Al Baqarah

وَآمِنُواْ بِمَا أَنزَلْتُ مُصَدِّقاً لِّمَا مَعَكُمْ وَلاَ تَكُونُواْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرٍ بِهِ وَلاَ تَشْتَرُواْ بِآيَاتِي ثَمَناً قَلِيلاً وَإِيَّايَ فَاتَّقُونِ

And believe in what I have revealed (the Qur’an), confirming that (Scripture) which is with you, and be not the first to reject Faith therein, and sell not My Signs for a miserable price; and be in awe of none but Me. (2:41)

وَلاَ تَلْبِسُواْ الْحَقَّ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَتَكْتُمُواْ الْحَقَّ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

And confound not the Truth with falsehood, nor conceal the Truth while you know (it). (2:42)

وَأَقِيمُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَآتُواْ الزَّكَاةَ وَارْكَعُواْ مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ

And keep up the prayer, and pay the poor-rates (zakat), and bow down in prayer with those who bow down (in congregation worship). (2:43)

The Lord commands the Jews that they should believe in His revelation, the Qur’an, and accept it because the acceptance of the Qur’an is just the same as the acceptance of the Torah:

And believe in what I have revealed (the Qur’an) confirming that (Scripture) which is with you… (2:41)

This statement indicates that the Torah, in which they believe, itself has pointed out the glad tidings of the advent of the promised Prophet, Hazrat Muhammad (S), and the revelation of the Holy Qur’an. Thus, the requisite belief in the content of the Torah is belief in the Qur’an.

…and be not the first to reject Faith therein… (2:41)

The verse addresses the Jews and says that those people, who are of the “People of the Book” and among whom there are scholars and learned men who believe in God and have accepted the Divine prophets, should not be the first group to reject the Qur’an and deny its rightfulness. When their scholars do not accept the truth, many others also follow them and reject it.

…and sell not My Signs for a miserable price… (2:41)

Some authentic narrations denote that many of the scholars and Rabbis of the Jews used to sell the verses and some features of Hadrat Muhammad, the promised Prophet (S), mentioned in the Scripture of old, the Torah, to some of the rich Jews at that time and perverted the verses of the Torah in exchange for taking money from them. Here, Allah scorns them and forbids them from doing this abominable action and directs them not to corrupt the Scripture for that little sum of money. The money they used to take was, of course, a large sum, but in comparison with what they committed, it was very little.

Allah’s signs are worth more than all their paltry considerations and changing and perverting those Divine Signs is a very great sin so that gold and silver, howsoever much they may be, or even high social positions, seems naught in comparison with it. So, He says:

…and be in awe of none but Me. (2:41)

And confound not the Truth with falsehood, nor conceal the Truth while you know (it). (2:42)

This verse provides another emphasis on the above meaning. The Jewish scholars are told, here, not to mix up the truth with falsehood by perverting the verses of the Torah and hiding its revelations about the Prophet of Islam (S), when they are supposed to make them manifest, because they recognize them and, in connection to this, know the difference between right and wrong very well.

And keep up the prayer, and pay the poor-rates (zakat), and bow down in prayer with those who bow down (in congregation worship). (2:43)

In Islam, next to the belief in Allah, His Messenger, and the Resurrection, prayer and alms (zakat) are the two essential pillars of Faith without which the establishment and endurance of Faith is impossible. Prayer and poor-rates, as well as observing their proper times, are strictly and repeatedly emphasized in the concerning verses of the Holy Qur’an and Islamic traditions and narrations. The excellence and importance of prayers are briefly pointed out in commenting on verse 3, the current Surah.

Explanation

Islam, as a religion, has revealed information with the perfection necessary to train mankind and to discipline the human race and to enable them to raise themselves from the depths of material degradation to the unlimited elevation of spiritual glory in order to qualify each - individual as an adherent, as much as he or she personally desires, to rise towards the divinity in store for every sincere seeker of it. The curbing of the physical desires of a human being is sure to have the natural consequence of sublimating it by the resulting moral effect on the mind which can gradually put it well on the way to receiving the enlightenment of the higher meanings of life. A certain degree of piety and devotion is essential for a human being to be initiated into the realm of spiritual bliss.

All the previous religions, particularly the creed of the Jews and the Christians, were limited to some extreme systems of optional ascetic hermitage of extremes which did not agree with the natural demands of the social life of the people. The imposition of such extremes, with the freedom to do it or not, could help only a few to follow the order, discarding completely their worthy life but the bulk of the people had sunk deep into hypocritical observances and practices.

Islam, as a practical and fully regulated religion, bases its foundation first on humbling the ego of man by making him conscious about his relation to his Creator and thus making him yield to the Lord, his God, in complete submission to Him by worshipping in a way suiting his humble position. By this, Islam brings man in the presence of his Lord. The first cardinal doctrine or ordinance of Islam is ‘salat’ or, ‘prayers’ which develops in a human being the appropriate feeling in relation to God and puts the individual in direct contact with the great qualities of the Absolute Divinity.