“Euzubillahiminesheytanirracim.”
“Bismillahirrahmanirrahim”
Rabbishrah li sadri
Ve yessir li emri
Vahlul ukdetem mil lisani
Yefkahu kavli (Ta-ha/25-26-27-28)
Expand me my breast; Easy my task for me; remove the knots on my tongue; so they may understand me.
Dear fellows. In this lesson we will continue on our tafsir from the 47th verse of Al-Baqarah. If you recall the subject of our previous lesson, it was the process of Sons of Israel to became Jews. So like those verses we studied, we are still on this subject and we will stay on topic of this adventure. The events which turns Israilians into Jews.
“Bismillahirrahmanirrahim”
47 – Ya beni israilezkuru ni’metiyelleti en’amtu aleykum ve enni faddaltukum alel alemin.
O Children of Israel, remember My favor (the knowledge) that I have bestowed upon you and that I excelled you over many nations. (A.Hulusi)
O Children of Israel! call to mind the (special) favor which I bestowed upon you, and that I preferred you to all others (for My Message).
Ya beni israilezkuru ni’metiyelleti en’amtu aleykum O Sons of Israel. Remember my favor I bestowed upon you. ve enni faddaltukum alel alemin. And remember I chose you among other nations.
I would like to talk about the favor which was given to Children of Israel. I should explain the verbal and actional meaning of this word before I answer the nature of nation.
Favor; Every legal thing with a beauty essence in it. With a wider explanation; the thing a person accept its graceful nature, and a blessing which a person find happiness when it can hold it. In arabic language the word “yes”, called “Nam!” It comes from the same root like “Nimet”. Nimet and nam. Yes and blessing. If you ask how these two come from the same word root origin, the answer is this. If a reply from a person is positive and used with “yes”, then that person find something beautiful and graceful about that thing.
The favor bestowed upon Sons of Israel is the favor of prophethood and book. If we look beyond and deep of them, we may say, the favor of revelations, celestial messages. The quest of carrying celestial messages to humanity is a favor. Not a chore. If Allah gives this responsibility to a nation, then that nation is blessed with a huge favor. And of course bigger the favor, greater the responsibility.
And this concept of alemin, el alemin. I translated it as nations of earth. The verse in Al-Fatihah; “El hamdu lillahi rabbil alemin” “Hamd to Allah, Rabb of all worlds.” The alemin concept there and this verse have different natures. The concept of alemin in Al-Fatihah is much wider than here in the verse Al-Baqarah-47. Alemin in Fatihah is a reference for all beings. Because Allah is Rabb of all things. But alemin which Sons of Israel chosen from is earths nations, earths clans by definition. That’s why I chose to translate like this.
After reminding Sons of Israel which became Jews about the favor of prophethood and book favors, about the quest of carrying the celestial message to humanity, now Allah gives us another reminder. A reminder of those who betrayed Allah’s choice.
48 – Vetteku yevmel la teczi nefsun an nefsin shey’ev ve la yukbelu minha shefaatuv ve la yu’hazu minha adluv ve la hum yunsarun
Be aware and protect yourselves from the day when no one can pay any price for another, nor will intercession (for another) be accepted (Once the biological brain ceases to exist the spiritual brain is unable to evaluate new data and hence cannot accept intercession, that is, it rejects the knowledge of the reality), nor will compensation be taken to free them, nor will they be aided. (A.Hulusi)
Then guard yourselves against a day when one soul shall not avail another nor shall intercession be accepted for her, nor shall compensation be taken from her, nor shall anyone be helped (from outside).
Vetteku yevmel la teczi nefsun an nefsin shey’ev Be aware from the day, o sons of Israel. A day when nobody can pay a price for anyone nor will intercession be accepted. ve la yukbelu minha shefaatuv Nor will any kind of compensation, bribe or guide from anyone will be taken. ve la yu’hazu minha adluv That day no ransom will be demanded to free someone. ve la hum yunsarun nor will anyone be aided. With a specific translation, no man will be able to help some others. In this verse, a warning is given about that tense day. There’s another concept here in this verse. Shefaat. What is shefaat (intercession)?
The concept of intercession is oftenly comes with several verses in Qur’an. Yet in these verses; intercession comes with a negative form. Like the verse; Allahu la ilahe illa huvel hayyul kayyum …“men zellezi yeshfeu indehu illa bi iznih* Who is the one delivering intercession without permission of Allah? Most of the other verses are in this form of addressing. Without Allah’s permission no one can give any intercession. He can’t. No person is able to give any kind of help or intercession without Allah’s blessing and permission. So help from any sheih, holy man or intercessior won’t be able for any person on that day. All verses comes with this tone. Refusing intercession.
So what should we understand from this? Those verses come for a society which deny intercession, so they may believe; or they come for a society which believe intercession, so they may find out their wrong beliefs? We have to ask this question first. And with verses we seek answers in Qur’an for this question, our answer is formed like this. People who don’t believe any kind of help or intercession on that day, are not the one who addressed in these verses. On the contrary, these words come for those who believe intercession but with a wrong, superstitional way.
They take their deities and gods they worship as a conduit and intercessior between them and Allah. And when they are asked a question like; “Why do you worship these idols?”, their answer is this according to Qur’an.
li yukarribuna ilellahi zulfa (Az-Zumar/3) We only serve them in order that they may bring us nearer to Allah. They take their idols and deities as a helper, a being with a power of intercession. For that reason, verses about intercession were arrived mostly in negative forms. Do you really believe those things will save you from Allah? Do you really think they will give any intercession to you, so that you accept them as helpers when you reach Allah? Behold; Allah tells us, no creature will have a power of intercession without Allah’s permission. Hence, this is the conclusion we reached with all those verses about this concept. There’s a wrong belief among non-believers and Qur’an corrects it by denying this belief.
So if we ask what is the real intercession belief? We should understand the idea first. Let’s make a metaphor. A prize is given, more prizes. But the being who has all these prizes and organization, appoints another person to give them who win. It’s an honor for sure. He says. “I accepted this winner for gold medal. But I’m giving you the honor of delivering this prize to him. You give it.” And the conduit takes the medal and delivers as he is supposed to.
So let’s ask. The one who wins the gold medal… Does he take his prize from this conduit or from the higher authority who accepts him as a winner? If this winner turns to this conduit and say, “You give me this prize, give another for some other guy.” Would it be normal to ask from him? Wouldn’t it be forgetting the real owner of prizes? Betraying the true owner? So intercession is this. The right of judgement is not for who blessed with a permit of intercession. The authority of judgement is one. Allah…
The intercession power is told for Allah’s domain only in Qur’an with an open attitude. But for those who may have that potential at some some point, would surely have this power by permission of Allah. There are mentions in Qur’an that Allah will give permission of intercession to angels and some humans Allah loves and holds dear. But those who are blessed with this permission of delivering salvation and intercession are just deliverers. The authority of having and giving salvation is one and only Allah. For this reason intercession must be asked from who has this power, not from the one who delivers it. Only from Allah. And this is a part, a condition of Unity Belief.
