And if the People of the Book believe
and fear God, we shall expiate their sins, and introduce them into gardens of
delight:
and if they set up (or observe) the Tourât and the Gospel and
that which hath been revealed unto them from their Lord, they shall eat both
from above, and from under their feet. Among them there is a righteous people,
but evil is that which many of them do.
Note, that the "setting up" or "careful observance
of the Tourât and of the Gospel," as well as of the Corân, by Jews
and Christians, is insisted upon in this text as elsewhere. To the Jews and
Christians who shall thus carefully maintain the ordinances of the Old and New
Testaments, as well as of the Corân, the choicest blessings are here
guaranteed: pardon of sin; entrance into gardens of delight;an abundant
provision "from above, and from beneath their feet." Some of these
Jews and Christians are praised as a "righteous and upright people"
(
Alas! how differently from their Prophet do many of his followers in the
present day, speak of these same Scriptures!