5:76 Al-Maaida (The Table)

أي: { قُلْ ْ} لهم أيها الرسول: { أَتَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ ْ} من المخلوقين الفقراء المحتاجين، { ما لَا يَمْلِكُ لَكُمْ ضَرًّا وَلَا نَفْعًا ْ} وتدعون من انفرد بالضر والنفع والعطاء والمنع، { وَاللَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ ْ} لجميع الأصوات باختلاف اللغات، على تفنن الحاجات. { الْعَلِيمُ ْ} بالظواهر والبواطن، والغيب والشهادة، والأمور الماضية والمستقبلة، فالكامل تعالى الذي هذه أوصافه هو الذي يستحق أن يفرد بجميع أنواع العبادة، ويخلص له الدين.

يقول تعالى منكرا على من عبد غيره من الأصنام والأنداد والأوثان ومبينا له أنها لا تستحق شيئا من الإلهية فقال تعالى قل أي يا محمد لهؤلاء العابدين غير الله من سائر فرق بني آدم ودخل في ذلك النصارى وغيرهم" أتعبدون من دون الله ما لا يملك لكم ضرا ولا نفعا" أي لا يقدر علي دفع ضر عنكم ولا إيصال نفع إليكم" والله هو السميع العليم" أي السميع لأقوال عباده العليم بكل شيء فلم عدلتم عنه إلى عبادة جماد لا يسمع ولا يبصر ولا يعلم شيئا ولا يملك ضرا ولا نفعا لغيره ولا لنفسه.

The Prohibition of Shirk (Polytheism) and Exaggeration in the Religion

Allah admonishes those who take up rivals with Him and worship the idols, monuments and false deities. Allah states that such false deities do not deserve any degree of Divinity. Allah said,

قُلْ

(Say) O Muhammad, to those from among the Children of Adam, such as the Christians, who worship other than Allah,

أَتَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لاَ يَمْلِكُ لَكُمْ ضَرّاً وَلاَ نَفْعاً

(How do you worship besides Allah something which has no power either to harm or to benefit you) meaning, which cannot prevent harm for you nor bring about your benefit,

وَاللَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ

(But it is Allah Who is the All-Hearer, All-Knower.) He hears what His servants say and has knowledge of all things. Therefore, how did you worship inanimate objects that do not hear, see or know anything - having no power to bring harm or benefit to themselves let alone others - instead of worshipping Allah Allah then said,

قُلْ يَـأَهْلَ الْكِتَـبِ لاَ تَغْلُواْ فِى دِينِكُمْ غَيْرَ الْحَقِّ

(Say: "O People of the Scipture! Exceed not the limits in your religion beyond the truth,) Meaning: Do not exceed the limits concerning the truth and exaggeration in praising whom you were commanded to honor. You exaggerated in his case and elevated him from the rank of Prophet to the rank of a god. You did this with `Isa, who was a Prophet, yet you claimed that he is god besides Allah. This error occurred because you followed your teachers, the advocates of misguidance who came before your time and who,

وَأَضَلُّواْ كَثِيراً وَضَلُّواْ عَن سَوَآءِ السَّبِيلِ

(...and who misled many, and strayed (themselves) from the right path,) deviated from the straight path, to the path of misguidance and deviation.

Say ‘Do you worship besides God that is other than Him what cannot hurt or profit you? God is the Hearer of your sayings the Knower’ of your circumstances the interrogative is meant as a disavowal.

Commentary

1. The words: إِنَّ اللَّـهَ ثَالِثُ ثَلَاثَةٍ in verse 72, translated here literally as ` Allah is the third of the three,' refers to Sayyidna Masih (Jesus Christ), Ruhul-Quds (The Holy Spirit) and Allah, or to Masih, Maryam (Mary) and Allah - with all three taken as God (Refuge with Allah). Thus, Allah becomes a one-third partner with them, then all three of them become one, and that one is three. This unity in trinity, with three persons in one godhead, is the common belief of Christians. They explain this belief which is supported by neither reason nor revelation with a language that is kept circuitous and ambiguous. When not un-derstood, they declare it to be reality beyond comprehension. (Shabbir Ahmad Usmani - Notes)

2. In verse 75, by saying: قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ الرُّ‌سُلُ (There have been messengers before him), the assigning of godhood to Sayyidna Masih (علیہ السلام) has been refuted. Prophets came to this world. They completed their mission. Then, they were gone. They were not eternal which is the mark of godhood. Similarly, Sayyidna Masih, may peace be upon him (being human like them) was not eternal. So, he cannot be what God is.

A little reflection will show that everyone who needs to eat and drink almost depends on everything in the world. We cannot say that the earth, the air, the water, the sun and the animals are what we do not need. Look into your own self. There is that grain of food outside you, then begins its journey from the entry into the stomach to the next destination of its digestion. Think of all those factors involved and things required directly and indirectly in this complex procedure. Then, there will be a chain of effects generated through eating and no one can tell precisely how far will they go. So, by pointing out that Sayyidna Masih and his pious mother used to eat, the Holy Qur'an has referred to the endless chain of needs it entails. The argument, thus runs that Masih and Maryam, may peace be upon them both, were not free of the need for eating and drinking which is proved by observation and authentic narrations (not denied by even Christians). And anyone who is not free from the need of eating and drinking cannot be free from anything in this world. How then, a human person, who like all human beings is not free of the need to depend on the chain of causa-tion for survival, could become God? This is a strong and clear proof which can be understood by the educated and the uneducated alike - that is, eating and drinking is contrary to godhood. Though, not eating too is not a proof in favour of godhood, otherwise all angels would become gods! (Refuge with Allah) (Tafsir Usmani)

3. Was Sayyidah Maryam a prophet or saint? This is a debated issue. In the present verse (75), the complimentary use of the word "Siddiqah" (truthful) obviously seems to indicate that she was a godly person, not a Nabiyy ( prophet) - because on a complimentary occasion, what is mentioned is the higher rank. If she had the station of prophethood, the word used for her at this place would have been "Nabiyyah"- but, the word used here is "Siddiqah" which is the station of sainthood or godliness (abridged from Ruh al-Ma` ani).

According to the majority of Muslim scholars, the station of Nu-buwwah (prophethood) has never appeared among women. This mission has been particular with men:

وَمَا أَرْ‌سَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ إِلَّا رِ‌جَالًا نُّوحِي إِلَيْهِم مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْقُرَ‌ىٰ

And We have not sent any (one) before you but men to whom We revealed from among the peoples of the towns - Surah Yusuf, 12 : 109. (Tafsir Usmani)