The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 253
PT. 2 AL-BAQARAH CH. 2 عَلَيْكُمُ حُجَّةٌ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا ,have no argument against you ق except those who are unjust- مِنْهُم فَلَا تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَاخْشَوْنِى so fear them not, but fear Me b. and that I may perfect My وَلِأُتِمَّ نِعْمَتِى عَلَيْكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ favour upon you, and that you تَهْتَدُونَ may be rightly guided. 157 a5:4. b5:4; 12:7. 157. Commentary: The singular person in (thou comest forth) is used to emphasize the fact that the conquest of Mecca was the personal responsibility of the Holy Prophet. If he could persuade others to help him, well and good; if not, he alone stood responsible before God a mighty responsibility indeed which also strikes at the very root of the objection that Islam waited for a declaration of the defensive war till it was strong enough to hit back. حيث The plural person in (wherever you be) is used so as to include the Muslims of all places. Next to the Holy Prophet, they are also commanded to keep the same object in view, i. e. the conquest of Mecca. This verse and the preceding one should afford no ground for inferring that Islam bids its followers to wage an aggressive war. For, as amply borne out by history, by the time these verses were revealed, war had already commenced with the Meccans and it was they that had forced it upon the unwilling Muslims. The words, that people may have no argument against you, mean that if the Muslims failed to conquer Mecca, the objection would quite legitimately 253 be raised by the enemies of Islam, that the Holy Prophet had not fulfilled the prayer of Abraham, contained in 2:130, and therefore, could not claim to be the Promised Prophet. Moreover, the House to which the Muslims were commanded to turn their faces during Prayers was, while under the control of the heathen Meccans, full of idols. If the idols had continued to remain in the Ka'bah, the Muslims might have been accused of worshipping idols. This objection could be effectively answered, if the Holy House, which had been originally dedicated to the worship of One God, had been cleared of idols. Hence the commandment to substitute the Ka'bah for the Temple at Jerusalem as Qiblah was naturally followed by the injunction about the conquest of Mecca. It may be added here that the conquest of Mecca by the Muslims had also been predicted in the Quran in 28:86, and 17:81. The prophecy contained in Deut. 33:2 was also fulfilled when the Holy Prophet entered Mecca as a conqueror at the head of ten thousand Muslims. The clause, that I may perfect My favour upon you, provides yet another