Tafsir of Surah Al-Jathiya - Verse 16

Preference of Allah to the Children of Israel and their dispute thereafter

Allah the Exalted mentions the favors He granted the Children of Israel, such as revealing the Divine Books to them, sending the Messengers to them and granting them kingship. Allah said,

وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَا بَنِى إِسْرَءِيلَ الْكِتَـبَ وَالْحُكْمَ وَالنُّبُوَّةَ وَرَزَقْنَـهُمْ مِّنَ الطَّيِّبَـتِ

(And indeed We gave the Children of Israel the Scripture, and the understanding of the Scripture and its laws, and the prophethood; and provided them with good things,) such as foods and drinks,

وَفَضَّلْنَـهُمْ عَلَى الْعَـلَمينَ

(and preferred them above the nations.) of their time,

وَءاتَيْنَـهُم بَيِّنَـتٍ مِّنَ الاٌّمْرِ

(And gave them clear proofs in matters.) `We gave them evidences, proofs and unequivocal signs.' Therefore, the proof has been established against them, yet they differed among themselves after the proof came to them, out of transgression against each other,

إِنَّ رَبَّكَ

(Verily, your Lord) `O Muhammad',

يَقْضِى بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَـمَةِ فِيمَا كَانُواْ فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ

(will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection about that wherein they used to differ. ) He will judge between them by His just judgement.

Warning to this Ummah against following the Ways of the Children of Israel

This Ayah contains a warning to the Muslim Ummah as well. It warns them not to take the path the Jews took nor adopt their ways. This is why Allah said,

ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَـكَ عَلَى شَرِيعَةٍ مِّنَ الاٌّمْرِ فَاتَّبِعْهَا

(Then We have put you on a (legal) way of commandment. So follow you that.) `follow what was revealed to you from your Lord, O Muhammad, there is no true deity except Him, and turn away from the idolators.' Allah said,

وَلاَ تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَآءَ الَّذِينَ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَإِنَّهُمْ لَن يُغْنُواْ عَنكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئاً وَإِنَّ الظَّـلِمِينَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَآءُ بَعْضٍ

(and follow not the desires of those who know not. Verily, they can avail you nothing against Allah. Verily, the wrongdoers are protecting friends of one another,) Allah says, `what will the loyalty that the idolators give each other avail them' Indeed, all they will earn from their protecting friends is more loss, destruction and demise,

وَاللَّهُ وَلِىُّ الْمُتَّقِينَ

(but Allah is the Protector of those who have Taqwa.) and He will deliver them from the darkness to the light. In contrast, all the false deities are the protecting friends of those who disbelieve, taking them out of the light to the darkness. Allah said,

هَـذَا بَصَـئِرُ لِلنَّاسِ

(This is a clear insight and evidence for man- kind,) in reference to the Qur'an,

وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يُوقِنُونَ

(and a guidance and a mercy for people who have faith with certainty.)

قُل لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يَغْفِرُ‌وا لِلَّذِينَ لَا يَرْ‌جُونَ أَيَّامَ اللَّـهِ ("Tell those who believe that they should forgive those who do not believe in Allah's days ...14) ". There are two narrations recorded relating to its cause of revelation. According to one narration, a pagan in Makkah reviled Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ and the latter intended to retaliate, but this verse came down and asked the believers to forgive the unbelievers and endure their harm that they direct against them. According to this incident the verse is Makki. Another narration reports that on the occasion of the battle of Bani-l-Mustaliq, the Prophet of Allah ﷺ and his Companions ؓ pitched their tent at a well called Muraisi'. ` Abdullah Ibn 'Ubayy, the leader of the hypocrites, was with the Muslims. He sent his servant to fetch water from the well. He was delayed in returning. ` Abdullah Ibn 'Ubayy asked him to give reason why he was late. He replied that one of Sayyidna ` Umar's ؓ servants was sitting on the bank of the well. He did not permit anyone to draw water unless the water-skins of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ and Sayyidna Abu Bakr ؓ were filled. ` Abdullah Ibn 'Ubayy cynically quoted the following proverb: سمّن کلبک یأکلک "Fatten your dog and it will eat you up." Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ heard about it, he armed himself with his sword and went towards ` Abdullah Ibn 'Ubayy. This verse was revealed on that occasion. According to this incident, the verse is Madani. (Qurtubi and Ruh-ul-Ma'ani). If both the chains of transmitters can be authenticated, the two incidents can be synchronized thus: In the first instance, the verse was originally revealed in Makkah. Then a similar incident took place on the occasion of the battle of Bani-l-Mustaliq. The Messenger of Allah recited the verse and applied it to the second incident. This often happened in cases of the causes of Qur'anic revelation. Another likelihood is that when the incident of the battle of Bani-l-Mustaliq took place, Sayyidna Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) might have come down with the verse the second time and reminded that this is an occasion to act upon it. In the technical parlance of Tafsir, it is called نزول مکرر or ` repeated revelation'. The verse contains the expression أَيَّامَ اللَّـهِ , (Allah's days) which, according to most commentators, refers to ` reward and punishment' which Allah will requite on the Day of Requital. The word ayyam (days) in the Arabic language is abundantly used in the sense of ` turn of events'.

Another point worth noting is that when the Qur'an commanded ` Say, [ 0 Muhammad ], to the believers that they should forgive the disbelievers, it did not say, "forgive the idolaters"; instead it has said, "...forgive those who do not believe in Allah's days ...[ 14] ". This probably purports to say that the real chastisement awaits them in the Hereafter, but because the unbelievers do not believe in the Hereafter, the punishment will be unexpected for them. An unexpected torture is most excruciating, and therefore the torment will be most harrowing and agonizing. Thus they will be recompensed and repaid fully for all their evil deeds. The Muslims are not to bother about taking them to task for every little thing.

Some of the scholars maintain that the rule of forgiving the infidels applied only before the revelation of the verse of jihad. When jihad was ordained, the rule of forgiveness, in terms of the current verse, was abrogated. However, most research scholars express the view that this verse has nothing to do with the verse of jihad. The current verse sets down the general social law that the Muslims should not wreak vengeance for every little thing. This law is universally applicable in every age and situation - the social law is needed even at the present time, and therefore it is not accurate to treat it as abrogated - especially if we were to take into account the circumstances under which it was revealed: the battle of Bani-l-Mustaliq. If this battle is the cause of revelation of this verse, then verses of jihad cannot be the abrogators, because they were revealed before this event.

According to verse 16, God exalted the Children of Israel over the peoples of the world. This parallels what was said of the people (ummah) of the Prophet Muhammad, i.e. ‘You are the best ummah (nation)’ ( 3:110 ). To make a group the bearer of the Book of God is in fact making it responsible for guidance to other nations’ and it is in this sense that the community that bears the Book is superior to all nations. In principle, the Children of Israel were commanded to convey the message to the whole world, as is now the case with the Muslims. But the Children of Israel, by introducing deviations into their Book, lost this status forever. There is always uniformity in the authentic teachings of religion. But additions to them by scholars create differences and undue complexities. Then every scholar makes additions according to his taste. Thereafter every scholar and his followers set about proving their additions to be correct and others’ additions to be incorrect. In this way, religious sects start forming and finally a stage is reached when one religion becomes divided into several religions. When the Children of Israel distorted their revealed religion, God thereupon revealed the Quran through the Prophet Muhammad. Since no other prophet was to appear after him, God caused the Quran to be preserved and kept safe by special arrangements, so that it should never again happen that the religion of God be lost in the labyrinth of human additions.