There’s another spot that needs to be revealed here in this verse. Why is it here? We may find the answer to this question in manners of Jewism. They took the favor of delivering Allah’s revelations to humanity and turned it into a chosen holy racism logic. Allah chose them for delivering celestial words amongst earths communities. But they misunderstood the situation. For this favor of Allah also carried a great deal of responsibility. If they managed to use these words in their lives, if they became a worthy community for revelations and if only they managed to deliver those words without changing and corrupting them, they might be able to accomplish their duties. But they didn’t. And even after deserting those responsibilities, they were still in wrong assumptions. We are Allah’s chosen clan. We are loved by Allah. So the false assumption of this chosen race in Tora, which was also written by their own hands came to life.
Another verse in Qur’an reveals us how far they have gone with their claims like this. They say; nahnu ebnaullahi ve ehibbauh We are Allah’s sons and lovers.
Qur’an says they carried this perverted beliefs like this. And with this reality it’s possible to see this perverted beliefs in Tora’s corrupted chapters. As they blessed their own race and ignored others. For the same reason in Hebrew “stranger” word is “goim”. Goim has two different meanings. One is stranger; the other is infidel.
Again we may see some expressions within the corrupted parts of Tora. Every beings besides Sons of Israel will serve Sons of Israel. They will be their slaves. You will take their sons as servants, and girls as slaves. Yet in the same book but uncorrupted parts you see Jeremiah chapter. Jeremiah was a prophet of Israilians. He was a truth seeker. And you may see the battle of beliefs. “O sons of Israel. You think you are above others. You disobeyed Allah, you betrayed Allah’s trust. Yet you still claim “I’m unshakable. I’m incorruptable.” We also see these expressions in Tora.
So sons of Israel turned they beliefs into a holy race ideology. And they didn’t just do that. They took Allah’s religion into a racial religion.
They took god belief into a national deity and they announced yahuva or yahve, as they call it; sons of Israel’s special god.
Also, they took Moses and other prophets, which are also prophets of all muslims and announced them as national leaders or Israel. National religion, national book, national leaders and national god. Those are the products of the corruptted beliefs for sons of Israel.
This type of belief is being denied in this verse. They say “Fire shall not touch us but for a few numbered days.” Qur’an says about this claim in Al-Baqarah/80. illa eyyamem ma’dudeh Fire shall not touch us but for a few numbered days. When they are asked why, they say, “We are Allah’s friends, Allah’s sons.” And to answer all these:
“O sons of Israel. If you wait for a special treatment in afterlife, that won’t happen. Because you betrayed the revelations.”
If we make connections among these verses; this claim comes to life.
“I chose you to deliver revelations to humanity on earth but you turned it into a chosen race idea. Into a sick nationalism.” And from that point another verse comes.
49 – Ve iz necceynakum min ali fir’avneyesumunekum suel azabi yuzebbihune ebnaekum ve yestahyune nisaekum* ve fi zalikum belaum mir rabbikum aziym
(And recall that) We had saved you from the family of Pharaoh, who was afflicting you with the worst torment, slaughtering your sons and keeping your females alive. You were in a great affliction from your Rabb. (A.Hulusi)
And remember, We delivered you from the people of Pharaoh: They set you hard tasks and punishments, slaughtered your sons and let your women-folk live; therein was a tremendous trial from your Lord
Ve iz necceynakum min ali fir’avneyesumunekum suel azabi yuzebbihune ebnaekum ve yestahyune nisaekum We had saved you from the family of Pharaoh. What was pharaoh doing? yesumunekum suel azabi He was giving the worst punishments, torments. Slaughtered your sons and spare only your girls. ve fi zalikum belaum mir rabbikum aziym This was a great trial from your Rabb. This was an exam.
The word “All” here. ali fir’avn With a verbal meaning it means people of the same home. But metaphorically it was exactly the same meaning as we use today. That is, executive board of a company. The board which was managers, shareholders and CEO or founder always use terms like; “We are a family.” This may be just a metaphorical expression but same terms may also be used for pharaoh’s management. So pharaoh’s family means his crew and managers, as in viziers, army generals, priests or such.
As for the word pharaoh; it means great house, palace. But in later years of Egypt, this word was also used for king, sultan, khan; basically the leader of community. For this reason this is a common name. There wasn’t just a person named Pharaoh. In fact the pharaoh mentioned in this verse is Ramses The Second according to Old Testament translators. Or it could be some other.
If you ask why Qur’an doesn’t give the name of him but call him just pharaoh or king or manager or leader; this is the manner of speech in Qur’an. And the wisdom behind the manner is this. Every era has its own pharaohs, it may be your pharaohs too. If Qur’an uses his own name instead of saying pharaoh, then you may call these incidents just a story, just a historical event occured way back in the past. But this is not an ancient story. It’s a type of story that may happen every era. So every era, every century, every time period will have its own pharaohs and Moses.
So don’t linger in topics like the identity or the name of pharaoh; focus on his mental mission, who was he represents, what ideology was he defending. After that you would be able to see all heretic leaders in all eras until now are mental descendents of pharaoh line. And those who fight them, who oppose them are mental descendents of Moses line. This explanations have these meanings too. Again in this holy verse a tremendous trial is mentioned.
ve fi zalikum belaum mir rabbikum aziym “Therein was a tremendous trial from your Rabb” A hard evaluation. If you think carefully there was a genocide going on back there. Sons of Israel were massacred by pharaoh. Honest and muslim sons of Israel… Remember Islam is not just the name of our beliefs, it’s the name of all people from the first to last which have a belief of Unity. And for that Islam is not a specific name for the Community of Muhammad’s religion. No it’s the name of religion believed by true and honest believers to celestial words of Allah delivered by all previous prophets. So in this concept, the sons of Israel who suffered and tortured there were Muslim Israilians. And pharaoh and his men leaders of herecy; had massacred them.
Even the books from that era, books written by sons of Israel reveals us the nature of torment there. Whoever got pregnant from them; was marked. All births were known via accoucheurs. And whoever hides the news, pharaoh and his leadership were punishing her entire family. That was the torture. That was the terrible torment and genocide.
And what do you think, women of Israilians did? Like they could say; “Since they will kill them, why bother giving birth. We don’t need to get pregnant.” No… Not one of them said that. Pharaoh’s men killed and women of Israilians delivered more. They said, “Our job is to give birth. We should do our job. Everyone did their duties. Infidelity did his duties, so did Iman. They didn’t quit, they didn’t give up. They killed newborns, decapitated in front of their mothers eyes right after birth. But those mother didn’t quit. “I should do my duty.” Every single one of them said that. And true believer women of Israilians gave birth without hesitation.
So what happened in the end? Those who kill, lost; when the others won. Pharaoh and his squad drowned in water like it was the blood of all newborn babies of Sons of Israel.
So… If we carry that incident today; what does it mean for us? What does it mean with this Allah’s verse for addressed people of this age we live in? The message is clear.
