Allah states that the Jews envy the faithful and wish they could misguide them.
Allah states that the punishment of this behavior will fall back upon them, while
they are unaware. Allah criticizes them,
﴿يأَهْلَ الْكِتَـبِ لِمَ تَكْفُرُونَ
بِأَيَـتِ اللَّهِ وَأَنتُمْ تَشْهَدُونَ ﴾
(O People of the Scripture!: Why do you disbelieve in the Ayat of Allah, while you
bear witness.)
You know for certain that Allah's Ayat are true and authentic,
﴿يأَهْلَ الْكِتَـبِ لِمَ تَلْبِسُونَ
الْحَقَّ بِالْبَـطِلِ وَتَكْتُمُونَ الْحَقَّ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾
(O People of the Scripture: Why do you mix truth with falsehood and conceal the
truth while you know) by hiding what is in your Books about the description of Muhammad
, while you know what you do.
﴿وَقَالَت طَّآئِفَةٌ مِّنْ أَهْلِ
الْكِتَـبِ ءَامِنُواْ بِالَّذِي أُنزِلَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَجْهَ النَّهَارِ
وَاكْفُرُواْ ءَاخِرَهُ﴾
(And a party of the People of the Scripture say: "Believe in the morning in that
which is revealed to the believers, and reject it at the end of the day,)
This is a wicked plan from the People of the Book to deceive Muslims who are weak
in the religion. They decided that they would pretend to be believers in the beginning
of the day, by attending the dawn prayer with the Muslims. However, when the day
ended, they would revert to their old religion so that the ignorant people would
say, "They reverted to their old religion because they uncovered some shortcomings
in the Islamic religion.'' This is why they said next.
﴿لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ﴾
(so that they may turn back.) Ibn Abi Najih said that Mujahid commented about this
Ayah, which refers to the Jews, "They attended the dawn prayer with the Prophet
and disbelieved in the end of the day in order to misguide the people. This way,
people would think that they have uncovered shortcomings in the religion that they
briefly followed.''
﴿وَلاَ تُؤْمِنُواْ إِلاَّ لِمَن تَبِعَ
دِينَكُمْ﴾
("And believe no one except the one who follows your religion.'')
They said, do not trust anyone with your secret knowledge, except those who follow
your religion. Therefore, they say, do not expose your knowledge to Muslims in order
to prevent them from believing in it and, thus, use it as proof against you. Allah
replied,
﴿قُلْ إِنَّ الْهُدَى هُدَى اللَّهِ﴾
(Say: (O Prophet) "Verily, right guidance is the guidance of Allah.'')
Allah guides the hearts of the faithful to the perfect faith through the clear Ayat,
plain proofs and unequivocal evidence that He has sent down to His servant and Messenger
Muhammad . This occurs, O you Jews, even though you hide the description of Muhammad
. the unlettered Prophet whom you find in your Books that you received from the
earlier Prophets. Allah's statement;
﴿أَن يُؤْتَى أَحَدٌ مِّثْلَ مَآ أُوتِيتُمْ
أَوْ يُحَآجُّوكُمْ عِندَ رَبِّكُمْ﴾
((And they say: ) "Do not believe that anyone can receive like that which you have
received, otherwise they would engage you in argument before your Lord.'')
They say, "Do not disclose the knowledge that you have to the Muslims, to prevent
them from learning it and thus becoming your equals. They will be even better because
they will believe in it or will use it against you as evidence with your Lord, and
thus establish Allah's proof against you in this life and the Hereafter.'' Allah
said,
﴿قُلْ إِنَّ الْفَضْلَ بِيَدِ اللَّهِ
يُؤْتِيهِ مَن يَشَآءُ﴾
(Say: "All the bounty is in the Hand of Allah; He grants to whom He wills.) meaning,
all affairs are under His control, and He gives and takes. Verily, Allah gives faith,
knowledge and sound comprehension to whomever He wills. He also misguides whomever
He wills by blinding his sight, mind, sealing his heart, hearing and stamping his
eyes closed. Allah has the perfect wisdom and the unequivocal proofs.
﴿وَاللَّهُ وَسِعٌ عَلِيمٌيَخْتَصُّ
بِرَحْمَتِهِ مَن يَشَآءُ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ ﴾
(And Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures' needs, All-Knower.'' He selects
for His mercy whom He wills and Allah is the Owner of great bounty.) meaning, He
has endowed you, O believers, with tremendous virtue, in that He honored your Prophet
Muhammad over all other prophets, and by directing you to the best Shari`ah there
is.
﴿وَمِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَـبِ
مَنْ إِن تَأْمَنْهُ بِقِنْطَارٍ يُؤَدِّهِ إِلَيْكَ وَمِنْهُمْ مَّنْ إِن تَأْمَنْهُ
بِدِينَارٍ لاَّ يُؤَدِّهِ إِلَيْكَ إِلاَّ مَا دُمْتَ عَلَيْهِ قَآئِمًا ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ
قَالُواْ لَيْسَ عَلَيْنَا فِى الأُمِّيِّينَ سَبِيلٌ وَيَقُولُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ
وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ - بَلَى مَنْ أَوْفَى بِعَهْدِهِ وَاتَّقَى فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ
الْمُتَّقِينَ ﴾
(75. Among the People of the Scripture is he who, if entrusted with a Qintar (a
great amount of wealth), will readily pay it back; and among them there is he who,
if entrusted with a single silver coin, will not repay it unless you constantly
stand demanding, because they say: "There is no blame on us to betray and take the
properties of the illiterates (Arabs).'' But they tell a lie against Allah while
they know it.) (76. Yes, whoever fulfills his pledge and fears Allah much; verily,
then Allah loves the Muttaqin (the pious).)