Surah As-Saf 61:10-14 - Quran Translation Commentary

12. He will forgive your sins.²¹ and will makes you enter in gardens beneath which rivers flow and decent houses²² in everlasting garden.²³ This is the grand success.²⁴

13. And also the other thing which you desire: help from Allah and an early victory.²⁵ And (O Prophet!) give good tidings to the believer.

14. . O you believe! Be Allah’s helpers.²⁶ just as Isa son of Maryam, said to his Hawaries (disciples): Who are my helpers in the way of Allah? The Havaries (disciples) responded: We are Allah’s helpers.²⁷ So one group of the children of Israel believed and the other disbelieved.²⁸ So WE helped the believers against their enemies and the became victorious.²⁹

Commentary

17. Man engages himself in trade for getting profit. But this profit is temporary which is limited to the worldly life. Compared to it, that transaction with Allah in which man invests his precious capital of wealth and life and for which he works very hard is the real transaction of eternal profit. The foremost profit of it is that the investor will be protected from Divine torment which will be very severe, and secondly, he will attain an eternal success as described after this.

Here, ayah 111 and note 199 of Surah Taubah conquest may also be kept in mind.

This ayah makes man concentrate his attention on the point that the real problem of man is that of salvation in the Hereafter for which he must make arrangements in this worldly life. Until this thought does not preoccupy man he will continue to be entangled in worldly problems and will form wrong criteria of success and failure.

18. This directive (to believe) which is addressed to the believers is in the sense that “make yourself a sincere believer and fulfill all the demands of Faith”.

19. Jihad is the most important demand of Faith. When it becomes imperative to stake life to make Deen Victorious the believers must stake their lives and properties. In the circumstances of that time Jihad had become quite indispensable and the liberation of Masjidul Haram from the control of polytheists was the greatest mission. Moreover this jihad was being waged under the leadership (command) of the holy prophet. This had made it all the more important.

20. If you keep in view the best reward of it you will surely consider it very beneficial for you.

21. Pardoning of sins is a very big reward. What will be the fate of man if Allah catches hold of man even for only one of his sins But Allah appreciates the sacrifices of those who make sacrifices in His Path and He forgives their sins.

22. Means clean and best residences compared to which mansions of this world are nothing. How unwise are these peoples who raise the slogan of “roti, kapda aur makan” (food, cloth and house) to safe guard their world and also work hard for it but do not at all worry about the permanent place where they have to live for ever. They do not think as to how these things will be available there. Had they pondered over this problem they would not have considered this world as everything.

23. That is a permanent house, and a permanent garden and a permanent dweller.

24. That is, this is the real profit of this trade which means a bright future and an eternal life with the best blessings. What a grand and great success!!

25. Besides this eternal success you will get the thing also which you love, that is, Allah’s help and an early victory. Early victory indicates the conquest of Makkah for which Muslims were restless. On this occasion, while giving the good tiding of Divine help, they were also informed that Makkah would be conquered soon. Accordingly Makkah was conquered soon after the revelation of this Surah. The truth of Quran and the Prophet was proved so thoroughly that staunch opponents of Islam were also convinced.

26. Being helpers of God means being the helpers, supporters, defenders of His religion. Obviously Allah needs no one’s help. Yet HE bestows the title of “Helpers of God” on those who support His religion, especially in trying circumstances for their appreciation and encouragement and so that they be more and more inspired to work for Allah’s cause.

27. “Hawari” means sincere friend. When prophet Isa saw that it was not possible to spread the message of his prophethood and his religion without risking life, he called upon his companions and asked who would rise up to support him in those trying times by propagating Allah’s religion in a straightforward manner. They replied: we are God’s helpers ever ready to fulfill this mission. This response was given by the sincere companions of the prophet Isa who were called “Hawari”. The aim of making a mention of it here is to inspire the followers of the holy prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) so that they may rise to support him and to propagate his Faith and to spread Allah’s Message of Islam.

Prophet Isa did not get an opportunity to make jihad with sword. But the circumstances which confronted him were such that to present religion in its real spirit, to invite people to true religiosity instead of traditions and show business and to spread the word of God was certainly not less than a jihaad.

In today’s world also, to call people to Islam in a correct and straightforward way, to present the unity of God in the midst of polytheism, to scratch out the innovations and the nonsense which have enveloped our religion so as to make Islam fully and correctly visible, to reject false thoughts and to spread Islamic thinking to support and defend Islamic Shariat laws in opposition to non-Islamic laws and to make efforts for uplifting the banner of Islam is a very great service to religion and a big jihad. Allah says:

“Those who strive: for Us We will surely guide them to Our Paths. Allah is with the righteous.”( Ankaboot:69)

28. As a result of the Prophet Isa’s call and as a consequence of his companions’ propagation, a group of Bani Israil believed in the prophethood of Isa (Alaihis salam).They were Muslim. But afterwards the followers of the Prophet Isa came to be known as ‘Nasara’ (Christians). The others who refused to accept the prophethood of Isa and to believe in Injeel (Gospel) as the Word of God were considered disbelievers. They are the Jews.

It must be borne in mind that man becomes a disbeliever by denying any of Allah’s Messengers and by refusing to believe in any of the Divine Scriptures even if he claims to have faith in other things and even if he is related to any religion of any Prophet.

29. This ayat makes it clear that those who believed in Isa finally became victorious. So far as the victory of the proof (argument or Hujjat) is concerned, they had it already. Therefore, the “galabah (victory) mentioned here can only be the control of power. The word “zahireen” has appeared elsewhere also in the Quran in the meaning of control of power or power of controlling. The Faithful Momin had declared in the court of Pharoah:

“O my people! Yours is the kingdom today, you being the masters in the land. But who would save us from wrath of Allah should it reach us? (Mumin: 29)

Here note 65 of Surah Taubah may be kept in mind.

The aim of this ayah is to make it clear that, just as those who put faith in God’s Messenger Isa became victorious, so also will win those who believe in the prophet of the Quran. History bears witness that it so happened.

The Holy Quran also contains the good tidings given to Isa.

“And I will place who follows you above those who reject you until the Day of Resurrection”. (Al-e- Imraan:55)

So far as history is concerned its pages are not quite clear. However, it is proved that after the lifting up unto heaven of the prophet Isa his followers passed through all storms of opposition and went on gaining control over those who had rejected him. Their message went on spreading and their centers were established in big cities of the Roman empire. Judaism went on shrinking until, in the year 70 AD, Titus invaded Jerusalem and scattered the Jews and thereafter the Jews could never stand against the followers of Isa (Alaihis Salam). The number or the followers of Isa went on increasing and after the attack of Titus, the Romans started to accept the Faith of Jesus and the followers of Maseeh gained victory after victory. Ibne Khaldoon writes:

“Then the Romans began to accept the religion of Maseeh and to honour it. Thereafter the conditions of Roman kings was different. Sometimes they accepted the Faith of Nasaras and sometimes they rejected it, until Constantine arrived.” (Muqaddimah Ibne Khaldoon,p.335).

When the Roman king Constantine came to power he became a supporter of Maseehism and then the followers of Isa got so much control that till today Christianity is victorious over Judaism.

For the history of Christianity please see: INTERPRETER’S ONE VOLUME COMMENTARY ON BIBLE, P. 1051)