The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 390
CH. 5 AL-MĀ'IDAH PT. 7 اَنْزِلْ عَلَيْنَا مَا بِدَةً مِنَ السَّمَاء تَكُونُ لَنَا us a table from heaven spread with food that it may be to us a E عِيْدًا لِّاَوَّلِنَا وَأَخِرِنَا وَايَةً مِنْكَ festival, to the first of us and to وَارْزُقْنَا وَاَنْتَ خَيْرُ الرُّزِقِينَ ® the last of us, and a Sign from Thee; and provide sustenance for us, for Thou art the Best of sustainers. "742 قَالَ اللهُ اِنّى مُنَزِّلُهَا عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ فَمَنْ Allah said, “Surely, I will. 116 يَكْفُرُ بَعْدُ مِنْكُمْ فَإِنِّي أُعَذِّبُهُ عَذَابًا whosoever of you disbelieves لَا أُعَذِّبُةٌ أَحَدًا مِّنَ الْعَلَمِينَ send it down to you, but afterwards I will surely punish & them with a punishment wherewith I will not punish any other of the peoples. '743 742. Commentary: This verse shows that Jesus approved of the wish of his disciples and, therefore, while praying, he included himself among them. The words, that it may be to us a festival, to the first of us and to the last of us, embody a great prophecy. There were to be two periods of prosperity and progress for the Christian peoples, as the word the (festival) literally meaning "a day which returns", shows. The first was to be in the time immediately after Jesus, while the second was to be in the latter days; and the period between these two was to be marked by decay and decline. And this is exactly what is more clearly referred to in the words, to the first of us and to the last of us. Christian peoples were granted worldly goods in abundance in the early ages, i. e. 830 before the rise of Islam, and now in the latter days, i. e. after the decline of Islam, they have had material prosperity and grandeur in such measure as has no parallel in the history of any other religion. But with the advent of the like of Jesus in the person of Ahmad, the Promised Messiah, in Islam, the sun is indeed nearing its setting on "the last of the Christians", who can now save themselves only by identifying themselves with him who had come in the spirit and power of their Master. 743. Commentary: This verse also makes it clear that the (the table spread with food) did not mean a meal that was actually to descend from heaven, for such miracles are never shown, it being impossible to disbelieve after one has witnessed the wonderful phenomenon of a table set out with food actually