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you who believe! eat of the good things that We have provided you with,
and give thanks to Allah if Hint it is that you worship (172). He has only
forbidden you what dies of itself, and that over which any other
(name) than (that of) Allah has been invoked; but whoever is forced
(to it), not revolting, nor exceeding the limit, no sin shall be upon him;
surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful (173). Surely those who cancel what
Allah has revealed of the Book and take for it a small price, they eat
nothing but fire into their bellies, and Allah will not speak to them on
the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them, and they shall have a
painful chastisement (174). These are they who have bought error for the
guidance, and chastisement for forgiveness; Oh! how (bold) they are
to endure fire (175). This is because Allah has revealed the Book with the
truth; and surely those who differ in (matter of) the Book are in a
great opposition (176).
COMMENTARY
QUR'AN:
0 you who believe! eat of I the good things that We have
provided you with:
The
preceding verses were addressed to the "men" in general; now a
selected group among them (i.e., the believers) is especially
spoken to. Thus, this talk issues forth from the preceding one. It
seems as though Allah. is turning away from an intractable and
self‑opinioned group that was impervious to reason, and looks towards
those who would listen to, and accept the call of, the Speaker, because
they believe hi Him. The difference in the two speeches springs from
the change of the audience. The believers were expected to accept what was
said to them. Therefore, they were told to "eat from the‑good things that
We have provided you with". The expression is more loving than the
previous impersonal phrase addressed to the general public: "eat the
lawful (and) good things out of what is in the earth". The loving
expression of the verse under discussion paves the way for the direction
that they should be thankful to Allah alone, because they are monotheists,
they do not worship anyone other than Allah. It was for this very reason
that Allah said, "that We have provided you with", and did not say, 'what
you have been provided with', or "what is in the earth". The Qur'anic
expression (in active voice) shows that Allah is known to them and near
them, is affectionate and compassionate to them.
The Arabic
phrase translated as "the good things that We have provided you with",
would be literally translated as 'the good things of what We have provided
you with' ‑ in genitive case. Apparently the adjective (the good
things) is the first construct, related to the second construct
(what We have provided you with); and means in effect, 'eat from
Our sustenance that is all good'. This meaning is appropriate in this
context which is meant to show Allah's kindness and compassion for the
believers. The phrase is not meant to restrict the second construct with
the first one. In other words, it does not mean, 'eat from the good
provisions, not from the bad ones'; because such meaning would be quite
irrelevant in this setting in which Allah wishes to remove prohibition,
telling them not to abstain from any provision given by Allah ‑ as, such
behavior would be a self‑imposed unauthorized legislation, would be a talk
without knowledge.
QUR’AN: and give
thanks to Allah if Him it is that you worship:
Apparently
it should have been 'give thanks to Us', but the Qur’an says, "give thanks
to Allah". This expression is more appropriate for the theme of monotheism
which the verse leads to. And for the same reason the next phrase, "if Him
it is that you worship", was preferred to a shorter, 'if you worship Him'.
The present expression restricts and confines the worship to Allah
alone.
QUR'AN: He has only
forbidden you what dies of itself, and blood, and flesh of swine, and that
over which any other (name) than (that of) Allah has, been
invoked:
Invoking
any name other than Allah's, means slaughtering for any thing other than
Allah, for example, sacrificing for idols.
QUR'AN: But whoever
is forced (to it), not revolting, nor exceeding the limit:
That is,
when he is not unjust, nor does he exceed the limit; is driven to it
because of emergency. The meaning is therefore as follows: Whoever is
forced to eat some of these forbidden things, because of some emergency,
while he does not like at all to go against the law of Allah, nor does he
exceed the limit, there shall be no blame on him. But if he was trapped
into that emergency because of his own revolting behavior or because he
had exceeded the limit and was then driven to that necessity, then he is
not allowed to eat from these things. The sentence, "surely Allah is
Forgiving, Merciful," shows that the above permission is just a concession
given by Allah to the believers; otherwise, the basis of prohibition is
present even in this case.
QUR’AN: Surely those
who conceal what Allah has revealed of the Book:
It is an
allusion to the People of the Book. There were many good and lawful things
‑ in the rites of worship and other matters ‑ which their elders and
leaders had arbitrarily forbidden them ‑ while they had got the Book and
that Book contained no sanction against those good things. These people
did not conceal what they did but only because they wanted to protect
their high position and prestige in the community, and because they did
not like to stem the flow of gifts, riches and properties which their
power supposedly entitled them to.
This verse
unambiguously proves that a man's deeds are embodied and assume the form
of a body; and it is the deeds that finally emerge as their own results.
hi this verse, Allah first says that their action of taking a small price
for the Divine Revelation is one and the same with their eating the
fire into their bellies. Then the description of their concealing and
price taking is changed to that of buying error for the guidance; then
this gives way to bartering chastisement for forgiveness. Then it ends on
the words, "Oh! how (bold) they are to endure fire". Thus, their misdeed
itself is transformed into the fire, although what they had done was to
conceal the revelation and to continue on that behavior.
TRADITIONS
as‑Sadiq
(a.s.) said about the words of Allah, but whoever is forced (to
it), not revolting, nor exceeding the limit: "al‑Baghi (=
revolting) is one who desires hunting*, and al‑'adi (= exceeding
the limit) is thief. They are not allowed to eat dead (animal) even if
they are faced with emergency. It is forbidden to them. This (concession)
does not cover them as it does (other) Muslims. And they are not allowed
to shorten the prayer (in such journeys)." (al‑Kafi)
as-Sadiq
(a.s.) said: "al‑Baghi is unjust and al‑'adi is
usurper. " (al‑Ayyashi)
Hammad
narrates from the same Imam that he said: "alBaghi is one who
revolts against the Imam, and al‑'adi is thief."
Abu Ja'far
and Abu 'Abdillah (a.s.) have said: "Not revolting against the Imam of the
Muslims, nor transgressing the path of the righteous ones with
disobedience." (Majma'u l‑bayan)
The
author says: All these are various applications of these words; and
they support the meaning we have given earlier.
As-Sadiq
(a.s.) said about the words of Allah, Oh! how (bold) they are to
endure fire: "(It means,) how bold they are to commit the deeds which,
they know, 'will take them to the fire." (al‑Kafi)
'Ali ibn
lbrahim narrates from as‑Sadiq (a.s.) about this sentence: "How daring
they are to (risk) the fire." (Majma’u ‘l-Bayan)
as‑Sadiq
(a.s.) said: "How active they are in the deeds of the people of the
fire."
The author
says: These traditions are in fact similar in their meanings: The first
tradition explains boldness for fire with boldness in perpetrating the
causes of the fire; the second one gives its meaning as daring to enter
the fire; the third one interprets it as boldness to commit sins that
would lead to the fire ‑ and it is almost the same with the meaning of the
first tradition.
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