The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 289
PT. 28 AT-TAHRİM the words of her Lord and His Books and was one of the obedient. 4286 4286. Commentary: In this and the preceding two verses, examples of the wives of the Prophets Noah and Lot, of the wife of Pharaoh, and the example of Mary, the mother of Jesus, are set forth. The disbelievers are compared to the wives of Noah and Lot in order to show that the companionship of a righteous man, even of a Prophet of God, does not benefit an evilly minded person who is bent upon rejecting truth. Prophet Noah's wife was of a more wicked disposition than the wife of Lot since the latter only preferred the company of her relatives to that of Lot, while Noah's son, probably under the corrupting influence of his mother, had rejected CH. 66 مِنَ الْقَنِتِينَ his father's Message. The wife of Pharaoh stands for those believers who, though passionately desiring and praying to get rid of sin, yet cannot fully dissociate themselves from evil influences, represented by Pharaoh, and having arrived at the stage of the self-accusing soul ( a) sometimes fail and falter. Mary, the mother of Jesus, represents those righteous servants of God, who having closed all avenues of sin and having made peace with God, are blessed with Divine inspiration; the pronoun (masculine gender) in standing for such fortunate believers. Or, the pronoun may stand for which, literally meaning a cleft or fissure, signifies an opening through which sin can find access. 3185