The recipient makes sure that the message is actually sent by the king, bearing his seal.

Does he need any further proof of the contents of the message, especially when he knows that the sender says only the truth and always honours the promises he makes?

This is the case here when the principle in question requires that we believe in something that is reported to us.

The report, however, is based on what has already been established with regard to the truth of prophethood.

The progress from the first two principles to the third one is masterly: : “But if you fail, as you will always do, then guard yourselves against the fire…”.

Then follows a recap in 14 verses, 26-39. As stated earlier, the surah opens by a general description of the Qur’an as a source of guidance.

It is now appropriate to describe the method of guidance employed in the Qur’an. We learn that it is perfect guidance, setting matters clearly with no ambiguity over any detail.

Let us now consider how the recap begins after a progressive transition stretching from the beginning of the surah.

This criterion takes the form of a universal challenge that stands for all time, a challenge to produce a single surah like the Qur’an.

This is followed by examples describing the fire of hell which is prepared for the unbelievers, and heaven which is promised to the God-fearing.

In all these examples the Qur’an refers to a wide variety of facts, some are sublime while others mundane, some material and some spiritual.

This culminates with a presentation of the comforts and pleasures enjoyed in heaven, including some that are personal or even carnal.

Indeed, some people may feel shy when they are mentioned, while an uneducated person may think that a discourse by God would not refer to such things.

Such a thought may be entertained only when a person overlooks the fact that God is the Truth who does not hesitate to state the facts,

and that He is the Merciful who bestows His grace on mankind, telling them all that they need to know in the language they understand. He explains to them in plain terms all issues concerning what they may love or hate, hope for or fear.

People’s Attitudes towards the Qur’an

The general description of the Qur’an at the outset as a book of guidance has led to mentioning people’s attitudes to that guidance, and to a denunciation of those who reject its guidance.

A similar distinction results here from mentioning the Qur’anic method of providing guidance:

“By it He leaves many to stray and many He enlightens and guides.” (2: 26.)

Again, those who choose to go astray are denounced here with an outline of their evil deeds:

“He, however, will leave to stray none but the evil-doers.” (2: 26.)

The description of the unbelievers in the introduction provides an image that makes us eager to listen to the address calling on them to pay heed and accept God’s message.

Their qualities described here make us eager to listen to how they are rebuked for their denial of the truth:

“How can you reject God when He has given you life after you were dead? He will cause you to die again then He will bring you back to life. To Him you shall surely return. It is He who has created for you all that is on earth. He then turned to heaven and fashioned it into seven heavens. He has knowledge of all things.”

but now the surah mentions the prophethood of the first of all prophets, Adam.

This tells us that Muhammad is not a new phenomenon represented in a man given a message by God. Indeed, the concept of prophethood and Divine legislation is as old as the beginning of human life on earth.

This is well prepared by making mention of man’s remarkable origin and then by its discussion with the angels.

This discussion, as reported in the surah..

proves the extra care God has given to mankind who have been chosen to be in charge of building life on earth and who have been given the superior quality of knowledge that distinguishes them from other creatures.

That God has bestowed His grace on man and given him all these blessings ties up with the outline of God’s other favours given earlier in respect of the first principle.

The favours God has given to man were the cause of Satan’s envy of man and hostility towards Adam, the first man created.

This led to Satan’s wicked deception culminating in both of them being subjected to a trial.

It tells us why they are addressed in a friendly manner at times, and why the Qur’an talks about them at other times in different styles..

ranging from the offensive to the defensive, and from trying to win them over to putting the facts clear before them.

This takes us beyond the middle point of this longest surah. As we read through, moving from one stage to another, we are overawed with the structure and accurate design of the surah.

The address to the Jews begins with a single short verse that sums up all that the Qur’an needs to say to them:

“Children of Israel, remember My favours which I have bestowed on you. Fulfil your covenant with Me and I will fulfil My covenant with you; and of Me alone stand in awe.”

It addresses them by the name they love most, reminding them of their relationship to Jacob and Abraham..

as well as of the totality of the favours God has bestowed on them.

We will discuss these four themes as tackled in the surah.

1. The History of the Jews (Verses 49-74)

This section begins with eight verses in which God reminds the Israelites of the blessings which God had bestowed on them time after time, giving them much of their details.

These were the historical blessings which lasted for a long time and benefited one generation of Jews after another.

It reminds them of the great occasions when God first saved them from Pharaoh and his people, and then saved them from drowning in the sea, while leaving their enemies to be so engulfed.

