Surah Al-Baqarah 2:62-71 - Quran Translation Commentary

62. Those who believe⁸⁵ and those who are Jews and Christians and Sabians⁸⁶ and whosoever believe in Allah and the Last Day and act righteously, surely their reward is with their Lord and there will come no fear upon them nor will they grieve⁸⁷.

63. And (recall) O, Children of Israel ! when We made a covenant⁸⁸ with you and caused the Mount (Sinai) to tower above you, (saying) : “Hold fast that (book) which we have given you and remember (and recite) what is in it, so that you may be spared from Allah’s wrath.”

64. Then you turned away (from your covenant) and had it not been for the Grace and Mercy of Allah to you, you would have been among the losers.

65. (And) you know well of those of you who broke the Sabbath⁸⁹ and were thus guilty of excess⁹⁰, (and) how We said to them: “Be contemptible and despised apes.”

66. So we made it a bitter example for their own time as well as for the posterity and a lesson for those who fear Allah.

67. And (recall) when Moosa said to his people: “Allah commands you to slaughter a cow.” They said: “Do you make fun of us?” Moosa said: “God save me from being an ignorant (fool).”

68. They said: “Pray for us to your Lord that He may make clear to us what cow it would be.” Moosa answered: “He says that the cow should not be old nor too young but of middling age; so do that which you are commanded.”

69. They said: “Pray for us to your Lord that He may make clear to us of what colour it should be.” Moosa answered: “He says: ‘A yellow coloured cow, (a cow of ) such bright colour that it pleases the onlookers.”

70. They said: “Pray for us to your Lord that He may make very clear to us what cow it is, since we are in doubt about the selection of the cow; if Allah wills, we may be led aright.”

71. Moosa answered: “He says: ‘ A cow that has not been yoked nor used for tilling the soil or watering fields, (one which is) sound and without blemish.’⁹¹ “They said: “Now you have brought the truth.⁹² “ Then they slaughtered the cow, though they did not seem willing to do it.

Commentary

85. Means the group of Muslims.

86. Sabians were a sect among the people with Scripture, who believed in the Divine Book, Zabur. This community is now extinct.

87. The meaning of the verse is very clear in this context. It is to dispel a misconception of the Jews. The Jews believed themselves to be a blessed people who were assured of salvation. Quran rejects this claim categorically and stresses that salvation does not depend on one’s status, family, group or community but on virtue.

Another very important point must be made clear here. It would be wrong to interpret the verse as implying that salvation depends upon virtuous conduct alone.

According to such a view, one who observed one’s own religion, believed in Allah and the Hereafter and was righteous in deeds deserved salvation. This interpretation, however is farthest from the teaching of the Quran and amounts to introducing an unjustifiable change in it. In this verse the details of true belief, faith and righteous conduct are not being explained at all they are mentioned in other places in the Quran. Allah recognises no belief or faith which does not accept that prophet Muhammad (P.b.u.h.) is the last prophet of Allah and Quran is His only true (Undistorted) Book. Without this belief, righteous conduct is of no avail because righteousness itself is determined by the observance of Muhammad’s shariah. (p.b.u.h.) Quran is replete with such teachings for example, Surah-Al-Baqarah has this as the central theme: it invites people to believe in the revelation of the Quran and the prophethood of Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) This point is repeatedly stressed in many places in the Quran. Allah says.

With Allah, the accepted religion is Islam’ (Aale-Imran, 19).

’Any person who will seek any religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted and he will be among the losers in the Hereafter.” (Aale-Imran, 85).

88. Refers to the Covenant for following Torah, which was taken from the Bani Israel in the valley of Mount Sinai. At that time a great earthquake shook the mountain as if it was about to fall on them. This was the great manifestation of Allah’s might and power so that the Bani Israel may remember with what great Being they were making covenant and that any breach of this Covenant can bring His wrath on them.

89. Sabbath or Saturday was fixed for the Bani Israel for prayers. On that day, hunting was forbidden but under one pretext or the other, they excused themselves and ignored the Covenant.

90. This is an example of how Bani Israel were seeking excuses to avoid following the laws of their own Shariah.

91. Allah had commanded them to sacrifice a cow. Sacrificing an average type of cow would have served the purpose. But by putting question after question they narrowed the limits of Shariah on themselves.

92. In those days the cow of these qualities used to be reserved for worshipping. Therefore, a cow of these qualities was purposely commanded for sacrifice so that the people of Bani Israel who contracted the disease of cow-worship while staying in Egypt may be cured of this disease and may be able to show by their action that they do not consider any body or person besides Allah worthy of worship. In the existing Torah the original command of sacrificing cow is there but there are no details:-

“Now the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, this is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect in which there is no blemish and upon which a yoke has never come. And you shall give her to Eleazar the priest and she shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. (Number —19:1-3)