The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 215
PT. 5 AN-NISA' CH. 4 أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا نَصِيبًا مِّنَ Dost thou not know of those. 45 الْكِتُبِ يَشْتَرُونَ الضَّلُلَةَ وَيُرِيدُونَ Book? They buy error and أَنْ تَضِلُّوا السَّبِيْلَ who were given a portion of the desire that you too may lose the way. وَاللهُ أَعْلَمُ بِاَعْدَابِكُمْ وَكَفَى بِاللهِ And Allah knows your. 46 enemies yourálátábiý full well. And b sufficient is Allah as a Friend, and sufficient is Allah as a وَلِيًّا وَكَفَى بِاللهِ نَصِيرًا Helper. مِنَ الَّذِيْنَ هَادُوا يُحَرِّفُونَ الْكَلِمَ عَنْ There are some among the. 47 Jews who pervert words from مَّوَاضِعِهِ وَيَقُولُونَ سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا their proper places. And they a4:90. 4:174; 33:18, 66. 2:76; 3:79; 5:42. a journey; (3) those coming from the privy; (4) those touching women, (i. e. having carnal knowledge of them). Out of these four classes only the last two are such as produce a state of uncleanness, necessitating the performance of (ablution) or (total ablution), as the case may be. So the clause, and you find no water, only relates to them. The verse thus purports to say that if the last- mentioned two classes of men do not find water, they can perform tayammum, i. e. wipe their faces and hands with pure dust before saying their Prayers. In the case of the former two clauses no condition as to water is necessary. These two classes of men may resort to (tayammum) even if they find water. This is why the words, "and you are unclean" have been supplied after the words, if you 655 are ill or you are on a journey. It must be noted that the expression (on a journey), in the present verse, is the same عابری سبیل as the expression (travelling along a way), both signifying the state of actual travelling when one is, as it were, on the wing. Finally, it must be noted that dust has been chosen as a substitute for water because, just as water reminds a person of his origin (77:21), thus creating in him a sense of humility, similarly, dust calls to his mind the other humble substance from which he was created (He created you from dust, 30:21). But the dust used must be pure, which is a necessary condition for the performance of Prayers. Any excess should be blown away before it is used in order to ensure just the minimum quantity for the performance of