أَوَكلَّمَا عَـٰهَدواْ عَهدً۬ا نَّبَذَه ۥفَرِيقٌ۬ مِّنهم‌ۚ بَلۡ أَكثَرهمۡ لَا يؤۡمِنون

What! whenever they make a covenant, a party of them cast it aside? Nay, most of them do not believe (2:100).

وَلَمَّا جَآءَهمۡ رَسولٌ۬ مِّنۡ عِندِ ٱللَّهِ مصَدِّقٌ۬ لِّمَا مَعَهمۡ نَبَذَ فَرِيقٌ۬ مِّنَ ٱلَّذِينَ أوتواْ ٱلكِتَـٰبَ كِتَـٰبَ ٱللَّهِ وَرَآءَ ظهورِهِمۡ كَأَنَّهمۡ لَا يَعلَمونَ

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 (2:101).

Commentary

Verse 100

Qur’an: Cast it aside (2:100).

“an-Nabdh” ( النـَبْذ ) to throw away, to renounce).

Verse 101

Qur’an: And when there came to them an Apostle from Allah... (2:101).

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 hold in their hands.