Al-Mizan An Exegesis of the Qur'an, vol 2

Suratul Baqarah: Verses 100 ―101

What! whenever they make a covenant, a party of them cast it aside? Nay, most of them do not believe (100).

And when there came to them an Apostle from Allah verifying that which they have, a party of those who were given the Book threw the Book of Allah behind their backs as if they knew nothing (101).

Commentary

Qur’an: cast it aside: “an-Nabdh” ( النـَبْذ ) to throw away, to renounce).

Qur’an: And when there came to them an Apostle from Allah...: The word, “an Apostle”, definitely means the Apostle of Allah, Muhammad (S); it does not refer to any other apostle who might have come “verifying that which they have”, because “when there came” does not mean “whenever there came”; in other words, it does not signify a recurring incidence, but an event that happened once only.

The verse points to the Jews' adverse attitude towards the truth: they were so steeped in falsehood that they concealed the foretellings of the Torah about the Prophet of Islam, and refused to believe in the Qur'an which verified that which they hod in their hands.The verse points to the Jews' adverse attitude towards the truth: they were so steeped in falsehood that they concealed the foretellings of the Torah about the Prophet of Islam, and refused to believe in the Qur'an which verified that which they hod in their hands.