“O True Believers. They may come at you like pharaohs. You may suffer and feel pain, torture or even genocide. But won’t you stay strong as the women of sons o Israel? Do your jobs and attend your duties. Keep going.”
This verse always put together with the verse 45. Vesteiynu bis sabri ves salah Ask for help from Allah with pray and patience.
I chose to translate patience as resistance in my previous lesson. And salat as both daily duties and prays. So if you ask for the reason of all patience, all resistance, all prays; you should look at this verse. When you put this verse and 45th verse, one completes another. For a person to feel patience, he surely feel something bad. So that praying and resisting must be put on table. For a man to resist and stay his calm, he should feel a hard problem. A test; so to speak. So in front of a trouble and calamity; what is patience?
And this verse descibes patience. Patience is what the women of Israilians did. Keep giving birth. Don’t give up just for they killed them. And with all those patience, asking for Allah’s help. For those cries, those hands did reach their destination and sons of Israel found their Moses. Because they kept giving birth; hope didn’t disappear and Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s palace. Same pharaoh who killed all those babies. So the reward they were waiting with all those patience, resistance and prays came as Moses into their hands.
50 – Ve iz ferakna bikumul bahra fe enceynakum ve agrakna ale fir’avne ve entum tenzurun
By manifesting the forces of Allah’s Names in your essence We had parted the sea and saved you and drowned the family of Pharaoh as they were looking on. (A.Hulusi)
And remember We divided the sea for you and saved you and drowned Pharaoh’s people within your very sight.
Ve iz ferakna bikumul bahra fe enceynakum ve agrakna ale fir’avne ve entum tenzurun And remember We divided the sea for you and saved you and drowned Pharaoh’s group while you were looking.
There’s a bahr word here. Actually when Qur’an talks about the drowning of pharaoh in its verses, it uses two distinct words. Bahr and yevm. Bahr is an arabic word. It means a great water mass. It is used as seas nowadays. Yevm is not an arabic word, hebrew actually. Tora uses the word yevm and for explaining suuh. It means sea of reeds. More specifically swamp of papyrus. In verse Ta-ha/78, when it mentions pharaohs drowning;
fe gashiyehum minel yemmi ma gashiyehum. (Taha/78) but things surrounded them, completely overwhelmed them and covered them up.
When all these evidences come together, we see some Tora tafsirians explain pharaohs drowning like this. Even it’s gone by now, back in the days there was a big swamp in an area next to Red Sea. A swamp where there are several lakes in it. And this area was a reed bed. Reeds grow in swamps, you know, which is the real meaning of yevm in hebrew. Yevm is reed, papyrus. The sea of reeds is the explanation of this situation.
Some verses shown as proofs in Tora. According to them, when Tora is revealing pharaohs drowning, these were happened. Rabb sent a great wind and that wind blew all night without interruption till morning. And a dry corridor, a passage was manifested in swamp. Sons of Israel went through this corridor. And with the will of Allah, the wind stopped. Swamp began to close the passage while pharaoh and his men were still in it. After that they were stuck and eventually sucked by swamps mud.
When we look at the verse Ta-Ha/78 fe gashiyehum minel yemmi ma gashiyehum. There’s a settle and similar end. Of course only Allah knows what really happened. But according to facts of history, neither Nile nor Red Sea were mentioned for this incident, since the swamp explanation is probably very likely.
51 – Veiz vaadna musa erbeiyne leyleten summettehaztumul icle mim ba’dihi ve entum zalimun.
We had pledged forty nights to Moses, and during this period you had deified a calf as wrongdoers (you had done injustice to yourselves by falling into duality as a result of denying your essential reality). (A.Hulusi)
And remember We appointed forty nights for Moses, and in his absence ye took the calf (for worship), and ye did grievous wrong.
Veiz vaadna musa erbeiyne leyleten We appointed forty nights for Moses summettehaztumul icle mim ba’dihi and during this period you had deified a calf ve entum zalimun. And by doing that you became illdoers to yourselves.
If we follow the truths explained here one after another, we may understand what Qur’an wants to say. Think; back then sons of Israel suffered pharaohs tortures and genodcide. It was so recent for them like yesterday. But when the time came, Allah saved them from pharaohs grasp. They were passing sea and seeing miracles. I mean they were in great agony but Allah’s help arrived almost personally and now they were in a spot which they should bow down and give thanks to Allah without ending. But what is it? When their prophet Moses went to the Mountain of Tur to get revelations from Allah; sons of Israel which should give thanks to Allah, went into deep infidelity. They created a baby cow. A calf.
I want to stay on this topic for a while. Why calf? Why not any other animal but cow? Because there was a false god in Egypt. A goddess named Hathor which was worshipped by both Egyptians and Pharaohs. A totemic cow. Today there’s an old Egypt Council Building in Tahrir Square in Cairo. That old council building is now the Old Egyptian Civilizations Museum. You may see cow statues all over the second floor when you look briefly. They were belong to Pharaohs era. Some of them are really big. And you can see that in some of them, pharaoh sits right in front of the cow.
I took pictures of those statues. I still have them as proofs. So sons of Israel were going into deep infidelity by worshipping the god of their enemies. They were stuck in a swamp of mimicing their enemies. This verse tells us about this incident.
They met a clan on road, a clan which worshipped the same gods of Egyptians. Sons of Israel saw their idols and felt warmth in their hearts for that statue. An artist among their ambassadors, an artist named Samiri collected most of their valuable possessions they saved from pharaoh. We may see details of this, also from other verses in Qur’an. He collected gold and silver jeweleries and melted them. And with this metalic mass he built a statue of Hathor. Goddess of pharaoh and his people. This idol of calf was put in the middle and after that sons of Israel began to give their respects and attentions to this statue.
Qur’an was actually telling us this corruption and betrayal of sons of Israel. Also there’s an addressing here in Qur’an for first and modern readers. That expression is this. They worshipped gold and silver. They worshipped earth. They became earthlings. But in reality this is a symbol. The calf idol was a symbol. They were worshipping earth. Worshipping gold, money and possessions. So the community of Muhammad; if you betray the favor and blessing of Qur’an’s message like the community of Moses did; you will also be earthlings and their path and destination will become yours. The end will be that severe and bad. This is the true message that need to be taken here.
52 – Summe afevna ankum mim ba’di zalike leallekum teshkurun
After this incident We had forgiven you, that perhaps you would be grateful (realize and evaluate). (A.Hulusi)
Even then We did forgive you; there was a chance for you to be grateful.
Summe afevna ankum mim ba’di zalike We can see Allah’s greatness, the depths of Allah’s mercy and forgiveness in this verse. After this incident we did forgive you. leallekum teshkurun . Maybe you would notice your mistakes, regret them and be greatful for Allah’s blessings.
53 – Ve iz ateyna musel kitabe vel furkane leallekum teehtedun
And recall when We gave Moses the Book (the knowledge of the reality of existence) and the Furqan (the ability and knowledge to differentiate right from wrong) so that you would turn to the truth. (A.Hulusi)
And remember We gave Moses the Scripture and the Criterion (Between right and wrong): There was a chance for you to be guided aright.
