Appearance
Verses 130–134
وَمَنْ يَرْغَبُ عَنْ مِلَّةِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِلَّا مَنْ سَفِهَ نَفْسَهُ ۚ وَلَقَدِ اصْطَفَيْنَاهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَإِنَّهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ لَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ ١٣٠ إِذْ قَالَ لَهُ رَبُّهُ أَسْلِمْ ۖ قَالَ أَسْلَمْتُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ١٣١ وَوَصَّىٰ بِهَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ بَنِيهِ وَيَعْقُوبُ يَا بَنِيَّ إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَىٰ لَكُمُ الدِّينَ فَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ ١٣٢ أَمْ كُنْتُمْ شُهَدَاءَ إِذْ حَضَرَ يَعْقُوبَ الْمَوْتُ إِذْ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ بَعْدِي قَالُوا نَعْبُدُ إِلَٰهَكَ وَإِلَٰهَ آبَائِكَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ إِلَٰهًا وَاحِدًا وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ ١٣٣
- And who turns away from the religion of Abraham but he who makes himself a fool; and most certainly We chose him in this world, and in the hereafter, he is most surely among the good ones.
- When his Lord said to him, Submit [yourself] he said: I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds.
- And the same did Abraham enjoin on his sons and [so did] Jacob: O my sons! surely Allah has chosen for you [this] faith, therefore die not unless you are Muslims.
- Or, were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, when he said to his sons: What will you worship after me? They said: We will worship your Allah and the Allah of your fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac, one Allah only, and to Him do we submit.
- This is a people that have passed away; they shall have what they earned and you shall have what you earn, and you shall not be called upon to answer for what they did.
Commentary
وَمَنْ يَرْغَبُ عَنْ مِلَّةِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِلَّا مَنْ سَفِهَ نَفْسَهُ ۚ وَلَقَدِ اصْطَفَيْنَاهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَإِنَّهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ لَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ ١٣٠
(2:130) And who turns away from the religion of Abraham but he who makes himself a fool; and most certainly We chose him in this world, and in the hereafter, he is most surely among the good ones.
al-Raghbah (followed by the preposition ʿan (away from; off) means “to turn away,” “to dislike”; when followed by fī (in), it denotes “to incline towards,” “to desire.” The verb, safiha (made a fool; became a fool) is used both as transitive and intransitive. Some exegetes have taken this word here as a transitive verb—according to them, the word nafsahu (himself; his self) is its object; others have taken the verb in the intransitive sense and in that case nafsahu will be al-tamyīz (a specification), not an object. In any case, the meaning will remain the same: Whoever turns away from the religion of Abraham is a fool; he does not recognize what is beneficial to him from that which is harmful. From this verse we may infer what we have been told in the tradition: “Surely wisdom is that by which the Beneficent (God) is worshipped.”
… and most certainly We chose him in this world: al Iṣṭifāʾ means to choose, to separate best parts of a thing from other parts (if they were mixed together). Looking at the positions of al-wilāyah (love of God), this choosing, this selection fits the sincerity of servitude. A person so chosen behaves in all his affairs as a sincere slave and servant, totally surrendering himself to his Lord. In other words, religion is embodied in all his affairs. After all, what is religion if not total servitude to God in all matters whether of this world or of the hereafter, accepting gladly whatever the Lord decides for His servant in any given situation, as He says: Surely the religion with Allah is Islām (). Clearly it shows that the position of “selection” is not different from that of islām,” that is, surrender. As a further proof, look at the next verse:
إِذْ قَالَ لَهُ رَبُّهُ أَسْلِمْ ۖ قَالَ أَسْلَمْتُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ١٣١
(2:131) When his Lord said to him, Submit [yourself] he said: I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds.
Obviously, the adverb “when” is related to the preceding verb “We chose him.” It means that Abraham was chosen when his Lord said to him to submit and he responded by submitting himself to God, the Lord of the worlds. In other words, the verse 131 (When his Lord said to him, Submit, he said: I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds,) is like an explanation of the words, most surely We chose him.
