| THE MESSAGE: 3/94 TO 104 The Message of The Quran translated and explained by Muhammad Asad
3:94 And all who henceforth invent lies about God - it is they, they who are evildoers! 74 3:95 Say: "God has spoken the truth: follow, then, the creed of Abraham, who turned away from that is false, and was not of those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God." 3:96 Behold, the first Temple ever set up for mankind was indeed the one at Bakkah: 75 rich in blessing, and a [source of] guidance unto all the worlds, (3:97) full of clear messages. 76 [It is] place whereon Abraham once stood; and whoever enters it finds inner peace. 77 Hence, pilgrimage unto the Temple is a duty owed to God by all people who are able to undertake it. And as for those who deny the truth - verily, God does not stand in need of anything in all the worlds.
74 This is a reference to the unwarranted Jewish belief that the Mosaic food restrictions were an eternal law decreed by God. As against this claim, the Qur'an stresses that no food restrictions had been imposed before the time of Moses and, secondly, that the restrictions arising from the Mosaic Law were imposed on the children of Israel alone. To claim that they represent an eternal divine law is described here as "inventing lies about God". 75 All authorities agree that this name is synonymous with Mecca (which, correctly transliterated, is spelt Makkah). Various etymologies have been suggested for this very ancient designation; but the most plausible explanation is given by Zamakhshari (and supported by Razi): in some old Arabic dialects the labial consonants b and m, being phonetically close to one another, are occasionally interchangeable. The mention, in this context, of the Temple in Mecca - that is, the Ka'bah - arises from the fact that it is the direction of prayer (qiblah) stipulated in the Qur'an. Since the prototype of the Ka'bah was built by Abraham and Ishmael (see 2:125 ff.) - and is, therefore, much older than the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem - its establishment as the qiblah of the followers of the Qur'an does not only not imply any break with the Abrahamic tradition (on which, ultimately, the whole Bible rests), but, on the contrary, re-establishes the direct contact with that Patriarch: and herein lies the answer to the second of the two Jewish objections mentioned in note 73 above. 76 Lit., "in it [are] clear messages" - such as the messages relating to God's oneness and uniqueness (symbolized by the Ka'bah), to the continuity of mankind's religious experience ("the first Temple set up for mankind") and, finally, to the brotherhood of all believers (who, wherever they may be, turn their faces in prayer towards this one focal point). 77 Or: "is secure" - i.e., in the original sense of amn, which implies "ease of mind and freedom from fear" (cf. Lane I, 100 f.).
3:98 SAY: "O followers of earlier revelation! Why do you refuse to acknowledge the truth of God's messages, when God is witness to all that you do?" 3:99 Say: "O followers of earlier revelation! Why do you [endeavour to] bar those who have come to believe [in this divine writ] from the path of God by trying to make it appear crooked, when you yourselves bear witness78 [to its being straight]? For, God is not unaware of what you do." 3:100 O you who have attained to faith! If you pay heed to some of those to whom revelation was vouchsafed aforetime, they might cause you to renounce the truth after you have come to believe [in it]. (3:101) And how could you deny the truth when it is unto you that God's messages are being conveyed, and it is in your midst that His Apostle lives? But he who holds fast unto God has already been guided onto a straight way. 3:102 O you who have attained to faith! Be conscious of God with all the consciousness that is due to Him, and do not allow death to overtake you ere you have surrendered yourselves unto Him. 3:103 And hold fast, all together, unto the bond with God, and do not draw apart from one another. And remember the blessings which God has bestowed upon you: how, when you were enemies, He brought your hearts together, so that through His blessing you became brethren; and [how, when] you were on the brink of a fiery abyss. 79 He saved you from it. In this way God makes clear His messages unto you, so that you might find guidance, (3:104) and that there might grow out of you a community [of people] who invite unto all that is good, and enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong: and it is they, they who shall attain to a happy state!
78 I.e., "through your own scriptures" (see note 69 above, as well as note 33 on 2:42). This is an allusion to the attempts of Jews and Christians to "prove" that Muhammad had "borrowed" the main ideas of the Qur'an from the Bible and twisted them out of context so as to suit his own alleged "ambitions". 79 Lit., "a pit of fire" - a metaphor of the sufferings which are the inescapable consequence of spiritual ignorance. The reminder of their one-time mutual enmity is an allusion to man's lot on earth (cf. 2:36 and 7:24), from which only God's guidance can save him (see 2:37-38).
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