Al-Baqarah Section 18 - House Built By Abraham Sanctified As The Qiblah Of The Muslims
To strive together for good, The House built by Abraham sanctified to be the ‘Qiblah’ for the Apostle, raised in the fulfilment of the covenant with Abraham, and for all the Muslims, The Apostle as well as the Muslims commanded to turn towards it while in prayer, wherever they may be.
Al-Baqarah Verses 148 - 152
وَلِكُلٍّ وِجْهَةٌ هُوَ مُوَلِّيهَا فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِ أَيْنَ مَا تَكُونُوا يَأْتِ بِكُمُ اللَّهُ جَمِيعًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
“And for everyone is a direction to which He turneth. Hasten then to precede each other in everything good; Wherever ye (may) be, God will bring ye together (unto Him), for verily God hath power over all things” (2:148).
وَمِنْ حَيْثُ خَرَجْتَ فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَإِنَّهُ لَلْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكَ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ
“And from whencesoever thou goest forth, turn thou thy face (while in prayer) towards the Sacred Mosque. And verily that is the truth from thy Lord; And God is not heedless of what ye do” (2:149).
وَمِنْ حَيْثُ خَرَجْتَ فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَحَيْثُ مَا كُنْتُمْ فَوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ شَطْرَهُ لِئَلَّا يَكُونَ لِلنَّاسِ عَلَيْكُمْ حُجَّةٌ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنْهُمْ فَلَا تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَاخْشَوْنِي وَلِأُتِمَّ نِعْمَتِي عَلَيْكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ
“So from whencesoever thou (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad) goeth forth, turn thou thy face towards the Sacred Mosque; and wherever ye (O’ Muslims) are, turn ye (too) your faces thither than men may have no plea against you save those of them that are unjust; So fear not them but fear Me! And that I may perfect My bounties on you, and that ye may be guided aright” (2:150).
كَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا فِيكُمْ رَسُولًا مِنْكُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِنَا وَيُزَكِّيكُمْ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمْ مَا لَمْ تَكُونُوا تَعْلَمُونَ
“Even as We have sent among you a Prophet from amongst yourselves who reciteth unto you Our signs and purifieth you and teacheth you the Book and the Wisdom; and teacheth Qur’an you that which ye did not know” (2:151).
فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِي وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ
“Therefore, remember Me, I will remember you, and be thankful to Ale and (he) not ungrateful” (2:152).
Commentary
Verse 148
The Unity of the ‘Qiblah’ indicates or signifies the unity of the faith of the people and its leadership.
Comprehensively speaking the unity of the Islamic ‘Qiblah’, symbolises the unity of the purpose of the religion and the religionists to unify or bind the believers as a whole into one brotherhood or disciplinary order.
Unity of faith leads to spiritual unity which culminates into physical harmony. The clause ‘Whenever ye may be, God will bring you together’ used in this verse gives out a very important prophecy or glad tidings for the truly faithful ones that wherever they may be in the world they will be brought together under the banner of the Twelfth Holy Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi in ‘Raj’at’ (TS).
The Sunni commentators say that this collection of the faithful refers to the Day of Judgment, but it is meaningless, for the prophecy is addressed to the believers whereas on that day not only the believers but every one of the human races, believer, or a disbeliever, will be summoned and gathered together to account for one’s life on earth.
The Ahmadi commentator has only to say that it refers to Muslims all over the world being bound by the bond of brotherhood which has not been done till now in the true meaning or the realization of a perfect brotherhood, for the Muslims in the various parts of the world do identify themselves differently with the various labels of their own respective nationalities.
According to the Holy Imams, particularly Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq, the collection of the faithful together refers to the collection of the true devotees of the truth i.e. the faithful ones among the believers. Wherever they may be in the world, they will, before the final resurrection, be gathered together under the last of the divinely commissioned guides or the Imams of the holy Ahl Al-Bayt i.e. the Holy Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi.
In the note to verse 115 above, it was pointed out that the specific direction for ‘Qiblah’ does not mean the manifestation of God being only in that single direction, He is manifest alike in all directions. The order to turn to any particular direction while in prayer, was nothing but a Test of obedience on the part of the followers of the faith, besides effecting the centralisation of the mind of the believers in prayers1.
Here, pointing out that there is none without some direction or the other, the ultimate object of which is He (God), minimises the importance of the physical directions prescribed in the different religions for prayer, and emphasises on the importance of the constructive strife and effort towards whatever is good and excellent, some account of which is given in the verse 177 of this Sura, wherein is pointed out the importance of the attainment of the theoretical and the practical virtues, of which, faith in God is the base or the root, and expressively dismisses the consideration of the turning towards the east or the west, as a virtue2.
