The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 169
PT. 1 AL-BAQARAH CH. 2 افَتَطْمَعُونَ أَنْ يُؤْمِنُوا لَكُمْ وَقَدْ كَانَ Do you expect that they will. 76 يُؤْمِنُوْالَكُمْ believe you when a party of فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَسْمَعُونَ كَلَّمَ اللهِ ثُمَّ them hear the word of Allah يُحَرِّفُونَهُ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا عَقَلُوهُ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ then "pervert it after they have understood it, and they know the consequences thereof. 82 "3:79; 4:47; 5:14, 42. performing any act of virtue out of a desire to be virtuous, they did not even involuntarily perform anything that might be called virtuous. They had become worse than stones; for even from stones there comes out water which people profit by. It has, however, been added that these remarks do not apply to the whole nation; for some of the Israelites were, no doubt, swayed by the fear of God. Of these the Quran says: Of them (the hearts) there are some that humble themselves for fear of Allah. It may be noted that the pronoun (them) in the clause, and indeed of them there are some that humble themselves for fear of Allah, stands for (hearts) and not for (stones). The fact that of the two pronouns in the verse the first refers pronoun 'him' refers to the Holy Prophet in the first two places and to God in the third. The sentence, for of stones indeed there are some out of which gush forth streams, and of them there are some out of which flows water when they cleave asunder, signifies that even among lifeless things there are grades, some being more useful than others; and the Quran hints that we should recognise the difference in the grade and usefulness of all things. Everything must have its due, whether small or great. 82. Important Words: they pervert it is derived) يحرفونه from which means, he turned a thing aside; he made a thing incline away, the infinitive meaning the حرف القول. side or border of a thing | قلوب stones and this one to) حجارة to (hearts) need not create any doubt. The Quran contains many instances of what is termed i. e. where similar pronouns occurring in the same verse stand for different nouns. For example, we read in 48:10: That you may believe in Allah and His Messenger and may help him and honour him, and glorify Him morning and evening. In this verse the 169 means: (1) he changed or removed a word or speech or writing from its proper place; (2) he made a word or speech or writing incline from its position so as to give it a wrong significance (Aqrab & Mufradāt). Thus may be either by (1) omitting or adding or changing a word or sentence; or by (2) perverting or putting a wrong interpretation on it.