3:99 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.

هذا تعنيف من الله تعالى للكفرة أهل الكتاب على عنادهم للحق وكفرهم بآيات الله وصدهم عن سبيل الله من أراده من أهل الإيمان بجهدهم وطاقتهم مع علمهم بأن ما جاء به الرسول حق من الله وبما عندهم من العلم عن الأنبياء الأقدمين والسادة المرسلين صلوات الله وسلامه عليهم أجمعين وما بشروا به ونوهوا به من ذكر النبي الأمي الهاشمي العربي المكي سيد ولد آدم وخاتم الأنبياء ورسول رب الأرض والسماء وقد توعدهم الله على ذلك وأخبرهم بأنه شهيد على صنيعهم ذلك بما خالفوا ما بأيديهم عن الأنبياء ومعاملتهم الرسول المبشر به بالتكذيب والجحود والعناد فأخبر تعالى أنه ليس بغافل عما يعملون أي وسيجزيهم على ذلك "يوم لا ينفع مال ولا بنون".

Chastising the People of the Book for Their Disbelief and Blocking the Path of Allah

In this Ayah Allah criticizes the disbelieving People of the Book for refusing the truth, rejecting Allah's Ayat and hindering those who seek to believe from His path, although they know that what the Messenger was sent with is the truth from Allah. They learned this from the previous Prophets and honorable Messengers, may Allah's peace and blessings be on them all. They all brought the glad tidings and the good news of the coming of the unlettered, Arab, Hashimi Prophet from Makkah, the master of the Children of Adam, the Final Prophet and the Messenger of the Lord of heavens and earth. Allah has warned the People of the Book against this behavior, stating that He is Witness over what they do, indicating their defiance of the knowledge conveyed to them by the Prophets. They rejected, denied and refused the very Messenger whom they were ordered to convey the glad tidings about his coming. Allah states that He is never unaware of what they do, and He will hold them responsible for their actions, R

يَوْمَ لاَ يَنفَعُ مَالٌ وَلاَ بَنُونَ

(The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail) 26:88.

Say ‘O People of the Scripture why do you bar believers causing them to turn away from God’s way His religion by denying the truth of the Prophet and concealing His graces desiring to make it crooked ‘iwajan is the verbal noun meaning mu‘awwajatan ‘made crooked’ inclining away from the truth while you yourselves are witnesses while you know that the religion which is upright and pleasing to God is that of Islam as stated in your Book? God is not heedless of what you do’ in the way of unbelief and mendacity; instead He gives you respite until your appointed time and then requites you.

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.