Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:135
They say, "Be Jews or Christians [so] you will be guided." Say, "Rather, [we follow] the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth, and he was not of the polytheists."
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: وَقَالُوا كُونُوا هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى تَهْتَدُوا ("And they said: 'Become Jews or Christians, and you will be rightly guided.'")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is sublime, means by His saying "And they said: 'Become Jews or Christians, and you will be rightly guided'": the Jews said to Muḥammad ﷺ and his companions among the believers: "Become Jews, and you will be rightly guided"; and the Christians said to them: "Become Christians, and you will be rightly guided."
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By her saying "and you will be rightly guided" she means: then you will hit upon the path of truth.⁽¹⁾ As in:
2090 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us — and Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us — both together, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, related to me, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, or ʿIkrima, related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣūriyā al-Aʿwar said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: "There is no right guidance except that upon which we stand! So follow us, O Muḥammad, and you will be rightly guided!" And the Christians said something similar. Then Allah, mighty and exalted, revealed concerning them: "And they said: 'Become Jews or Christians, and you will be rightly guided.' Say: 'Nay, the religion of Abraham, the pure in faith (ḥanīf), and he was not among the polytheists (mushrikīn).'"⁽²⁾
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Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah advanced on behalf of His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ the most eloquent, the most concise, and the most complete argument, and He taught it to Muḥammad, His Prophet ﷺ, and said: O Muḥammad, say to those who say to you, namely the Jews and the Christians, and to your companions, that they should "become Jews or Christians in order to be rightly guided": Nay, rather come, let us follow the religion of Abraham, which all of us together testify is the religion of Allah, which He approved, chose⁽³⁾ and commanded — for his religion was the pure submission (al-ḥanīfiyya al-muslima) — and let us leave aside all other creeds about which we differ, which some of us reject and others of us affirm. For concerning that — given the disagreement — there is for us no path to unanimity, just as there is for us a path to unanimity concerning the religion of Abraham.
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As for the accusative case (naṣb) in His saying بَلْ مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ ("nay, the religion of Abraham"), there are three explanations for it.
The first of them: that one directs the meaning of His saying "And they said: 'Become Jews or Christians'" toward the meaning: "And they said: follow Judaism and Christianity." For when they said "Become Jews or Christians," they were calling them to Judaism and Christianity; then upon that meaning the word "the religion (milla)" is connected. The meaning of the statement is then: Say, O Muḥammad: we do not follow Judaism and Christianity, and we do not take it as a religion, but rather we follow the religion of Abraham, the pure in faith. Then the second "we follow" is omitted, and "the religion" is connected to the case-form of "Judaism and Christianity."
The second: that the accusative is caused by an unexpressed verb with the meaning "we follow."
The third: that what is meant is: "nay, we are the adherents of the religion of Abraham," or "the people of the religion of Abraham." Then "the people" and "the adherents" were omitted, and "the religion" put in their place, because it conveyed the meaning of the statement,⁽⁴⁾ as the poet said:⁽⁵⁾
"I took the bleating of my mount to be a young kid! But it was none — woe to another than you — by the kid."⁽⁶⁾
He means: the sound of a young kid. "The religion" is then in the accusative (naṣb), connected in inflection to "the Jews and the Christians."
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It is also possible that it stands in the accusative as an exhortation (ighrāʾ), namely toward following the religion of Abraham.⁽⁷⁾
Some of the Qurʾān-reciters read this in the nominative (rafʿ). Its explanation is then — according to the reading of him who read it in the rafʿ: "Nay, the right guidance is the religion of Abraham."
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: قُلْ بَلْ مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ (135) ("Say: 'Nay, the religion of Abraham, the pure in faith, and he was not among the polytheists.'" (135))
Abū Jaʿfar said: "The religion (al-milla)" is the way of faith.
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As for "the pure in faith (al-ḥanīf)": that is the straight of everything. It has been said: the man whose one foot is turned toward the other is called "aḥnaf" only from the standpoint of wishing well-being for him, just as the corrupting, deadly land is called "al-mafāza" (the place of deliverance), in the sense of attaining rescue and deliverance from it, and just as one says of the one bitten by a snake: "al-salīm" (the unharmed), as a good omen for his deliverance from destruction, and what resembles that.
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The meaning of the statement is then: Say, O Muḥammad: nay, we follow the religion of Abraham, straight (and steadfast). "The pure in faith (al-ḥanīf)" is then a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl) for "Abraham."
