I. Meaning & Morphology (الصرف و
اللغة)
1. ‘الّرُسُل’
(Al-Rusul)
The word ‘الّرُسُل’
(Al-Rusul) is a plural of ‘الّرَسُوْل’
(Al-Rasūl). As pointed out by Ghāmidī (note 12), the word has two connotations:
one as a common Arabic word and the other as a term having a specific meaning.
As a common Arabic word, it means a ‘messenger’. So the Rusul of the Almighty
can be His angels and His Prophets since both bear His message.
Here are some usages of Rusul in the Qur’ān as a common
Arabic word signifying angels and prophets:
i. Signifying Angels:
إِنَّهُ لَقَوْلُ رَسُولٍ كَرِيمٍ
(١٩:١٨)
This is the
word of a gracious and mighty messenger. (81:19)
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ فَاطِرِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ
جَاعِلِ الْمَلَائِكَةِ رُسُلًا أُولِي أَجْنِحَةٍ مَّثْنَى وَثُلَاثَ وَرُبَاعَ
(١:٣٥)
Praise be to
God, Creator of the heavens and the earth! He sends forth the angels as His
messengers, with two, three or four pairs of wings. (35:1)
اللَّهُ يَصْطَفِي مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ
رُسُلًا وَمِنَ النَّاسِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ بَصِيرٌ (٧٥:٢٢)
God chooses
messengers from the angels and from men. Indeed, God hears all and observes all.
(22:75)
ii. Signifying
Prophets:
آمَنَ الرَّسُولُ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِن رَّبِّهِ
وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ كُلٌّ آمَنَ بِاللّهِ وَمَلآئِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ
(٢٨٥:٢)
The Messenger
believes in what has been revealed to him by his Lord, and so do the faithful.
They all believe in God and His angels, His scriptures, and His Prophets.
(2:285)
يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ وَالإِنسِ أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ رُسُلٌ
مِّنكُمْ يَقُصُّونَ عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِي وَيُنذِرُونَكُمْ لِقَاء يَوْمِكُمْ
(١٣٠:٦)
Then He will
say: ‘Jinn and men! Did there not come to you Prophets of your own who
proclaimed to you My revelations and warned you of this day?’ (6:130)
يَا بَنِي آدَمَ إِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِّنكُمْ
يَقُصُّونَ عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِي فَمَنِ اتَّقَى وَأَصْلَحَ فَلاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ
وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ (٣٥:٧)
Children of
Adam, when Prophets of your own come to proclaim to you My revelations, those
that take warning and mend their ways will have nothing to fear or to regret.
(7:35)
As a term of the Qur’ān, the word Rasūl signifies a cadre among the Prophets
(Anbiyā) of Allah. The difference between a Prophet (Nabī) and a Rasūl is that
the latter decides the fate of his nation in this world. The righteous are
rewarded and wrong doers punished. The Qur’ān says:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُحَادُّونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ أُوْلَئِكَ
فِي الأَذَلِّينَ كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَأَغْلِبَنَّ أَنَا وَرُسُلِي إِنَّ اللَّهَ
قَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ (٥٨
:٢٠-١)
Indeed, those who show hostility to Allah and His Rasūl are bound to be
humiliated. The Almighty has ordained that I and my Rusul shall always triumph.
(58:20-1)
In other words, the direct addressees of a Rasūl cannot triumph over him, and
they must be the losers in the end. This humiliation has various forms. In most
cases, the addressees are destroyed in their capacity as a nation if they deny
their respective Rusul. Take, for example, the case of Muhammad (sws). His
opponents among the Idolaters of Arabia were destroyed by the swords of the
Muslim believers until at the conquest of Makkah, the remaining accepted faith.
In the case of Moses (sws), the Israelites never denied him. The Pharaoh and his
followers however did. Therefore, they were destroyed. In the case of Jesus (sws),
the humiliation of the Jews has taken the form of servitude to the Christians
till the day of Judgment as referred to by 3:55 and 59:3. The ‘Ād, nation of the
Rasūl Hūd (sws), the Thamūd nation of the Rasūl Sālih (sws) as well as the
nations of Noah (sws), and Lot (sws) and Shu‘ayb (sws) were destroyed through
natural calamities when they denied their respective Rusul as is mentioned in
the various sūrahs of the Qur’ān. In this regard, Sūrah Qamar can be referred to
since it summarizes the fate of the nations who denied their respective Rasūl.
II Syntax &
Declensions & (النحو و الاعراب)
1. The
Apodosis (Jawāb) of ‘وَلَمَّا جَاءهُمْ كِتَابٌ مِّنْ
عِندِ اللّهِ’
Consider the
verse:
وَلَمَّا جَاءهُمْ كِتَابٌ مِّنْ عِندِ اللّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ
لِّمَا مَعَهُمْ وَكَانُواْ مِن قَبْلُ يَسْتَفْتِحُونَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ
فَلَمَّا جَاءهُم مَّا عَرَفُواْ كَفَرُواْ بِهِ (
٢ :٨٩)
It is evident
from Ghāmidī’s translation of this verse that the underlined portion forms
the apodosis of the prodosis ‘وَلَمَّا جَاءهُمْ
كِتَابٌ مِّنْ عِندِ اللّهِ’. Since the words ‘وَلَمَّا
جَاءهُمْ ’ occur at a considerable distance from its
apodosis, they are repeated in the later part of the verse viz ‘فَلَمَّا
جَاءهُم’ right before the apodosis.
III. Style &
Eloquence (الاساليب و البلاغة)
1. Elision of
an Incomplete Verb in 2:89
As pointed out
by Ghāmidī (note 16), there occurs an elision of an incomplete verb (الفعل
الناقص) in the expression ‘وَفَرِيقاً
تَقْتُلُونَ’. Thus the translation is not ‘you are
killing a group’; it is ‘you have been killing a group’. Such an elision is
customary in eloquent Arabic. In the Qur’ān, this occurs at a number of times.
