Prophecy about the Vanishment of the disbelievers, God’s help in the Battle of Badr, Unity the basis of the faith in God, Islam the only True Religion.

Aal ’Imran Verses 9 - 20

رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ جَامِعُ النَّاسِ لِيَوْمٍ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُخْلِفُ الْمِيعَادَ

“Our1Lord! Verily Thou art the Gatherer of mankind unto the Day (of Judgment) about which there is no doubt; (Be Merciful to us then); Verily God faileth not His promise” (3:9).

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَنْ تُغْنِيَ عَنْهُمْ أَمْوَالُهُمْ وَلَا أَوْلَادُهُمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئًا ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمْ وَقُودُ النَّارِ

“Verily, those who disbelieve, never shall their wealth2nor their progeny avail them aught against (the Wrath of) God; They and They are the fuel of the (Hell) fire” (3:10).

كَدَأْبِ آلِ فِرْعَوْنَ وَالَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ ۚ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا فَأَخَذَهُمُ اللَّهُ بِذُنُوبِهِمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ

“Like3unto the wont of the people of Pharaoh and those before them; they belied our signs; so God caught them for their sins; and Verily God is (very) severe in requiting (evil)” (3:11).

قُلْ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا سَتُغْلَبُونَ وَتُحْشَرُونَ إِلَىٰ جَهَنَّمَ ۚ وَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ

“Say (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) to those who disbelieve “ye shall be vanquished and gathered together unto Hell; (what) a wretched resting place (it shall be)” (3:12).

قَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ آيَةٌ فِي فِئَتَيْنِ الْتَقَتَا ۖ فِئَةٌ تُقَاتِلُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَأُخْرَىٰ كَافِرَةٌ يَرَوْنَهُمْ مِثْلَيْهِمْ رَأْيَ الْعَيْنِ ۚ وَاللَّهُ يُؤَيِّدُ بِنَصْرِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۗ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَعِبْرَةً لِأُولِي الْأَبْصَارِ

“Indeed, there was a sign for you in the two hosts (which) met together in the 4encounter; one host fighting in the path of God and the other disbelieving, (they’)5saw them twice their number with their (own) sight6of the eye; Verily God aideth with His 7aid whomsoever He liketh; Indeed in this there is a lesson for those who have (sound) sight8” (3:13).

زُيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ حُبُّ الشَّهَوَاتِ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ وَالْبَنِينَ وَالْقَنَاطِيرِ الْمُقَنْطَرَةِ مِنَ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ وَالْخَيْلِ الْمُسَوَّمَةِ وَالْأَنْعَامِ وَالْحَرْثِ ۗ ذَٰلِكَ مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَاللَّهُ عِنْدَهُ حُسْنُ الْمَآبِ

“(It has been) made to seem attractively fair unto men, the love of the lusts for women and sons and the hoarded treasures of gold and silver and well-bred horses9and cattle and tilth10; this is the provision of the life of this world, while God! Verily with Him is the best destination” (3:14).

قُلْ أَؤُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ مِنْ ذَٰلِكُمْ ۚ لِلَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا وَأَزْوَاجٌ مُطَهَّرَةٌ وَرِضْوَانٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِالْعِبَادِ

“Say (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) “Shall I tell you of what is better than these?; for those who take shelter11in God are gardens with their Lord, beneath which flow rivers, to abide in them and mates pure, and God’s pleasure; and verily God is well aware of the servants” (3:15).

الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا إِنَّنَا آمَنَّا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ

“Those who pray saying “O’ Our Lord! Indeed, we believe, so forgive us our sins and save us from the torment of the (Hell) fire” (3:16).

الصَّابِرِينَ وَالصَّادِقِينَ وَالْقَانِتِينَ وَالْمُنْفِقِينَ وَالْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ بِالْأَسْحَارِ

“The patient, and the truthful, and the devout (ones), and those who spend (in the way of God) and those who seek forgiveness e’re12dawn” (3:17).

شَهِدَ اللَّهُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَأُولُو الْعِلْمِ قَائِمًا بِالْقِسْطِ ۚ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ

“God13(Himself) witnesseth that there is no god but HE, and (so do) the angels and those possessed of knowledge,14standing firm for justice15; (there is) no god but He, the Mighty, the Wise” (3:18).

إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ الْإِسْلَامُ ۗ وَمَا اخْتَلَفَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْعِلْمُ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ ۗ وَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ سَرِيعُ الْحِسَابِ

“Verily the religion with God is ISLAM16(Submission to God’s will), and those whom the Book had been given17did not differ but after the knowledge (of the Truth) had come unto them, out of envy among themselves; and whosoever disbelieveth in the signs18of God, then, verily, God is quick in reckoning” (3:19).

فَإِنْ حَاجُّوكَ فَقُلْ أَسْلَمْتُ وَجْهِيَ لِلَّهِ وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَنِ ۗ وَقُلْ لِلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ وَالْأُمِّيِّينَ أَأَسْلَمْتُمْ ۚ فَإِنْ أَسْلَمُوا فَقَدِ اهْتَدَوْا ۖ وَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَإِنَّمَا عَلَيْكَ الْبَلَاغُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِالْعِبَادِ

“But if they dispute with thee (O’ Our apostle Muhammad!) then say, “I have submitted myself (wholly) to God and (so) doeth everyone who followeth me and say19to those who have been given the Book and the unlettered (ones’)20“have ye (too) submitted;”? If they submit (themselves to God) then indeed they are rightly guided, and if they turn away, then upon thee is only the delivery (of the message)21‘, and verily, God is well-aware of the servants” (3:20).

Commentary

Verse 9

The prayer in this verse and in the preceding one, refers to the ideal or the life-object of those ‘Raasikhoona fil ilm.’ They pray for their welfare in the life hereafter and on the Day of Judgment This prayer itself speaks loudly that the object of the lives of those ‘Raasikhoona fil ilm’ is nothing connected with their welfare in this life which, they know it for certain, is nothing but a passing show.

Verse 10

This verse along with the two others immediately succeeding, is a clear prophecy of the vanquishment of the enemies of the Holy Prophet. Though the ‘Quraish’ had suffered a crushing defeat at ‘Badr’ they could yet muster heavy forces from their allies around them and gather tremendous strength against the poor and practically unarmed Muslim group at Madina. The number of the Muslims was very small, and they were surrounded by their enemies from all around them. The defeated enemy was busy gathering strength and had determined and sworn to take revenge.

The heathen world around Mecca was ever ready to give the maximum possible help to the ‘Quraish’ in their attempt to put an end to the new religion of monotheism (i.e. Islam) which aimed at stopping idolatry, and all other polytheistic beliefs and practices, and the heathenic life of ignorance of the truth about God and godliness. It is quite evident that nothing but inspiration from the Almighty Lord could have emboldened the Holy Prophet to prophesy the victory of the ill-armed, unequipped very few, over the strongest and the fully equipped battalions of the well-prepared enemy with their strong allies. The Muslims were tried with such a hopeless and dangerous state of siege that they were warned not to part with their armour even at the time of prayer22.

Verse 11

‘Daab’ is generally interpreted as ‘manner’ or ‘wont’ but here it more appropriately signifies ‘striving hard’ or ‘labouring’ or ‘endeavouring.’ The Quraishites were feverishly busy day and night, in preparing themselves for a decisive onslaught. To be sure of their attack this time, at least being fully successful in taking their desired revenge upon the Holy Prophet and the poor Muslims, they were busy enlisting the Jewish and the Christian tribes around them instigating them to attack the Muslims at Madina from their respective sides. Abu Sufiyan (the father of Mu’awiyah) and the grandfather of Yazeed, was busy intriguing with the other tribes to take up arms against the Holy Prophet and the Muslims.

Verse 12

The Jews of ‘Bani Qaniqaa’ who lived in the suburbs of Madina got greatly alarmed by the crushing and the decisive victory the Muslims won at Badr and became active to do everything possible to prevent the growing power of the Muslims. They inflamed the fire already burning in the hearts of Quraish to a speedy revenge. Kaab Ibn Ashraf went to Mecca with a delegation to instigate the Quraish against the Muslims, stimulating the feelings of their tribal honour and their grief for their chiefs killed in the battle of Badr. From Mecca went Abu-Sufiyan to Madina and staying with ‘Salam Ibn-Mishkan’, entered into pledges of mutual help, and finalised the plans for attacking the Muslims from all around, with simultaneous attack from within Madina.

