Tafseer Al-Baqarah 2: 120-123

From the Book, Introduction to the Tafseer of the Quran, by the Ameer of Hizb ut Tahrir, the eminent jurist and statesman, Sheikh Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah:

[وَلَنْ تَرْضَى عَنْكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلاَ النَّصَارَى حَتَّى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللَّهِ هُوَ الْهُدَى وَلَئِنْ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءَكَ مِنْ الْعِلْمِ مَا لَكَ مِنْ اللَّهِ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ وَلاَ نَصِيرٍ •الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمْ الْكِتَابَ يَتْلُونَهُ حَقَّ تِلاَوَتِهِ أُوْلَئِكَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ وَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِهِ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ الْخَاسِرُونَ • يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِي الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَنِّي فَضَّلْتُكُمْ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ •وَاتَّقُوا يَوْمًا لاَ تَجْزِي نَفْسٌ عَنْ نَفْسٍ شَيْئًا وَلاَ يُقْبَلُ مِنْهَا عَدْلٌ وَلاَ تَنفَعُهَا شَفَاعَةٌ وَلاَ هُمْ يُنصَرُونَ]

"The Jews will never be pleased with you, nor will the Christians, unless you follow their faith. Say: "Guidance of Allah is, indeed, the guidance." Were you to follow their desires despite the knowledge that has come to you, there shall be no friend for you against Allah, nor a helper. Those to whom We have given the Book and they recite it properly - they are the ones who believe in it. And those who disbelieve in it, they are the losers. O children of Isrā'īl (Israel), remember My blessing that I conferred upon you, and that I gave you excellence over the worlds. Guard yourselves against a day when no one shall stand for anyone for anything, nor shall ransom be accepted from anyone, nor shall intercession be of benefit to him, nor shall any support be given to such people." [al-Baqarah: 120-123]

Allah (swt) elucidates the following in these ayat:

1. The Jews and Christians will not be pleased with you until you follow their deen, and given that this will not happen since,

[وَمَن يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَن يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ وَهُوَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ]

"He who seeks other than Islam as a deen, it will not be accepted from him and in the hereafter he will be of the losers" [Aal-Imran: 85] and,

[إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِندَ اللَّـهِ الْإِسْلَامُ] 

"Indeed, the only deen with Allah is Islam" [Aal-Imran: 19]

therefore they must know that true guidance is that which the Messenger of Allah (saw) brought and not that which they falsely think about their present faiths being guidance. Their faiths are distorted and altered and having been distorted are faiths of kufr.

Allah then informs His Messenger (saw) by way of oath - the lam in la'in is a lam of oath - that if he follows their desires -in this is the indciation that their faiths and what they claim is guidance is in fact their own desires, that is, deviation from the truth - then there will be no friend of helper to prevent from him the punishment of Allah.

All this is to emphatically show that the Jews and Christians will not be pleased with the Messeneger of Allah (saw) because of the impossibility that he will follow their way.

2. Allah (swt) then mentions that those Jews and Christians who follow their books properly, without distortion, believe in the Messenger of Allah (saw) because he is mentioned in their books by description and that he who disbelieves in him from them will be from among the losers in this world and the hereafter.

((يَتْلُونَهُ حَقَّ تِلاَوَتِه))

"...they recite it properly"

that is, they follow it as it should be followed as in the saying of Allah,

((وَالْقَمَرِ إِذَا تَلَاهَا))

"the moon when it follows it" [al-Shams: 2],

that is the sun when the moon follows it. Likewise in the saying, "I contine to follow his traces", that is, tilawa here mean ittiba'.

3. Allah (swt) then ends the story of the Children of Israel in the same way He began it on count of the repitition of their sins

[يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِي]

"O children of Israel, remember My blessing", this ayah and what follows it,

[وَاتَّقُوا يَوْمًا لاَ تَجْزِي نَفْسٌ عَنْ نَفْسٍ شَيْئًا]

"Guard yourselves against a day when no one shall stand for anyone for anything..." we have previously mentioned its indications where the story of the Children of Israel began. We shall suffice with what we mentioned there.