Verses 30 and 31 of Al-Bara’at, Tafsir by Martyred Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei

tenth speech

Verses 30 and 31 of Al-Bara’at

قالَتِ الْیَهُودُ عُزَیْرٌ ابْنُ اللّهِ وَ قالَتِ النَّصارى الْمَسیحُ ابْنُ اللّهِ ذلِکَ قَوْلُهُمْ بِأَفْواهِهِمْ یُضاهِؤُنَ قَوْلَ الَّذینَ کَفَرُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ قاتَلَهُمُ اللّهُ أَنّى یُؤْفَکُونَ  اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبارَهُمْ وَ رُهْبانَهُمْ أَرْباباً مِنْ دُونِ اللّهِ وَ الْمَسیحَ ابْنَ مَرْیَمَ وَ ما أُمِرُوا إِلاّ لِیَعْبُدُوا إِلهاً واحِداً لا إِلهَ إِلاّ هُوَ سُبْحانَهُ عَمّا یُشْرِکُونَ

And the Jews say, "Ezra is the son of God," and the Christians say, "Christ is the son of God." This is a falsehood that they utter, and it is like the saying of those who disbelieved before. May God destroy them. How can they be turned away from the truth? These are their scholars and monks and Christ they took the son of Mary as their divinity instead of God, while they were commanded only to worship the One God, there is no god but He. Glory be to Him! What they associate with Him

Philosophy of Fighting the People of the Book

After the command to fight the People of the Book was given in the previous verse, this verse implicitly mentions the philosophy and reason for this command and says that the Jews said that Ezra is the son of God and the Christians said that the Messiah is the son of God. This is a hardship on their lips

 وقالت الیهود عزیر ابن الله و قالت النصاری المسیح ابن الله

.’ This is their saying with their mouths.” When an Arab want to define a baseless and absurd belief, he attributes it to the mouth; that is, this saying is baseless. They are similar to the disbelievers and those who disbelieved before. That is, do not say why Islam has issued a command to fight the Christians and the Jews; because they, like the polytheists, have attributed partners and sons to God; therefore, the Jews and the Christians have also committed polytheism and it is permissible to kill them

The expression "قاتلهم الله" is different from the expression "قتلهم الله":

"قتلهم الله"

means that God will kill them, but

  قاتلهم الله

means"May Allah curse them" means that God will not include them in His grace and favor and will always have enemies

انّی یوفکون

How they turn away from the truth!” “Efk” is any statement that is contrary to the truth and means turning away from the truth to falsehood and losing the path of truth

The History of the Belief of "Ibn Allah" Among the Jews

وقالت الیهود عزیر ابن الله

The Jews said: "Uzair is the son of God." According to the research of commentators and orientalists, apparently all Jews didn’t hold this belief, but this is the way of the Quran that attributes the belief of some Jews to all Jews; because if others were against this belief, they should have denied it, and since they did not deny it, they share this belief with them; just as the belief that "God's hand is tied" is the belief of not all were Jews, but the Quran says

وقالت الیهود ید الله مغلولة

"And the Jews said, 'The hand of Allah is bound'

" Uzair's original name is "Ezra," which, due to the dominance of the Arabic word, became Uzair in the Arabic language; like Jesus, whose name is

یسوع

  and the Arabs changed it to

عیسی

Now in the Old Testament, which is the "Torah", there is a sefr called Ezra. This person is the one who renewed the book of the Torah after it was trampled upon when Bokht-u-Nasr, the king of Babylon, came to Palestine, destroyed the Temple of Solomon, burned the Torah, and took the Jews captive to Babylon. After the Israelites returned to Palestine, Ezra again revised and renewed the Torah, and on this occasion, the Jews called him "the son of God." However, it should be noted that what the Jews believe about Ezra is different from the concept of Jesus being the son of God among Christians; as will come. In short, this verse explains the reason that has caused Muslims to fight the People of the Book so that there will be no problems and objections as to why the Quran and Islam do not distinguish between the polytheists and the People of the Book, who to some extent shared the same beliefs with Muslims. Islam cannot deal with those who are not supporters of falsehood, but have deviated and do not act in accordance with the truth. In the next verse, it will be explained what languages ​​the Torah and the Gospel were distorted into brought to humanity