Ve iz ateyna musel kitabe vel furkane leallekum teehtedun Remember we gave Moses the Book to know the difference between right and wrong. So that you seek its guidance. That means Allah gave Moses the celestial revelations, the book of knowledge for right and wrong for people to seek its guidance.
There’s a expression of “Furkan” here. Furkan word is used in Qur’an for all three books. For Tora, for Bible and for Qur’an. Furkan means right from wrong. It means seperation. Word can be used for both the person and the action. A person who seperate right from wrong is called Furkan. As well as the seperation act which is also called Furkan. So this adjective of Furkan is not a feature of the book itself. It’s a feature of celestial revelations. Hence all books belong to celestial origin are Furkan. Because of that the expression of Furkan is not for the speech of Qur’an entirely. It’s the name of Qur’an’s meaning. The meaning of Qur’an holds the feature of Furkan. Speech however, is the feaure of Qur’an. For the same reason I named our tafsir; “Tafsir el Qur’an Te’vil el Furkan”. Why? Because Furkan is a feature of meaning and meaning is processed by Te’vil. That means Te’vil is the definition of turning something into its original state. All the way to its creator. Therefore what we have been doing is the tafsir of Qur’an and Te’vil of Furkan.
There’s also a sentence here; leallekum teehtedun. What is meant with this? I mean by seeking its guidance. Revelations of course, for being a guidance for all people. The book mentioned in this verse is in my opinion the first five books in Tora. The first five books called Pentatok. Nowhere in Qur’an you may find an expression of Tora close to Moses. There’s no completion between the name Tora and the name Moses. The things mentioned close to Moses are three words. First one is the book, second one is the page and the third one is the tablet. Or plural form of it.
But you cannot find a connection between the names Tora and Moses. If you ask why; because the arab community back then, the Madina arabs who lived in seventh century didn’t called Tora for just Moses book. In fact Tora was the name of the script which was come for all prophets for the sons of Israel. The collection of 39 books. As an observation to this fact, Qur’an never uses the completion of Tora with Moses. But also not to make an argument among the Jews of Madina, Qur’an explains the truth of this situation and it reveals the book came to Moses was in fact a special book. This book which named Tora after, was actually the first five books which holds the real Tora. It’s pretty meaningful for Qur’an to make such seperation.
54 – Ve iz kale musa li kavmihi ya kavmi innekum zalemtum enfusekum bittihazikumul icle fe tubu ila bariikum faktulu enfusekum* zalikum hayrul lekum inde bariikum* fe tabe aleykum* innehu huvet tevvabur rahiym
Moses had said to his people, “O my people, indeed by taking a calf (as a deity) you have wronged yourselves (your essence). So repent (for denying His existence in your essence and turning to external deifications) to the Bari (the One who exquisitely creates existence with His Names) and kill your illusory selves (ego). In the sight of the Bari, doing this is beneficial for you. He will accept your repentance. Indeed, He is the Tawwab (Accepting of Repentance) and the giver of grace as a result of it (when the person discerns his mistake and repents, the quality referenced by Tawwab prevents any possible negative outcome and reverses these effects, allowing for new realizations to take place)”. (A.Hulusi)
And remember Moses said to his people: “O my people! Ye have indeed wronged yourselves by your worship of the calf: So turn (in repentance) to your Maker, and slay yourselves (the wrong-doers); that will be better for you in the sight of your Maker.” Then He turned towards you (in forgiveness): For He is Oft- Returning, Most Merciful.
Ve iz kale musa li kavmihi ya kavmi innekum zalemtum enfusekum bittihazikumul icle Remember Moses said to his people; “O my community, my clan. You have wronged yourselves by creating and worshipping this calf.”
I translated the word bittihaz as creating, manifesting. But by adding a second opponent and saying it like, bittihazikumul icle, one can easily translate this sentence as worshipping, taking it as a god. Like the others. I, however find the first meaning more accurate. Manifesting, creating calf. I think making something and worshipping it are two different things. I believe Allah wishes for us to see the difference here.
Creating; I mean you created an idol by force when there’s no need. Possibly they didn’t worship the calf statue, they didn’t go, bow down and worship it. But they were showing respect to calf. They put a throne for it in their hearts. We saw it from Qur’an.
ve ushribu fi kulubihimul icle. (Baqarah-93) Their hearts were filled with love for the calf. This expression is the exact definition of it. Yet we may translate it by saying, “They put a throne in their hearts for the calf.” That was the incident. Like I said, it’s quite possible they weren’t worshipping the statue of calf. Maybe they didn’t believe in calf like they believed in Allah who rescued them from pharaohs torment, who sent them reveleations and whom Moses was telling them about. Everything was pretty obvious back then. But what did they do? They were giving their respects.They put earth in their hearts. They were in love for gold and silver on a worshipping degree. And they were imitating their enemies. The calf there was a symbol of all those. Because of this, I wanted to translate it as a literal meaning.
fe tubu ila bariikum turn in repetance to your creator. faktulu enfusekum* Destroy your egos. zalikum hayrul lekum inde bariikum that will be better for you in the sight of your Maker fe tabe aleykum So you will be forgiven. innehu huvet tevvabur rahiym. He is Often-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
You may notice there’s a sentence faktulu enfusekum which I translated as “kill your egos.” In some tafsirs this section is translated as “kill yourselves.” And for that many stories were told about this incident. Supposedly, according to stories from sons of Israel, many people had killed each others and 70000 people had committed murder there. All because of this order. They say, “They killed each others.”. Because they understood the meaning as destroy yourselves and for that, they literally did. Some stories of sons of Israel were used as back ups for this act.
I, with my humble opinion, think the meaning here is “killing your egos, your greedy natures.” I mean, the order here is cleansing and educating your natures. I believe this because of two reasons.
1 – Right above there’s an order saying fe tubu ila bariikum repetance to your maker. Those who give repetance are like sin-free. Those who ask for forgiveness shall be forgiven is he’s sincere with his repetance. If Allah of worlds ordered to make repetance, surely only Allah will accept those cries. Allah wouldn’t order for repetance unless has a wish for accepting them.
2 – If we give the meaning “Kill yourselves” here. They weren’t also killing themselves. That would be suicide. No, supposedly they killed each others which is the definition of murder. However the verse was saying “Kill yourselves.” If we understand it this way. Hence the verse should have a meaning of “Educate your innerselves, destroy your egos.” That’s how I wishes to express my opinion. Of course only Allah knows better.
[Additional Info: Third expression is metaphorical. Killing yourselves. For your sin nature acts, rip those feelings out from your natures, leave your personal greeds. Because greed is the one which turn you into mischief and herecy. And repetance is only possible if you succeed in doing these. Only then, repetances would be accepted. This is the meaning. The te’vil behind it. Beautiful yet figurative. (Elmalı tafsir) ]
zalikum hayrul lekum inde bariikum that will be better for you in the sight of your Maker. fe tubu ila bariikum So that Allah forgives you innehu huvet tevvabur rahiym. For Allah is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.
