2. Al-Baqara

And they routed they broke them by the leave of God by His will and David who was among the ranks of Saul’s army slew Goliath; and God gave him David the kingship over the Children of Israel and Wisdom prophethood after the death of Samuel and Saul and the combination of kingship and prophethood had never come to anyone before him; and He taught him such as He willed of the manufacture of mail-coats and the speech of birds. Had God not repelled people some ba‘dahum ‘some’ substitutes for saying ba‘dan min al-nās ‘some people’ by means of others the earth would have surely been corrupted with idolaters defeating and slaying Muslims and mosques being destroyed; but God is bounteous to all worlds by repelling some by means of others.

These verses are the verses of God We recite to you O Muhammad (s) as narration in truth and assuredly you are one of the Messengers of God the emphasis is made here with the particle inna of innaka ‘surely you are’ with the remainder of the statement being a rebuttal of the disbelievers’ saying ‘You are no Messenger’.

Those tilka is the subject messengers al-rusul is either an adjective or the predicate some We have preferred above others by assigning a particular trait to one not found in the other; some there are to whom God spoke such as Moses and some He raised in rank namely Muhammad (s) on account of his call being to all peoples his being the Seal of the Prophets on account of the superiority of his community to all others the sundry miracles and the many special qualities. And We gave Jesus son of Mary the clear proofs and confirmed him strengthened him with the Holy Spirit namely Gabriel who would accompany him wherever he went. And had God willed that all people be guided those who came after them after the messengers that is their communities would not have fought against one another after the clear proofs had come to them because of their disagreement and their leading one another astray; but they fell into variance as He willed and some of them believed and adhered firmly to his faith and some disbelieved as the Christians did after Jesus al-Masīh and had God willed they would not have fought against one another repeated here for emphasis but God does whatever He desires giving success to whomever He will and disappointment to whomever He will.

O you who believe expend of what We have provided you with what is due of it as alms before there comes a day in which there shall be neither commerce ransom nor friendship that can be of any benefit nor intercession without His permission a variant reading has all three nouns in nominative inflection bay‘un khullatun shafā‘atun as opposed to lā bay‘a lā khullata lā shafā‘ata this is the Day of Resurrection. And the disbelievers those that disbelieve in God or in the obligations He has imposed on them — they are the evildoers for not respecting God’s command.

God there is no god that is there is none worthy of being worshipped in all existence except Him the Living the Everlasting the Eternal Sustainer the One constantly engaged in the management of His creation. Slumber does not seize Him neither sleep; to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth as possessions creatures and servants; who is there that is to say none is there that shall intercede with Him save by His leave? in this for him. He knows what lies before them that is creation and what is after them of the affairs of this world and the Hereafter; and they encompass nothing of His knowledge that is they know nothing of what He knows save such as He wills to inform of it by way of His messengers. His throne subsumes the heavens and the earth it is said that His knowledge encompasses them both; it is also said that the kursī ‘throne’ itself subsumes them on account of its vastness as in the hadīth ‘The seven heavens compared to the kursī are like seven silver coins lying in a metal shield of armour’; the preserving of them the heavens and the earth wearies Him not does not burden Him; He is the Sublime above His creation by virtue of His subjugation of them the Tremendous the Great.

There is no compulsion in entering into religion. Rectitude has become clear from error that is say through clear proofs it has become manifest that faith is rectitude and disbelief is error this was revealed concerning the Ansār of Medina who tried to compel their sons to enter into Islam; so whoever disbelieves in the false deity namely Satan or idols tāghūt ‘false deity’ is used in a singular and plural sense and believes in God has laid hold of the most firm handle the tight knot unbreaking that cannot be severed; God is Hearing of what is said Knowing of what is done.

God is the Protector helper of the believers; He brings them forth from the shadows of unbelief into the light of faith. And the disbelievers — their protectors are false deities that bring them forth from the light into the shadows the repetition of ‘bringing forth from’ here is either to be taken as a reflection of His previous words “He brings them forth from the shadows” or as a reference to all those Jews who believed in the Prophet before he was sent but then rejected him those are the inhabitants of the Fire therein they shall abide.

Have you not seen him who disputed with Abraham concerning his Lord because of the fact that God had given him the kingship? that is his arrogance towards this very grace of God this was Nimrod Nimrūd. When idh is a substitution for hājja ‘disputed’ Abraham in response to the other’s question ‘Who is this Lord of yours to whom you are calling us?’ said ‘My Lord is He who gives life and makes to die’ the One that creates life and death in bodies; he Nimrod said ‘I give life by sparing and make to die’ by killing. He then had two men brought before him killed one and spared the other. When Abraham realised that this man was a fool Abraham resorting to a more sophisticated argument said ‘God brings the sun from the east; so bring you it from the west.’ Then the disbeliever was confused perplexed and amazed; and God guides not the folk who do evil disbelieving to the art of argument.

And mention when Abraham said ‘My Lord show me how You give life to the dead’ He God exalted be He said to him ‘Why do you not believe?’ in My power to revive; God asks him this even though He knows of his belief in this power as a response to his request and so that the ones listening will know the purpose of the request; ‘Yes’ I do believe he said ‘but I ask You so that my heart may be re-assured’ so that it may be at peace through direct vision in addition to that certainty which is sought through logical reasoning. Said He ‘Take four birds and twist them to you sirhunna or surhunna turn them towards you cut them up and mix together their flesh and feathers then set a part of them on every hill in the land around you then summon them to you and they will come to you in haste. And know that God is Mighty that nothing is beyond Him Wise’ in His actions. Abraham took a peacock an eagle a raven and a cock and did with them as has been mentioned but kept their heads with him. He called them and all the parts began to fly back together combining until they were whole and returning to their heads.