In these verses pronouns have been changed from the first person to the third, and again from the second to the third. After saying, “We chose him,” it would have been more usual to say: “When We said to him”; but God says, When his Lord said to him, Submit [yourself]; then in reply, Abraham should have said: “I submit myself to Thee”; instead he said: I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds.” The reason is a follows:
When his Lord said to him: It points to the fact that the talk was a secret between Abraham and his Lord, at a level where there was no one else to listen to that confidential conversation. Had God said, “When We said to him,” it would have implied that the hearers of this verse were present at that sublime station and could be addressed to by God—after all, the audience has a direct relationship with the speaker. Therefore, God referred to Himself in the third person, cutting the connection between Himself and the hearers of the verse, showing that at the level where He spoke with Abraham, no one else was present; the conversation between God and Abraham was a confidential matter veiled in secrecy. In short, it was a talk between two close friends which others were excluded from.
I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds: As mentioned above, the preceding phrase shows that God bestowed His grace exclusively on Abraham and enhanced his rank by this friendly confidential conversation. But Abraham knew how to speak in Divine presence; he was a servant of God; he should not forget the dictates of humility; it was a sign of his excellence, of his humbleness, that he did not start talking with God in a friendly way, did not consider himself as worthy of that exclusive proximity, of that sublime friendship. He continued to see in himself a humble and powerless servant who is sustained by his Master’s grace. That is why he submitted to the Lord to Whom all the worlds surrender, and said: I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds.
Discourse
The discussion “The Various Stages of al-Islām and al-Īmān” appears here in the printed volume. Read it in the Al-Mizan App.
وَوَصَّىٰ بِهَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ بَنِيهِ وَيَعْقُوبُ يَا بَنِيَّ إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَىٰ لَكُمُ الدِّينَ فَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ ١٣٢
(2:132) And the same did Abraham enjoin on his sons and [so did] Jacob: O my sons! surely Allah has chosen for you [this] faith, therefore die not unless you are Muslims.
That is, the same religion.
… therefore die not unless you are Muslims: Death is something beyond one’s control; and al-taklīf (commandments of the shariah) covers only those things which are under one’s control. Then why did Abraham and Jacob (peace be on them!) tell their progeny not to die unless they were Muslims? The fact is that this admonition concerned a matter which was fully under their power. The real meaning is like this:
Beware lest the death comes to you and you are not Muslims; always remain Muslims; keep on Islam, so that whenever death comes, you are Muslims.
The verse gives a hint that the religion means Islam, as God says: Surely the religion with Allah is Islām ().
أَمْ كُنْتُمْ شُهَدَاءَ إِذْ حَضَرَ يَعْقُوبَ الْمَوْتُ إِذْ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ بَعْدِي قَالُوا نَعْبُدُ إِلَٰهَكَ وَإِلَٰهَ آبَائِكَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ إِلَٰهًا وَاحِدًا وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ ١٣٣
(2:133) Or, were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, when he said to his sons: What will you worship after me? They said: We will worship your Allah and the Allah of your fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac, one Allah only, and to Him do we submit.
The verse uses the word “father” for the grandfather, the uncle and the father—and it has been used without any reason of al-taghlib that is, all groups are equal in number; there were not more “fathers” than the grandfather and the uncle to justify the use of this word for the whole group. It proves that the word “father” may correctly be used for uncle, as we shall show, God willing, that Abraham addressed his uncle Āzar, as “father.”
… one Allah only: This sums up the preceding detailed description, your Allah and the Allah of your fathers …; it serves to remove any possible misunderstanding that his God was other than the God of his fathers—as the idol-worshippers thought that there were many gods. ‘
… and to Him do we submit: It refers to the subject of their talk, that is, worship. They made it clear that their worship of God would be totally in accordance with the dictates of Islam. The reply shows that the religion of Abraham was Islam. Accordingly, the religion which was inherited by his offspring, for example, Isaac, Jacob and Ishmael, and which continued in the Children of Israel and Ishmael, was Islam, and nothing else. It was this religion which Abraham brought from his Lord; and nobody had any right to turn away from it or to call to any other religion.
