98:2 Al-Bayyina (The Evidence)

ثم فسر تلك البينة فقال: { رَسُولٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ } أي: أرسله الله، يدعو الناس إلى الحق، وأنزل عليه كتابًا يتلوه، ليعلم الناس الحكمة ويزكيهم، ويخرجهم من الظلمات إلى النور{ يَتْلُو صُحُفًا مُطَهَّرَةً } أي: محفوظة عن قربان الشياطين، لا يمسها إلا المطهرون، لأنها في أعلى ما يكون من الكلام.

ثم فسر البينة بقوله "رسول من الله يتلوا صحف مطهرة" يعني محمدا وما يتلوه من القرآن العظيم الذي هو مكتتب في الملأ الأعلى في صحف مطهرة كقوله " في صحف مكرمة مرفوعة مطهرة بأيدي سفرة كرام بررة".

Which was revealed in Madina

The Messenger of Allah recited this Surah to Ubayy

Imam Ahmad recorded from Anas bin Malik that the Messenger of Allah said to Ubayy bin Ka`b,

«إِنَّ اللهَ أَمَرَنِي أَنْ أَقْرَأَ عَلَيْكَ»

لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَـبِ

(Verily, Allah has commanded me to recite to you (Those who disbelieve from among the People of the Scripture.)) Ubayy said, "He (Allah) mentioned me by name to you" The Prophet replied,

«نَعَم»

(Yes.) So he (Ubayy) cried. Al-Bukhari, Muslim, At-Tirmidhi and An-Nasa'i all recorded this Hadith from Shu`bah.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Mentioning the Situation of the Disbelievers among the People of the Scripture and the Idolators

As for the People of the Scripture, they are the Jews and the Christians, and the idolators are the worshippers of idols and fire among the Arabs and the non-Arabs. Mujahid said, they are not going

مُنفَكِّينَ

(to leave) "Meaning, they will not be finished until the truth becomes clear to them." Qatadah also said the same thing.

حَتَّى تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةُ

(until there came to them the Bayyinah.) meaning, this Qur'an. This is why Allah says,

لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَـبِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ مُنفَكِّينَ حَتَّى تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةُ

(Those who disbelieve from among the People of the Scripture and idolators, were not going to leave until there came to them the Bayyinah.) Then He explains what the Bayyinah is by His saying,

رَسُولٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ يَتْلُو صُحُفاً مُّطَهَّرَةً

(A Messenger from Allah, reciting purified pages.) meaning, Muhammad and the Magnificent Qur'an he recites, which is written down among the most high gathering in purified pages. This is similar to Allah's statement,

فَى صُحُفٍ مُّكَرَّمَةٍ - مَّرْفُوعَةٍ مُّطَهَّرَةٍ - بِأَيْدِى سَفَرَةٍ - كِرَامٍ بَرَرَةٍ

(In Records held in honor. Exalted, purified, in the hands of scribes (angels). Honorable and obedient.) (80:13-16) Then Allah says,

فِيهَا كُتُبٌ قَيِّمَةٌ

(Wherein are upright Books.) Ibn Jarir said, "Meaning in the purified pages are Books from Allah that are upright, just and straight. They have no mistakes in them because they are from Allah, the Mighty and Majestic."

The Differing only occurred after the Knowledge came

Allah says,

وَمَا تَفَرَّقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُواْ الْكِتَـبَ إِلاَّ مِن بَعْدِ مَا جَآءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةُ

(And the People of the Scripture differed not until after there came to them the Bayyinah.) This is similar to Allah's statement,

وَلاَ تَكُونُواْ كَالَّذِينَ تَفَرَّقُواْ وَاخْتَلَفُواْ مِن بَعْدِ مَا جَآءَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَـتُ وَأُوْلَـئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

(And be not as those who divided and differed among themselves after the Bayyinat came to them. It is they for whom there is an awful torment.) (3:105) This refers to the people of those divinely revealed Scriptures that were sent down to the nations that were before us. After Allah established the proofs and evidences against them, they divided and differed concerning that which Allah had intended in their Scriptures, and they had many differences. This is like what has been reported in a Hadith that has many routes of transmission,

«إِنَّ الْيَهُودَ اخْتَلَفُوا عَلَى إِحْدَى وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، وَإِنَّ النَّصَارَى اخْتَلَفُوا عَلى ثِنْتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، وَسَتَفْتَرِقُ هَذِهِ الْأُمَّةُ عَلَى ثَلَاثٍ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، كُلُّهَا فِي النَّارِ إِلَّا وَاحِدَة»

(Verily, the Jews differed until they became seventy-one sects. And verily, the Christians differed until they became seventy-two sects. And this Ummah will divide into seventy-three sects, and all of them will be in the Fire except one.) They said, "Who are they, O Messenger of Allah" He replied,

«مَا أَنَا عَلَيْهِ وَأَصْحَابِي»

((Those who are upon) what I and my Companions are upon.)

