Transliteration:( Tilkar Rusulu faddalnaa ba'dahum 'alaa ba'd; minhum man kallamal laahu wa rafa'a ba'dahum darajaat; wa aatainaa 'Eesab na Maryamal baiyinaati wa ayyadnaahu bi Roohil Qudus; wa law shaaa'al laahu maqtatalal lazeena mimba'dihim mim ba'di maa jaaa'athumul baiyinaatu wa laakinikh talafoo faminhum man aamana wa minhum man kafar; wa law shaaa'al laahu maq tataloo wa laakinnallaaha yaf'alu maa yureed )
641. From this verse emerge a number of issues:
1. In Prophethood all Prophets are equal - there is no question of some being legitimate and others being counterfeit. Allah bestowed Prophethood on each one of them.
2. Besides Prophethood the Prophets enjoy different status i.e. some enjoy greater status than others. In respect of this, our HolyProphet enjoys the highest status among all the Prophets.
3. Although it can be said that some Prophets enjoy higher status than the others, it is incorrect to assume that some Prophets are in any way inferior to the others. To do this is insulting the dignity of the Prophets of Allah, as is deduced from the word ". "...we excelled".
642. Hazrat Musa's talking to Allah upon this earth, without an intermediary, is his distinctive feature, as the Holy Prophet's conversation with Allah without any curtain during the Night of Me'raj was not upon this earth.
643. The word "some of them" denotes our Holy Prophet
From this emerge two issues:
1. The Holy Prophet superior in status to all other Prophets..
2. His superiority and greatness is beyond our conception and imagination as no limits or degree of status has been mentioned. Furthermore, we also learn that while all the Prophets are equal in respect of Prophethood they are different in rank and status.
644. From this we learn that Hazrat Isa was created without a father - just a mother. If he had had a father he would not have been referred to the mother i.e. Isa son of Mariam Says Allah Almighty: "Call them after their fathers (S33. V5)
Thus besides Bibi Mariam, the QUR'AAN hasnot mentioned any other woman's name.
645. By "Ruhul Quds" 'the pure soul' is meant Hazrat Jibrael who was always accompanying Hazrat Isa. From this we learn that the servants of Allah have the capacity to help andthat help, from those besides Allah is not polytheism Hazrat Jibrel is the servant of Allah, yet he had been rendering help to Hazrat Isa. Furthermore, the help of these pious servants is in reality help of Allah, as Allah Almighty refers to Hazrat Jibrael's help as His help.
646. This verse intimates to us that after the demise of these Prophets their followers waged war among themselves. In it there is a hint that after our Holy Prophet departs from this earthly life his followers too would wage war among themselves, which in reality did take place Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (on whom be peace) waged war against those who had rejected the institution of Zakaat, there were several wars between Hazrat Ali (on who be peace) and Hazrat Muawiyah(on whom be peace)
647 The words "if Allah so wished" suggest that the wars among the followers of the previous Prophets, those that would be fought amongst the followers of the Holy Prophet are all in accordance with Divine plan. There are many wise devices behind this plan which is related to the question of predestination (Taqdeer) .For further investigation and research about this issue refer to Tafseer Naeemi
The tafsir of Surah Baqarah verse 252 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Baqarah ayat 250 which provides the complete commentary from verse 250 through 252.
(2:253) And these Messengers (who have been designated to guide people), We have exalted some of them above the others. Among them are such as were spoken to by Allah Himself, and some He exalted in other respects. And We granted Jesus, son of Mary, Clear Signs and supported him with the spirit of holiness. Had He willed, those who had seen these Clear Signs would not have fought one another thereafter. But (it was not the will of Allah to prevent people from disagreement by compulsion, hence) they differed among themselves whereby some attained faith and others denied the Truth. Yet had Allah so willed they would not have fought one another. Allah does whatever He wills.[275]
275. The main cause of the differences which arose after people had received true knowledge through the Prophets, and which were even aggravated into feuds and wars, is not that God was helpless, and lacked the power to put an end to the fighting. Had He willed so, no one would have had the power to defy the teachings of the Prophets, to take the course of disbelief and rebellion against Him, and to spread mischief and corruption in His world. But it was not His will to deprive human beings of their free-will and choice, and to compel them to follow a particular course. He has created human beings on earth in order to test them and hence endowed them with the freedom to choose from the various alternative courses of belief and action.
God did not appoint the Prophets as policemen to force people to faith and obedience. He sent them, instead, with reasonable arguments and clear signs in order to invite people to righteousness. Hence the cause of all the differences and wranglings and fighting which took place was that people, in exercising the free-will granted to them by God, followed divergent courses. In short, people follow divergent ways precisely because of God’s omnipotent will that men should have a choice. It would be a grave misunderstanding to hold that people follow different paths because God failed to persuade people to follow the path which He wanted them to choose.
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