Tafsir Zone - Surah 3: Ale-Imran (The Family Of Imran )

Tafsir Zone

Surah Ale-Imran 3:4
 

Overview (Verses 4 -6)

The Qur’ān and Earlier Revelations

... And He has revealed the Criterion (to distinguish the true from the false). Those who disbelieve in God’s revelations shall endure grievous suffering. God is Mighty, able to requite. Nothing on earth or in the heavens is hidden from God. It is He Who shapes you in the wombs as He pleases. There is no deity save Him, the Almighty, the Wise. (Verses 4-6)

These initial verses provide an affirmation of several essential principles in formulating the correct ideological concept, i.e. Islam, and for silencing the people of earlier revelations and others who denied the Prophet’s message and its Divine source. It states first the unity of the source which reveals Divine messages to Prophets and Messengers. It is God the only deity, the Ever-living, the Eternal Master of all Who has revealed this Qur’ān as He has indeed revealed the Torah to Moses and the Gospel to Jesus (pbuh them). There can, therefore, be no confusion between the position of the Divine Being and that of His servants. There is only One God Who reveals messages to His chosen servants. For their part, they are servants who submit themselves to God, despite the fact that they are Prophets sent with messages from Him.

The verses also state the unity of Divine faith, as well as the fact that the Truth included in the Scriptures revealed by God is also one. This Book which has been sent down to Muĥammad has been revealed, “with the truth, confirming what was revealed before it,” i.e. the Torah and the Gospel. All these Scriptures have been sent down for a single purpose, that is, to serve “as guidance for people.” This newly revealed Book is a “Criterion” distinguishing the Truth embodied in the revealed Scriptures from all sorts of deviation and confused ideas which have found their way into the Scriptures whether by way of personal prejudices, intellectual trends or political considerations.

These verses also include an implicit insertion that there can be no valid reason for the denial of the new message by the people of earlier revelations. In this way, it follows the same line of earlier messages. It is a book sent down with the truth in the same way as all revealed books and Scriptures are. It too has been revealed to a human messenger. Furthermore, it confirms all Divine Scriptures revealed before it. It clearly sets out the “Truth” which they have stated earlier. Moreover, it has been sent down by the One Who is able to send down His revelations and Who has the right to lay down a code of living for mankind which sets for them their concepts of faith, law, and morality.

Verse 4 also delivers a stern threat to those who deny God’s revelations. It reminds them of God’s might, His grievous punishment, and His ability to enforce justice. Those who deny God’s messages are those who reject this one faith in its absolute nature. The people of earlier revelations who have deviated from the Divine revelations and who deny this new book, a clear criterion distinguishing right from wrong, are the first to be described here as non-believers. They are foremost amongst those to whom God’s threat of severe punishment and grievous suffering is directed.

Within the context of this threat an emphatic assertion is given that God knows everything. Nothing at all can be hidden from Him: “Nothing on earth or in the heavens is hidden from God.” This assertion of God’s absolute knowledge fits well with the statement of the absolute oneness of the Divine Being Who is the Eternal Master of all. This attribute of God is stated right at the outset, in verse 5. It also fits well with the stern threat delivered in the preceding verse. Since nothing on earth or in the heavens may be withheld from God’s knowledge and no secrets can be kept from Him, then all intentions and all schemes are known to Him. Hence, nothing can escape His fair judgement and His just punishment.

Having stated this fact of God’s absolute knowledge of everything in the universe, the sūrah gently but effectively touches upon human nature with a reference to man’s origin. It is an origin well hidden from man in the darkness of mothers’ wombs and in the realm to which man’s knowledge cannot aspire: “It is He Who shapes you in the wombs as He pleases. There is no deity save Him, the Almighty, the Wise.”

It is He Who gives you whatever shape He pleases. He also gives you your distinctive characteristics. This He does alone, according to His absolute will, “as He pleases.” For He is the only deity in the universe, and He is “the Almighty” Who has the power and the ability to shape and fashion His creation, “the Wise” Who determines everything according to His wisdom. He has no partner or associate to influence what He creates and fashions.

This statement dispels all the confusion created by the Christians concerning Jesus’s birth and origin. It is God Who shaped Jesus (pbuh) as He pleased. There is no truth whatsoever in the claims that Jesus (pbuh) was the Lord, or was God, or the son of God, or a being with a dual nature: Divine and human. All deviant and confused concepts which are at variance with the Truth of the absolute oneness of God are false and without substance.