141 That was a people that hath passed away. They shall reap the fruit of what they did and ye of what ye do! Of their merits there is no question in your case. 139
142 The fools among the people will say: "What hath
turned them from the Qiblah to which they were used?" Say: To Allah belong both East
and West; He guideth whom He will to a Way that is straight. 140 141
143 Thus have We made of you an Ummah justly balanced that ye might be witnesses over the
nations and the Apostle a witness over yourselves; and We appointed the Qiblah to which
thou wast used only to test those who followed the Apostle from those who would turn on
their heels (from the faith). Indeed it was (a change) momentous except to those guided by
Allah. And never would Allah make your faith of no effect. For Allah is to all people most
surely full of kindness Most Merciful. 142 143 144 145 146
144 We see the turning of thy face (for guidance) to the heavens; now shall We turn thee
to a Qiblah that shall please thee. Turn then thy face in the direction of the Sacred
Mosque; wherever ye are turn your faces in that direction. The people of the book know
well that that is the truth from their Lord nor is Allah unmindful of what they do. 147 148 149
145 Even if thou wert to bring to the people of the Book all the signs (together) they
would not follow thy Qiblah; nor art thou going to follow their Qiblah; nor indeed will
they follow each other's Qiblah. If thou after the knowledge hath reached thee wert to
follow their (vain) desires then wert thou indeed (clearly) in the wrong. 150
146 The people of the Book know this as they know their own sons; but some of them conceal
the truth which they themselves know. 151
147 The truth is from thy Lord so be not at all in doubt. 154
148 To each is a goal to which Allah turns him; then
strive together (as in a race) toward all that is good. Wheresoever ye are Allah will
bring you together. For Allah hath power over all things. 153
149 From whencesoever thou startest forth turn thy face in the direction of the Sacred
Mosque; that is indeed the truth from thy Lord. And Allah is not unmindful of what ye do. 154
150 So from whencesoever thou startest forth turn thy face in the direction of the Sacred
Mosque; among wheresoever ye are turn your face thither that there be no ground of dispute
against you among the people except those of them that are bent on wickedness; so fear
them not but fear Me; and that I may complete My favors on you and ye may (consent to) be
guided.
Commentry:
139 Verse 134 began a certain argument, which is now rounded off in the same words in this verse. To use a musical term, the motif is now completed. The argument is that it is wrong to claim a monoply for God's Message: it is the same for all peoples and in all ages: if it undergoes local variations or variations according to times and seasons those variations pass away. This leads to the argument in the remainder of the Sura that with the renewal of the Message and the birth of a new People, a new symbolism and new ordinances become appropriate, and they are now expounded. (2.141)
140 Nas - People, the unthinking multitude that sway to and
fro, instead of being firm in God's Way. The reference here is to the idolaters, the
Hypocrites, and the party of Jews who were constantly seeking to "entangle in their
talk" Mustafa and his disciples in Medina even as the Pharisees and the Sadducees of
Jesus's day tried to entangle Jesus (Matt. xxii, 15, 23) (2.142)
141 Nas - People, the unthinking multitude that sway to and fro, instead
of being firm in God's Way. The reference here is to the idolaters, the Hypocrites, and
the party of Jews who were constantly seeking to "entangle in their talk"
Mustafa and his disciples in Medina even as the Pharisees and the Sadducees of Jesus's day
tried to entangle Jesus (Matt. xxii, 15, 23) (2.142)
142 Thus: By giving you a Qibla of your own, most ancient in history,
and most modern as a symbol of your organisation as a new nation (Ummat). (2.143)
143 Justly balanced: The essence of Islam is to avoid all extravagances
on either side. It is a sober, practical religion. But the Arabic word (wasat) also
implies a touch of the literal meaning of Intermediacy. Geographically Arabia is in an
intermediate position in the Old World, as was proved in history by the rapid expansion of
Islam, north, south, west and east. (2.143)
144 Witnesses: When two persons dispute, they advance extravagant
claims. A just witness comes between them, and brings the light of reason to bear on them,
pruning all their selfish extravagances. So the mission of Islam is to curb, for instance,
the extreme formalism of the Mosaic law and the extreme "other-worldiness"
professed by Christianity. The witness must be unselfish, equipped with first-hand
knowledge, and ready to intervene in the cause of justice. Such is the position claimed by
Islam among rival systems. Similarly, within Islam itself, the position of witness to whom
disputants can appeal is held by Muhammad Mustafa. (2.143)
145 The Qibla of Jerusalem might itself have seemed strange to the
Arabs, and the change from it to the Ka'ba might have seemed strange after they had become
used to the other. In reality one direction or another, or east or west, in itself did no
matter, as God is in all places, and is independent of Time and Place. What mattered was
the sense of discipline, on which Islam lays so much stress: which of us is willing to
follow the directions of the chosen Apostle of God? Mere quibbles about non-essential
matters are tested by this. (2.143)
146 What became of prayer with the Jerusalem Qibla? It was equally
efficacious before the new Qibla was ordained. God regards our faith: every act of true
and genuine faith is efficacious with Him, even if formalists pick holes in such acts.
