Anwar Al-Quran

Verses 257–259

2. Al-Baqara · The Cow

Madinan286 verses

ٱللَّهُ وَلِىُّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ ٱلظُّلُمَٰتِ إِلَى ٱلنُّورِ ۖ وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓا۟ أَوْلِيَآؤُهُمُ ٱلطَّٰغُوتُ يُخْرِجُونَهُم مِّنَ ٱلنُّورِ إِلَى ٱلظُّلُمَٰتِ ۗ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَٰبُ ٱلنَّارِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَٰلِدُونَ

2:257Allah is the wali of the faithful: He brings them out of darkness into light. As for the faithless, their awliya are the fake deities, who drive them out of light into darkness. They shall be the inmates of the Fire, and they will remain in it [forever].1

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى ٱلَّذِى حَآجَّ إِبْرَٰهِۦمَ فِى رَبِّهِۦٓ أَنْ ءَاتَىٰهُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْمُلْكَ إِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَٰهِۦمُ رَبِّىَ ٱلَّذِى يُحْىِۦ وَيُمِيتُ قَالَ أَنَا۠ أُحْىِۦ وَأُمِيتُ ۖ قَالَ إِبْرَٰهِۦمُ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَأْتِى بِٱلشَّمْسِ مِنَ ٱلْمَشْرِقِ فَأْتِ بِهَا مِنَ ٱلْمَغْرِبِ فَبُهِتَ ٱلَّذِى كَفَرَ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِى ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ

2:258Have you not regarded him who argued with Abraham about his Lord, [only] because Allah had given him kingdom? When Abraham said, ‘My Lord is He who gives life and brings death,’ he replied, ‘I [too] give life and bring death.’ Abraham said, ‘Indeed Allah brings the sun from the east; now you bring it from the west.’ Thereat the faithless one was dumbfounded. And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing lot.23

أَوْ كَٱلَّذِى مَرَّ عَلَىٰ قَرْيَةٍۢ وَهِىَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَىٰ عُرُوشِهَا قَالَ أَنَّىٰ يُحْىِۦ هَٰذِهِ ٱللَّهُ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا ۖ فَأَمَاتَهُ ٱللَّهُ مِا۟ئَةَ عَامٍۢ ثُمَّ بَعَثَهُۥ ۖ قَالَ كَمْ لَبِثْتَ ۖ قَالَ لَبِثْتُ يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍۢ ۖ قَالَ بَل لَّبِثْتَ مِا۟ئَةَ عَامٍۢ فَٱنظُرْ إِلَىٰ طَعَامِكَ وَشَرَابِكَ لَمْ يَتَسَنَّهْ ۖ وَٱنظُرْ إِلَىٰ حِمَارِكَ وَلِنَجْعَلَكَ ءَايَةًۭ لِّلنَّاسِ ۖ وَٱنظُرْ إِلَى ٱلْعِظَامِ كَيْفَ نُنشِزُهَا ثُمَّ نَكْسُوهَا لَحْمًۭا ۚ فَلَمَّا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُۥ قَالَ أَعْلَمُ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ قَدِيرٌۭ

2:259Or him who came upon a township as it lay fallen on its trellises. He said, ‘How will Allah revive this after its death?!’ So Allah made him die for a hundred years, then He resurrected him. He said, ‘How long did you remain?’ Said he, ‘I have remained a day or part of a day.’ He said, ‘No, you have remained a hundred years. Now look at your food and drink which have not rotted! Then look at your ass! [This was done] that We may make you a sign for mankind. And now look at its bones, how We raise them up and clothe them with flesh!’ When it became evident to him, he said, ‘I know that Allah has power over all things.’4567

Tafsir

Commentary on this passage

Verse 257

1.It is apparently a promise and a claim - those who believe in Allah, Allah takes them out from the darkness and those who believe in Shaitan, they take them out of the light into the darkness and after that the chain of arguments begin. The first incident is of Nimrod disputed with Ibrahim (a.s.) about his godhood. Allah constantly kept His Apostle in the light of Proofs and the false god was himself bewildered. Then what would be the fate of those whom he leads. The ignorance or the false deity was such that it ‘did not know the meaning of giving life and death and they considered the slaying of an innocent person to be giving death and the freeing of a complete guilty person to be giving of life. As if in the religion of Nimrod the signs of divinity were not being just, supporting the guilty and calling ones own judgements to be invalid. Islam does not accept such a divinity and neither it considers such religion to be a religion in which there is no justice with god.

Verse 259

2.The second proof is the incident of Uzair (a.s.) who when he passed by Baitul Muqaddas which Nebuchanezzer had destroyed he said, ‘How will these people again come back to life?’ So Allah put him to death and then made him alive and the food was also preserved. The ass had putrefied. In this way Allah imparted him the realization of the life after death, which is a specialty of the wilayat of Allah.

3.If Uzair (a.s.) had said: Now I know Allah has power over all things, he would not have remained the wali of Allah. Uzair (a.s.) announced that he knew that Allah has power over everything and he only wanted to witness this scene with his own eyes, and he has now seen it. From this incident we conclude that one should not make ones intellect the criterion of understanding the facts. They must not deny something which they cannot fully understand. Allah can do much more than what the intellects perceive.

Footnotes

Explanations of words and phrases in these verses

  1. 1

    This word is used as a singular as well as a plural though its plural is also Tawageet.

  2. 2

    The name of the person was Namrooz bin Unaan who claimed divinity first of all and became the chief of the false deities.

  3. 3

    Boheta: It means distress and difficulty. It is used as a common noun and its meaning is proper noun.

    Benefit: In the 258th ayat is not the adversary of Hazrat Ibrahim (a.s.) but in this Tafseer Durre Manthur on the authority of Ali (a.s.). It is said to be Namrood bin Canaan.

  4. 4

    Often according to the commentators it denotes Uzair (a.s.).

  5. 5

    Houses whose roofs have fallen and then the walls also crumble.

  6. 6

    Anna is used in the sense of Kaifa (how).

  7. 7

    This word is derived from sinaa. Years have not passed on it and time has not affected it.

  8. Benefit

    Though it is difficult to date the beginning of idol worship it is possible that the imagination of God was present in human nature and he was accustomed to see everything with his eyes due to the weakness of intellect and reason and thus he also desired to see God in a form and in this way idol worship started. It is a child who feels hungry but does not get food and therefore he starts eating any rubbish. Humanity was in the initial ages and it did not have complete understanding of divinity and they made idol worship a means for spiritual satisfaction.