The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 190
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH PT. 1 وَلَقَدْ اَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ أَي بَ، وَمَا And surely We have sent. 100 يَكْفُرُ بِهَا إِلَّا الْفُسِقُونَ ) down to thee manifest Signs, and no one disbelieves in them but the disobedient. 106 another angel who, like Gabriel, is also one of the chief angels. The word has been described, as being a combination opposition to His will, such as only an enemy of God could show. Angels constitute an important link in the which | spiritual chain and he who breaks من كائيل or فى كائيل. of words, i. e means, who as God? or who is like God? (Geseneus & Jew. Enc. ); i. e. there is none like God, the angel Michael having been given this name owing to his being assigned the duty of establishing God's Unity and Oneness in the universe. The Jews looked upon Michael as their favourite angel (Jew. Enc. , also Jarir, under verse 2:98, 99). He was the guardian angel of the Israelites (Enc. Brit. under Michael). In Islam Gabriel is believed to be superior to Michael in rank, for whereas Gabriel is known as Michael has been given the name the word he being diminutive of the word (Jarīr, i. 329). In the days of the Holy Prophet, the Jews looked upon Gabriel as the angel of wars, calamities and hardships, whereas they looked upon Michael as the angel of peace and plenty and rain and herbage (Jarīr & Kathir). Commentary: As an insult to a king's agent implies insult to the king himself, so those who say unworthy things about any of the angels really find fault with God. The Quran, therefore, declares that the words of the Jews referred to in the preceding verse imply irreverence to God and 190 even one link of the spiritual chain or manifests ill-will against any single unit of the spiritual system, in fact severs his connection with the whole system. Such a man deprives himself of the favours and blessings which are bestowed upon the true servants of God and renders himself deserving of the punishment fixed for transgressors. In this verse a general mention of God, the angels and the Prophets is followed by a specific mention of Gabriel and Michael. The reason is not far to seek. The Jews regarded Gabriel as their enemy. It is therefore particularly pointed out that enmity with Gabriel merits divine punishment. The name of Michael is also mentioned along with Gabriel's so that no Muslim might take it into his head to retort to Jewish hatred of Gabriel by speaking ill of Michael, the favourite angel of the Jews. 106. Commentary: The verse purports to say that the denial of the Holy Prophet by the Jews, and for that matter by all other disbelievers, is quite unreasonable because his claim is based on convincing arguments and manifest Signs. The verse gives the lie to those who have the effrontery to assert that,