Surah Al-Baqarah 2:177-182 - Quran Translation Commentary

177. It is no virtue²²⁰ that you turn your faces to the East and the West; but virtue is that one should believe in Allah and the Last Day and the angels²²¹ and the Books of Allah and prophets²²²; and spend out of love for Him ones wealth on relatives and orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and on those who ask²²³ and for ransom of the slaves²²⁴ and establish Salat and pay Zakat²²⁵. And those who fulfil the pledges they make and are steadfast²²⁶ in adversity and affliction and in times of struggle, such are the people as are truthful and God-fearing.

178. O you who believe! the law of equal retribution²²⁷ is prescribed (as the punishment) for murder; the free for the free, the slave for the slave and the female for the female²²⁸. But if any leniency is shown by his brother²²⁹ then a reasonable procedure should be adopted and the blood money²³⁰ paid in good faith. This is a concession and a mercy from your Lord. After this whoever exceeds the limits will be in painful punishment.

179. O you men of understanding! there is life²³¹ for you in Qisas, so that you may fear to break His law (against murder).

180. It is prescribed for you that when death approaches any one of you and he leave (some)property behind him then he should bequeath²³² to parents and the near relatives, in an equitable manner.²³³ This is an obligation for those who fear Allah.

181. Those who change a will they have heard, shall bear the sin of making the changes. Allah certainly hears and knows all things.

182. But if anyone fears partiality or wrongdoing on the part of the testator and (therefore) effects a compromise between them, there is no sin on him.²³⁴ Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

Commentary

220. This is a criticism of the superficial religiosity of the Jews and Christians who had lost the real spirit of the Faith and made the Shariah a mere collection of some external ceremonials and rituals and accordingly they considered facing East or West as the real Faith. In this verse Quran is disclosing the reality about religion: that the real important things in religion are the worship and obedience with sincerity of the One and the Only God and the good character and righteous acts, which point to one’s high idealism. Without following these realities one cannot find the reality of Faith. In Faith external ritualism carries no weight with Allah. The claim of submission to Allah is meaningless if it is not supported by a spirit of real loyalty to Allah.

In the text the word “Bir” is used, which really means fulfilment of rights and in its wider sense it includes the meaning of fulfilment of the rights of God and his slaves and also all types of righteous acts.

221. Allah sends his revelation to His prophets through angels. Angels who are extremely holy beings convey the sacred message in exactly the same words without any alteration whatsoever. This work is done under the supervision of Allah. Therefore there is no possibility of any error or omissions on the part of the angels nor can the devils interfere with them in this work. Since angels are the most trustworthy source of conveying Allah’s revelations, it is essential to believe in them.

222. Believing in Allah and prophets etc here means believing sincerely and truly. By sincere and true Belief and Faith only one can prove oneself to be the loyal slave of Allah.

223. That is: those persons who may ask for help.

224. The text mentions setting the necks of men free, that is: by setting the slaves free. It is considered an act of virtue if a slave is set free by a man. This shows that in Islam it is not virtuous to make free men slaves but to set free those who are bound in the shackles of slavery. If any exception is made by Islam in this, it was for war only.

Islam wanted to end the custom of slavery and it is better that this system is not prevalent today. In this condition the commands regarding slaves can be applied to the innocent prisoners for setting them free, which would amount to the virtuous act of setting slaves free.

225. Charity and payment of poor-due (Zakat) are mentioned in the same verse. It persuades that the poor should be helped monetarily irrespective of the fact that one has less assets than that required for the levy of zakat. Even if Zakat is due on one’s assets, one should go on helping the poor beyond the Zakat. Zakat is a tax which is the minimum which Islam demands from a Muslim but in addition Muslims should try to help needy and poor people and without this spending for Allah one cannot achieve the higher degrees of virtue.

226. Here three occasions for patience have been mentioned. One in adversity i.e. Poverty, second in affliction which means physical discomfort due to disease, etc and third during times of stress i.e. in war. These three occasions are very trying and test a man’s courage. A man who remains steadfast about Truth on these three occasions will definitely achieve virtuousness.

227. “Qisas” means that treatment to be meted out to the guilty which is equal to his crime. For murder the Law of Allah demands that life be taken for life. But Allah has given a concession in this that if the heirs of the murdered person so desire they can accept Blood-money for the life of the murdered kinsman.

The command in the matter of retribution is addressed to the entire Islamic society and therefore, the responsibility of punishing the murderer falls on the whole Islamic society. But since the society is represented by the government, the responsibility of enforcing this law falls on the government. The form of enforcement of this law would be that the government would give to the heirs of the murdered person the option of death for death, or blood- money for death. The option given to the heirs of the mur- dered is based on a very wise policy. It helps in healing their emotional wounds and also in providing help to them. The amount of compensation fixed by the Prophet (Peace be upon him) was one hundred camels, whose price today comes to about three lakh rupees.

