The Breachers of the Covenant

83. " And (remember) when We made a covenant with the Children of Israel (instructing) : ' You shall not worship any but Allah; and (you shall do) good to (your) parents, and to the near of kin and to the orphans, and the needy, and speak kind words to people, keep up the prayer, and pay the poor-rates (zakat) '.

Then you turned away, except a few of you, and you backslide (even now) ."

84. " And (remember) when We made a covenant with you:

' You shall not shed your blood, nor expel one another from your dwellings ', then you confirmed it while you bore witness."

85. " Yet you kill one another and expel a group of your people from their dwellings, helping others against them in sin and enmity, and if they come to you as captives, you ransom them yet their very expulsion was forbidden for you.

Do you then believe in part of the Book, and disbelieve in (another) part ?

What shall be the recompense of those of you who do that, but disgrace, in the life of this world, and on the Day of Resurrection to be consigned to the most terrible punishment? And Allah is not heedless of what you do."

86. " Those are they who have bought the life of this world at the price of the Hereafter, for them the punishment shall not be lightened, nor shall they be helped."

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Commentary :

The Breachers of the Covenant !

In a few of the verses mentioned before, the covenant of the Children of Israel was hinted at, but no details were given about it. Through the verses under discussion, Allah reminds them of some of the items of this covenant. Most of these items or all of them should be counted as the fundamental principles and permanent laws of the Divine religions, because this same covenant and these instructions, in some form or other, are comprehensively found in every religion.

In these verses, the Qur'an severely scorns and blames the Jews because they broke their covenant, and threatens them with disgrace in the life of this world and the most grievous punishment in the Hereafter.

This covenant, that the Children of Israel were witnesses of and confessed to, contains the following items:

1. Monotheism and worshipping Allah, as the verse says:

" And (remember) when We made a covenant with the Children of Israel (instructing) : ' You shall not worship any but Allah; ..."

2. "... and (you shall do) good to (your) parents, ..."

3. "... and to the near of kin and to the orphans, and the needy, ..."

4. "... and speak kind words to people,..."

5. "... keep up the prayer,..."

6. "... and pay the poor-rates (zakat) .'..." "... Then you turned away, except a few of you, and you backslide (even now) ."

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And (remember) when We made a covenant with you: ' You shall not shed your blood,..."

8. "... nor expel one another from your dwellings', ..."

9. "... then you confirmed it while you bore witness."

(This item of the covenant is perceived from the sentence : " Do you then believe in part of the Book, and disbelieve in (another) part?")

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But you disregarded many of these aspects of your covenant with Allah.

" Yet you kill one another and expel a group of your people from their dwellings, ..." "... helping others against them in sin and enmity, ..."

All of these deeds you did are a breach of the covenant you had taken with Allah.

"... and if they come to you as captives, you ransom them ..." "... yet their very expulsion was forbidden for you. ..."

It is surprising that you, in paying ransom, and setting your captives free, comply with the ordinances of the Turah and the Divine Covenant:

"... Do you then believe in part of the Book, and disbelieve in (another) part ?..." "... What shall be the recompense of those of you who do that, but disgrace, in the life of this world, ..." "... and on the Day of Resurrection to be consigned to the most terrible punishment ?..." "... And Allah is not heedless of what you do."

Then, He, the Just, will take all of them into account and will judge upon you according to your deeds in the Divine Court of Justice.

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The last of the verses under discussion, in fact, states their main >motive for doing these contradictory actions. It says :

" Those are they who have bought the life of this world at the price of the Hereafter, ..." For this reason : "... for them the punishment shall not be lightened, nor shall they be helped."

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Explanation

The Best Strategy for the Survival of Nations

These verses have been revealed about the Children of Israel, but they contain a series of universal laws for the whole human race throughout the world. These laws consist of some advice for those nations who wish to survive and to exist successfully, as well as the secrets of failure and destruction.

From the view point of the Qur'an, nations will be happy and able to continue living when the individuals of that natio, avoiding sins, attach themselves to the greatest Power and rely on that Everlasting Source for help in all conditions. It is obvious that this Origin can be none but Allah, the Exalted. Therefore, they should obey Allah and bow only to Him, i.e. being sincere unto Him alone in obedience. If nations follow this law, they will be afraid of none. Genuine sincerity and perfect intentions of a believer in the way of Allah, do not tolerate the yielding of himself, in any regard, to anything or anybody else other than the One and Only True God, Allah. For it will mean the individual's surrender to his self which is nothing more than surrender to Satan which is the equivalent of worshipping him.

