Verses 76–82
5. Al-Maaida · The Table
Madinan120 verses
قُلْ أَتَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا يَمْلِكُ لَكُمْ ضَرًّۭا وَلَا نَفْعًۭا ۚ وَٱللَّهُ هُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ
5:76Say, ‘Do you worship, besides Allah, what has no power to bring you any benefit or harm, while Allah—He is the All-hearing, the All-knowing?!’
قُلْ يَٰٓأَهْلَ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ لَا تَغْلُوا۟ فِى دِينِكُمْ غَيْرَ ٱلْحَقِّ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوٓا۟ أَهْوَآءَ قَوْمٍۢ قَدْ ضَلُّوا۟ مِن قَبْلُ وَأَضَلُّوا۟ كَثِيرًۭا وَضَلُّوا۟ عَن سَوَآءِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ
5:77Say, ‘O People of the Book! Do not unduly exceed the bounds in your religion and do not follow the fancies of a people who went astray in the past, and led many astray, and [themselves] strayed from the right path.’*
لُعِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِنۢ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ عَلَىٰ لِسَانِ دَاوُۥدَ وَعِيسَى ٱبْنِ مَرْيَمَ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِمَا عَصَوا۟ وَّكَانُوا۟ يَعْتَدُونَ
5:78The faithless among the Children of Israel were cursed on the tongue of David and Jesus son of Mary. That, because they would disobey and they used to commit transgression.1
كَانُوا۟ لَا يَتَنَاهَوْنَ عَن مُّنكَرٍۢ فَعَلُوهُ ۚ لَبِئْسَ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَفْعَلُونَ
5:79They would not forbid one another from the wrongs that they committed. Surely, evil is what they had been doing.
تَرَىٰ كَثِيرًۭا مِّنْهُمْ يَتَوَلَّوْنَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ ۚ لَبِئْسَ مَا قَدَّمَتْ لَهُمْ أَنفُسُهُمْ أَن سَخِطَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَفِى ٱلْعَذَابِ هُمْ خَٰلِدُونَ
5:80You see many of them fraternizing with the faithless. Surely evil is what they have sent ahead for their souls, as Allah is displeased with them and they shall remain in punishment [forever].2
وَلَوْ كَانُوا۟ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلنَّبِىِّ وَمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مَا ٱتَّخَذُوهُمْ أَوْلِيَآءَ وَلَٰكِنَّ كَثِيرًۭا مِّنْهُمْ فَٰسِقُونَ
5:81Had they believed in Allah and the Prophet and what has been sent down to him, they would not have taken them for allies. But most of them are transgressors.3
۞ لَتَجِدَنَّ أَشَدَّ ٱلنَّاسِ عَدَٰوَةًۭ لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱلْيَهُودَ وَٱلَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا۟ ۖ وَلَتَجِدَنَّ أَقْرَبَهُم مَّوَدَّةًۭ لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا نَصَٰرَىٰ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ مِنْهُمْ قِسِّيسِينَ وَرُهْبَانًۭا وَأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ
5:82Surely You will find the most hostile of all people towards the faithful to be the Jews and the polytheists, and surely you will find the nearest of them in affection to the faithful to be those who say ‘We are Christians.’ That is because there are priests and monks among them, and because they are not arrogant.
Tafsir
Commentary on this passage
Verse 82
1.One common misunderstanding is found about these verses that from the community point of view Jews are further away from Islam and the feelings of love and relationships are found in Christians. In the light of this, hands of friendship were stretched to the Christians. Though if we study their behaviour in the Crusades we shall see how they behaved with the Muslims. People of Italy oppressed the people of France and people of France oppressed the western nations and Syria while England oppressed Misr, Iraq and Sweden and today UNO supports Jews and Christians. Then we come to know that their temperament is same and there is no question that they are nearer to Islam. There is this much difference that they were the possessors of Western countries. But the law of Islam put their interests in danger so on the materialistic basis their enmity dominated their religion and they had no other problem. They were only against Islam due to its beliefs. The blessed verse has stated that those people who were very close to Muslims were not all Jews. On the contrary there is a group whose attributes are mentioned. And that is why the commentators have written that this verse is revealed about Negus, who was the ruler of Abyssinia and when Ja’far-e-Tayyar delivered the sermon in his court at the time of leaving the country, he cried. Tears flowed from his eyes and he accepted Islam.
Footnotes
Explanations of words and phrases in these verses
Benefit
The 77th ayat first mentions the deviant people who believed in the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh and the Christians had borrowed their concepts.
- 1
According to commentators Dawood (a.s.) prohibited fishing on Saturday. When they disobeyed he cursed them. Five thousand people demanded Isa (a.s.) to make the heavenly table descend. His prayer was answered and the food descended, They all ate from it but did not bring faith. So Isa (a.s.) also cursed them. This shows that cursing is nothing wrong. And all those who disobey the prophets and deny clear signs deserve to be cursed.
- 2
‘Qasees’ is a Christian scholar and Rahib is a monk. Qasis is actually Kasheesh in Syrian. It becomes Qasees in Arabic.
- 3
Some commentators think that An-Nabi denotes the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) that he is time and again referred to by this honorific.