Anwar Al-Quran

Verses 114–120

5. Al-Maaida · The Table

Madinan120 verses

قَالَ عِيسَى ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ ٱللَّهُمَّ رَبَّنَآ أَنزِلْ عَلَيْنَا مَآئِدَةًۭ مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ تَكُونُ لَنَا عِيدًۭا لِّأَوَّلِنَا وَءَاخِرِنَا وَءَايَةًۭ مِّنكَ ۖ وَٱرْزُقْنَا وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ ٱلرَّٰزِقِينَ

5:114Said Jesus son of Mary, ‘O Allah! Our Lord! Send down to us a table from the sky, to be a festival for us, for the first ones and the last ones among us and as a sign from You, and provide for us; for You are the best of providers.’1

قَالَ ٱللَّهُ إِنِّى مُنَزِّلُهَا عَلَيْكُمْ ۖ فَمَن يَكْفُرْ بَعْدُ مِنكُمْ فَإِنِّىٓ أُعَذِّبُهُۥ عَذَابًۭا لَّآ أُعَذِّبُهُۥٓ أَحَدًۭا مِّنَ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ

5:115Allah said, ‘I will indeed send it down to you. But should any of you disbelieve after this, I will indeed punish him with a punishment such as I do not punish anyone in all creation.’

وَإِذْ قَالَ ٱللَّهُ يَٰعِيسَى ٱبْنَ مَرْيَمَ ءَأَنتَ قُلْتَ لِلنَّاسِ ٱتَّخِذُونِى وَأُمِّىَ إِلَٰهَيْنِ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ قَالَ سُبْحَٰنَكَ مَا يَكُونُ لِىٓ أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِى بِحَقٍّ ۚ إِن كُنتُ قُلْتُهُۥ فَقَدْ عَلِمْتَهُۥ ۚ تَعْلَمُ مَا فِى نَفْسِى وَلَآ أَعْلَمُ مَا فِى نَفْسِكَ ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ عَلَّٰمُ ٱلْغُيُوبِ

5:116And when Allah will say, ‘O Jesus son of Mary! Was it you who said to the people, ‘‘Take me and my mother for gods besides Allah’’?’ He will say, ‘Immaculate are You! It does not behoove me to say what I have no right to [say]. Had I said it, You would certainly have known it: You know whatever is in my self, and I do not know what is in Your Self. Indeed, You are knower of all that is Unseen.2

مَا قُلْتُ لَهُمْ إِلَّا مَآ أَمَرْتَنِى بِهِۦٓ أَنِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ رَبِّى وَرَبَّكُمْ ۚ وَكُنتُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيدًۭا مَّا دُمْتُ فِيهِمْ ۖ فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّيْتَنِى كُنتَ أَنتَ ٱلرَّقِيبَ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ وَأَنتَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ شَهِيدٌ

5:117I did not say to them [anything] except what You had commanded me [to say]: ‘‘Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.’’ And I was a witness to them so long as I was among them. But when You had taken me away, You Yourself were watchful over them, and You are witness to all things.

إِن تُعَذِّبْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبَادُكَ ۖ وَإِن تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ فَإِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ

5:118If You punish them, they are indeed Your creatures; but if You forgive them, You are indeed the All-mighty, the All-wise.’

قَالَ ٱللَّهُ هَٰذَا يَوْمُ يَنفَعُ ٱلصَّٰدِقِينَ صِدْقُهُمْ ۚ لَهُمْ جَنَّٰتٌۭ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا ٱلْأَنْهَٰرُ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَآ أَبَدًۭا ۚ رَّضِىَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا۟ عَنْهُ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْفَوْزُ ٱلْعَظِيمُ

5:119Allah will say, ‘This day truthfulness shall benefit the truthful. For them there will be gardens with streams running in them, to remain in them forever. Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him. That is the great success.’

لِلَّهِ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا فِيهِنَّ ۚ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ قَدِيرٌۢ

5:120To Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and whatever there is in them, and He has power over all things.

Tafsir

Commentary on this passage

Verse 114

1.The motives of Isa (a.s.) for the demand of interpretation of his community and completion of a favour from his own basis. An apostle does not care for good food and always keep himself ready to tolerate all manner of affliction and from here we estimate the difference between the followers of Isa (a.s.) and the companions of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.). The followers of Isa (a.s.) demanded for the different kinds of food and the followers of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) suffered a lot and did not utter a word and from this basis of comparison, Imam Husain (a.s.) has right to say that there is no resemblance of my companions with anyone else. Besides the hunger and thirst of 3 days the companions never demanded for food and water and were ready to fight in the way of Allah.

Verse 118

2.It is impossible to verbally interpret the feelings of Apostleship in this paragraph. The prophet does not want to curse in critical circumstances and cannot interfere in the divine affairs. Then Imam Husain (a.s.) requests humbly to Allah, after all they all are your people. The Holy Imam Sajjad (a.s.) also prayed in the style of Husain (a.s.} “O Allah! If you enter us in the garden, your Prophet (s.a.w.s.) will be pleased that my followers entered the garden of paradise and if you put into the hell, your enemies will be pleased and will say, your believers were cast into hell. I hope you will not give priority to the pleasure of enemies. O Allah! We sacrificed ourselves in the manner of asking. If humans has the knowledge of unseen, he would be Imam and would pray in such a way that the interlocutor would be envious.

Footnotes

Explanations of words and phrases in these verses

  1. 1

    By supplicating A1lah, Isa (a.s.) proved that he had no hand in heavenly matters, or that he was a partner of Allah. And the Almighty also made it clear that the’ food table is only for’ examination and the completion of argument, otherwise the Bani Israel were not the favourite creatures of Allah, that the food table can descend due to their faith, sincerity and character. They are different and they are not addressed in such a tone. Rather they themselves say: We desire from you neither reward nor thanks.

  2. 2

    After giving so many bounties to Isa (a.s.) and having accomplished a number of miracles in his hands the Almighty desired to remove the mistaken notion of his divinity and this time he should be directly addressed to convey this point. That how can they claim something he himself never asserted? Do the claim arts have a right to exceed the Prophet himself? Are they having more knowledge than the prophet’? There is no request on behalf of the polytheists in ayat 118. It is stating ones own helplessness. If it had been a request the words “Ghafoor” and “Raheem” would have been used instead of “Aziz” and “Hakeem”.