Surah Al-Maaida: Verse 12 - ۞ ولقد أخذ الله ميثاق... - English

Allah did aforetime take a covenant from the Children of Israel, and we appointed twelve captains among them. And Allah said: "I am with you: if ye (but) establish regular prayers, practise regular charity, believe in my messengers, honour and assist them, and loan to Allah a beautiful loan, verily I will wipe out from you your evils, and admit you to gardens with rivers flowing beneath; but if any of you, after this, resisteth faith, he hath truly wandered from the path or rectitude." (12)

Commentary

In the seventh verse of Surah al-Ma'idah which appeared earlier Allah Almighty has asked Muslims to remember the pledge taken from them to which they professed belief and obedience:

وَاذْكُرُ‌وا نِعْمَةَ اللَّـهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَمِيثَاقَهُ الَّذِي وَاثَقَكُم بِهِ إِذْ قُلْتُمْ سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ۖ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ

And remember Allah's favour upon you and His Covenant that He has taken from you when you said, "We have listened and obeyed." And fear Allah ... (5:7)

This pledge is the pledge of obedience to Allah and His Messenger and the pledge of practical adherence to the Shari` ah of Islam. This is technically known as the Kalimah or the statement of creed and which is:

لا إلہ إلا اللہ محمد رسول اللہ

(La ilaa il-lal-la-hu Muhammadur-Rasu-lul-lah:

"There is no god worthy of worship but Allah Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."

Every Muslim who says this Kalimah is bound by this pledge. In the verse which follows (5:8), some important articles of the pledge, that is, particular religious injunctions have been described. These enjoin equity and justice for friend and foe alike and teach justice and tolerance - not revenge - for enemies once overpowered. This pledge is, in itself, a great blessing of Allah, therefore, it has been made to begin with:

(And remember Allah's favour upon you ...).

By beginning the present verse (5:11) with the same sentence : اذْكُرُ‌وا نِعْمَةَ اللَّـهِ عَلَيْكُمْ (And remember Allah's favour upon you), the objective is to tell Muslims that as long as they remained faithful to their pledge, Al-mighty Allah blessed them with power and excellence in the present world and with high ranks for the Hereafter, shielding them all along against their enemies, in war and in peace.

This verse particularly mentions how enemies conspired to destroy Muslims and kill their Prophet on so many occasions, but Almighty Allah foiled all their plans and put them to disgrace - 'some people planned to lay their hands on you, and He kept their hands away from you.'

Speaking generally, there are innumerable events on the annals of the history of Islam when the plans made by disbelievers were seen rolling in dust by Divine grace. But, there are some special events as well which our learned commentators have pinpointed as the substantiation of this verse - for example, in the Musnad of ` Abd al-Razzaq, a report from Sayyidna Jabir ؓ عنہ says:

In a Jihad, the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his Companions رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہم stopped to rest at one stage. The noble Companions scattered out to rest at various spots. The Holy Prophet ﷺ stopped by a tree, all by himself. He hung his weapons on a branch of the tree. A villager from among the enemies pounced on this occasion, dashed in and took possession of the sword of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Then, taking it out from the sheath, he threatened him by saying: مَن یَّمنَعکَ مِنِّی (That is, 'now tell me who can save you from my hand?' ).

Undaunted, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: 'Allah (the Mighty, the Exalted) '. The villager repeated what he had said earlier, that is, 'now tell me who can save you from my hand?' Once again, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said with the same composure: 'Allah

After two or three exchanges in this manner, it was the awe of some unseen power which forced the challenger to put the sword back in its sheath. At that point, the Holy Prophet ﷺ called the Companions ؓ in and narrated what had transpired. The villager was still sitting by his side. He said nothing to him. (Ibn Kathir).

As part of an explanation of this verse, reports from some Companions ؓ say that there was an occasion when Ka'b ibn Ashraf, a Jew, had invited the Holy Prophet ﷺ to his house with the intention of killing him. Allah Almighty told him about this evil intention which foiled his conspiracy (Ibn Kathir). Also reported from Mujahid, ` Ikrimah and others is that the Holy Prophet ﷺ once went to Yahud ibn Nudayr to talk about a matter of concern. He asked him to sit under a wall, engaged him in a conversation while secretly he appointed ` Amr ibn Jahsh to scale the wall from behind and throw down a rock from the top of the wall over him. Allah Almighty let His Messenger, may he remain blessed and protected forever, know about their hostile intention and he immediately rose and moved away from there (Ibn Kathir).

