Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:67-77 - Quran Translation Commentary

67. O Messenger! Convey (to the people) what has been revealed to you from your Lord. If you did not, then you would not have fulfilled His mission.¹⁹⁴ And Allah will protect you from men.¹⁹⁵ Verily, Allah guides not those who are infidels.¹⁹⁶

68. Say: “O people of the Book ! You have no basis at all, unless you stand fast by the Torah and Injeel, and the revelation that has come to you from your Lord.” ¹⁹⁷ But the revelation that has come to you from your Lord will increase in most of them rebellion and disbelief.¹⁹⁸ So grieve not over (the condition of) the infidels.

69. Verily, those who are Muslims or Jews, and Sabians¹⁹⁹ or Christians –whosoever believe in Allah and the Last Day and act righteously – on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve.²⁰⁰

70. We took the Covenant²⁰¹ of Bani Israil and sent to them messengers. Every time there came to them a messenger with what they themselves desired not – some they belied and some they slew.²⁰²

71. And they thought that no trouble would come of it. So they became blind and deaf.²⁰³ Then Allah accepted their repentance. Yet many of them became blind and deaf.²⁰⁴ And Allah sees well all that they do.²⁰⁵

72. They indeed became guilty of infidelity who said “Verily Allah, He is Messiah, son of Maryam,²⁰⁶” Whereas the Messiah had said: “O Bani Israil ! Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. ²⁰⁷” Whoever joins a partner with Allah, Allah has forbidden him the Paradise, and his abode will be Hell-fire. And for the wrong doers there will be no helpers.

73. Indeed they have committed infidelity who said: “ Allah is one of three in a Trinity,”²⁰⁸ while there is no god except the One God. And if they desist not from what they are saying, verily a painful doom will befall those who are guilty of infidelity. ²⁰⁹

74. Will not then they turn to Allah and seek His forgiveness? For Allah is Oft -Forgiving, Most Merciful.

75. Masih (Messiah), son of Maryam, was no more than a messenger. Many were the messengers that passed away before him.²¹⁰ And his mother was a woman of truth.²¹¹ They both had to eat food.²¹² See how Allah makes His arguments clear to them, and then see how senselessly they turn away!

76. Say: “Do you worship, besides Allah, that which has no power either to harm or benefit you²¹³? And it is Allah alone Who hears and knows all things.”²¹⁴

77. Say: “O People of the Book! Do not commit excesses in your religion unjustly,²¹⁵ nor follow the vain desires of the people who went astray before this, who misled many and strayed away from the straight path.²¹⁶

Commentary

194. This is a very emphatic command which has been given to Prophet (Sallal lahu Alaihi Wasallam). A prophet is a messenger of Allah. Therefore it is his duty and mission that he should convey, without reservation and without caring for any danger, the message of Allah to the people. Any hesitation or faltering in conveying this message is a defect in fulfilling the mission of prophethood. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) fulfilled this mission in the best possible manner, and conveyed the whole Quran as it was revealed to him. In his last Hajj, which took place about three months before his death, he asked the gathering of the people:

“You would be asked about me, then what would you answer?”

Those present replied: ‘We give witness to the fact that you conveyed to us (Allah’s Message), you fulfilled your duty and you wished us well.’ He raised his first finger towards the sky and said:

“O Allah! Be a witness.” -(Muslim, Kitabul Hajj).

Today the Quran, as it was revealed to the Prophet, is in our hands. Therefore, none can put forth an excuse in the court of Allah tomorrow that the message of Allah did not reach him.

195. And this prophecy of the Quran came to be true word by word, for inspite of the scheming, conspiracies and warring activities of the opponents, the Prophet (Sallal lahu Alaihi Wasallam) was safe from the mischief of his opponents and no force on earth could succeed in killing him.

196. That is: The infidels will never succeed in their aims. The plan which Allah had made in connection with the last Prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wasallam) would be successfully completed.

197. Standing fast by or establishing the revelation that has come to you means to follow scrupulously the Quran. By standing fast by the Quran is standing fast by the Torah and the Injeel, because so far as the original Torah and the original Injeel are concerned, there is no difference between their basic teachings and the basic teaching of the Quran. These are the different branches of one and the same tree. Had the “people of the Book” followed the teachings of the Torah and the Gospel (Injeel), then they would not have found anything new in the Quran, and that they would have continued their spiritual journey on the same path in the light of the teachings of Quran.

198. That is: On account of their prejudices and bigotry.

199. See Note No.86, Surah Baqarah.

200. This has been explained in Note No.87 Surah Baqarah.

201. Means pledge and promise for following the Shariah as also the promise of following and supporting any prophet that would be sent to them.