55 – Ve iz kultum ya musa len nu’mine leke hatta nerallahe cehraten fe ehazetkumus saikatu ve entum tenzurun
And you had said, “O Moses, we will never believe you until we see Allah outright”; after which lightening (the knowledge of the reality to eradicate your existence) had struck you while you were looking on. (A.Hulusi)
And remember ye said: “O Moses! We shall never believe in thee until we see Allah manifestly,” Thereupon ye were dazed with thunderbolt even as ye looked on.
Ve iz kultum ya musa len nu’mine leke hatta nerallahe cehraten And you had said, “O Moses, we will never believe you until we see Allah outright.”
Why is there an expression of outright here? Because they saw Allah’s mercy and blessings countless times so far. Water splitted right in front of them, Allah saved them from pharaoh and gave sustenance in desert. menne ves selva which they got without any effort and cloud in desert for them to travel easily. Allah saved them from countless troubles, yet they only saw Allah with results. They knew him with only blessings, mercy and help. But they were beginning to become Jewminded and for that they wanted to see Allah outright. And they confronted Moses with that excuse; they said “We won’t believe you unless we see the Maker outright.”
Actually what they claimed they wouldn’t believe was not Allah’s existence. They were saying “We won’t believe what you brought were from Allah. We won’t believe your meeting with Allah and you’re Allah’s prophet.”. I believe this meaning is more accurate.
fe ehazetkumus saikatu ve entum tenzurun after which lightening had struck you while you were looking on and you had found your trouble. The lightning here can be taken as both literal and metaphorical of course. A lightning which struck in their hearts and for its reason they realized what kind of wrong and treason they were about to step in and turn back while there was still a chance for forgiveness. But I believe the true literal meaning, a real lightning has a more strong sense here.
56 – Summe beasnakum mim ba’di mevtikum leallekum teshkurun
Then after you tasted death (your nothingness and that the Wahid’ul Qahhar is the one and only existence) We had revived your life with a new understanding, that perhaps you would evaluate this. (A.Hulusi)
Then We raised you up after your death; ye had the chance to be grateful.
Summe beasnakum After that I resurrected you again. This resurrection is a spiritual awakening came after spiritual death. Meaning, after all those treasons and infidelity, Allah accepted their repetances and blessed their dead hearts with Iman resurrection again. mim ba’di mevtikum leallekum teshkurun Hopefully now you will be greatful.
Of course we may get the meaning as a social death. In reality a community is filled with desperation, it’s possible to call that society, “dead”. There’s no inconvience telling that. And for that resurrection of a society can only be possible with Iman. A true believing society is a living society. And Qur’an’s call is a resurrection, an awakening call. As does it also say for itself.
57 – Ve zallelna aleykumul gamame ve enzelna aleykumul menne ves selva* kulu min tayyibati ma razaknakum* ve ma zalemuna ve lakin kanu enfusehum yazlimun
And We shaded you with clouds (to veil you from the scorching truth and to maintain your humanly life) and revealed to you (from your essence to your consciousness) manna (the force of power in the Names of Allah comprising your essence) and quails (the ability to feel your spiritual aspect) saying, “Eat from the pure things with which We have provided you.” And they (by not evaluating the knowledge of the reality) did not do wrong to Us but they did wrong to themselves (A concealed meaning has been provided here in addition to the literal meaning of the verse). (A.Hulusi)
And We gave you the shade of clouds and sent down to you Manna and quails, saying: “Eat of the good things We have provided for you:” (But they rebelled); to Us they did no harm, but they harmed their own souls.
Ve zallelna aleykumul gamame ve enzelna aleykumul menne ves selva We gave you the shade of clouds and we treated you with menne ves selva. If you ask where is the treat expression, the word enzelna means treating in arabic language. The word comes from the root of Enzele which also has a meaning of treating. For that reason when someone is a guest for an arab, the dining table he treats you is called nuzul as well as the name of the treatment.
Also the word mene here, has a meaning of growing from soil, coming from earths ground. Not something came from above. So if we give them a meaning of sent from heavens, it may very well be opposition for this incident. Therefore by looking into the depths of the sentence men ve selva, we should say that those were treats from Allah.
What is “men”, also “man” in Tora? It’s said that when sons of Israel were stayin in desert, they were founding some kind of seeds, white drops above desert sands every morning when they woke up. Naturally they gathered them and grinded them. They made great breads. Also their oils could make very tasty meals. Tora says, sons of Israel found sustenance with those. Also a hadith has another explanation on this, saying, “Mushrooms are from “Menh”.”, which holds the meaning the nature of this “men” in men ve selva.
So we may easily name everything grow on their own effortlessly, “men”. That means sons of Israel were getting sustenances, treats given by Allah for them without any effort. Nature of mushrooms are like that too. It can grow on earths ground without any effort. Also fuv or in another name desert fig has also a feature of growing as a desert cactus in hot climate which grows on desert ground without any effort. And this cactus fruit has a cooling feature as well.
Like all those, some translators translate the meaning of selva as meat of quail bird. But the selva word has also a literal meaning and that meaning is everthing that give a person comfort. Like the word “salve”.
kulu min tayyibati ma razaknakum “Eat of the good things We have provided for you.” ve ma zalemuna ve lakin kanu enfusehum yazlimun “But by rebelling they did not do wrong to Us;” so what did they do? ve lakin kanu enfusehum yazlimun “but they did wrong to themselves.”
58 – Ve iz kulnedhulu hazihil karyete fe kulu minha haysu shi’tum ragadev vedhulul babe succedev ve kulu hittatun nagfirlekum hatayakum* ve senezidul muhsinin
And recall when We said, “Enter this city (dimension) and eat whatever you will (from the blessings of this dimension) and enter the gate prostrating (in confession of your nonexistence and that only the Names of Allah exist) and ask to be forgiven (for identifying with your ego) so that We will forgive your mistakes (formed by your illusory self)… We will increase (our blessings) to those (the doers of good) who unrequitedly share from what We have bestowed upon them.” (A.Hulusi)
And remember We said: “Enter this town, and eat of the plenty therein as ye wish; and enter the gate prostrating (with humility), and say: “Forgive (us)”; We shall forgive you your faults and increase (the portion of) those who do good.”
Ve iz kulnedhulu hazihil karyete fe kulu minha haysu shi’tum ragadev vedhulul babe succedev And remember We said: “Enter this town, and eat of the plenty therein as ye wish; and enter the gate prostrating (with humility), and say: “Forgive (us)”; ve kulu hittatun say “Estagfirullah, forgive us o Rabb!” nagfirlekum hatayakum And what do we do? We forgive your mistakes. ve senezidul muhsinin We will increase our blessings to those the doers of good who unrequitedly share from what We have bestowed upon them.
There’s a word that we should stay on: hitta. Hitta; in Hebrew means sent down from above, which explains all the meanings of send down forgiveness, send down your blessing with a single word of istigfar as forgive us for all the bad deeds we had done. Quite possibly the word “estagfirullah” in islamic terminology has the same type of meaning.
