| THE MESSAGE: 3/68 TO 74 The Message of The Quran translated and explained by Muhammad Asad
3:68 Behold, the people who have the best claim to Abraham are surely those who follow him - does this Prophet and all who believe [in him] - and God is near unto the believers. 3:69 Some of the followers of earlier revelation would love to lead you astray: yet none do they astray but themselves, and perceive it not. 3:70 O followers of earlier revelation! Why do you deny the truth of God's messages to which you yourselves bear witness? 53 3:71 O followers of earlier revelation! Why do you cloak the truth with falsehood and conceal the truth of which you are [so well] aware? 3:72 And some of the followers of earlier revelation say [to one another]: "Declare your belief in has been revealed unto those who believe [in Muhammad] at the beginning of the day, and the truth of what came later, 54 so that they might go back [on their faith]; (3:73) but do not [really] believe anyone who does not follow your own faith." Say: "Behold, all [true] guidance is God's guidance, consisting in one's being granted [revelation] such as you have been granted." 55 Or would they contend against you before your Sustainer? Say: "Behold, all bounty is in the hand of God; He grants it unto whom He wills: 56 for God infinite, all-knowing, (3:74) singling out for His grace whom He wills. And God is limitless His great bounty."
53 Lit., "when you [yourselves] bear witness": an allusion to the Biblical prophecies relating to the coming of the Prophet Muhammad. 54 Most of the commentators, relying on views current among some of the tabi'un (i.e., the generation that came after the Companions of the Prophet), understand this passage thus: "Declare at the beginning of the day your belief in what has been revealed unto those who believe in Muhammad, and deny the truth [thereof] in its latter part." This rendering would imply that the Judaeo-Christian attempts at confusing the Muslims, to which the above verse refers, consisted in alternatingly declaring belief and disbelief in the Qur'anic message. On the other hand, the rendering adopted by me (and supported by Al-Asam, whose interpretation has been quoted by Razi in his commentary on this verse) implies that some Jews and Christians have been and are hoping to achieve this end by admitting, however reluctantly, that there may be "some truth" in the early Qur'anic revelations ("that which has been revealed at the beginning of the day"), while they categorically reject its later parts inasmuch as they clearly contradict certain Biblical teachings. 55 This refers to the Jews and the Christians, who are not prepared to accept the Qur'anic message on the ground that it conflicts with parts of their own scriptures.
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