Tafsir

كُلَّمَا جَآءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ بِمَا لاَ تَهْوَى أَنفُسُهُمْ فَرِيقاً كَذَّبُواْ وَفَرِيقاً يَقْتُلُونَوَحَسِبُواْ أَلاَّ تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ فَعَمُواْ وَصَمُّواْ(Whenever there came to them a Messenger with what they themselves desired not - a group of them they called liars, and others among them they killed. They thought there will be no Fitnah (trial or punishment) so they became blind and deaf.) thinking that they would suffer no repercussions for of the evil that they committed. Consequently, they were blinded from the truth and became deaf, incapable of hearing the truth. For these reasons they were unable to be guided by it. Allah forgave that, then,وَصَمُّواْ ثُمَّ(yet they became blind and deaf) again,كَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ وَاللَّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَ(many of them, and Allah is the All-Seer of what they do.) He has perfect knowledge of what they do and whomever among them deserves the guidance and whomever deserves misguidance.

Commentary

This is an account of how the Bani Isra'il kept breaking the pledge taken from them. As said in verse 70, whenever their Messenger brought a command which did not suit their fancy, they would break their pledge and go about betraying Allah to the limit that they would falsify His Messengers, even kill some of them. They were commanded ` to believe in Allah and act righteously.' But, this was what they did in response. As for the other part of the command - ` Belief in the Last Day' their behaviour was equally reckless. After having committed acts so oppressive, they became totally carefree as if they would not have to pay for what they had done and as if the consequences of their injustice and rebellion will never come out in the open. Under this false impression, they became totally blind and deaf to Divine signs and words. They went on doing what should have not been done. So much so that they killed some prophets and put some others behind bars. Finally, Almighty Allah imposed on them the mastery of Nebuchadnezzar (King of Babylonia, 605-562 B.

C., who took them as slaves to Babylon - Old Testament, book of Daniel). When, after a long time, they were sent back to Jerusalem from Babylon through help from some Persian kings who secured their release from disgrace under Nebuchadnezzar, they repented and turned to making amends. Allah relented and accepted their repentance. But, with the passage of some time, they went back to their old practices which made them so blind and deaf once again that they dared killing Sayyi.dna Zakariyah (علیہ السلام) (Zechariah) and Sayyidna Yahya (John) and were all set to kill Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) (Jesus ). (Tafsir Usmani - Notes)

لقد أخذنا العهد المؤكَّد على بني إسرائيل في التوراة بالسمع والطاعة، وأرسلنا إليهم بذلك رسلنا، فَنَقَضوا ما أُخذ عليهم من العهد، واتبعوا أهواءهم، وكانوا كلما جاءهم رسول من أولئك الرسل بما لا تشتهيه أنفسهم عادَوْه: فكذبوا فريقًا من الرسل، وقتلوا فريقًا آخر.

يذكر تعالى أنه أخذ العهود والمواثيق على بني إسرائيل على السمع والطاعة لله ولرسوله ، فنقضوا تلك العهود والمواثيق ، واتبعوا آراءهم وأهواءهم وقدموها على الشرائع ، فما وافقهم منها قبلوه ، وما خالفهم ردوه ; ولهذا قال : ( كلما جاءهم رسول بما لا تهوى أنفسهم فريقا كذبوا وفريقا يقتلون)