Such of the infidels who had joined the ranks of the Muslims, not by conviction but with selfish motives of availing the privileges allowed to the converts by the fast-growing power of the Muslims at Madina, were the hypocrites who by themselves were a powerful party among the converts. These hypocrites though in the Muslim ranks, always awaited for an opportunity and were ever ready to avail of every opportunity to inflict every possible hurt, harm or loss to the Holy Prophet, and his faithful adherents to weaken their fast-growing strength and power. These hypocrites were in intimate connection with the Jews, and they readily joined the intrigue. The first step planned was to create hostilities between the great tribes the ‘Aus’ and the ‘Khazraj’ of the Ansars. This was easy because these two tribes had always been against each other and only their recent conversion to Islam had brought them together. The Holy Prophet coming to know of the matter, immediately reconciliated the two factions. Verse 148 is said to have been revealed on this occasion.

Under the mutual instigation and according to intrigued plan between them and the Meccans, the Jews in the suburbs of Madina began troubling the unarmed Muslims, both men and women. Once when a Muslim woman was at a Jew’s shop, a Jew quickly cut off her garment in such a way that when the poor woman stood up, she was quite naked, at which the other Jews around ridiculed her, laughing at her and clapping their hands making fun of the helpless woman. The Holy Prophet appeared on the scene and warned the Jews in the words of this verse admonishing the Jews to beware, lest the fate that overtook the heathens at ‘Badr’ should fall on them too. The Jews got furious and threatened to fight the Holy Prophet to prove their strength and power, and they returned the treaty which the Holy Prophet had entered into, with them.

The Holy Prophet quietly returned to Madina and ordered the siege of the forts of these Jewish tribes who were bent upon starting bloodshed and when besieged, none of their sworn allies could go to their rescue, neither the heathens of Mecca nor their other Jewish tribes ‘Bani Nazeer’ and ‘Bani Quraiza’ who were in their immediate neighbourhood, nor the hypocrites among the Muslim converts. Thus, the mischief was arrested in its own place. But Abdullah Ibn Obay the ringleader of the hypocrites in Madina made repeated attempts to intercede on behalf of the besieged enemy. Ultimately the Holy Prophet granted the raising of the siege on condition that the mischievous tribes of the Jews should leave the place and migrate to some distant place taking away all their belongings along with them.

Such events loudly speak of the special care and precaution the Holy Prophet had to take at every step, to avoid and stop mischief and bloodshed before any aggression or aggressive attitude on the part of the enemies is enacted.

As regards the Battle of ‘Badr’ no intelligent reader can fail to find out from the authentic historic records like Tabari etc. as to who all stood by the Holy Prophet on the most trying calamitous day of that battle which was facing the question of life and death of the Holy Prophet his Mission and the Muslims, all together, for ever, and who were they who fought for the truth, and who sat quite safe under a shelter refusing to enter the field, and who were the ones on whose hands was given the promised victory for the Holy Prophet and Islam, and how those who quietly kept themselves away from fighting the enemy, later, after the departure of the Holy Prophet, manoeuvred as the faithful companions of the Holy Prophet, to rule over the destinies of the people.

Verse 13

In the Battle of ‘Badr’ the Muslims numbered only 313 whereas the heathens were 1000 strong (i.e. over three times the Muslims). But by the Will of God, Muslims were made to see the enemy only as twice their number. The Muslims had been told that they will be able to overcome even if the enemy be twice themselves23.

Verse 14

The words used in this verse are to be carefully noted, and the verse as a whole to be studied and understood with the meaning of the words and their construction. Mark the words ‘love of desires’ i.e. the mad passion to own things for the sake of owning them. Things necessary for life must be owned, the love to own such good things for use in the life, is not referred to here, for it is lawful and essential for man. The aspect referred to here, is the mad attachment or the passion for things and enjoyment not to meet any necessity but for the sake of owning the things, or for mere enjoyment of the ownership or the realisation of the object. Asceticism is reprobated in Islam (i.e. hating or discarding everything in the world, necessary and the unnecessary for life).

