Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:133
Or were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, when he said to his sons, "What will you worship after me?" They said, "We will worship your God and the God of your fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac - one God. And we are Muslims [in submission] to Him."
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.
أَمْ كُنْتُمْ شُهَدَاءَ إِذْ حَضَرَ يَعْقُوبَ الْمَوْتُ (Or were you witnesses when death drew near to Jacob?)
**The statement concerning the interpretation of the words of the Exalted:** أَمْ كُنْتُمْ شُهَدَاء إذْ حَضَرَ يَعْقُوبَ الْمَوْتُ (Or were you witnesses when death drew near to Jacob?). The Exalted, whose remembrance is sublime, means by His words أَمْ كُنْتُمْ شُهَدَاء (Or were you witnesses): "Were you?" But He poses the question with "am" (أَمْ — "or"), because it is a newly commenced questioning that follows upon a statement which preceded it, as has been said: ألم تَنْزِيل الْكِتَاب لَا رَيْب فِيهِ مِنْ رَبّ الْعَالَمِينَ أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ (Alif Lām Mīm. The sending down of the Book, in which there is no doubt, is from the Lord of the worlds. Or do they say: he has invented it?) (32:1–3). Thus do the Arabs in every questioning which they commence after a statement that preceded it: then they pose the question with "am." And "al-shuhadāʾ" (the witnesses) is the plural of "shahīd," just as "al-shurakāʾ" (the associates) is the plural of "sharīk," and "al-khuṣamāʾ" (the adversaries in a dispute) is the plural of "khaṣīm."
The interpretation of the statement runs: "Were you, O company of Jews and Christians who deny Muḥammad ﷺ and reject his prophethood, present and witnesses with Jacob when death drew near to him?" That is to say: you were not present there. So do not assert falsehoods about My prophets and messengers, and do not ascribe to them Judaism and Christianity. For I sent My bosom friend (khalīl) Abraham, and his son Isaac, and Ishmael and their descendants, with the pure monotheistic doctrine submitted to Allah (al-ḥanīfiyya al-muslima). And with it they charged their sons, and with it they imposed a covenant upon their children after them. Had you therefore been present with them and heard them, you would have known that they were upon something other than the religions and creeds which you ascribe to them after them.
These verses came down as a refutation by Allah, the Exalted, against the Jews and the Christians in their claim concerning Abraham and his son Jacob, that these were upon their creed. Therefore He said to them in this verse: أَمْ كُنْتُمْ شُهَدَاء إذْ حَضَرَ يَعْقُوبَ الْمَوْتُ (Or were you witnesses when death drew near to Jacob?), so that you might know what he said to his sons and what his sons said to him. Then He made known to them what he said to them and what they said to him.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken. Mention of who said that:
1724 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, his words concerning: أَمْ كُنْتُمْ شُهَدَاء (Or were you witnesses?): he means the People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb).
إِذْ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ بَعْدِي قَالُوا نَعْبُدُ إِلَهَكَ وَإِلَهَ آبَائِكَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ إِلَهًا وَاحِدًا وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ (When he said to his sons: "What will you worship after me?" They said: "We will worship your God, and the God of your fathers Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, one single God, and to Him we submit.")
**The statement concerning the interpretation of the words of the Exalted:** إذْ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ بَعْدِي قَالُوا نَعْبُد إلَهك وَإِلَه آبَاءَك إبْرَاهِيم وَإِسْمَاعِيل وَإِسْحَاق إلَهًا وَاحِدًا وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ . The Exalted, whose remembrance is sublime, means by His words إذْ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ (When he said to his sons): when Jacob said to his sons. And this "idh" (when) is a repetition, as a substitute for the first "idh," in the meaning: "Or were you witnesses of Jacob when Jacob said to his sons, at the time that his death drew near?"
And by His words مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ بَعْدِي (What will you worship after me?) is meant: "What thing will you worship after me?", that is to say: after my departure. قَالُوا نَعْبُد إلَهك (They said: We will worship your God) — by this is meant: his sons said to him: "We will worship the object of your worship that you worship, and the object of worship of your fathers Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, as one single God." That is to say: we will make worship pure for Him and assign Lordship (rubūbiyya) to Him alone, and we will not assign to Him any associates in anything, nor take besides Him any lord.
And by His words وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ (and to Him we submit) He means: and we are submitted to Him in servitude and obedience. And it is possible that His words وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ have the meaning of a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl), as though they said: "We will worship your God, while we are submitted to Him through our obedience and our worship of Him." And it is possible that it is a newly commenced statement (khabar mustaʾnaf), so that the meaning is: "We will worship your God after you, and we are submitted to Him now and in every state."
And the best of these two modes of interpretation is that it has the meaning of a circumstantial qualifier, and that the meaning is: "We will worship your God and the God of your fathers Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, submitted to His worship."
And it has been said: He only placed the mention of Ishmael before Isaac because Ishmael was older than Isaac. Mention of who said that:
1725 — Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words: قَالُوا نَعْبُد إلَهك وَإِلَه آبَائِك إبْرَاهِيم وَإِسْمَاعِيل وَإِسْحَاق (They said: We will worship your God, and the God of your fathers Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac), he said: It is said that He began with Ishmael because he was the eldest.
And some of the earlier reciters read: "wa-ilāha abīka Ibrāhīm" (and the God of your father Abraham), supposing on their part that Ishmael, since he was an uncle of Jacob, was not permitted to fall among those who are designated as "the fathers," nor to be counted in their ranks. And that, on the part of the one who read it thus, is a mark of slight knowledge in him concerning the current usages of Arabic speech. For the Arabs do not refuse to place uncles in the meaning of fathers, and maternal uncles in the meaning of mothers. Therefore Ishmael falls among those who are designated as "the fathers." And "Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac" is a further specification of "the fathers" in the genitive position (jarr), but they put it in the accusative (naṣb) because they do not customarily assign the genitive.
And the correct reading in our view is this: وَإِلَه آبَائِك (and the God of your fathers), because of the agreement of the reciters (qurrāʾ) upon its correctness, and the anomalousness (shudhūdh) of whoever among the reciters acted in conflict with it by reading otherwise. And His word إلَهًا (one single God) stands in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl) to His word إلَهك (your God).