Then they have a reminder of God’s promise to bestow His revelations on them..

and the fact that He had fulfilled that promise and sent down revelations for their guidance.

A further reminder mentions the fact that God accepted their repentance after they had reverted back to associating partners with Him, and then again He accepted their repentance when they had rebelled against their Prophet and put to him great demands.

Here, we are told that God has given them on top of all those favours some special blessings such as sending clouds to comfort them with shade and giving them food and drink which they received without having to work for them.

Nevertheless, they wronged themselves, looked at those blessings with contempt,

distorted their expression of gratitude to make it an expression of ridicule, and asked for a life of toil to replace their life of comfort.

God has committed them to what they suggested and has imposed on them a life of ignominy and humiliation.

Mention of their offences and the punishment they were made to suffer for them follows this intervening passage.

The surah mentions that they earned the burden of God’s condemnation because of their disbelief in the signs given to them by God and because they killed prophets...

making an exception only in the case of those of them who adhered to the faith.

They further disobeyed God’s orders outlined in the Torah until they were forced to heed them.

When a person’s heart is so hardened that it becomes like a rock, it is unwise to carry on any further discussion with him.

It is, indeed, wiser to turn to someone else whose heart is free of sickness and to speak to him.

This is indeed what happens here. The surah stops addressing them about their ancestors and begins speaking to the Muslims about the Jews who were contemporaries of the Prophet and his companions.

The reasons leading to past events and those ushering in future ones make the result a foregone conclusion:

“Do you, then, hope that they will accept your message when some of them….”

The first particle, fa, which is given in translation as, ‘then’, serves to say to us:

‘Is it conceivable after all that has been told that anyone could hope that such people, heirs to all this unsavoury history, could accept the faith?’

The second particle, wa, which is translated here as, ‘when’, tells us:

‘Not only so, but they have committed even worse deeds and these they continue to perpetrate.’

After this short sentence...

the surah reverts back to the reporting style, mentioning various deeds and sayings done or said by these contemporary Jews...

giving in the process around 20 reasons that leave absolutely no hope that they will ever accept the faith honestly.

This is due to their arrogance which led them to claim that they would not be tortured in hell except perhaps for a few days. The Prophet is ordered to refute this claim in unequivocal language.

He is instructed to put his argument in a progressive way...

beginning by pursuing a rational and logical approach starting with a request that they should produce evidence in support of their claims.

It then refutes their claim showing that it is at variance with the basic elements of the law of Divine justice which admits no favouritism or injustice whatsoever.

All human beings are equal before this law, with everyone held responsible for their deeds. Whoever does good or evil will have just reward for it.

Then the surah turns the scales against them, showing clearly that they belong to the camp of people who

‘earn evil and become engulfed by their sins’

1. Their refusal to listen to the message of the truth, justifying their attitude by claiming that their hearts are sealed;

2. Their rejection of the new Divine book only because it has been revealed to a person who does not belong to them. Yet they were awaiting the new message, hoping to follow the new prophet so that they would be able to overcome the pagan Arabs;

3. Their claims of fulfilling their duty by believing in what was revealed to them. The fact is that they disbelieve even in their own revelations. They have continued to make these claims ever since they worshipped the calf and loved that sort of worship;

4. Their claims that ultimate success in the Hereafter will be theirs alone. Yet they contradict their very claims by their fear of death and by their desire to prolong their life in this world as much as possible;

5. Their hostility to Gabriel, the angel, because he delivered God’s revelations to someone who did not belong to them. The fact is that the revelation is made under God’s instructions and in His knowledge;

6.Their repeated violations of their covenants;

7. Their preoccupation with learning books of black magic, while discarding God’s book;

12. The mutual claims made by both the Jews and Christians that the other religion has no basis to stand on, while the pagan Arabs said the same thing about both of them;

13. All three groups were keen to forbid the mentioning of God’s name in His houses of worship;

14. Their participation in making false claims against God and alleging that He has a son;

15. Their refusal to believe in God’s Messengers until God had spoken to them directly, without a medium, or until He had sent them a clear sign.

16. The last of their misdeeds mentioned in the surah is the one leading to total despair on the believers’ part that they would ever believe.

Indeed, those Jews hoped to convert God’s Messenger himself so that he would follow their desires.

How, then, could he hope that they would ever believe in the guidance he brought? This is impossible.

It is sufficient for him then that those of them who have true knowledge and who read God’s book as it should be read believe in his guidance. After all, those who disbelieve are themselves the losers.