The difference in the concept of the Son of God among Jews and Christians

Christians who believe that Jesus is the Son of God consider this "son hood" to be true and consider Jesus to be the creation and work of God himself and call God water and believe in water as the Son and the Holy Spirit and in fact believe in a particular way for Jesus in relation to the essence of God; but Jews who believe that Uzair is the son of God do not believe in this type of son but rather consider Uzair to be a rebirth of the Jewish religion. Christians believe this meaning about many other prophets; as in the Bible, Solomon (peace be upon him) and Abraham (peace be upon him) and some other prophets are called "son of God" which is the same meaning that Jews believe about Uzair. Islam considers its prophet, who is its first person, to be "servant of God" and advises that Muslims should not become personality worshippers and individualists; although for that a person has a special characteristic

Superstitious beliefs of the People of the Book

After announcing the order to fight the Jews and Christians and explaining the reason for it, the Quran reveals another chapter of the superstitions of the People of the Book and their faces to Muslims: "The People of the Book took their rabbis and their monks as lords instead of God"

Ahbar is the plural of "Hebr" and "Hebr" meaning scholar, and in the term "Ahbar" the strong scholars and scientists of the Jewish clan are referred to. Ahbar are those who, before the mission of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him and his family), used to tell the polytheists that if the Prophet came, he would be on one side with us and you would be on the other side." And they were the ones who, when they saw the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him and his family) came and their false identities disappeared and they became like other people. They said, "This is not the Prophet.[1]"

Monk is the plural of "monk." Monk is a Christian title, and originally it meant someone who had worn the robe of fear and awe of God and had renounced the world; but in the idiom it meant "a Christian preacher"

Instead of considering God as their "Lord", the People of the Book considered their prophets and monks as Lord and also considered Jesus, son of Mary (peace be upon them), as their Lord; while these people did not have any command in their own holy books except to worship the One God, not to accept multiple gods. "There is no god but He, Glory be to Him, above what they associate with Him." "Rab" is derived from the root "Rab" or "Rabb". Rab means a teacher and one who gives growth, and is also used in the sense of "owner" and "ruler." However, Raghib says: If the absolute "Rab" is used and is not added to anything, it is only specific to God, who is the nurturer of the world; but if it is added, it means the owner is that which is added to it. The creation of the world is not such that God created it and then withdrew, but rather He must keep the world in His plan and will. As it is in the world of creation, so it is in the world of legislation. If someone believed that a person other than God has the same position, that is, in the world of creation, His existence dominates the existence of man, or in the world of legislation, He brings a ruling and command for humanity on His behalf, which in human happiness is at stake. This person has accepted a god other than God, and this is condemned according to the Quran

The combination of Lordship and Divinity

In the Quran, we have two interpretations: the interpretation of "

رب

Lord" and the interpretation of "God\

اله 

". Regarding the word "rab", which is the same as the educator and nurturer of man, it is believed that worship is not directly involved. But "God" has another meaning and from whatever material we take it, it means "beloved". God is: "That being and an element that is worshipped and adored. In every matter that man looks at, these two meanings are distinct. It is possible for someone to be a Lord but not a God, or to be a God but not a Lord; That is, he is the planner, the legislator, and the one who gives orders, but he is not a god. These two meanings are apparently different, but there is no difference between them externally. Whoever is considered a Lord in society is also considered a god, and whoever is considered a god and praised is accepted as a Lord. So these two have the same meaning, and our claim is that Lordship and Divinity are the same in meaning, and Lordship also includes the meaning of obedience

Therefore, divinity, which means worship, is essentially the same as lordship, which means obedience. Just as worship is used to mean "sanctification, praise, and worship of the Lord," it also means "obedience, submission, and being subject to someone"

The Quran says on the authority of Moses

وتلک نعمة تمنها علی ان عبدت بنی اسراییل[2]

 "And that is a favor that you have bestowed upon me, that you have enslaved the Children of Israel and made them your slaves and captives and made them subject to your obedience"

