Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:104
O you who have believed, say not [to Allah 's Messenger], "Ra'ina" but say, "Unthurna" and listen. And for the disbelievers is a painful punishment.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا (O you who believe, do not say "rāʿinā") (2:104)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning the explanation of His word: (do not say "rāʿinā"). Some of them said: its meaning is: do not say words of contradiction (khilāf).
**Mention of those who said that:**
1720 – Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, concerning His word: (do not say "rāʿinā"); he said: do not say contradiction.
1721 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (do not say "rāʿinā"), do not say contradiction.
1722 – And al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of that.
1723 – Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq al-Ahwāzī related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of that.
1724 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of that.
And others said: its meaning is: "Arʿinā samʿaka" (direct your hearing toward us), that is to say: listen to us and we listen to you.
**Mention of those who said that:**
1725 – Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his word: (rāʿinā), that is to say: direct your hearing toward us.
1726 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah, Mighty and Exalted: (O you who believe, do not say "rāʿinā"), do not say: listen to us and we listen to you.
1727 – And it was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning his word: (rāʿinā); he said: the man of the polytheists (mushrikīn) used to say: direct your hearing toward me (arʿinī samʿaka).
Then the exegetes differed concerning the reason why Allah forbade the believers to say "rāʿinā." Some of them said: it is a word that the Jews used to say by way of mockery and insult, and Allah, exalted is His mention, forbade the believers to say that to the Prophet ﷺ.
**Mention of those who said that:**
1728 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (O you who believe, do not say "rāʿinā"), a saying that the Jews used to say in mockery, and Allah restrained the believers from speaking as they spoke.
1729 – Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, on the authority of Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya: (do not say "rāʿinā"); he said: there were people among the Jews who used to say: direct your hearing toward us! until some people among the Muslims said it too. Then Allah made hateful to them what the Jews said, and He said: (O you who believe, do not say "rāʿinā"), as the Jews and the Christians said.
1730 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his word: (do not say "rāʿinā" but say "unẓurnā"); he said: they used to say: direct your hearing toward us! And the Jews came and said the same in mockery, so Allah said: (do not say "rāʿinā" but say "unẓurnā").
1731 – And it was related to me on the authority of al-Minjāb, saying: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his word: (do not say "rāʿinā"); he said: they used to say to the Prophet ﷺ: direct your hearing toward us! And "rāʿinā" is only like your expression "give us attention" (ʿāṭinā).
1732 – And Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning his word: (O you who believe, do not say "rāʿinā" but say "unẓurnā"); he said: "rāʿinā" is the saying that the people said, they said: سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا وَاسْمَعْ غَيْرَ مُسْمَعٍ وَرَاعِنَا لَيًّا بِأَلْسِنَتِهِمْ وَطَعْنًا فِي الدِّينِ (We have heard and we disobey, and listen, may you not be made to hear, and "rāʿinā" — twisting with their tongues and reviling the religion) [Surah al-Nisāʾ: 46]. He said: "He said: this is the rāʿin" — and the rāʿin means: the error (al-khaṭāʾ) — he said: so He said to the believers: do not say an error as the people said, but say: "unẓurnā" (look upon us) and listen. He said: they used to look at the Prophet ﷺ and speak with him, and he would listen to them, and they would ask him and he would answer them.
And others said: no, it is a word that the Anṣār used to say in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), and Allah forbade them in Islam to say it to His Prophet ﷺ.
**Mention of those who said that:**
1733 – Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, concerning his word: (do not say "rāʿinā"); he said: it was a linguistic expression among the Anṣār in the time of ignorance, and this verse was revealed: (do not say "rāʿinā" but say "unẓurnā") to the end of the verse.
1734 – Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, he said: (do not say "rāʿinā"); he said: it was a linguistic expression among the Anṣār.
1735 – Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, the like of that.
1736 – And al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Jaʿfar, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning his word: (do not say "rāʿinā"); he said: the polytheists of the Arabs, when one of them spoke with another, would say — the one to his companion: direct your hearing toward me! So they were restrained from that.
1737 – Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: "rāʿinā" is the saying of the mocker. So He forbade them to mock the saying of Muḥammad ﷺ.
And some of them said: no, that was the saying of a certain Jew from among the Jews, who was called Rifāʿa ibn Zayd. He used to address the Prophet ﷺ with it by way of insult toward him, and the Muslims took it over from him, so Allah forbade the believers to say it to the Prophet ﷺ.
