The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 11
PT. 3 ĀL-E-‘IMRĀN CH. 3 the people; and He has sent مِنْ قَبْلُ هُدًى لِّلنَّاسِ وَاَنْزَلَ الْفُرْقَانَ Before this, as a guidance to. 5 اِنَّ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوا بِايْتِ اللهِ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ. Discrimination شَدِيدٌ وَاللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ ذُو انْتِقَامٍ down "the Surely, those who deny the Signs of Allah shall have a severe punishment. And "Allah is Mighty, Possessor of the power to requite. 296 a2:54, 186; 8:42; 21:49; 25:2. b5:96; 14:48; 39:38. (Lisān), sheds some light on the significance and position of the Gospels. This saying of the Prophet means that the breasts of his Companions were repositories of his life history and teachings which are indeed a great gospel. It may be inferred from this that the position of the present Gospels is analogous to that of the collections of Ḥadīth, such as Bukhārī, Muslim, etc. The clause, He sent down the Torah and the Gospel before this as a guidance, means that before the Quran was revealed, the Torah and the Gospels provided spiritual guidance for men but that their place was now taken by the Quran which has come as a guidance for all time and all mankind. 296. Important Words: (Possessor of the power to requite). is the noun-infinitive from i. e. he took vengeance. They meaning, he انتقم منه or نقم منه say wreaked vengeance on him; he punished him; he inflicted penal retribution on him for what he had done. and both mean, نقمة 451 vengeance or penal retribution or punishment (Aqrab & Lane). Commentary: The words, and He has sent down the Discrimination, placed at the end of the verse refer to the Quran, the coming down of which has already been mentioned in the beginning of the verse. The idea has been repeated here to point out that the Quran has come to take the place of the previous scriptures, the word "Discrimination" also pointing to the same fact. The word may also refer to the heavenly signs vouchsafed to Islam to establish its truth. For an explanation of the term (fulfilling) see 2:42. After the coming down of the Quran as a "Discrimination" and as "fulfilling" what is in the previous scriptures, the persistent rejection of the Holy Prophet becomes indeed deserving of great punishment, and the verse points out that the God of Islam being "Mighty" and "Possessor of the power to requite", those who have rejected the truth must be prepared for divine requital.