In this verse, the word "ibadah" is used in the sense of obedience. In a statement of the Commander of the Faithful Ali (peace be upon him), it is also stated: "Do not accept the servitude of anyone other than yourself, for God has made you free[3]." The meaning of this statement is not that you should not worship anyone as a means of sanctification and praise, but rather that you should not obey anyone

The believers and Muslims of early Islam understood the same meaning. If it cannot be said that worship and obedience have the same meaning, at least it should be said that these two words have a common boundary in meaning and are equal in many concepts. It is inferred from this verse that they worshipped priests and monks, and the verse intends the same meaning of worship as in divinity, which means being worshipped, and says that they were ordered to worship the one God, but they transgressed and transgressed the command of God and considered the news, the monks, and the Messiah, son of Mary (peace be upon them), as their lords

Slavery condemned in the Quran

What kind of worship and servitude is this that the Quran condemns? Is the worship of the People of the Book towards the priests and monks an impermissible act and one should not obey them? The apparent meaning of the verse is this. If the Jews and Christians heard a religious ruling from the priests and monks, would it have been permissible to obey them? If it was not permissible, then where should they learn the rulings of their religion

In response, it should be said that if someone has expertise in any field, there is no problem in consulting him regarding the issues of that field, and consulting Jewish and Christian scholars was also necessary and without any problem in learning the rules of the Torah and the Gospel, but following them in rules that contradicted the commands of the divine books, although it seemed to be a strong and reasonable argument, but it was not permissible, because it is a form of accepting worship and obedience other than Allah, and this is polytheism

narrative discussion

Several narrations have been narrated regarding the application of Lordship to obedience

1. Adi ibn Hatem says that before I became a Muslim, I came to serve The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and I had a gold cross hanging around my neck. When the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) saw it, he said: “O Adi, throw this chain away from your neck.” Adi threw the cross away and returned to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and heard the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) reciting this verse: “Take their teachers and their monks as lords besides Allah.” Adi, who used the word “worship” only to mean sanctification and worship, said in surprise: “We do not worship them.” The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “Is it not that they make what is lawful for Allah unlawful and you consider it unlawful, and make what is unlawful for Allah lawful and you use it?” Adi said: Yes, whatever they say, we blindly like and accept it and we no longer pay attention to the Book of Allah. The Prophet said that this is their act of worship

2. In another narration from Imam Sadiq (a.s.) in the interpretation of this verse, it is stated that the newsmen and monks did not say to the people, "Come, we praise and worship Him and fall down on the ground, for if they had said so, the people would not have listened; But for them, without reason and without conditions, they made the divinely permissible haram and the divine forbidden permissible, and people, in a way that they themselves did not understand, enslaved the Ahbar and the monks[4]

3. Another narration that has a better meaning says: “Whoever obeys someone while disobeying Allah has worshipped Him.” Ali ibn Muhammad, on the authority of Ibn Abi Umayr, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Abi Abdullah (peace be upon him), said: “Whoever obeys a man while disobeying Allah has worshipped Him”.[5]

4. In a narration from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), the same meaning is conveyed. Abu Basir, on the authority of Abu Abdullah (peace be upon him), regarding the words of God Almighty: “They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides God,” said: “By God, they neither fasted nor prayed for them, but they made lawful for them what was unlawful and made unlawful for them what was lawful, and they followed them.”[6]

5. Abu al-Jarud, on the authority of Abu Ja`far (peace be upon him), regarding his statement: “They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides God and the Messiah, the son of Mary.” As for the Messiah, they worshipped him and magnified him in their hearts, to the point that they claimed he was God and that he was the son of God. Some of them said he was the third of three, and a group of them said he was God. As for their rabbis and monks, they obeyed them and took their words, and followed what they commanded them to do and adhered to what they called them to. They took them as lords by obeying them, and they abandoned the trace of God, His books, and His messengers, so they cast them behind their backs. And what the news and the monks commanded them, they followed and obeyed them and disobeyed God and His Messenger. And this was mentioned in our book so that we may learn from them. So says: “And they were not commanded except to worship one God, there is no god but He, God, Blessed and Exalted is He, reproached the Children of Israel for what they did. God, Blessed and Exalted is He,

, exalted is He above what they associate with Him.”1]