2.23 Al-Baqarah: The Seven Great Blessings Bestowed upon the Descendants of Israel

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

Praise and thanks be to Allah, exalted and great. Blessings be upon our Seal Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, and may Allah be pleased with all the Companions.

Today we are sharing a topic: recognizing the blessings that Allah, exalted and great, granted to the descendants of Israel.

Who Is Israel?

As for Israel (Isrāʾīl; إسرائيل), it is originally an epithet of Prophet Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him). So the descendants of Israel (Banī Isrāʾīl; بني إسرائيل) refers to his offspring. Today we want to come to know the blessings these Israelites received. Israel (Isrāʾīl; إسرائيل) is made up of seven Arabic letters, so we will come to know the blessings they received from seven aspects.

Regarding Prophet Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him) having an epithet called Israel, there is a hadith narrated by Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) that can prove that the epithet of Prophet Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him) was Israel. He said that some Jews came to Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, and the Prophet asked them, “Do you know that Israel is Yaʿqūb?” The Jews said, “By our Lord, yes.” The Prophet said, “My Lord, bear witness!”

How did our Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ know that Israel was Prophet Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him)? It was certainly the Lord who revealed it to him, so all of this bears witness to his prophethood. Of course, in the fifty-seventh verse of Sūrat Maryam, Prophet Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him) is mentioned as having an epithet called Israel, and the scholars mention that it refers to him when they explain and comment on the verse.

Remembering the Blessings

As for the descendants of Israel—that is, the descendants of Prophet Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him)—among them were those who especially received Allah’s blessings. The Qur’an mentions Yūsuf, Mūsā, Hārūn, Dāwūd, and Sulaymān, and of course also Zakariyyā, Yaḥyā, and ʿĪsā from the family of ʿImrān, among the prophets (peace be upon them). These are all prophets and messengers whom Allah specifically mentioned in the Qur’an, and the Lord especially blessed them. Their followers, and the descendants of Israel as well, witnessed the blessings that Allah granted to this lineage. In Sūrat al-Baqarah it is mentioned that the descendants of Israel are to remember the Lord’s blessings upon them. Those verses are mainly directed at those Jews among the Israelites. When scholars explain “the blessings they are to remember,” they say that the blessings include some that are explicit and some that are not specified. The explicit blessings are mentioned in the verses: He caused the stone to split so that water flowed from it, He sent down manna and quails for them, and they were freed from the enslavement of Pharaoh’s people. Scholars of the generation after the Companions also explained it to mean that they should remember that the Lord sent prophets and messengers to them and sent down scriptures for them. All of these were so that they would remember the Lord’s blessings upon them, become thankful people, and receive guidance.

It is precisely because these descendants of Israel received so many blessings from Allah, exalted and great, yet many of them did not become thankful people; rather, they became people who were ungrateful for blessings. Through this, Allah wants humanity, especially the People of the Book, to remember the Lord’s blessings upon them in a special way, take it as an admonition, and return to the straight path. We all know that the Lord granted them these blessings in truth. They became people who were ungrateful for blessings because they did not have a perfect knowledge of the Lord and did not have a perfect worship of Him. That is the real reason they became ungrateful. So I want to offer an analysis by bringing together the seven blessings they received, even though they did not become people of gratitude and praise.

The Seven Aspects

Our Lord created all the worlds, and all the worlds are His signs. From the signs and phenomena of all the worlds, we come to know that He possesses what belongs to Him of His essential realities, including His attributes, His perfections, and the like. Through the creation of all the worlds, humanity can come to know Him, and then humanity itself becomes a beautiful sign. So when those signs are manifested, the blessings people receive are blessings. Thus our Lord possesses seven important realities that belong to His essence, and we can come to know them from the signs in creation.

First: we can know that He possesses the beautiful attribute that belongs to Him of being all-knowing and all-wise. Precisely because our Creator and Lord, the true God of all the worlds, is all-knowing and all-wise, His creation becomes a sign, so human beings can possess, in a relative way, such qualities as knowledge, insight, and wisdom.

Second: our Lord possesses the attribute of power that belongs to Him—He is almighty and all-powerful. Among human beings there are those who, by blessing, manifest in a relative way the phenomena of might and ability, and possess strength as a sign of Him.

Third: our Lord is the Lord who is wholly good and supremely good, possessing the attribute of great virtue. In creation, and among human beings, this attribute can also be present as His sign—for example, such traits as moral virtue and noble character.

