The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 8
CH. 3 باتها ٢٠١ سورة ال عمران مَدَنِيَّة ٣ ركوعاتها ٢٠ PT. 3 (ĀL-E-‘IMRĀN) 1. "In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. 293 2. "Alif Lām Mīm. 293A 3. Allah is He beside Whom there is no God, the Living, the Self-Subsisting Sustaining,294 and All- بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ المة اللهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ "See 1:1. b See 2:2. "See 2:256. 293. Commentary: See note under 1:1. 293A. Commentary: See note under 2:2. 294. Important Words: see القيوم and الحى For the meaning of 2:256. Commentary: The verse contains a strong refutation of the divinity of Jesus. This doctrine being one of the main Atonement which is a corollary of the above doctrine. Jesus, it is said, suffered death to atone for the sins of mankind. If that is so, he could not be God, for God is Ever-Living and cannot suffer death, permanent or temporary. It is futile to say that the death of Jesus meant only the separation of the god-Jesus from his physical habitat. The connection between the god-Jesus and his topics dealt with in this chapter, the physical body was, according to Surah fittingly opens with such attributes of God as cut at the very root of this doctrine. These attributes, i. e. (1) the Living or the Ever-Living, and (2) the Self-Subsisting and All- Sustaining, prove on the one hand that God, the possessor of these attributes, should need no partner or helper; and on the other that Jesus, who was subject to the law of birth and death, being thus neither ever- living nor self-subsisting and sustaining, could not be divine. These attributes also prove hollowness of the doctrine all- the of 448 Christian belief, in its very nature, a temporary one and was bound to break one day, even if Jesus had not died on the cross. So the mere breaking up of this connection could serve no useful purpose. It must be some other death which brought redemption to his sinful followers. That death, according to the Christians themselves, came upon Jesus when after his crucifixion he descended into Hades or Hell (Acts 2:31 and the Book of Common on Religion, III). Prayer, Article Thus, far from being immune from