The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 571
CH. 17 PT. 15 BANI ISRĀ'ĪL 36. "And give full measure when you measure, and weigh وَأَوْفُوا الْكَيْلَ إِذَا كِلْتُمْ وَزِنُوْا b بِالْقِسْطَاسِ الْمُسْتَقِيمِ ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ with a right balance; that is best وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلًا b and most commendable in the end. 1965 وَلَا تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ And follow not that of. 37 which thou hast no knowledge. إِنَّ السَّمْعَ وَالْبَصَرَ وَالْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُولي Verily, the ear and the eye and كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْئُولًا the heart all these shall be called to account. 1 1966 a7:86; 11:85-86; 26:182, 183; 55:10. '11:47. 24:25; 36:66; 41:21-23. call their guardians to account if the latter are found to be guilty of fraudulence with regard to their property. So God has given their charge the status of a divine covenant the breach of which will be severely punished. This word وعهد however, may possess a wider significance. It may refer to the responsibility that devolves upon a powerful nation which takes under its protection a weaker sister nation. Such a powerful nation is reminded that it can keep under its tutelage the weaker nation only till that time when the latter "comes of age" and is fit to take charge of its affairs. The weaker nation is here likened to an orphan whose period of tutelage is a sacred trust which the stronger nation is directed to discharge honestly "until it attains its maturity. " The verse thus possesses an object lesson for the Western Mandatory Powers. 1965. Commentary: The verse points to the fact that the secret of the commercial progress and prosperity of a people lies in honest and fair dealing in commercial transactions. 1966. Commentary: This verse cuts at the root of all sources of suspicion. These sources in their natural order are "the ear", "the eye" and "the heart". "The ear" is the first avenue through which most suspicions enter man's mind. As a rule suspicions are caused by ill- about another person. Next to hearing founded reports which one hears comes the source of sight. A person sees another doing a certain act and interprets it wrongly and is led to suspect the latter's motives and intentions. The last and most degraded kind of suspicion is that which a person entertains about another not as the result of a bad report which he might have heard about him nor in consequence of a bad act or deed which he might have seen him doing but which is purely the figment of his own diseased mind. Muslims are enjoined to steer clear of all these forms of suspicion. They are 1779