Surah Al-Baqarah 2:217-221 - Quran Translation Commentary

217. They ask you about warfare in the Prohibited Month. Say: “Fighting in that (month) is a grate offence, but it is far worse in the sight of Allah to hinder people from the path of Allah, to deny Him, and to prevent people from visiting Masjid-e-Haram, and to drive its dwellers out”. And persecution³¹³ is far worse than killing. Nor will they cease fighting you until they turn you back from your faith³¹⁴, if they can. And any one of you who turns back from his faith and dies in unbelief, his works will be in vain in this life and in the Hereafter; All such people will be companions of fire; they will abide there.

218. Those who believed and those who migrated³¹⁵ and fought (and strove and struggled) in the path of Allah, they have the hope of the mercy of Allah and Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

219. They ask you about wine³¹⁶ and gambling,³¹⁷ Say: “In them is great sin and some benefit for people, but the sin is greater than the benefit.”³¹⁸ They ask you how much they are to spend. Say: “What is beyond your needs.”³¹⁹ Thus Allah makes clear to you His commands in order that you may ponder.

220. Upon (the affairs of ) this world and the Hereafter³²⁰ They ask you about orphans. Say: The best thing to do is what is for their good; if you live together, then they are your brethren; but Allah knows the man who means corruption from the man who means good.³²¹ And if Allah had wished He could have put you to hardship. He is indeed Exalted in power and Wise.³²²

221. Do not marry idolatresses (Polytheists)³²³ until they believe; a slave woman who believes is better than an unbelieving woman, even though she allures you. Nor marry (your women) to unbelievers³²⁴ until they believe; a man slave who believes is better than an unbeliever, even though he pleases you. They invite you to the fire and Allah invites you to paradise and to forgiveness by His grace and expounds His revelations to mankind so that they may be reminded.

Commentary

313. Its explanation has been given in note No.263.

314. This explains the nature of the persecution, oppression, mischief, etc, which the men of faith were encountering at that time, i.e. their faith and their religion was in great danger. For this reason, they were given permission to fight.

315. After the migration of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) to Madina the command ‘Nas given for general migration from Macca in order to help the prophet (Peace be upon him) as well as the faith. There is a reference to this fact in this verse.

316. Wine is an alcoholic beverage which causes intoxication. It adversely affects man’s body and mind. It is not only dangerous for the moral and spiritual life of a man but also causes great destruction of the family, social and national life. There is some temporary profit or benefit from wine for example on account of its being a stimulant, a man experiences a little more energetic to attend to his work and it becomes easier for him to perform his job. But then it is extremely harmful not only from the moral but also from the physical viewpoint. Below we reproduce some extracts from the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, which clearly explains the harmfulness of alcohol and will give an idea of the various types of harms to save from which Quran has prohibited the drinking of this harmful substance:

EXTRACTS FROM THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS, VOLUME 1. ALCOHOL

“When enough alcohol is taken to produce intoxication, judgement, self control, perception and the other higher faculties are affected first, with greater facility in thought and speech. there is a certain disregard of the environment, a quiet person may become lively and witty, unwanted confidences are given and there may be assertiveness and quarrelsomeness, singing, shouting and other noisy demonstrations indicated the free play of the emotions...... Such persons may suffer from an insane or alcoholic heredity......An automatic dreamstate, in which complicated, it may be criminal, actions are performed quite unconsciously, is some times induced by acute alcoholism. (p. 300).

“Self respect becomes impaired and by selfishness, neglect of wife, children and other dependents, loosening of self control and want of truthfulness, the moral deterioration is signalized. (P. 300).

“It is estimated that in this country (U.K.) alcohol accounts for 100,000 to 120,000, deaths per annum” (P. 301).

Alcohol is a poison for protoplasm.”

“Large number of psychometric experiments under conditions of the greatest accuracy prove that alcohol in small dietetic doses exercises a distinctly paralysing effect on the working of the brain”. (P. 299)

“The amount of work is increased and more easily performed but after a brief period extending almost to 20 or 30 minutes, there comes a prolonged reaction, so that the total effect is distinctly disadvantageous”. (P. 299).

