Lessons & Reminders from surah al Baqarah 2: 38-44

 

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Tafseer
Surah al Baqarah [2]: 38-44

Ayah 38:

قُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا ۖ فَإِمَّايَأْتِيَنَّكُممِّنِّيهُدًىفَمَن تَبِعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

We said, "Go down from it, all of you. And when guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance - there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve.


fa =
then - whoever follows the guidance, no fear will be upon them.
man tabi'a hudaaya - whoever follows my guidance - this is singular, because a person may embrace Islam by themselves and feel strange in society for following it. Yet Allah is giving them the good news that no fear will be upon them [plural] - which shows that the person will find other good believing companions in this life, and especially in the next life.


ya/tiy
ANNA kum. Really it would be; ya/tiy kum. The difference is; the 'ANNA' implies Certainty.

ya/tee / Ataa = to Give. So the overall meaning is;

Then if
GuidanceCertainly [is] given to you from Me.

So Allah is telling people to investigate guidance, not just any guidance, but to investigate that it is truly guidance from Allah. This is implied by ya/tiyANNA.



There is no
fear on them - because when fear is in your mind, it has a greater affect on you than just sadness. So fear is mentioned before sadness.
But not all fear will leave them [otherwise it would be Khawfa], rather for most of the part - they will not be in fear.

The word
Khawfun is mentioned as a Noun, which is a Permanent form. This is interesting because Fear is permanently part of a person.


And they will not be
sad - sadness can be ignored, whereas fear is not as easy to ignore. So this is mentioned after fear.

The '
hum' [them] is mentioned to emphasise that Especially them - they will not be sad (in this worldly life and on Judgment Day).

The word ya
Hzanoon is in verb form, which is a a Temporary form. This is interesting because Sadness comes and goes in life.



In this world, the believers have no loss. It is a win-win situation. In hardships, they are between Sabr and Shukr [Patience and Thankfulness]. Both are rewardable. [They will not fear or be sad].

Whereas the disbeliever is in loss. He is in a lose-lose situation. In hardships he is sad he has lost his time and health, in ease he is arrogant and ungrateful to Allah - causing Allah's punishment to descend.



People who misinterpret the Qur'an, they have fallen into one of these 2 categories;

Khawf [Fear] - many Muslims who misinterpret the aayaat of Allah are scared of being criticized - so they do not discuss them, or they misinterpret them.

Huzn [grief] - many Muslims are extremely angered and annoyed due to hardships they have faced, so they make mis-interpretations based on the griefs that they have faced in life.


Allah in the upcoming aayaat/verses tells us not to hide or misinterpret His aayaat/verses. So we have to look at the Quran from a balanced and neutral perspective when deriving rulings.





Ayah 39:

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَكَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ

And those who disbelieve and lied against Our miraculous signs - those will be companions of the Fire; they will abide therein eternally."


This is contrasting with the previous ayah which spoke about following the guidance, and this ayah is talking about disbelieving and lying against the guidance.

So it is criticizing the point of not following the guidance.



So who is the best example of people who know the guidance is true, but they didn't follow it? [read the next ayah for the answer].




Ayah 40
:

يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَوْفُوا بِعَهْدِي أُوفِ بِعَهْدِكُمْ وَإِيَّايَ فَارْهَبُونِ

O Children of Israel, remind yourselves of Myfavor which I have bestowed upon you and fulfill My covenant [upon you] that I will fulfill your covenant [from Me], and be afraid of [only] Me.



An'am - Favour/blessing.


Allah is reminding the Children of Israel that Allah did favour them, but they were ungrateful. We as Muslims are also favoured, so we should not fall into their mistakes - otherwise Allah might remove His favour from us, just like He removed it from them.

Moses is mentioned the most in the Qur'an so that we can compare ourselves to his Ummah [nation].


Allah is reminding Bani Isra'eel [the Children of Israel] to remember the favour of Allah. Similarly, we should remember the favour of Allah that He chose us.


Now that we remember this favour, what should we do?

We should fulfill Allah's promise [through obedience] so that He will fulfill His promise [of success and reward] for us.


Oowfee [maJzoom] - Jawab al Shart: I.e. if you fulfill your Promise [Condition] - Allah will fulfill His promise.

What was the promise to Bani Isra'eel? That if they applied the laws of the Torah/Tawraat, They would eat from above them and below them [Ma'idah 5:66]*. Allah will give them everything. If you just follow Allah's guidance, the reward of the world will come to you and even the next life.



*وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ أَقَامُوا التَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنجِيلَ وَمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِم مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ لَأَكَلُوا مِن فَوْقِهِمْ وَمِن تَحْتِ أَرْجُلِهِم ۚ مِّنْهُمْ أُمَّةٌ مُّقْتَصِدَةٌ ۖ وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ سَاءَ مَا يَعْمَلُونَ

And if only they had acted according to the Taurat (Torah), the Injeel (Gospel), and what has (now) been sent down to them from their Lord (the Quran), they would surely have gotten provision from above them and from underneath their feet. There are from among them people who are on the right course (i.e. they act on the revelation and believe in Prophet Muhammad SAW like 'Abdullah bin Salam), but many of them do evil deeds. [Ma'idah 5:66]



The same way, Allah has promised for our Ummah [nation];

وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّن بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا ۚ يَعْبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئًا ۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ

Allah has promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them and that He will surely establish for them [therein] their religion which He has preferred for them and that He will surely substitute for them, after their fear, security, [for] they worship Me, not associating anything with Me. But whoever disbelieves after that - then those are the defiantly disobedient. [Nur 24:55]




iyyaaya ha faRhaboon - and Fear Only Me.

