3:73 Aal-i-Imraan (The Family of Imraan)

{ و } قال بعضهم لبعض { لا تؤمنوا إلا لمن تبع دينكم } أي: لا تثقوا ولا تطمئنوا ولا تصدقوا إلا من تبع دينكم، واكتموا أمركم، فإنكم إذا أخبرتم غيركم وغير من هو على دينكم حصل لهم من العلم ما حصل لكم فصاروا مثلكم، أو حاجوكم عند ربكم وشهدوا عليكم أنها قامت عليكم الحجة وتبين لكم الهدى فلم تتبعوه، فالحاصل أنهم جعلوا عدم إخبار المؤمنين بما معهم من العلم قاطعا عنهم العلم، لأن العلم بزعمهم لا يكون إلا عندهم وموجبا للحجة عليهم، فرد الله عليهم بأن { الهدى هدى الله } فمادة الهدى من الله تعالى لكل من اهتدى، فإن الهدى إما علم الحق، أو إيثارة، ولا علم إلا ما جاءت به رسل الله، ولا موفق إلا من وفقه الله، وأهل الكتاب لم يؤتوا من العلم إلا قليلا، وأما التوفيق فقد انقطع حظهم منه لخبث نياتهم وسوء مقاصدهم، وأما هذه الأمة فقد حصل لهم ولله الحمد من هداية الله من العلوم والمعارف مع العمل بذلك ما فاقوا به وبرزوا على كل أحد، فكانوا هم الهداة الذين يهدون بأمر الله، وهذا من فضل الله عليها وإحسانه العظيم، فلهذا قال تعالى { قل إن الفضل بيد الله } أي: الله هو الذي يحسن على عباده بأنواع الإحسان { يؤتيه من يشاء } ممن أتى بأسبابه { والله واسع } الفضل كثير الإحسان { عليم } بمن يصلح للإحسان فيعطيه، ومن لا يستحقه فيحرمه إياه.

وقوله تعالى "ولا تؤمنوا إلا لمن تبع دينكم" أي تطمئنوا وتظهروا سركم وما عندكم إلا لمن تبع دينكم ولا تظهروا ما بأيديكم إلى المسلمين فيؤمنوا به ويحتجوا به عليكم. قال الله تعالى "قل إن الهدى هدى الله" أي هو الذي يهدي قلوب المؤمنين إلى أتم الإيمان بما ينزله على عبده ورسوله محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم من الآيات البينات والدلائل القاطعات والحجج الواضحات وإن كتمتم أيها اليهود ما بأيديكم من صفة محمد النبي الأمي في كتبكم التي نقلتموها عن الأنبياء الأقدمين وقوله "أن يؤتى أحد مثل ما أوتيتم أو يحاجوكم عند ربكم" يقولون لا تظهروا ما عندكم من العلم للمسلمين فيتعلموه منكم ويساوونكم فيه ويمتازون به عليكم لشدة الإيمان به أو يحاجوكم به عند ربكم أي يتخذوه حجة عليكم بما في أيديكم فتقوم به عليكم الدلالة وترتكب الحجة في الدنيا والآخرة قال الله تعالى "قل إن الفضل بيد الله يؤتيه من يشاء" أي الأمور كلها تحت تصرفه وهو المعطي المانع يمن على من يشاء بالإيمان والعلم والتصرف التام ويضل من يشاء فيعمي بصره وبصيرته ويختم على قلبه وسمعه ويجعل على بصره غشاوة وله الحجة التامة والحكمة البالغة.

The Envy the Jews Feel Towards Muslims; Their Wicked Plots Against Muslims

Allah states that the Jews envy the faithful and wish they could misguide them. Allah states that the punishment of this behavior will fall back upon them, while they are unaware. Allah criticizes them,

يأَهْلَ الْكِتَـبِ لِمَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِأَيَـتِ اللَّهِ وَأَنتُمْ تَشْهَدُونَ

(O People of the Scripture!: Why do you disbelieve in the Ayat of Allah, while you bear witness.)