Man may own the good things, but he must not be madly attached to them, to make parting with them, when necessary, a difficulty for him. Such attachment must be cut off to the very root. The test of a true believer in God, lies in owning the good things through legal means and at the same time, himself being only a trustee ready to dispense with them, as willed by God. What is demanded in Islam is not the total annihilation of all the emotions in man, but keeping or maintaining the passions duly subjugated to the higher aims of the moral and the spiritual progress of the individual in this world, so that the desires may be readily sacrificed when needed for higher objects, opposed to selfish ends.

If the problem is viewed and studied properly, it will be found that it is more difficult to control the passions than to annihilate them altogether. One has to own the good things necessary for his life in this world, but the individual should be free of unnecessary attachment to any of his possessions, to be able to part with them immediately as it may be necessary for the discharge of the duties prescribed by the Lord, for the welfare of the individual in the life hereafter:

لَنْ تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ حَتَّىٰ تُنْفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ ۚ وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ شَيْءٍ

“By no means shall ye attain to righteousness until ye spend (benevolently) out of what ye love” (3:92).

The best example of love of the good things in life, viz., property, wife, children, relatives, friends, honour, respect, and integrity, and at the same time, complete detachment from them to effect immediate separation from all these things, when necessary, can be found only in Karbala. Here Husayn the third Holy Imam owned the best things in the world, but readily sacrificed his all in the way of God. Total discordance or a total annihilation of the passions altogether, and resorting to any kind of monastic or ascetic life is nothing short of running away from the test of the human life on earth. Man has been endowed with life to be tested as God wills it. God says:

الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا

“He hath created life and death to prove which one of you is the best in righteousness” (67:2).

This same argument holds good with reference to the owning of wealth and having issues, referred to in this verse.

Refers to the constant conflict between the animal tendency in man towards his timely sexual pleasures and the immediate enjoyment of the temporal life with the everlasting intellectual and spiritual pleasures in store for man. (A.P.)

Verse 15

The life after death is only a continuation of the present life, heading towards the state of realisation and spiritual perfection which, is in store for every human soul but only for those sincerely desirous and have duly endeavoured for it. The march of life in the spiritual realm after death is only of upward trend, without any liability of going down if one does not go up, a stationary condition is also possible. To qualify for the bliss in the life after death, the essential condition is maintaining the soul in its original purity away from love of desires for things and enjoyments forbidden by the Lord (i.e. guarding against the evil of transgressing the limits of the divinely prescribed law called the ‘Shariat’). This state of being self-guarded is called Piety and it qualifies the individual for bliss in degrees corresponding to the intensity of piety practised in this life.

The practice of piety in this life is nothing but training the soul for the upward march heading towards perfection in the life hereafter.

The blissful life in the gardens, with rivers and streams, in the company of mates, pure and fair, promised in this verse is only the minimum recompense for the piety and righteousness practised in the present life, but God’s pleasure mentioned in this verse shall be the ultimate goal or the final destination of the upward journey of the human soul which is only a continued course of the spiritual perfection.

Verse 16

The prayer is nothing but a preparation for the life hereafter. No radical change is possible in the spirituality of the individual, unless one endeavours hard for it and feels remorse for his failure in maintaining the original attachment to those who have earned God’s pleasure and thus become one of the beloved or the blessed ones of God.

Verse 17

This verse gives the qualities that entitle one to the grace of God, and gives the clue to the special potency and effectiveness of prayer in the early hours of the dawn.

Verse 18

God Himself witnessing to His Own Unity, is quite logical and meaningful, for unless God Himself, out of His Infinite Mercy, declares to us about His Own Existence, how can any of His creation by itself ever know about the truth about Him.

All that we can say is, that God, there can be One and only One God and never more than One.

‘Qaiman-bil-qist’ standing or established firmly for justice and maintaining it. In the first place, any unjust being or any one with the least injustice or iniquity in him, can never be God, at all, for if independent arbitrariness should be the essential feature of the ultimate causative and the controlling factor of the universe, there could not be even the bare validity in any law if it lacks in the degree to satisfy reasoning and equity. God could not be a necessary or essential existence - His existence would not have the capacity or the properties of proving the existence by reason. He could be a contingent existence that might or might not exist. Absolute justice means strict conformity of the acts to the nativity of the active factor. So, the absolute justice of God, is by itself one of the aspects of the infinite mercy which is the ruling principle of the Kingdom of God and the objective factor essentially existing in every action of His. God has Himself of His own infinite mercy and His own independent will, made mercy incumbent upon His own Omnipotent Self24.