As it was already pointed out, the means of salvation, i.e. for a nation to survive and endure successfully, is firm adherence of its members to the Divine Covenant and their faithful and loyal attachment to the divinely commissioned guides. It is obvious that misdeeds or sins weaken faith, adherence, and the love of goodness, and the excess of it may result in the total severance of the Holy connection, and in the individuals becoming totally lost in the darkness of infidelity, hence eternal punishment and no salvation in either this world or the coming world will be the result for such a nation.

These verses of the Holy Qur'an, if studied properly and judged dispassionately almost suffice to illustrate what is meant by the religion Islam and what kind of life Islam invites its believers, or all nations to live. And if the members of nations act upon these commandments, how peaceful, pleasant, and enjoyable will be the life here on earth.

These are on one side, but on the other side, the secret of the

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failure and defeat of nations, which finally leads to their destruction and abolishment, lies in the existence of hate and enmity between them and between the members inside each nation, i.e. being heedless to the above mentioned commandments. Such a nation will soon perish because of disregarding Allah's covenant by not relying on Him, by not respecting and helping their parents, family members, kindreds, neighbours, and all fellow men, by shedding blood and by not observing the rights of others by expelling them out of their houses or lands in order to occupy their properties :

"... You shall not shed your blood, nor expel one another from your dwellings, ..."

And, finally, one of the factors of the destruction of nations is unjust discrimination in the execution of laws, i.e. when they observe those laws which protect their personal profits but neglect what is beneficial for the society.

"... Do you then believe in part of the Book, and disbelieve in (another) part? ..."

And these are some of the causes of either the development or failure of nations from the view point of the Qur'an.

87. "And We gave Moses the Book, and after him sent Messengers in succession; and We gave Jesus, son of Mary, clear Signs, and confirmed him with the Holy Spirit. Is it that whensoever (thereafter) there came to you a Messenger, with what your selves desire not, you became arrogant ? Some you denied, and others you slay."

88. " And they said: ' Our hearts are covered '. Nay! Allah has cursed them for their disbelief. Little is that which they believe."

Commentary :

Their Covered Hearts

In these verses, again, the Children of Israel are addressed. Yet the concepts and criteria mentioned in them are universal and apply to all.

At first, it says: " And We gave Moses the Book,..."

"... and after him sent Messengers in succession; ..."

There came Messengers such as David, Solomon, Joshua, Zacharia and John.

"... and We gave Jesus, son of Mary, clear Signs, and confirmed him with the Holy Spirit. ..."

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"...Is it that whensoever (thereafter) there came to you a Messenger, with what your selves desire not, you became arrogant ? ..."

This domination of desire on you was so intense that from among those prophets:"... Some you denied, and others you slay."

This verse makes a fact clear that the Divine apostles, when communicating their prophecies, on the path of Allah, were heedless of the oppositions of the materialists. And, it must be so, because a correct sincere leadership is not anything save that. If prophets tend to follow the unconditioned desires of people and adapt themselves to people's selfish inclinations, they will be the followers of ' the misled ' rather than being a divine leader for the followers of the path of truth.

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" And they said: ' Our hearts are covered.'... "

"... Nay! Allah has cursed them for their disbelief. ..."

And it is for the same reason that: "... Little is that which they believe."

The above sentence may be about the Jews who either rejected the prophets (p.b.u.h.) or killed them. It is also probable that it refers to the Jews who were comtemporary with the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) and used to inflexibly oppose him with obstinacy and enmity. However, it states the fact that Man, following his desires, may reach a point that he be cursed by Allah and be deprived of His Mercy. It is in this case that his heart is enclosed in a covering so tight that the truth can rarely penetrate into it.