Fourth: our Lord possesses His ordaining, His command, and His sovereignty—the attribute belonging to His governance. In many verses we can read that the Lord gives His command to mankind; this is a characteristic that belongs only to Him. Yet within creation He grants to human beings among His creatures that they may carry out His command and convey His command. Through the guidance He gives humanity, and through the blessing that can be derived from it, people can even issue commands and carry out commands. So people too can possess, in a derivative way, the attribute of sovereignty. Among human beings there is the blessing of vicegerency.

Fifth: our Lord possesses the characteristic of His free and perfect will. He grants His creatures—human beings and jinn—a relative freedom of choice and a certain personal will, but only by submitting to His will and taking His will as their aim can they attain good. Thus human beings become a sign that lets us know that the Lord’s will alone is perfect, absolutely free, and unrestricted.

Sixth: our Lord has this characteristic of speech. He reveals to those among His creatures, and we human beings especially know that the scriptures He gave us are His speech, so He possesses this meaning.

Seventh: our Lord possesses His spirit—holy, ever-living, and utterly pure. Then how do we human beings come to know this? He granted human beings spirit (rūḥ; روح). When we human beings possess rūḥ, we can have a tranquil state of soul in order to know Him, seek the everlasting reward of the eternal Garden in the Hereafter, and seek to behold Him. So the human being becomes a sign. For example, when Prophet Adam (peace be upon him) was created, the Lord breathed spirit into him. Later, Prophet ʿĪsā (peace be upon him) was called spirit, and the angel Jibrīl, peace be upon him (Jibrīl ʿalayhi al-salām; جبريل عليه السلام) was called the Holy Spirit. All of these are signs of the Lord’s eternity, everlasting life, and complete freedom from the constraint of any desire.

Our Lord possesses these seven important realities belonging to His essence, these attributes of His perfection. As for the human being, when he becomes His sign and manifests them, that is the receiving of blessing.

First: Knowledge

Now let us come to know specifically the seven kinds of blessings that the descendants of Israel received. First let us speak of Prophet Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him), because he was called Israel. In Sūrat Yūsuf, in three verses—68, 86, and 96—the Lord mentioned that He gave him knowledge:

{وَلَمَّا دَخَلُواْ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَمَرَهُمْ أَبُوهُم مَّا كَانَ يُغْنِي عَنْهُم مِّنَ اللّهِ مِن شَيْءٍ إِلاَّ حَاجَةً فِي نَفْسِ يَعْقُوبَ قَضَاهَا وَإِنَّهُ لَذُو عِلْمٍ لِّمَا عَلَّمْنَاهُ وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يَعْلَمُون}[Yūsuf (Joseph; يوسف):68]

12:68 Then when they entered as their father had instructed them, this did not help them against ˹the Will of˺ Allah whatsoever. It was just a desire in Jacob’s heart which he satisfied. He was truly blessed with ˹great˺ knowledge because of what We had taught him, but most people have no knowledge.

{قَالَ إِنَّمَا أَشْكُو بَثِّي وَحُزْنِي إِلَى اللّهِ وَأَعْلَمُ مِنَ اللّهِ مَا لاَ تَعْلَمُون}[يوسف:86]

12:86 He replied, “I complain of my anguish and sorrow only to Allah, and I know from Allah what you do not know.”

{فَلَمَّا أَن جَاء الْبَشِيرُ أَلْقَاهُ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ فَارْتَدَّ بَصِيرًا قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُل لَّكُمْ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مِنَ اللّهِ مَا لاَ تَعْلَمُون}[يوسف:96]

12:96 But when the bearer of the good news arrived, he cast the shirt over Jacob’s face, so he regained his sight. Jacob then said ˹to his children˺, “Did I not tell you that I truly know from Allah what you do not know?”

Most people do not know this kind of knowledge. This shows that because of the gift of prophethood that he possessed, the Lord especially blessed them with knowledge, and the people after him who received prophethood could also possess relatively perfect knowledge. That is to say, at three levels of knowledge, as creatures they could possess knowledge. For example, knowledge of all the worlds, whether the material world or those unseen and hidden worlds, and also a complete knowledge of human beings themselves. And of course, they also had knowledge of the Creator of all the worlds—the One who created all the worlds and created human beings. They would absolutely not associate partners with Him. They had knowledge of His attributes, His perfections, and His Beautiful Names. So, in these three aspects of knowledge, those who possessed prophethood should, in that age, serve as guides: receiving the Lord’s instruction, and then instructing others through it. They would speak of the unseen and hidden, speak of the blessings in the material world, speak of the blessings human beings have received, speak of their Lord, and speak of how mankind should come to know Him.

First, we can learn from Israel, that is, Prophet Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him), and from his first inheritor in prophethood, Prophet Yūsuf (peace be upon him), that the Lord graciously bestowed knowledge upon him. This can be learned in Sūrat Yūsuf, so we will not elaborate further here. This was a blessing granted to the whole lineage of Israel, so that they would remember it: the Lord sent prophets and messengers to them so that they could receive guidance. If they did not receive guidance and did not become people of gratitude and praise, then they deceived themselves. For how did Prophet Yūsuf (peace be upon him) become a God-fearing person? He restrained his human lower self (nafs; نفس), did not commit wrong and did not do shameful things, and made himself a doer of good, pardoning his brothers. If the later generations did not act in this way, then they deceived themselves.

Second: Power and Miraculous Signs

As for the Lord being almighty and all-powerful, He brought forth signs. For example, Prophet Mūsā (peace be upon him), as one of the prophets and messengers among the descendants of Israel, was graciously given by the Lord a special kind of act: He gave him nine extraordinary signs, so that both his hand and the staff he held in his hand could manifest signs, as a clear proof that the Lord is not constrained by predetermination. He became a sign manifesting these signs, proving that the Lord Himself is the Lord of decree, that He is mighty and all-powerful, that He Himself is not constrained by predetermination, and that when those servants whom He is pleased with are guiding others, these miracles (muʿjizah; معجزة) can appear as guidance for mankind, while also bearing witness that He is the One, the only Almighty and All-Powerful.

Why was Mūsā (peace be upon him) able to manifest these miracles and mighty phenomena with which the Lord blessed him, and become a sign of the Lord—that the Lord Himself is not constrained by predetermination? Because Mūsā and his brother Hārūn did not follow falsehood. Prophet Mūsā himself was Pharaoh’s adopted son; he could have sought to become a king in this world, but he did not. He knew that Pharaoh made people worship himself and associate partners with the Lord; all of this was falsehood. Only the Lord possesses the attribute of being worshipped; no partner can be associated with Him. Mūsā and Mūsā’s family held fast to this truth, so they did not choose falsehood at all, much less become Pharaoh’s heir. Rather, he and Hārūn guided people to seek the truth and to seek becoming heirs of Firdaws (the highest Garden). In Sūrat al-Aʿrāf we can learn that when Mūsā asked to see the Lord, the Lord made him draw near to that mountain. When the Lord drew near to the mountain, the mountain shattered, and Mūsā fainted at that moment. When he awoke, he begged the Lord’s forgiveness and first said that he was the first of the believers. That means that he and his brother would guide people to seek the rank of being believers. Now, what the believers seek is to inherit the Garden of Firdaws and become inheritors of the Garden of Firdaws. So what he sought was to make people seek the truth. Of course, those who followed him also certainly sought these things, and would not seek the fleeting power, reputation, and glory of this world.

Among the Israelites, those who followed the way of Mūsā would certainly seek the reward of Firdaws and would not help one another in pursuing the fleeting power, reputation, and glory of this world. So this was a form of guidance for them, so that they would remember the blessings the Lord bestowed upon them. As for us, we must ask the Lord to let us receive guidance and seek the reward of the Garden of Firdaws.

Third: Goodness and Virtue

Third: our Lord is the Lord who is wholly good, supremely good, perfect in goodness, and great in virtue. When human beings receive guidance, beautiful attributes also appear, and the phenomena of goodness are manifested. We all know that among the descendants of Israel, their prophets and messengers and the people who followed them all had the attributes of doing good. For example, there is the story of how Prophet Yūsuf (peace be upon him) pardoned his brothers and guided them, and how the mother of Prophet Mūsā (peace be upon him) was patient and placed her trust in her Lord. Then there were the people of the family of ʿImrān. I will speak of one woman among them, Maryam. She was chosen as a leader among women. The virtues she possessed, how she guarded her chastity, how she worshipped the Lord, and her faith—women too can have these blessings. Those prophets and messengers showed how to guide people to have faith, good character, and benevolence. As guides themselves, they were to guide people to do good. If the later generations had followed in this way, then not only would those prophets and messengers be people of good and faith, but those women who followed among the descendants of Israel would also become people who did good and had faith.

