The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 242
PT. 2 كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ 7007 CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH shall not be questioned as to what they did. 148 R. 17. 143. The foolish among the people will say: 'What has سَيَقُولُ السُّفَهَا: مِنَ الناس ما ولهم عَنْ قِبْلَتِهِمُ الَّتِي كَانُوا عَلَيْهَا قُلْ لِلَّهِ turned them away from their Qiblah which they followed?' الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ إِلَى Say: “To Allah belong the East صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ and the West. He guides whom He pleases to the right path'. 149 "See 2:116. 148. Commentary: Jews and Christians are once more warned against relying upon those of their forefathers who won the pleasure of God by their good deeds. It is their own deeds and not those of others that will save them. Their own good actions alone can bring them salvation and not the fact that they are the descendants or followers of Abraham, Jacob, Moses or Jesus. No bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another, says the Quran (6:165). 149. Important Words: (their Qiblah). The word als is derived from. They says i. e. he began the thing and stuck to it. means, he came facing the house. ✓ means, he advanced means, he put اقبل فلانا الشيء. facing him the thing before such a one or in front of him. as means: (1) direction. ; (2) direction to which a man turns while praying; (3) anything which one faces; (4) the Ka'bah at Mecca to which Muslims turn their faces when praying (Aqrab). 242 Commentary: In the preceding verses the Quran spoke of the people that have gone before, at the same time hinting at the difference between their deeds and those of the Muslims. In the present verse it introduces a subject in which the Muslims differ from other People of the Book, i. e. the subject of als (Qiblah). It is a usual practice with the Quran that it does not abruptly give any new commandment such as might appear hard to men. It generally begins by preparing the ground for the acceptance of such commandment by giving arguments in its favour and answering some objections that might possibly arise against it. See also 2:184, 185. Similar is the case here. As the commandment regarding the change of Qiblah was likely to prove a stumbling block for some people, so the ground is prepared by making a general observation to the effect that the selection of a particular direction does not really matter. What matters