Tafsir of Surah Al-Ma'idah - Verse 13

Cursing the People of the Book for Breaking the Covenant

Allah commanded His believing servants to fullfil the promises and pledges that He took from them and which they gave His servant and Messenger, Muhammad ﷺ. Allah also commanded them to stand for the truth and give correct testimony. He also reminded them of the obvious and subtle favors of the truth and guidance that He granted them. Next, Allah informed them of the pledges and promises that He took from the People of the Book, who were before them, the Jews and Christians. When they broke these promises and covenants, Allah cursed them as a consequence and expelled them from His grace and mercy. He also sealed their hearts from receiving guidance and the religion of truth, beneficial knowledge and righteous actions. Allah said,

وَلَقَدْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَـقَ بَنِى إِسْرَءِيلَ وَبَعَثْنَا مِنهُمُ اثْنَىْ عَشَرَ نَقِيباً

(Indeed Allah took the covenant from the Children of Israel and We appointed twelve leaders among them.) These twelve people were leaders who gave the pledge to Allah to listen and obey Allah, His Messenger and His Book on behalf of their tribes. Muhammad bin Ishaq and Ibn `Abbas said that this occurred when Musa went to fight the mighty enemy (in Palestine), and Allah commanded him to choose a leader from every tribe.

The Leaders of Ansar on the Night of `Aqabah

Likewise, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ took the pledge from the Ansar in the `Aqabah area, there were twelve leaders from the Ansar. There were three men from the tribe of Aws: Usayd bin Al-Hudayr, Sa`d bin Khaythamah and Rifa`ah bin `Abdul-Mundhir, or Abu Al-Haytham bin At-Tayhan. There were nine people from the tribe of Khazraj: Abu Umamah As`ad bin Zurarah, Sa`d bin Ar-Rabi`, `Abdullah bin Rawahah, Rafi` bin Malik bin Al-`Ajlan, Al-Bara' bin Ma`rur, `Ubadah bin As-Samit, Sa`d bin `Ubadah, `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Haram and Al-Mundhir bin `Umar bin Khunays. Ka`b bin Malik mentioned these men in his poem, as recorded by Ibn Ishaq.On that night, these men were the leaders or representatives of their tribes by the command of the Prophet . They gave the pledge and promise of allegiance and obedience to the Prophet on behalf of their people. Allah said,

وَقَالَ اللَّهُ إِنِّى مَعَكُمْ

(And Allah said, "I am with you...) with My protection, support and aid,

لَئِنْ أَقَمْتُمُ الصَّلوةَ وَءَاتَيْتُمْ الزَّكَوةَ وَءَامَنتُمْ بِرُسُلِى

(if you perform the Salah and give the Zakah and believe in My Messengers;) concerning what they bring you of the revelation,

وَعَزَّرْتُمُوهُمْ

(honor and assist them...) and support them on the truth,

وَأَقْرَضْتُمُ اللَّهَ قَرْضاً حَسَناً

(and lend to Allah a good loan...) by spending in His cause, seeking to please Him.

لأُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنْكُمْ سَيِّئَـتِكُمْ

(verily, I will remit your sins) and errors, I will erase them, cover them, and will not punish you for them,

وَلأدْخِلَنَّكُمْ جَنَّـتٍ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا الاٌّنْهَـرُ

(and admit you to Gardens under which rivers flow (in Paradise).) thus, protecting you from what you fear and granting you what you seek.

Breaking the Covenant

Allah said,

فَمَن كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ مِنْكُمْ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ سَوَآءَ السَّبِيلِ

(But if any of you after this, disbelieved, he has indeed gone astray from the straight way.) Therefore, those who break this covenant, even though they pledged and vowed to keep it, yet, they broke it and denied it ever existed, they have avoided the clear path and deviated from the path of guidance to the path of misguidance. Allah then mentioned the punishment that befell those who broke His covenant and the pledge they gave Him,

فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِم مِّيثَـقَهُمْ لَعنَّـهُمْ

(So because of their breach of their covenant, We cursed them...) Allah states, because of their breaking the promise that We took from them, We cursed them, deviated them away from the truth, and expelled them from guidance,

وَجَعَلْنَا قُلُوبَهُمْ قَاسِيَةً

(and made their hearts grow hard...) and they do not heed any word of advice that they hear, because of the hardness of their hearts.

يُحَرِّفُونَ الْكَلِمَ عَن مَّوَاضِعِهِ

(They change the words from their (right) places...) Since their comprehension became corrupt, they behaved treacherously with Allah's Ayat, altering His Book from its apparent meanings which He sent down, and distorting its indications. They attributed to Allah what He did not say, and we seek refuge with Allah from such behavior.

