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اَلْبَقَرَۃِ
The Cow

وَ اِذْ قَتَلْتُمْ نَفْسًا فَادّٰرَءْتُمْ فِيْهَا ؕ وَ اللّٰهُ مُخْرِجٌ مَّا كُنْتُمْ تَكْتُمُوْنَ۔ فَقُلْنَا اضْرِبُوْهُ بِبَعْضِهَا ؕ كَذٰلِكَ يُحْيِ اللّٰهُ الْمَوْتٰى وَ يُرِيْكُمْ اٰيٰتِهٖ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُوْنَ۔ ثُمَّ قَسَتْ قُلُوْبُكُمْ مِّنْ٘ بَعْدِ ذٰلِكَ فَهِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ اَوْ اَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً ؕ وَ اِنَّ مِنَ الْحِجَارَةِ لَمَا يَتَفَجَّرُ مِنْهُ الْاَنْهٰرُ ؕ وَ اِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَشَّقَّقُ فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ الْمَآءُ ؕ وَ اِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَهْبِطُ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللّٰهِ ؕ وَ مَا اللّٰهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُوْنَ۔ اَفَتَطْمَعُوْنَ اَنْ يُّؤْمِنُوْا لَكُمْ وَ قَدْ كَانَ فَرِيْقٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَسْمَعُوْنَ كَلٰمَ اللّٰهِ ثُمَّ يُحَرِّفُوْنَهُ مِنْ٘ بَعْدِ مَا عَقَلُوْهُ وَ هُمْ يَعْلَمُوْنَ۔ وَ اِذَا لَقُوا الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا قَالُوْۤا اٰمَنَّا وَ اِذَا خَلَا بَعْضُهُمْ اِلٰى بَعْضٍ قَالُوْٓا اَتُحَدِّثُوْنَهُمْ بِمَا فَتَحَ اللّٰهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لِيُحَآجُّوْكُمْ بِهٖ عِنْدَ رَبِّكُمْ ؕ اَفَلَا تَعْقِلُوْنَ۔ اَوَ لَا يَعْلَمُوْنَ اَنَّ اللّٰهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّوْنَ وَ مَا يُعْلِنُوْنَ۔ وَ مِنْهُمْ اُمِّيُّوْنَ لَا يَعْلَمُوْنَ الْكِتٰبَ اِلَّآ اَمَانِيَّ وَ اِنْ هُمْ اِلَّا يَظُنُّوْنَ۔ فَوَيْلٌ لِّلَّذِيْنَ يَكْتُبُوْنَ الْكِتٰبَ بِاَيْدِيْهِمْ۔ ثُمَّ يَقُوْلُوْنَ هٰذَا مِنْ عِنْدِ اللّٰهِ لِيَشْتَرُوْا بِهٖ ثَمَنًا قَلِيْلًا ؕ فَوَيْلٌ لَّهُمْ مِّمَّا كَتَبَتْ اَيْدِيْهِمْ وَ وَيْلٌ لَّهُمْ مِّمَّا يَكْسِبُوْنَ۔ وَ قَالُوْا لَنْ تَمَسَّنَا النَّارُ اِلَّآ اَيَّامًا مَّعْدُوْدَةً ؕ قُلْ اَتَّخَذْتُمْ عِنْدَ اللّٰهِ عَهْدًا فَلَنْ يُّخْلِفَ اللّٰهُ عَهْدَهُٓ اَمْ تَقُوْلُوْنَ عَلَى اللّٰهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُوْنَ۔ بَلٰى مَنْ كَسَبَ سَيِّئَةً وَّ اَحَاطَتْ بِهٖ خَطِيْٓـَٔتُهُ فَاُولٰٓىِٕكَ اَصْحٰبُ النَّارِ هُمْ فِيْهَا خٰلِدُوْنَ۔ وَ الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا وَ عَمِلُوا الصّٰلِحٰتِ اُولٰٓىِٕكَ اَصْحٰبُ الْجَنَّةِ هُمْ فِيْهَا خٰلِدُوْنَ۔

Those who believe and those who are Jews, Christians and Sabeans, [in fact] anyone who believes in God and the Last Day, and acts honorably will receive their earnings from their Lord: no fear will lie upon them nor need they feel saddened. Thus we have made an agreement with you and raised the Mountain over you: “Hold firmly to what We have brought you and remember what it contains, so that you may do your duty;” while later on you turned away, and if God’s bounty and His mercy had not [rested] upon you, you would have turned out to be losers! Yet you knew which of you had been defiant on the Sabbath, so We told them: “Become apes, rejected!” We set them up as an illustration of what had come before them and what would come after them, and as a lesson for the heedful.