There is no contradiction about these events. All of them can be taken to be substantiating the present verse where, after mentioning the unseen protection provided to the Holy Prophet ﷺ and to Muslims in general, it was said: وَاتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ وَعَلَى اللَّـهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ (And fear Allah. And in Allah the believers should place their trust).

First of all, what is being said here is that this blessing from Allah is not restricted to the Holy Prophet ﷺ rather, the real cause of this Divine support and protection is the quality of Taqwa (the fear of Allah) and Tawakkul (Trust in Him). Any nation, or individual who lives by these two virtues, in any time and in any place, will have the support and protection from Almighty Allah in the same manner. How well this was put in two lines by poet Iqbal:

فِضأے بَدَر پیدا کر فرشتے تیری نصرت کو

اُتَرسکتے ہیں گَردُوں سے قطار اندر قطار اب بھی

Create the atmosphere of Badr, for your help the angels could descend from the heavens, file after file, even now!

It is also possible to refer this sentence back to the set of previous verses where Muslims have been commanded to treat their worst enemies with courtesy and justice. If so, the sentence would indicate that the teaching of courtesy and tolerance in the case of such avowed enemies may amount to making a political error which may put them back on their feet. Therefore, in this sentence, Muslims were warned that this tolerance and courtesy will bring absolutely no harm to them only if they continue being the kind of people who fear Allah and trust in Him. In fact, instead of giving the enemies the courage and opportunity to renew their hostility against them, this behaviour of theirs will become the cause of bringing them closer to Islam into the Muslim area of influence. Besides, Taqwa or the fear of Allah is the only factor which can compel a person to abide by a pledge both physically and spiritually. Wherever this quality of Taqwa remains missing, pledges get readily broken as commonly witnessed these days. So, the earlier verse (5:8) which mentions a pledge, also directed to وَاتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ , (Fear Allah) towards the end. The same assertion was repeated here. Finally, this whole verse gives a clear hint that a Muslim victory with Divine support does not simply depend upon outward logistics and hardware, instead of that, the secret of their real power lies in Taqwa (the fear of Allah) and Tawakkul (trust in Him).

After the present verse has mentioned the pledge taken from Muslims and rewards it would bring when fulfilled, the second verse brings into focus another side of the issue. It clarifies that this taking of pledges is not something special to Muslims. Similar pledges were also taken earlier, from other communities as well. But, they failed to fulfill them. Therefore, various punishments were sent upon them. It is said in the verse that Almighty Allah had taken a pledge from the Bani Isra'il (The Children of Israel). The pledge was taken in a particular form. The people from Bani Isra'il were divided over twelve tribes. One chief from each such tribe was chosen to represent them. Every chief from each of the twelve tribes declared on his behalf and on be-half of his whole tribe that they would adhere to this Divine Covenant. Thus, these twelve chiefs took that responsibility on behalf of the en-tire people of Bani Isra'il which entailed that they would themselves adhere to this pledge as well as make their tribe do so.

Worth noting at this point is the cardinal principle of Islam in matters of honour, merit, office and recognition which, in the words of the Persian poet, Jami, is:

بندہ عشق شدی ترک نسب کن جامی

کہ دریں راہ فلاں بن فلاں چین نیست

You have become a servant in love, forget about your lineage, 0 Jami!

For, on this highway, so and so the son of so and so means nothing.

The Holy Prophet ﷺ had declared this in full clarity when delivering his historic Address on the occasion of his Last Hajj by saying that Islam does not recognize any dividing line between Arabs and non-Arabs, black or white, high caste or low caste. Whoever enters Islam becomes a brother to all Muslims. The distinctions of status, lineage, colour, country and language were the idols and icons of the Days of Ignorance - Islam has broken them all. But, it does not mean that one should not consider family background when harnessed to establish order and efficiency in administrative matters.

