Surah Al-Baqarah 2:148-151 - Quran Translation Commentary

(2:148) Everyone has a direction to which he turns.³⁰⁰ So you vie with one another in good works.³⁰¹ Wherever you may be, Allah will gather you all. Verily Allah has power over everything.

(2:149) From wheresoever you may embark (O Prophet), turn your face in the direction of the Holy Mosque.³⁰² That indeed is the truth from your Lord. Allah is not unaware of what you do.

(2:150) And, from wheresoever you may embark, turn your face in the direction of the Holy Mosque. And, wherever you may be (O Muslims) turn your faces in the direction of the Holy Mosque.³⁰³ (This) in order that the people might have no argument³⁰⁴ against you, save for those among them who are unjust. But fear them not.³⁰⁵ Fear Me (alone). So that I may complete My favors on you and so that you might be guided.

(2:151) Even as We have sent you a Messenger from among yourselves who recites to you Our revelations, purifies you,³⁰⁶ instructs you in the Book and the Wisdom,³⁰⁷ and teaches you that which you did not know.³⁰⁸

Commentary

300. What's meant by "everyone" is every follower of a religion (Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Suddi and others Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir, Qurtubi, Alusi).

301. "There is a subtle gap between this sentence and the next, a gap which the reader can fill with just a little reflection. The idea conveyed here is that anyone who prays will, after all, have to turn his face in some direction. But what is of real significance is not the turning of one's face in some specific direction but one's orientation to righteousness for the sake of which one performs the ritual Prayer" (Mawdudi).

302. Mufti Shafi` brings home the following points:

Determining the Qiblah

Since Islam is an ever-lasting religion and is meant for peoples of all regions of the globe, city dwellers as well as villages, those living in ravines or on top of the mountains, of the past, present and future times, its demands are simple enough for everyone to meet. In case of the qiblah, for example, the actual direction may be determined roughly. There is no need for astronomical instruments to determine the direction precisely. Difference of a few degrees will do no harm. The Prophet (saws) described the qiblah for the Madinans in the following words: عَنْ أَبِى هُرَيْرَةَ عَنِ النَّبِىِّ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- قَالَ « مَا بَيْنَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ قِبْلَةٌ ». قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ. 'What is between the east and the west is the qiblah.' Accordingly, the practice of the Companions and their Followers was that they simply followed the qiblah of a previously constructed mosque. Those who constructed later followed the older orientations. As for those areas in which no previously constructed mosques exists, it is enough to determine the qiblah with the help of the sun, moon and stars; similarly, there is no need at all to check the qiblah of the older mosques with the help of instruments.

303. This is the third time the order has been repeated. The reason given by Ibn `Abbas is that since this was the first abrogation in Islam, it had to be stressed. Imam Razi, however, states that the first order is for him who is in front of the Ka`bah; the second for him who is away from it; and the third for the peoples of the rest of the world. Qurtubi, however, believes the third is for the traveler (Ibn Kathir).

The stress was also necessary, says Qurtubi, because, being at a great distance from the Ka`bah people would have taken it lightly. Imam Razi says there is an added reason for repeating the command three times, which is, when Allah (swt) said "We will turn you toward the qiblah that is dear to you," an ignorant man might have thought that the change in the qiblah was instituted solely to please the Prophet (saws). Since that is not the case, the orders were repeated thrice.

304. This refers to the objections made by the Jews who said, طMuhammad and his followers could not fix their qiblah until we guided them,' and, طLook at Muhammad. He follows our qiblah while he denounces our religion' (Ibn Jarir). The Makkan pagans also used to say, 'Since the Prophet has finally come around to accepting our qiblah, he is likely to revert to the ancestral religion' (Qurtubi, Alusi). Another interpretation is that if Jerusalem had continued to be the qiblah, the people of the Book who knew very well that the qiblah of Islam would be the Ka`bah would have raised all kinds of objections (Ibn Kathir).

