the Khazraj were one day talking and became angry with each other to the extent that war nearly broke out between them. They had taken arms and marched toward each other. Then the verse (How can ye disbelieve, when it is ye unto whom Allah's revelations are recited) up to His saying (He did save you from it�)�.