Tafsir of Surah An-Nisa' - Verse 153

The Stubbornness of the Jews

Muhammad bin Ka`b Al-Qurazi, As-Suddi and Qatadah said that the Jews asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to cause a book to come down to them from heaven, just as the Tawrah was sent down to Musa. Ibn Jurayj said that the Jews asked the Messenger to cause books to come down to them addressed to so-and-so among them, testifying to the truth of what he was sent with. The Jews only asked for this because of their stubbornness, defiance, rejection and disbelief. The disbelievers of Quraysh also asked for similar things from the Prophet, as is mentioned in Surat Al-Isra',

وَقَالُواْ لَن نُّؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى تَفْجُرَ لَنَا مِنَ الاٌّرْضِ يَنْبُوعًا

(And they say: "We shall not believe in you, until you cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us;) (17:90) Allah said,

فَقَدْ سَأَلُواْ مُوسَى أَكْبَرَ مِن ذلِكَ فَقَالُواْ أَرِنَا اللَّهِ جَهْرَةً فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الصَّـعِقَةُ بِظُلْمِهِمْ

(Indeed, they asked Musa for even greater than that, when they said, "Show us Allah in public," but they were struck with a bolt of lightning for their wickedness.) injustice, transgression, defiance and rebellion. This part was explained in Surat Al-Baqarah,

وَإِذْ قُلْتُمْ يَـمُوسَى لَن نُّؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى نَرَى اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً فَأَخَذَتْكُمُ الصَّـعِقَةُ وَأَنتُمْ تَنظُرُونَ - ثُمَّ بَعَثْنَـكُم مِّن بَعْدِ مَوْتِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ

(And (remember) when you said: "O Musa! We shall never believe in you until we see Allah plainly." But you were struck by a bolt of lightning while you were looking. Then We raised you up after your death, so that you might be grateful.) (2:55,56) Allah's statement,

ثُمَّ اتَّخَذُواْ الْعِجْلَ مِن بَعْدِ مَا جَآءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَـتُ

(Then they worshipped the calf even after Al-Bayyinat had come to them.) meaning, after they witnessed the tremendous miracles and unequivocal proofs at the hand of Musa in Egypt. They also witnessed the demise of their enemy, Fir`awn and his soldiers, when they all drowned in the sea. Yet soon after, when they passed by a people who were worshipping idols, they said to Musa,

اجْعَلْ لَّنَآ إِلَـهًا كَمَا لَهُمْ ءَالِهَةٌ

(Make for us a god as they have gods.) Allah explains the story of the Jews worshipping the calf in Surat Al-A`raf (7) and Surah Ta Ha (20) after Musa went to meet with his Lord. When Musa returned, Allah decreed that in order for the Jews to earn accepted repentance, then those who did not worship the calf would have to kill those who worshipped it. They complied with this command, and Allah resurrected them afterwards. Allah said here,

فَعَفَوْنَا عَن ذلِكَ وَءَاتَيْنَا مُوسَى سُلْطَـناً مُّبِيناً

((Even) so We forgave them. And We gave Musa a clear proof of authority. ) Allah then said,

وَرَفَعْنَا فَوْقَهُمُ الطُّورَ بِمِيثَـقِهِمْ

(And for their covenant, We raised over them the mount,) This was when they refrained from implementing the rulings of the Tawrah and refused what Musa brought them from Allah. So Allah raised the mountain above their heads and they were ordered to prostrate, which they did. Even so, they were looking above when they were prostrating for fear that the mountain might fall on them,

وَإِذ نَتَقْنَا الْجَبَلَ فَوْقَهُمْ كَأَنَّهُ ظُلَّةٌ وَظَنُّواْ أَنَّهُ وَاقِعٌ بِهِمْ خُذُواْ مَآ ءَاتَيْنَاكُم بِقُوَّةٍ

(And (remember) when We raised the mountain over them as if it had been a canopy, and they thought that it was going to fall on them. (We said): "Hold firmly to what We have given you.") Allah then said,

وَقُلْنَا لَهُمُ ادْخُلُواْ الْبَابَ سُجَّداً

(and We said, "Enter the gate prostrating (or bowing) with humility;") meaning that they also defied this command in word and action. They were commanded to enter Bayt Al-Quds (in Jerusalem) while bowing and saying "Hittah", meaning: `O Allah! take from us our sin of abandoning Jihad.' This was the cause of their wandering in the desert of Tih for forty years. Yet, they entered the House while crawling on their rear ends and saying `Hintah (a wheat grain) in Sha`rah (the hair)'.

وَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ لاَ تَعْدُواْ فِى السَّبْتِ

(and We commanded them, "Transgress not the Sabbath (Saturday).") meaning, We commanded them to honor the Sabbath and honor what Allah prohibited them on that day.

