The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 605
PT. 15 BANI ISRĀ'ĪL CH. 17 وَلَبِنْ شِئْنَا لَنَذْهَبَنَّ بِالَّذِي أَوْحَيْنَا And if We pleased, We. 87 بِهِ could certainly take away that إلَيْكَ ثُمَّ لَا تَجِدُ لَكَ بِهِ عَلَيْنَا وَكِيلًا which We have revealed to thee and then thou wouldst find in the matter no guardian for thee against Us;2016 In this verse we are told that the human soul belongs to the first category. should enquire of him regarding the powers and attributes of the human soul. The Quran answers this inquiry in the verse under comment by saying that the perfect soul derives its powers from the command of God and anything else that is claimed to be acquired by so-called spiritual exercises and magical arts is all meaningless. It may be added that by soul. That the knowledge acquired by so-called spiritual exercises and by their professed communication with the dead carries little weight has often been demonstrated by the fact that the information claimed to be furnished to different by departed souls mediums regarding the next world always varies. In the period of their spiritual decadence the Jews seem to have come to dabble in spiritualism and occult practices like many modern Spiritualists, Theosophists and Hindu Yogis. They had come to believe in magic and so-called spiritual practices. These occult practices is particularly meant the perfect appeared to have exercised great influence on them. It appears that the Jews started taking interest in magic and occult practices in the time of the Prophet David. These practices became very popular with them in the time of Jesus. According to Philo and the well-known Jewish writer, Josephus, the Essenes in the time of Jesus greatly indulged in these practices and by a life of renunciation they had greatly developed this art. The Quran also refers to the Jewish counterparts of the modern spiritualists in 72:8-10. References to black and white magic may also be found in the books of the Old and New Testaments. Some of the Jews of Medina also seem to have resorted to these practices in the time of the Holy Prophet. This is why when the Meccan idolaters sought their help in confuting the Prophet they suggested that they (the Meccan idolaters) 1813 The question of the powers and attributes of the human soul is of more than local importance, inasmuch as it had not only agitated the minds of the Medinite Jews of the Prophet's time but has also agitated those of Hindu Yogis, Theosophists and Spiritualists in our own time. Taking in its general sense the verse would mean that the human soul is as much the creation of God as the human body. 2016. Commentary: The present verse furnishes further