QURAN AL FAJR: “.246 Hast thou not thought of the leaders of the Children of Israel after Moses? When they said to a prophet of theirs: Raise up for us a king that we may fight in the way of Allåh. He said: May it not be that you will not fight if fighting is ordained for you? They said: And what reason have we that we should not fight in Allah’s way and we have indeed been deprived of our homes and our children? But when fighting was ordained for them, they turned back, except a few of them. And Allåh is knower of the wrongdoers.247 And their prophet said to them: Surely Allåh has raised Saul to be a king over you. They said: How can he have kingdom over us while we have a greater right to kingdom than he, and he has not been granted abundance of wealth? He said: Surely Allåh has chosen him above you, and has increased him abundantly in knowledge and physique. And Allåh grants His kingdom to whom He pleases. And Allåh is Ample-giving, Knowing.248 And their prophet said to them: Surely the sign of his kingdom is that there shall come to you the heart a in which there is tranquillity from your Lord and the best of what the followers of Moses and the followers of Aaron have left, the angels bearing it.c Surely there is a sign in this for you if you are believers. THE QURAN ILLUSTRATED6 TH AUGUST 2014: “that we may fight in the way of Allåh”. The prophet alluded to is Samuel: “Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us ... that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles” (1 Samuel: 8:19, 20). In the history which follows, the Qur’ån does not show any important difference with the Bible narrative. “They said: And what reason have we that we should not fight in Allah’s way and we have indeed been deprived of our homes and our children”. (1 Samuel. 15:33) shows that the Amalekites had killed the Children of Israel, while (1 Samuel: 17:1) shows that they had taken lands which belonged to Judah.[Now see how history repeats itself that the descendants or the claimants to be followers of these prophets are doing the same thing with hapless Palestinians what the Amalikites did with the Children of Israel .Therefore ,from the sequence of the circumstances and its moral implications , it seems quite genuine that if the Palestinians fight to get their lands back from the Israeli usurpers] “Surely Allåh has raised Saul to be a king over you”. Saul is here called Tālūt, which is of the measure of Fa‘lūt from Tala meaning he or it was tall, and he is so called on account of the tallness of his stature: “And when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people” (1 Samuel: 10:23).The proper names used in the Holy Qur’ån, while differing slightly from the Hebrew originals, have a significance of their own. “And he has not been granted abundance of wealth”. The murmurings of the people on Saul’s selection as king, as recorded in the Holy Qur’ån, have something corresponding to them in the Bible: “And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin?” (1 Samuel: 9:21). And again: “But the children of Belial said, How this man shall save us? And they despised him, and brought him no presents” (1 Samuel: 10:27). “And has increased him abundantly in knowledge and physique”. Compare (1 Samuel: 10:24: “And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people?” “There shall come to you the heart”. The tābūt mentioned here has given rise to a number of stories, because of its twofold significance. It means a chest or a box, and it also signifies the bosom or the heart (Lanes Lexicon). Taking the first significance, the reference is said to be to the ark, to which, however, it is objected that the ark was restored to the Israelites long before the time of Saul. But we cannot be so certain of the Bible narrative as to reject as untrue everything differing from it. Some people prefer, however, the latter significance, and the use of the word in that sense is well known. Lanes Lexicon quotes the proverb, mā auda‘tu tābūt shai-an faqadtu-hū, i.e., “I have not deposited in my bosom anything of knowledge that I have lost”. Raghib Isfahani also says that tābūt denotes qalb or the heart, and he quotes ‘Umar as speaking of Abdullah Ibn Masud (RA) ,a famous companion of the Prophet(SAW) : “a vessel filled up with knowledge,” referring evidently to the heart. That the word is used in the Holy Qur’ån in this sense is clear from the description of it that follows. Tranquillity from the Lord is not a thing which is placed in boxes, but the heart is its real repository. On five other occasions the coming down of sakīnah, or tranquillity, is mentioned in the Holy Qur’ån, and every time it is the heart of the Prophet or the faithful that is the recipient of it. For instance in (48:4) it is said: “He it is Who sent down tranquillity into the hearts of the believers that they might add faith to their faith”. According to Lisan al Arab, sakīnah means also mercy; and he quotes a saying of the Prophet: “There came down upon them mercy (Ar. sakinah), the angels bearing it.”By the coming of “the heart in which there is tranquillity” is meant the change which came over Saul when he was made king: “And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart” (1 Samuel: 10:9). This exactly corresponds with the statement made in the Qur’ån. And further it is said: “And the Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied” (1 Samuel: 10:10). This is no doubt the best of what the true followers of Moses and Aaron left. “In which there is tranquillity from your Lord and the best”. The word Baqiyyah means both a residue and excellence or the best of a thing (Lanes Lexicon). You say baqiyyat al-qaum meaning the best of the people (Lanes Lexicon). Ulū baqiyyat-in in the Holy Qur’ån (11:116) means persons possessed of excellence. And baqiyyat-Allåh (11:86) signifies obedience, or the state of goodness that remains. Hence Baqiyyah in either sense signifies the blessings of the earlier days. And thus it became a proverb among the Israelites: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” (1 Sam. 10:12). “The angels bearing it”. The ark of 1 Samuel 4:4 was drawn by bullocks and not by angels, and since, according to the Holy Qur’ån, the bearers of the tābūt were angels, it is additional reason that by tābūt here is meant the heart. But see a saying of the Prophet quoted above, from which it is clear that “it” in the verse may refer not to tåbut but to sakinah and Baqiyyah, and the meaning would thus be that the tranquillity and inspiration were borne by the angels into the heart of Saul”.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 02:10:17 +0000
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