Chapter 2: Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow), verses 97-101


Translation:

Say: ‘Whoever is an enemy of Gabriel?’ (Who has by God’s grace revealed to you the Qur’an as a guide and joyful tidings for the faithful, confirming previous scriptures) ‘Whoever is an enemy of God, His angels, or His apostles, or of Gabriel or Michael, will surely find that God is the enemy of unbelievers.’ We have sent down to you clear revelations: none will deny them except the evil-doers. Whenever they make a covenant, must some of them cast it aside? Most of them are unbelievers. And now that an apostle has come to them from God confirming their own Scriptures, some of those to whom the Scriptures were given cast off the Book of God behind their backs, as though they knew nothing.

Tafsir (Commentary):

Owing to their own rebelliousness the Jews were meted out severe punishments in ancient times. It was God’s way to warn them of these punishments, and such warnings came to them through the prophets, who were acting on the words of the Archangel Gabriel. The moral was that people had to follow God’s commandments; if they persisted in a sinful life, they would be exposing themselves to His wrath. But, instead of heeding these admonitions, the Jews came to regard Gabriel as their enemy, because it had always been he who gave prior warning through the prophets of their impending doom. Consequently, when the prophet Muhammad proclaimed that he was receiving his revelation through Gabriel, they said: “So, our old enemy Gabriel. That explains why the scriptures, the birthright of the Israelites, are being conveyed to a person belonging to another tribe.”  

Now angels, being the rarefied creatures that they are, do not hold grudges against ordinary mortals; they descend to earth only by divine command in order to carry out the tasks assigned to them by their Creator—in this case, the revelation of the Scriptures to the prophet whom God Himself had chosen. Given the clear proofs that the Arab Prophet had had the same revelation communicated to him as had been received by Abraham, Moses and Jesus, and that it tallied with the previous divine scriptures, there were no grounds for the Jews to reject the divine message. Their reacting in such a senseless manner was the result of their having lead insincere, unrestricted lives, which had become dominated by self-interest, empty convention and racial prejudice. Religion had been adhered to only on a superficial level, just to keep up the pretence that the Jews were, in fact, faithfully treading the path of God.

Now those who merely make an outward show of following their religion are inevitably loath to respond in right earnest to the proclamation of true, unadulterated religion. Having built an edifice of national pride on the basis of their own private version of their religion, they cannot entertain the message of pure humility that true religion conveys: they view it as a threat to their worldly honour and status. It is common for people to resort to the use of religious terminology, and to be very correct in the outward forms of ritual in order to give public proof of their faith. But their words and their actions, being hollow and meaningless, bear no relation whatsoever to true faith and piety.