Surah an-Nisa' (Women ) 4 : 153

Overview (Verses 153 - 155)

The Hard-Hearted Nature of the Israelites
 
Having established this basic principle of Islamic faith with regard to the truth of faith and unfaith, God’s messengers and their messages, the sūrah now refers to the attitudes adopted by the Jews on a number of occasions and how they openly spoke evil. It denounces their attitude towards the Prophet and his message, particularly their pigheaded demands asking him to provide them with signs and evidence proving his message. It compares this attitude to the one they adopted towards their own messenger, Moses (peace be upon him), and to their attitude towards Jesus (peace be upon him) and his mother, Mary. Their stance reveals that the Jews have always had the same nature over many generations. The Qur’ān speaks of the Jewish generation which opposed the Prophet and that which opposed Jesus and the one which opposed Moses in the past as one group, in this way emphasising the fact that they all shared the same nature.
 
The people of earlier revelations ask you to have a book sent down to them from heaven. They asked Moses for something even greater than that, when they said: `Make us see God with our own eyes.” The thunderbolt smote them for this their wrongdoing. After that, they took to worshipping the calf even after clear evidence of the truth had come to them. Yet We pardoned them that, and We gave Moses clear authority. We raised Mount Sinai high above them in witness of their solemn pledge. And We said to them: `Enter the gate, prostrating yourselves”; and We also told them: `Do not break the Sabbath-law”; and We received from them a most solemn pledge. (Verses 153-154)
 
The Jews living in the Arabian Peninsula took an openly hostile and rigid attitude towards Islam and the Prophet. They continuously schemed against Islam to try to bring about its downfall. Their attitude and scheming have been described in detail in the Qur’ān. We have also discussed certain aspects of it in Volumes I and II as also earlier in this volume. Now we have an explanation of other aspects of this attitude.
 
Adopting an overbearing manner, they demanded of the Prophet that he should bring them a written book sent down from heaven which they could touch with their own hands: “The people of earlier revelations ask you to have a book sent down to them from heaven.” (Verse 153)
 
God gives the answer on behalf of His Messenger, relating to him and to the Muslim community a chapter of Jewish history with their own Prophet, leader, and saviour, Moses, in whom they claimed to believe while denying the messages of Jesus and Muĥammad (peace be upon them all). This arrogance, then is not new. It was not characteristic only of that generation of Jews. Ever since the time of Moses, they have demonstrated their insensitivity, which has restricted their understanding to the material world only, and their stubbornness which has shown that they do not yield to the truth except under pressure. They have always been treacherous, breaking their covenants not only with people but also with their Lord. They are rude and impudent: they do not verify what is being said. Nor do they refrain from using evil words. They are always greedy, trying to lay their hands on other people’s property though they may have no rightful claim to it. They turn their backs on God and the reward He has in store for believers.
 
What we have here, then, is a campaign revealing the true nature of the Jews and their attitudes. The fact that it tackles in such a powerful way so many different aspects shows us just what the situation in Madinah at the time of the Prophet really was like. The same sort of wicked scheming is still going on against Islam and the Muslims to this day.
 
“The people of earlier revelations ask you to have a book sent down to them from heaven.” You need not worry about this rigidity in which there is nothing new: “They asked Moses for something even greater than that, when they said: Make us see God with our own eyes.’”
 
The clear evidence and clear signs God has given them through Moses, their Prophet, were not enough to touch their hearts and open their minds or to lead them to belief and submission. They wanted to see God directly, with their own eyes. This was a demand characterised by rudeness which could not have come from a person who knows or feels what faith means. Therefore, “the thunderbolt smote them for their wrongdoing”. (Verse 153) God, however, pardoned them, this in answer to the prayers of Moses who appealed to God to forgive them. This is explained in another sūrah: “When violent trembling seized them, he (Moses) prayed: My Lord, had You so willed, You would have destroyed them before this, and me with them. Will You destroy us for what the weak-minded among us have done? All this is but a trial from You, whereby You allow to go astray whom You will and guide aright whom You will. You are Our Master: grant us then, forgiveness and have mercy on us. You are the best of all forgivers.” (7: 155)
 
“After that, they took to worshipping the calf even after clear evidence of the truth had come to them.” The reference here is to the golden calf, made for them by the Sāmirī using the jewellery taken by trickery from Egyptian women as they left Egypt. They immediately took to worshipping that calf when Moses was called away from them, staying at a place appointed to him by His Lord where He gave him the tablets containing guidance for his people.
 
“Yet We pardoned them that.” But the Jews are always the same. They succumb by force only. “And We gave Moses clear authority.” (Verse 153) That authority is most probably the laws contained in the tablets. A law given by God provides direct authority from Him. God does not sanction any law other than that. It has no real effect on people’s hearts. Consequently, people do not show proper respect to laws and regulations that they themselves issue or promulgate. These are only heeded when people fear being caught when they break them. God’s laws, on the other hand, enjoy genuine respect and people observe them willingly.
 
We raised Mount Sinai high above them in witness of their solemn pledge. And We said to them: `Enter the gate, prostrating yourselves”; and We also told them: “Do not break the Sabbath-law”; and We received Pam them a most solemn pledge. (Verse 154)
 
Because their hearts had not been truly influenced by faith, the Jews refused to submit to what was written on the tablets. Hence, they were brought into submission by the sort of physical force suited to their insensitive nature. They beheld the mountain raised above their heads, threatening to fall down any moment and destroy them all unless they surrendered and pledged to observe the covenant God made with them and to carry out their duties as explained on these tablets. Only then, when they were forced into submission did they give their pledges to fulfil the binding, most emphatic covenant. The covenant is described here in terms fitting the horrific image of a mountain raised over their heads and within their hardened hearts. Describing the covenant thus also provides an image of its power and effect.
 
The covenant stipulated that they should prostrate themselves when they entered the gate of Jerusalem, and that they should observe the Sabbath law, after having requested that the Sabbath be their day of rest and enjoyment. But what happened thereafter? Once their feelings of fear and of being overpowered had weakened, they began to disassociate themselves from their pledges. They denied God’s revelations and killed their prophets without having any cause to do so. Moreover, they boasted arrogantly, saying that their hearts were closed to all words of admonition. Furthermore, they did all the things God relates to His Messenger and to the Muslims in the Qur’ān: “And so, [We punished them] for the breaking of their pledge, their disbelief in God’s revelations, their killing of prophets against all right, and for their boast, “Our hearts are closed.” Indeed God sealed their hearts on account of their disbelief. As a result they have no faith except for a few of them.” (Verse 155)
 
At this point the account of their highly objectionable behaviour is interrupted. They would say: “Our hearts are closed”, either to make the Prophet despair of a favourable response from them or to deride the fact that they, themselves, were being called upon to believe in Islam. An answer is given straight away to silence them: “Indeed God sealed their hearts on account of their disbelief As a result they have no faith, except for a few of them.” (Verse 155) Their hearts were not sealed by nature. It is their disbelief and their rejection of God’s messages which caused them to be stamped over and sealed by God. Thus, they are hard-hearted, misguided, incapable of appreciating what faith means. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of them remained unbelievers. Only a few kept their hearts open, maintained an objective judgement and pursued the truth wherever it led them. God has guided these people aright and they accepted the faith. But these were very few indeed. Among them were `Abdullāh ibn Sallām, Tha`labah ibn Sa`yah, Asad ibn Sa`yah and Asad ibn `Ubaydillāh.