(2.143)
147 This shows the sincere desire of Mustafa to seek light from above in
the matter of the Qibla. Until the organisation of his own People into a well-knit
community, with its distinctive laws and ordinances, he followed a practice based on the
fact that the Jews and Christians looked upon Jerusalem as a sacred city. But there was no
universal Qibla among them. Some Jews turned towards Jerusalem, especially during the
Captivity, as we shall see later. At the time of our Prophet, Jerusalem was in the hands
of the Byzantine Empire, which was Christian. But the Christians oriented their churches
to the East (hence the word "orientation") which is a point of the compass, and
not the direction of any sacred place. The fact of the altar being in the East does not
mean that every worshipper has his face to the east; for, according at least to modern
practice, the seats in a church are so placed that different worshippers may face in
different directions. The Preacher of Unity naturally wanted, in this as in o
the matters, a symbol of complete unity, and his heart was naturally delighted when the
Qibla towards the Ka'ba was settled. Its connection with Abraham gave it great antiquity;
its character of being an Arab centre made it appropriate when the Message came in Arabic,
and was preached through the union of the Arabs; at the time it was adopted, the little
Muslim community was shut out of it, being exiles in Medina, but it became a symbol of
hope and eventual triumph, of which Muhammad lived to see the fulfilment; and it also
became the centre and gathering ground of all peoples in the universal pilgrimage, which
was instituted with it. (2.144)
148 The sacred Mosque: The Ka'ba in the sacred city of Mecca. It is not
correct to suggest that the command making the Ka'ba the Qibla abrogates ii. 115, where it
is stated that East and West belong to God, and He is everywhere. This is perfectly true
at all times, before and after the institution of the Qibla. As if to emphasise this, the
same words about East and West are repeated in this very passage; see ii, 142 above. Where
the Itqan mentions mansukh in this connection, I am sorry I cannot follow that opinion,
unless mansukh is defined in a special way, as some of the commentators do. (2.144)
149 Glimmerings of such a Qibla were already foreshadowed in Jewish and
Christian practice but its universality was only perfected in Islam. (2.144)
150 See n. 147 to ii. 144 above. The Jews and Christians had a
glimmering of the Qibla idea, but in their attitude of self-sufficiency they were not
likely to welcome the Qibla idea as perfected in Islam. Nor is Islam, after the fuller
knowledge which it has received, likely to revert to the uncertain, imperfect, and varying
ideas of orientation held previously. (2.145)
151 The People of the Book should have known all this as well as
"they knew their own sons", as their past traditions and teaching should have
made them receptive of the new message. Some commentators construe the demonstrative
pronoun "this" to refer to the Apostle. In that case the interpretation would
be: The People of the Book know Muhammad as well as they know their own sons; they know
him to be true and upright; they know him to be in the line of Abraham; they know him to
correspond to the description of the prophet foretold among themselves; but selfishness
induces some of them to act against their own knowledge and conceal the truth. (2.146)
153 The question is how we are to construe the pronoun huwa in the
original. The alternative translation would be: "To each is a goal to which he
turns." The simile of life being a race in which we all zealously run forward to the
one goal, viz., the goal of good, may be applied individually and nationally. This
supplies another argument of the Ka'ba Qibla, viz., the unity of goal, with diversity of
races, traditions and temperaments. (2.148)
154 The simile of a race is continued, and so the Qibla command is
repeated from that point of view. In ii. 144 it was mentioned as the new symbol of the new
nation (Muslim): now it is shown as the symbol of Good, at which we should all aim, from
whichever point we started, e.g., as Jews or Christians, or our individual point of view;
the Qibla will unite us as a symbol of the Goal of the Future. In ii. 150 below, it is
repeated: First for the individual, on the ground of uniformity and the removal of all
occasions of dispute and argument; and secondly for the Muslim people, on the same ground,
as a matter of discipline. There is another little harmony in the matter of the
repetitions. Note that the race and starting point argument begins at ii. 149 and is
rounded off in the latter part of ii. 150. The latter argument includes the former, and is
more widely worded: "wheresoever ye are": which in the Arabic expression would
imply three things; in whatever circumstances ye are, or at whatever time ye are, or in
whatever place ye are. I have spoken before of a sort of musical harmony in verbal
repetitions: here there is a sort of pictorial harmony, as of a larger circle
symmetrically including a smaller concentric circle. (2.149)