“Do ye agree, and take this my Covenant as binding on you?” “I am with you among the witnesses." What do the statements above in verse 81 of the chapter of Aal-i Imran mean?

- Allah took the covenant of the prophets, saying:.. - Do ye agree, and take this my Covenant as binding on you? - I am with you among the witnesses. Will you explain verse 81 of the chapter of Aal-i Imran? What do the statements above mean?

Dear Brother / Sister,

The meaning of the verse is as follows:

“Behold! Allah took the covenant of the prophets, saying: "I give you a Book and Wisdom; then comes to you a messenger, confirming what is with you; do ye believe in him and render him help." Allah said: "Do ye agree, and take this my Covenant as binding on you?" They said: "We agree." He said: "Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses." (Aal-i Imran, 3/81)

When Allah gave all His prophets books and wisdom, he obtained such an agreement and vow from all of them. There is a mutual agreement of approval like that among them adopted under divine witnessing between the predecessors and successors. All of them promised Allah to believe in and to help Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, who approved all of them. That is the decree of knowledge and true witnessing. (Elmalılı, Hak Dini, the interpretation of the relevant verse)

In addition, it is emphasized that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), who would come as the last prophet, is the heir of the truths brought by all prophets, that the truths he brought was also evidence for the trueness of the previous heavenly books, and hence the last revelation has a universal, timeless and spaceless feature that includes all revelations. This importance of the last prophet is emphasized with the statement meaning “when that messenger comes, you will definitely believe in him and render him help.”

Since the prophets themselves did not meet the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), it becomes clear that the main addressee of the covenant in question in the verse is the People of the Book. Accordingly, every prophet informed his ummah about the last prophet and asked them to definitely believe in and help him if they met him.

Some of the People of the Book who were aware of the prophethood of Hz. Muhammad did not believe in him by ignoring the signs and glad tidings present in their books and the advice of the previous prophets that was transferred from the generation to generation. There is a serious reproach to them in the verse.

On the other hand, the principle of the integrity of the declarations of all prophets appointed by Allah is reminded; it is stated that a mutual witnessing is stipulated in the form of every prophet’s declaring the trueness of the divine revelations before him, and the followers of the previous prophets believing in and supporting what he brought.

Thus, attention is drawn to the fact that it is inevitable for the People of the Book to respond positively to this call in order to be consistent among themselves and for the call to those who oppose "divine religions" and "belief in Allah" to be successful.

The statement "Allah took the covenant of the prophets" is explained as follows:

a) The verse states that it was promised by the prophets that they would believe and support the messenger to come afterwards. Then, the ones who promised here are the prophets. According to some of the scholars who adopt this interpretation, the promise that is obtained is about the prophets’ approving one another in general; according to some others, it is about giving the glad tiding that the Prophet Muhammad would come.

b) When the style of the Quran and the verses related to "mithaq (covenant)" are examined carefully, it is seen that what is meant here is not obtaining a promise from prophets themselves but the prophets’ obtaining a promise from their ummahs that they would believe and support the Prophet Muhammad when he came. (see Tabari, Ibn Atiyya, Razi, Zamakhshari, the interpretation of the verse in question)

It can be said that the verse includes the interpretation above and similar ones.

The word “isr” mentioned in the verse lexically means "weight, covenant, tie". It is also used in the sense of "weight, burden" in the Quran (see al-Baqara 2/286; al-A'raf 7/157) but it is translated as covenant in this verse judging from the context. (see Kur’an Yolu, Heyet, the interpretation of the verse in question)

Therefore, the reason why this duty is called "isr" is its being a "heavy burden, hard burden". Accordingly, the meaning is as follows: “Do you accept the heavy burden?” (Nasafi, the interpretation of the verse in question) For, the prophets who conveyed the message of their religion to their ummahs made a great and heavy promise to their deity in a beautiful admirable scene. It becomes clear in the light of this fact that the ummahs of the previous prophets disobeyed the directives of their prophets and the promise they gave to Allah. The members of the People of the Book who do not obey the last prophet also oppose the order of this universe, which surrenders to the Creator’s law, which programs its works based on His command and which obeys the law of Allah (see Sayyid Qutub, Fi Zilal, the interpretation of the verse in question)

As for the issue of "Allah's witnessing" mentioned in the verse, since Allah Almighty essentially knows everything, whether open or hidden, His demand for such a witnessing cannot be explained by His need for it. Attention is drawn to the principle of mutual witnessing in the universe, which is the work of His will, on the one hand here, and the fact that all kinds of accusations and responsibilities depend on the condition of proving on the other hand; and they are asked to meditate on the issue. The sentence "I am with you among the witnesses" aims to strengthen the bindingness of this promise and to prevent people from breaking it. (Zamakhshari, the interpretation of the verse in question)

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