94. " Say: ' If the Last Abode with Allah is yours exclusively and not for other people, then long for death if you are truthful '. "

95. " But never will they long for death, because of what their hands have sent forth; for Allah well knows the unjust. "

96. " Indeed, you will find them the greediest of people for life, even more than those who associate partners (to Allah) ; each one of them is covetous to live (even) a thousand years, yet the prolongation of his life shall not remove him further away from the punishment. Allah sees what they do. "

97. " Say (O' Muhammad) : ' Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel, who brought down (the Qur'an) upon your heart by Allah's leave, confirming what was before it, and a guidance and glad tidings for the believers ' ; "

98." And whoever is an enemy to Allah, His angels, His Messengers, Gabriel and Michael (should know that) Allah is surely an enemy to the infidels. "

99. " Verily, We have sent down to you clear Signs, and none denies them except the transgresors. "

100. " What! Whenever they made a covenant, a group of them cast it aside ? Nay, most of them do not (truly) believe. "

101. " And when there came to them a Messenger from Allah, confirming what was with them, a part of them who were given the Book cast the Book of Allah behind their backs, as though they knew (it) not! "

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Commentary :

" Say: ' If the Last Abode with Allah is yours exclusively and not for other people, ..."

From the former verses, it was understood that the Jews claimed that they would not be touched by the Fire but for a few days when they worshipped the Calf, saying: " The Fire shall not touch us but for a few days ". Also, when they were told to believe in Allah's revelation, they replied that they would believe only in their Book, the Turah: " We believe (only) in what was sent down to us (before) . " They imagined that they were the only people who would be qualified for salvation and felicity, while other nations would be punished and receive eternal destruction in the Hereafter. Then, to cancel this kind of idea and to verify that the case is not as they considered, it is told them:

"... then long for death if you are truthful '."

The Messenger of Allah is commanded to tell them that if the abode of the Hereafter and the blessings of Heaven are exclusively theirs, they must strive to reach such bliss and invoke for death in order to get rid of the disasters and miseries of this world. It is in this situation that they would attain eternal happiness which they falsely think belongs to them alone.

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" But never will they long for death, because of what their hands have sent forth; ... "

"... for Allah well knows the unjust."

And in another occurrence, as a protest to them, the Qur'an says: "... If you think that you are friends to Allah, to the exclusion of (other) men, then invoke your desire for death if you are truthful! ", (Sura Al-Jumu'ah, No. 62, verse 6) .

Yes, a sincere friend desires to be with his friend, someone in love wishes to see one's love, and a seeker of a particular thing is anxious and desirous to obtain that which one is seeking.

Worldly affairs and materialism often stand as a curtain or barrier between Allah and His servants. They usually do not let one approach Him and be acquainted with his / her Creator deservingly. Therefore,

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the true sincerity towards Him is the desire of death. Then, here, to unvail the falsehood of the statement of the Jews, Allah announces that if they truly believe that the future abode with Allah is exclusively theirs and think that only they are those who are the favoured people of Allah, not any other people, they must invoke death with their tongues, hearts, and actions to reach Him without any natural barrier.

" Indeed, you will find them the greediest of people for life, even more than those who associate partners (to Allah) ;..."

But they never invoke death because they are the greediest of all people for the life of this world. They love the long life of this world even much more than pagans and idolators.

"... each one of them is covetous to live (even) a thousand years, ..."

Besides their hideous deeds and that they do not seek death in order to meet the Lord, each of them would like to live one thousand years.

The figure ' one thousand years ' metaphorically refers to the idea that they wish to live a long life. This is evidence to their lie and they know that neither the Last Abode with Allah is theirs, nor are they the friends of Allah. They arrogantly state these things, based on bigotry, in order to tell the Muslims that both the Jews and their ancestral religion are right, and Muslims are wrong and their religion is untrue. Then Allah, by this clear evidence, made their falsehood manifest by stating that the friends of Allah are those who are desirous of death to attain their goal.

"... yet the prolongation of his life shall not remove him further away from the punishment. ..."

"... Allah sees what they do."

That is, the Jews will never long for death, then how can they desire a long life when it does not save them from the punishment ? Yet, they are the greediest people for the low life of this world which can be a barrier obstructing entrance into the everlasting felicity of the life in the coming world. Furthermore, the members of this group having belief in the Hereafter and the life after death, are greedier for the life of this world than pagans and blasphemers, who wrongly believe that Man will be destroyed and perish after death.

" Say (O' Muhammad) : ' Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel, ..."

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The commentators believe that as 'Abdullah-ibn-Abbas cites, the occasion of revelation of this verse was as follows:

One of the scholars of the Jews by the name of Ibn-Suriya, with a group of Jewish people from Fadak, was attending the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) when he put forth some questions to test his gift of prophecy. Thereby being convinced that Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) was a true prophet of Allah, he asked as to which of Allah's angels had conveyed the Divine messages to him, and he (p.b.u.h.) answered that Gabriel had.

