“Allah's guidance” stands for the Qur'an - revealed by Allah and...

“Allah's guidance” stands for the Qur'an - revealed by Allah and, therefore, attributed to Him. The sentence, “Surely Allah's guidance is the (true) guidance”, restricts the guidance to that of Allah. Conversely, it means' that their religion is devoid of guidance; in other words, it is just a set of their desires. It follows that what the Prophet has got is knowledge, and what they hold in their hands is ignorance.

Therefore, Allah says to the Prophet: “And if you follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, you shall have no guardian from Allah, nor any helper.” One cannot help admiring this verse: How logical, solid and well-grounded is the argument it offers; how many fine points of eloquence it holds, in spite of its brevity; how lovely is the language and how clear is the style!! Qur’an: Those to whom We have given the Book...

: The restriction of the clause, “These (it is who) believe in it”, gives rise to the belief that this verse is a reply to an unspoken question. The preceding words, “And the Jews will not be pleased with you, nor the Christians...”, gave an indication that there was no hope of their believing in the Prophet. If so, then how any of them could be expected to believe? Was it not in vain to invite them to Islam?

This verse clears the air, and says: Those to whom We have given the Book (i.e., the Torah or the Injil) and who read it as it aught to be read, these it is who truly believe in their Book and as such they shall believe in you.[^1] Or that, they believe in a revealed book; and therefore shall believe in any other book revealed by Allah. Or that, these it is who shall believe in the Qur'an.

(According to some of the above interpretations, the pro-noun, 'it', in the phrase, “believe in it”, would stand for more than one noun by turns.) The phrase, “Those to whom We have given the Book”, refers to a group of the Jews and the Christians, who did not follow their desires, who wanted to follow the truth. “the Book” refers to the Torah and the Injil. Another possible explanation: “the Book” might be re­ferring to the Qur'an, and, “Those to whom We have given the Book”, to the believers.

In that case the meaning would be as follows: Those to whom We have given the Qur'an and who read it as it should be read, these it is who believe in the Qur'an, and not the Jews and the Christians who follow their desires. The restriction, in this case, would give a converted pro-position. Qur’an: O Children of Israel!...