The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 243
PT. 2 AL-BAQARAH CH. 2 وَكَذَلِكَ جَعَلْنَكُمْ أُمَّةً وَسَطًا لِتَكُونُوا And thus have We made. 144 you an exalted nation, "that you شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ may be guardians over men, and the Messenger of God may be a عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًا وَمَا جَعَلْنَا الْقِبْلَةَ الَّتِي guardian over you. And We did كُنْتَ عَلَيْهَا إِلَّا لِنَعْلَمَ مَنْ يَتَّبِعُ not appoint the Qiblah which thou didst follow, except that الرَّسُوْلَ مِمَّنْ يَنْقَلِبُ عَلَى عَقِبَيْهِ وَإِنْ We might know him who ط follows the Messenger of God كَانَتْ لَكَبِيرَةً إِلَّا عَلَى الَّذِينَ هَدَى الله from him who turns upon his heels. And this is indeed hard, وَمَا كَانَ اللهُ لِيُضِيعَ إِيْمَانَكُمْ إِنَّ اللهَ except for those whom Allah بِالنَّاسِ لَرَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمُ has guided. And it does not behove Allah to let your faith go in vain; surely, Allah is Compassionate and Merciful to the people. 150 "3:111. 22:79. is the spirit of obedience to God on the one hand and unity among the Faithful on the other. The clause, To Allah belong the East and the West, signifies that the selection of the East or the West is not of much importance, the real object being God only. The selection of a particular direction is primarily meant for the purpose of unity among the Faithful. But the direction must also be good, and God was now going to choose a good direction for the Muslims and the objections of the people would prove their own folly. 150. Important Words: (exalted) is derived from meaning, he stood in between two things. ¿bw (wasața) or bw, 243 (wasuta) means, he was or became good and noble. means: (1) occupying the middle position or taking the middle course; (2) good and exalted in rank (Aqrab). That the word bw, is used here in the sense of good and exalted, is clear from 3:111 where Muslims are called the best people. (that We might know) signifies that We may make known or distinguish. In fact, God being Omniscient knows all things; so He does not stand in need of knowing a thing because everything is already known to Him. The word has been used elsewhere also in this sense (33:51). The expression (from him who) occurring after it also shows