The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 62
CH. 3 AL-E-'IMRAN PT. 3 وَمُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيَّ مِنَ التَّوْرِيةِ And I come fulfilling that. 51 which is before me, namely, the Torah; and to allow you some of وَلِأُحِلَّ لَكُمْ بَعْضَ الَّذِي حُرِّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَجِئْتُكُمْ بِايَةٍ مِنْ رَّبِّكُمْ فَاتَّقُوا اللهَ that which was forbidden you وَأَطِيعُونِ and I come to you with a Sign from your Lord; so fear Allah and obey me. 340 a5:47; 61:7. know the deeds which you should or would leave behind for posterity". The entire clause may have yet another meaning. It may mean that Jesus told his disciples: (1) what they should eat, i. e. what they should spend to meet their physical needs, and (2) what they should store up, i. e. what they should lay up as a spiritual treasure in Heaven. In other words, Jesus told them that their earnings should be honestly and lawfully acquired and that they should spend their savings in the way of God, having no thought for the morrow which should be left to God (see Matt. 6:25, 26 as quoted above). 340. Commentary: Jesus came in fulfilment of the prophecies of the previous Prophets contained in the Torah. But he brought no new Law, being a follower of Moses in this respect. He himself was conscious of this limitation of his authority. Says he: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matt. 5:17, 18). The expression, to allow you some of that which was forbidden to you, does not, therefore, refer to any change or modification in the Mosaic Law. The reference is only to those things which the Jews had themselves rendered unlawful for themselves. Elsewhere the Quran says, So because of the transgression of the Jews, We forbade them pure things which had been allowed to them (4:161). Again, Truly I am come to you with wisdom and to make clear to you some of that about which you differ (43:64). These verses show that there were differences among the various sects of the Jews regarding the lawfulness or otherwise of certain things and that by their iniquities and transgressions they had deprived themselves of certain divine blessings. Jesus thus came as a judge to decide in what matters the Jews had deviated from the right path and to tell them that the blessings of which they had been deprived would be restored to them, if they followed him. 502 Among Islamic sources the following well-known commentaries support our interpretation of the