Here are some examples are:
In ‘قَدْ
نَرَى تَقَلُّبَ وَجْهِكَ فِي السَّمَاء فَلَنُوَلِّيَنَّكَ قِبْلَةً تَرْضَاهَا (١٤٤:٢)’, the sense is ‘قَدْ
كُنَّا نَرَى’.
Similarly, in
‘وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا
نُوحِي إِلَيْهِ (٢٥:٢١)’, the sense is ‘إِلَّا
كُنَّا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِ’.
2. Elision of
a Preposition before ‘أَنْ’
The elision of
a preposition before ‘أَنْ’
is another common feature of classical Arabic. As pointed out by Ghāmidī (note
23), there is an elision of the particle ‘عَلَى’
before the word ‘أَن’ in the
expression ‘بَغْياً أَن يُنَزِّلُ اللّهُ’
of verse 2:90.
Some more
examples of elision of a preposition before ‘أَنْ’
are:
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِي حَآجَّ
إِبْرَاهِيمَ فِي رِبِّهِ أَنْ آتَاهُ اللّهُ الْمُلْكَ (٢٥٨:٢)
That is ‘بِاَنْ
آتَاهُ اللّهُ ’
إِنَّا نَطْمَعُ أَن يَغْفِرَ لَنَا رَبُّنَا خَطَايَانَا
أَن كُنَّا أَوَّلَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (٥١:٢٦)
That is ‘لِاَنْ
كُنَّا أَوَّلَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ’
3. Brevity in
2:97-8
One of the
prominent features of Qur’ānic Arabic is brevity. A minimum number of words are
used to drive home a point. What is implied and understood is seldom stated.
Verses 2:97-8 present a perfect example of this feature. While pointing out the
implications of various clauses of this verse, Imām Farāhī writes:
(من كان عدوا الله و ملائكة و رسله و جبريل و ميكال فان
الله عدو للكافرين) دل علي أن عداوة الملائكة من عداوة الله ، و على أن عداوة
الملائكة كفر ، و علي أن جبريل و ميكال من الملائكة و الرسل ، وعلى أن جبريل و
ميكال من كبار الملائكه و الرسل. وعلى أن الرسل من نوع الملائكة ، وعلى أن العداوة
بالرسل من الآدميين ، من نوع العداوة بالرسل من نوع الملائكة ، وعلى أن اليهود
كانوا أعدا. لجبريل وميكال ، وعلى أنهم عدو الله. وكل ذلك مفهوم من نظم الكلام.
This verse
bears witness that enmity with the angels is enmity with God and that enmity
with the angels is disbelief and that Gabriel and Michael are God’s angels and
messengers and occupy a high status among them and that Messengers [of God] are
like His angels and that enmity with Messengers among men is like enmity with
Messengers among the angels and that the Jews are the enemies of Gabriel and
Michael and that they are enemies of God. All this is evident from the coherence
in this set of verses.
IV. Exegesis
and Explanation (الشرح و التفسير)
1. Shedding
Blood of the Allies
At the time of
the revelation of the Qur’ān, the different tribes of the Jews were the allies
of the various tribes of the Ansār. For example, the Jewish tribes of Banū
Qaynuqā‘ and Banū Nadīr were the allies of the Aws tribe and the Banū Qurayzah
were the allies of the Khazraj tribe. The Aws and the Khazraj tribes would often
be at war with one another. The Jews would take part in these battles and would
slay their brethren or have them exiled. They would then feign sympathy for
their brethren by liberating them through ransom when they would come to them as
captives.
2. Enmity with
Gabriel
The Jews
considered Gabriel to be their enemy and Michael to be their friend. The Qur’ān
here has thus emphasized that just as a person who is the enemy of Gabriel is
the enemy of God and His Prophets, similarly he is also the enemy of Michael
because God and all His angels are on one side.
Their view
about Michael is evident from the following excerpt:
At that time
the great Michael, the great prince who protects your people will rise. There
will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of
nations until then. But at that time your people – everyone whose name is found
written in the book – will be delivered. (Daniel, 12:1)
V. Scriptures
and Testaments (العهود و الصحف)
Here are some biblical parallels to the Qur’ānic verses of this section.
1. ‘لاَ تَعْبُدُونَ إِلاَّ اللّهَ’ (Worship none
but God … (2:83))
Hear, O
Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (Deuteronomy, 6:4)
Fear the LORD
your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other
gods, the gods of the peoples around you. (Deuteronomy, 6:13-14)
2. ‘وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَاناً’ (Be kind to your
parents … (2:83)
Honour your
father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may
live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is
giving you. (Deuteronomy, 5:16)
Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long
in the land the LORD your God is giving you. (Exodus, 20:12)
3. ‘وَالْمَسَاكِينِ’
(Show kindness to the poor … (2:83))
There will
always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open handed
toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land. (Deuteronomy
15:11)
4. ‘وَآتُواْ
الزَّكَاةَ’ (And pay the Zakāh (2:83))
When you have
finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year
of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the
widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. Then say to the LORD
your God: ‘I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to
the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you
commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any
of them. I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor
have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to
the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God; I have done everything you commanded
me. (Deuteronomy, 26:12-14)
At the end of
every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in
your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their
own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may
come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in
all the work of your hands. (Deuteronomy, 14:28-29)
5.
لاَ تَسْفِكُونَ دِمَاءكُمْ‘’ (Do
not shed blood … 2:84)
Do this so
that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the LORD your God is
giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.
(Deuteronomy, 19:10)
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