The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 83
PT. 1 AL-BAQARAH CH. 2 اِنَّ اللهَ لَا يَسْتَحْيَ أَنْ يَضْرِبَ مَثَلًا مَّا Allah disdains not to give. 27 بَعُوضَةً فَمَا فَوْقَهَا فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا or even smaller. Those who فَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَّبِّهِمْ وَأَمَّا b an illustration as small as a gnat believe know that it is the truth from their Lord, while those الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَيَقُولُونَ مَاذَا اراد الله who disbelieve say, “What does أَرَادَ Allah mean by such an بِهَذَا مَثَلًا يُضِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيرًا وَ يَهْدِى بِهِ illustration? Many does He 33:54. 14:25; 16:76, 113; 47:4; 66:12. º6:118; 7:187; 13:28; 16:94; 40:35. Jesus' imagination? But to revert to the subject; the disbelievers at Mecca used to taunt the Muslims about their poverty, saying they had nothing of the good things which they had, so God took over their own phrases and said that the rewards which believers would have in Paradise would be even better. When Islam was established at Medina, the disbelievers gave up their taunts. So God also dropped the earlier descriptions of Paradise. The descriptions in their deep significance, however, hold for all time. At Mecca, moreover, it was necessary to explain and emphasize the basic belief of Islam. Therefore, greater detail of doctrine is found in the Meccan chapters, and as Paradise, the abode of believers in the afterlife, is an important item of belief, it is dealt with in detail in them. At Medina, on the contrary, practical matters like personal ethics and social legislation became more important. Therefore, greater attention was given to them in the Medinite chapters. The Meccan Surahs also abound in descriptions of Hell. What are they a compensation for? 83 Sir William Muir also suggests that the Holy Prophet changed his views about Paradise under the influence of the Jews and the Christians of Medina. But he forgets that the stock criticism made by Christian writers is that some Christian slaves had taught the Holy Prophet the Christian scriptures, the substance of which was incorporated in the Quran. Sir William himself alleges that the Holy Prophet learnt Christianity from Suhaib, a Roman slave at Mecca (The Life of Mahomet, p. 67). If the Holy Prophet at Mecca already knew the Christian teachings, he need not have waited for their influence until his arrival at Medina. In point of fact, in the Jewish and the Christian scriptures, there are no descriptions of Paradise. The Jews and the Christians have remained SO engrossed in the affairs of this life that their Books do not say much about the life to come. The promises made by their Prophets about the next life have always been taken by them to pertain only to this life. It cannot be imagined that anybody could be influenced by such a teaching.