Tafsir of Surah Yunus - Verse 93

The Establishment of the Children of Israel in the Land and Their Provision from the Good Things

In these Ayat, Allah tells us about all the worldly and religious gifts which He bestowed upon the Children of Israel. Allah's statement,

مُبَوَّأَ صِدْقٍ

(honorable dwelling place) means in Egypt and Syria, around Jerusalem, as it was said by some. When Allah destroyed Fir`awn and his soldiers, the Mosaic State took control of all of Egypt as Allah said:

وَأَوْرَثْنَا الْقَوْمَ الَّذِينَ كَانُواْ يُسْتَضْعَفُونَ مَشَـرِقَ الاٌّرْضِ وَمَغَـرِبَهَا الَّتِى بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا وَتَمَّتْ كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ الْحُسْنَى عَلَى بَنِى إِسْرءِيلَ بِمَا صَبَرُواْ وَدَمَّرْنَا مَا كَانَ يَصْنَعُ فِرْعَوْنُ وَقَوْمُهُ وَمَا كَانُواْ يَعْرِشُونَ

(And We made the people who were considered weak to inherit the eastern parts of the land and the western parts thereof which We have blessed. And the fair Word of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel, because of their endurance. And We destroyed completely all the great works and buildings which Fir`awn and his people erected.)(7:137) He said in other Ayat:

فَأَخْرَجْنَـهُمْ مِّن جَنَّـتٍ وَعُيُونٍ - وَكُنُوزٍ وَمَقَامٍ كَرِيمٍ - كَذَلِكَ وَأَوْرَثْنَـهَا بَنِى إِسْرَءِيلَ

(So, We expelled them from gardens and springs. Treasures, and every kind of honorable place. Thus, and We caused the Children of Israel to inherit them.)(26:57 -59) He also said:

كَمْ تَرَكُواْ مِن جَنَّـتٍ وَعُيُونٍ

(How many of gardens and springs that they left behind. ..) (44:25-27) They then continued with Musa, to seek Jerusalem -- the land of Ibrahim, the friend of Allah. There were giant people in Jerusalem. The Children of Israel refrained from fighting them. So Allah expelled them into the wilderness for forty years. During this time in the wilderness, first Harun died and then Musa. Yusha` bin Nun led after them. Allah supported them to conquer Jerusalem and rule it for a period of time. His statement,

وَرَزَقْنَاهُمْ مِّنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ

(and provided them with good things) means from the lawful, pure and useful provision that is good in nature and in Law. Then Allah said:

فَمَا اخْتَلَفُواْ حَتَّى جَآءَهُمُ الْعِلْمُ

(and they differed not until the knowledge came to them.) There should be no reason for them to have any disputes among them since Allah has sent them knowledge and explained different matters and issues to them. It has been mentioned in a Hadith,

«إِنَّ الْيَهُودَ اخْتَلَفُوا عَلَى إِحْدَى وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، وَإِنَّ النَّصَارَى اخْتَلَفُوا عَلَى اثْنَتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، وَسَتَفْتَرِقُ هَذِهِ الْأُمَّةُ عَلَى ثَلَاثٍ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، مِنْهَا وَاحِدَةٌ فِي الْجَنَّةِ، وَاثْنَتَانِ وَسَبْعُونَ فِي النَّار»

(The Jews separated into seventy-one sects, and the Christians separated into seventy-two sects, and this Ummah will separate into seventy-three sects, one of which is in Paradise, seventy-two in the Fire.) They asked, "Who are they O Messenger of Allah!" He replied;

«مَا أَنَا عَلَيْهِ وَأَصْحَابِي»

(Those upon what I and my Companions are upon. ) It was recorded by Al-Hakim in his Mustadrak with this wording. So here Allah said,

إِن رَبَّكَ يَقْضِى بَيْنَهُم

(Verily your Lord will judge between them) Here the meaning is, to distinguish between them

يَوْمَ الْقِيَـمَةِ فِيمَا كَانُواْ فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ

(the Day of Resurrection in that which they used to differ.)