Fourth: Command and Kingship

Fourth: as for our Lord, He possesses His command and ordaining. He is irresistible and unmatched. He is the King, the Lord of the Day of Recompense. He brought forth signs and granted that, among His signs, there might be a relative kingship. For example, in Sūrat al-Baqarah we can learn that He granted Prophet Dāwūd (peace be upon him) dominion, and in Sūrat Ṣād we can read that He made Dāwūd (peace be upon him) a vicegerent on the earth, gave him kingship to guide others, and wanted him to be a fair and just judge and not associate partners with the Lord. From this we can all learn of the blessing possessed by the descendants of Israel: we must learn how this prophet and messenger became fair and just, did not incline to deviation and did not commit wrong, and used the authority he had been given to do good and guide people onto the straight path.

Fifth: Will

Fifth: as for the Lord, He possesses His free, unrestricted, faultless, perfect will. As a sign of this, let us read about Prophet Sulaymān (peace be upon him). The Lord graciously bestowed blessings upon him—not only knowledge, but also all kinds of mighty abilities. In particular, the Lord said that He subjected the wind for him, so that it traveled a month in the morning and a month in the afternoon, and caused molten copper to gush forth for him like a spring, and also enabled him to subdue the jinn, so that the jinn worked for Sulaymān according to the Lord’s will. In the twelfth verse of Sūrat Sabaʾ, our Lord used the word by leave (idhn; إذن) to describe the blessing He graciously bestowed upon Prophet Sulaymān (peace be upon him):

{وَلِسُلَيْمَانَ الرِّيحَ غُدُوُّهَا شَهْرٌ وَرَوَاحُهَا شَهْرٌ وَأَسَلْنَا لَهُ عَيْنَ الْقِطْرِ وَمِنَ الْجِنِّ مَن يَعْمَلُ بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِ وَمَن يَزِغْ مِنْهُمْ عَنْ أَمْرِنَا نُذِقْهُ مِنْ عَذَابِ السَّعِير}[Sabaʾ (Sheba; سبأ):12]

34:12 And to Solomon ˹We subjected˺ the wind: its morning stride was a month’s journey and so was its evening stride. And We caused a stream of molten copper to flow for him, and ˹We subjected˺ some of the jinn to work under him by his Lord’s Will. And whoever of them deviated from Our command, We made them taste the torment of the blaze.

Human beings and jinn have personal wills and can make choices, but by His will the Lord made the jinn serve Prophet Sulaymān (peace be upon him). He also caused the queen among humankind to receive guidance quickly and come in submission. Prophet Sulaymān (peace be upon him) did not himself possess such great power, but the Lord, through him as a sign, displayed that the Lord’s will is irresistible. Even though human beings and jinn can have their own choices, when it is the Lord’s will, there is no room to choose: it must be done, it has to be done, it cannot be resisted. From this blessing of Prophet Sulaymān (peace be upon him) subduing the jinn, we can read that all who follow the way of Sulaymān certainly know that they must submit to the Lord’s will and cannot disobey it. The Lord chooses how to guide people, whom to send as a prophet, who is a messenger, who is sent first and who is sent later. For example, He ultimately sent our Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, the Seal of the Prophets, an unlettered prophet from among the Arabs. This is the Lord’s will. If a person refuses to submit simply because the one sent is not from his own tribe, then such people cannot obtain the good outcome of both worlds. For whom the Lord sends, who becomes a guide, a leader, a vicegerent on the earth, who is noble and who is lowly—His will is irresistible, and His will is perfect and beyond reproach. He knows how to guide humanity.