It is but natural that people of a tribe or family are more likely to trust a known member of their group as compared to others. Such a person is expected to understand and accommodate the feelings of his group much better because he knows their psychological reflexes in de-tail. When a pledge was taken from the twelve tribes of Bani Isra'il, it was based on this very strategy whereby one chief from each of the tribes was made responsible for its compliance.

The same consideration of administrative expediency and a peaceful resolution of possible conflict was made when the Bani Isra'il were highly agitated about a shortage of water. Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) prayed to Allah and as commanded by Him he struck his staff against a rock. Then, Almighty Allah made twelve streams flow from this rock for each of the twelve tribes. Allah Almighty has mentioned this great favour in the Holy Qur'an (surah al-A` raf, 7:160) in the following words: وَقَطَّعْنَاهُمُ اثْنَتَيْ عَشْرَ‌ةَ أَسْبَاطًا أُمَمًا (And We divided them into twelve tribes, as separate communities) and: فانبَجَسَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَ‌ةَ عَيْنًا (So, twelve springs gushed forth from it [ one for each tribe ]). As for this figure of twelve, it is rather unusual and lends to popular interpretations.

When the Ansar of Madinah came to invite the Holy Prophet ﷺ to their city, he took a pledge from them in the form of Bay'at. In this pledge also, the twelve chiefs of the tribes of Ansar, acting on behalf of their tribes, gave their hands in the blessed hands of the Holy Prophet ﷺ giving a solemn pledge of adherence popularly known as Bay'at (or Bay'ah in its pausal form).

Three of these chiefs were from the tribe of 'Aws and nine from the tribe of Khazraj (Ibn Kathir).

According to another narration from Sayyidna Jabir ibn Samurah appearing in al-Bukhari and Muslim, the Holy Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said that people and their needs shall stay covered until such time that twelve Khulafa' (ruling authorities) will be leading them. After having reported this narration, Ibn Kathir has commented that no word from this hadith proves that these twelve Imams or Khulafa' would rule one after the other, continuously. On the contrary, they could also appear spaced out from each other with breaks in between. Thus, there were four Khulafa' - Sayyidna Abu Bakr ؓ ، Sayy idna ` Umar al-Faruq ؓ ، Sayyidna ` Uthman al-Ghani ؓ and Sayyidna Ali al-Murtada ؓ - succeeding in that order. After the passage of sometime in between, Sayyidna ` Umar ibn ` Abdul-` Aziz was accepted by the consensus of the Ummah as the fifth righteous Khallfah' of Islam.

Now, returning back to the pledge taken from the Bani Isra'il, it will be recalled that Allah had made the twelve chiefs from their twelve tribes responsible for them and to them He said: اِنِّی مَعَکُم (I am with you). It means if they fulfilled the pledge themselves and re-solved to make others do the same, Divine support shall be with them. After that, the verse enumerates some articles of this pledge, then refers to the breach of trust committed by the Bani Isra'il and the subsequent punishment that descended upon them.

Thus, the sentence: ' اِنِّی مَعَکُم (I am with you) which appears before mentioning the articles of the pledge is there to tell two things. Firstly, if they stood by the pledge, Divine support will be with them which they would witness on every step they take. Secondly, they must realize that Allah is with them everywhere, all the time. He is watching over this pledge. Nothing that they intend, think, plan and do will remain outside the reach of His knowledge. He sees and hears what they conceal and He is also aware of their intentions and plans. They cannot escape His grip by breaking the pledge. Then come the articles of the pledge, the first being 'the establishment of Surah' followed by 'the paying of Zakah properly.' This tells us that the people of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) were also obligated with the duties of Salah and Zakah much before Islam. Other Qur'anic hints and authentic reports prove that these duties were not peculiar to Bani Isra'il alone. In fact, they have been enjoined by every prophet and every Shari’ ah.

The third article of the pledge is that they should believe in all prophets and messengers sent by Allah and help them achieve their objective of spreading true guidance. Since many messengers were to come to the Bani Isra'il, they were the ones particularly charged to do this. Though, the status of basic Iman or faith comes ahead of actual acts such as Salah and Zakah, yet, in this pledge, what was to be actually done was what was placed first. Prophets and messengers who were to come, would be coming later. Since the matter of believing in them and helping them in their mission was to happen later, that part was placed later in the text.