This is coupled with the mention of the group that is most likely to believe in it from among the followers of earlier religions.

These are the ones who read God’s revelations as they should be read. This conclusion serves as a prelude which prepares us for the new beginning.

The discourse so far in the present theme or purpose of the surah has been divided into two sections: one devoted to discussing the situation of the Israelites in the past and the other to outlining their situation at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

It is most fitting, then...

to provide a perfect contrast and to speak now about the believers dividing the discussion first to an exposition of their past and then to outlining their present situation.

This is what we will see now. Indeed, we will see an even more perfect contrast,

with the discourse taking in the third section the same lines followed in the first, with a direct address to the Israelites.

In the fourth section, the same line will be followed as in the second, speaking about the Muslims at present.

Thus, the Jews are called upon to follow in the footsteps of their God-fearing ancestors. This does not take the form of a commandment or an urging which would have proved to be of little use in their case.

Instead, it comes in the form of a captivating narrative mentioning aspects of Abraham’s glorious history and that of his children and grandchildren in the golden age; the one unanimously agreed by all followers of Divine religions and pagan Arabs to be the high pinnacle of their history.

The surah quotes them all as making the same statement which Abraham had urged his seed to adopt...

and which his offspring continued to teach to their children and grandchildren.

This is the statement which declares one’s full submission to God, the Lord of all worlds.

In relating Abraham’s history and his leadership of mankind, the surah makes a point of mentioning his prayer to God to appoint a leader for mankind from among his own seed, just like he himself was appointed such a leader.

As we see Abraham and his son Ishmael working on the construction of the Kaᶜbah, the Inviolable House of worship...

It is as the Arabic saying goes: “If a person’s deeds do not speed him towards his goal, his family descent will not move him any faster.”

Here the surah declares: “That nation have passed away. To them shall be credited what they have earned, and to you what you have earned. You shall not be questioned about what they did.”

4. The Muslims at the Time of the Prophet (Verses 135-162)

This follows in a natural progression from discussing ancestors to discussing descendants, and from making implicit hints to a clear and explicit statement.

It begins by stating unequivocally that the present Muslim community has a strong bond with that community of believers, both in the fundamentals of its faith and in its main details.

The surah relates the attempts of the weak-minded among the Israelites and other communities to deprive the Muslims of this bond...

calling on the Muslims to follow their own direction of prayer and denouncing the change of the direction of Islamic prayer from facing Jerusalem to facing the Kaᶜbah.

All these attempts are shown to be false and of little consequence.

The surah moves on quickly to refute their other argument concerning the Kaᶜbah,

which is the centre of two of the most important acts of worship in Islam, namely, prayer and pilgrimage.

The position of the Kaᶜbah in the Divine faith had already been established when Abraham and Ishmael made it a place of sanctity and turned towards it in prayer.

But this was not sufficient to silence those who were bent on criticising the Muslims for the change of their direction in prayer from Jerusalem to the Kaᶜbah. Those evil-minded people used such a change to raise doubts concerning the Prophet’s message.

Their criticism affected the weaker elements of the Muslim community.

Hence, it was necessary to make a strong argument here to refute all the fallacies those hostile elements used to spread.

We see here how the surah directs much of its attention to this issue.

It begins by instructing the Prophet to answer those who questioned the wisdom behind the change in a dignified manner...

The surah intersperses these confirmed commandments with various aspects of old and new Divine legislation.

It makes clear that the choice of the temporary direction of prayers was no more than a test of the strength of faith among those believers who migrated from Makkah.

The test proves who would sincerely and resolutely follow the Prophet and who would turn back on their heels.

The choice of the new, permanent direction for prayer has a number of reasons and important objectives behind it.

It is the middle qiblah, i.e. direction of prayer, which is most suitable for the middle community, i.e. the Muslims;

and it is the one which meets the desire of the Prophet who turned his face up to heaven, hoping to receive instructions to turn to it without actually putting his wishes into words.

It is the qiblah which the followers of earlier revelations know to be the true direction determined by their Lord, despite the fact that they concealed it out of envy and arrogance.

It is also an aggression aimed at turning people away from other acts of worship done near it:

“Al-Safa and al-Marwah are among the symbols set up by God.”

It explains the true nature of these symbols in the same way as it explained the nature of the qiblah,

denouncing the people of earlier revelations who were fully aware of their origins in Abraham’s history..

but who nevertheless knowingly concealed the truth God had revealed.