Chapter 12
O children of Israel! Remember My bounties which I bestowed on you, and be faithful to (your) covenant with Me, I will fulfil (My) covenant with you; and of Me, Me alone, should you be afraid (40). And believe in what I have sent down verifying that which is with you, and be not the first to deny it, neither take a mean price in exchange for My signs; and Me, Me alone, should you fear (41). And do not mix up the truth with the falsehood, nor hide the truth while you know (it) (42). And keep up prayer and pay the zakdt and bow down with those who bow down (43). What! do you enjoin men to be good and forget your own selves while you read the Book? Have you then no sense? (44)
General Comment
Now begins the rebuking of the Jews that continues for more than a hundred verses. Allah reminds them of the bounties bestowed, of the honours given; contrasting it with their ingratitude and disobedience; showing how at every juncture they paid the favours of Allah with disregard of their covenant, open rebellion against divine commands and even with polytheism. The series reminds them of twelve events of their history - like rescuing them from Pharaoh and his people by parting the river, drowning of Pharaoh and his army, the appointed rendezvous at the mount Sin'i, the Jews' starting calf-worship in Ms's absence, and Ms's order to them to kill themselves, their demand from Ms to show their Lord to them face to face, their death by lightning and then their arising from dead etc. - all of which shows how they were chosen to receive the especial favours of Allah. But their ingratitude runs parallel to it. They repeatedly broke the covenants made with Allah, committed capital sins, hideous crimes and shameful deeds; more despicable. was their spiritual poverty and moral bankruptcy - in open defiance to their book and total disregard to the reason. It was all because their hearts were hardened, their souls lost and their endeavours worthless.
Commentary
QUR'AN: ... and be faithful to (your) covenant with Me: ( = covenant ) literally means guarding and "al-Ahd" maintenance. By association it has come to mean covenant, oath, testament, will, encounter, house, etc.
QUR'AN: ... and of Me, ... should you be afraid: "ar-Rah-bah" ( = fear ) is opposite of ar-raghbah (= desire ).
QUR'AN: ... and be not the first to deny it: That is, first among the people of the book, or first among your own people. This firstness is not all-inclusive, because the disbelievers of Mecca had rejected the Message before the Jews.
Chapter 13
2:45-46
And seek assistance through patience and prayer; and most surely it is a hard thing, except for the humble ones (45), who know that they shall meet their Lord and that they shall return to Him (46).
Commentary
QUR'AN: And seek assistance through patience and prayer: Man seeks assistance in such affairs and tasks as he cannot manage alone, and in hardships and difficulties which he cannot overcome himself. In reality there is no helper except Allah. Man can, therefore, manage all his affairs and overcome all his difficulties by courage and steadfastness (i.e. by patience) and by looking towards Allah (i.e. by prayer). These two factors are the best way to get assistance: patience makes even the great misfortunes look trivial, and putting all his confidence in Allah awakens the spirit of faith; and thus man comes to realize that the cause which he is relying upon can never fail to produce the desired effect.
QUR'AN: and most surely it is a hard thing except for the humble ones: The pronoun, it, refers to the "prayer". It is difficult to relate it to "seeking the assistance", because it will then cover patience too, and the word "the humble ones" will not look appropriate - humbleness does not fit very much with patience.
The word used here for humbleness is "khush'" ( ); "khudu'" ( ) too has the same meaning but with one difference: while the latter shows itself in the limbs of the body, the former refers to the inner feeling.
QUR'AN: who know that they shall meet their Lord ...: The word used in this verse for "knowing" is "yazunnn" ;
it literally means "they think". But the context, that is, the belief in the hereafter, demands a firm conviction that would leave no room for any doubt or supposition. Allah says: and they are sure of the hereafter (2:4). Or, may be, Allah, by using this word, makes us realize that even an elementary idea of the hereafter is sufficient to create in a man humility and humbleness before his Lord. Many a knowledge comes to man in stages: (1) first he becomes aware of an idea; (2) then he has some doubts about its correctness; (3) then he becomes inclined to accept it; (4) then gradually the possibility of his accepting the opposite view vanishes completely and he becomes firmly convinced of the truth of that idea - and this firm conviction is called knowledge. If such a knowledge is concerned with some frightening affair, then his worry and disquiet will begin as soon as he reaches the third stage when he is only inclined to accept it - is only "thinking" that probably it may be true. This Qur'anic expression, in other words, says that man, for showing humbleness before Allah, needs only to be aware of the idea that there is a Lord Whom he may return to after his death. In this context only a strong supposition should be enough to make him desist from disobeying his Lord; it would not be necessary, for this purpose, to reach the stage of firm knowledge. From this point of view, the verse looks almost similar to the verse: ... therefore, whoever hopes to meet his Lord, he should do good deeds, and not join any one in the worship of his Lord (18:110).
The above discourse is based on the assumption that the words, "they shall meet their Lord ...", refer to the Day of Resurrection. But if they are interpreted in, another way (as we shall describe in Chapter 7), there should be no difficulty at all in its explanation.
Traditions
as-Sdiq (a. s.) said: "Whenever Al (a.s.) faced a difficulty, he used to stand up for the prayer and then recite this verse: and seek assistance through patience and prayer." (al-Kf)
The same Imam said about this verse: "The patience means fasting." Also he said: "When a man is confronted by a hard misfortune, he should fast. Surely Allah says: and seek assistance through patience, that is, fast." (ibid.)
The author says: al-Ayyash too has narrated the theme of these two traditions in his at-Tafsir. Interpretation of "patience" as fast is based on the "flow" of the Qur'an.
Abu 'l-Hasan (a.s.) said about this verse: "The patience means fast; when a man is visited by a hardship or misfortune, he should fast; surely Allah says: And seek assistance through patience and prayer; and most surely it is a hard thing except for the humble ones. And the humble one is he who shows humility in his prayer, turning all his attention to it; and it means the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) and the Leader of the faithful (a.s.)." (al-Ayyash)
The author says: The Imam has inferred from this verse the desirability of fasting and praying when one is facing any hardship or turmoil; and likewise, the desirability of seeking the divine help through the medium of the Prophet and Al (a.s.) at that time. In this way, the tradition interprets the fast and the prayer as the Prophet and Al (a.s.).
Al (a.s.) said about the verse, who know that they shall meet their Lord ... : Allah says that they are sure that they would be resurrected. And the supposition az-zann ( ) means certainty. (ibid.)
The author says: as-Sadiq also has narrated this tradition.
al-Bqr (a.s.) said that this verse was revealed about Al, Uthmn ibn Maz'n, Ammr ibn Ysir and (some of) their friends. (al-Manqib, Ibn Shahrshb)