“On the whole experiments show that alcohol does not strengthen the heart but rather the reverse” (P. 300).

“There is universal testimony as to the close relationship between excessive drinking and breaches of moral law and the laws of the state. This is a direct consequence of the effect of alcohol on the higher faculties, intellectual and moral, and the resulting free play given to the lower inclinations. Alcohol cannot only be a direct cause of crime, but it acts powerfully along with other conditions such as heriditary nervous or instability of the brain” (P. 301).

317. Gambling has been forbidden on account of the moral and social harmfullness that it causes. The disadvantages of gambling are mentioned briefly as under :

(1) Gambling teaches a man to rely on luck, chance and empty desires. It does not teach a man to rely on his own efforts and on the causes which are created by Allah and which a man is asked to follow. Islam wants that man should try to obtain results from his own efforts.

(2) Gambling amounts to taking away others property by wrongful means.

(3) Gambling creates enmity between the gamblers. Although the loser keeps quiet after losing but his silence has extreme anger and displeasure behind it.

(4) The love for gambling is not only bad for an individual but also for the society.The gambler becomes careless about his responsibilities Dawatul Qur’an 105 S.2 S.2 106 Dawatul Qur’an towards himself and towards his family. From such persons one cannot expect that they would not betray their own faith, honour and country for their own selfish ends.

(5) By keeping both the harmful things – wine and gambling in one command, Quran has given proof of its love for the truth that both these things are equally harmful for the individual, family, country and morals. The case of a gambler is exactly like the case of a drunkard and it is only rarely that one is not found in the company of the other.

(– Extracts from the book: Islam mein Halal-o- Haram by Yusuf Quarzavi, P. 384). The following extract from the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics will not be out place :

EXTRACTS FROM THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS VOL.6 GAMBLING

“On the Aryan races gambling has a special hold, A famous hymn of the Rigveda (x 34) vividly sets forth the woe of the ruined gambler. The length to which gambling was carried in India is well illustrated by the episode of Nala and Damayanti in the Mahabharata (iii 59-61) where the Prince loses all that he has.... Sanskrit Literature abounds in allusions to the evil of play” (P. 164).

“The vicious tendency of gambling has never been called in question. Lord Beaconsfield spoke of it as a vast engine of national demoralisation” (P. 166).

“The economic aspect needs no discussion. Gambling adds nothing to the wealth of the community”. (P. 166).

“Though it is in society that the temptation comes, gambling itself is anti-social. It is as Herbert Spencer says, a kind of action by which pleasure is obtained at the cost of the pain to another. The happiness of the winner implies the misery of the loser. This kind of action, therefore is essentially anti-social, it scars the sympathies cultivates a hard egoism, and so produces a general deterioration of character, it is a habit intrinsically savage ... in an atmosphere of brotherhood no form of gambling could exist” (P. 166).

“There are only three ways in which property can be legitimately acquired – by gift, by labour and exchange. Gambling stands outside all of these.

“Its motive is, however carefully disguised, covetousness. It is an attempt to get property without paying the price for it. It is a violation of the law of equivalents. It is a kind of robbery by mutual agreement; but it is still robbery , just as duelling which is murder by mutual agreement is still treated as murder. It is begotten of covetousness, it leads to idleness – it is moreover an appeal to chance – it concentrates attention upon luck, and thereby withdraws attention from worthier objects of life.”

