The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 235
PT. 1 AL-BAQARAH CH. 2 اَمْ كُنْتُمْ شُهَدَاءَ اِذْحَضَرَ يَعْقُوبَ Were you present when. 134 death came to Jacob, when he الْمَوْتُ إِذْ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ said to his sons, What will you بَعْدِي قَالُوا نَعْبُدُ الهَكَ وَإِلَهَ أَبَابِكَ worship after me?' They answered, 'We will worship thy ابْرُهم وَاسْمعِيلَ وَإِسْحَقَ الْهَا وَاحِدًا ,God, the God of thy fathers and Abraham and Ishmael Isaac, the One God; and to Him we submit ourselves. '140 other true preceding faiths is- although they are Islamic in essence- -those faiths were not called by the name of Islam, the reason for this being that they were not perfect and each of them was to be replaced by a succeeding one, and so, if all these had been given the name of Islam, there would have been great confusion. Hence, only the faith which was perfect in every way and was meant for all mankind and was to last forever was given that name so that its very name might be illustrative of its underlying purpose. The name Islam is "the new name" referred to in Isa. 62:2. When the Quran calls the former Prophets Muslims, it obviously does not mean that they followed Quranic teachings. It simply means that, as explained above, they followed the true faith of their day and manifested in themselves, though partly of course, the spirit of i. e. submission to the will of God. 140. Important Words: اسلام (God) is derived from a (alaha) which means, he worshipped. So J means, a thing or person or being 235 وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ worshipped, whether true or false; a deity (Aqrab). Commentary: Jacob or Israel was the son of Isaac who was a son of Abraham. Thus Ishmael was the uncle of Jacob, and yet the children of Jacob here include Ishmael among their "fathers" which proves two things: firstly, that the word ✓ (father) is also used of uncle; and secondly, that up to the time of Jacob's sons, Ishmael was held in due respect by the Israelites. Nay, the children of Israel mention the name of Ishmael even before that of their own grandfather, Isaac, and do not mention any other son of Abraham. The words, were you present when death came to Jacob, signify that the principle of submission to the will of God is not an innovation introduced by Islam, but has been recognized by good and righteous people in all times and even Israel, the founder of the Jewish tribes, acted upon that principle, so much so, that the only thought that came to his mind when death approached him was to enjoin the same noble principle upon his children. Israel wished his sons to become pious Muslims; will not the