Examining Narrations
- Samāʿah narrates from Imam al-Ṣādiq that he said: “The position of īmān (faith) vis-à-vis islām is like that of the Sacred Kaʿbah vis-à-vis the Sanctuary; sometimes one may be in the Sanctuary without being in the Kaʿbah, but he cannot be in the Kaʿbah without being in the Sanctuary.” (al-Kāfī)
- Also he [Samāʿah] narrates from the same Imam that he said: “islām is to bear witness that there is no god except God, and to accept the truth of the Messenger of God; it is by this that the bloods are spared (that is, lives are protected) and marriages and inheritance are validated; and the multitude of people are on its apparent (meaning); and the īmān (that is, faith and belief) is the guidance, and (it is) that characteristic of islām which is firmly placed in the hearts.” (ibid.)
Author’s comment: There are other traditions of the same meaning; and they explain the above-mentioned first stage of the islām and īmān.
- al-Barqi has narrated from ʿAlī that he said: “islām is submission and submission is conviction.” (ibid.)
- Kahil said that Imam al-Ṣādiq said: “If a people worshipped God—the One, there is no partner to Him—and established prayer, and paid the zakāt and did the ḥajj of the House, and kept the fast of the month of Ramadan, and then said about something done by God or done by the Messenger of God, ‘Why did he not do it in another way?’, or (even if) they felt (like) it in their hearts, they would become polytheists because of it …” (ibid.)
Author’s comment: The foregoing two traditions refer to the third stages of the islām and īmān.
- al-Daylami narrates in his al-Irshād—and he gives two sanads for this hadith which is one of the traditions of Ascension—that God said: “O Ahmad! Do you know which way of living is happier and which life more durable?” (The Messenger of God) said: “No, O God!” (He) said: “As for the happy way of living, it is that in which the (living) person is not tired of remembering Me, and does not forget My bounties, and does not ignore My rights (on him); he seeks My pleasure day and night. And as for the everlasting life, it is (realized) when (the person) works for his (spiritual) benefit until the world looses its significance for him, and looks small in his eyes; and the hereafter becomes great for him; and he gives preference to My pleasure over his own desire, and seeks My pleasures, and thinks the right of My bounty (as) great (on him); and keeps in mind what I have done for him (that is, for his benefit); and watches Me day and night whenever he is tempted to commit any wrong or sin; and keeps his heart clean from all that I dislike; and hates Satan and his whisperings, and does not let Satan establish a hold over, or a passage to, his heart. When he acts (like) this, then I put (My) love into his heart until I make his heart, as well as his leisure and engagement, and his thought and speech, a part of (My) favors which I have bestowed on those of My creatures who love Me; and I open his heart’s eye and ear, so that he hears with his heart, and looks with his heart to My Majesty and Greatness; and I make the world straitened for him; and make him hate it with all its pleasures; and I caution him of the world and all that it contains, as a shepherd protects his sheep from dangerous pasture lands. When it happens, then he flees from people, and transfers from the house of termination to the abode of eternity, and from the house of Satan to the seat of the Beneficent (God), O Aḥmad! and I adorn him with dignity and majesty. So, this is the good way of living and the eternal life; and it is the station of those who are pleased (with Me). So, whoever acts for My pleasure, I give him three characteristics: I teach him gratitude which is not polluted by ignorance, and remembrance that is not adulterated with forgetfulness, and love—so that he does not prefer the love of creatures to My love. Then when he loves Me, I love him, and I open the eye of his heart to My Majesty, and do not keep My (very) special creatures hidden from him. And I converse with him secretly in the dark of night and the light of day, until he ceases talking with the creatures and sitting with them; and I make him hear My talk and the speech of My angels; and I make My secret known to him—which I have kept hidden from (all) My creation. And I dress him