The words ‘Mowalliha’ and ‘Mowallaha’ are the two different ‘Qir’ats’ or the recitals; the former is the present participle and the latter the past participle. The meaning given above is in accordance with the past participle i.e., He is the Ultimate Object of the direction of every one’s mind. As a present participle it means that He is directing everyone towards a particular direction which is confirming Verse 5:48 wherein is pointed out the purpose of the different methods of worship and the ritual precepts prescribed in the different religions as the testing factors and also signifying the importance of the competitive strife and efforts towards earning virtues and excellence.
Another point which is referred to here and in Chapter 5 is that in spite of all these different directions of man’s strife and endeavour, all will reach the same goal and object and then it will be made known to everyone the value of the directions about which they differed. These passages have been taken as the support to the subjective value of the various religions, meaning that the aim of all the religions being one and the same, all being true. This is not correct, for the passage explains only the all-pervasive nature of the Absolute to the extent that the Holy Prophet says: “Abuse not the nature which the atheist takes as the First Cause responsible for the whole phenomenon, because the nature itself is God”
Taking this in view the person who has reached the highest stage of monotheistic realisation, is not the same as the man who has realised Him in the form of the natural forces. Both have reached Him, because He is here as well as there, but it is not true that the state of the realisation is also the same. Therefore, it is the difference in the value to which the Holy Qur’an refers.
Most of the translators have taken the meaning of ‘Hoa’ (i.e. he) as referred to ‘Kol’ (everyone), but the Shi’a grammarians assert it to refer to God saying it is more appropriate and in concord with 5:48. (A.P.)
Verse 149
Thou goeth forth i.e. for ‘Jihad’ or for any other purpose (see note on the next verse). The latter part of the verse is meant to impress upon the Muslims the importance or the sanctity of the Holy House the ‘Ka’ba’. It is to keep the Muslims mindful of God’s knowing how the Holy House would be profaned at the hands of the Muslims. Khalif Yazid destroyed the Holy House. Khalif Walid held a party of debauchery on its roof. By Khalif Abdul Malik and Khalif Mansur3, other ‘Ka’ba’ were set up at Damascus and Baghdad respectively for pilgrimage4.
Verse 150
The significance or the implication of the ordinance to turn towards the Holy ‘Ka’ba’ is to establish, and to be always kept in view the sanctification and the sanctity of the Holy House and its perfect immunity from domination by infidels or infidelity.
‘Alaikum Hujjatun’ - So that it may be a proof against the arguments of the Meccans, the Quraish as well as the Jews against their attacks.
The Jews saying that though Muhammad is opposed to our faith he still bows towards our central temple in Jerusalem. And the Quraish criticising, “Why does not Muhammad respect the Ka’ba the Holy House built by Abraham and Ishmael exclusively for the prayer to God and yields towards the religious centre of the Jews?”
‘Wale-Otimma Na’mati alaikum’ refers to the perfecting of the religion Islam by instituting Imamah to succeed ‘Risalah’ (i.e. apostleship). For this refer to Verse:
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا
“This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My bounties on you, and am pleased with Islam being your religion’’ (5:3).
which was revealed immediately as the Holy Prophet Muhammad declared Ali as his successor or the guide or the supreme head of the believers in his place, on the 18th of Dhu ‘l-Hijja 11 A.H. while he was at Ghadir Khumm on his return from his last pilgrimage to the Holy ‘Ka’ba’. Besides, it refers to the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham and his seed through his son Ishmael5.
‘Ta’ allakum Yahtadun’ i.e. “so that you may be guided aright’’ - seals the reference to the perfecting of the favour of God referring it to the ‘Imamah’ immediately succeeding the ‘Risalah’ or the apostolic services divinely instituted for the guidance of the faithful for all times. This also refers to the fulfilment of the promise made by God to the seed of Ishamel. If the ‘Qiblah’ had not been the ‘Ka’ba’, the promise to Abraham and Ishmael would have remained unfulfilled in the past, but with the promise made to Abraham and to the seed of Ishmael being fulfilled in its entirety, none but the unjust could have doubted the claim of the Holy Prophet to Apostleship.
Verse 151
This verse refers to Abraham’s prayer Verse 129. To fulfil the prayer of Abraham, God directed that the Sacred House dedicated by Abraham and Ishmael, exclusively to His worship, be purified so that it might be the Sanctuary and the Centre to which all the devotees should turn to Verse 125 and 129. It was in fulfilment of this prayer of Abraham, that God raised the Holy Prophet Muhammad whose advent was prophesied by most of the prominent prophets of the old viz. Moses, Deut. 18/18 Jesus, John 16/13. (L).
The Holy ‘Ka’ba’ was set up as ‘Qiblah’ as another blessing in continuation of the fulfilment of Abraham’s prayer, symbolizing the spiritual unity of the true believers in God, with faith in One God with one code of discipline (Qur’an) for their life, temporal as well as spiritual welded together.
Verse 152
God’s remembrance refers to his special favours or bounties exclusively bestowed, otherwise no forgetfulness can ever be imagined to be attributed to His All-Perfect Being. The wicked ones being left to their own earned fate will be interpreted as His forgetting them.