The second verse (93) brings the future of a people bulldozed in disgrace by the Pharaoh into sharp focus making it stand out against the evil end of the tyrant. It was said that Allah gave the Bani Isra'il a good place to live. They had the whole country of Egypt for themselves.

Then, they were given the holy lands of Jordan and Palestine which Allah Ta’ ala had assigned to Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) and his progeny as their inheritance. A good place to live has been termed as: مُبَوَّأَ صِدْقٍ (translated as: ` a proper place to live' ) in the Qur'an. The word: صِدْقٍ (sidq) at this place means good and proper. The sense is that they were given a place to live that was suitable and proper for them in every way. Then it was said that Allah gave them their sustenance in the form of Halal and pure things so much so that they had the best of everything.

Towards the end of the verse, once again, their penchant for crookedness and evil doing has been mentioned. Among them too, there were many who, soon after having power, failed to appreciate the blessings of Allah and went about disobeying Him. They recited the Torah and they knew the signs and marks of the Holy Prophet ﷺ mentioned there. This awareness demanded that they should have been the first to believe in him as soon as he came. But, how strange that these very people believed in the coming of the last prophet, Sayyidna Muhammad al-Mustafa ﷺ before he actually came. They would tell people about the signs he would have and the time he would come. They would even use the wasilah (medium) of the last prophet in their prayers. But, when the last prophet came with a whole array of evidences of his veracity, and the signs identified in the Torah, these people started disputing among themselves. Some of them believed while the rest refused to do so. In this verse, the coming of the Holy Prophet ﷺ to has been expressed by saying: جَاءَهُمُ الْعِلْمُ (knowledge came to them). Here, علم (` ilm) could also denote certitude. In that case, it would mean that once the causes of observation and certitude converged together, these people started disputing.

Some commentators have said that عِلم (ilm: knowledge) at this place denotes مَعلُوم (ma` lum: known), that is, when the blessed person who was already known through the prophesies of the Torah came before them face to face, they started disputing the truth.

At the end of the verse, it was said that Allah Ta'ala will give His verdict about what they used to dispute, on the day of Qiyamah. Truth will then become distinct from falsehood and the upholders of truth will be sent to Paradise while the practitioners of falsehood, to Hell.

The Israelites were the bearers of God’s religion in ancient times. God granted them the favour of saving them from their enemy, Pharaoh. Then He caused them to be led to the open atmosphere of Sinai. There, by His instrumentality, water and provisions were made available to them. Through this training in the desert, a new powerful generation came into being. This generation, after Moses, constituted a great nation, and in the fertile areas of Syria, Jordan and Palestine, established the Israelite empire, which remained in existence for several centuries. The result of this favour should have been that the Children of Israel should have remained obedient to God and grateful to Him and should have made the service of religion the purpose of their lives. But in spite of clear guidance, they had gone astray. What was it that is called here ‘going astray’? It was having differences among themselves. They possessed the knowledge revealed by God which was the only Truth. But they had differences in the correct construction to be put on this knowledge and became divided (at-Tafsir an-Nasafi). As long as a community is one, religion remains united. But, later on, differences develop among them in the explanation of the knowledge of God’s revelation (al-‘ilm). Some insist on one opinion and others on another. In order to establish the truth of its way of thinking, every faction resorts to unnecessary discussions, speeches and public debates, so much so that a stage is reached when the real knowledge of God’s revelation (al-‘ilm) remains bound in books and all its strength becomes dissipated in interpretations and explanations. In this way, in spite of being from the same mould, people become divisively opinionated by becoming involved in the subsidiary aspects of religious teachings. ‘Your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection’ is apparently in the transitive form, but actually it is in the intransitive form. The idea is that on Judgement Day, when God makes His appearance, all men and women will forget their differences and accept the one and only Truth. Had they been God-fearing, they would have converged on one opinion. Fearlessness leads to a multiplicity of opinions, while fear results in a convergence of opinion.