The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 110
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH Jacob, son of Isaac. This name was bestowed by God on Jacob later in life (Gen. 32:28). The original Hebrew word is a compound one made up of and J and means: (a) God's prince; (b) God's warrior; (c) God's soldier (Concordance by Cruden and Hebrew-English Lexicon by W. Gesenius). The name Israel is used to convey three different senses: (1) Jacob personally (Gen. 32:28); (2) progeny of Jacob (Deut. 6:3, 4); (3) any righteous and God-fearing person or people (Hebrew-English Lexicon). 53 (remember) is derived from 5; meaning: (1) he spoke of (2) he remembered, i. e. called to mind; (3) he kept in memory. Thus (remembrance) may either be with the tongue or with the mind or heart (Aqrab & Mufradāt). ; gives a (covenant). The word number of meanings. se means, he enjoined him; he put on him a responsibility; he made a covenant with him. a means, he observed and protected the sanctity of a thing. PT. 1 0 (so) and (you should fear) and (Me), the last named being originally 3. Added to the preceding word (Me) the clause receives a sort of triple emphasis. Commentary: In the preceding verse the Quran, by a reference to Adam, draws the reader's attention to the fact that God has been sending down His revelation from the very beginning and that evil- minded people have always opposed such revelation and that thus the Quranic revelation and the hostility of some people towards it are not to be wondered at. In the present verse God addresses the Israelites in order to point to the fact that the revelation has not been confined to the beginning of the world but has been sent down repeatedly, as and when required, and that a very good example of this repetition is to be met with in the history of the Israelites. Side by side with this reference to the Israelites, it means, he met Zaid at is also pointed out that even the عهد زيدا بمكان كذا such and such a place. means, an injunction; a commandment; a responsibility; a covenant; a promise; fulfilment of a promise; an oath; observance of the sanctity of a thing; protection; meeting with a person or thing; etc. (Lane & Aqrab). In the present verse does not mean, My part of the covenant, because the Israelites could not be asked to fulfil what God had promised. It means, the covenant you made with Me. Similarly Sue means, My covenant with you and not your covenant with Me. (Me should you fear) is really a combination of three words, i. e. 110 Israelites have now lost God's favour by failing to fulfil His covenant and that God has, therefore, now decided to choose a new people for His favour. Another reason why the Israelites have been mentioned here is that, being the last people to receive the favours of God before Islam, they are more answerable to Him than any other people. As to the question that naturally arises here, why God addresses the Jews in this verse as "the children of Israel" and not as "the children of Jacob" or simply as "the Jews", it may be stated that Israel, being the