Surah Baqarah ayat 143 Tafsir Quran 2:143

﴿وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلْنَاكُمْ أُمَّةً وَسَطًا لِّتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًا ۗ وَمَا جَعَلْنَا الْقِبْلَةَ الَّتِي كُنتَ عَلَيْهَا إِلَّا لِنَعْلَمَ مَن يَتَّبِعُ الرَّسُولَ مِمَّن يَنقَلِبُ عَلَىٰ عَقِبَيْهِ ۚ وَإِن كَانَتْ لَكَبِيرَةً إِلَّا عَلَى الَّذِينَ هَدَى اللَّهُ ۗ وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُضِيعَ إِيمَانَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِالنَّاسِ لَرَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ﴾
[ البقرة: 143]

2:143 And thus we have made you a just community that you will be witnesses over the people and the Messenger will be a witness over you. And We did not make the qiblah which you used to face except that We might make evident who would follow the Messenger from who would turn back on his heels. And indeed, it is difficult except for those whom Allah has guided. And never would Allah have caused you to lose your faith. Indeed Allah is, to the people, Kind and Merciful.

Thus in the same way that We guided you to it We appointed you O community of Muhammad (s) a midmost community excellent and upright that you might be witnesses to the people on the Day of Resurrection that their messengers delivered the Message to them; and that the Messenger might be a witness to you that he delivered the Message to you and We did not appoint make the direction for you now the direction you were facing that is the Ka‘ba the Prophet s used to face it in prayer but when he emigrated he was commanded to face the Holy House of Jerusalem in order to win the hearts of the Jews. He prayed in this direction for sixteen or seventeen months before he changed direction; except that We might know that it become manifest knowledge who followed the Messenger and believed in him from him who turned on his heels and returned to unbelief doubting the religion and thinking that the Prophet s was confused about this issue; and a number of them apostatised as a result of this— though it the change of direction were wa-in ‘though’ is softened and its noun apocopated originally being wa-innahā a grave thing troublesome for people save for those of them whom God has guided; but God would never cause your faith that is your prayers towards the Holy House of Jerusalem to be wasted but He will reward you for them the reason that this verse was revealed was that some had asked about the status of those that had died before the change of direction of prayer; truly God is Gentle with believing people Merciful when He does not let their deeds go to waste al-ra’fa means ‘intensity of mercy’ and is mentioned first to allow for the end rhyme of the verse with the preceding one.

Thus We made an ‘Umma (nation) of you Muslims with balanced reason so that you be witnesses of peoples’ actions characterizing their rival systems. The Prophet would be a witness of your actions, and your deeds are a witness of your worth. We initially established AL-Quds as the Kiblah toward which you, Muhammad, turned in prayer distinguishing those who obey the Prophet and exposing the disobedient who turn on their heels, reversing their position. This was hard on those with the rich legacy of Ibrahim before them but they bowed to Providence as their guide. Allah was not going to annul your religious and spiritual virtues, for Allah displays kindness to those who serve Him and those who do not: His mercy is extended to all

(2:143) We had appointed the former giblah towards which you used to turn your face merely to test who would follow the Messenger and who would turn back. *145 It was indeed a hard test but not for those who had been blessed with Guidance from Allah. Allah will not let go to waste this faith of yours; rest assured that He is full of pity and mercy for mankind.

And thus we have made you a meaning

*144).
This constitutes the proclamation appointing the religious community ( ummah ) consisting of the followers of Muhammad to religious guidance and leadership of the world.

' And it is thus', which precedes this proclamation, contains two allusions.
It alludes, in the first place, to that Divine Guidance which enabled the followers of Muhammad to know the Straight Way so that they could attain progress to the point of being proclaimed 'the community of the middle way' ( or 'the mid-most community' or 'the community justly balanced' - Ed. ) In the second place there is an allusion to the change in the direction of Prayer from Jerusalem to the Ka'bah.
People of limited intelligence could see no significance in this change of direction although the substitution of Jerusalem by the Ka'bah amounted to the removal of the Children of Israel from their position of world leadership and their replacement by the ummah of Muhammad ( peace be on him ).

The Arabic expression which we have translated as 'the community of the middle way' is too rich in meaning to find an adequate equivalent in any other language.
It signifies that distinguished group of people which follows the path of justice and equity, of balance and moderation, a group which occupies a central position among the nations of the world so that its friendship with all is based on righteousness and justice and none receives its support in wrong and injustice.

