The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 153
CH. 2 IMARIÓ! PT. 1 R. 8. AL-BAQARAH 63. "Surely, the Believers, and the Jews, and the Christians and from among these truly bbelieves in Allah and the Last وَالطَّبِينَ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ the Sabians-whichever party وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ - Day and does good deeds ) shall have their reward with their Lord, and no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve. 69 5:70; 22:18. 4:137; 6:93. 2:113, 278; 6:49; 10:63. kill a man because he says Allah is his Lord and Master?" (chapter on Tafsir). In this ḥadīth the word is clearly used in the sense of attempting to kill or intending to kill and not actual killing. It will not be out of place to point out here that the purport of verse 2:59 discussed above is altogether different from the one under comment. Though in both of them God apparently orders the Israelites to go to some habitation, yet the meaning is entirely different, rather quite the opposite in each case. As a matter of fact, whereas in verse 2:59 God Himself willingly commands the Israelites to go to some habitation, His ordering them to "go down into a town" in the verse under comment is expressive of definite displeasure and anger. In the previous verse the aor habitation meant only a habitation found in the desert by going into which the Israelites did not leave the free desert life but rather combined it with the facilities of a habitation. On 153 the contrary, by "going down into" a i. e. a town or city as mentioned in the verse under comment, they altogether abandoned the desert life and adopted a life of ease, as is led in towns and cities. Hence the difference. This is why the Quran uses the simple word i. e. "enter" in 2:59 and the word i. e. "go down", a term expressive of decline, in the verse under comment. Similarly, whereas in verse 2:59 the Quran follows up the commandment with the words eat therefrom plentifully wherever you like, in the present verse the commandment is followed by the words and they were smitten with abasement and destitution. The difference is apparent. The former expression is indicative of the freedom of life in the desert, and the latter of the suffocating atmosphere and mental slavery of towns and cities. 69. Important Words: The Believers). The) الذين آمنوا expression signifies the people who