كُنْتُمْ You are خَیْرَ (the) best اُمَّةٍ (of) people اُخْرِجَتْ raised لِلنَّاسِ for the mankind تَاْمُرُوْنَ enjoining بِالْمَعْرُوْفِ the right وَ تَنْهَوْنَ and forbidding عَنِ [from] الْمُنْكَرِ the wrong وَ تُؤْمِنُوْنَ and believing بِاللّٰهِ ؕ in Allah وَ لَوْ And if اٰمَنَ believed اَهْلُ (the) People الْكِتٰبِ (of) the Book لَكَانَ surely would have been خَیْرًا good لَّهُمْ ؕ for them مِنْهُمُ Among them الْمُؤْمِنُوْنَ (are) the believers وَ اَكْثَرُهُمُ but most of them الْفٰسِقُوْنَ (are) defiantly disobedient لَنْ Never یَّضُرُّوْكُمْ will they harm you اِلَّاۤ except اَذًی ؕ a hurt وَ اِنْ And if یُّقَاتِلُوْكُمْ they fight you یُوَلُّوْكُمُ they will turn (towards) you الْاَدْبَارَ ۫ the backs ثُمَّ then لَا not یُنْصَرُوْنَ they will be helped ضُرِبَتْ Struck عَلَیْهِمُ on them الذِّلَّةُ the humiliation اَیْنَ wherever مَا that ثُقِفُوْۤا they are found اِلَّا except بِحَبْلٍ with a rope مِّنَ from اللّٰهِ Allah وَ حَبْلٍ and a rope مِّنَ from النَّاسِ the people وَ بَآءُوْ And they incurred بِغَضَبٍ wrath مِّنَ from اللّٰهِ Allah وَ ضُرِبَتْ and struck عَلَیْهِمُ on them الْمَسْكَنَةُ ؕ the poverty ذٰلِكَ That بِاَنَّهُمْ (is) because كَانُوْا they used to یَكْفُرُوْنَ disbelieve بِاٰیٰتِ in (the) Verses اللّٰهِ (of) Allah وَ یَقْتُلُوْنَ and they killed الْاَنْۢبِیَآءَ the Prophets بِغَیْرِ without حَقٍّ ؕ right ذٰلِكَ That بِمَا (is) because عَصَوْا they disobeyed وَّ كَانُوْا and they used to یَعْتَدُوْنَۗ transgress لَیْسُوْا They are not سَوَآءً ؕ (the) same مِنْ among اَهْلِ (the) People الْكِتٰبِ (of) the Book اُمَّةٌ (is) a community قَآىِٕمَةٌ standing یَّتْلُوْنَ (and) reciting اٰیٰتِ (the) Verses اللّٰهِ (of) Allah اٰنَآءَ (in the) hours الَّیْلِ (of) the night وَ هُمْ and they یَسْجُدُوْنَ prostrate یُؤْمِنُوْنَ They believe بِاللّٰهِ in Allah وَ الْیَوْمِ and the Day الْاٰخِرِ the Last وَ یَاْمُرُوْنَ and they enjoin بِالْمَعْرُوْفِ [with] the right وَ یَنْهَوْنَ and forbid عَنِ [from] الْمُنْكَرِ the wrong وَ یُسَارِعُوْنَ and they hasten فِی in الْخَیْرٰتِ ؕ the good deeds وَ اُولٰٓىِٕكَ And those مِنَ (are) from الصّٰلِحِیْنَ the righteous وَ مَا And whatever یَفْعَلُوْا they do مِنْ of خَیْرٍ a good فَلَنْ then never یُّكْفَرُوْهُ ؕ will they be denied it وَ اللّٰهُ And Allah عَلِیْمٌۢ (is) All-Knowing بِالْمُتَّقِیْنَ of the God-fearing 3. Ali 'Imran Page 65 اِنَّ Indeed الَّذِیْنَ those who كَفَرُوْا disbelieved لَنْ never تُغْنِیَ will avail عَنْهُمْ [for] them اَمْوَالُهُمْ their wealth وَ لَاۤ and not اَوْلَادُهُمْ their children مِّنَ against اللّٰهِ Allah شَیْـًٔا ؕ anything وَ اُولٰٓىِٕكَ and those اَصْحٰبُ (are the) companions النَّارِ ۚ (of) the Fire هُمْ they فِیْهَا in it خٰلِدُوْنَ (will) abide forever مَثَلُ Example مَا (of) what یُنْفِقُوْنَ they spend فِیْ in هٰذِهِ this الْحَیٰوةِ [the] life الدُّنْیَا (of) the world كَمَثَلِ (is) like (the) example رِیْحٍ (of) a wind فِیْهَا in it صِرٌّ (is) frost اَصَابَتْ it struck حَرْثَ (the) harvest قَوْمٍ (of) a people ظَلَمُوْۤا who wronged اَنْفُسَهُمْ themselves فَاَهْلَكَتْهُ ؕ then