The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 83
the secrets of nature and also with man's physical and spiritual needs, and because He has complete authority and control over all things. He therefore has made full provision for those needs, and as that provision has been made in the Law or the Shari'ah, therefore the Shari'ah could not be a burden for man but a mercy and a blessing for him. The Surah then proceeds to tell Christians that in order to understand and realize the truths embodied in the Quran they should ponder over the circumstances and conditions through which Moses had to pass; how God helped him in his state of extreme helplessness and how He guided him to the right path and exalted him and revealed Himself to him. Next, we are told that the Divine Word came to Moses and the worship of God was made incumbent upon him and truth was revealed to him that the actions of man would be rewarded according to their deserts, and that man would be judged according to his deeds and not by his belief in Atonement. Then a brief mention is made of the manifold favours that God bestowed upon Moses from the time of his birth till he came of age. It is stated that after the spiritual upbringing of Moses had become complete and he was found fit to be entrusted with the great and onerous responsibilities of a Prophet. he was commanded to go to Pharaoh and to convey to him the Divine Message and that Aaron, his brother, was commissioned to assist him in the discharge of his great and noble mission. The narrative continues to the effect that Moses went to Pharaoh and conveyed to him the Divine Message but Pharaoh refused to accept it, behaved arrogantly and sought to kill him. Thereupon Moses was commanded by God to take the Israelites out of Egypt to Canaan. Pharaoh pursued him with his mighty hosts but Divine punishment overtook him. After the Israelites were delivered from Pharaoh, Moses went up to the Mount where the Law was revealed to him. In his absence the Israelites set up idols and began to worship them and consequently were punished, but in the end they repented and gave up idolatry. The Surah then administers a subtle rebuke to Christians. They are told that when before the advent of Jesus the Israelites had become a Unitarian people and later great stress had also been laid in the Quran upon Divine Unity and upon the importance and significance of the Law or the Shari'ah, how was it that a teaching which professed to regard the Law a curse and entertained and preached polytheistic beliefs could wedge in between these two monotheistic creeds? Next, mention is made of Divine punishment that would overtake Christian nations after they will have enjoyed uniform material prosperity for a thousand years, ranging from the 4th to the 14th century of the Hijrah. Of these the last three centuries would be marked by progress and prosperity of a very high order. But when at the height of their glory and greatness the 1997