Translation of the meanings Ayah 159 Surah Al-A‘rāf - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary - The Noble Qur'an Encyclopedia

Ayah: 159

وَمِن قَوۡمِ مُوسَىٰٓ أُمَّةٞ يَهۡدُونَ بِٱلۡحَقِّ وَبِهِۦ يَعۡدِلُونَ

(159) And from among Mūsā’s people is a legion that guide with the Truth and with it they administer justice^[1794].

[1794] Here, the story of the Israelites is resumed after the last parenthetical reflection, which highlighted the relevance of the story, and good doers are an exception from the earlier Aya 148 which talks of the “people of Mūsā” taking up the calf as idol, so that they are not to be bundled up together under one heading (cf. al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar, Ibn ʿĀshūr). That mention of this fact is delayed until here, after the call to all people to Believe in Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), is, in a way, to point out that some who are deservedly called the ‘people of Mūsā’, being rightly inclined, (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr) will come to embrace Islam (cf. Abū Ḥayyān), which they surely did as mentioned in the later revealed Madinan Sura Āl ʿImrān: “They are not ˹all˺ alike, there are among the People of the Book a legion, upright, reciting the Signs of Allah throughout the night and they prostrate ˹in Prayer˺. *They Believe in Allah and the Last Day, enjoin virtue and advise against what is unacceptable and rush forth to do good—those are among the Righteous. *Whatever good they do they will not be denied it—Allah knows best the Mindful” (3: 113-115); “Indeed there are among the People of the Book those who Believe in Allah, what has been sent down to you ˹Muhammad˺ and what had been sent down to them, humbling themselves before Allah and do not trade off the Signs of Allah for a pittance; for those is their reward with their Lord—Allah is swift in reckoning” (3: 199).