Translation:

Believers, do not say to our Apostle ra’ina, but say undhurna. Take heed: the unbelievers shall be sternly punished. The unbelievers among the People of the Book, and the polytheists, resent that any blessings should have been sent down to you from your Lord. But God chooses whom He will for His mercy. And God’s grace is infinite. If We abrogate any verse or cause it to be forgotten, We will replace it by a better one or one similar. Do you not know that it is to God that the control over the heavens and the earth belongs, and that there is none besides Him to protect or help you? Would you rather demand of your Apostle that which was once demanded of Moses? He that barters faith for unbelief has surely strayed from the right path.

Tafsir (Commentary):

One who has been given knowledge of the truth from God has to face stiff opposition when he starts to impart his knowledge to others. One reason is that acceptance of truth entails negation of the self. People of position always find this hard, and none more so than the Jews, who considered prophethood to be their exclusive right. Unable to conceive of a prophet coming amongst another people, they tried various ploys to turn people away from the Arab Prophet. One of the theological objections that they raised to his teachings was on the subject of abrogation. Some of the Quranic injunctions differ from Mosaic law, they would say. Does God make mistakes in His revelations, that He sends down one commandment, and then replaces it with another? This shows that what the Prophet Muhammad teaches is not from God, but of his own creation. So intensive had this propaganda campaign become that even some simple-minded Muslims were affected, and started raising the question with the Prophet. Another gambit of the Jews was to sit in the Prophet’s company and, by playing on words, make a mockery of his teachings. For instance, instead of using the unambiguous Arabic word for “May we have your attention”—”Undhurna”—they would say “Raina.” “Raina,” when pronounced properly, has much the same meaning as “Undhurna,” but with the protraction of the second vowel, it becomes “Raeena,” meaning “our shepherd,” and with the protraction of the first it becomes “Raina,” which means idiot.

The Muslims were told therefore to avoid ambiguous words, and to be quite clear in their speech; words with a derisive shade of meaning should be especially eschewed. Furthermore, they were enjoined to pay close attention to what the Prophet said and to try to understand it on their own, without resorting to excessive questioning; receptiveness rather than obstinacy was to mark their attitude to his instruction. This was how to gain in faith, and it was the consolidation and strengthening of faith that had to be sought. The Prophet was the recipient of divine revelation. If one were in earnest about seeking to learn from him, one could share in his blessing. If, however, people were just jealous—why had it been granted to him rather than us?—the good his words had to offer would remain for ever beyond his hearers’ reach.

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