وَنَسُواْ حَظَّا مِّمَّا ذُكِرُواْ بِهِ

(and have abandoned a good part of the Message that was sent to them.) by not implementing it and by ignoring it. Allah said next,

وَلاَ تَزَالُ تَطَّلِعُ عَلَى خَآئِنَةٍ مِّنْهُمْ

(And you will not cease to discover deceit in them,) such as their plots and treachery against you, O Muhammad, and your Companions. Mujahid said that this Ayah refers to their plot to kill the Messenger of Allah ﷺ .

فَاعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَاصْفَحْ

(But forgive them, and overlook (their misdeeds).) This, indeed, is the ultimate victory and triumph. Some of the Salaf said, "You would never treat those who disobey Allah with you better than obeying Allah with them." This way, their hearts will gather around the truth and Allah might lead them to the right guidance. This is why Allah said,

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

(Verily, Allah loves the doers of good.) Therefore, forgive those who err against you. Qatadah said that this Ayah was abrogated with Allah's statement,

قَـتِلُواْ الَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلاَ بِالْيَوْمِ الاٌّخِرِ

(Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day).

The Christians Also Broke their Covenant with Allah and the Repercussion of this Behavior

Allah said,

وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ قَالُواْ إِنَّا نَصَـرَى أَخَذْنَا مِيثَـقَهُمْ

(And from those who call themselves Christians, We took their covenant,) Meaning: `From those who call themselves Christians and followers of `Isa, son of Maryam, while in fact they are not as they claim. We took from them the covenant and pledges that they would follow the Prophet , aid him, honor him and follow his footsteps.' And that they would believe in every Prophet whom Allah sends to the people of the earth. They imitated the Jews and broke the promises and the pledges. This is why Allah said,

فَنَسُواْ حَظّاً مِّمَّا ذُكِرُواْ بِهِ فَأَغْرَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَآءَ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَـمَةِ

(but they have abandoned a good part of the Message that was sent to them. So We planted amongst them enmity and hatred till the Day of Resurrection;) Meaning: `We planted enmity and hatred between them, and they will remain like this until the Day of Resurrection.' Indeed, the numerous Christian sects have always been enemies and adversaries of each other, accusing each other of heresy and cursing each other. Each sect among them excommunicates the other sects and does not allow them entrance to their places of worship. The Monarchist sect accuses the Jacobite sect of heresy, and such is the case with the Nestorians and the Arians. Each sect among them will continue to accuse the other of disbelief and heresy in this life and on the Day when the Witnesses will come forth. Allah then said,

وَسَوْفَ يُنَبِّئُهُمُ اللَّهُ بِمَا كَانُواْ يَصْنَعُونَ

(and Allah will inform them of what they used to do.) warning and threatening the Christians because of their lies against Allah and His Messenger and their false claims about Allah, hallowed be He above what they say about Him. The Christians attribute a companion and a son to Allah, while He is the One and Only, the All-Sufficient, Who neither begets nor was He begotten, and there is none like unto Him.

Commentary

The first verse is telling us that Bani Isra'il were heedless to clear instructions given to them. Then, they broke the pledge for which they were punished. There were two kinds of punishment which visited Bani Isra'il because of their misdeeds and contumacy:

1\. Manifest and perceptible, like the hail of stones and rocks or the overturning of land mass, which find mention in several verses of the Qur'an.

2\. Intellectual and spiritual, as if their very minds and hearts were transformed in punishment for their contumacy which made them incapable of thinking and feeling and they went on sinking deeper in the curse of their sins.

The verse opens with the words: فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِم مِّيثَاقَهُمْ لَعَنَّاهُمْ وَجَعَلْنَا قُلُوبَهُمْ قَاسِيَةً. It means that it was because of their contravention of the solemn pledge that Allah made them far-removed from His mercy (that is, from its effects, which is the reality of 'La` nah' or curse - Hadrat Thanavi) and made their hearts hardened against any penetration of truth. This removal from mercy and the hardening of hearts has been likened to "Ra-'n " (stain or rust) by the Holy Qur'an in Surah al-Mutaffifin: كَلَّا ۖ بَلْ ۜ رَ‌انَ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِم مَّا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ. It means that the reason why they reject open verses of the Qur'an and all too manifest signs is that the stain of sins has settled down on their hearts. In a hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ ` said: When someone commits a sin for the first time, a black dot gets stamped on the heart. He feels the pinch of this evil presence all the time. It is like a black stain on a white cloth which is a constant sore of the eye. Now, if he gets chastened, repents and resolves not to do it again, that dot is erased; and should he become care-free and start a spree of other sins, a black dot for each subsequent sin will keep adding up, so much so, that the clean slate of his heart will turn jet black with these dots of stain. At that stage, the state of his heart will be-come very much like a pot placed upside down in which nothing goes in but to come out instantly. Therefore, nothing good settles down in his heart for he has fallen into a state of moral inertia - to him nothing good is good and no evil is evil. Rather, the opposite becomes his more likely approach - he starts taking defect as merit, vice as virtue and sin as reward. Thus armed with his crooked thinking, he goes on riding high in his rebellion and contumacy. This is a cash and spot punishment of his sin which he gets right here in this mortal world.

