Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:136
Say, [O believers], "We have believed in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Descendants and what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, 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.
The discourse on the explanation of His statement — exalted is His remembrance:
قُولُوا آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْنَا وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَالأَسْبَاطِ وَمَا أُوتِيَ مُوسَى وَعِيسَى وَمَا أُوتِيَ النَّبِيُّونَ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ لا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِنْهُمْ وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ
(136) (Say: "We believe in Allah and in what has been sent down to us, and in what has been sent down to Ibrāhīm, Ismāʿīl, Isḥāq, Yaʿqūb, and the tribes [al-asbāṭ], and in what was given to Mūsā and ʿĪsā, and in what was given to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we are submitted to Him.") (136)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — exalted is His remembrance — means by this: "Say" — O believers — to these Jews and Christians, who said to you: كُونُوا هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى تَهْتَدُوا (Become Jews or Christians, then you will follow right guidance): "We believe," that is: we hold for true that Allah exists.
We have already demonstrated earlier that the meaning of "faith (al-īmān)" is holding for true (al-taṣdīq), so that repeating it is superfluous.
* * *
"And in what has been sent down to us": He likewise says: we hold for true the Book that Allah has sent down to our Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ. He directed the address concerning the sending-down to them, because they were its followers, and were thereby addressed with commands and prohibitions. So it was — even though it was a sending-down to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — in the sense of a sending-down to them, because of what lies in it for them of the meanings that I have described.
* * *
By His statement: "And in what has been sent down to Ibrāhīm" He means: we likewise hold for true and believe in what was sent down to Ibrāhīm, Ismāʿīl, Isḥāq, Yaʿqūb, and the tribes (al-asbāṭ) — and these are the prophets from the progeny of Yaʿqūb.
* * *
And His statement: "And in what was given to Mūsā and ʿĪsā" means: and we likewise believe in the Torah that Allah gave to Mūsā, and in the Gospel that Allah gave to ʿĪsā, and in the Books that He gave to all the prophets; and we acknowledge and hold for true that all of this is truth, guidance, and light from Allah, and that all of His prophets whom Allah has named were upon truth and guidance, each of them holding the other for true, following one and the same path in the call to the profession of the oneness of Allah (tawḥīd) and in rendering obedience to Him. "We make no distinction between any of them," He says: we do not believe in some of the prophets and reject some others, and we do not disassociate ourselves from some while taking others as allies — as the Jews disassociated themselves from ʿĪsā and Muḥammad, peace be upon them both, and acknowledged prophets other than them, and as the Christians disassociated themselves from Muḥammad ﷺ and acknowledged prophets other than him. Rather, we bear witness for them all that they were messengers of Allah and His prophets, sent with the truth and the guidance.
* * *
As for His statement: "And we are submitted to Him (muslimūn)," by it the Exalted — exalted is His remembrance — means: and we are humbly submitted to Him through obedience, submitting ourselves to Him in servitude.
* * *
It has been transmitted that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ said that to the Jews, whereupon they rejected ʿĪsā and whoever believes in him, as:—
2101 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman (mawlā) of Zayd ibn Thābit, related to me, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr — or ʿIkrima — related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: A group of Jews came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, among them Abū Yāsir ibn Akhṭab, Rāfiʿ ibn Abī Rāfiʿ, ʿĀzir, Khālid, Zayd, Azār ibn Abī Azār, and Ashyaʿ. They asked him about which of the messengers he believed in, and he said: "I believe in Allah and in what has been sent down to us and in what has been sent down to Ibrāhīm, Ismāʿīl, Isḥāq, Yaʿqūb, and the tribes, and in what was given to Mūsā and ʿĪsā and in what was given to the prophets from their Lord; we make no distinction between any of them, and we are submitted to Him." When he mentioned ʿĪsā, they denied his prophethood and said: "We do not believe in ʿĪsā, and we do not believe in whoever believes in him." Then Allah sent down concerning them: قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ هَلْ تَنْقِمُونَ مِنَّا إِلا أَنْ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَمَا أُنْـزِلَ إِلَيْنَا وَمَا أُنْـزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَأَنَّ أَكْثَرَكُمْ فَاسِقُونَ [Surah Al-Māʾidah: 59] (Say: "O People of the Book, do you resent us for anything other than that we believe in Allah and in what has been sent down to us and in what was sent down before, and that most of you are transgressors (fāsiqūn)?").
2102 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad related to me, on the authority of ʿIkrima — or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr — on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: There came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — and he mentioned something similar — except that he said "Nāfiʿ ibn Abī Nāfiʿ" instead of "Rāfiʿ ibn Abī Rāfiʿ."
* * *
Qatāda said: This verse was sent down as a command from Allah — exalted is His remembrance — to the believers to hold for true all of His messengers.
2103 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "Say: We believe in Allah and in what has been sent down to us and in what has been sent down to Ibrāhīm" up to His statement: "and we are submitted to Him" — Allah commanded the believers that they should believe in and hold for true all of His prophets and messengers, and that they should make no distinction between any of them.
* * *
As for "the tribes (al-asbāṭ)" which He mentioned: they are twelve men from the progeny of Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm. From each of them descended a community of people, and that is why they were called "asbāṭ" (tribes). As:—
2104 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: The tribes (al-asbāṭ) are Yūsuf and his brothers, the sons of Yaʿqūb. He begot twelve men, and from each of them descended a community of people, and that is why they were called "asbāṭ."
2105 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: As for the tribes (al-asbāṭ), they are the sons of Yaʿqūb: Yūsuf, Binyāmīn, Rūbīl, Yahūdhā, Shamʿūn, Lāwī, Dān, and Qahāth.
2106 — 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, who said: "The tribes (al-asbāṭ)" are Yūsuf and his brothers, the sons of Yaʿqūb, twelve men; and from each of them descended a community of people, and that is why they were called "the asbāṭ."
2107 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, saying: Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq — and that is Isrāʾīl — married the daughter of his maternal uncle, "Liyā," the daughter of "Liyān ibn Tūbīl ibn Ilyās," and she bore him "Rūbīl ibn Yaʿqūb" — and he was his eldest child — and "Shamʿūn ibn Yaʿqūb," and "Lāwī ibn Yaʿqūb," and "Yahūdhā ibn Yaʿqūb," and "Riyālūn ibn Yaʿqūb," and "Yashjar ibn Yaʿqūb," and "Dīna bint Yaʿqūb." Then "Liyā bint Liyān" died. After that, Yaʿqūb married her sister "Rāḥīl bint Liyān ibn Tūbīl ibn Ilyās," and she bore him "Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb" and "Binyāmīn" — and that is in Arabic "asad" (lion). And from two concubines (surriyyatayn) of his — the name of one was "Zulfa" and the name of the other "Balhiyya" — four men were born to him: "Dān ibn Yaʿqūb," "Nafthālī ibn Yaʿqūb," "Jād ibn Yaʿqūb," and "Ishrab ibn Yaʿqūb." Thus the sons of Yaʿqūb were twelve men, from whom Allah brought forth twelve tribes (sibṭan), whose number cannot be counted and whose lineages none knows except Allah. Allah the Exalted says: وَقَطَّعْنَاهُمُ اثْنَتَيْ عَشْرَةَ أَسْبَاطًا أُمَمًا [Surah Al-Aʿrāf: 160] (And We divided them into twelve tribes, communities.)
