| Al 'Imran: (50-51) And confirming what was before it...

It is to be noted that after the Prophet (peace be upon him) established, through these manifest miracles, that he was a messenger from God Almighty, he then clarified what he was sent with, which consists of two matters.

The first is His saying: {And confirming what was before it of the Torah}.

There are two sub-issues regarding this:

As we mentioned concerning the verse {And [He will send him as] a messenger to the Children of Israel, [saying], "Indeed, I have brought you a sign..."} (Al 'Imran: 49), the implied structure is: "And [God sent him] as a messenger to the Children of Israel, saying, 'Indeed, I have brought you a sign...'"

Therefore, the phrase {And confirming} is coordinated with this implied statement. The full meaning is: "And [God sent him] as a messenger to the Children of Israel, saying, 'Indeed, I have brought you a sign,' and [He sent him] {confirming what was before it of the Torah}."

The omission of these words is permissible because the context indicates them.

It is obligatory for every prophet to confirm all previous prophets (peace be upon them all). This is because the proof of their prophethood is the miracle. Whoever possesses the miracle must be acknowledged as a prophet. For this reason, we state that Jesus (peace be upon him) must confirm Moses and the Torah. Perhaps one of the objectives behind sending Jesus (peace be upon him) to them was to affirm the Torah and remove the doubts of deniers and the distortions of the ignorant.

As for the second objective of Jesus's mission, it is His saying: {And to make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you}.

It might be argued that this latter statement contradicts the former, because this final clause explicitly states that he came to permit what was forbidden in the Torah. This implies his ruling contradicts the ruling of the Torah, which contradicts His statement {And confirming what was before it of the Torah}.

There is no contradiction between the statements. Confirmation of the Torah means nothing other than believing that everything within it is true and correct. If the second matter (the permissibility of what was forbidden) was not mentioned in the Torah, then Jesus's ruling to permit what was forbidden in it would not contradict his confirmation of the Torah.

Furthermore, if the glad tidings of Jesus (peace be upon him) were present in the Torah, then the coming of Jesus and his legislation would not contradict the Torah.

Scholars differed on this point:

1. Some said that he (peace be upon him) did not change anything in the rulings of the Torah. Wahb ibn Munabbih said that Jesus (peace be upon him) followed the law of Moses (peace be upon him); he upheld the Sabbath and faced the Temple in prayer. He interpreted {And to make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you} in two ways:
   • The religious scholars (Ahbar) had fabricated false laws and attributed them to Moses. Jesus came, removed them, and restored matters to what they were during Moses's time.
   • God Almighty had forbidden certain things to the Jews as a punishment for some of the transgressions they committed, as God says: {Because of the wrongdoing of those who were Jews, We forbade them [certain] good things which had been lawful for them} (An-Nisa: 160). This prohibition remained upon the Jews, so Jesus came and lifted those strictures from them.

2. Others said that Jesus (peace be upon him) abrogated many rulings of the Torah, and this did not invalidate his confirmation of the Torah, as we have explained. He abrogated the Sabbath and established Sunday in its place. He was correct in everything he did, based on our previous explanation that both the abrogating and the abrogated laws are true and valid.

Then He said: {And I have brought you a sign from your Lord}. He repeated this because removing a person from long-established customs is difficult. He reiterated the mention of miracles so that his speech would be effective in their hearts and influential upon their nature.

Then he warned them, saying: {So fear Allah and obey me}. Obedience to the messenger is a necessary consequence of fearing Allah. He clarified that if it is incumbent upon you to fear Allah, it is incumbent upon you to obey me in what I command you from my Lord.

Finally, he concluded his speech with: {Indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord}. His purpose was to demonstrate humility and acknowledge servitude, so that they would not falsely attribute divinity to him, claiming he was a god or the son of a god. His confession of servitude to God prevents what the ignorant Christians claim about him.

Then He said: {So worship Him}. The meaning is: Since God is the Lord of all creation, it is obligatory for everyone to worship Him. He then emphasized this by saying: {This is a straight path}.

Translation:

But when Jesus sensed from them [a tendency toward] disbelief, he said, "Who are my helpers to [the cause of] Allah?" The disciples said, "We are helpers of Allah. We have believed in Allah, so bear witness that we are Muslims. * Our Lord, we have believed in what You have sent down and have followed the Messenger, so register us among the witnesses." * And they plotted, and Allah plotted, and Allah is the best of plotters.