As-Saaffaat (Those drawn up in Ranks)

117. “And We gave them both the Book making things clear.”

118. “And We guided them both on the right way.”

119. “And We left (praise) for them both among the later generations.”

The first is deliverance from that tyrant ruler, and then there is invitation to the Book and Path of Allah.

These verses point to the favours and spiritual merits that Allah gave to this group of people.

The Qur’an says:

“And We gave them both the Book making things clear.”

Yes, the Torah, the clear Book, was a Book which made things clear, and answered all the religious and worldly needs of the Children of Israel at that time; as in Surah Al-Ma’idah, No. 5, verse 44 we recite:

“Verily We have sent down the Torah, wherein is guidance and light…”

And in the next verse it points to another spiritual merit, the merit of guidance to the Straight Way, when it says:

“And We guided them both on the right way.”

It is the same right way which is far from any crookedness and deviation and which is the way of the Divine prophets and there is not any line of deviation, aberration and fall in it:

It is interesting that in all our prayers, when we ask Allah to guide us to the straight Path, we say:

“The path of those upon whom You have bestowed Your bounties, and not (the path) of those inflicted with Your wrath, nor (of those) gone astray.”1

And this is the path of prophets and saints.

In the third verse, it refers to the duration of the religious school and their good name (praise) and says:

“And We left (praise) for them both among the later generations.”

This is the same meaning that the Qur’an mentioned in the former verses about Abraham and Noah.

In principal, the history and the names of all men of Allah and those who pave the great path of the right, are eternal and it must be so, because they do not belong to a proper people or nation, but they belong to the whole world of humanity.