Surah Al-Baqarah 2:53
سُورَةُ البَقَرَةِ · Medinan · Verse 53 of 286
وَإِذْ ءَاتَيْنَا مُوسَى ٱلْكِتَٰبَ وَٱلْفُرْقَانَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ
Translation
Remember when We gave Moses the Scripture, and the means to distinguish [right and wrong], so that you might be guided.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'And when We gave Moses the Book and the Criterion, that you might be guided.' al-Saadi and Ibn Kathir note the gift of 'al-furqan', the Criterion, the standard that distinguishes truth from falsehood, right from wrong, so a person need not navigate by guesswork. Ask yourself: alongside the Book, God gave a criterion, a way to tell the true from the false in a confusing world. That is one of revelation's greatest mercies: I am not left to sort good from evil by my own shifting instincts and the crowd's changing opinions. There is a standard given from outside myself. In an age drowning in conflicting voices, each claiming to be right, do I actually use the criterion God provided, measuring claims against revelation, or do I drift with whatever is loudest, most flattering, or most convenient, as though no criterion had ever been given?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Ashur.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:53 is discussed in 3 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
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