Surah Al-Baqarah 2:1-7 - Quran Translation Commentary

4. And who believe in the Book revealed to you (O Prophet !) and in those (Books) revealed prior to you⁹, and are certain of the ‘Aakhirat’¹⁰ (Hereafter).

5. These are the people¹¹ who are on (true) guidance from their Lord and it is they who will be successful¹².

6. And those who have rejected Faith¹³, it is the same for them whether you warn¹⁴ them or not; they will not believe.

7. Allah has sealed their hearts and ears¹⁵ , and there is a veil over their eyes. For them (is) the severest punishment¹⁶.

Commentary

1. These letters and other letters like these appear in the beginning of different Surah (Chapters) Such letters are called .’Muq-attaat (abbreviations or separate letters), These letters are read separately. These letters indicate the special subjects of the Surahs.

On pondering over the subject of this Surah, it is seen that ‘Alif ’ points to Allah and His signs, ‘ Lam’ to’ La-Ilaha-Illallahu’ and ‘Meem’ to three things, viz, (1) to His being the King and Master, (2) to His angels, through whose agency the Quran was revealed to the prophet (p.b.u.h.) and (3) to men of Faith and piety for whom the Quran was revealed as Guidance and as harbinger of glad tidings.These subjects are discussed in this Surah with a particular stress, e.g. the Ayat-al-Kursi (Verse No. 255) is a grand verse in this Surah which is a very clear explanation of ‘Alif ‘ and Lam’, as it starts with the words: “Allah-o-La-Ilaha Illahu.. .” It signifies that’ Alif ’ is the mark of Allah’s oneness, and ‘Lam’ signifies its negative aspect, that is it is the mark of the falsehood of polytheism. Besides, these letters also have a deep relation to the other subjects of the Surah for example the verses of this Surah,Nos. 243, 246 and 258 begin with (Alam) in which three different events have been described. The first event is about the life and death of a group, the second about Taloot and the third about Ibrahim’s presenting the call of the oneness of Allah in the King’s Durbar.

An example of this style of Quran is found in the ‘Zabur’ (psalms) also, for example in Chapter 119 of Zabur, Hebrew letters have been used quite a number of times: verse No 137 of Zabur runs as: ’Sad (Hebrew pronunciation Sad) Righteous art thou o Lord’’ in this verse Alphabet Sad stands for “Sadiq” (Righteous); in verse No. 121 we find “Ain’’ (Hebrew letter ‘Ain’) I have done what is just and right”

In this verse, the letter Ain refers to ‘Adl’ Justice. Similarly, Zabur verse No.73 reads: “Ya’’ (Hebrew pronunciation Yod) ‘Thy hands have made and fashioned me,” In this verse, letter “Ya” points towards “Yad’. which means hand.

For this reason, the addressees of the Quran were not puzzled by these abbreviations or letters, else they would have asked what was the meaning of these letters. As it is such isolated letters by themselves can have no meaning unless accompanied by nouns or verbs. Therefore, it is quite reasonable to say that these letters must have been used only as signs or symbols. The preservation of the Quran, when it was being revealed depended on memorizing and it cannot be denied that for mermorizing the Quranic verses great help could be derived from pointers to specific subjects and the symbolic titles of the Surahs (chapters). This method is also very helpful in identifying the Surahs. That is why the holy Quran adopted this method. Anyway it is not correct to consider these letters as puzzles because Quran is a book of guidance, revealed in Arabic which has depth of meaning but not puzzles. ( See also S. Yunus’ Note 1)

2. For a book to be considered a Divine Book. it is necessary that the book itself and its contents both testity to this fact. Quran claims in unambiguous words that it is a Divine Book. Its contents also clearly show that its words are from Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds. There is not the slightest doubt about it being a Revealed Book. To treat Quran as a creation of the prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) who was unlettered (ummi) is quite baseless and extremely unreasonable. It is impossible for an un-lettered man to author a book as grand as the Quran, which contains complete guidance for shaping the human life. Besides it is a challenge of the Quran that a book like it cannot be produced by the combined efforts of the entire mankind and the genii. This challenge of the Quran has not been answered to this day. The great eloquent “ orators and poets who were contemporaries of the Prophet were unable to produce its equal and subsequent generations were also unable to prove the claim of the Quran to be wrong.

3. The meaning of “Quran being guidance” is that the Quran shows the way to reach God, In the complicated ways of life it is the Quran that guides to the right path, and teaches the right attitude about our beliefs, thoughts, morality, dealings and conduct. In the light of this guidance, a man can reach his destiny by treading the right path, provided he studies the Book with an open mind and is prepared to accept the truth by rising above every kind of prejudice.

4. Quran has, at another place (2: 185) spoken of its being “guidance for the people”. The fact is that Quran is guidance from beginning to end and its guidance is for all people, but as with the light of the Sun so with the Quran: the beneficiaries will be only those who keep their eyes open. Only those people can derive benefit from the Quran who have the fear of Allah and the belief of His greatness in their hearts. This natural propensity is referred here as ‘Taqwa. If man has this inner quality, then he can distinguish good from evil and become the seeker of virtue and righteousness. This “taqwa” (fear of Allah) is basically inborn in man but needs nurturing. The Quran promotes and develops it. Those who have lost this natural, inborn capability may therefore not be willing to maintain relations with their Creator and to lead a responsible and moral life; such people cannot derive any benefit from this Guidance. This natural and inborn quality is necessary for receiving guidance. The other qualities that are described in the following verses are the fruits of this basic fear of Allah and acceptance of Guidance.