The Command of Allah was merely that They make their Religion solely for Him

Allah says,

وَمَآ أُمِرُواْ إِلاَّ لِيَعْبُدُواْ اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ

(And they were commanded not, but that they should worship Allah, making religion purely for Him alone,) This is similar to Allah's statement,

وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلاَّ نُوحِى إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ لا إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ أَنَاْ فَاعْبُدُونِ

(And We did not send any Messenger before you but We revealed to him: La ilaha illa Ana.) (21:25) Thus, Allah says,

حُنَفَآءَ

(Hunafa') meaning, avoiding Shirk and being truly devout to Tawhid. This is like Allah's statement,

وَلَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِى كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولاً أَنِ اعْبُدُواْ اللَّهَ وَاجْتَنِبُواْ الْطَّـغُوتَ

(And Verily, We have sent among every Ummah a Messenger (proclaiming): "Worship Allah, and avoid the Taghut (false deities).") (16:36) A discussion of the word Hanif has already been mentioned previously and in Surat Al-An`am, so there is no need to repeat it here.

وَيُقِيمُواْ الصَّلَوةَ

(and perform Salah) And this is the best of the physical forms of worship.

وَيُؤْتُواْ الزَّكَوةَ

(and give Zakah,) This is doing good to the poor and the needy.

وَذَلِكَ دِينُ القَيِّمَةِ

(and that is the right religion.) meaning, the upright and just religion, or the nation that is straight and balanced.

a messenger from God rasūlun mina’Llāhi substitutes for al-bayyinatu ‘the clear proof’ namely the Prophet s reciting pages purified of all falsehood

Verses [ 2-3] يَتْلُو صُحُفًا مُّطَهَّرَ‌ةً فِيهَا كُتُبٌ قَيِّمَةٌ (a messenger from Allah who recites the purified scrolls containing [ right and ] straight writings. - 98:2, 3) The verb yatlu is derived from the infinitive tilawah, meaning 'to read out or to recite'. However, not every reading or reciting is tilawah, but only the one that is very closely followed according to the teacher's instruction. Probably, this is the reason why the word tilawah is specifically used, in common idiom, for 'the recitation of the noble Qur'an'. The word suhuf is the plural of sahifah and it refers to 'a leaf or a page of a book or some leaves of paper on which something is written'. The word kutub is the plural of kitab and it may mean: [ 1] a leaf or page of a book or some leaves of paper on which something is written. From this point of view, the words kutub and suhuf are synonyms; or [ 2] now and then the word kitab [ pl. kutub ] is used in the sense of a 'writ ' as in [ 8:68] لَّوْلَا كِتَابٌ مِّنَ اللَّـهِ سَبَقَ "Had there not been a writ from Allah which came earlier..." the word kitab is used in the sense of a 'writ'. In this context, the second sense seems to fit in more appropriately because if it is taken in the first sense, the words kutub and suhuf, being synonyms, the prepositional phrase fiha is rendered meaningless. The pronoun -ha in the phrase refers to suhuf, and the two statements would mean: 'reciting purified written pages in which are true written pages'. This is not in keeping with the lofty rules and principles of Qur'anic eloquence.

The word مُطَھَّرَۃً mutahharatan [ purified ] is an adjective qualifying the noun suhuf [ pages/scrolls ]. According to Ibn ` Abbas ؓ ، the Scriptures are completely free from all possible flaws, forgeries, doubt, hypocrisy and deviations. The word qayyimah is used in the sense of 'straight', and is the adjective of the noun kutub, and it means its laws, ordinances and injunctions are upright, straight, just and balanced. It could also mean 'lasting and permanent'. In this instance, the phrase would signify that the Divine injunctions of the Holy Qur'an will last permanently till the Day of Judgment. The verse thus purports to say that the sending of the Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ [ as the Clear Proof ] was essential to the transformation of the people of earlier revelations and the pagans who had ended up in disbelief and could not have departed from their erring ways without the help of his ﷺ Prophetic mission. His mission was to recite the pure scrolls to them which contained clear Divine injunctions. Initially he did not recite from the Scriptures but from his memory, but the sense here is that he recited to them a discourse that was later written and preserved in scrolls. The Qur'an [ as the Clear Proof ] is the compendium of all that is good, lasting and immutable teachings.