5. Al-Maaida

God had made a covenant with the Children of Israel, for what will be mentioned shortly, and We raised up (there is a shift of address away from the third [to the first] person) from among them twelve leaders, from each tribe one leader, to be responsible for his people’s fulfilment of the covenant, as a way of binding them [to it]. And God said, to them: ‘I am with you, helping and assisting. Surely if (la-in, the lām is for oaths) you establish the prayer, and pay the alms, and believe in My messengers and succour them, help them, and lend to God a goodly loan, by expending in His way, I will absolve you of your evil deeds, and I will admit you to gardens underneath which rivers flow. So whoever of you disbelieves after that, covenant, surely he has strayed from the right way’, he has erred from the path to Paradise (al-sawā’ originally means ‘the middle way’). And they broke the covenant.

God says: So because (bi-mā, the mā is extra) of their breaking their covenant, We cursed them, We removed them from Our mercy, and made their hearts hard, unyielding to the acceptance of faith; they pervert words, pertaining to the descriptions of Muhammad (s) in the Torah and other things, from their contexts, those in which God has placed them, in other words, they substitute them; and they have forgotten, they have abandoned, a portion, a part, of what they were reminded of, [of what] they were enjoined to in the Torah, in the way of following Muhammad (s); and you — addressing the Prophet (s) now — will never cease to discover some treachery on their part, in the way of breaking a covenant or some other matter, except for a few of them, who have submitted themselves [to Islam]. Yet pardon them, and forgive; surely God loves the virtuous: this was abrogated by the ‘sword’ verse [Q. 9:5].

And with those who say ‘We are Christians’ (this is semantically connected to [what follows]) We made a covenant, just as We did with the Children of Israel, the Jews, and they have forgotten a portion of that they were reminded of, in the Gospel, pertaining to faith and other matters, and they [too] broke the covenant. So We have stirred up, We have caused, among them enmity and hatred until the Day of Resurrection, on account of their schisms and differing whims, each sect charging the other with unbelief; and God will assuredly tell them, in the Hereafter, of what they wrought, and requite them for this.

O People of the Scripture, Jews and Christians, now there has come to you Our Messenger, Muhammad (s), making clear to you much of what you used to conceal of the Scripture, the Torah and the Gospel, such as the ‘stoning’ verse and the description [of the Prophet Muhammad (s)], and pardoning much, of it, which he does not reveal, since this would not be of any benefit, serving only to disgrace you. There has verily come to you from God a light, namely, the Prophet (s), and a Book, a Qur’ān, lucid, plain and manifest,

whereby, that is, the Book by which, God guides whoever follows His good pleasure, by believing, to the ways of peace, the paths of safety, and brings them forth from the shadows, [from] unbelief, into the light, [into] belief, by His leave, by His will, and He guides them to a straight path, the religion of Islam.

They indeed are disbelievers those who say, ‘God is the Messiah, son of Mary’, insofar as they make him [Jesus] a god, and these were the Jacobites, a Christian sect. Say: ‘Who then can do anything, [who then can] defend, against, the chastisement of, God if He desires to destroy the Messiah, son of Mary, and his mother, and all those who are on earth?’, that is to say, none can do anything of the sort, since if Jesus were a god, he would be able to do so. And to God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them. He creates what He will. God has power over everything, which He wills.

The Jews and Christians, both of them, say: ‘We are the sons of God, that is, [we are] like his sons in terms of closeness and rank, and He is like a father to us in terms of compassion and care, and His beloved ones’. Say, to them, O Muhammad (s): ‘Why then does He chastise you for your sins?, if what you say is true. For, the father does not punish his son, nor the loving his beloved; but He has punished you, and therefore you are saying lies. Nay; you are mortals from among, all, those, mortals, He created, you shall be rewarded as they are rewarded and you shall be requited as they are requited. He forgives, him for, whom He wills, forgiveness, and He chastises, him for, whom He wills’, chastisement, and there can be no objection thereto. For to God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth, and all that is between them; to Him is the journey’s end, the [final] return.

O People of the Scripture, there has verily come to you Our Messenger, Muhammad (s), making clear to you, the laws of religion, after an interval between the messengers, for there was no messenger between him and Jesus, an interval of 569 years; lest you should say, if you are punished: ‘There has not come to us any bearer of good tidings (min bashīr, the min is extra) nor any warner’. Indeed, there has come to you a bearer of good tidings and a warner, and so you shall have no excuse. God has power over all things, including punishing you for not following him [the Messenger].

And, mention, when Moses said to his people, ‘O my people, remember God’s favour to you, when He established among you, that is, from among you, prophets, and established you as kings, possessing servants and retinues, and gave you such as He had not given to any in all the worlds, in the way of manna and quails, the parting of the sea and other things.