destroyed it وَ مَا And not ظَلَمَهُمُ (has) wronged them اللّٰهُ Allah وَ لٰكِنْ [and] but اَنْفُسَهُمْ themselves یَظْلِمُوْنَ they wronged یٰۤاَیُّهَا O you الَّذِیْنَ who اٰمَنُوْا believe[d]! لَا (Do) not تَتَّخِذُوْا take بِطَانَةً (as) intimates مِّنْ from دُوْنِكُمْ other than yourselves لَا not یَاْلُوْنَكُمْ they will spare you خَبَالًا ؕ (any) ruin وَدُّوْا They wish مَا what عَنِتُّمْ ۚ distresses you قَدْ Indeed بَدَتِ (has become) apparent الْبَغْضَآءُ the hatred مِنْ from اَفْوَاهِهِمْ ۖۚ their mouths وَ مَا and what تُخْفِیْ conceals صُدُوْرُهُمْ their breasts اَكْبَرُ ؕ (is) greater قَدْ Certainly بَیَّنَّا We made clear لَكُمُ for you الْاٰیٰتِ the Verses اِنْ if كُنْتُمْ you were تَعْقِلُوْنَ (to use) reason هٰۤاَنْتُمْ Lo! You are اُولَآءِ those تُحِبُّوْنَهُمْ you love them وَ لَا but not یُحِبُّوْنَكُمْ they love you وَ تُؤْمِنُوْنَ and you believe بِالْكِتٰبِ in the Book كُلِّهٖ ۚ all of it وَ اِذَا And when لَقُوْكُمْ they meet you قَالُوْۤا they say اٰمَنَّا ۖۗۚ We believe وَ اِذَا And when خَلَوْا they are alone عَضُّوْا they bite عَلَیْكُمُ at you الْاَنَامِلَ the finger tips مِنَ (out) of الْغَیْظِ ؕ [the] rage قُلْ Say مُوْتُوْا Die بِغَیْظِكُمْ ؕ in your rage اِنَّ Indeed اللّٰهَ Allah عَلِیْمٌۢ (is) All-Knowing بِذَاتِ of what الصُّدُوْرِ (is in) the breasts اِنْ If تَمْسَسْكُمْ touches you حَسَنَةٌ a good تَسُؤْهُمْ ؗ it grieves them وَ اِنْ and if تُصِبْكُمْ strikes you سَیِّئَةٌ misfortune یَّفْرَحُوْا they rejoice بِهَا ؕ at it وَ اِنْ And if تَصْبِرُوْا you are patient وَ تَتَّقُوْا and fear (Allah) لَا not یَضُرُّكُمْ will harm you كَیْدُهُمْ their plot شَیْـًٔا ؕ (in) anything اِنَّ Indeed اللّٰهَ Allah بِمَا of what یَعْمَلُوْنَ they do مُحِیْطٌ۠ (is) All-Encompassing
(3:110) You are now the best people brought forth for (the guidance and reform of) mankind.88 You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah. Had the People of the Book89 believed it were better for them. Some of them are believers but most of them are transgressors.
(3:111) They will not be able to harm you except for a little hurt, and if they fight against you they will turn their backs (in flight), and then they will not be succoured.
(3:112) Wherever they were, they were covered with ignominy, except when they were protected by either a covenant with Allah or a covenant with men.90 They are laden with the burden of Allah's wrath, and humiliation is stuck upon them - and all this because they rejected the signs of Allah and slayed the Prophets without right, and because they disobeyed and transgressed.
(3:113) Yet all are not alike: among the People of the Book there are upright people who recite the messages of Allah in the watches of the night and prostrate themselves in worship.
(3:114) They believe in Allah and in the Last Day and enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, and hasten to excel each other in doing good. These are among the righteous.
(3:115) Whatever good they do shall not go unappreciated, and Allah fully knows those who are pious.