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As for the people of explanation (the exegetes), they differed concerning its explanation. Some of them said: "al-ḥanīf" is the pilgrim (al-ḥājj). And it was said: the religion of Abraham, the Islam, was called "al-ḥanīfiyya" only because he was the first leader (imām) who obligated the servants — those who lived in his time, and those who came after him until the Day of Resurrection — to follow him in the rites of the pilgrimage (manāsik al-ḥajj) and to take him as an example therein. They said: thus everyone who performs the pilgrimage to the House and fulfills the rites of Abraham according to his religion, he is a "ḥanīf," a Muslim according to the religion of Abraham.
Mention of who said that:
2091 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: al-Qāsim ibn al-Faḍl related to us, on the authority of Kathīr Abī Sahl, who said: I asked al-Ḥasan about "al-ḥanīfiyya," and he said: the pilgrimage to the House.
2092 — Muḥammad ibn ʿUbāda al-Asadī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Faḍīl informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, concerning His saying "ḥanīfan," he said: al-ḥanīf is the pilgrim.⁽⁸⁾
2093 — al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣudāʾī related to me, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of al-Faḍīl, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, something similar.⁽⁹⁾
2094 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām ibn Salm related to us,⁽¹⁰⁾ on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: al-ḥanīf is the pilgrim.
2095 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Ibn al-Taymī informed us, on the authority of Kathīr ibn Ziyād, who said: I asked al-Ḥasan about "al-ḥanīfiyya," and he said: it is the pilgrimage to this House.
Ibn al-Taymī said: and Juwaybir informed me, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim, something similar.⁽¹¹⁾
2096 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Mujāhid: "ḥunafāʾ," he said: pilgrims.⁽¹²⁾
2097 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying "ḥanīfan," he said: a pilgrim.
2098 — It was related to me on the authority of Wakīʿ, on the authority of Faḍīl ibn Ghazwān, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Qāsim, who said: The people of Muḍar used to perform the pilgrimage to the House in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) and were called "ḥunafāʾ." Then Allah, whose praise is sublime, revealed: حُنَفَاءَ لِلَّهِ غَيْرَ مُشْرِكِينَ بِهِ ("pure in faith toward Allah, ascribing no partners to Him") [Surah Al-Ḥajj: 31].
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And others said: "al-ḥanīf" is the follower (al-muttabiʿ), as we described earlier according to the saying of those who said that its meaning is: uprightness (al-istiqāma).
Mention of who said that:
2099 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "ḥunafāʾ," he said: followers.
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And others said: the religion of Abraham was called "al-ḥanīfiyya" only because he was the first leader (imām) who instituted circumcision (al-khitān) as a practice for the servants, and whoever came after him followed him therein. They said: thus everyone who has himself circumcised in the manner of the circumcision of Abraham, he stands upon that upon which Abraham stood, namely Islam, and he is a "ḥanīf" according to the religion of Abraham.⁽¹³⁾
And others said: "nay, the religion of Abraham, the pure in faith (ḥanīfan)" means: nay, the religion of Abraham, the sincerely devoted (mukhliṣ). "Al-ḥanīf" is, according to their saying: the one who devotes his religion purely to Allah alone.
Mention of who said that:
2100 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: وَاتَّبَعَ مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا ("and he followed the religion of Abraham, the pure in faith"), he says: sincerely devoted.
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And others said: nay, "al-ḥanīfiyya" is Islam. Thus everyone who takes Abraham as an example in his religion and is steadfast upon it, he is a "ḥanīf."
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Abū Jaʿfar said: "al-ḥanf" is, in my opinion, steadfastness upon the religion of Abraham, and the following of him in his religion.⁽¹⁴⁾ For if al-ḥanīfiyya were the pilgrimage to the House, then it would necessarily follow that those among the people of shirk (the ascribing of partners to Allah) who performed the pilgrimage in the time of ignorance would have been ḥunafāʾ. But Allah has denied that that was a true being-ḥanīf, with His saying: وَلَكِنْ كَانَ حَنِيفًا مُسْلِمًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ("but he was a pure one in faith, a Muslim, and he was not among the polytheists") [Surah Āl ʿImrān: 67].
So too is the ruling concerning circumcision. For if "al-ḥanīfiyya" were circumcision, then it would necessarily follow that the Jews would be ḥunafāʾ. But Allah has excluded them from that with His saying: مَا كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ يَهُودِيًّا وَلا نَصْرَانِيًّا وَلَكِنْ كَانَ حَنِيفًا مُسْلِمًا ("Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was a pure one in faith, a Muslim") [Surah Āl ʿImrān: 67].