Again for the word muhsinin; I choose to translate it as, “Like you see Allah” we will expand our blessings. Because that’s how our prophet explains the beneficence. En tagbudallahi ke enneke terahu Be a worshipper like you see Allah. Fe inne lem terahu even you don’t see Allah; fe inne hu yerake be sure that Allah sees you. So the explanation of our prophet for beneficence is the reason why I choose to translate this word like this.
59 – Fe beddellezine zalemu kavlen gayrallezi kiyle lehum fe enzelna alellezine zalemu riczem mines semai bi ma kanu yefsukun
But those among them, who did wrong to themselves, changed the things that were said to them to things that were not said to them. Resultantly We disclosed from the sky (from the amygdala in their brains) suspicion (illusion; ideas that cause torment). (A.Hulusi)
But the transgressors changed the word from that which had been given them; so We sent on the transgressors a plague from heaven, for that they infringed (Our command) repeatedly.
Fe beddellezine zalemu kavlen gayrallezi kiyle lehum But those who made bad to themselves changed the word from that which had been given them with something else fe enzelna alellezine zalemu riczem mines semai bi ma kanu yefsukun So what did we do after that? We sent on the transgressors a plague from heaven, for that they infringed repeatedly. bi ma kanu yefsukun for that they went stray repeatedly.
60 – Ve izisteska musa li kavmihi fe kulnadrib bi asakel hacer* fenfecerat minhusneta ashrate ayna* kad alime kullu unasim meshrabehum* kulu veshrabu mir rizkillahi ve la ta’sev fil erdi mufsidin
And recall when Moses prayed for water for his people, and We said, “Strike the stone with your staff (with the forces of the Names in your essence).” And (when he struck) there gushed forth from it twelve springs. Every group of people knew their way (their source of water). We said: “Eat and drink from the provision of Allah, and do not go to extreme causing corruption on the earth.” (A.Hulusi)
And remember Moses prayed for water for his people; We said: “Strike the rock with thy staff.” Then gushed forth therefrom twelve springs. Each group knew its own place for water. So eat and drink of the sustenance provided by Allah, and do no evil nor mischief on the (face of the) earth.
Ve izisteska musa li kavmihi fe kulnadrib bi asakel hacer And remember the time when Moses prayed for water for his people fe kulnadrib bi asakel hacer we said “Strike your staff to this rock.” fenfecerat minhusneta ashrate ayna Then gushed forth therefrom twelve springs. Twelve springs gushed forth the second he struck his staff to that rock. kad alime kullu unasim meshrabehum Each group knew its own place for water. kulu veshrabu so eat and drink mir rizkillahi of the sustenance provided by Allah. ve la ta’sev fil erdi mufsidin do not cause mischief on the earth. That’s the order given to sons of Israel. Don’t create mechanisms and cons to create mischief and corruption on earth.
There’s an expression that we should think on it, there’s a blessing for sons of Israel who were stuck on desert for days and without water. I personally haven’t visited to that spot but those who travel there says there’s indeed a rock, this rock which the water had gushed forth with 12 holes in it. It exists and open for visiting in Sina Desert. But like I said, I haven’t gone there. This blessing mentioned here is a new blessing given by Allah for sons of Israel even after all those infidelic behaviours. But there’e also a warning given with this blessing. Don’t create tricks to cause mischief on Earth.
I translated the expression ve la ta’sev here as tricks or cons, because “a seye” means mischief unnoticed, but “a yete” is mischief noticed. This a’se comes from the root of a s y. These type of words in arabic language is like saying same word with changing two letters in it. Like all languages including arabic, there are different accents to create that kind of little differences and nuances.
61 – Ve iz kultum ya musa len nasbira ala taamiv vahidin fed’u lena rabbeke yuhric lena mimma tumbitul erdu mim bakliha ve kissaiha ve fumiha ve adesiha ve besaliha* ihbitu misran fe inne lekum ma seeltum* ve duribet aleyhimuz zilletu vel meskenetu ve bau bi gadabim minellah* zalike bi ennehum kanu yekfurune bi ayatillahi ve yaktulunen nebiyyine bi gayril hakk* zalike bi ma asav ve kanu ya’tedun
And recall when you said, “O Moses, we can not be content with one kind of food. Call upon your Rabb to bring forth for us from the earth its green herbs and its cucumbers and its garlic and its lentils and its onions!” Moses asked, “Do you want to exchange what is beneficial and superior for what is lesser and worthless? Then go down to the city and you will find what you have asked for.” And so they were covered with humiliation and poverty and were stricken with wrath (were reduced to a state of existence based on externality). That was because they covered and denied the signs (the forces of the Names) of Allah in their essence, and going against the reality (giving in to their ego) they killed the Nabis. As a result of their rebellion, they transgressed the limits and went too far. (A.Hulusi)
And remember ye said: “O Moses! we cannot endure one kind of food (always); so beseech thy Lord for us to produce for us of what the earth groweth, -its pot-herbs, and cucumbers, Its garlic, lentils, and onions.” He said: “Will ye exchange the better for the worse? Go ye down to any town, and ye shall find what ye want!” They were covered with humiliation and misery; they drew on themselves the wrath of Allah. This because they went on rejecting the Signs of Allah and slaying His Messengers without just cause. This because they rebelled and went on transgressing.
Ve iz kultum ya musa len nasbira ala taamiv vahidin And remember ye said: “O Moses! We cannot endure one kind of food (always), tired of it. fed’u lena rabbeke Pray your Rabb for us. yuhric lena mimma tumbitul erdu mim bakliha So that Rabb produce for us of what the earth groweth. Like what? mim bakliha legumes ve kissaiha and zucchini. Some translations say cucumber and some say zucchini. Actually kissa means “acur”.
In arabic literature cucumber is named as hiyar. But we cannot find this name in any of old historical books or any hadith book for that matter. Hiyar. We can see hissa and kissa. In hadith completion, we see kissa like this. Rasulallah were eating ripe date fruit and “kissa” together. So if we translate kissa here as zucchini, it would be wrong since zucchini is not edible in raw state. Also hiyar is a derivative fruit from acur. With all that evidences, it’s safe to assume that kissa here is acur.
ve fumiha and garlic, ve adesiha and lentil ve besaliha and onion. Moses said to them; kale e testebdilunellezi huv edna billezi huve hayr “Will you exchange the better for the worse?” You want to trade the holy and great with something below and beneath?
What is the reasoning of Moses for higher and better? It wasn’t a comparison between menne ves selva with lentil, onion and garlic. Absolutely not. There was no possibility of any form of classification in sustenances. What so great and holy is freedom. “You get your freedom by giving up those onions and garlics. Now you want to give back your freedom in exchange of some onions and garlics?” ihbitu mirsan Turn back then, to Egypt. Go back there. If you wish to trade your freedom with onions and garlics; if you’re saying, “I don’t mind being a slave as long as I have some onions and garlics.”, then go back to Egypt. What you wish is already there. So give back your freedom, and earn your onions, garlics and your slavery.
ve duribet aleyhimuz zilletu vel meskenetu they were covered with humiliation and misery; vel meskenetu marked with the seal of defeat and humiliation. ve bau bi gadabim minellah they drew on themselves the wrath of Allah.