The Jew said he would not believe, as Gabriel was the enemy of his people and he is the angel of punishment, annoyance, displeasure, indignation, and execution; while Michael was not, and if Michael would have been the one who came down to the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) , then they would believe in him (p.b.u.h.) . So, Allah (s.w.t.) sent down this verse and told the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) to say that he who is the enemy of Gabriel, is the enemy of the one:

"... who brought down (the Qur'an) upon your heart by Allah's leave, ..."

"... confirming what was before it, and a guidance and glad tidings for the believers ' ; "

Thus, the Qur'an attests to the rightfulness of all the heavenly Books such as the Turah, the Evangil, Psalms of David, the Written Sheets (Scriptures) , and what Allah had sent to other prophets (a.s.) . The word /hudan/ ' a guidance ' here, may refer to the guidance of the Qur'an for all of the believing members of the Jinn and humans. The guidance is apportioned to the believers perhaps for the reason that it is only the believers who are benefited by the Qur'an, so therefore, the glad tidings are given to them.

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Now, this verse reiterates the subject matter of the previous verse but with more emphasis and accompanied with a threat. It says:

" And whoever is an enemy to Allah, His angels, His Messengers, Gabriel and Michael (should know that) Allah is surely an enemy to the infidels. "

This statement is an indication to the meaning that these instances

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are not separable. The Essence of Allah, angels, all His Messengers, Gabriel and Michael or any other angels, from this point of view, are all the same and to have enmity with one of them is, in fact, having enmity with the others.

In other words, Allah's ordinances, which are helpful on the path to development of the human race, have been revealed from His Origin unto prophets (p.b.u.th.) by means of angels. And if there be any difference between their missions, it is a difference of the division of responsibilities, not a contrast in missions. They are all alongside the path of the same goal. So, being an enemy against one of them is showing enmity against Allah.

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Upon the occasion of revelation of verse 99, there is a narration from Ibn-Abbas who said: " Ibn-Suriya, a Jewish scholar, told the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) : ' O Muhammad, you have not brought anything for us that we understand it, and also the Lord has not sent a clear sign to you so that we follow you thereby '. Then, Allah sent down this verse which was a frank vivid answer to that statement. (1)

None Denies Divine Signs Save the Transgressors!

Through this verse, the Qur'an points to the fact that Allah has given the Prophet of Islam (p.b.u.h.) enough evidence and sufficient Signs all of which are so clear that nobody can deny them. Hence, those who deny them, indeed, have recognized the rightfulness of his invitation, but, because of their special evil intentions, they oppose it.

" verily, we have sent down to you clear signs, and none denies them except the transgressors "

Contemplation over the verses of the Qur'an makes the way clear for any pure-hearted truth-seeker. By reciting these verses, the reality and truthfulness of the invitation of the prophet of Islam (p.b.u.h.) , as well as the understand this meaning that their hearts have not been darkened

(1) Majma'-ul-Bayan, vol. 1, p. 168

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as a result of committing sin. Thus, is it not surprising that transgressors and those who have stained themselves with sins by disobeying the commands of Allah, never believe in Islam.

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"What! Whenever they made a cavenant, a group of them cast it aside? Nay, most of them do not (truly) believe."

with reference to the previous verses, this verse is also a protest against the Jews as to why some of these people neglect and breach their covenant that they make whit Allah. They not only breake their covenant but also have no faith at all. It may refer to this idea that ifhey believed in Allah and His prophets (a.s.) , they would never break their covenant or never fail in their promise.

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" And when there came to them a Messenger from Allah, confirming what was with them, ... "

The purpose of the term ' Messenger ', here, may be the Last Prophet (p.b.u.h.) , or it may refer to all those prophets (a.s.) who came after Moses (a.s.) , because, according to the previous verses, the Qur'an protests against the Jews for rejecting all of the great prophets after Moses (a.s.) . These prophets (a.s.) , with their Divine commissions, abrogated Moses' religion whereas, in the meantime, they confirmed the rightfulness of what the Jews had in their hands the Turah yet, some of them (the Jews) put the Book of Allah behind their backs:

"... a part of them who were given the Book cast the Book of Allah behind their backs, ..."

Some of the learned men of the Jews put the Book of Allah, the Turah, which attested to the prophethood of the Last Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) , " behind their backs " and, by neglecting his specific description which was recorded in the Turah, they abandoned it totally: