Whilst in the valley of Makkah, Prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, peace be upon them both, supplicated to Allah with the following prayer as is mentioned in the Qur’an:
“Our Lord! And raise among them a Messenger from among them who shall recite to them Thy communications and teach them the Book and the wisdom, and purify them; surely Thou art the Mighty, the Wise.” (2:129)
As Muslims, we understand that this supplication was answered in the person of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings on him. This is also confirmed in the Qur’an in another verse:
“He it is Who raised among the unlettered ones a Messenger from among themselves, who recites to them His communications and purifies them, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom, although they were before certainly in clear error.” (62:2, also 2:151)
QUESTION:
Can anyone spot a subtle difference between verse 2:129 (the original supplication) and verse 62:2 which in effect is Allah’s confirmation that He has granted and fulfilled the aforementioned prayer? Is there a difference between the actual du’a itself and the way it was responded to by Allah? Hopefully it’s not too difficult but, more importantly, are there any lessons to be learnt from this?
Sorry Ana, i changed the second verse from 2:151 to 62:2 whilst you were probably posting your reply. 62:2 is a little clearer in my view for the purpose of this discussion. I've kept the reference to 2:151 which is a similar verse to 62:2 and which, as you rightly suggest, mentions " teaches you that which you did not know." However, this is not the difference i had i mind.
p.s. If you already know the answer, let others have a go first. And remember, aside from spotting the difference, are there any lessons to be learnt here?
although they were before certainly in clear error
Meaning the Zaboor, Torah, Enjeel followers who "revised' the original editions, were in error. So don't follow their books, here is a completely sound new one - the Qur'an - it's unalterable, and anyone who prescribes to the old disassembled books, show now follow the new one and come to Islam, otherwise they will remain in error.
Sorry, not the right answer. The words "although they were before certainly in clear error" relates to the words "a Messenger from among themselves", namely the Makkan pagans. They didn't follow the Torah, Injil etc.
Ahmed, that is a difference but one wouldn't have expected in Prophet Ibrahim's and Ismail's du'a that they would insist on Allah sending an unlettered Prophet.
MiniMe, yes, you got it, great shout! If we look at the various elements in the du'a (the first verse) and Allah's fulfilment of the du'a (the second verse) we see that all the elements are retained in the fulfilment verse but the word order has changed. In effect, Allah granted each item of the supplication, but arranged it in a different sequence.
1st verse: "teach them the Book and the wisdom, and purify them"
2nd verse: "purifies them, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom"
"Our Lord! And raise among them a Messenger from among them who shall recite to them Thy communications and teach them the Book and the wisdom, and purify them; surely Thou art the Mighty, the Wise." (2:129)
"He it is Who raised among the unlettered ones a Messenger from among themselves, who recites to them His communications and purifies them, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom, although they were before certainly in clear error." (62:2, also 2:151)
QUESTION:
Can anyone spot a subtle difference between verse 2:129 (the original supplication) and verse 62:2 which in effect is Allah's confirmation that He has granted and fulfilled the aforementioned prayer? , are there any lessons to be learnt from this?
Iqbal
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Salam aliakum
I am not an alim at all, but from my limited understanding, I notice that in the first verse, the two Messengers from Allah are praying that the inhabitants of the land (Mecca - the chosen home and the chosen people of Ismail as) should be sent a Nabi to purify and maintain their Iman/faith. I would assume that the dwellers of the city had adopted the religion of Ibrahim and Ismail, the religion of at-Tawheed.
The biggest difference between the two verses is in the second verse where Allah states that the people amongst whom Muhammad saw was sent to (the Quraish) were in error. This means that despite being the decendants of the people of at-Tawheed the Quaraish had deviated from the Path of Allah and had become pagans.
To me, this is a lesson in not being complacent in the religion, to not take your deen for granted, because shaitan can make you do small sinc which leads to bigger sins, and then to disbelief.
It is indeed a mercy to all mankind that Allah sent us his last and final Messenger.
If this generation was in totality an ‘illiterate’ generation then they couldn’t have understood what the eloquent Qur’an said. So when Allah refers to this messenger as ummi (7:157-158) He doesn’t mean ‘illiterate’ but someone who has had no knowledge of scripture before and thus if we are to assume that 62:2 is indeed a ‘response’ to 2:129, then how come the future ‘generations’ of Ibrahim are referred to as the ‘unlettered ones’ when they had subsequent prophets and scriptures sent down to them?
