The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 178
PT. 1 CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH reward for such among you as do that, except disgrace in the يَفْعَلُ ذَلِكَ مِنْكُمْ إِلَّا خِزْيٌ فِي الْحَيَوةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ الْقِمَةِ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى أَشَدِ present life; and on the Day of الْعَذَابِ وَمَا اللهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُوْنَ ;to a most severe chastisement Judgement they shall be driven and surely Allah is not unmindful of what you do. 92 أُولَيكَ الَّذِينَ اشْتَرَوُا الْحَيُوةَ These are they who have. 87 الدُّنْيَا بِالْآخِرَةِ فَلَا يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُم Their punishment الْعَذَابُ وَلَا هُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ نچ preferred the present life to the Hereafter. shall not therefore be lightened, nor shall they be helped in any other way. 93 92. Commentary: See under 2: 87. 93. Commentary: a war any Jews were taken prisoner by the pagans, the former would collect money by subscription and ransom them. They considered it improper for a Jew to remain in bondage with a Gentile. The Quran objects to this course by saying that their faith not only forbids the of Jews, but also enslavement prohibits mutual warfare and murder in which they were openly indulging, and there could be nothing worse than to accept a portion of the Scriptures and reject the rest; for, when one accepts a portion of the Scriptures, it is proof of the fact that one is convinced of their truth. Thus rejection of a portion is clear evidence of a perverted mind. As regards the prohibition of enslavement of Jews, the reader is referred to Lev. 25:39-43, 47-49, 54, 55; Neh. 5:8; and the Enc. Bib. iv, 4657. In accordance with these After considering the vices of the Jews in general in the previous verse, the Quran addresses the Jews of Medina in particular in verses 85 and 86. It is pointed out that in face of the clear injunctions to the contrary, the Jews of Medina had been killing one another and turning one another out of their homes. As explained under 2:18, there lived in Medina in the time of the Holy Prophet three Jewish tribes, the Banu Qainuqā', the Banū Naḍīr and the Banū Quraizah; and two pagan tribes, the Aus and the Khazraj. Two of the Jewish tribes, Banū Qainuqā' and Banū Quraizah, sided with the Aus, and Banu Nadir with the Khazraj. Thus, whenever these pagan clans were at war with each other, the Jewish tribes were automatically involved. But, if during injunctions, the Jews of Medina used 178 the