The fourth article of the pledge is: أَقْرَ‌ضْتُمُ اللَّـهَ قَرْ‌ضًا حَسَنًا (…and advance to Allah a goodly loan ...). "Qardan Hasana" (a goodly loan) means that it should be with absolute sincerity without any worldly expediency behind it. When spending in the way of Allah, one should spend what one holds dear - never trying to get away by giving out of the spare, the extra and the worthless. Spending in the way of Allah has been expressed as 'the giving of loan' because the return of a loan is taken as due legally, customarily and morally. So, one should spend in the way of Allah believing that it will be returned definitely.

Since the obligatory Zakah has already been mentioned at its place, the introduction of Qard Hasan here indicates that it is referring to Sadaqat and Khayrat (charities) other than Zakah. It also tells us that Muslims are not done with all financial responsibilities by simply paying off the Zakah due on them. There are other financial rights to be fulfilled, such as, making a Masjid where needed. When governments do not initiate or support religious education for children and adults, the responsibility of establishing and running institutions devoted to imparting religious education rests on none but Muslims themselves. The difference between the two is that Zakah is Fard Ayn (absolute obligation on every individual) while the kind of charities mentioned above are Fard Kifayah (an obligation of sufficiency as explained below).

Fard Kifayah means: should some individuals or a group from the Muslim community take care of such needs, other Muslims are released from the burden of responsibility; and, should no one come forward to do so, everyone becomes a sinner. How terrible are the cir-cumstances in which schools for religious education are operating in our time is known and braved by only those who have made it a mission of their lives to keep serving their Faith through these institutions of religious learning. As for paying Zakah, Muslims know that it is an obligation on them. It is strange that, despite this knowledge, there are very few who pay their Zakah - and there are still fewer who take the trouble of paying the full Zakah due on them after a full accounting. And even those who rarely pay out the full amount of Zakah due on them, think that they have done all they were supposed to do and that there is nothing more due on them. Go to them about some urgent need of a Masjid and they will come up with Zakah money. The same thing happens with religious institutions - they too hardly get any financial support other than Zakah. Although, these are duties, other than Zakah, which Muslims have to fulfill - this has been made clear in this verse of the Qur'an and in many other verses similar to it.

Towards the end of the verse, after enumerating the articles of the pledge, it was also clarified that the fulfillment of the pledge on their part will be amply rewarded, even their past sins will be forgiven and they will have the eternal comfort and security of Paradise. But, finally they were given to understand that should any of them elect to ig. nore such clear statements and go on to the limits of rejection and rebellion, they should know that they have left the straight path only to their self-appointed ruin.

(12)

Cursing the People of the Book for Breaking the Covenant

Allah commanded His believing servants to fullfil the promises and pledges that He took from them and which they gave His servant and Messenger, Muhammad, peace be upon him. Allah also commanded them to stand for the truth and give correct testimony. He also reminded them of the obvious and subtle favors of the truth and guidance that He granted them. Next, Allah informed them of the pledges and promises that He took from the People of the Book, who were before them, the Jews and Christians. When they broke these promises and covenants, Allah cursed them as a consequence and expelled them from His grace and mercy. He also sealed their hearts from receiving guidance and the religion of truth, beneficial knowledge and righteous actions. Allah said,

(Indeed Allah took the covenant from the Children of Israel and We appointed twelve leaders among them.) These twelve people were leaders who gave the pledge to Allah to listen and obey Allah, His Messenger and His Book on behalf of their tribes. Muhammad bin Ishaq and Ibn `Abbas said that this occurred when Musa went to fight the mighty enemy (in Palestine), and Allah commanded him to choose a leader from every tribe.

