Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:140
Or do you say that Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Descendants were Jews or Christians? Say, "Are you more knowing or is Allah?" And who is more unjust than one who conceals a testimony he has from Allah? And Allah is not unaware of what you do.
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.
Discussion of the interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: أَمْ تَقُولُونَ إِنَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَالأَسْبَاطَ كَانُوا هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى قُلْ أَأَنْتُمْ أَعْلَمُ أَمِ اللَّهُ
("Or do you say that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes were Jews or Christians? Say: Do you know better, or Allah?")
Abū Jaʿfar said: In the recitation of this there are two possibilities. The first is: "am taqūlūna" with the "tāʾ." Whoever recites it thus, his interpretation is: Say, O Muḥammad—to those among the Jews and Christians who say to you: كُونُوا هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى تَهْتَدُوا ("Become Jews or Christians, and you will be rightly guided")—: Do you dispute with us about Allah, or do you say that Abraham…? Thereby this is connected with His saying: أَتُحَاجُّونَنَا فِي اللَّهِ ("Do you dispute with us about Allah").
The other of the two possibilities is: "am yaqūlūna" with the "yāʾ." Whoever recites it thus understands His words "am yaqūlūna" as a newly commencing interrogation, like His saying: أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ (Surah As-Sajdah: 3) ("Or do they say: He has fabricated it"), and as one says: "They are indeed camels, or sheep." (39) It has been made into a newly commencing interrogation only because of the onset of a newly commencing report, just as one says: "Do you stand up, or does your brother stand up?" Thus his saying "or does your brother stand up" becomes a newly commencing report for a clause that does not belong to the first, and an independent interrogation. But were it a connection with the first interrogation, then it would be a report about the first, and one would say: "Do you stand up, or do you sit down?"
Some linguists have asserted that, when it is recited thus with the "yāʾ," and when that which comes after "am" is a complete clause, then it is a connection with the first interrogation. For the meaning of the saying is: It has been said: Which of these two matters is the case? This, or that?
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct view regarding the recitation of this, in our opinion, is: "am taqūlūna" with the "tāʾ," not with the "yāʾ," as a connection with His saying: قُلْ أَتُحَاجُّونَنَا ("Say: Do you dispute with us"), with the meaning: Which of these two matters do you do? Do you dispute with us about the religion of Allah, and claim that you are worthier than we and better guided upon the path than we—while our affair and your affair are as we have described, in accordance with what we have just set forth (40)—or do you claim that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and those whom Allah has named, were Jews or Christians in accordance with your community, so that your slander and your lie would be held true for the people, (41) while Judaism and Christianity arose after these whom Allah has named among His prophets? The recitation of this with the "yāʾ" is not permissible, because of its deviation from the recitation of the reciters.
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This verse too is an argumentation of Allah—exalted be His mention—for His Prophet ﷺ against the Jews and Christians whose accounts Allah has mentioned. Allah says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: Say, O Muḥammad—to these Jews and Christians—: Do you dispute with us about Allah, and do you claim that your religion is more exalted than our religion, and that you are upon right guidance and we are in error, with a proof from Allah—exalted be His mention—and do you then call us to your religion? Then come with your proof for that, and we will follow you in it. Or do you say: Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes were Jews or Christians in accordance with your religion? Then come—for your claim which you have made concerning this—with a proof, and we will believe you, for Allah has made them forerunners who are followed.
Then He said—exalted be His mention—to His Prophet ﷺ: Say to them, O Muḥammad—if they claim that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes were Jews or Christians—: Do you know better concerning them and concerning which religions they adhered to, or Allah?
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Discussion of the interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنْ كَتَمَ شَهَادَةً عِنْدَهُ مِنَ اللَّهِ
("And who is more unjust than he who conceals a testimony that he possesses from Allah")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means: If the Jews and the Christians—who said to you and to your companions: كُونُوا هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى ("Become Jews or Christians")—claim, O Muḥammad, that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes were Jews or Christians, then who is more unjust than they? He says: And which human being is more unjust than they, while they have concealed a testimony that they possessed from Allah, namely that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes were Muslims—and they concealed that, and ascribed to them Judaism and Christianity.