It has thus become correct that "al-ḥanīfiyya" is not circumcision alone, nor the pilgrimage to the House alone, but rather it is what we have described: steadfastness upon the religion of Abraham, the following of him therein, and the taking of him as an example therein.
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Now if someone were to say: Were not, then, those who were before Abraham ﷺ, among the prophets and their followers, steadfast upon that which they were commanded — obedience to Allah — just as steadfast as Abraham and his followers?
Then it is answered: Yes indeed.
If he were to say: How, then, is "al-ḥanīfiyya" specially attributed to Abraham and his followers in his religion, and not to the rest of the prophets before him and their followers?
Then it is answered: Everyone among the prophets who was before Abraham was a ḥanīf, a follower of obedience to Allah; but Allah, whose praise is sublime, did not make any of them a leader (imām) for whoever came after him among His servants until the onset of the Hour, as He did with Abraham. He made him a leader in that which He clarified of the rites of the pilgrimage, circumcision, and the rest of the prescriptions of Islam, as an act of worship enduring forever until the onset of the Hour. And He made that which he instituted thereof as a practice into a distinguishing mark between the believers among His servants and their unbelievers, and between the obedient among them and the disobedient. Thus the ḥanīf among the people was called "ḥanīf" because of his following of his religion and his steadfastness upon his guidance and way, and the one who strayed from his religion was called by the rest of the names of the creeds, and one said: "Jew, Christian, Zoroastrian (majūsī)," and the rest of the kinds of creeds.
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As for His saying "and he was not among the polytheists (mushrikīn)," He says: he was not among those who adhere to the religion of worshipping graven images and idols, and he was not among the Jews and not among the Christians, but rather he was a pure one in faith, a Muslim.
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Footnotes:
(1) See the meanings of "al-hudā" in what precedes, volume 1: 166–170, 230, 249, 549–551 / volume 2: 393.
(2) The narration 2090 — Sīrat Ibn Hishām, volume 2: 198.
(3) In the printed edition it reads "tajmaʿu jamīʿanā," and that is an error; the correct reading is "yajmaʿu," derived from al-ijmāʿ (unanimity).
(4) See Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ, volume 1: 82. By this last saying he means that the naṣb is caused by his word "nakūn" (we are), which belongs to the meaning of His saying "Become Jews…," after which "nakūn" was omitted.
(5) It is Dhū al-Khirq al-Ṭahawī. See the disagreement about his name, and about who is named by his name, in al-Muʾtalif wa-l-mukhtalif: 119, and al-Khizāna, volume 1: 20, 21.
(6) It will occur later in the tafsīr, volume 2: 56, attributed / then volume 4: 60 / volume 15: 14 (Būlāq edition), and in Nawādir Abī Zayd: 116, and Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ, volume 1: 61–62, and al-Lisān (wyb) (ʿnq) (ʿqā) (bghm) and others. It belongs to verses which he addresses to a wolf that followed him on his way; they are excellent, mocking verses:
"Do you not marvel at a wolf who passed the night journeying to announce to a companion of his the overtaking? I took the bleating of my mount to be a young kid! But it was none — woe to another than you — by the kid. And had I called you from near at hand, a preventer would have prevented you from answering the call of the wolf. But I cast at you from afar, and I did not hit, yet it weakened my leg. Upon you are the sheep, the sheep of the Banū Tamīm, so seize them, for you are a master at snatching away."
His word "ʿanāq" in the verse: that is the female of the goat. His word "wayb" means "wayl" (woe). And al-bughām: the sound of the gazelle or the camel, and he uses it here figuratively for the goat. His word in the third verse "ʿāq" means "ʿāʾiq" (preventer), with the letters transposed; and al-ʿaqāq is swiftness in carrying something off. "ʿĀfaqahu": he dealt with him and deceived him, and then carried him off in a single sweep.
(7) See Majāz al-Qurʾān of Abū ʿUbayda: 57, and his word "ʿalaykum millata Ibrāhīm" ("upon you is the religion of Abraham").
(8) The narration 2092 — Muḥammad ibn ʿUbāda al-Asadī, a teacher of al-Ṭabarī: this teacher has occurred repeatedly in the printed edition in various forms. Among them: 645, 1511 under the name "Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra al-Asadī," and we mentioned at the second of these that we found for him neither a biography nor a mention, except in al-Ṭabarī's narration on his authority, repeatedly in the Taʾrīkh. And we found him in the indexes of the Taʾrīkh only thus. Among them: 1971, under the name "Muḥammad ibn ʿAmmār," and we corrected it therein in accordance with what we saw earlier, to "Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra." But he has come here — as you see — under the name "Muḥammad ibn ʿUbāda." And the most probable in my opinion now is that this is the correct one. If that is so, then the manuscripts of al-Ṭabarī, both in the tafsīr and in the Taʾrīkh, are corrupted in every place where he is mentioned in a manner other than this.
