-->
I.e., despite their awareness that God alone knows all and is, therefore, unique in His all-embracing Presence.
See surah {3}, note [106].
I.e., through independent reasoning or observation.
When plain common-sense shows the absurdity of false worship, behind which there is neither knowledge, intelligence, nor authority (quite the contrary), who or what can help the false misguided creatures who dishonour Allah by false worship?
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "worse than this" - i.e., "more painful than the repugnance which you feel with regard to God's messages".
Munkar; (1) a refusal to accept something offered; (2) a denial of something stated or pointed out; (3) a feeling of disapproval or active aversion, or disgust.
There is irony here. 'You think Allah's revelations and Signs are distasteful to you! There will be something far more distasteful to you if you do not repent! What do you say to the inevitable Punishment.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Another possible translation: “How weak are the seekers (i.e., the idols) and the sought (i.e., the fly)!”
Both idols and their worshippers are poor, foolish, feeble creatures!
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No one can have a true idea of Allah, who descends to the base forms of false worship. Allah has all power, and He is fully able to carry out every part of His Will and Plan. He is exalted above all in power and dignity. Cf. xxii. 40 and n. 2818 for the full meaning of 'Aziz.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
I.e., the prophets and the angels are but created beings having no share whatever in His omniscience and, hence, no claim to being worshipped.
Men are chosen as Messengers to ordinary men; for ordinary men will not be able to understand and be in communion with beings so refined as angels. But angels are sent as Messengers to Allah's chosen prophets, to convey the Message from time to time. In either case they are chosen by Allah, are subject to Allah's Will, and should not be worshipped as gods.
As Allah regards the humblest of His creatures and hears their prayer, He sends men messengers out of their own brethren (see last note), and to such messengers He communicates the highest spiritual Truths through His angels.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
For an explanation of this rendering of the phrase ma bayna aydihim wa-ma khalfahum, see surah {2}, note [247].
Time, before or behind, may be of some importance to men. They may dispute as to what was the first Message, and what is the last Message. To Allah, this question of priority and posteriority is of no consequence. All questions go back ultimately to Him and are judged on their merits.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Prosper: in a spiritual sense, both in this life and the Hereafter.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
The absence of any "hardship" in the religion of Islam is due to several factors: (1) it is free of any dogma or mystical proposition which might make the Qur'anic doctrine difficult to understand or might even conflict with man's innate reason; (2) it avoids all complicated ritual or system of taboos which would impose undue restrictions on man's everyday life; (3) it rejects all self-mortification and exaggerated asceticism, which must unavoidably conflict with man's true nature (cf. in this connection note [118] on the first sentence of 2:143 ); and (4) it takes fully into account the fact that "man has been created weak" ( 4:28 ).
Abraham is designated here as "your forefather" not only because he was, in fact, an ancestor of the Prophet Muhammad - to whose followers this passage is addressed - but also because he is the prototype (and thus, the spiritual "forefather") of all who consciously "surrender themselves to God" (see next note).
The term muslim signifies "one who surrenders himself to God"; correspondingly, islam denotes "self-surrender to God". Both these terms are applied in the Qur'an to all who believe in the One God and affirm this belief by an unequivocal acceptance of His revealed messages. Since the Qur'an represents the final and most universal of these divine revelations, the believers are called upon, in the sequence, to follow the guidance of its Apostle and thus to become an example for all mankind (cf. 2:143 and the corresponding note [119]).
i.e., Muslims.
As far as the striving is concerned with Jihad in the narrow sense, see the limitations in n. 204 to ii. 190 and n. 205 to ii. 191. But the words are perfectly general and apply to all true and unselfish striving for spiritual good.
The Jews were hampered by many restrictions, and their religion was racial. Christianity, as originally preached, was a hermit religion: "sell whatsoever thou hast" (Mark x. 21); "take no thought for the morrow" (Matt. vi. 34). Islam, as originally preached, gives freedom and full play to man's faculties of every kind. It is universal, and claims to date from Adam: father Abraham is mentioned as the great Ancestor of those among whom Islam was first preached (Jews, Christians, and Arabs).
Before: see Abraham's prayer in ii. 128. In this revelation: in this very verse, as well as in other places.
See ii. 143, and notes 143 and 144. As the Prophet is a guide and exemplar among us, so Muslims ought to be exemplars amongst mankind. The best witness to Allah's Truth are those who show its light in their lives.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.