Explanation: And he read: “Indeed, We sent down the Torah in it guidance and light, by which the prophets who submitted judged for those who followed Judaism, and the rabbis and the scribes, by what they were entrusted with from the Book of Allah, and they were witnesses over it. So do not fear the people, but fear Me, and do not sell My verses for a small price. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, it is they who are the disbelievers.”

The Shaykh : And al-Hasan read: We sent down the Torah after He, Mighty and Majestic, had written it in the Tablets, and He sent it down to Moses. In it is guidance and light: guidance by which people find the right path, and light by which they are illuminated. The prophets who submitted judged by it for those who followed Judaism. So He described the prophets with Islam. For whom do they judge by it? For those who followed Judaism, meaning the Jews. And the meaning of “followed Judaism” is they returned. He said: Why did he say “the rabbis,” while what came before it is in the genitive case for “those who followed Judaism”? It is conjoined to “the prophets,” meaning, and the rabbis and the scribes judge by it. This is from the category of conjoining the general to the specific, because the rabbi is the scholar who raises people to the Shari'ah of Allah with his knowledge and his guidance. Some scholars said the rabbi is the one who raises people with the small matters of knowledge before the great ones. And there is no doubt that this is part of upbringing, but what is intended here is broader: he raises them with knowledge. And what else? With knowledge and with guidance. The guidance of the scholar’s action is not sufficient; it is not enough that he teaches people and fills them with knowledge. He must have guidance that he walks upon and follows. In fact, perhaps people’s following his guidance is more than their following his knowledge. So his saying “the rabbis” are those who raise people with knowledge, by what they teach them and by what they guide them with. And “al-ahbar” is the plural of “hibr,” and they are the scholars, but they are of a lower rank than the rabbis. And al-Hasan or someone else said, “They were entrusted with it.” “I entrusted it to you” means I deposited it with you to keep it safe. So these were entrusted with it from the Book of Allah, meaning they were entrusted with it, and the Book was made a deposit with them to keep and convey. And they were witnesses over it, meaning by what they were witnesses over, due to their knowledge, with the knowledge of certainty that it is from the knowledge of Allah. So do not fear. Here there is a shift in address. From where? From the third person to the second person. And the shift has benefits, among which is alerting the addressee, because if the speech is on one track, the addressee might doze off. But if something occurs that requires attention, he wakes up and pays attention. So the shift has benefits, among which is alerting the addressee, and what is according to the context and according to the addressee. And this is not limited, meaning you cannot say such-and-such a benefit is in every place. Meaning, do not take a small price for it. And it has been mentioned before that among the things included in this is bribery. “Whoever” is a conditional particle that implies generality. And “what Allah has revealed” is general: whatever Allah has revealed, whoever does not judge by it, whether in acts of worship, transactions, personal status, or other matters, whoever does not judge by it, it is they who are the disbelievers. And here He said “they are the disbelievers.” The intended meaning of the restriction here is not the real restriction, because among the disbelievers are some who are not like that. But they are the disbelievers with regard to their taking the Book; these are the ones who disbelieved in it.