Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Surah Al-Baqarah
Surah 2 · Al-Baqarah · verse 249 of 286

Quran 2:249 · Al-Baqarah

فَلَمَّا فَصَلَ طَالُوتُ بِٱلۡجُنُودِ قَالَ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مُبۡتَلِيكُم بِنَهَرٖ فَمَن شَرِبَ مِنۡهُ فَلَيۡسَ مِنِّي وَمَن لَّمۡ يَطۡعَمۡهُ فَإِنَّهُۥ مِنِّيٓ إِلَّا مَنِ ٱغۡتَرَفَ غُرۡفَةَۢ بِيَدِهِۦۚ فَشَرِبُواْ مِنۡهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلٗا مِّنۡهُمۡۚ فَلَمَّا جَاوَزَهُۥ هُوَ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ مَعَهُۥ قَالُواْ لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا ٱلۡيَوۡمَ بِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِۦۚ قَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُم مُّلَٰقُواْ ٱللَّهِ كَم مِّن فِئَةٖ قَلِيلَةٍ غَلَبَتۡ فِئَةٗ كَثِيرَةَۢ بِإِذۡنِ ٱللَّهِۗ وَٱللَّهُ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ

And when Saul went forth with the soldiers, he said, "Indeed, Allah will be testing you with a river. So whoever drinks from it is not of me, and whoever does not taste it is indeed of me, excepting one who takes [from it] in the hollow of his hand." But they drank from it, except a [very] few of them. Then when he had crossed it along with those who believed with him, they said, "There is no power for us today against Goliath and his soldiers." But those who were certain that they would meet Allah said, "How many a small company has overcome a large company by permission of Allah. And Allah is with the patient

Translation: Sahih International
Maulana’s commentary · Tazkirul Quran

About three hundred years after Moses and about one thousand years before Christ the Philistines attacked the Israelites and annexed most of the region of Palestine. After a period of time the Israelites wished to take some action against the Philistines, so that they might recover their lands from them. At that time there was a prophet called Samuel among them. Living in an ancient city in Syria, known as Rama, Samuel was in charge of the community matters of the Israelites. Therefore, a delegation met him and said to him, ‘Now that you have aged, you should appoint a king from amongst us, in order that we may wage war against our enemies under the command of our leader.’ Although Samuel did not have a good opinion of the character of the Israelites, he agreed to their request and promised to appoint a King for them. Therefore, he appointed a brave youth, Saul, who belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. Saul (Talut) set forth with the army to meet the enemy. On the way they had to cross the river Jordan. Since Saul was aware of the weaknesses of the Israelites, he employed a simple method to test them. He gave the order that, while crossing the river, no one was to drink more than a handful of water from it. The majority of the Israelites failed the test. However, God was with them and they emerged victorious under the leadership of Saul. A decisive role was played in this battle by David, a young Israelite soldier who was one of those who had full confidence in God. The feat he performed was to kill the enemy’s supreme commander, Goliath (Jalut). Upon the fall of Goliath, the Philistine army broke ranks and fled.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Tazkirul Quran

Maulana explains this verse in 6 lectures2007 to 2022

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1 further citation is on a recording that is not available on YouTube at the moment, so it is not shown here. It is still counted above and included in the download.

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