5. ’Unseen’ here means those realities which are hidden from man’s senses, for example God, Angels, Revelation, Paradise, Hell, etc.

They believe the Unseen” means that they are not slaves to their senses; they accept those facts also which have not been felt or experienced by their senses but of which the prophet of Allah is informing them, to which the human nature and sound intelligence testify. To believe in the Unseen is not a weakness of faith or superstition; through this belief the intelligence and wisdom attain great heights and man’s spirituality is developed and promoted. Those who ensnare themselves within the circle of senses and are not prepared to accept such realities as have not been percieved or experienced by them, have lost the natural capability of rising high in spiritualism. After this, they are unable to understand God or themselves. This deprivation results in their talking senseless things about the purpose of life and its destiny.

6. To believe in a thing means to believe with full confidence and certainty. A person who believes in Allah and in his signs and instructions as revealed in the Quran, (which include believing in the prophethood and the Hereafter), who surrenders himself totally in the way of Allah and who accepts the decisions of Allah with equanimity and pleasure is a Momin, the true faithful.

It may be borne in mind that although the Faith which is confirmed by the sincerity of heart is trustworthy, confirmation of it by tongue is also necessary. That is why the first pillar of Islam is recitation of the ’’word of Evidence”. (Kalma’-i- Shahadat).

7. Here. estabilishing Salat is used against merely offering prayers to emphasise sincerity in prayers. Salat must be offered in a spirit of total surrender, by observing all the essential acts like standing, bowing, prostrating, etc. in a proper manner. It also includes the activity of arranging for congregational prayers, the rows in prayer and observing the right time of Salat. In short, it means offering prayers sincerely with all the necessary covert and overt regulations.

8. ’To spend’ here means spending in the name of Allah, for Allah and for seeking His pleasure. This includes Zakat and all kinds of charities. It is like the admission of the fact that the wealth has been granted by Allah. To offer prayers and spend money for Allah are the basic virtues, which are the source of all righteousness.

9. That is: these people. are above all the group, national, regional, geographical and racial prejudices. They do not discriminate among the Books revealed by God, so that one book is acceptable and the other is not. They accept all the Divine Books as true, whether they might have been revealed to their own prophet or to the prophets of other communities. But those who do not believe in the guidance from Allah, or those who accept the Book which was revealed to the prophet of their own community or race only will not be able to seek guidance from the Quran.

Jews had accepted Torah, the Book which was revealed to prophet Moosa (Moses) as the Divine Book, but they refused to accept as divine books the Bible, which was revealed to prophet Issa (Jesus) and the Quran which was revealed to prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) Similarly Christians had recognised Torah and the Bible as the Revealed Books, but did not recognise Quran as one. The Quran teaches its followers to Dawatul Qur’an 15 S.2 rise above all prejudices and believe in the Torah, lnjeel (Bible) and the Quran and in all other Books revealed to other prophets as Divine Books.

10. The word’ Aakhirat’ (Hereafter) is used to denote the eternal world in which man will be revived for receiving rewards or punishment for his deeds in this world.

The present world will be brought to an end and Allah will create another world in which He will collect the entire mankind after reviving them so that He may take an account of their deeds in this world and allow the virtuous to enter the paradise and the wrong-doers to be doomed to the hell. This concept of Hereafter and this idea of reward and punishment is totally different from the Hindu belief of ‘rebirth’ or transmigration of soul which is totally denied by the Quranic concenpt of the Hereafter.

The exhortation ‘Believe in the Hereafter’— suggests that there could be many who may have spurious claim to the faith in the Hereafter. The real believers in the Hereafter are those righteous men whose qualities have been described above.

11. There are many who claim to be on guidance. Every person belonging to a particular religious group is in his own opinion on the right path, but in reality only those can be said to be on the right path and true guidance whose qualities have been described here and only they deserve eternal glory.

12. Real Success is not the well-being, in this world. Really successful persons are those who will be successful according to Allah’s decision. For Quran, this is the correct standard of judging success and on this should be based our thoughts and deeds.

13. ”Kufr” or ‘rejecting faith’, means to deny; technically, it means denial of those things which Quran considers essential for belief. This verse refers particularly to those persons who have rejected the Quran as a Revelation from Allah.

14. ’Warning’ here is meant to convey the consequences of rejecting the Faith or the Call of the Quran. As a physician warns a patient about the adverse consequences of not heeding his advice about food and other restrictions, So does a prophet inform the people about the bad effects of rejecting the Faith and sinning. Everyone knows about the fatality of poison, but people are not aware of the disastrous effects of non-belief and sin For this reason, a prophet’s call to his fold takes largely the form of a warning.

15. Here are mentioned those people to whom the truth of Quran was made sufficiently clear, but who on account of their stubborness had refused to accept that truth. They then became so ruthless in their opposition to Truth that they lost all the power of recognising and accepting it subsequently. This fact has been referred to as sealing their hearts and ears. The word ‘seal’ is used here figuratively.

It is made clear that the reason for their not accepting the faith is not that the Truth has not been clearly presented to them: the reason is their own obstinate stance of denying the Truth. They have thus offended the divine law. As a result. they have been deprived of hearing. understanding. and seeing the Truth.

From this it becomes clear that truth can enter a man’s heart or that a man can recognise truth only when be keeps his heart, ears and eyes open.

16. What crime of a man can be greater than the refusal to follow the dictates of his Creator? For this great crime, he richly deserves to receive the severest punishment and not reward.