The Prophets
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[21:48]
AND, INDEED, We vouchsafed unto Moses and Aaron [Our revelation as] the standard by which to discern the true from the false, and as a [guiding] light and a reminder for the God-conscious

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* v.48 : See note 38 on 2:53. The reference to the revelation bestowed on the earlier prophets as “the standard by which to discern the true from the false” (al-furqān) has here a twofold implication: firstly, it alludes to the Qur’anic doctrine – explained in note 5 on 2:4 – of the historical continuity in all divine revelation, and, secondly, it stresses the fact that revelation – and revelation alone – provides an absolute criterion of all moral valuation. Since the Mosaic dispensation as such was binding on the children of Israel alone and remained valid only within a particular historical and cultural context, the term al-furqān relates here not to the Mosaic Law as such, but to the fundamental ethical truths contained in the Torah and common to all divine revelations.