305. That is, do not be afraid of their criticism.

306. That is, from the dirt of 'shirk' (associations with God) and other moral impurities.

307. By the word "hikmah" of the original the allusion here is to the Sunnah of the Prophet (Ibn Kathir, Imam Shafe`i, Razi).

Note the order. The Prophet first recites the revelations which remove the impurities of 'shirk.' It is then that the Words of Allah (swt) and the secrets of His Wisdom can be taught, for which 'kufr' (the state of unbelief) had been a barrier (Alusi).

308. This is the answer to the prayer of Ibrahim (asws) who had supplicated (2: 128 129): رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُسْلِمَةً لَكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبْ عَلَيْنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ. رَبَّنَا وَابْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آَيَاتِكَ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ [البقرة/128، 129] "O Lord! Make us submissive to You and (generate) from our progeny a people submissive to You. Show us our holy rites, and turn to us (in mercy). Surely You are the Relenting, the Merciful. O Lord! Raise in them a Messenger from among them who shall recite Your verses to them, instruct them in the Book and Wisdom, and purify them" (Ibn Jarir).

Sayyid Qutb comments: He purifies them: "Were it not for Allah, none of them would have attained purification, cleansed himself, or risen up (in spirit). But He sent His Messenger on whom be peace to purify them ... purify their souls from the impurities of 'shirk,' from the filth of 'jahiliyyah' and from the base concepts that weigh heavily upon the human soul crushing it under their weight ... purify them from profane lust and eruptions of base desires ... in order that their souls may never again retract to the immoralities (of the past). Those whom Islam does not purify from the filth of the earth filth whether ancient or modern they fall in the poisoned quagmire of lust and beastly desires which shrink the very humanism of the humans to the extent of raising animals that are guided merely by their instincts above them: animals which, in fact, prove to be more sublime than what many humans fall to without the purifying factor of faith. Islam purifies their community from usury, deceit, usurpation, mugging and looting. These corruptions taint human perceptions and sensibilities, and pollute life and community. Islam frees lives from oppression and injustice and establishes that pure and noble order that human society has not experienced in the manner it experienced under the influence of Islam ... under the rule of Islam ... under the polity of Islam. Islam purifies them from all the scum and filth that smudge the face of the 'jahiliyyah,' those that attack it from all sides, and attack those societies that Islam has not purified with its uplifting, purifying touch.

"'And (He) instructs you in the Book and the wisdom:' This is in line with what has been stated in the earlier parts of this section of the Qur'an and summaries in a word the ultimate objective of the efforts to understand the Book, viz. attainment of wisdom. Wisdom is the fruit of all instructions in the Qur'an. It is this faculty by which things are placed in their proper order and right perspective, and by which they are allotted their proper weights. It is this faculty that reaches at the very heart of reason, (causes, and motives) underlying the injunctions and commandments. This was attained (to the highest degree) by those whom the Prophet (saws) himself instructed in the Book and purified them.

'And (He) teaches you that which you did not know:' This is exactly what happened with the first batch of Muslims. Islam had picked them up from the Arab environs which did not provide them but with a few unconnected pieces of information: information that was just sufficient for the needs of a nomadic life, or for those minor civilizations that flourished amid the sand dunes. Islam picked them up from there and converted them into a group that assumed the clear sighted and wise leadership of the people (of the world). It was this Qur'an, combined with the inspiration that the Prophet himself drew from the Qur'an, which was the nucleus of study. And the Prophet's mosque in which was recited the Qur'an along with the instructions of the Prophet was the university from which graduated the first generation of leaders who assumed the leadership of the world: that wise and clear sighted leadership which the humans have not experienced since then.

"It is this system of education (based on the Qur'an and the guidance from the Prophet) which produced that first generation ... and those leaders ... that is capable of producing the same quality of men and leaders. But that, if the ummah will return to the same methods, and to the same sources; if the ummah will believe in the Qur'an in the same spirit; if it will adopt its guidance for application in every day life, and not to chant words for the pleasure of the ears alone."