The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page cviii
GENERAL INTRODUCTION (c) We also have in the Song of Solomon (1:5-6): I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black. From this description it appears that Solomon foretold the advent of a Prophet who would come from the south, and he (or his people) would be black of skin, as compared with the descendants of Isaac. It is well known that the people of Syria and Palestine have a fairer complexion than the people of Arabia. The Prophet of Islam was an Arab. (d) In the same place another sign of the Promised One is given as follows: My mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept (1:6). This is a description of the people to which the Promised One was to belong. The Arabs, at the advent of the Prophet of Islam, were an unambitious people. They accepted employment under Romans and Iranians, but of their own country they thought but little. The Holy Prophet came and Arabia rose from her slumber. The result was an Arab-led world movement embracing every conceivable side of human progress spiritual, intellectual, political. The Arabs became the keepers not only of their own vineyard, but of the vineyards of the whole world. (e) The Song of Solomon also contains a warning for Israel: they are told not to meddle with the Promised Prophet. Thus in 2:7 we have: I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. The theme is continued in the Song in 3:5 and in 8:4. These passages only mean that when the Promised Prophet appeared, Jews and Christians, two branches of Israel, would oppose and oppress him; but as the Prophet would be a God-appointed Prophet, they would not succeed, but would instead suffer an ignominious defeat. Solomon, accordingly, warned his people saying: I charge you, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. The Israelites, both Jews and Christians, were advised to do nothing to the Promised Prophet. When his influence spread to their land, they should accept him. It would not do to oppose him and to try to stem the tide of his influence. Opposition would spell the opponents' own destruction, for a people who meddle with a Prophet's mission become liable to divine punishment. The warning proved true. Jews and Christians became meddlesome and brought divine punishment upon themselves. If a people lxxxii