Surah Al-Bayyinah, Revealed in al-Madinah, Contains 8 Ayah
Bism-Allah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim
In the Name of Allah, the Giver of Mercy, the Most Merciful
98:1 Those who disbelieve among the People of the Scripture and the polytheists would not leave off their way until the clear proof should come to them.
98:2 A Messenger from Allah, reciting Scriptures, purified,
98:3 wherein are true Books.
98:4 And the People of Scripture differed not except after the clear proof came to them.
98:5 And they were not commanded but to worship Allah, sincerely devoting the religion to Him, upright, and perform the prayer and give the zakat, and that is the religion of the uprightness.
98:6 Verily those who disbelieve among the People of the Scripture and the polytheists will be in the Fire of Hell, abiding therein; those are the worst of creatures.
98:7 Verily those who believe and perform righteous deeds, those are the best of creatures.
98: 8 Their recompense with their Lord will be gardens of perpetual residence beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein. Allah will be pleased with them and they will be pleased with Him; that is for him who fears his Lord.
Tafsir
98:1 Those who disbelieve among the People of the Scripture and the polytheists would not leave off their way until the clear proof should come to them.
Those who disbelieve among the People of the Scripture, namely, the Jews and Christians, and the polytheists would not leave off their disbelief in the Oneness of Allah and following the path of misguidance until clear should come to them.
The clear evidence is sending Messenger Muhammad and revealing the Quran. When clear proof came to them, some of them believed in it, and some disbelieved.
The People of Scripture used to say that they would not leave off their creed until the messenger, who was mentioned in the Gospel, came. They were determined to follow the creed that he would bring and be united when the truth came.
The People of the Scripture are mentioned first since their attitude of disbelieving in the Oneness of Allah is more hideous because they read in their books that Allah would send Muhammad as His Messenger, and they knew his attributes and description. Thus, they were able to ascertain his truthfulness. However, when Allah sent Messenger [peace be upon him], they disbelieved in him and refused to follow him out of stubbornness and evil intention.
98:2 A Messenger from Allah, reciting Scriptures, purified,
98:3 wherein are true Books.
The proof that came to the People of Scripture and the polytheists was sending Messenger Muhammad [peace be upon him] to invite them to believe in the Oneness of Allah.
The disbelievers among the People of Scripture and the polytheists would not leave off their invalid creed until a noble messenger from Allah came to them. Allah’s messenger would recite to them purified Scriptures wherein true Books. These Scriptures have the truth and guide to the right path.
In other words, the disbelievers among the People of Scripture and the polytheists would not leave off their invalid creed until Messenger Muhammad came to them. He would recite to them the Quran wherein the truth and guidance that lead to the right path.
98:4 And the People of Scripture differed not except after the clear proof came to them.
The people of Scripture did not differ about the truthfulness of Messenger Muhammad except after the clear proof came to them. Allah sent Messenger Muhammad and revealed to him the Quran, which confirmed his truthfulness.
The People of Scripture differed about his prophethood out of stubbornness and envy. Some of them believed in the truthfulness of the message that Messenger Muhammad brought from Allah and some denied it.
The ayah is a consolation to Messenger Muhammad for the negative attitude of the People of the Scripture towards his prophethood and Islam. Their denial of the truth was not because of ignorance; rather, it was out of envy and stubbornness.
The People of Scripture are specifically mentioned to make clear that their unfavorable attitude was more hideous than that of the polytheists because they knew the truth and denied it.
98:5 And they were not commanded but to worship Allah, sincerely devoting the religion to Him, upright, and perform the prayer and give the zakat, and that is the religion of the uprightness.
The People of Scripture differed about the truthfulness of Messenger Muhammad though they were commanded in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran to worship Allah alone, sincerely devoting their worship to Him, uprightly adhere to Islam, renounce all other creeds, perform the prayer, and give the zakat. What they were commanded to do necessitates that they should be united, not differ. The message that Messenger Muhammad brought was the same message that the former messengers of Allah brought. Their message was to invite people to worship Allah alone and obey His commands, which is the religion of uprightness.
The ayah is a consolation to Messenger Muhammad. It is as it says to him, ‘Do not be sad for their unfavorable attitude and disagreement over the Islamic message that Allah revealed to you. They differed not because they did not do have proof; rather, they differed out of stubbornness and envy. Similarly, their ancestors differed about the Sabbath and worshipping the calf after knowing the truth and establishing the proof against them.’
98:6 Verily those who disbelieve among the People of the Scripture and the polytheists will be in the Fire of Hell, abiding therein; those are the worst of creatures.
The ayah mentions the evil end of the disbelievers in the Hereafter.
Verily, those who disbelieve among the Jews, the Christians, and the polytheists will be in Hell in the Hereafter, and they will abide therein suffering its severe and lasting punishment.
Those disbelievers are the worst of creatures because they insist on disbelief in the Oneness of Allah, which is the greatest sin that man commits and deserves the most painful punishment.
98:7 Verily those who believe and perform righteous deeds, those are the best of creatures.
98: 8 Their recompense with their Lord will be gardens of perpetual residence beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein. Allah will be pleased with them and they will be pleased with Him; that is for him who fears his Lord.
After mentioning the evil end of the disbelievers in the Hereafter, the ayah mentions the happy end of the believers, which agrees with the unique characteristic of the Quran style. It mentions something, and then it mentions its opposite to drive the intended meaning home and clearly shows the difference between the two things.
Verily, those who believe in the Oneness of Allah, obey His commands, perform righteous deeds for Allah’s sake, and avoid His prohibitions, are the best creatures.
In the Hereafter, their recompense with their Lord, Allah, will be gardens of perpetual residence beneath which rivers flow. They will abide therein enjoying lasting happiness.
Allah will be pleased with them and accept their righteous deeds, and they will be pleased with Allah and happy with the immense reward that He will give them for their belief in His Oneness and obeying His commands. Indeed, such a great reward will be for him who fears Allah by obeying His commands and avoiding His prohibitions.
Learned Lessons from Surah al-Bayyinah
• Islam has a great favor on humanity. Without the advent of Islam, humanity cannot know the true faith and the right creed.
• The disbelievers among the People of the Scripture, namely, the Jews and the Christians, and the polytheists knew the true faith and the right path after the coming of the clear proof, namely, Messenger Muhammad, to whom Allah revealed the Quran, containing all that man needs to achieve happiness in the life of this world and the Hereafter.
• Some of the People of the Scripture are disbelievers, and some are believers in the message that Messenger Muhammad [peace be upon him] brought. As for the polytheists, they are all disbelievers.
• The People of the Scripture are specifically criticized for differing about the truthfulness of Messenger Muhammad because they know the truth. They know that Allah would send Muhammad as His Messenger; however, when he came, some of them disbelieved his message.
• Before Allah revealed His revelation to Messenger Muhammad, the Jews, and the Christians were united about his coming; however, when Allah’s revelation came to him, some of them denied his prophethood out of stubbornness and envy.
• The Jews and the Christians are commanded to worship Allah alone in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran. They are also commanded to perform the prayer and give the Zakat.
• Acts of worship must be sincere and done only for the sake of Allah.
• The disbelievers deserve to enter Hell, abide therein, and they are described as the worst creatures because they disbelieve in the Oneness of Allah.
• Those who believe in the Oneness of Allah and perform righteous deeds deserve to be called the best creatures, enter Paradise wherein they will enjoy lasting happiness, attain Allah’s pleasure, and be pleased with the reward that Allah has prepared for them.
• Those who fear Allah by worshipping Him alone, obeying His commands, and avoiding His prohibitions will attain Allah’s pleasure and His great reward.
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