Some respected elders have said: اِن من جزاء الحسنۃ الحسنۃ بعدھا وان من جزاء السیٔۃ السیٔۃ بعدھا ، that is, the cash reward of a good deed is that one gets the Taufiq (the ability given by Allah) of doing another good deed. Similarly, the cash reward of a sin is that one's heart starts being attracted by other sins soon after the first. Thus, obedience and disobedience both have a pull of their own - one good invites another good and one evil attracts other evils and sins.

Referring back to the breach of trust committed by the Bani Isra'il, it can be said that the cash punishment due against it was that they were removed from Divine mercy - which is the greatest medium of salvation. And their hearts became so hardened that they stooped to the level of 'moving words away from their places' which means that they alter the Word of God - in words or meanings or recitation - all of which have been described in the Holy Qur'an and the books of Alhadith, some of which have been acknowledged by European Christians as well (Tafsir Usmni).

The result of the intellectual and spiritual punishment mentioned above was that they forgot to take advantage of the good counsel given to them: فَنَسُوا حَظًّا مِّمَّا ذُكِّرُ‌وا بِهِ. Then, this punishment stuck glued to them: وَلَا تَزَالُ تَطَّلِعُ عَلَىٰ خَائِنَةٍ مِّنْهُمْ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِّنْهُمْ ۖ that is, the Prophet of Islam would keep knowing about one or the other breaches, deceptions and treacheries committed by them. The exception is indicated in: إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِّنْهُمْ (but a few) which refers to people like Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn Sal-am and others who were followers of the faith of the People of the Book before they became true Muslims.

Upto this point, the description of the misconduct of the Ban' Isra'il was obviously demanding enough that the Holy Prophet ﷺ should hold them in contempt and never allow them to come to him. Therefore, in the last sentence of this verse, the instruction given to the Holy Prophet ﷺ was فَاعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَاصْفَحْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ (So for-give them and forego. Indeed, Allah loves the good-in-deed). It means that, despite their peculiar condition being what it is, it is better that the Prophet of Islam abstains from doing what is otherwise quite natural. In other words, he should not treat them with contempt or hatred because after knowing what they are - hardhearted and cold - the chances that any good counsel would affect them are very remote. Granted. But, toleration and civility of morals are wonder virtues which could probe out some sense and sensibility from out of such in-sensate people. Even if this effort to drive some sense into them fails, something worth doing still remains - keeping one's own matters and morals correct is, after all, quite necessary. Allah Almighty likes what is done with good grace - and it will definitely bring Muslims closer to Him.

A pledge was taken from the Children of Israel by their prophet that they would lead a godly life, and twelve chiefs from their twelve tribes were appointed to keep a watch over them. The pledge taken from the Children of Israel was that they would make themselves godly by offering salat (prayers); that they would discharge the rights of others in the shape of zakat (obligatory alms-giving); align themselves on the side of God by supporting His prophets; and spend their assets in support of the struggle for the religion of God. It was only after undertaking all this and after establishing a collective system among themselves for ensuring the continued fulfillment of these duties that they were entitled to God’s company and support, and entitled to enter the aesthetic atmosphere of paradise, after being purified. One attains paradise by the performance of good deeds and not due to any racial relationship. The requirements mentioned in this pledge are the very same basic requirements of religion. This is the highway which leads all human beings towards God and His paradise. But when the communities blessed with Divine Scriptures go astray, they turn to the right or left of this highway. Now, it happens that with the help of self-made interpretations the concepts of religion are changed. In the name of ceremonial prayers irrelevant discussions are started. Ways of salvation which are supposed to lead a man to his destination without discharging the claims or rights of his fellowmen, are sought. In the name of the call for truth, meaningless worldly activities find favour with such communities. They devise various means of justifying worldly expenditure. In other words, they concoct a religion of their own, keeping purely worldly considerations in view, and start calling it the religion of God. Once a group reaches this stage in its wrong-doing, God withdraws His attention from it. Deprived of Divine guidance, such people reach the stage where they understand only the language of their base desires and remain preoccupied with satisfying their desires, until the angel of death approaches in order to catch hold of them and take them to the court of God.