The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 29
CH. 3 PT. 3 23. Those are ĀL-E-‘IMRĀN deeds shall come to naught in أُولَيْكَ الَّذِينَ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا they whose وَالْآخِرَةِ وَمَالَهُمْ مِّنْ نُّصِرِينَ this world and in the next, and they shall have no helpers. 314 الَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا نَصِيبًا مِّنَ Dost thou not know of those. 24 الْكِتَبِ يُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى كِتَبِ اللَّهِ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّى فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمْ وَهُمْ مُعْرِضُونَ ® who have been given their portion of the Book? They are called to the Book of Allah that it may judge between them, but a party of them turn away in aversion. 315 "2:218; 7:148; 18:106. 24:49. 314. Commentary: Disbelievers have no faith in the retribution of the life to come; so as a proof of the fact that their deeds will not avail them at all on the Day of Resurrection, they are told that in the present life also their efforts to destroy Islam will prove futile and this will be evidence of the fact that in the life to come their works will be of no use to them. Two facts have been foretold, one relating to this life and the other to the life to come. When the former turns out to be true, the latter will also have to be regarded as true. It must not, however, be thought that all the works of disbelievers will come to naught; for, elsewhere the Quran says, Whosoever does a little of good will have its reward (99:8). This shows that the present verse refers to such works only as are done to destroy or weaken Islam or such works as are opposed to the teachings of Islam. 469 315. Commentary: a The expression, portion of the Book, may refer to (1) the prophecies contained in the Bible concerning the Holy Prophet which formed portion of the Book; or (2) the genuine portion of the Bible, because only a part of it had remained safe from interpolation and this alone could be called a part of the true Book; or (3) the expression may also verse mean that as compared with the Quran, which is the Book par excellence, being the eternal and perfect Divine Book, the Bible is but a portion and a part. In view of these different explanations, the would give different meanings: (a) that when the attention of Jews and Christians is drawn to the prophecies embodied in their Scriptures, they refuse to be guided by them. Or (b) that if the People of the Book had adhered to the genuine portion of their own Scriptures, the criteria laid