The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 174
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH PT. 1 بَلَى مَنْ كَسَبَ سَيِّئَةً وَ اَحَاطَتْ بِه Aye, whoso does evil and is. 82 encompassed by his sins those خَطِيئَتُهُ فَأُولَبِكَ أَحبُ النَّارِ هُمْ are the inmates of the Fire فِيهَا خَلِدُونَ therein shall they abide. 88 very slight. It is recorded that at the time of the Holy Prophet, a section of the Jews thought that the punishment of the Jews would not last more than forty days (Jarir, under 2:81). Others regarded even this as too long, and reduced it to seven days (Jarir, ibid). As for modern Jews, Sale says: "It is a received opinion among the Jews at present, that no person (from among the Jews), be he ever so wicked, or of whatever sect, shall remain in Hell above eleven months or at most a year, except Dathan and Abiram and atheists (from among the Jews) who will be tormented there to all eternity" (Wherry, i. 318). The concluding portion of the verse, i. e. have you taken a promise from Allah. . . ? has been added to point out that the matter of salvation does not rest on the wish of a person or people but only on the grace and mercy of Allah Who has prescribed a law for it. This law the Quran proceeds to explain in the following two verses. 88. Important Words: meaning, he committed a mistake or an offence or a sin. The word abs though translated here as plural, is really singular, meaning, a sinful act or an offence, whether intentional or otherwise (Aqrab, Mufradāt & Lane). Commentary: This and the following verse prescribe the law of punishment and reward, or, in other words, of Hell and Heaven. The Quran here begins with the law pertaining to punishment, because in the preceding verse the Jews claimed immunity from punishment. The Jews based their claim on the fact that they were a chosen people of God, being descended from Prophets. The Quran strongly repudiates this idea, saying, that Hell and Heaven have not been earmarked for any race. The entry of man into Hell or Heaven depends on what beliefs he holds and what actions he performs in this world. If a man holds wrong beliefs and per- forms sinful deeds, he will go to Hell, irrespective of the fact whether he is a Jew or a Christian or anybody else. ساء evil is derived from) سيئة meaning, it or he was or became evil or bad. So means, anything that is evil or bad. The Arabs say JS i. e. an evil word or an evil opinion (Aqrab). In the verse under comment, the word (evil) read with the context signifies rejection of the Holy Prophet by the Jews, thus referring to the condition as to wrong belief, and sin) signifies their) خطيئة the word | خطأ sins) is derived from) خطيئة 174