The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 392
CH. 5 AL-MĀ'IDAH PT. 7 مَا قُلْتُ لَهُمْ إِلَّا مَا اَمَرْتَنِي بِه أَنِ I said nothing to them. 118 و except that which Thou didst اعْبُدُوا اللهَ رَبِّي وَرَبَّكُمْ ۚ وَكُنْتُ ,command meWorship Allah عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيدًا مَّا دُمْتُ فِيْهِمْ ۚ فَلَمَّا my Lord and your Lord. And I تَوَفَّيْتَنِى كُنتَ اَنْتَ الرَّيْبَ عَلَيْهِمُ as I remained among them, but وَاَنْتَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ was a witness over them as long since Thou didst cause me to die, Thou hast been the Watcher over them; and Thou Witness over all things. 745 art a5:73; 19:37. 3:56; 19:16. that Thou didst choose as Thy Messenger a person who turned faithless to Thee and asked his followers to take him and his mother See 2:235 & 3:56. Commentary: For the corroboration of the first sentence of this verse, i. e. the of God alone, see Matt. 4:10 & Luke 4:8. as gods beside Thee. But Thy choice, teaching of Jesus about the worship o God, cannot be wrong; hence it was impossible that I, a Messenger of Thine, should have bidden men take me and my mother as gods, and Thine own all-embracing knowledge, God, is a testimony of innocence. " 0 my The word (mind) when used about God implies "intention. " Thus the last sentence of the verse would mean, "I do not know what Thou meanest by this question. Thou, being All-Knowing, well knowest that I did not say so; hence, I fail to understand the object or purpose of Thy ques- tion. " This reply of Jesus shows that in his heart he was afraid that some shortcoming in the execution of his duty might have displeased the Almighty. The latter portion of the verse conclusively proves two things: (1) that Jesus is dead and not alive, as supposed by most of present-day Muslims: (2) that he is not to return to this earth a second time in his own person. The inference is beyond any shadow of doubt. From the verse it is clear that no interval intervened between Jesus' life on this earth and his death. As long as he was alive, he kept a careful watch over his follow- ers and saw to it that they did not deviate from the right path, but he did not know what occurred to them after his death. This shows: (1) that it was by death and not by his supposed ascension to heaven that Jesus became separated from his people, (Thou didst cause me to die). | and (2) that it was only after his death 745. Important Words: 832