228. That is in retribution perfect equality is required to be maintained. If the murderer is a free man or a slave or a female, then he/she would be killed as a punishment. The system which was followed during the pre-Islamic days and was still prevalent among the Arabs, was to be ended. The practice was that if the murdered person belonged to a respectable family, then his heirs used to take the revenge by killing a number of persons of the family of the murderer; or if the murderer were to be a woman, the heirs of the murdered person used to take revenge by killing some man from the family of the murderer woman: or if the murderer were to be a slave, the heirs of the murdered person used to try to kill a free man as a revenge. Islam made unlawful this inequality for good. Jews also had established discrimination between a respectable and an unrespectable person, between an Israeli and a non-Israeli, which was annulled by Islam. Islam presented this universal principle of equality that no discrimination should be observed in the matter of retribution on the basis of colour, race and birth and that as a punishment only the murderer should be killed.

If a Muslim murders a Non Muslim Zimmi” then no discrimination should be observed and for that Zimmi Non-Muslim, the murderer Muslim should be meted out the punishment of death. Accordingly, in the recognised Arabic Tafseer Ahkam-ul-Quran”, Allama Jassas writes :-

“This verse lays down that for a murdered slave, a free man (murderer) and for a non- Muslim Zimmi (non-Muslim citizen of an Islamic state) a Muslim (murderer) and for a woman a man (murderer) may be punished with death,” (Vol. 1- p. 156). “ As we have stated the apparent meaning of the verse is only that it is proper to put to death a Muslim for the murder of a Zimmi because this verse does not make any discrimination between a Muslim and a Zimmi. (Vol. 1 p. 163).

Allama Jassas in his Tafseer has quoted on the authority of Abdur Rehman Bin Salamani that Prophet (Peace be upon him) sentenced to death a Muslim for the murder of a Zimmi. He has also quoted a saying of Ali that our blood is like their blood and our blood money is like their blood money. (Vol. 1. P. 164 -165)

229. Brother here means any human being not necessarily related by blood. This beautiful style of address is used to induce softness in the treatment of the guilty by appealing to the emotions of men.

230. That is: if the heirs of the murdered person would be ready to treat the murderer leniently and agree to accept the blood money, then it is the duty of the murderer to pay the blood-money in a proper and recognised manner and in this connection should show magnanimity of character.

231. A person who murders anyone without any valid ground is like a person who murders the whole mankind. Therefore it is the responsibility of the society that it should protect mankind by means of enforcing the system of retaliation. If by showing undue leniency the law of retaliation is suspended i.e. not enforced, then it would be providing encouragement to the criminals and the society will not be safe and secure.

In the modern times this point is being hotly discussed whether it is proper to mete out the punishment of death to the murderer and some countries have actually discontinued the death penalty. But it is obvious that if this punishment is done away with, then the criminals would get encouragement and there will be an increase in the number of crimes. Therefore as long as the criminals are not punished in such a way as to provide a lesson to others, there will be no peace and order in the society In order to keep the society healthy, removing a diseased part of the body may become necessary and it should be considered a wise and sane policy.

232. In the text the word “Maruf” is used which means a recognised or accepted thing or usage. That is such a method as is based on justice acceptable to reason and practised by the respectable elite of the society. Islam has left a number of minor details to be worked out on the basis of the accepted and recognised usage therefore the accepted and the recognised usage is acceptable in all cases if there Shariah has not enacted a definite and precise law or rule.

233. Bequeathing wealth or property or making a will is prescribed for a man when he sees his death approaching and he is likely to leave behind some property. This command for making a will was given before the detailed instructions about inheritance were revealed. Subsequently, Allah revealed detailed commands about inheritance in “Surah-An-Nisa” and termed it as bequest from Him, as stated in verse No.11:

(Allah makes a will for you in regard to your children) On account of this will of Allah regarding commands about inheritance, the area of application of the command given in the verse under discussion becomes limited, that is there remains no question about inheritance of those in whose favour Allah has already fixed the shares. Accordingly, it is stated in the Hadith:

(Rightful person has been given his due share by Allah and therefore, it is not lawful to make a will for an heir.

However, in favour of those relatives who cannot get shares in the inheritance and who may be in need of help, it is necessary to bequeath property or make a will e.g. in the case of those parents who have not accepted Islam and cannot automatically get shares in the inheritance. While making a will in their favour, it should be borne in mind that in Islam will can be made to the extent of only one third of one’s assets.

234. In the preceding verse it has been forbidden to make a change in the will. In this verse it is clarified that the forbidding of the change is not applicable if there is a doubt that the testator has acted partially and the bequest is based on sin or deprives some one of justice. In such a case the testator can be explained or pacified if possible. Otherwise the parties concerned can be brought together and rapprochement effected.

It may be pointed out that if the will contains something which in itself is sinful e.g. for using it for anti-Islamic propaganda, then such a will should not be put into action or executed. Regard for this principle of Islam is evident in the existing Mohamedan Law:

‘Invalid– to benefit an object opposed to Islam as a religion.

(Tyabji on Muslim Law- P. 759).