**Mention of those who said that:**
1738 – Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (O you who believe, do not say "rāʿinā" but say "unẓurnā"), there was a man from among the Jews — from a tribe of the Jews who were called the Banū Qaynuqāʿ — who was called Rifāʿa ibn Zayd ibn al-Sāʾib — Abū Jaʿfar said: this is an error, it is only ibn al-Tābūt, not ibn al-Sāʾib — he used to come to the Prophet ﷺ, and when he met him and spoke with him, he would say: direct your hearing toward me, and listen, may you not be made to hear. The Muslims supposed that the prophets were honored by this, so some people among them said: "listen, may you not be made to hear," like your expression "listen, without being demeaned" — and it is that which is in [Surah] al-Nisāʾ: مِنَ الَّذِينَ هَادُوا يُحَرِّفُونَ الْكَلِمَ عَنْ مَوَاضِعِهِ وَيَقُولُونَ سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا وَاسْمَعْ غَيْرَ مُسْمَعٍ وَرَاعِنَا لَيًّا بِأَلْسِنَتِهِمْ وَطَعْنًا فِي الدِّينِ (Among those who are Jews are those who distort the words from their places and say: we have heard and we disobey, and listen, may you not be made to hear, and "rāʿinā" — twisting with their tongues and reviling the religion) [Surah al-Nisāʾ: 46]. He says: they mean by their saying only the reviling of the religion. Then He turned to the believers and said: "do not say rāʿinā."
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct view concerning Allah's — exalted is His praise — prohibition to the believers from saying "rāʿinā" to His Prophet, is that one says: it is a word that Allah made hateful for them to say to His Prophet ﷺ, comparable to what is related from the Prophet ﷺ that he said:
1739 – "Do not call the grapevine al-karm (the vine / the noble one), but say: al-ḥabala (the grapevine)."
1740 – And: "Do not say: my slave (ʿabdī), but say: my boy (fatāy)."
And what resembles that, of the two words used with one and the same meaning in the language of the Arabs, where then the disapproval or prohibition comes for the use of the one and the preference for the other in its place in address.
Now if someone says to us: we know the meaning of the Prophet's ﷺ prohibition concerning "the grape," that one calls it "karm," and concerning "the slave," that one calls it "ʿabd" — but what then is the meaning in His word (rāʿinā), why did Allah's — exalted is His praise — prohibition to the believers come against saying it, so that He commanded them to give preference to His word: انْظُرْنَا (unẓurnā)?
Then it is said: what is in it is comparable to what is in the saying of the speaker: "al-karm" for the grape, and "al-ʿabd" for the owned slave (al-mamlūk). That is because the speaker's saying "ʿabdī" (my slave) applies to all the servants of Allah, so it was made hateful for the Prophet ﷺ that some of the servants of Allah — in the meaning of servitude/slavery (ʿubūdiyya) — should be ascribed to other than Allah, and it was commanded that such a thing be ascribed to another, but not in the meaning in which it is ascribed to Allah, Mighty and Exalted, so that one says: "fatāy" (my boy). And likewise is the import of His prohibition concerning "the grape," that one calls it "karm," out of fear of the supposition that it would be characterized with nobility (al-karam), even though it is pronounced with a sukūn (without a vowel) — for the Arabs sometimes drop some vowels when they follow one another in one and the same kind. So it was made hateful that the grape be characterized therewith. Likewise Allah, Mighty and Exalted, forbade the believers to say "rāʿinā," because the speaker's saying "rāʿinā" had the potential to carry the meaning of "protect us and we protect you, and have regard for us and we have regard for you" — derived from the saying that the Arabs say to one another: "raʿāka Allāh" (may Allah protect you), in the meaning of: may Allah safeguard you and guard you — and had the potential to carry the meaning of: "direct your hearing toward us" (arʿinā samʿaka), from their saying: "arʿaytu samʿī irʿāʾan — or rāʿaytuhu samʿī riʿāʾan or murāʿātan," in the meaning of: I freed it to listen to his words. As al-Aʿshā Maymūn ibn Qays said:
He directs his hearing (yurʿī) to the word of the leaders of men, when they show him resolve, or whatever he may contrive.
He means by his word "yurʿī": he inclines his hearing toward him, freeing it for that.
