ﲊ ﲋ ﲌ ﲍ ﲎ ﲏ ﲐ ﲑ ﲒ ﲓ ﲔ ﲕ ﲖ ﲗ ﲘ ﲙ
And We divided them throughout the earth into nations. Of them some were righteous, and of them some were otherwise. And We tested them with good [times] and bad that perhaps they would return [to obedience].
Tafsir
Verse range: 7:168
And know that His saying: {And We scattered them} is one of the indications that what preceded from His saying: {He will surely send against them} (Al-A'raf: 167) refers to the Jewish people as a whole.
The meaning of {And We scattered them} is that We dispersed them with a severe dispersion. Therefore, He followed it by saying: {And We scattered them throughout the earth as nations}.
The apparent meaning of this is that there is no inhabited land except that a nation of them resides therein. This is the common state of the Jews, and the meaning of "We scattered them" is that hardly any town is found except that a group of them is present in it.
Then He said: {Among them are the righteous}. It is said that this refers to the people who were present in the time of Moses, peace be upon him, because among them was a community that guided others to the truth. Ibn Abbas and Mujahid said: It refers to those who reached the Prophet (peace be upon him) and believed in him.
And His saying: {And among them are those less than that} means that among them are people inferior to that, referring to those who remained steadfast upon Judaism.
If it is asked: Why is it not permissible that His saying {And among them are those less than that} refers to those whose righteousness was less than the righteousness of the former ones, since that is closer to the apparent meaning?
We say: His subsequent saying: {so that they may return} indicates that what is meant is those who remained attached to Judaism and departed from righteousness.
As for His saying: {And We tested them with good things and bad things}, meaning We dealt with them with the treatment of one being tested and examined:
The scholars of meaning say: Each of the good things and the bad things calls toward obedience: the blessings are for encouragement (Targhib), and the afflictions are for deterrence (Tarhib).
And His saying: {so that they may return} means so that they may repent.
{Then there succeeded them successors who inherited the Book, taking the transient goods of this lower world, saying: "It will be forgiven us." And if similar goods came to them, they would take them. Was not the covenant of the Book taken from them that they should not speak about Allah except the truth? And they have studied what is in it. And the Home of the Hereafter is better for those who are righteous. Do you not then understand? And those who hold fast to the Book and establish the prayer—indeed, We will not allow to be lost the reward of the reformers.}
