Transliteration:( Innal lazeena yaktumoona maaa anzalal laahu minal kitaabi wa yashtaroona bihee samanan qaleelan ulaaa'ika maa yaakuloona fee butoonihim illan Naara wa laa yukallimu humul laahu Yawmal Qiyaamati wa laa yuzakkeehim wa lahum 'azaabun aleem )
370. There are various ways of concealing the Book: to conceal the actual verses; not to explain the meaning of the verses, to deliberately misinterpret the verses or to wilfully change the Divine decrees.
371. Prior to the birth of the Holy Prophetthe Yahud of Madina were under the impression that the Final Prophet would be from the Bani Israel. Therefore, in anticipation of this, they would propagate the beautiful attributes of the Holy Prophet as revealed in the Tauraat (Old Testament). However, after the Holy Prophet's birth, the fear of the loss of their income and property in Madina, made them secretly envious of Holy Prophet. So they began either to conceal these verses wherein the Holy Prophet's attributes were mentioned or to alter them. To expose this act of the Jewish scholars, this verse was revealed. In which Allah Almighty explains that these people conceal the verses of Tauraat for material gains which is termed 'small price' in this verse
372. They fill their bellies with fire by eating unlawful and forbidden food, which will send them to Hell. Alternately, these forbidden foods themselves will be transformed into tormenting Hell fire which will become the diet of these inmates.
373. From this verse two issues emerge;
1.On the Day of Resurrection, Allah's silence will be a means of torment and punishment for the infidels, Similarly, His withholding of merciful talk from them, too, will have similar consequences for the infidels.
2. The above mentioned three forms ofpunishment are especially prescribed for those criminal infidels who are guilty of concealing divine verses. Allah will save the Muslims from these by speaking to them, pardoning their sins and saving them from tormenting punishment.
The tafsir of Surah Baqarah verse 173 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Baqarah ayat 172 which provides the complete commentary from verse 172 through 173.
(2:174) Those who conceal anything of the Book revealed by Allah and sell it away for a trifling gain are merely filling their bellies with Fire.[173] Allah will neither address them on the Day of Resurrection, nor shall He pronounce them “pure”.[174] A painful chastisement lies in store for them.
173. This means that the blame for the growth of whole new codes consisting of superstitions, perverted customs, and unjustifiable taboos lay squarely on the shoulders of those religious scholars who had knowledge of the Scriptures but failed to transmit their knowledge to the common people. Moreover, later, when erroneous practices began to spread among them they remained mute spectators of this drama. Indeed, some of them kept wilfully silent about these matters thinking that their interests would be better served if the Scripture remained a sealed book and its injunctions were kept beyond the access of the common people.
174. This is a refutation of the false claims made by their religious leaders and a clarification of the misconceptions regarding their positions and privileges which these leaders had been spreading among the common people. They spared no efforts to give the impression that they were sacred beings and that anyone who attached himself to them would necessarily earn God’s forgiveness through their intercession. Here God is telling them that He takes no notice of people who are unworthy to intercede for themselves, let alone able to intercede for others.
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