The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 514
contains the words "O ye people" is a sufficient reason for them to ascribe that verse to the Meccan period. Sale is so obsessed with this view that instead of translating the words that occur in 2:22 as "O ye people", which is their correct rendering, he has translated them as "O ye people of Mecca". He has done this obviously to lend support and emphasis to his view that by the word in the Quranic expression is always meant the people of Mecca, in spite of the fact that the word is not to be found anywhere in the above expression. Wherry has based his commentary of the Quran on Sale's translation. Not only has he found no fault with Sale for his taking such liberty with the text of the Quran, but even in his own Introduction to Surah Al-Baqarah he has declared this verse to belong to the Meccan period. It is a pity that bias and prejudice render a person insensible to all dictates of justice and fairness, for these very Orientalists have declared vv. 159-161 of the present Surah as of Medinite period in spite of the fact that the words (O ye people) occur in them. This means that whenever there is the least likelihood of Islam being exposed to criticism if a particular verse of the Quran in which the expression (O ye people) occurs were proved to belong to the Meccan period, they will confidently declare it to belong to the Meccan period; but when Islam is considered to be open to attack by proving that another verse which comprises the same expression is of Medinite origin, these scholars complacently assign it to the Medinite period. May God open their hearts that they may see the truth, so that they may not make Jesus feel ashamed of them on the Day of Judgement. Nöldeke, however, has refused to ascribe vv. 165-172 to the Medinite period. This refusal is based only on a mere conjecture, unsubstantiated by any reliable historical evidence, and therefore cannot be accepted. Historical evidence can be rejected only on the basis of established facts of history or irrefutable internal evidence. Title of the Surah The Surah is known as Al-A'raf and this name is supposed to have been given to it on the basis of this word having occurred in its 47th verse. But the contention that the Surah has been given this name only because the word (A'raf) has happened to occur in it is inadmissible unless this word is shown to possess some real connection with the subject matter of the Surah itself. Orientalists and commentators have not succeeded in finding out any such connection between this word and the subject matter of the Surah. This is because they have assigned a wrong meaning to the word They think that (A'raf) is the name of an intervening spiritual stage between Paradise and Hell, and that the dwellers in this stage will appear distinct from the inmates of Hell but will not as yet have entered Paradise. The Quran, 954