About Those, Who Say Themselves, “We are Christians”

Lesson # 604 From Holy Qur’aan

About Those, Who Say Themselves, “We are Christians”

Surah Maaa-‘idah (the Table Spread) – Chapter – 5)

Verse – 14 of 120, Section – 3 of 16 (Part–6) –Stage - 2

 BisMIllaahir-Rahmaanir-Rahiim

In the name of Allaah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

And with those who say: “Lo! We are Christians,” We made a covenant, but they forgot a part of that whereof they were admonished. And therefore We have stirred up enmity and hatred among them till the Day of Resurrection. And Allaah will inform them of their handiwork.

Wa  minal-laziina  qaaluu  ‘innaa  Nasaaraaa  ‘akhaz-Naa  Misaa-qahum  fanasuu  hazzam-mimmaa  zukkiruu  bih;  fa-‘agrayNaa  bayna-humul-‘adaawata  wal-bagzaaa-‘a  ‘ilaa  Yawmil-Qiyaamah.  Wa  sawfa  yunabbi-‘uhumUllaahu  bimaa  kaanuu  yasna-‘uun.

Lesson

Nasaaraaa- either this word has come out from nasar, which means “to help”, if so, then it means “the helper, the supporter”, or it has a relation with Naasirah, which is name of a village in Syria, where Prophet Christ (peace be upon Him) used to live, and due to this reason, He (peace be upon Him) is called Messiah Nasrii. In view of this illustration, Nasaaraaa means ‘The believers of Messiah (peace be upon Him), Who belonged to Naasirah’.

‘AgrayNaa – (We stirred up), it is from ‘agraaa, which means “to induce, to incite, to create, to apply, to put to work”. Yunabbi-‘u- (to inform), it has been made from nabaaa-‘a, which means “the news”. It aims that Allaah Almighty will inform them. Yasna-‘uun – (that, what they used to do), it is from san-‘at, which means “to make something, to do any work”.

In this verse, there is mention about the Christians. Allaah Almighty commands here, “We made a covenant with them because they had believed in Prophet Christ (peace be upon Him) and it was their covenant that they would obey Him (peace be upon Him). But afterwards they broke the covenant too and like the Jews, they also became disobedient. They forgot fundamental commands out of those, which were revealed for them in the New Testament (the Gospel), and changed its words and meanings in accord with their own desires, so they were deprived from their benefits. The biggest information into those commands was, “after the Prophet Christ (peace be upon Him), the Last Apostle of Allaah Almighty (Muhammad) (grace, glory, blessings and peace be upon Him) will come in the world. You should help Him and obey Him whole heartily”. But they removed His name and entire description about Him (grace, glory, blessings and peace be upon Him) from their Scripture.

It has been told in this verse, “It is the result of forgetting the original teachings of the Scripture that if a person said anything, the other said against it. This mutual contradiction increased so much that they became enemies of one another. On one side enmity between the Jews and the Christians was produced, secondly, the Jews themselves were opponents mutually of each other, and on the other side, different sects of the Christians began to fight against one another.

Mutual cooperation can be produced only by acting upon the original commands of the Scripture. The Scriptures held with the Jews and the Christians, are not in their original form. Therefore, they will be fighting always until the end of this world, because now there is nothing remained to settle their mutual conflicts. Now there is no method of their becoming conscious except that they would have to believe in Holy Qur’aan, the Last Scripture.

Transliterated Holy Qur’an in Roman Script & Translated from Arabic to English by Marmaduke Pickthall, Published by Paak Company, 17-Urdu Bazar, Lahore, Lesson collected from Dars e Qur’an published By Idara Islaah wa Tableegh, Lahore (translated Urdu to English by Muhammad Sharif)