Tafsir

Commentary

In these verses the miraculous event of the Ascension of Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) (Jesus Christ) has been mentioned. "And they made a move" refers to the evil designs of the Jews who planned to arrest him and to get him crucified.

The next sentence i.e. "and Allah made a move" refers to the plan designed by Allah Almighty to save his prophet ` Isa (علیہ السلام) from their ill designs. They sent one of them to Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) to arrest him and Allah changed his face totally and made him resemble Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) and raised Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) to heavens, while that person was crucified under the mistaken identity. How Allah had planned to save ` Isa (علیہ السلام) from their clutches was disclosed to him when his enemies came to arrest him. The details of these disclosures have been mentioned in verse 55.

Explanation of important words in the verse

Some sects which deny, contrary to the belief of the entire Muslim community, the Ascension of Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) (Jesus Christ), his being alive in the heavens and his descension towards the later times, have worked through the words and meanings of these verses to open doors of distortion in the Qur'anic text. Therefore, it seems appropriate that these words be explained in some details.

Let us begin with وَاللَّـهُ خَيْرُ‌ الْمَاكِرِ‌ينَ translated as and Allah is the best of those who make moves'. The word, مکر makr in Arabic denotes a subtle and secret move or plan. If this is for a good purpose, it is good; and if this is for a bad purpose, it is bad. It was why the restriction of saiyy سِّٰی : evil) was placed with مکر makr (: move, plan) in: وَلَا يَحِيقُ الْمَكْرُ‌ السَّيِّئُ إِلَّا (And evil plan besets none but its perpetrator - 35:43).

The Qur'anic word, مکر makr, is used exclusively for conspiracy, evil plan and strategy in the everyday idiom of the Urdu language (in which this commentary was originally written), therefore, it should not be equated with the Arabic usage. This is the reason why Allah has been called: خَيْرُ‌ الْمَاكِرِ‌ينَ 'Khair al-Makirin' here.

The verse means that the Jews started making a series of conspiracies and secret schemes against Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) going to the limit of convincing the ruler of the time that he was a heretic (God forbid) all bent upon changing the Torah and was going to make apostates of everybody. The ruler ordered the arrest of Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) . While this was the scene on one side, the subtle and secret move made by Allah Almighty was countering their evil plans more effectively, which has been mentioned in the verses coming next.