And Allah — exalted is His praise — had commanded the believers to honor and revere His Prophet ﷺ, until He — exalted is His mention — forbade them, among other things, to raise their voices above his voice, and to speak loudly to him as they spoke loudly among themselves, and He made them fear concerning that the nullification of their works. So He addressed them with the rebuke not to make any saying toward him in which there is coarseness (jafāʾ), and commanded them to choose for his address the most beautiful of wordings, and of meanings the most refined. Among these was their saying (rāʿinā), because of the potential that it carries the meaning of: "have regard for us and we have regard for you" (arʿinā narʿāka), since the reciprocal verb form (mufāʿala) takes place only between two parties, as the speaker says: "ʿāṭinā (give and take with us), ḥādithnā (converse with us), jālisnā (sit with us)," in the meaning of: do it with us and we do it with you — and the meaning: direct your hearing toward us, so that we understand you and you understand us. So Allah, exalted is His mention, forbade the companions of Muḥammad to say that in that manner, and commanded them to keep their requests for attention apart by waiting for him and giving him time, so that they might understand from him, with reverence on their part toward him and veneration, and that they should not ask him what they asked by way of coarseness and harshness on their part toward him, nor with hard-heartedness and roughness, in imitation of the Jews in their addressing of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, with their saying to him: (listen, may you not be made to hear, and rāʿinā).
What indicates the correctness of what we have said about that is His word: مَا يَوَدُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَلا الْمُشْرِكِينَ أَنْ يُنَزَّلَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ (Those who disbelieve among the People of the Book nor the polytheists wish that any good should be sent down upon you from your Lord). By that He indicated that what He rebuked them for belongs to what gladdens the Jews and the polytheists.
As for the explanation related from Mujāhid concerning his word (rāʿinā), that it has the meaning of: contradiction (khilāf) — that is something not comprehensible in the language of the Arabs. For "rāʿaytu" in the language of the Arabs is only in one of two ways: the one in the meaning of the verb form "fāʿaltu" from "al-riʿya," which is guarding and protecting. And the other in the meaning of freeing the hearing, in the meaning of "arʿaytuhu samʿī." But "rāʿaytu" in the meaning of "khālaftu" (I contradicted) — there is no comprehensible import for that in the language of the Arabs. Unless he read that with tanwīn and then it indicated the meaning of foolishness (ruʿūna), ignorance, and error, in the manner in which ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd said it; then it would thereby — even though it deviates from the reading of the reciters — at that point have a comprehensible meaning.
As for the other saying related from ʿAṭiyya and whoever relates that from him: that his word (rāʿinā) was a word of the Jews in the meaning of insult and mockery, and that the believers used it by taking it over from them — that is not permissible in the description of the believers: that they would take over from the language of the people of shirk words whose meaning they do not know, and then use them among themselves and in addressing their Prophet ﷺ. But it is permissible that it be as related from Qatāda, namely that it was a correct and comprehensible word from the language of the Arabs, which coincided with a word from the language of the Jews in a language other than Arabic, which among the Jews was an insult, but among the Arabs meant: direct your hearing toward me and free it to understand me. Allah — exalted is His praise — knew the meaning of the Jews in their saying that to the Prophet ﷺ, and that its meaning among them was the opposite of its meaning in the language of the Arabs, so Allah, Mighty and Exalted, forbade the believers to say it to the Prophet ﷺ, so that the one whose meaning therein was other than the meaning of the believers therein would not take the liberty to address the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with it. And this is an explanation for which no report came that it was so, by a path by which the proof (ḥujja) is established. And since that is so, what is most fitting for the explanation of the verse is what we have described, since that is what is apparent and comprehensible from the verse, and nothing else.
And it is related from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī that he read it: (do not say "rāʿinan") with tanwīn, in the meaning of: do not say a saying that is "rāʿin," derived from "al-ruʿūna," which is foolishness and ignorance. And this is a reading that deviates from the reading of the reciters of the Muslims, so it is not permissible for anyone to recite with it, because of its deviance and its distance from the reading of the earlier and the later ones, and its contradiction of what the proof of the Muslims has transmitted.
