Muhammad: Victory and Deathunbelievers would never be able to ransom themselves from Hell. The v. 42
declares that thieves (male or female) are to have their hands cut off, and
v. 43 describes repentance after the punishment. The v. 44 says that God
punishes and forgives whom He will, and the vv. 45f are against the hypo-
crites and the Jews (who are said to have exchanged words from their
places). In v. 47 the Jews are described as having not accepted Muhammad
because they have the Torah, and v. 48 presents the Torah as containing
guidance and light, and maintains that the prophets were Muslims who
judged the Jews. This verse also forbids the selling of God's signs (cf.
2:73), and v. 49 gives the laws of vengeance or forgiveness. The^261
v. 50 states that Jesus was sent to confirm the Torah and was given the
Gospel, in which is guidance and light confirming the Torah; the Gospel is,
moreover, said to be a guide and warning to those who fear (God). The
v. 51 says that the People of the Gospel are to judge according to what God
sent down in the Gospel (cf. 5:72), and in the vv. 52f the Qur'an i^262 s said to
have been sent down to Muhammad to confirm the previous Books, and
Muhammad is to judge according to what was sent down. The v. 56
commands those who believe not to have Jewish or Christian friends,
(since) they are the friends of one another. The v. 57 depicts the hypocrites
as waiting for a change in fate, and in v. 58 the believers accuse the
hypocrites of having broken their oaths. In v. 59 the Muslims are told that if
they turn away, God will choose another people, and in vv. 60f the
protectors are described as being Allah, Muhammad and the believers who
perform the prayer, pay the "zakat" and bow down. The vv. 62f command
believers not to have the Jews or Christians as friends (those who mock
Islam), and not to have unbelieving friends either. The v. 64 rhetorically
asks the People of the Book if they reject Muslims because they believe in
God, the Qur'an and what was sent down previously. The v. 65 says that
some of them (the Jews) were turned into apes (cf. 2:61; 7:166) and swine,
and concludes that those who serve "taghut" are in a bad situation. The v.
68 asks why the rabbis do not forbid the sinful speech of the Jews and their
ingestion of the forbidden. In v. 69 the statement of the Jews, that God's
hands are bound, is reproduced, and it is said that God will punish them.
The v. 70 states that if the People of the Book would believe and fear God,
they would be sent to Paradise, and says further that they would have been
essentially better off if they had fulfilled the Torah and the