Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:114
And who are more unjust than those who prevent the name of Allah from being mentioned in His mosques and strive toward their destruction. It is not for them to enter them except in fear. For them in this world is disgrace, and they will have in the Hereafter a great 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: وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنْ مَنَعَ مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ أَنْ يُذْكَرَ فِيهَا اسْمُهُ وَسَعَى فِي خَرَابِهَا
(And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein, and strives to ruin them?)
Abū Jaʿfar said: We have already demonstrated in what preceded that the meaning of the word injustice (ẓulm) is: the placing of a matter in a place that does not belong to it. And the meaning of His saying (And who is more unjust) is: which person is more severe in his transgression and his audacity against Allah, and more severe in transgressing His command, than a person who prevents the mosques of Allah from having Allah worshipped therein?
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And "al-masājid" (the mosques) is the plural of masjid: that is every place in which Allah is worshipped. We have already expounded in what preceded the meaning of prostration (sujūd). So the meaning of "al-masjid" is: the place where one prostrates oneself before Allah, just as one calls the place where one sits "al-majlis," and the place where one alights "manzil"; then these are made plural as "manāzil" and "majālis," corresponding to masjid and masājid. And it has been transmitted, heard from some of the Arabs, that they used "masājid" for the singular of masājid, but that counts as an error on the part of the one who says it.
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As for His saying (that His name be mentioned therein), in it there are two manners of interpretation. One of them is that the meaning is: and who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah, that His name be mentioned therein; in that case "an" stands, according to the statement of some grammarians, in the accusative (naṣb) on account of the dropping of the preposition and the linking of the verb to it.
And the other manner is that the meaning is: and who is more unjust than he who prevents that Allah's name be mentioned in His mosques; in that case "an" stands in the position of the accusative, as a repetition related to the position of "the mosques" and referring back to it.
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As for His saying (and strives to ruin them), the meaning of it is: and who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein, and than he who strives to ruin the mosques of Allah. So "saʿā" (he strives) is here linked to "manaʿa" (he prevents).
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If a speaker were to say: and who is meant by His saying (And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein, and strives to ruin them)? And which mosques are those?
Then it is answered: the scholars of interpretation differ over that. Some of them said: those who prevented the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein are the Christians, and the mosque is the Holy House (Bayt al-Maqdis, Jerusalem).
* Mention of who said that:
1820 – Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying (And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein): that they are the Christians.
1821 – 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 saying of Allah (And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein, and strives to ruin them): the Christians cast filth into the Holy House and prevented the people from praying therein.
1822 – 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, something similar.
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And others said: it is Bukhtanaṣṣar (Nebuchadnezzar) and his army and whoever helped him of the Christians, and the mosque is the mosque of the Holy House.
* Mention of who said that:
1823 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying (And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein), the verse: those are the enemies of Allah, the Christians; their hatred toward the Jews led them to help Bukhtanaṣṣar the Babylonian, the Magian (majūsī), in the destruction of the Holy House.
1824 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying (And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein, and strives to ruin them), he said: that is Bukhtanaṣṣar and his companions; he destroyed the Holy House, and the Christians helped him in that.
1825 – Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, (And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein, and strives to ruin them), he said: the Romans (al-Rūm); they supported Bukhtanaṣṣar in the destruction of the Holy House, until he destroyed it, and he gave the command that carcasses be cast into it. And the Romans helped him in destroying it only because of the fact that the Children of Israel had killed Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā (John, son of Zacharias).
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And others said: no, Allah – Mighty and Exalted is He – meant by this verse the polytheists (mushrikīn) of Quraysh, when they prevented the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from entering the Sacred Mosque (al-Masjid al-Ḥarām).
* Mention of who said that:
1826 – Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb related to us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying (And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein, and strives to ruin them), he said: those are those polytheists, when they positioned themselves on the day of al-Ḥudaybiyya between the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the entering of Mecca, until he slaughtered his sacrificial animal at Dhū Ṭuwā and concluded a truce with them. And he said to them: "No one was ever kept away from this House; it used to happen that a man would encounter there the murderer of his father or his brother, and yet he would not stop him." But they said: "He who killed our fathers on the day of Badr shall not enter upon us, while there are survivors among us!"
And concerning His saying (and strives to ruin them) he said: by their cutting off those who maintained it through the remembrance of Him and who visited it for the pilgrimage (ḥajj) and the lesser pilgrimage (ʿumra).
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most fitting of the interpretations that I have mentioned for the explanation of the verse is the statement of the one who said: Allah – Mighty and Exalted is He – meant by His saying (And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein) the Christians. And that is because it was they who strove to ruin the Holy House and helped Bukhtanaṣṣar in that, and they prevented the believers of the Children of Israel from praying therein, after Bukhtanaṣṣar had turned away from them to his own land.