What is “meet Allah’s wrath” or “drow on themselves the wrath of Allah”? We should stay on this for a while. It’s possible to see via these type of expressions may be misinterpretated from reading the Qur’an and create a cursed clan ideology. Like sons of Israel are cursed community logic. This logic is wrong altogether. In fact this type of logic is cursed from the beginning. There’s no cursed community, but cursed ideology. What they were doing, their acts were cursed; not their community. Why have any other member of that society lived any era should have been cursed for some actions they haven’t done? This attitude was the center of this wrath here and those who stayed on that attitude have felt that curse and wrath as well. Nonetheless Qur’an says for hypocrites; “Hypocrites have drown themselves the wrath of Allah.”
Again Qur’an says openly that whoever kills a true believer deliberately, Allah curses on him. So being cursed is not a trademark for sons of Israel or any other community. Whoever make cursed actions will suffer from the wrath of Allah. For that there’s no damned society, only damned behaviours exist. Community of Moses had done that and met their curse. So from this point of view it’s easy to understand that whoever from the community of Muhammad may have done something like that; like exchanging his freedom for garlics and onions, trading holy and celestial for low and beneath; whoever trade his beliefs, religion and afterlife for mere earthly gains will indeed feel this wrath, this curse. That; we should understand from this verse.
zalike bi ennehum kanu yekfurune bi ayatillahi ve yaktulunen nebiyyine bi gayril hakk This because they went on rejecting the Verses of Allah and slaying Allah’s Prophets without just cause. zalike bi ma asav ve kanu ya’tedun Again. This because they rebelled and went on transgressing. The sole reason for all these… Their rebellious actions and transgressions.
I should point out the fact about this quickly here. What is the meaning of “killer of prophets”? It’s because Jews had killed many of their prophets. Some prophets met their deaths by Jews are Elijah, Joshua, Micah, Zachariah and his son John (a.k.a. John the baptist) and some more we don’t know. For that Jesus addressed Jews like this in Matta Bible. “Jarusalem. O who stoned and killed prophets, Jarusalem.” There are even some chapters in Tora on how Jews had tormented and stoned their prophets too.
62 – Innellezine amenu vellezine hadu ven nesara ves sabiine min amene billahi vel yevmil ahiri ve amile salihan fe lehum ecruhum inde rabbihim *ve la havfun aleyhim ve la hum yahzenun
Indeed, among the believers (despite their dualistic view – concealed shirq), the Jews, the Christians and the Sabeans (who deify and worship the stars) – those who believe that the Names of Allah comprise their essential reality and in the life after, and who, engage in the necessary deeds for their salvation (A state of emancipation from the conditions of nature and bodily life and the experience of ‘certainty’ [yakeen].) – will be rewarded (with the resulting forces) in the sight of their Rabb (their composition of Names.) They will have nothing to fear, nor anything to grieve over! (A.Hulusi)
Those who believe (in the Qurán), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
Innellezine amenu vellezine hadu ven nesara ves sabiine min amene billahi vel yevmil ahiri ve amile salihan fe lehum ecruhum inde rabbihim Those who believe and those who become Jewminded. vellezine hadu, I translated this as “become Jewminded” form, since there are 3 different expression forms in Qur’an for Jews. 1 – yahud, 2 – el yahud, and 3 – vellezine hadu form. Last form carries a different addressing style so I believe this type means turning his mind on Jewish form, become Jew-minded. Not sons of Israel themselves. ven nesara Christians, ves sabiine Sabians.
Sabians have been mentioned 3 places in Qur’an. And sebbe means turn or return. This word comes from the root of sa ba a in mandanese which is a dialect of aramic. It means dive into water and take full ablution. They are the members of a sact seperated from Jewism and believers of Unity. Their holy books unearthed and translated in this last era. As there are mentions in their books, Marib area and two plains are now the home of 20.000 Sabians today on earth. They are the believers of a seperate religion altogether in Iraq and partially in Iran. Qur’an knows their religions back then and counts them with the others, other celestial originated religions. They say and believe John the Baptist as their prophets. For now I think that amount of information will suffice for them.
min amene billahi all those classes. Muslims who believe, I mean. And from Israilians, Christians and Sabians, who believe. vel yevmil ahiri whoever believe the afterlife ve amile salihan take actions of good deeds. fe lehum ecruhum inde rabbihim shall have their reward with their Rab. Their rewards their prizes are eternal in Allah. They will surely get what they deserve. ve la havfun aleyhim they won’t feel worry from future. ve la hum yahzenun nor they won’t fell regret from their past. Of course, the meaning of this verse should have some attention. Baqarah/62 and Maide/69 are same. Except one words different use, both verses have the exact same addressing forms.
The meaning in this verse in very clear. And this verse includes Muslims along with those who qualify themselves as muslims but call themselves Jews or Christians or Sabians or call themselves something different entirely. This verse includes and addresses all of them. And Qur’an which put all those people in front of the book, lays 3 rules.
It says; It doesn’t matter what you call yourselves, what you name yourselves. Important is what Allah calls you. What important is, what are you; according to Allah’s measurements. So, you cannot be Muslims just by calling yourselves Muslims. You are a real Muslim, only if you act like a Muslim which Allah describes as. And Allah describes this now. Three rules have been given. This is an Iman to Allah package, so to speak.
What are the contents of this package. Believe all prophets had come so far. Because we learn this from Qur’an. And Qur’an qualifies as real infidels who say, “I believe some of prophets were real and some of them were now. I only believe some of them.” So, as we can see here clearly that, partially believing prophets, like believing some of them and denying others is named as real infidelity in Qur’an.
So within the topic of Iman to Allah, there are also subtopics as Iman to all prophets sent by Allah and Iman to all books sent by Allah.
Besides Qur’an doesn’t count all members of religions of celestial books, the same. It always seperates, never totalizes. Like in the verse (Ali Imran/113) Leysu sevaa* min ehlil kitabi Not all Ehli Kitap (Believer of books) are the same. Also in several verses in Qur’an make indications like; Of the People of the Book are a portion that stand (for the right): They rehearse the Signs of Allah all night long, and they prostrate themselves in adoration. With examples like these, most verses seperate Ehli Kitap into two sides. Goods and bads. For the bad side, there are some notions like “Whoever says Allah is the third of three, turns into infidelity.” Or “Those in Christianism who believe in Jesus Christ with the belief of Trinity and claim that he’s indeed a part of god”; Qur’an also uses expressions like “They became infidels.” And for that Qur’an’s approach to Ehli Kitap is different.
