The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 218
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH PT. 1 وَإِذْ جَعَلْنَا الْبَيْتَ مَثَابَةً لِلنَّاسِ وَأَمْنا And remember the time. 126 when We made the House a b وَاتَّخِذُوا مِنْ مَّقَامِ إِبْرهِمَ مُصَلَّى resort for mankind and a place of security; and "take ye the وَعَهِدْنَا إِلَى إِبْرهِمَ وَاِسْمعِيلَ أَن طَهِّرَا station of Abraham as a place of بَيْتِيَ لِلصَّابِفِينَ وَالْعَكِفِينَ وَالرُّكَّعِ Prayer. And We commanded Abraham and Ishmael, saying, 'Purify My House for those who perform the circuit and those who remain therein for devotion and those who bow down and fall prostrate in Prayer' 132 "3:98; 22:27. Lolo (Leader of men) is derived from. They say ori. e. he led the people; he was or became Imām or leader of the people. The verb also means, he sought or aimed at a thing. The is a person whose example is followed, i. e. a leader or a model (Lane). lab (commands) is the plural of ab and has a variety of meanings, e. g. , a word; a clause or sentence; a command or order. Here it means, a command (Mufradāt). See also 2:38. Commentary: It is pointed out in this verse that when God tried Abraham with certain commands and found him perfect in obedience, He expressed His wish to make him a Leader of men. Thereupon Abraham, ever solicitous to make others also share God's blessings, begged Him to extend the same to his progeny as well. In reply, he was told that this covenant would 218 السُّجُودِ not apply to transgressors, which implied that Leaders and Reformers would be raised from his posterity, but that transgressors would not share this blessing. The Quran refers to this covenant in order to remind the Jews that their deprivation of prophethood was quite in conformity with the promise given to Abraham which contained a clear condition that such of his descendants as defied God's commandments would be deprived of the promised favour. The Jews are therefore told that being transgressors, they have been deprived of the blessing of prophethood. A brief reference to this covenant is also found in Gen. 17:9- 14, but the Quran has mentioned it in a better and more definite form. 132. Important Words: تاب a resort) is derived from) مثابة which means, he returned. means, the people gathered together.