The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 122
CH. 2 46. And "seek help AL-BAQARAH b PT. 1 وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلوةِ وَإِنَّهَا with لَكَبِيرَةُ إِلَّا عَلَى الْخَشِعِيْنَ patience and Prayer; and this indeed is hard except for the humble in spirit,52 "2:154; 7:129. 4:143; 9:54. about Ishmaelites? They went enjoining others to act kindly towards relations but for more than two thousand years they themselves acted most shamefully towards their own kinsmen, and their rejection of the Holy Prophet was also due to the jealousy they bore towards the house of Ishmael. 52. Important Words: ✓ (patience) means: (1) to steadily adhere to what reason and law command; (2) to restrain oneself from what reason and law forbid; and (3) to restrain oneself from manifesting grief, agitation and impatience, the word being the contrary of i. e. manifestation of grief and agitation (Mufradāt). (the humble) is the plural of which is derived from which means, he became lowly, humble or submissive; he exercised restraint over himself; he confided in God only, throwing himself completely at His mercy (Aqrab, Mufradāt & Lisān). The verse that follows explains what God here means by the خاشعين word Commentary: continuation of the address to the Israelites, meaning that the Israelites should not be hasty in rejecting the Holy Prophet but should seek to find out the truth with patience and prayer. The verse, however, ends with an expression of the fear that, as seeking to find out the truth in the aforesaid manner is difficult, the Jews perhaps will not resort to the method which only the humble adopt. Or it may be taken to be addressed to Muslims. When the Quran recounted so many hostile activities of Jews against Muslims, it was natural that the weak-minded people among the latter should begin to entertain fear of the Jews. So, as necessitated by the psychological effect of the verses on the listeners, the Quran here turns to the Muslims and gives them a message of hope and encouragement. الصلوة and صبر If Muslims acted with (patience and prayer), they need have no fear. In other words, if they abstain from evils, and practise virtue and be steadfast and observe patience and constantly pray to God for help, He will certainly send them His help, and they will conquer all opposition. The pronoun in the words, this indeed is hard except for the humble in spirit, refers either to or to This verse along with the one that follows may be taken to be addressed derived from the word either to the Jews or to the Muslims. In the former case, it constitutes a 122 meaning, that the act of seeking God's help through and is not