And the proof of the correctness of what we have said about that is the establishment of the argument that there is no statement concerning the meaning of this verse other than one of the three statements that we have mentioned, and that there is no mosque other than what Allah – Mighty and Exalted is He – meant by His saying (and strives to ruin them) except one of the two mosques: either the mosque of the Holy House, or the Sacred Mosque. And since that is so – and it is known that the polytheists of Quraysh never strove to ruin the Sacred Mosque, even though at certain times they had prevented the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions from praying therein – then it is correct and established that those whom Allah – Mighty and Exalted is He – described as striving to ruin His mosques are others than those whom Allah described as maintaining them. For the polytheists of Quraysh had built the Sacred Mosque in the time of ignorance (al-jāhiliyya), and with maintaining it they prided themselves, even though some of their deeds therein were not, on their part, in the manner with which Allah was pleased.
And another proof: the verse that precedes His saying (And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein) ran with the report about the Jews and the Christians and the censure of their deeds, and the verse that follows it drew attention with the censure of the Christians and the report about their fabrication against their Lord; and there is no mention preceding it of Quraysh, nor of the polytheists of the Arabs, nor of the Sacred Mosque, such that the report – through the saying of Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He: (And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein) – would be directed toward them and toward the Sacred Mosque.
And since that is so, what is most fitting for the verse is that its interpretation be directed toward that which corresponds to the account of the verse before it and the verse after it, since its report is equal and conformable to the report of those two – unless an argument arises to which one must submit indicating the contrary, even though their accounts agree and resemble one another.
And if someone supposes that what we have said about that is not so – because the Muslims were never obligated to prayer in [the Sacred Mosque, such that they would be prevented from it, and one would therefore be compelled to] direct the saying (And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein) toward the notion that the mosque of the Holy House is meant by it – then he has erred in what he supposes about it. And that is because Allah – exalted is His remembrance – mentioned only the injustice of him who prevented the believers of the Children of Israel, for whom prayer in the Holy House was obligatory, from it; and them He meant with the report about them concerning the injustice and the striving toward the destruction of the mosque. Although, by the generality of His saying (And who is more unjust than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein), He did indicate that everyone who prevents one who prays in a mosque of Allah – whether his prayer therein is obligatory or voluntary – and everyone who strives to ruin it, belongs to the transgressors, the wrongdoers.
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The explanation of the saying of Him, exalted is His remembrance: أُولَئِكَ مَا كَانَ لَهُمْ أَنْ يَدْخُلُوهَا إِلا خَائِفِينَ
(For them it is not fitting that they should enter them, except in fear.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: And this is a report from Allah – Mighty and Exalted is He – about him who prevented the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein: that He has forbidden them the entering of the mosques which they strove to ruin, and in which they prevented the believing servants of Allah from remembering Allah – Mighty and Exalted is He – so long as they are in the state of waging war, except in fear and dread of the punishment for their entering them, as in the following:
1827 – Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (it is not fitting for them that they should enter them, except in fear), and so they are this day: no Christian is found in the Holy House but that he is flogged with blows and severely punished.
1828 – Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: Allah – Mighty and Exalted is He – said (it is not fitting for them that they should enter them, except in fear), and they are the Christians, and they enter the mosque only secretly; if one gains power over them, they are punished.
1829 – Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (For them it is not fitting that they should enter them, except in fear), and there is no Roman on earth who enters it this day but that he is afraid that his neck will be struck off, or he is put in dread by the payment of the poll-tax (jizyah), so that he pays it.
1830 – Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying (For them it is not fitting that they should enter them, except in fear), he said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ proclaimed: "After this year no polytheist shall perform the pilgrimage, and no naked person shall perform the circumambulation around the House." He said: then the polytheists began to say: "O Allah, we have been prevented from alighting!"
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And it has been said only (For them it is not fitting that they should enter them, except in fear), where it is worded in the manner of the report about all of them, while it is a report about (he who prevents the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein), because "man" (he who) has the meaning of the whole, even though its wording is singular.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: لَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا خِزْيٌ وَلَهُمْ فِي الآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ (114)
(For them in this world there is disgrace, and for them in the Hereafter there is a tremendous punishment.) (114)
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for His saying – Mighty and Exalted is He – (For them), then He means: those about whom He reported that they prevented the mosques of Allah from having His name mentioned therein. As for His saying (For them in this world there is disgrace), then He means by "al-khizy" (disgrace): the ignominy, the evil and the humiliation – either the death penalty and captivity, or the humiliation and the contempt through the payment of the poll-tax (jizyah), as in the following:
1831 – Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: (For them in this world there is disgrace), he said: they pay the poll-tax (jizyah) with their own hands, while they are humiliated.
1832 – Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His saying (For them in this world there is disgrace): as for their disgrace in this world, when the Mahdī arises and Constantinople is conquered, he will kill them. That is the disgrace. And as for the tremendous punishment, that is the punishment of Hell (jahannam), which is not lightened for its inhabitants, and in which the decree is not carried out upon them so that they would die. And the interpretation of the verse is: for them in this world there is humiliation, ignominy, the death penalty and captivity – on account of their preventing His name from being mentioned in the mosques of Allah and their striving toward the destruction of them – and for them there is – on account of their disobedience, their disbelief in their Lord and their striving toward corruption on earth – the punishment of Hell (jahannam), and that is the tremendous punishment.