Surah Al-A'raaf (7) — Ayah 157

(Ayah 157) ➊ { اَلَّذِيْنَ يَتَّبِعُوْنَ الرَّسُوْلَ النَّبِيَّ الْاُمِّيَّ …:} That is, in this era, those people are especially deserving of My mercy... (Qurtubi)
➋ In this verse, nine attributes of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) are mentioned, and by the word {الْاُمِّيَّ} (the one who does not know how to read or write), it is indicated here that despite being unlettered, the perfection of knowledge found in him is a great miracle of his, which exists in the form of the "sciences of Prophethood" as the Noble Qur'an and Hadith. By reading these, an unlettered nation like the Arabs became the leaders of the world's most educated and civilized nations.
➌ { الَّذِيْ يَجِدُوْنَهٗ مَكْتُوْبًا … :} Although the Jews and Christians left little lacking in making both literal and contextual alterations in the Torah and Gospel, especially in translations into different languages, where instead of his (peace and blessings be upon him) name, they translated it, even though a name is not to be translated. Then, even the translation was done according to their own wishes, and the original language books are not even found. However, even today, there are places in the Torah and Gospel where the Children of Israel are given the glad tidings of the coming of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). For example, see Deuteronomy, chapter 18, verses 15 to 19; chapter 33, verse 2; Matthew, chapter 3, verses 1 to 12; John, chapter 1, verses 19 to 22; chapter 14, verses 15 to 17 and 25 to 27; chapter 16, verses 12 to 15. Also, see the fifth book of the Torah, Deuteronomy, chapter 17, verse 14; John, chapter 16, verses 12 to 14.
➍ {وَ يُحِلُّ لَهُمُ الطَّيِّبٰتِ … :} That is, the pure things that were made unlawful for them due to their sins, or which they themselves had made unlawful upon themselves (such as camel meat and fat, etc.), he declares them lawful, and those impure things which they had declared lawful (such as pork and wine, etc.), he declares them unlawful. It is thus known that whatever the Shariah has declared lawful is pure, and whatever it has declared unlawful is impure.
➎ {وَ يَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ اِصْرَهُمْ …: ’’اِصْرٌ‘‘ } (burden) refers to those strict rulings that were in the previous Shariah, such as prayer being performed only in places of worship, or the punishment for polytheism being death, etc., and { ’’ الْاَغْلٰلَ ‘‘} (shackles) refers to those self-imposed restrictions that their scholars had placed upon them, or the customs that their common people had made obligatory upon themselves, such as separating a menstruating woman from eating and drinking, even her residence being separate. Just as among Muslims, following the Christians and Hindus, there are death rituals like the third, seventh, fortieth day, and customs at birth and marriage, such as hanging leaves of the siris (sharina) tree at the door at the birth of a child, placing iron on the bed of the mother, making eunuchs dance and spending on them, considering a childless woman as unlucky and not allowing her into the house, customs in marriage like the sehra, singing, henna, engagement, and other self-made customs, likewise niyundra, salami, and dowry, etc., which have made people's lives difficult and are neither in the Book of Allah nor in the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Similarly, Allah knows best how many lawful things the priests and monks of this nation, who were disrespectful to the Prophets, even to the extent of killing them, declared unlawful and unlawful things lawful, and how they consumed people's wealth in the name of khatam and sending reward to the deceased, etc. Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) removed all those burdens and shackles and broke all those restrictions, presenting the original Islam, which is extremely simple and easy. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: [ أَحَبُّ الدِّيْنِ إِلَی اللّٰهِ الْحَنِيْفِيَّةُ السَّمْحَةُ ] "The most beloved religion to Allah is the easy, upright religion." [ بخاری، الإیمان، باب الدین یسر، قبل ح : ۳۹، تعلیقًا ] And he said: [ اِنَّ الدِّيْنَ يُسْرٌ ] "The religion is easy." [ بخاری، الإیمان، باب الدین یسر : ۳۹ ] In another hadith: [ لاَ ضَرَرَ وَلَا ضِرَارَ ] [ السلسلۃ الصحیحۃ : ۲۵۰ ] That is, neither is it permissible to cause harm initially, nor in retaliation. Also, he would always instruct the noble Companions (may Allah be pleased with them): [ يَسِّرُوْا وَلَا تُعَسِّرُوْا ] "Make things easy, do not make them difficult." [ بخاری، الأدب، باب قول النبی صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم : یسروا ولا تعسروا : ۶۱۲۵ ]
Alas! Muslims, too, following in the footsteps of the People of the Book, have abandoned adherence to the obligations of Shariah and refraining from prohibited things, and have placed upon themselves the burdens and shackles of their own and their scholars' and ignorant people's self-made customs and traditions, making their lives difficult. They do not go for Hajj but spend thousands at the festivals at graves, do not pray but spend hours on the litanies of their spiritual guides. They do not give zakat and ushr but spend hundreds of thousands on cauldrons, khatams, and scholars at the time of death, become indebted for life to fulfill marriage customs and prepare dowries, but are not ready to give inheritance to daughters. Now, to whom other than Allah can this complaint be made?
➏ { فَالَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا بِهٖ … : } The light that was sent down with him is divine revelation, which is preserved until the Day of Judgment in the form of the Qur'an and Sunnah. From {’’ اُولٰٓىِٕكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُوْنَ ‘‘} it is known that after the advent of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), if anyone, despite knowing of his coming, does not believe—whether Jew, Christian, or anyone else—he can never attain success. See the footnote (2) of verse (62) of Surah Al-Baqarah.