The Quran

157

Preface

الَّذينَ يَتَّبِعونَ الرَّسولَ النَّبِيَّ الأُمِّيَّ الَّذي يَجِدونَهُ مَكتوبًا عِندَهُم فِي التَّوراةِ وَالإِنجيلِ يَأمُرُهُم بِالمَعروفِ وَيَنهاهُم عَنِ المُنكَرِ وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ الطَّيِّباتِ وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيهِمُ الخَبائِثَ وَيَضَعُ عَنهُم إِصرَهُم وَالأَغلالَ الَّتي كانَت عَلَيهِم ۚ فَالَّذينَ آمَنوا بِهِ وَعَزَّروهُ وَنَصَروهُ وَاتَّبَعُوا النّورَ الَّذي أُنزِلَ مَعَهُ ۙ أُولٰئِكَ هُمُ المُفلِحونَ

Yusuf Ali

“Those who follow the messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own (scriptures),-¹ in the law and the Gospel;- for he commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil; he allows them as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them from what is bad (and impure); He releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes² that are upon them. So it is those who believe in him, honour him, help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him,-³ it is they who will prosper.”⁴

In this verse is a prefiguring, to Moses, of the Arabian Messenger, the last and greatest of the Messengers of God. Prophecies about him will be found in the Tawrah and the Injil. In the reflex of the Tawrah as now accepted by the Jews, Moses says: “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me” (Deut. 18:15): the only Prophet who brought a Shari'ah like that of Moses was Muḥammad al Muṣṭafā, and he came of the house of Isma'il, the brother of Isaac, the father of Israel. In the reflex of the Gospel as now accepted by the Christians, Christ promised another Comforter, (John 14:16): the Greek word Paraclete which the Christians interpret as referring to the Holy Spirit is by our Doctors taken to be Periclyte, which would be the Greek form of Ahmad. See 61:6 and n. 416 to 3:81.
(Cf. 13:5) Aghlal: plural of ghullun, a yoke, an iron collar. In the formalism and exclusiveness of the Jews there were many restrictions which were removed by Islam, a religion for freedom in the faith of God, of universality in the variety of races, languages, manners and customs,###
Light which is sent down with him: the words are “with him”, not “to him”, emphasising the fact that the Light which he brought illumines everyone who has the privilege of joining his great and universal Fellowship.
Falah = prosperity in its general sense as well as in its spiritual sense. In the general sense it means that right conduct is the only door to happiness and wellbeing. In the spiritual sense it means that Faith and its fruits (right conduct) are the only gates to salvation.