When Moses told his folk: “God commands you to sacrifice a cow,” they said: “Do you take us for a laughingstock?” He said: “I seek refuge with God lest I become so ignorant!” They said: “Appeal to your Lord for us, to explain to us what she is.”

He said: “He says she is neither a worn-out cow, nor a heifer, but of an age in between. Do as you are ordered!” They said: “Appeal to your Lord for us, to explain to us what color she is.” He said: “He says that she is a bright yellow cow. Her color gladdens those who look at her.”

They said: “Appeal to your Lord for us, to explain to us what she is like. Cows seem all alike to us and we should be guided properly, if God so wishes.” He said: “He says that she is a cow which has not yet been broken in to plow the earth nor to irrigate any crops; she is sound and has no blemish on her.” They said: “Now you are telling the Truth!”, and they slaughtered her though they almost had not done so.

Four communities are mentioned in this verse: Muslims, who are the followers of the Prophet Muhammad; Jews who follow the Prophet Moses; Christians, who follow the Prophet Jesus; and Sabeans, who adhered to the teachings of John the Baptist, the Prophet Yahya. The last-mentioned sect resided in Iraq in ancient times, but is now extinct. They were people of the Book, and offered their prayers facing the Kabah in Mecca.

Here the Muslims have not been mentioned separately, but have been grouped with other communities associated with prophets. This means that all ethnic groups are equal in the sight of God; no community is inherently superior to any other. Only true belief and righteous actions are rewarded with salvation. This is a rule that applies consistently to every community. No one, whether he calls himself Muslim, Jew, Christian or Sabaean, is exempt from this rule. Belonging to a particular community gives no special status in the eyes of God. God elevates to a high rank only those who have sought to mold their own lives according to His divine scheme.

The lives of those who associate with a prophet during his lifetime are always based on true belief and righteous actions. At that time certain people hear the Prophet’s call. Their spirits are moved by his message: an intellectual revolution takes place within them, filling them with new resolve. Their whole pattern of life changes. Where, previously, they had been guided by personal desires, they now base their lives on the teachings of God, and may truly call themselves followers of the prophets; these are the ones to whom the prophets gave good tidings of eternal blessings in the next world.

The situation changes, however, as time passes. For the generations that follow, religion becomes a kind of national heritage. Tidings, which had been given on the basis of faith and righteous actions come to be considered to be the result of ethnic affiliations. People reckon that they have a special relationship with God that others do not enjoy: one who belongs to a particular community is sure to be saved, notwithstanding the standard of his faith and deeds; paradise is for us, hell for them. But God does not have a special relationship with any particular community. He has regard solely for man’s thoughts and deeds. In the Hereafter, people will be judged according to their deeds and character, and not on the basis of the group to which they belong.

A covenant was made with Moses’ people that they would faithfully carry out the divine teachings given to them in the form of the Ten Commandments. The Talmud tells how, at this time, God turned a mountain upside down, holding it above them and told them either to accept the teachings of the Torah, or be destroyed there and then. The same is the case with everyone who embraces true faith. To have faith is to make a contract with God that one will live and die in accordance with His will. What a grave pledge this is. On the one hand there is man—a tiny, helpless speck in God’s world—and on the other, God, whose might upholds the universe. If man keeps his word, he will be granted God’s eternal blessings. But if he turns away from his commitment, he is in grave danger of being cast into hell-fire, never to emerge again.

Everyone who believes in God should go through the same experience as Moses’ people. Everyone who binds himself to the contract of faith should live in the fear of breaking his religious vows, thereby bringing catastrophe down upon himself. Sometimes those entrusted with the law of God go astray by contradicting it in practice, while finding words to make it appear that they are following it to the letter. The Israelites, for instance, were commanded to keep holy the Sabbath day, and refrain from worldly pursuits on that day. But they violated it and went about their work on the Sabbath as on any other day. Furthermore, they sought to justify their actions and made out that what they were doing conformed to the will of God. This audacity incurred God’s displeasure and they were turned into apes. Whenever one turns against the law of God, one puts oneself on a par with animals who follow no code of ethics. Those who play games with divine law, should fear being deprived of their human dignity, and being brought down to the level of animals.

Another mistake that the Israelites had made was to destroy the simplicity of divine religion by involving themselves in complicated theological wrangling. They had to learn to interpret God’s will in a straightforward manner and obey it immediately. This was another lesson that was taught under the pretext of this murder case: hair-splitting to define the exact scope of divine edicts will only make things difficult for everyone; additional conditions will only complicate the carrying out of what had originally been a simple commandment.