You know for certain that Allah's Ayat are true and authentic,

يأَهْلَ الْكِتَـبِ لِمَ تَلْبِسُونَ الْحَقَّ بِالْبَـطِلِ وَتَكْتُمُونَ الْحَقَّ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

(O People of the Scripture: Why do you mix truth with falsehood and conceal the truth while you know) by hiding what is in your Books about the description of Muhammad , while you know what you do.

وَقَالَت طَّآئِفَةٌ مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَـبِ ءَامِنُواْ بِالَّذِي أُنزِلَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَجْهَ النَّهَارِ وَاكْفُرُواْ ءَاخِرَهُ

(And a party of the People of the Scripture say: "Believe in the morning in that which is revealed to the believers, and reject it at the end of the day,)

This is a wicked plan from the People of the Book to deceive Muslims who are weak in the religion. They decided that they would pretend to be believers in the beginning of the day, by attending the dawn prayer with the Muslims. However, when the day ended, they would revert to their old religion so that the ignorant people would say, "They reverted to their old religion because they uncovered some shortcomings in the Islamic religion." This is why they said next.

لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ

(so that they may turn back.) Ibn Abi Najih said that Mujahid commented about this Ayah, which refers to the Jews, "They attended the dawn prayer with the Prophet and disbelieved in the end of the day in order to misguide the people. This way, people would think that they have uncovered shortcomings in the religion that they briefly followed."

وَلاَ تُؤْمِنُواْ إِلاَّ لِمَن تَبِعَ دِينَكُمْ

("And believe no one except the one who follows your religion.")

They said, do not trust anyone with your secret knowledge, except those who follow your religion. Therefore, they say, do not expose your knowledge to Muslims in order to prevent them from believing in it and, thus, use it as proof against you. Allah replied,

قُلْ إِنَّ الْهُدَى هُدَى اللَّهِ

(Say: (O Prophet) "Verily, right guidance is the guidance of Allah.")

Allah guides the hearts of the faithful to the perfect faith through the clear Ayat, plain proofs and unequivocal evidence that He has sent down to His servant and Messenger Muhammad ﷺ. This occurs, O you Jews, even though you hide the description of Muhammad . the unlettered Prophet whom you find in your Books that you received from the earlier Prophets. Allah's statement;

أَن يُؤْتَى أَحَدٌ مِّثْلَ مَآ أُوتِيتُمْ أَوْ يُحَآجُّوكُمْ عِندَ رَبِّكُمْ

((And they say: ) "Do not believe that anyone can receive like that which you have received, otherwise they would engage you in argument before your Lord.")

They say, "Do not disclose the knowledge that you have to the Muslims, to prevent them from learning it and thus becoming your equals. They will be even better because they will believe in it or will use it against you as evidence with your Lord, and thus establish Allah's proof against you in this life and the Hereafter." Allah said,

قُلْ إِنَّ الْفَضْلَ بِيَدِ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَن يَشَآءُ

(Say: "All the bounty is in the Hand of Allah; He grants to whom He wills.) meaning, all affairs are under His control, and He gives and takes. Verily, Allah gives faith, knowledge and sound comprehension to whomever He wills. He also misguides whomever He wills by blinding his sight, mind, sealing his heart, hearing and stamping his eyes closed. Allah has the perfect wisdom and the unequivocal proofs.

وَاللَّهُ وَسِعٌ عَلِيمٌيَخْتَصُّ بِرَحْمَتِهِ مَن يَشَآءُ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ

(And Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures' needs, All-Knower." He selects for His mercy whom He wills and Allah is the Owner of great bounty.) meaning, He has endowed you, O believers, with tremendous virtue, in that He honored your Prophet Muhammad ﷺ over all other prophets, and by directing you to the best Shari`ah there is.