The purpose of creating 'the community of the middle way', according to this Qur'anic verse, is to make it stand as witness 'before all mankind and the Messenger might be a witness before you'.
What this rneans is that when the whole of mankind is called to account, the Prophet, as God's representative, will stand witness to the fact that he had communicated to the Muslims and had put into practice the teachings postulating sound beliefs, righteous conduct and a balanced system of life which he had received from on high.
The Muslims, acting on behalf of the Prophet after his return to the mercy of God, will he asked to bear the same witness before the rest of mankind and to say that they had spared no effort in either communioating to mankind what the Prophet had communicated to them, or in exemplifying in their own lives what the Prophet had, by his own conduct, translated into actual practice.

This position of standing witness before all mankind on behalf of God, which has been conferred on this community, amounts to its being invested with the leadership of all mankind.
This is at once a great honour and a heavy responsibility.
For what it actually means is that just as the Prophet served as a living example of godliness and moral rectitude, of equity and fair play before the Muslim community, so is the Muslim community required to stand vis-a-vis the whole world.
What is expected of this community is that it should be able to make known, both by word and deed, the meaning of godliness and righteousness, of equity and fairplay.

Furthermore.
just as the Prophet had been entrusted with the heavy responsibility of conveying to the Muslims the guidance which he had received.
in a like manner a heavy responsibility has been laid on the Muslims to communicate this guidance to all mankind.
If the Muslims fail to establish before God that they did their duty in conveying to mankind the guidance they had received through the Prophet they will be taken to task seriously and their honourable position as the leaders of the whole world, far from being of any help to them, will spell their disaster.
They will be held responsible along with the protagonists of evil for all the errors of belief and conduct which have spread during their term of leadership.
They will have to face the grim question: What were they doing when the world was convulsed by storms of transgression, injustice and error?
*145).
One purpose of this change in the direction of Prayer was to find out who was blinkered by irrational prejudices and chained by chauvinistic attachment to land and blood, and who, having liberated himself from those bonds, was capable of rising to the heights and grasping the Truth.

On the one hand were the Arabs who were steeped in their national and racial arrogance.
For them, taking Jerusalem as the direction of their Prayer ( as originally practised by the Prophet ) was too hard a blow to their national vanity to be accepted with equanimity.
On the other hand, the Jews were essentially no different.
They, too, were obsessed with racial pride so that it was difficult for them to accept any other than the direction of Prayer which they had inherited from the past.
How could the people whose hearts were full of such idols respond to the call of the Messenger of God? Hence, God saw to it that the worshippers of such idols were distinguished from the genuine worshippers of God by first fixing Jerusalem as the direction of Prayer.
This was bound to alienate all those who had worshipped the idol of Arabianism.
Later, the fixing of the Ka'bah as the direction of Prayer led to the alienation of those who were engrossed in the worship of the idol of Israel.
Thus there were left with the Prophet only, those who truly worshipped none but the One True God.

 

( Thus ) i.e. just as we have honoured you with the Religion of Abraham ( Islam ) and his direction of prayer ( We have appointed you a middle nation ) a middlemost community, ( that you be witnesses ) for the prophets ( over mankind, and that the Messenger ) Muhammad ( pbuh ) ( may be a witness over you ) that you are upright and follow the straight path. ( And We appointed ) changed ( the Qiblah which ye formerly observed ) prayed towards for a period of 19 months ( only that We might know ) see and distinguish ( him who followeth the Messenger ) concerning the Qiblah, ( from him who turneth ) reverts ( on his heels ) to his former religion and direction of prayer. ( In truth it ) the changing of the Qiblah ( was a hard (test ) save for those whom Allah guided) whose hearts Allah had protected. ( But it was not Allah’s purpose that your faith should be in vain ) that He thwarts your faith as it was prior to the abrogation of legal rulings; and it is also said that this means: it is not Allah’s purpose to thwart your faith but rather His purpose is to abrogate the legal rulings which conduct your faith; and it is also said that this means: Allah did not thwart your prayers towards Jerusalem but He has abrogated the ruling which required you to pray towards Jerusalem, ( for Allah is full of pity, Merciful ) in that He does not thwart your faith as it was before the abrogation of legal rulings ( towards mankind ) towards the believers.

Thus We have made you [true Muslims - real believers of Islamic Monotheism, true followers of Prophet Muhammad SAW and his Sunnah (legal ways)], a Wasat (just) (and the best) nation, that you be witnesses over mankind and the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) be a witness over you. And We made the Qiblah (prayer direction towards Jerusalem) which you used to face, only to test those who followed the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) from those who would turn on their heels (i.e. disobey the Messenger). Indeed it was great (heavy) except for those whom Allah guided. And Allah would never make your faith (prayers) to be lost (i.e. your prayers offered towards Jerusalem). Truly, Allah is full of kindness, the Most Merciful towards mankind.

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