وَأَخَذْنَا مِنْهُمْ مِّيثَـقاً غَلِيظاً

t(And We took from them a firm covenant.) meaning, strong covenant. They rebelled, transgressed and committed what Allah prohibited by using deceit and trickery, as is mentioned in Surat Al-A`raf (7),

وَسْئَلْهُمْ عَنِ الْقَرْيَةِ الَّتِى كَانَتْ حَاضِرَةَ الْبَحْرِ

(And ask them about the town that was by the sea.)

فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِمْ مَّيثَـقَهُمْ وَكُفْرِهِم بَـَايَـتِ اللَّهِ وَقَتْلِهِمُ الاٌّنْبِيَآءَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ وَقَوْلِهِمْ قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌ بَلْ طَبَعَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهَا بِكُفْرِهِمْ فَلاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً - وَبِكُفْرِهِمْ وَقَوْلِهِمْ عَلَى مَرْيَمَ بُهْتَـناً عَظِيماً - وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا الْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُواْ فِيهِ لَفِى شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ مَا لَهُمْ بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلاَّ اتِّبَاعَ الظَّنِّ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِيناً - بَل رَّفَعَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَزِيزاً حَكِيماً

Some previous verses censured Jews for their mistrustfulness in matters of faith. In the present verses too, there appears a long list of some of their other evil doings and, because of these ugly problems with them, mention has been made of their punishment. This strain continues in many more verses coming later.

Commentary

Some Jewish chiefs came to the Holy Prophet ﷺ and demanded that he bring down a book from the heaven similar to that which came to Musa (علیہ السلام) ، all written from there: If so, they would believe him. They had made this demand not because they wished to believe with all their heart on this condition. It was just a device to drag and stall. In fact, because of their chronic urge to take an opposite stand, they were given to offering one or the other excuse all the time. By revealing this verse, Almighty Allah made the Holy Prophet ﷺ become aware of the real state of affairs. This was to give him comfort and peace of mind against the doings of a people who are used to harassing the prophets of Allah. They would go to unbelievable limits of audacity by going as far as committing outrage against Almighty Allah. Their forefathers had gone even beyond them by demanding something more grave: "Make us see Allah openly." Upon this audacity of theirs, came' a thunderbolt from the heaven and destroyed them. Then, it was despite being fully cognizant of clear signs and proofs of Allah being One and free of any partners in His Divinity, they stooped lowest of the low by taking a calf as their object of worship bypassing their own genuine Creator. But, Allah still remained forbearing; otherwise the occasion demanded that they be eliminated. Then, Allah gave His prophet, Sayyidna Musa, peace be upon him, authority and power. Then, there came an occasion when these people had flatly refused to acknowledge the canonical law of the Torah whereupon Allah raised the Mount of Tur high suspending over them, thus threatening and forcing them to acknowledge the Law of Torah or otherwise they were to be mashed under the mountain. Allah had also told them to enter the gate of the city of Eliah humbly filled with fervour to obey Him. Allah had also asked them to catch fish on the day of Sabbath which was a command from Him and which was not to be transgressed. And Allah had taken a solemn pledge from them, but it so turned out that they contravened every single command one after the other breaking the solemn pledge with Allah. So, Allah too put disgrace on them in the mortal life of the world and they will have to undergo the worst punishment in the Hereafter as well.

God’s prophet is a man amongst human beings. He appears before the people as a common man. That is why people fail to understand how they can take a common man to be a representative of God Almighty; how they can believe that this man—one from amongst themselves—is a person appointed by God Himself to speak on His behalf. So they demand that he show them his message being revealed by God, or heaven itself testifying to the truth of his message, otherwise they will not believe in it. But demands such as these show their utter insincerity. Because man’s trial demands that he believe in these things without seeing them; that he discover the inner realities. In such a situation, it makes no sense to believe after seeing. Even if God were to alter the system of nature to fulfil their demand by showing them the realities, that would be of no use because these realities would be shown to them only for a time and not permanently. So the human freedom which had led them to rebelliousness would continue, with the result that, at the time of the miracles, they would be awed into belief but afterwards they would continue to misuse their freedom as before. The history of the Israelites furnishes ample proof of this. The extraordinary situation thus referred to in the Quran, ‘We raised above them the Mount’ was created by God on Mount Tur to take a solemn covenant from the Jews. They were enjoined to enter their synagogue with humility and pray to God in all humbleness and submissiveness, and to ensure that their struggle for livelihood conformed strictly to the bounds set by God. But the Jews broke this entire covenant they had made with God. ‘Yet We pardoned even that and bestowed on Moses clear authority.’ This is the case with all the prophets. The prophet is like an ordinary human being but for his utterances; it is in his utterances that he gives clear arguments which adequately prove his status as God’s messenger. But the unjust man always manages to find an explanation of God’s signs by which he may refute them and then continue to lead a life of transgression far from God’s ways.