And they also said And do not believe except in one who the lām of li-man ‘in one who’ is extra follows accords with your religion’. God exalted be He says Say to them O Muhammad (s) ‘True guidance is God’s guidance that is Islam everything else being error this statement is parenthetical — that an and what follows is the direct object of the verb wa-lā tu’minū ‘do not believe’ anyone should be given the like of what you have been given of the Book wisdom and of the virtues the term ahad ‘anyone’ from whom the exclusion is being made precedes that which is being excluded ‘the like of what you have been given’ the meaning being ‘Do not affirm that anyone should be given this unless they follow your religion’; or that they the believers should dispute with you that they should prevail over you before your Lord’ on the Day of Resurrection for you have the sounder religion a variant reading has a-an ‘such that’ the extra hamza denoting rebuke in other words the Jews say do not believe that another has been given the like of it such that you might affirm it. God exalted be He says Say ‘Surely bounty is in God’s Hand; He gives it to whomever He will so how can you say that no one else will be given what you have been given? God is Embracing of ample bounty Knowing those who deserve it.

Some from among the people of the Book chose a strategy of deception in order to mislead Muslims. According to their agreed plan, they would declare their belief in the Qur'an in the morning and then reject it in the evening. They thought that this quick about-turn would create doubts in the minds of Muslims about Qur'an and Islam and they might turn away from their faith thinking that there must be something wrong with Islam visible to such learned people who were open-minded enough to accept it first. They also made it a point to re-serve their feinted declaration of belief in Islam to hoodwink Muslims only! Their true belief, they planned, would be affirmed before none but only those who follow their own creed. The rule was: Sincerity with the later, expediency with the former!

That these tricks are low is proved later in Verse 73 when the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been asked to declare that their clever moves are not going to work for them since Guidance given to servants of Allah is certainly from Allah. So, it is He who, with Guidance in His control, can make whoever He will steadfast on that Guidance. No one can succeed in weaning such a person away from it with any trick, plan or enticement whatsoever.

The reason why they act in the way they do is envy, that is, they envy Muslims as to why they were given the Scripture, or they envy their supremacy in religious argument. It is because of this envy that they keep working to bring about the downfall of Islam and of the community that adheres to it.

That this envy is based on not knowing the nature, timing and wisdom of Allah's grace and mercy is explained in the later part of verse 73 and in verse 74.

Do not have faith in any but those who follow your religion. Say: “Surely the guidance is God's guidance,” lest anyone should be given the like of what you have been given, or dispute with you before your Lord. Say: “Surely the bounty is in God's hand. He gives it to whomso- ever He wills.” And God is all-embracing, knowing. Some of the commentators have said that here God is addressing the Muslims and caressing the folk of recognition and faith. He is reminding them of His favor toward them with the religion of the submission. The address then has two paths. In one respect it is addressed to the common faithful of this community, and in the other respect it is addressed to the recognizers and the elect among the folk of the Tariqah. The first respect is this: “O assembly of submitters! Do not suppose or hold firm that anyone has been given what has been given to you. There is no religion like the religion of the submission, and it was given to you. There is no book like the Qur'an, and it was given to you. There is no prophet like MuḤammad, and he was given to you. There is no month like Ramadan, and it belongs to you. There is no day like Friday, and it belongs to you. All the shariahs have been abrogated by your shariah, and all the compacts have been abrogated by your compact. The perfection of the religion and the Shariah and the beauty of the Tariqah and the Haqiqah are all in your covenant.” This is in His words, “Today I have perfected your religion for you and I have completed My bless- ings upon you and I have approved the submission for you as a religion” [5:3]. “Now give gratitude for this blessing, give thanks to your Object of worship, and obey the command. The command is this: 'Do not have faith in any but those who follow your religion.' Do not exercise friendship with any but those who share your religion, and do not show brother- hood to any but the faithful. Keep away from the irreligious and the estranged.” This is just what He says in this verse: “Do not lean upon those who do wrong, lest the Fire touch you” [11:113].