The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 354
CH. 5 AL-MĀ'IDAH PT. 6 قُلْ هَلْ أُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِشَرِ مِنْ ذُلِكَ مَثُوبَةً Say, “Shall I inform you of. 61 عِنْدَ اللهِ مَنْ لَّعَنَهُ اللَّهُ وَغَضِبَ عَلَيْهِ those whose reward with Allah is worse than that? They are and on whom His wrath has وَجَعَلَ مِنْهُمُ الْقِرَدَةَ وَالْخَنَازِيرَ وَعَبَدَ those whom Allah has cursed الطَّاغُوتَ أُوتِكَ شَرٌّ مَّكَانًا وَأَضَلُّ fallen and of whom He has عَنْ سَوَاءِ السَّبِيلِ made apes and swine and "who worship the Evil One. "These indeed are in a worse plight, and farther astray from the right path. 691 a2:66; 7:167. b2:258; 4:52. 12:78; 25:35. Jews, whose Prophets Islam calls upon its followers to respect and honour as true Messengers of God. The verse may equally apply to the opponents of every other Prophet, because the attitude of the rejecters of all Prophets of God and the reason for their persecuting believers invariably the same. 691. Commentary: are The word Us (that) may refer either to the persecution of Muslims by the People of the Book hinted in the words, do you find fault with us? occurring in the previous verse, or it may refer to the party of believers whom they persecuted. In the former case, the first clause of the present verse would be rendered as "Shall I inform you of those whose reward with God is worse than the pain and misery they are inflicting upon Muslims?" In the latter case, the clause would be rendered as "Shall I inform you of those whose reward with God is worse than that of those people whom they persecute?" Those 794 whose reward with God is worse are, of course, the Jews themselves. They are warned that they will suffer much greater torment than that which they can inflict on Muslims. The words "apes" and "swine" have been used here in a figurative sense. Certain traits are peculiar to particular animals, and these cannot be fully described unless the animal to which they are known to belong is expressly named. For instance, in order to express the unluckiness or inauspiciousness of a person, an Arab would say, "Such a one is more inauspicious than the owl". Similarly, the words "apes" and "swine" have been used in the present verse not by way of abuse, for the Quran does not use abusive language, nor was the Holy Prophet an abuser, but to point to the typical traits of the Jewish character. The peculiar characteristic of the ape is expressed in the well- known Arabic saying: "Such a one is more adulterous than the ape" (an epithet also used by Jesus about the Jews of his time). The ape is also