in modesty, until all the creation is awed of him. And he walks on the earth (and all his sins are) forgiven. And I make his heart hearing and seeing; and do not hide from him anything of the Garden or the Fire; and I make known to him what terror and affliction are going to happen to the people on the Day of Resurrection, and the things I will question the rich and the poor, as well as the learned and the ignorant, about. And I will make him sleep (in peace) in his grave, and I will send Munkar and Nakīr to him for questioning him; and he will not see the sorrow of death, nor the fright of the prelude (of the next world). Then I will erect his weighing scale for him, and will unroll his book (of deeds), then I will put his book in his right hand, and he shall read it unfolded; then I will not keep any interpreter between Me and him. So these are the attributes of the lovers. O Ahmad! make your concern one concern, and make your tongue one tongue, and make your body (that is, your person) alive that is never oblivious (of Me). Whoever is oblivious of Me, I do not care in which valley he perishes.” (Biḥār al-anwār)
- al-Majlisī quotes the following tradition from al-Kāfī, Maʿāni al-akhbār and al-Nawādir of al-Rāwandi, with various chains of narrators, from Imam al-Ṣādiq and al-Kāẓim—and the text given here is from al-Kāfī—that the Imam said: “The Messenger of God met Ḥārithah b. Mālik b. al-Nuʿmān al-Anṣārī, and said to him: ‘How are you? O Ḥārithah b. Mālik al-Nuʿmānī!’ He said: ‘A believer in reality, O Messenger of God!’ The Messenger of God then said to him: ‘There is a reality for everything; so what is the reality of your word?’ He said: ‘O Messenger of God! I turned myself away from the world, so I kept my night awake (in worship) and my days thirsty (in fast); and (it is) as though I am looking at the throne of my Lord which has been set up for (taking) the (people’s) account; and as though I see the people of the Garden visiting one another in the Garden, and as if I hear the howling of the people of the Fire in the Fire.’ Thereupon, the Messenger of God said: ‘A servant that God has enlightened his heart. You have seen, so be firm.’ ” (ibid.)
Author’s comment: The two traditions describe the fourth stage of the islām and īmān mentioned above. There are many traditions explaining particulars of these two; and, God willing, we shall quote some of them in various places of this book; and they are supported by the Qur’anic verses.
Also it should be kept in mind that for each stage of the islām and īmān, there is an opposite stage of al-kufr (disbelief) and al-shirk (polytheism). And it is known that the higher and subtler the meaning of the islām and īmān, the more difficult it is to protect oneself from its opposite kufr or shirk.
Obviously, a lower stage of the islām and īmān does not exclude the possibility of a subtler kufr or shirk.
These two principles should be kept in mind. It follows that the verses of the Qur’an have some esoteric meanings which are applied to the situations which its exoteric meanings cannot be applied to. Please keep this hint in mind until we explain to you its details.
- al-Qummi writes about the words of God, and with Us is more, that the Imam said: “Looking towards the mercy of God.” (al-Tafsīr)
- The Prophet said: “God says: ‘I have prepared for My good servants that which no eye has ever seen, nor any ear ever heard, nor has it ever passed from the heart of any man.’ ” (Majmaʿ al-bayān)
Author’s comment: The meaning of the two traditions may easily be understood from what we have written about the meaning of “good ones”; and God is the Guide.
- Imam al-Bāqir said about the words of God, Or, were you witnesses when death approached Jacob …: It is applied to al-Qāʾim (the one who stands—that is, to establish the way of God). (al ʿAyyāshī)
Author’s comment: The author of al-Ṣāfī writes: “Perhaps the Imam meant that it was about the Qāʾim from the progeny of Muḥammad, because every Qāʾim of them asks his children the same question at the time of his death, and they reply him as the children of Jacob had replied.”
The original translation said: al-Qāʾim, the one who stands—that is, with sword to establish the way of God. We deleted the clause “with sword” to avoid misconception because it may imply that Islam is spread with the sword. (Ed.) ↩︎