“Those are the ones whom Allah has cursed, and whoever Allah curses—you will never find any helper for him. Or do they have a share in the dominion? If so, they would not give people even the speck on a date stone. Or do they envy people for what Allah has given them of His bounty? We have already given the family of Abraham the Scripture and wisdom, and We gave them a mighty dominion. Some of them believed in him, while others turned away from him. Hell is sufficient as a blazing fire. Indeed, those who disbelieve in Our signs—We shall burn them in a Fire. Whenever their skins are thoroughly burned, We shall replace them with other skins so that they may taste the punishment. Indeed, Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, We shall admit them into Gardens beneath which rivers flow, where they will abide forever. There they will have purified spouses, and We shall admit them into dense shade.”
This is among the reprehensible traits of the Jews and their envy of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the believers. Their base character and corrupt nature led them to abandon faith in Allah and His Messenger and exchange it for belief in superstition and false objects of worship. This means embracing every act of worship directed to other than Allah and every judgment based on a law other than Allah’s revealed law.
This therefore includes magic, soothsaying, worshipping other than Allah, and obeying Satan; all of these fall under superstition and false objects of worship. Their disbelief and envy likewise led them to prefer the way of those who disbelieve in Allah—the idolaters—to the way of the believers. Thus He says: “And they say of those who disbelieve”—meaning that they speak in their favor, flattering and appeasing them and acting out of hatred for faith—“These are better guided in their way than those who believe,” that is, in their path.
How hideous they are, how stubborn, and how lacking in reason! How could they take this ruinous course and descend into this reprehensible valley? Did they imagine that this would pass with any rational person or enter the mind of even an ignorant person? Can a religion founded upon worshipping idols and graven images—upon forbidding wholesome things, permitting foul things, making many forbidden things lawful, establishing injustice among creation, equating the Creator with created beings, and disbelieving in Allah, His messengers, and His scriptures—be preferred to a religion founded upon worshipping the Most Merciful; devotion to Allah alone, privately and publicly; rejecting all that is worshipped besides Him, including idols, rivals, and false claimants; maintaining ties of kinship; showing kindness to every creature, even animals; establishing justice and equity among people; prohibiting every foul thing and every injustice; and upholding truthfulness in every word and deed? Is this anything but delirious nonsense? Whoever makes such a claim is either among the most ignorant of people and the feeblest in reason, or among the most stubborn and rebellious, deliberately defying the truth. ⦗183⦘ This is precisely the reality. Allah therefore says of them: “Those are the ones whom Allah has cursed,” meaning that He expelled them from His mercy and subjected them to His punishment. “And whoever Allah curses—you will never find any helper for him,” meaning anyone to take him under his protection, attend to his interests, and safeguard him from harm. This is the utmost state of being forsaken.
“Or do they have a share in the dominion?” That is, do they possess a share that would allow them to favor whomever they please over whomever they please, solely according to their whims, thereby becoming partners with Allah in governing the dominion? If they did, they would be exceedingly stingy and miserly. Hence He says: “If so”—that is, if they had a share in the dominion—“they would not give people even the speck on a date stone,” meaning anything at all, however little. This describes their extreme miserliness, even on the supposition that they possessed a dominion alongside Allah’s dominion. The statement is cast as a question whose negative answer is firmly acknowledged by everyone.
“Or do they envy people for what Allah has given them of His bounty?” That is, are they driven to say this by the notion that they are partners with Allah and may therefore favor whomever they please? Or are they driven by envy of the Messenger and the believers for what Allah has given them of His bounty? There is nothing unprecedented or strange about Allah’s bestowing His bounty. “We have already given the family of Abraham the Scripture and wisdom, and We gave them a mighty dominion.” This refers to Allah’s blessings upon Abraham and his descendants in the form of prophethood, Scripture, and the dominion that He granted to such of His prophets as David and Solomon. His blessings have never ceased to be bestowed upon His believing servants. How, then, can they object to His granting prophethood, victory, and dominion to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), the best and most eminent of creation, the greatest of them in knowledge of Allah, and the most fearful of Him?
“Some of them believed in him,” that is, in Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and thereby attained happiness in this world and success in the Hereafter. “While others turned away from him” out of stubbornness, transgression, and envy. The worldly misery and calamities that befell them were but some of the consequences of their sins. “Hell is sufficient as a blazing fire,” kindled against all who disbelieve in Allah and deny the prophethood of His prophets, whether Jews, Christians, or any other class of disbelievers.
Hence He says: “Indeed, those who disbelieve in Our signs—We shall burn them in a Fire,” meaning a fire of immense fuel and intense heat. “Whenever their skins are thoroughly burned,” that is, consumed by fire, “We shall replace them with other skins so that they may taste the punishment,” meaning that the punishment may reach its fullest extent upon them. Just as their disbelief and stubborn resistance were repeated until they became an ingrained trait and disposition, the punishment will repeatedly be inflicted upon them as a fitting recompense. Hence He says: “Indeed, Allah is Almighty, All-Wise.” That is, He possesses supreme might and wisdom in His creation and command, and in His reward and punishment.
“As for those who believe,” meaning in Allah and in everything in which He has made belief obligatory, “and perform righteous deeds,” both obligatory and recommended, “We shall admit them into Gardens beneath which rivers flow, where they will abide forever. There they will have purified spouses,” purified of base character, unattractive form, and every impurity and defect found among the women of this world, “and We shall admit them into dense shade.”