This teacher "Muḥammad ibn ʿUbāda ibn al-Bakhtarī al-Asadī al-Wāsiṭī": trustworthy and truthful, he was a man of grammar and letters. He belongs to the teachers of al-Bukhārī, Abū Ḥātim, Abū Dāwūd and others. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 4/1/17. Al-Bukhārī narrated on his authority in the Ṣaḥīḥ two narrations (8: 26 and 9: 93 of the Sulṭānī edition) — (10: 429 and 13: 214 of al-Fatḥ) — (9: 53 and 10: 246 of al-Qasṭallānī, first Būlāq edition). And in the margin of the Sulṭānī edition it is expressly noted that "ʿUbāda" — in both places — is with fatḥa on the ʿayn. So too the two commentators established it. Al-Ḥāfiẓ (13: 214) said: "With fatḥa on the unpointed (ʿayn) and softening of the bā (single-dotted letter), and the name of his grandfather is al-Bakhtarī, with fatḥa on the bā, sukūn on the pointed (khāʾ) and fatḥa on the tāʾ pointed from above; trustworthy, from Wāsiṭ, with the kunya Abū Jaʿfar. In al-Bukhārī he has only this narration, and another that preceded in the Book of Letters," by which he means the one that preceded in al-Fatḥ (8: 26).
So too the name of his father is established in al-Mushtabih of al-Dhahabī: 333, and by al-Ḥāfiẓ in Taḥrīr al-Mushtabih (manuscript).
I have given preference here to its being "Muḥammad ibn ʿUbāda," because "Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra al-Asadī" is not mentioned in the books of biographies and of narration, as far as my knowledge reaches, and because many of his narrations in the Taʾrīkh and the tafsīr are on the authority of "ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā," as in the tafsīr: 1511, and the Taʾrīkh, volume 1: 57, and volume 2: 266, and volume 3: 76, 78. Yes, it is possible that there is another teacher — whose knowledge has not reached us — under the name "Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra" who coincides with this one in teachers and in those who narrate on his authority. But I am of the opinion that what I have mentioned is the most probable.
And "ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā": it is al-ʿAbsī, the ḥāfiẓ, the trustworthy. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 2/2/334–335, and in Tadhkirat al-ḥuffāẓ, volume 1: 322–323. His name in the printed edition here has become "ʿAbd Allāh," and that is a clear corruption.
Faḍīl: it is Ibn Marzūq al-Raqāshī; he is trustworthy, we gave preference to his being declared trustworthy in Sharḥ al-Musnad: 1251, because whoever has spoken about him has spoken only on account of narrations which he transmits on the authority of ʿAṭiyya al-ʿAwfī — the one on whose authority he narrates here — and ʿAṭiyya is weak, as preceded in: 305.
(9) The narration 2093 — al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣudāʾī — with ḍamma on the ṣād and softening of the unpointed dāl — al-Akfānī: trustworthy, righteous, one of the pious; al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī and others narrated on his authority. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/2/56, and Taʾrīkh Baghdād, volume 8: 67–68.
His father "ʿAlī ibn Yazīd ibn Sulaym al-Ṣudāʾī": likewise trustworthy, some have spoken about him. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 3/1/209.
(10) In the printed edition it reads "Ḥakkām ibn Sālim," an error. It has occurred repeatedly in the isnād of al-Ṭabarī.
(11) The narration 2095 — Ibn al-Taymī: I found no text indicating who he is. The attribution "al-Taymī" is broad. I give preference to its being "Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān ibn Ṭarkhān al-Taymī," for he belongs to this generation, and ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrates on his authority. Perhaps ʿAbd al-Razzāq mentioned him with this attribution so that he would not be confused with the name Maʿmar — that is Ibn Rāshid — since ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrates much on the authority of Maʿmar. So he feared the confusion if he were to say "Muʿtamir" here, and therefore he saved himself from it with his word "Ibn al-Taymī."
(12) See what will come later under number: 2098, for this belongs to the tafsīr of the mentioned verse of Surah Al-Ḥajj, which is there.
(13) See Majāz al-Qurʾān of Abū ʿUbayda: 58.
(14) In the printed edition it reads "al-ḥanīf in my opinion is uprightness," and that is an aberrant formulation; the correct one is what I have established.
