The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 197
PT. 1 AL-BAQARAH CH. 2 وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ أَمَنُوْا وَاتَّقَوْا لَمَتُوبَةٌ مِّنْ And if they had believed. 104 and acted righteously, better It اللهِ خَيْرٌ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ & surely would have been the عِنْدِ اللهِ خَـ reward from Allah, had they but known! 110 IY "3:180; 5:66, 67. Babylon and kept them there for a long time. The holy men referred to in the verse under comment were Haggai, the Prophet, and Zechariah, the son of Iddo (Ezra 5:1). When Cyrus, King of Media and Persia, rose to power, the Israelites entered into a secret agreement with him and greatly facilitated his conquest of Babylon. In return for this service, he not only allowed them to return to their own country but also helped in the rebuilding of the Temple (Historians' History of the World, ii. 126). After stating that the Jews of the Holy Prophet's time were following the same course which was adopted by the rebels of Solomon's days and which was later adopted by the Jews under two holy men in Babylon, it was necessary here to state the ultimate upshot of their efforts against the Holy Prophet, because on the two previous occasion's their efforts had met with different results. On the first occasion the conspiracy of the Israelites, being directed against a Prophet of God, had ended in the total loss of their prestige and finally in their banishment to Babylon. On the second occasion, they took a similar course under two inspired personages and were successful. Hence, in order to indicate whether the efforts of the Jews 197 against the Holy Prophet would meet with failure, as they did in the days of Solomon, or with success as in Babylon, the Quran says: these people are learning that which would harm them and do them no good; hinting that they will not be successful as in Babylon. Accordingly, the consequence of their hostile efforts against the Holy Prophet was that Chosroes, their only supporter, met his death at the hands of his son, and they themselves were exiled from Arabia in the time of 'Umar. In the concluding portion of the verse, God adds: And they have certainly known that he who trafficks therein has no share of good in the Hereafter, meaning that a mischievous plotter never succeeds ultimately. The last clause, had they but known, throws a flood of light on how intensely God desires that His creatures should always take the right course and not be misled by mischievous people. 110. Important Words: with ثواب reward) is like) مثوبة o which it is synonymous), derived from which means, he returned, or he returned to a good condition. and mean, requital or reward of good or bad deeds. Generally, they are used in the sense of a reward of