Here it is necessary to make it clear that definite belief in God being All-Just, and injustice or iniquity of every other being besides Him, is one of the five cardinal doctrines of the Original Islamic Faith (now called Shi’ism) just for the sake of distinguishing it from the other schools of thought which also term themselves as Islam). The five cardinal doctrines of the Original Islam (Shi’ism) are: -

1. ‘Tawhid’ - Faith in The Unity of God.

2. ‘Adl’ - God being All-Just.

3. ‘Risalat’ - The Apostleship, i.e., the 1,24,000 prophets were all infallible, true, and holy (the number given might be for the huge innumerable number, for all the names or the number are not mentioned in the Holy Qur’an).

4. ‘Imamat’ - Divine Guidance - After the conclusion or the termination of the Apostleship with the Last of God’s Apostles, Muhammad, the divine guidance to the truth, continued in the serial of the Twelve Holy Imams.

5. ‘Qiamat’ - The Day of Final Judgment.

The word ‘Shahadat’, here meaning bearing witness, has been confined to God, the angels and those who possess knowledge, though in many other verses it is said that everything and every being in the heavens and the earth praises God and bears witness to His Unity. If ‘Shahadat’ is taken to mean a particular form and the state of knowledge, i.e., the perceptual realisation, then the restriction would be justified as the knowledge of His Unity, common to every one of us, is of the conceptual nature, in other words ‘‘Ilm al-Shuhoodi’, i.e., the state of knowledge, when the object is known to the conscious-self immediately, and the ‘‘Ilm al-Husooli’, i.e., the state of knowledge, when the object gets known to the conscious-self through the medium of the concept.

The Unity of God is known to Himself direct, as He is the Known, the Knowing and the Knower as one and the same. The same is the knowledge of those who have attained the state of realisation by complete mental absorption in the absolute. Whoever reaches this stage of bearing witness to the unity of God, would also naturally be a witness over His creation, and these are the ones termed in the Qur’an as ‘Shuhada’, i.e., the witness of whom the Last Prophet Muhammad has been called to be the witness over the witnesses25.

‘Qaiman bil Qist’, meaning standing firm for justice and maintaining it. Some commentators thought this as the adverbial clause qualifying the state of those endowed with knowledge ‘Olul-ilm’ but in that case grammatically it ought to have been in plural, hence the rest of the commentators assert the phrase to qualify the state of the divine unity. Thus it may be taken as stressing the interrelation between the unity of His Essence and His attribute, Justice.

Justice is His most comprehensive attribute qualifying His action and implies all the divine attributes and Excellence.

The unity of His Essence is the source responsible for all the attributes manifesting in His Justice. The Holy Prophet refers to the importance of this attribute of justice as the sole pillar on which stand the edifice of the universe as a whole.

‘Bil adl qamatis samawaat wal Ardh’, i.e., On justice stand the heavens and the earth. And none can realise Him and His Unity unless he stands firm for justice and maintains it. Where justice is, there will be unity and wherever unity is, there will be justice. This is why Islam reduces all excellence to justice and all vices to injustice26. Having in view the importance of justice as the manifestation of His Unity in action as well as in human action, the justification of counting justice as the second article of faith next only to the divine unity, is obvious here as the Qur’an has referred to the ‘Aayaate Mohkamat’ (i.e., the decisive verses) as the Essence of the Book in the light of which all other verses of ambiguous nature should be read and interpreted. It may be asserted here that unity is the essence of justice and justice is the essence of all His actions which means that all the verses in His Book of Nature or that of Legislation should be interpreted to be in utter harmony with His unity and justice. Thus, Qur’an here establishes the logical method to be followed when one, in search of truth, proceeding from the known to the unknown, and along with this laid down the first proposition to be taken as an indispensable factor on which religion is based, i.e., Unity and Justice of the Absolute by Whom the whole universe stands. Thus, Qur’an gives in Verse 6 the process and in this verse - the matter for a believer to proceed with. (A.P.)

