16. Special mention of Israelites.
In verses 2:47, 2:122 45:16 Allah says the Israelites were more chosen by Him than others.
One of the basic ideologies in Islam is that no one is superior by birth. This is found in verses 2:111, 3:75, 49:13 of the Quran. We need to understand the ‘specialty to Israelites’ based on these fundamentals.
Hence the conclusion that Israelites were not accorded specialty based on birth, but refers to the power given to them to rule, the authority they wielded, worldly facilities they were gifted with etc.
Prophet Yakub, Prophet Musa, Prophet Haroon, Prophet Dawood, Prophet Sulaiman, Prophet Zacariah, Prophet Yahya, Prophet Esa, all were chosen from among the Israelites, and others were not offered the same opportunity. Verse 5:20 states this clearly, and the above-mentioned verses also talk about the power accorded to the Israelites.
Even these distinctive features accorded to them were not everlasting. 2:47, 2:122, 45:16. In verses 2:47, 2:122, 45:16 we find the usage of past tense ‘were accorded special statuses. This specifies facilities given to them for a particular period and not forever.
As far as spiritualism is concerned, the responsibility of exhorting good and forbidding evil rests with the community molded by Prophet Muhammad, this can be seen in the verses 2:143, and 3:110. This was not given to the Israelites. The Israelites who were given wide powers to rule and dignified by God were at a later time subjected to God’s wrath and anger. Al-Quran 2:88, 2:159, 4:46-47, 5:13, 5:60, 5:64, 5:78.
