Transliteration:( Wa qaaloo lan tamassanan Naaru illaaa ayyaamam ma'doo dah; qul attakhaztum 'indal laahi 'ahdan falai yukhlifal laahu 'ahdahooo am taqooloona 'alal laahi maa laa ta'lamoon )
"And they say: 'Never will the fire touch us, except for a few [143] days.' Say: 'Have you taken a covenant with Allah, that Allah will not break His covenant? [144] Or do you say about Allah what you do not know?' [145]"
From this, it is suggested that boasting about one’s lineage while neglecting righteous actions is the practice of non-believers.
The Bani Israel considered themselves children of Prophets, and therefore believed they were exempt from divine accountability.
However, pious deeds are obligatory upon everyone.
Even the Prophets of Allah were not exempt from acts of piety and purity—then how can anyone else claim exemption?
This verse teaches that Allah Almighty is completely free from falsehood or the breaking of any promise.
Anyone who doubts the truthfulness of Allah’s words, i.e., the Qur’anic revelations, is falling into a grave error.
To avoid confusion, Qur’anic text is clearly marked, with divisions like Parahs, rukūʿs, and Surah names.
This reinforces that divine promises must be accepted as absolute, and that belief in Allah’s truthfulness is essential to faith.
Also, it emphasizes that Islamic traditions must be based on the Qur’an and Hadith, not on speculative or unverified claims.
80. And they (Jews) say, “The Fire shall not touch us but for a few numbered days.” Say (O Muhammad to them): “Have you taken a covenant from Allah, so that Allah will not break His covenant Or is it that you say of Allah what you know not”
Allah mentioned the claim of the Jews, that the Fire will only touch them for a few days, and then they will be saved from it. Allah refuted this claim by saying,
(Say (O Muhammad to them): “Have you taken a covenant from Allah’). Hence, the Ayah proclaims, `if you had a promise from Allah for that, then Allah will never break His promise. However, such promise never existed. Rather, what you say, about Allah, you have no knowledge of and you thus utter a lie about Him.’ Al-`Awfi said that Ibn `Abbas said about the Ayah,
(And they (Jews) say, “The Fire shall not touch us but for a few numbered days.”). “The Jews said, `The Fire will only touch us for forty days.”’ Others added that this was the period during which the Jews worshipped the calf.
(When Khaybar was conquered, a roasted poisoned sheep was presented to the Prophet as a gift (by the Jews). The Messenger of Allah ordered, `Assemble before me all the Jews who were here.’ The Jews were summoned and the Prophet said (to them), `Who is your father’ They replied, `So-and-so.’ He said, `You have lied; your father is so-and-so.’ They said, `You have uttered the truth.’ He said, `Will you now tell me the truth, if I ask you about something’ They replied, `Yes, O Abul-Qasim; and if we should tell a lie, you will know our lie as you have about our fathers.’ On that he asked, `Who are the people of the (Hell) Fire’ They said, `We shall remain in the (Hell) Fire for a short period, and after that you will replace us in it.’ The Prophet said, `May you be cursed and humiliated in it! By Allah, we shall never replace you in it.’ Then he asked, `Will you tell me the truth if I ask you a question’ They said, `Yes, O Abul-Qasim.’ He asked, `Have you poisoned this sheep’ They said, `Yes.’ He asked, `What made you do so’ They said, `We wanted to know if you were a liar, in which case we would get rid of you, and if you were a Prophet then the poison would not harm you.’) Imam Ahmad, Al-Bukhari and An-Nasa’i recorded similarly.
(2:80) They say: “The Fire will certainly not touch us except for a limited number of days.”[91] Say (to them): “Have you received a promise from Allah – for Allah never breaks His promise – or do you attribute to Allah something about which you have no knowledge?”
91. This is a misconception entertained by all Jews, laymen as well as rabbis. They felt sure that no matter what they did, they would remain immune from hell-fire just by virtue of being Jews! The worst they could conceive of was the possibility of a transient punishment before they were transported to heaven.
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