So Allah is reminding His favours before reminding people to fear Him alone.




Ayah 41
:

وَآمِنُوا بِمَا أَنزَلْتُ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا مَعَكُمْوَلَا تَكُونُوا أَوَّلَ كَافِرٍ بِهِ ۖ وَلَا تَشْتَرُوا بِآيَاتِي ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا وَإِيَّايَ فَاتَّقُونِ


wa Aaminoo... - and come to believe..

in what I have sent down, as a confirmation of what you already have
[they had the Torah, and the Qur'an confirmed the Torah] - so Allah is necessitating that the people believe in the Messenger - Prophet Muhammad - because he is the Messenger from Allah confirming what came of the early message of the Torah.

Believing in Prophet Muhammad is important in this ayah because in ayah [2]:62 in this surah, we will realise that Allah does not mention the Messenger. So believing in the Messenger - Prophet Muhammad - is mentioned in this ayah, and this ayah [41] is part of the discussion which leads to the discussion in ayah 62 of this surah.


أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ ۚ
فَمَا جَزَاءُ مَن يَفْعَلُ ذَٰلِكَ مِنكُمْ إِلَّا خِزْيٌ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ أَشَدِّ الْعَذَابِ ۗ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ
So do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part? Then what is the recompense for those who do that among you except disgrace in worldly life; and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent back to the severest of punishment. And Allah is not unaware of what you do. [Baqarah 2:85]

We have to believe in ALL the religion 100%.


..And do not be of the first to disbelieve in it.
This is emphasised because the Jews had knowledge of previous Prophets, so the Sahaba thought that the Jews would be the first to be Muslims. But ironically, they never. It was easier for the polytheist Arabs to become Muslim in huge numbers than it was for the Jews, and this is what actually happened.



Allah exposes the secret agendas of the enemies of Islam;

Don't sell my signs for a small price;

I.e. they knew Prophet Muhammad was a Messenger of Allah, and they knew that if they tell everyone that a non-Jew is a Prophet, then their special status is gone. Their high status of being the honored 'people of the Book' will be gone, so they will lose their special status in the sight of society, and they will have to be equals to the slaves who follow the Messenger, and equal to the Gentiles [non-Jews].


wa iyyaaya fattaqoon - and fear only, only Me.

This is a warning to ALL people who receive Allah's book and revelation. Because they may interpret Allah's book in the wrong way out of fear of the people, and not fearing Allah. They may do this to please the people, and earn Allah's wrath.





Ayah 42
:

وَلَا تَلْبِسُوا الْحَقَّ بِالْبَاطِلِوَتَكْتُمُوا الْحَقَّ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ


And don't clothe the truth with falsehood.

People might use the Quran and Sunnah and produce wrong conclusions for an agenda/motive - this is done using 90% truth and 10% false, yet whatever is not 100% truth - then it is not the truth.


مَثَلًا ۘ يُضِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيرًا وَيَهْدِي بِهِ كَثِيرًا ۚ وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِ إِلَّا الْفَاسِقِينَ
He misleads many thereby and guides many thereby. And He misleads not except the defiantly disobedient, [Baqarah 2:26]


..And don't conceal the truth while you know.

 


Ayah 43
:

وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَوَارْكَعُوا مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ

Establish the prayer and give Zakah [purification charity] - because when you pray - you are connecting with Allah and remembering Him much, and purifying yourself by giving in away in charity.


And make Rukoo' [bowing] along with the BowerS [Raaki'EEN].





The conservative Jews these days have the exact similar prayer to us today, EXCEPT that they make rukoo' [bowing] first and then sajdah [prostration] after that. This is proven in surah aal Imran;

يَا مَرْيَمُ اقْنُتِي لِرَبِّكِ وَاسْجُدِي وَارْكَعِي مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ
O Mary, be devoutly obedient to your Lord and
prostrate and bow with those who bow [in prayer]." [aal Imran 3:43]



Unlike our Ummah where we do Rukoo' first, and then sajdah;


مُّحَمَّدٌ رَّسُولُ اللَّهِ ۚ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ أَشِدَّاءُ عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ رُحَمَاءُ بَيْنَهُمْ ۖتَرَاهُمْ رُكَّعًا سُجَّدًا يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانًا

Muhammad (SAW) is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are severe against disbelievers, and merciful among themselves. You see them bowing and falling down prostrate (in prayer), seeking Bounty from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure. [Fath 48:29]


This time, Allah is commanding them to make Rukoo' [bowing] with those who bow - i.e. the Muslims.

Up until now, Allah has still not declared the Muslims as a separate nation. Their Qiblah is the same, and their beliefs are similar.

So Allah is reminding them of His favours, He is almost trying to show them like a deviated sect/group who should join back to the mainstream and obedient Muslims. That is extremely powerful.



Ayah 44
:

أَتَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبِرِّ وَتَنسَوْنَ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ تَتْلُونَ الْكِتَابَ ۚ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ



This is the scariest ayah/verse.

Do you command people to do good, and forget your ownselves, and [yet] you read the Book? Why is it that you don't understand?


This is the scariest ayah for people especially people of knowledge.


Then don't you understand?

'Aql [commonly translated as 'Intellect']= to tie.
'iqaal - a rope [which the arabs would tie around their head - which they would take off to tie their camel after they had rode it].

= control and restraint (over your emotions and thoughts) = self control, so you can make a good Judgment.

your 'Aql should make you follow the truth when it comes to you and your judgment should not be clouded by false emotion and false pride.

 

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