Qur’an doesn’t look at religions within the direction of our ambitions and enthusiasms. There are some measures put by Allah. It classifies people according to these measurements. Those conditions are;
1. Iman to Allah. In this package there are also believing all the prophets and all the books sent by Allah.
2. Iman to Afterlife. That means further truths of life.
3. Performing actions of good deeds
Whoever may reach the tresholds of these conditions shall drink from the source of eternal joy. This is the message Allah gives us at this point.
63 – Ve iz ehazna misakakum ve rafa’na fevkakumut tur * huzu ma ateynakum bi kuvvetiv vezkuru ma fihi leallekum tettekun
And recall when We took your covenant and We raised over you the Mount Sinai (a miracle of Moses). Hold what We have given you (the knowledge of the reality) as a force and remember (dhikr) what is in it so that you may protected. (A.Hulusi)
And remember We took your covenant and We raised above you the Mount (Sinai) : (Saying): “Hold firmly to what We have given you and bring (ever) to remembrance what is therein: Perchance ye may fear Allah.”
Ve iz ehazna misakakum And remember We took your covenant ve rafa’na fevkakumut tur We raised over you the Mount Sinai. I give the meaning of “vav” there, by its original state. We took your promise when we raised the Tur above you. huzu ma ateynakum bi kuvvetiv What was this promise? Hold firmly to what We have given you. vezkuru ma fihi leallekum tettekun and remember what’s therein. Make them as your constant consciousness. Don’t ever forget. Refresh your consciousnesses with what is therein. leallekum tettekun So that you may realize your responsibilities.
At this point the reality mentioned in this verse must be this. Allah had taken a promise from sons of Israel that they would follow the path of revelations. This covenant is like one of the previous countless covenants. There were many before, but the promise was refreshed at this point again. But there’s also a truth here for this community as well. The truth behind this verse is a direct addressing to first muslims and modern day true believers.
“O, community of Muhammad. Like we took the covenant from sons of Israel on Tora, we also took one on Qur’an from you as well. We took a covenant from you to follow the revelations sent by Allah. So look; if you break your promise, the consequences will be like the consequences for those who broke their covenants before.”
The order here “hold firmly”, it’s obviously not saying, “Take the book and press it on your chests, raise it to your lips and hold it with both hands.”. No, absolutely not. Every rational mind can understand the real meaning here. The thing that wants to be done here; is not the book or pages of Mushaf (cloth case of Qur’an), it’s judgements that needs to be hold firmly. The life within those judgements. If we manage to turn those life described in revelations to our lives, only then we would managed to hold firmly to revelations and fulfill our covenants.
{Additional Info: “We took a covenant from you..” This promise here was either a promise taken immemorial before, or a promise later within the content of prays, or it was a promise taken via proofs of mind on both their thoughts and actions. After that we raised the Tur (Big Mountain) of your brains; so that it would be possible to comprehend and accept the meaning of this. (İbn Arabi-Te’vilat)
We may see a similar example in the verse (Hashr/21). “Had We sent down this Qur’an on a mountain, verily, thou wouldst have seen it humble itself and cleave asunder for fear of Allah. Such are the similitudes which We propound to men, that they may reflect.” }
64 – Summe tevelleytum mim ba’di zalik *fe lev la fadlullahi aleykum ve rahmetuhu lekuntum minel hasirin
But after this you turned away once again and went back to your old ways. If it were not for the bounty and grace of Allah upon you, you would surely have been among the losers. (A.Hulusi)
But ye turned back thereafter: Had it not been for the Grace and Mercy of Allah to you, ye had surely been among the lost.
Summe tevelleytum mim ba’di zalik *fe lev la fadlullahi aleykum ve rahmetuhu lekuntum minel hasirin But after this you turned away. If not for Allah’s mercy and grace, if not Allah pitied you and forgave you; you would surely have been destroyed.
65 – Ve le kad alimtumullezina’tedev minkum fis sebti fe kulna lehum kunu kiradeten hasiin
Assuredly, you would know about those among you who disrespect the Sabbath and transgress the limits. We said to them, “Become apes (live as imitators who refuse to experience the results of their reality), despised.” (A.Hulusi)
And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them: “Be ye apes, despised and rejected.”
Ve le kad alimtumullezina’tedev minkum fis sebti And you knew well those amongst you who transgressed the limits of Sabath (Saturday Striction) fe kulna lehum kunu kiradeten hasiin We said to them. “Be worse than apes, despised.”
You may not find this meaning accurate, this be worse than apes translation. “Be despised apes” this is the literal version of this sentence. But apes cannot be categorised as high and low, honored and despised among each other. I believe that translating this sentence as “Be worse than apes.” has a more accurate meaning. Also Translator Alisi says, “This expression is not an order.” about this addressing. It’s a desertion, evacuation, emptying. Meaning Allah’s cutting the ways of help and turn back to them. Saying, “Do whatever you want”.
So, why this type of addressing was necessary? Because their minds became monkey. Those who say their transformation were physical; show you proofs from sources of sons of Israel. But there are no evidences given from Rasulallah about this subject. In fact the opposite. In a hadith from Rasullallah via Ahmed bin Hambel is like this:
“Allah never cursed a community before, pigs and apes existed long before that.” This hadith was also given in Muslim Hadith Book. So we should count the translation of Mucahit as true version about this hadith. Mucahit says; “Their ethics became monkeys.”
So how did they become monkeys? They were turning to a state of imitating their enemies. They were becoming the very enemies who tried to destroy them. Because they built a cow which was a goddess of their enemy, pharaoh. After that they paid their respects to it. That was what their minds despised monkey seed.
66 – Fe cealnaha nekalel li ma beyne yedeyha ve ma halfeha ve mev’izatel lil muttekiyn
This was so it can be an exemplary punishment for those who were present (who experienced this event) and their successors and a lesson for those who seek protection. (A.Hulusi)
So We made it an example to their own time and to their posterity, and a lesson to those who fear Allah.
Fe cealnaha nekalel li ma beyne yedeyha ve ma halfeha ve mev’izatel lil muttekiyn So we made it an example to communities of their own time and to societies of their successors. ve mev’izatel lil muttekiyn and a lesson, an advice, a recommendations to those who know their responsibilities, seek protections and fear Allah.
With this notion Allah gives us an advice and says; “O Community of Muhammad; if you also turn your minds into imitating your enemies; if you become the people of imitation rather than the people of correction…” Even Prophet Muhammad Rasulallah wasn’t ordered to imitate early celestial actions. As Gazali said; Imirna bitte etni la bitteshebbu (We were ordered to follow sunnet (Rasulallah’s way), not imitating some other beliefs.) So even if prophet hadn’t been ordered to imitate, how on earth can we become imitators, copiers of our enemies? There was no good or evil version of imitation. It is necessary to become a mind of correction and determine the good by this state of mind. But mimicing the evil was the worst kind of all. And Qur’an says about them; “Those whose ethics became apes.”
“Ve ahiru davana velil hamdulillahi rabbil alemiyn” (Jonah/10)
“Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds!” All products of our claims, causes and lives are for Allah and our last word to our Allah is “Hamd”. “Esselamu aleykum.”