(3:116) As for those who denied the Truth, neither their possessions nor their children will avail them against Allah. They are the people of the Fire, and therein they shall abide.
(3:117) The example of what they spend in the life of this world is like that of a wind accompanied with frost which smites the harvest of a people who wronged themselves, and lays it to waste.91 It is not Allah who wronged them; rather it is they who wrong themselves.
(3:118) Believers! Do not take for intimate friends those who are not of your kind. They spare no effort to injure you.92 Indeed they love all that distresses you. Their hatred is clearly manifest in what they say, and what their breasts conceal is even greater. Now We have made Our messages clear to you, if only you can understand (the danger of their intimacy).
(3:119) Lo! It is you who love them but they do not love you even though you believe in the whole of the (heavenly) Book.93 When they meet you they say: 'We believe', but when they are by themselves they bite their fingers in rage at you. Say: 'Perish in your rage.' Allah knows even what lies hidden in their breasts.
(3:120) If anything good happens to you they are grieved; if any misfortune befalls you they rejoice at it. But if you remain steadfast and mindful of Allah their designs will not cause you harm. Allah surely encompasses all that they do.
88. This is the same declaration that was made earlier (see verse 2: 143 above). The Arabian Prophet (peace be on him) and his followers are informed that they are being assigned the guidance and leadership of the world, a position the Israelites had been relieved of because they had shown themselves unsuitable. The Muslims were charged with this responsibility because of their competence. They were the best people in terms of character and morals and had developed in theory and in practice the qualities essential for truly righteous leadership, namely the spirit and practical commitment to promoting good and suppressing evil and the acknowledgement of the One True God as their Lord and Master. In view of the task entrusted to them, they had to become conscious of their responsibilities and avoid the mistakes committed by their predecessors see (( (Surah 1, nn. 123 and 144 above))).
89. 'People of the Book' refers here to the Children of Israel.
90. If the Jews have ever enjoyed any measure of peace and security anywhere in the world they owe it to the goodwill and benevolence of others rather than to their own power and strength. At times Muslim governments granted them refuge while at others non-Muslim powers extended protection. Similarly, if the Jews ever emerged as a power it was due not to their intrinsic strength but to the strength of others.
91. The term 'harvest' in this parable refers to this life which resembles a field of cultivation the harvest of which one will reap in the World to Come. The 'wind' refers to the superficial appearance of righteousness, for the sake of which unbelievers spend their wealth on philanthropic and charitable causes. The expression 'frost' indicates their lack of true faith and their failure to follow the Divine Laws, as a result of which their entire life has gone astray.
By means of this parable God seeks to bring home to them that while wind is useful for the growth of cultivation if that wind turns into frost it destroys it. So it is with man's acts of charity: they can prove helpful to the growth of the harvest one will reap in the Hereafter but are liable to be destructive if mixed with unbelief. God is the Lord and Master of man as well as of all that man owns, and the world in which he lives. If a man either does not recognize the sovereignty of his Lord and unlawfully serves others or disobeys God's Laws then his actions become crimes for which he deserves to be tried; his acts of 'charity' are but the acts of a servant who unlawfully helps himself to his master's treasure and then spends it as he likes.
92. The Jews living on the outskirts of Madina had long enjoyed friendly relations with the two tribes of Aws and Khazraj. In the first place this was the result of relations between individuals. Later, they were bound by ties of neighbourliness and allegiance as a result of tribal inter-relationship. Even after the people of Aws and Khazraj embraced Islam, they maintained their old ties with the Jews and continued to treat them with the same warmth and cordiality. However, the hostility of the Jews towards the Arabian Prophet (peace be on him) and towards his mission was far too intense to allow them to maintain a cordial relationship with anyone who had joined the new movement. Outwardly, the Jews maintained the same terms of friendship with the Ansar (Helpers) as before but at heart they had become their sworn enemies. They made the best use of this pretended friendship, and remained constantly on the look-out for opportunities to create schisms and dissensions in the Muslim body-politic, and to draw out the secrets of the Muslims and pass them on to their enemies. Here God warns the Muslims to note this hypocrisy and take the necessary precaution.
93. It is strange that although the Muslims had reason to feel aggrieved by the Jews it was the latter who felt aggrieved by the Muslims. Since the Muslims believed in the Torah along with the Qur'an the Jews had no justifiable ground for complaint. If anyone had cause to complain it was the Muslims for the Jews did not believe in the Qur'an.