Chapter 2: Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow), verses 87-90


Translation:

To Moses We gave the Scriptures and after him We sent other messengers. We gave Jesus, the son of Mary, clear signs and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. Will you then scorn each apostle whose message does not suit your fancies, charging some with imposture and slaying others? They say: ‘Our hearts are sealed.’ But God has cursed them for their unbelief. They have but little faith. And when a Book confirming their own has come to them from God, they deny it, while although they know it to be the truth and have long prayed for help against the unbelievers. But the curse of God is upon those without faith. Evil is that for which they have bartered away their souls: that they should deny God’s own revelation, grudging that He should reveal His bounty to whom he chooses from among His servants. They have incurred God’s most inexorable wrath. An ignominious punishment awaits the unbelievers.

Tafsir (Commentary):

The Torah was the Book of God, revealed to the Jews. Gradually, however, the Jews ceased to treat it as a source of divine guidance and came to regard it as a sacred relic of their national heritage, a symbol of ethnic superiority; it became more a guarantee of salvation than a guide as to how salvation can be earned. After Moses, several prophets arose among the Jewish people—Joshua, David, Zakaria, John the Baptist and finally Jesus, to name but a few—all of whom stressed to the Jews that it was not enough just to revere the Torah as a holy book, its teachings had to be actually practised; it is futile to believe in the sacredness of the holy scriptures if one does not implement their message in one’s everyday life. But the Jews, the very people who held the Torah in such high esteem, were unable to abide the Prophet’s exhortations.

The reason for such a reaction on their part was that they had allowed self-interest and worldly ambitions to rule their lives, while passing themselves off as bearers and upholders of the true faith. As long as the religion served to consolidate their worldly status, they welcomed it, but were loath to accept the message of truth—presented to them in all its purity—which they saw as a threat to the hegemony they had secured for themselves on the basis of religion. It was their egoism which came in the way. Instead of being the first to believe in it, they rejected the message as well as the messenger, subjecting God’s prophets to scorn and victimization. They called them impostors and even went to the extent of killing them.

The Jews of Arabia did just the same thing with the Prophet Muhammad. They had seen prophecies of the coming of a final prophet in their scriptures, and had eagerly anticipated his arrival. When he comes, they used to say, we will join with him in a grand alliance against the pagans and idolators. But these proved to be empty words on their part, a pretence aimed at consolidating their status as undisputed guardians of divine faith. When the Prophet came, the truth of their position was exposed. They were shown to be steeped in prejudice, reluctant to believe in a prophet who did not come from the Jewish race. They could not dispute the veritable signs that the Qur’an presented in support of his prophethood; all they could say was: “It all sounds very impressive, but our ancestral religion is good enough for us. Our hearts are sealed and we will not accept anything besides the faith we have inherited from our forefathers.”