The Leaders of Ansar on the Night of `Aqabah

Likewise, when the Messenger of Allah took the pledge from the Ansar in the `Aqabah area, there were twelve leaders from the Ansar. There were three men from the tribe of Aws: Usayd bin Al-Hudayr, Sa`d bin Khaythamah and Rifa`ah bin `Abdul-Mundhir, or Abu Al-Haytham bin At-Tayhan. There were nine people from the tribe of Khazraj: Abu Umamah As`ad bin Zurarah, Sa`d bin Ar-Rabi`, `Abdullah bin Rawahah, Rafi` bin Malik bin Al-`Ajlan, Al-Bara' bin Ma`rur, `Ubadah bin As-Samit, Sa`d bin `Ubadah, `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Haram and Al-Mundhir bin `Umar bin Khunays. Ka`b bin Malik mentioned these men in his poem, as recorded by Ibn Ishaq.On that night, these men were the leaders or representatives of their tribes by the command of the Prophet . They gave the pledge and promise of allegiance and obedience to the Prophet on behalf of their people. Allah said,

(And Allah said, "I am with you...) with My protection, support and aid,

(if you perform the Salah and give the Zakah and believe in My Messengers;) concerning what they bring you of the revelation,

(honor and assist them...) and support them on the truth,

(and lend to Allah a good loan...) by spending in His cause, seeking to please Him.

(verily, I will remit your sins) and errors, I will erase them, cover them, and will not punish you for them,

(and admit you to Gardens under which rivers flow (in Paradise).) thus, protecting you from what you fear and granting you what you seek.

Breaking the Covenant

Allah said,

(But if any of you after this, disbelieved, he has indeed gone astray from the straight way.) Therefore, those who break this covenant, even though they pledged and vowed to keep it, yet, they broke it and denied it ever existed, they have avoided the clear path and deviated from the path of guidance to the path of misguidance. Allah then mentioned the punishment that befell those who broke His covenant and the pledge they gave Him,

(So because of their breach of their covenant, We cursed them...) Allah states, because of their breaking the promise that We took from them, We cursed them, deviated them away from the truth, and expelled them from guidance,

(and made their hearts grow hard...) and they do not heed any word of advice that they hear, because of the hardness of their hearts.

(They change the words from their (right) places...) Since their comprehension became corrupt, they behaved treacherously with Allah's Ayat, altering His Book from its apparent meanings which He sent down, and distorting its indications. They attributed to Allah what He did not say, and we seek refuge with Allah from such behavior.

(and have abandoned a good part of the Message that was sent to them.) by not implementing it and by ignoring it. Allah said next,

(And you will not cease to discover deceit in them,) such as their plots and treachery against you, O Muhammad, and your Companions. Mujahid said that this Ayah refers to their plot to kill the Messenger of Allah .

(But forgive them, and overlook (their misdeeds).) This, indeed, is the ultimate victory and triumph. Some of the Salaf said, "You would never treat those who disobey Allah with you better than obeying Allah with them." This way, their hearts will gather around the truth and Allah might lead them to the right guidance. This is why Allah said,

(Verily, Allah loves the doers of good.) Therefore, forgive those who err against you. Qatadah said that this Ayah was abrogated with Allah's statement,

(Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day).

The Christians Also Broke their Covenant with Allah and the Repercussion of this Behavior

Allah said,

(And from those who call themselves Christians, We took their covenant,) Meaning: `From those who call themselves Christians and followers of `Isa, son of Maryam, while in fact they are not as they claim. We took from them the covenant and pledges that they would follow the Prophet , aid him, honor him and follow his footsteps.' And that they would believe in every Prophet whom Allah sends to the people of the earth. They imitated the Jews and broke the promises and the pledges. This is why Allah said,

(but they have abandoned a good part of the Message that was sent to them. So We planted amongst them enmity and hatred till the Day of Resurrection;) Meaning: `We planted enmity and hatred between them, and they will remain like this until the Day of Resurrection.' Indeed, the numerous Christian sects have always been enemies and adversaries of each other, accusing each other of heresy and cursing each other. Each sect among them excommunicates the other sects and does not allow them entrance to their places of worship. The Monarchist sect accuses the Jacobite sect of heresy, and such is the case with the Nestorians and the Arians. Each sect among them will continue to accuse the other of disbelief and heresy in this life and on the Day when the Witnesses will come forth. Allah then said,

(and Allah will inform them of what they used to do.) warning and threatening the Christians because of their lies against Allah and His Messenger and their false claims about Allah, hallowed be He above what they say about Him. The Christians attribute a companion and a son to Allah, while He is the One and Only, the All-Sufficient, Who neither begets nor was He begotten, and there is none like unto Him.

(12)