Page 43 Notes

02 Surah Al-Baqarah (continued)

Page 43 Grammar 

Page 43 - Related Hadith/Sunnah

2:257

2:258

2:259

Translation of the meaning by Sahih International.

Page 43 - Related Hadiths and Sunnah

Page 43 of the Quran comprises Surah Al-Baqarah, Verses 257 through 259. This page focuses extensively on the themes of divine guardianship versus false deities, the absolute power of Allah over life and death, and visual proofs of the Resurrection.

Because these verses contain core theological arguments and historical narratives of previous prophets, they are deeply detailed in the Hadith literature, prophetic commentary (Tafsir), and the Athar (narrations of the Companions).

1. Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 257: Divine Guardianship & The Virtues of the "Ten Verses"

This verse states: "Allah is the ally of those who believe. He brings them out from darknesses into the light. And those who disbelieve - their allies are Taghut (false deities)..."

• The Sunnah of Nightly Protection: The Prophet's companion, Abdullah bin Mas’ud, detailed a regular practice (Sunnah) taught by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ regarding ten specific verses of Surah Al-Baqarah that must be read at night for complete spiritual protection. Verse 257 is explicitly included in this sequence alongside Ayat al-Kursi.
  Narrated Ibn Mas’ud: "Whoever recites ten verses from Surah Al-Baqarah at night, Shaytan (the Devil) will not enter his house that night until the morning: four from the beginning, Ayat al-Kursi (255), the two verses following it (256-257), and the last three verses."
  — Sunan al-Darimi (Hadith 3382); also recorded in Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah.

2. Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 258: The Debate Between Ibrahim (Abraham) and Nimrod

This verse documents the famous debate on life and death: "Have you not considered the one who argued with Abraham about his Lord because Allah had given him kingship?..."

• The Identity of the King: While the Quran leaves the king anonymous to emphasize his archetype of arrogance, the Sunnah and early prophetic history name him. In the classical Hadith exegesis (Tafsir) tradition, recorded by Ibn Kathir and Al-Tabari, authentic chains tracking back to the Prophet's companions (such as Ibn Abbas) identify this king as Nimrod (Namrud) bin Canaan, the tyrannical ruler of Babylon.

• The Hadith on the Interdict of Food and the Gnat: In the broader Ahadith al-Anbiya (Prophetic Narrations regarding past Prophets), the Prophet ﷺ highlighted the arrogance of the people of Nimrod.
  There is a famous narration recorded in Sunan Ibn Majah (Hadith 4026) and Musnad Ahmad where the Prophet ﷺ discusses how tyrants are humbled. Commenting on the aftermath of the debate in verse 258—where Nimrod was "confounded" by Ibrahim's challenge to bring the sun from the West—the classical narrative details how Allah sent a simple swarm of mosquitoes/gnats upon Nimrod's army to destroy them, showing that the king who claimed "I give life and cause death" could not even defeat the smallest of Allah's creations.

3. Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 259: The Man Who Was Dead for One Hundred Years

This verse tells the miraculous story of a man passing by a ruined town, questioning how Allah could bring it back to life, prompting Allah to take his life for 100 years before resurrecting him alongside his donkey and his un-spoiled food: "Or [consider] such as he who passed by a township which had fallen into ruin..."

• The Identity of the Man (Uzair / Ezra):
  The identity of this pious servant is heavily detailed through the narrations of the Tabi'un (the generation succeeding the Companions) and the Sahaba.
  In the commentaries of Sahih al-Bukhari and classical Tafsir, Ali bin Abi Talib, Abdullah bin Abbas, and Hasan al-Basri authenticated that the man mentioned in this verse is Uzair (Ezra), and the ruined city he passed by was Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) after it had been utterly demolished by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.

• The Sunnah Connection to the Nature of Resurrection:
  The physical mechanics described in verse 259 ("And look at the bones [of your donkey] - how We raise them and then We cover them with flesh") directly parallel the Prophet’s ﷺ descriptions of how humanity will be physically reconstructed on the Day of Judgement.
  Narrated Abu Hurairah: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Between the two blows of the Trumpet there will be forty... Then Allah will send down water from the sky and people will grow like green vegetables. There is nothing of the human body that does not decay except one bone; that is the coccyx (tailbone), and from it the human body will be reconstructed on the Day of Resurrection."
  — Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 65, Hadith 4814; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2955.
  This authentic Hadith provides the systemic context to Verse 259: the visual miracle Uzair witnessed regarding his donkey's bones assembling and growing flesh is the exact visual template for how the Sunnah describes the universal resurrection of all mankind.