These doctrines of faith are called ‘Usoole-Din’ - i.e., the roots of the faith. For details refer to the introduction.

Faith in God’s being All-just is essential, for any position contrary to this will infer in God’s being unwise or subject to some unfair motives. And if any act of God be other than just and right, there can be no limit to the wrongs, harms and the disharmony that will be perpetually getting effected and the Universe will not work in perfect harmony as it goes on now, and there will be nothing but chaos and confusion instead.

Verse 19

‘Al-Islam’ literally means surrender or submission. As the name of the religion, Islam, means - surrender or the submission of the self of the adherent to the will of the Lord. The act of submission to God is referred to in Verse 2:112 and Verse 31:22. Qur’an discloses the fact that the religion of submission to God was preached by one and all of the apostles of God - in whatever part of the world they would have appeared and in whatever language the truth had been preached. The religion preached was essentially the submission to the divine will which act in Arabic, is called ‘Islam’. It is also the natural religion of every human being as mentioned in Verse:

فِطْرَتَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا

“The nature made by God in which He hath made man” (30:30).

This is in perfect agreement with the saying of the Holy Prophet:

“Every child is born in the model of nature (Islam): it is his parents that make him a few or a Christian” (Hadith).

It was Islam alone and nothing but Islam in its essentials that was taught by every apostle of God from the earliest times. The original teachings were later on corrupted by the mistakes, misunderstandings, unwarranted bias, and the unwholesome hatred on the part of the adherents, inflamed by the communal factions and sectarian hatred between the camps opposite to each other.

‘Ayaat’ literally means signs - and in a general application of the meaning every apostle and every Imam was one of the greatest signs of God through whom God was more plainly and effectively proved and known. Thus, denial of the ‘ayaats’ or the sign includes the denial of the Holy Apostles as well as the Holy Imams.

In view the above note the justification of presenting Islam as the sole or the only religion of God and that the differences among the various religions and their sects are due only to the tendency of revolt against the truth after it is duly known. (A.P.)

Verse 20

Submission to reason is tantamount to submitting one’s self to God, for it is in reason God reveals His will. If people only get agreeable to reason in preference to their personal bias, pride and prejudice, there will be no difficulty at all in bringing the members of the human family together in one brotherhood and the life on earth will only then be really enjoyable.

Here Qur’an shows the line of argument to be adopted against the people of the Book who are required to quote the expressive divine verdict in any argument and not any opinion of any created being or beings. (A.P.)

• 1. This is the continuation of the prayer of the believers Refer to Verse . 8.
• 2. This is a clear warning to the puffed ones with wealth against their irreligiousness.
• 3. A warning to those who depend on their wealth and forget God.
• 4. The Battle of Badr.
• 5. The believers saw the dis-believers as only double in number.
• 6. Refer to Verses. 8:44, 8:66.
• 7. As Moses was aided by Aaron the Holy Prophet was aided with Ali who displayed the most, his faith in God on all occasions of the fight in the way of the Lord and remained steadfast, even when the Companions deseited the Holy Prophet and had fled away.
• 8. The Conscience intact.
• 9. Beautiful and Luxurious Conveyances like the costly cars of the modern days.
• 10. The Zamindaries and the landed properties.
• 11. The pious.
• 12. Before.
• 13. Refer to: 57:25, 3:6, 4:162 5:8 15:27 29:49. Refer to Verses 2:112; 3:84; 42:14.
• 14. See note to Verse 6 for ‘Rasikhoona fil ilm’.
• 15. Not inclined to any extreme.
• 16. Total Submission to God’s will.
• 17. Reference is to those who after believing in the Book of God and then differed from it - applicable to those who differed after embracing Islam. Refer to Verses 85 and 86.
• 18. Including the apostles and the Holy Imams.
• 19. Ask.
• 20. Applicable to all those who follow not any heavenly scripture.
• 21. Islam.
• 22. Vide 4:102.
• 23. Vide 8:44 and 8:66.
• 24. Vide Verse 6:12.
• 25. See: 4:41, 16:84, 16:89. (A.P.)
• 26. Vide: 5:5, 4:135 and 57:25.