Sixth: Speech and Scripture

Sixth: our Lord possesses this characteristic of speech. He reveals to His creatures how they are to live. For example, even the little bees spoken of in Sūrat al-Naḥl can receive the Lord’s revelation so that they gather honey. As for human beings, all the more so: the Lord can speak to people by revelation from behind a veil, and can send angels to convey His words, and He sent down scriptures for mankind. The descendants of Israel had three scriptures—the Torah, the Gospel, and the Psalms. In these three scriptures, the explicit texts in the Torah spoke of how to worship the Lord and of the major law. In the Gospel, the content concerning spirit in relation to Prophet ʿĪsā (peace be upon him) was expounded, so there must also have been some hidden teachings there. As for Prophet Dāwūd (peace be upon him), we all know that the Lord blessed him and that he was especially skilled in eloquent expression. This shows that he could not only use symbolic expression to recognize the symbolic meaning of the material world, but could also use symbolic expression to understand the Lord’s teachings concerning those unseen worlds. So, precisely because these three scriptures spoke of explicit texts, expounded hidden teachings, and also guided people to use symbolic methods to understand the material world and the spiritual world, using comparisons to understand them, anyone among the Israelites who perfectly carried out the scriptures and did not incline to either side would certainly not become the sort who either hold to the explicit text and abandon the hidden teachings, or hold only to the hidden teachings and abandon the explicit text, or do not know at all how to use symbolic methods to understand hidden and manifest scripture. For the Lord’s scriptures contain many examples: some use animals as examples, and some use the created world as examples. People need to use a symbolic method to understand what characteristics human beings have. For example, when animals are listed, people can know whether they have that attribute and how guidance is to be obtained.

So if the descendants of Israel truly recited the scriptures, studied the scriptures, carried out the scriptures, and combined the three scriptures together, they would obtain the straight path. They would never have deviant traits of thought, and they certainly would not go and tamper with the scriptures.

Seventh: Purity and Spirit

Seventh: our Lord possesses this meaning of His rūḥ, His spirit—utterly pure, holy, ever-living, and wholly unconstrained by desire. Now the Israelites had a great blessing: Prophet ʿĪsā (peace be upon him), the one whom the Lord called spirit, became a sign. The Lord directly protected him, causing his human nafs not to incline toward evil, not to obey personal inclinations and interests, and making the spirituality of his nafs become the soul at peace (an-nafs al-muṭmaʾinnah; النفس المطمئنة), a state of tranquil soul. Therefore his spirit, the rūḥ he possessed, maintained a relative attribute that a human being can possess—purity. Then what is the attribute of purity that a human being possesses? It is not associating partners with the Lord: in knowledge, not associating partners with Him; in action, not doing evil, not committing wrong, and having no sin. Then he can truly and perfectly know the Lord and worship the Lord. When a person possesses the attribute of purity, then that soul of rūḥ becomes a tranquil soul-state. At that time a person can become one who, on earth, leads others to know the truth, know the Lord’s oneness, and worship the Lord alone.

If the descendants of Israel had strictly guided others onto the straight path in the way Prophet ʿĪsā (peace be upon him) did, then there absolutely would have been no phenomenon of self-loss. But among the later generations there were people who thought, “Our group is more noble, so we will guide only our group. The others are gentiles; the others are lowly people; leave them aside.” In this way, one cannot obtain the straight path. Because as a guide among humankind, he is displaying this sign of the Lord’s mercy. So long as someone is human, no matter what race he belongs to, one must not divide people into ranks, but must guide them. Moreover, among the People of the Book after Prophet ʿĪsā (peace be upon him), and even in their political systems, we can see what kinds of racism, nationalism, and racial discrimination they had, deciding which group is noble and which is lowly. Especially the features of their racism are the clearest divisions they themselves brought about. All of these belong to those who did not strictly walk the path of Prophet ʿĪsā (peace be upon him).

As for Prophet ʿĪsā (peace be upon him), before the Lord raised him up, he fully carried out the blessing the Lord had granted him—guiding others. Whoever accepted guidance, whatever sort of person he was, Prophet ʿĪsā (peace be upon him) would guide him. When he descends before the Last Day, it will be the same: he will not come only to guide the descendants of Israel. He follows the path of our Seal Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, so he will also guide all those who are upon the straight path.

Conclusion

These are the blessings that the descendants of Israel received in these seven aspects, but in the end they became people who were ungrateful for blessings. They deceived themselves. They did not strictly follow the path of the messengers and prophets whom the Lord sent to them, and so they became ungrateful, rather than becoming people of gratitude and praise. Having learned these things, I ask the Lord to guide us, so that in these seven aspects we too may follow the straight path. In the path and scripture that the Lord gave to us through our Seal Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, the paths of these prophets and messengers have been fully set forth. According to the Qur’an and the path left by the words and deeds of Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, we must follow the straight path and become people of gratitude and praise, not people who were ungrateful for blessings.

We will end our sharing here today. If anything in the explanation was unclear, or if there were slips of the tongue, I ask Allah, exalted and great, to forgive me, and I ask the readers to excuse me. Thank you all for sharing.

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

Qur’an translation source: The Clear Qur’an — Dr. Mustafa Khattab.

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