ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books An Enlightening Commentary into the Light of the Holy Qur'an vol.

4 Section 3: The Covenants with the Jews and the Christians The covenants with the Jews -The covenants with the Christians - The actual position of Jesus Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 12 وَلَقَدْ أَخَذَ اللّهُ مِيثَاقَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَبَعَثْنَا مِنهُمُ اثْنَيْ عَشَرَ نَقِيبًا وَقَالَ اللّهُ إِنِّي مَعَكُمْ لَئِنْ أَقَمْتُمُ الصَّلاَةَ وَآتَيْتُمُ الزَّكَاةَ وَآمَنتُم بِرُسُلِي وَعَزَّرْتُمُوهُمْ وَأَقْرَضْتُمُ اللّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا لَّأُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ وَلأُدْخِلَنَّكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ فَمَن كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ مِنكُمْ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ سَوَاء السَّبِيلِ 12.

"And certainly Allah made a covenant with the Children of Israel, and We raised among them twelve chiftains, and Allah said: 'Verily I am with you, if you keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate and believe in My messengers and assist them and lend Allah a kindly loan, I will most certainly cover your evil deeds and I will certainly cause you to enter Gardens beneath which rivers flow; but whoever among you disbelieves after that, has indeed strayed from the right path." The chiefs of the Israelites were twelve persons.

The ministers of Moses (as) and the custodians of the twelve tribes were from among them. It is narrated from the Messenger of Allah (S) who, in a tradition, said: "The vicegerents after me are twelve. They the Israelites" [^1]. The attempt of the opponents of Ahlul-Bayt (as) is in vain when they try to adapt this figure to Orthodox Caliphs, Umayyid Caliphs, and the Caliphs of Abbasids, though it adapts to neither of them.

There are, of course, many traditions recorded which denote that the Prophet himself (S) mentioned the names of these twelve persons. According to his statement recorded in a tradition[^2] the first of them is Ali-ibn-Abi talib and their last one is Hadrat Mahdi (May Allah hasten his auspicious advent). The Arabic phrase: /'azzartumuhum/ is derived from the word /'azzara/ which means: 'to assist with honour'.

Therefore, the Arabic term /ta'zir/ refers to a kind of assistance to the sinner in abandoning the crime. That is why those Islamic punishments have the function of education rather than vengeance. The Qur'anic phrase /sawa'-us-sabil/ means the middle way that swerving from which is going towards aberration and fall.

✦ ✦ ✦