202. That is: On the one hand a covenant for following the Shariah and on the other hand the insolence of attempts to kill the prophets. When a man becomes a worshipper of his own desires, he collects in his personality contradictory traits.

203. That is: After committing these crimes, when they were not confronted with any trouble or doom, they thought that they were not going to be punished for their crimes, although it was the leniency which is generally shown to the guilty in order to give them a chance to reform.

204. It means that when they turned to Allah and reformed themselves, Allah granted them forgiveness. But even after that they became blind and deaf. It is a reference to the history of the Bani Israil, in which the events of their rise and fall occurred several times. In the Bible, it is stated:

“So they ate, and were filled and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy law behind their back and killed thy prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to thee and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore thou didst give them into the hand of their enemies,...yet when they turned and cried to thee thou didst hear from heaven, and many times thou didst deliver them according to thy mercies... Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey thy commandments,” (Neh 9:25 to 29).

205. That is: Though they have become blind, but Allah sees well all that they do. In the Zabur (psalms) it is stated:

“They say the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; and they say, ‘The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.’ Understand, O dullest of the people; Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? He who chastens the nations, does he not chastise? (Psalms 94: 6 to 10)

Indeed they have committed infidelity who said: “ Allah is one of three in a Trinity,” while there is no god except the One God. And if they desist not from what they are saying, verily a painful doom will befall those who are guilty of infidelity. (Al-Quran)

206. This has been explained in Note No. 85.

207. Prophet Eesa (Jesus) had neither claimed himself to be a god, nor did he ask his followers to worship him, but that he had preached to worship and pray to only one God and to believe in His Lordship only. Even today this preaching of Jesus is found in the Injeel:

“you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve. “ (Metthew 4: 10) And this fully confirms the teaching of the Quran.

208. For explanation see Note No.280, Surah Nisa, and Note No.3 Surah Ikhlas.

It may be borne in mind that there are many sects among the Christians and there are many differences in the beliefs of these sects. Some believe that God dissolved in Jesus, i.e. Messiah is the physical existence of God, and some believe that there are three gods. There is also differences of opinion about the fixation of the three gods. Some believe the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to be the three factors of the trinity, while some others believe the Mother (Maryam or Mary) to be the third god in place of the Holy Spirit. (God gives us refuge from these false beliefs !)

209. That is: Those who will desist from these reprehensible acts will not be punished, but those who will not desist and will persist in their infidelity will have to face very painful punishment.

210. That is: Messiah or Jesus was a prophet like other prophets, and when none of these prophets was a god, then what is the reason for treating Jesus as god?

211. Maryam (Mary), mother of prophet Eesa was a virtuous and truthful lady. These qualities had undoubtedly led her to the peak of an exemplary moral character, but inspite of it she was a human being.

212. The clear proof of prophet Eesa and Maryam not being gods is that they both eat food like other humans, and how can those who have to eat food be considered gods?

And one who himself is needy, how can provide for the needs of others? So far as Injeel is concerned, it also presents prophet Eesa (Jesus) and his mother Maryam (Mary) as humans, and therein is also clearly mentioned the fact that prophet Eesa used to eat food:

“And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. And when the pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matthew 9: 10,11)

And Injeel also is the witness of the fact that Jesus used to get hungry: “In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry.” (Matthew 21: 18)

213. That is: There is no being other than Allah who can harm or benefit anybody, then where does the question of worshipping any being other than Allah arise’? Messiah’s being a messenger of Allah does not mean that he has power to harm or benefit anybody, and therefore there is absolutely no ground for worshipping him.

214. That is: To hear all things and to know all things is not the attribute of Jesus, nor of any other being except Allah. Then what is the point in invoking Messiah or any other person for help and for solving difficulties. When they are unable to hear your invocation or appeals and please, how would they be able to come to help you or to pull you out of the difficulties?

215. This has been explained in Note No.277, Surah Nisa.

216. Refers to those persons who preceded them and who committed excesses in their faith and crossed the limits in their regard for Jesus. By indulging in their far-fetched interpretations and introducing innovations in religion they not only went astray themselves, but also misled others. Since this straying was in connection with the basic beliefs, it resulted in their straying away from the right path, which was lost to them, they fell far far away from the straight path the way of Islam.

The history of Christianity shows that St. Paul and his companions suggested and used the words Lord and son of God for the Christ and invented the belief of atonement. In the letters of St. Paul which have been appended to the four Gospels of the Bible, this misleading philosophy of theirs can be seen. Quran points to these very false beliefs and innovations.