And whoever gives "rāʿinā" tanwīn, gives it tanwīn because of His word (lā taqūlū / do not say), since at that point it grammatically governs it. And whoever does not give it tanwīn, drops the tanwīn because it is a quoted imperative. For the people, as it were, said to the Prophet ﷺ: (rāʿinā), in the meaning that they requested of him: either that he direct his hearing toward them, or that he have regard for them and watch over them — in accordance with what I expounded earlier. So it was said to them: do not say in your request to him "rāʿinā." In that way, the indication of the meaning of the imperative in "rāʿinā" at that point is the dropping of the yāʾ that would occur in "yurāʿīhi"; and what indicates it — I mean the dropped yāʾ — is the kasra of the ʿayn in "rāʿinā."
And it is mentioned that the reading of Ibn Masʿūd is: (do not say "rāʿūnā"), in the meaning of quoting a command valid for a group to grant them attention. If that is correct of his reading, then the import is that the people, as it were, were forbidden to use that among themselves in addressing one another, whether it concerned their addressing of the Prophet ﷺ or of another. And we do not know whether that is correct by the path by which reports are established as correct.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَقُولُوا انْظُرْنَا (and say "unẓurnā" / look upon us)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His word — exalted is His praise — (and say "unẓurnā"): and say, O you believers, to your Prophet ﷺ: look upon us and watch over us, then we understand and grasp what you say to us and teach us, as:
1741 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (and say "unẓurnā"), make us understand, explain to us, O Muḥammad.
1742 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (and say "unẓurnā"), make us understand, explain to us, O Muḥammad.
1743 – Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of that.
Of this it is said: "naẓartu al-rajul anẓuruhu naẓra" in the meaning of: I waited for him and watched over him. And to this belongs the saying of al-Ḥuṭayʾa:
And indeed, I waited for you as the evening-grazing camels returning from water wait, before the khims; long therein was my gentle driving and my urging on.
And to this belongs the word of Allah, Mighty and Exalted: يَوْمَ يَقُولُ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتُ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا انْظُرُونَا نَقْتَبِسْ مِنْ نُورِكُمْ (On the Day when the hypocrite men and the hypocrite women say to those who believe: "wait for us, that we may obtain some of your light") [Surah al-Ḥadīd: 13]; He means by it: wait for us.
And it is read "anẓirnā" and "anẓirūnā" with the cut hamza (qaṭʿ al-alif) in both places together. Whoever reads it thus means: grant us respite, as Allah — exalted is His praise — said: قَالَ رَبِّ فَأَنْظِرْنِي إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ (He said: my Lord, grant me respite until the Day when they are resurrected) [Surah Ṣād: 79], that is to say: grant me respite. But there is no import to reading that thus in this place. For the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were only commanded to draw near to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, to listen to him, to address him gently, and to humble themselves — not to withdraw from him, nor to request him to grant them respite. The correct view, then — since that is so — of the reading, is the reading of whoever connects the alif (waṣl al-alif) in His word (unẓurnā), and does not cut it, in the meaning of: wait for us.
And it is said: the meaning of (anẓirnā) with the cut hamza is: grant us respite. It is related from some of the Arabs by hearing: "anẓirnī ukallimuka" (grant me respite, then I will speak with you), and the one who heard that from one of them mentioned that he asked him to confirm its meaning, whereupon he informed him that he meant: grant me respite. If that is correct of them, then "unẓurnā" and "anẓirnā" — with the cutting of the hamza and its connecting — are close to one another in meaning. But even though that is so, still the reading that I allow none other than it is the reading of whoever read: (and say "unẓurnā"), with the connecting of the alif, in the meaning of: wait for us, because of the consensus of the proof (the authoritative scholars) on its correctness and their rejection of the other readings besides it.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَاسْمَعُوا وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ (and listen; and for the disbelievers there is a painful punishment) (2:104)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His word — exalted is His praise — (and listen): and listen to what is said to you and what is recited to you from the Book of your Lord, and preserve it and understand it, as:
1744 – Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (and listen), listen to what is said to you.
The meaning of the verse, then, is: O you who believe, do not say to your Prophet: direct your hearing toward us and free it for us, then we understand you and you understand from us what we say. But say: wait for us and watch over us, until we understand from you what you teach us and what you explain to us. And listen to him, to what he says to you, and preserve it, retain it, and understand it. Then He informed them — exalted is His praise — that for whoever among them and among others denies His signs, contradicts His command and prohibition, and belies His Messenger, there is the painful punishment in the Hereafter. So He said: and for the disbelievers in Me and in My Messenger there is a painful punishment (ʿadhāb alīm). He means by His word "al-alīm": the painful, the agonizing. And we have already mentioned the indication for that earlier, and what is therein of reports (āthār).
