2:63 Al-Baqara (The Cow)

واذكروا -يا بني إسرائيل- حين أَخَذْنا العهد المؤكَّد منكم بالإيمان بالله وإفراده بالعبادة، ورفعنا جبل الطور فوقكم، وقلنا لكم: خذوا الكتاب الذي أعطيناكم بجدٍ واجتهاد واحفظوه، وإلا أطبقنا عليكم الجبل، ولا تنسوا التوراة قولا وعملا كي تتقوني وتخافوا عقابي.

أي: واذكروا { إِذْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَكُمْ } وهو العهد الثقيل المؤكد بالتخويف لهم, برفع الطور فوقهم وقيل لهم: { خُذُوا مَا آتَيْنَاكُمْ } من التوراة { بِقُوَّةٍ } أي: بجد واجتهاد, وصبر على أوامر الله، { وَاذْكُرُوا مَا فِيهِ } أي: ما في كتابكم بأن تتلوه وتتعلموه، { لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ } عذاب الله وسخطه, أو لتكونوا من أهل التقوى.

يقول تعالى مذكرا بني إسرائيل ما أخذ عليهم من العهود والمواثيق بالإيمان به وحده لا شريك له واتباع رسله وأخبر تعالى أنه لما أخذ عليهم الميثاق رفع الجبل فوق رؤسهم ليقروا بما عوهدوا عليه ويأخذوه بقوة وجزم وامتثال كما قال تعالى "وإذ نتقنا الجبل فوقهم كأنه ظلة وظنوا أنه واقع بهم خذوا ما آتيناكم بقوة واذكروا ما فيه لعلكم تتقون" فالطور هو الجبل كما فسره به في الأعراف ونص على ذلك ابن عباس ومجاهد وعطاء وعكرمة والحسن والضحاك والربيع بن أنس وغير واحد وهذا ظاهر وفي رواية عن ابن عباس الطور ما أنبت من الجبال وما لم ينبت فليس بطور وفي حديث الفتون عن ابن عباس أنهم لما امتنعوا عن الطاعة رفع عليهم الجبل ليسمعوا. وقال السدي: فلما أبوا أن يسجدوا أمر الله الجبل أن يقع عليهم فنظروا إليه وقد غشيهم فسقطوا سجدوا فسجدوا على شق ونظروا بالشق الآخر فرحمهم الله فكشفه عنهم فقالوا والله ما سجدة أحب إلى الله من سجدة كشف بها العذاب عنهم فهم يسجدون كذلك وذلك قول الله تعالى "ورفعنا فوقكم الطور" وقال الحسن في قوله "خذوا ما آتيناكم بقوة" يعني التوراة وقال أبو العالية والربيع بن أنس بقوة أي بطاعة وقال مجاهد: بقوة بعمل بما فيه وقال قتادة "خذوا ما آتيناكم بقوة" قوة الجد وإلا قذفته عليكم. قال: فأقروا بذلك أنهم يأخذون ما أوتوا بقوة ومعنى قوله وإلا قذفته عليكم أي أسقطه عليكم يعني الجبل. وقال أبو العالية والربيع "واذكروا ما فيه" يقول اقرءوا ما في التوراة واعملوا به.

And mention when We made a covenant with you your pledge to act according to what is in the Torah and We had raised above you the Mount which We uprooted from the earth and placed above you when you refused to accept it sc. the Torah and We said ‘Take forcefully seriously and with effort what We have given you and remember what is in it acting in accordance with it so that you might preserve yourselves’ from the Fire or acts of disobedience.

Having received the Torah from Allah, Sayyidna Musa (Moses علیہ السلام) returned from Mount Tur طور (Sinai) and recited it to the Israelites. The injunctions contained in the Book were rather rigorous, but their conduct and habits of mind really called for such strict discipline. To begin with, they replied that they would not obey the injunctions until and unless Allah Himself told them that it was His book. Seventy men, as we have related above, were selected to go to Mount Tur and to hear Allah attest the authenticity of the Torah. On their re-turn, they bore witness to the Torah being a Book of Allah, but added something on their own to what Allah had actually said. For, they told the Israelites that Allah had allowed them to act upon the injunctions only as much as they could, and had promised to forgive them for what they could not accomplish. They had always and instinctively been prone to rebellion against Allah, then, the injunctions were, no doubt, stern, and now they got a new pretext for being negligent. So, the Israelites flatly refused to obey the injunctions, insisting that it was beyond their endurance to act upon such harsh regulations. In reply to this insolence, Allah commanded the angels to raise Mount Tur and let it hang in the air above their heads as a threat that if they did not fulfill their covenant with Allah, it would fall on them and crush them. The Israelites, then, had no choice but to submit.

A doubt is quite likely to arise here. The Holy Qur'an says in another place that force should not be used to make a man change his religion, while in the present instance it appears that force is being used. But, in fact, force is not being used to make the Israelites change their religion, for they had already accepted Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) as a prophet of Allah, and willingly made a covenant with Allah that they would act upon the Book of Allah, if one was given to them. So, they now stand as rebels, and are being threatened with dire punishment for persisting in their rebellion. This is exactly how even a secular state deals with rebels, and how it adopts towards them an attitude quite different from that towards aliens or enemies, for it leaves only two ways open to the rebel -- either to submit himself, or to lose his life. That is why it is only an apostate (Murtadd مُرتد ) who is, according to the Islamic Shari` ah, condemned to capital punishment, and not an outright disbeliever. Moreover, the Israelites were being threatened with death as criminals and offenders against the law which they acknowledged to be the divine law, but which they refused to obey.