Al-Baqarah: (176) That is because Allah...

Issues in the Verse

Issue 1: What does the demonstrative pronoun {That} (ذالك) refer to?

Two views are mentioned:

1. Reference to the preceding threat: It refers to the severe warning previously mentioned against those who conceal clear proofs. This warning is due to the fact that Allah revealed the Book with truth concerning the description of the Prophet (PBUH), yet these Jews and Christians conceal it and introduce doubt. Consequently, they deserve that severe warning. The preceding warnings included:
   • They traded forgiveness for punishment.
   • They traded guidance for misguidance.
   • They have a painful punishment.
   • Allah does not purify them.
   • Allah does not speak to them. The pronoun {That} can refer to any one of these or to their totality.

2. Reference to their actions: It refers to their audacity in disobeying Allah's command and concealing what Allah revealed. This is explained by the fact that Allah revealed the Book with truth, which stated that the leaders of the People of the Book would not believe, would not submit, and would only persist in disbelief, as stated: {Indeed, those who disbelieve, it is all the same to them whether you warn them or do not warn them—they will not believe} (Al-Baqarah: 6).

Issue 2: The grammatical position of {That} (ذالك).

It can be in the nominative case (raising) or the accusative case (setting).

• Nominative Case (as a subject): The predicate must be supplied.
  • View 1: The implied meaning is: "That warning is known to them because Allah revealed the Book with truth, wherein He specified the warning for those who commit these acts, so this warning was necessarily known to them."
  • View 2: The implied meaning is: "That punishment is [due] because Allah revealed the Book, and they disbelieved in it." In this case, the preposition Bā' (بـ) is in the position of the predicate.

• Accusative Case: The implied meaning is: "We inflicted that [punishment] because Allah revealed the Book with truth, and they distorted it."

Issue 3: The meaning of "The Book" (الكتاب).

It could refer to:

1. The Torah and the Gospel: Which contained the glad tidings of the Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) advent. In this case, the meaning is: "Indeed, those who differed in its interpretation and distortion are in a far-off schism."
2. The Qur'an: In this case, the meaning is: "Indeed, those who differed concerning whether it is truth revealed from Allah are in a far-off schism."

Issue 4: The meaning of "with truth" (بالحق).

It means "with sincerity/veracity" (بالصدق), or "with the clarification of truth" (ببيان الحق).

Regarding the statement: {And indeed, those who differed concerning the Book}

Issue 1: Who are "those who differed concerning the Book"?

• It is said they are all the disbelievers who differed concerning the Qur'an.
• The closer view: It refers to the Torah and the Gospel, which contained the prophecy of Muhammad (PBUH). This is because the people knew this and concealed and distorted its interpretation. When Allah mentions the reason for inflicting punishment upon them, it is more appropriate that the reference be to their own Book, which is the foundation for them, rather than the Qur'an, which they would only acknowledge secondarily based on the validity of their own scripture.

Regarding {with truth} (بالحق), it means "with veracity" or "with the clarification of truth."

Regarding {those who differed concerning the Book}:

• If we hold that "The Book" refers to the Qur'an, their difference was that some called it soothsaying, others magic, others poetry, others tales of the ancients, and others fabricated, transmitted speech.
• If we hold that "The Book" refers to the Torah and the Gospel, their difference involves several possibilities:
  1. They differed on the Torah's indication regarding the prophethood of the Messiah (Jesus): The Jews claimed it indicated disparagement of Jesus, while the Christians claimed it indicated his prophethood.
  2. They differed in interpreting the verses indicating the prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH), with each group offering a corrupt interpretation. If a matter is not inherently true and necessarily accepted, but rather forced, everyone will offer a differing opinion. This constitutes the difference.
  3. Abu Muslim's view: The word {differed} (اختلفوا) is from the pattern Ifta'ala (افتعل), which can substitute for the pattern Fa'ala (فعل), as in kasaba and iktasaba. Thus, {those who differed concerning the Book} means those who succeeded/inherited it (الذين خلفوا فيه), meaning they inherited it and became its successors, like {Then there succeeded them successors} (Al-A'raf: 169) and {Indeed, in the alternation of the night and the day} (Yunus: 6), meaning one follows the other.
• A third interpretation for the verse: That "The Book" refers to the genus of what Allah revealed, and "those who differed concerning the Book" are those whose speech about the Book differed—they accepted some of Allah's books and rejected others. This applies to the Jews and Christians who accepted parts of Allah's Book (Torah and Gospel) but rejected the rest (the Qur'an).

Regarding the statement: {are surely in a far-off schism} (لفى شقاق بعيد)

There are several interpretations:

1. Those who differ on the manner of distorting the Torah and the Gospel due to their enmity toward you (O Muhammad) are themselves in a severe schism and intense dispute among themselves. Therefore, you should not heed their agreement in enmity, as there is no harmony or agreement among them regarding other matters.
2. It is as if Allah is saying to Muhammad (PBUH): Although these people differ among themselves, they are united as if by agreement in their enmity toward you and their extreme opposition to you. This is why Allah singled them out for that severe warning.
3. Those who agreed on the principle of distortion but differed on the specifics of the distortion—each one accuses the other of falsehood, opposes him, and disputes with him. If this is the case, their own words testify to their falsehood, so their criticism of you cannot harm you at all. And Allah knows best.

< { Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but righteous is he who believes in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Book and the prophets, and gives wealth, out of love for Him, to relatives and orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to beggars and to free slaves, and establishes the prayer and gives the zakāh, and those who fulfill their covenant when they make a covenant, and the patient in poverty and illness and when the fighting is fierce—those are the ones who have proven true, and those are the God-fearing. } >