318. In the times of Jahiliya (before the prophet) people used to gamble after drinking wine and the custom was to slaughter a camel, the winner distributing its flesh among the poor. On this account gambling and wine were considered a motive force behind generosity. In view of this aspect of social service, the question arose when Quran insisted on spending money in charity as to what are the instructions about wine and gambling which were considered useful for charitable purposes. Quran answered this question in this way that though there are some advantages in wine and gambling, the moral disadvantages are much more than their advantages. Therefore, both these things have been declared as forbidden. This clearly brings forth the principle that things which have been declared ‘Forbidden’ or ‘Haram’ by the Shariah are not prohibited on the ground of their material benefits or usefulness but they are prohibited because the moral disadvantages far outweigh their material advantages. Therefore, those things which are apparently beneficial to mankind from the material viewpoint but disadvantageous from the moral stand point, should be avoided in the interest of the society. By not being able to grasp this fact about the principle involved people do not feel anything wrong or amiss in using improper or unfair means to achieve their proper or good goal. For example, arranging of dance and song programmes in aid of educational institutions, organising parades of film stars to provide help to the stricken people are considered acts of good and social service, although in it are present all the ingredients of sin-promoting and moral-ruining compounds and their disadvantages are far greater than their advantages....... Accordingly, Islam. does not allow use of unfair means to achieve a fair purpose.

319. This spending is connected with jihad, fighting in the cause of Allah. Sometimes occasions arise when to protect religion and faith, one has to sacrifice everything one has. Since at that time the House of Ka’aba was to be freed from the possession of the idolaters which was the most important thing, this holiest of the war therefore called for extra-ordinary sacrifices. The command was given that after spending for the unavoidable necessities and on the deserving dependents, whatever is left as superfluous should be spent in the cause of Allah.

320. That is: Reflect and think over what is good and beneficial for the life in this world and the next and try to be a balanced thinker. Generally people go either to this extreme or that extreme either they consider wine-drinking and gambling as lawful and proper or consider the lawful or proper things as forbidden and convert their faith to ascetism. Quran trains the intellect of man in such a way that it thinks in a balanced manner and is able to understand what is good and beneficial in this life and the Hereafter.

321. In connection with the safeguard of the property of the orphans the commands given- by the Quran are so hard that the people used to take extreme precautions, so much so that in a house where an orphan was being brought up, his arrangement for eating and drinking used to be made separately. Even if there were anything superfluous from his food, people used to avoid eating it, fearing it may come under the command about not devouring the property of the orphans. On account of this extreme precautions that the people were taking in this respect, it was becoming troublesome to some extent and question arose whether it would be proper if their property or wealth is mixed or joined with the property or wealth of others and if the food, etc, is taken jointly This question is answered in the verse under reference, which says that whatever method is in the interest of the orphans it should be adopted, if joining or mixing the property is better for them, it should be done; but along with this permission, a warning is also given that Allah knows full well who wants to take advantage of this permission and wrongfully devour the property of the orphans and who really wants to safeguard their interests; in this case people should fear Allah and do what is right.

322. Therefore His command under reference is based on wisdom.

323. One way of safeguarding the interests of the orphans is to marry their mothers, considering the importance of this advantage Quran permitted these marriages, but with the condition that they should be with believers. Muslims marriage with idolatresses is not permitted, because the repercussions of such a conjugal life are very far reaching. The wife’s beliefs and actions can have influence on the husband, children and the entire family. If the wife keeps an idol at home, then it is unlikely that the children may not become idolaters because they will see their mother worshipping the idol and will naturally follow suit.

Similarly the marriage of a Muslim woman with an idolater can cause a lot of disturbance. Quran had clearly indicated the reason why it has forbidden this relationship: they, the idolaters, invite towards the Fire of Hell. Therefore, men of faith must necessarily abstain from encouraging such relationships.

This command applies to the idolaters, believers in more than one God and atheists but the women of the people of the Book are excepted in this command, which will be discussed in Surah “Maida”, Verse 5. In view of this definite Divine command in the Quran there is no propriety and chance of encouraging inter-religious marriages among Muslims nor the Haram, (Forbidden) can be declared Halal (Legal), for political expediency.

324. In Torah also marriage with idolaters is forbidden which shows that this relationship was forbidden in the Shariah of Moosa (Moses) also: “you shall not make marriages with them giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons. For they would turn away your sons from following Me, to serve other gods then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you and he would destroy you quickly. “Deuteronomy 7: 3,4).