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The exegetes differed over the interpretation of this:
2132 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: "And who is more unjust than he who conceals a testimony that he possesses from Allah," he said: This concerns the saying of the Jews about Abraham, Ishmael, and those named with them, that they were Jews or Christians. Then Allah said: Conceal not from Me any testimony if you possess it concerning them. And He already knew that they were liars.
2133 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "And who is more unjust than he who conceals a testimony that he possesses from Allah," this concerns the saying of the Jews about Abraham, Ishmael, and those named with them: that they were Jews or Christians. Then Allah said to them: Conceal not from Me the testimony concerning them, if you possess it concerning them. And Allah already knew that they were liars.
2134 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of Abū al-Ashhab, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, that he recited this verse: أَمْ تَقُولُونَ إِنَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ ("Or do you say that Abraham and Ishmael…") up to His saying: "Say: Do you know better, or Allah? And who is more unjust than he who conceals a testimony that he possesses from Allah." Al-Ḥasan said: By Allah, the people indeed possessed from Allah a testimony that His prophets were free of Judaism and Christianity, just as the people possess from Allah a testimony that your properties and your blood are mutually forbidden. On what grounds, then, have they declared these permissible?
2135 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ar-Rabīʿ, concerning His saying: "And who is more unjust than he who conceals a testimony that he possesses from Allah," the People of the Book concealed Islam while they knew that it is the religion of Allah, and they found it recorded with them in the Torah and the Gospel: that they were neither Jews nor Christians, and that Judaism and Christianity came a considerable time after these.
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He—exalted be His mention—meant by it only that the Jews and the Christians, (42) if they claim that Abraham and those named with him in this verse were Jews or Christians, then for the people of shirk who are their helpers, (43) their lie becomes manifest and their false claim about the prophets of Allah—because Judaism and Christianity arose after them—and if they deny Judaism and Christianity of them, (44) it is said to them: Then come to the religion which they adhered to, for we and you together acknowledge that they were upon the truth, while we differ over that which deviates from the religion which they adhered to.
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Others said: No, He—exalted be His mention—meant by His saying: "And who is more unjust than he who conceals a testimony that he possesses from Allah," the Jews in their concealing of the affair of Muḥammad ﷺ and his prophethood, while they knew that and found it in their books.
Mention of who said that:
2136 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: أَمْ تَقُولُونَ إِنَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَالأَسْبَاطَ كَانُوا هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى ("Or do you say that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes were Jews or Christians")—those are the People of the Book; they concealed Islam while they knew that it is the religion of Allah, and they adopted Judaism and Christianity, and they concealed Muḥammad ﷺ while they knew that he was the messenger of Allah ﷺ, since they found him recorded with them in the Torah and the Gospel.
2137 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd ar-Razzāq related to us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "And who is more unjust than he who conceals a testimony that he possesses from Allah," he said: The testimony is the Prophet ﷺ, recorded with them, and he is the one whom they concealed.
2138 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ar-Rabīʿ, similar to the narration of Bishr ibn Muʿādh, on the authority of Yazīd. (45)
2139 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: "And who is more unjust than he who conceals a testimony that he possesses from Allah," he said: They are the Jews; they are asked about the Prophet ﷺ and about his description in the book of Allah which they possess, and they conceal the description.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: We have preferred the view which we have stated concerning the interpretation of this, because His saying—exalted be His mention—: "And who is more unjust than he who conceals a testimony that he possesses from Allah," follows the account of those whom Allah has named among His prophets, and precedes their account. It is then more fitting that what stands between them belongs to their account, and not to something else.
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If someone says: What testimony from Allah, then, did the Jews and the Christians possess concerning the affair of Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes? Then it is answered: The testimony which they possessed from Allah concerning their affair is that which Allah sent down to them in the Torah and the Gospel, and His command therein to them to follow their conduct and to imitate their community, and that they were ḥanīfs, Muslims. That is the testimony which they possessed from Allah and which they concealed, when the Prophet of Allah ﷺ called them to Islam, and they said to him: لَنْ يَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ إِلا مَنْ كَانَ هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى (Surah Al-Baqarah: 111) ("None shall enter Paradise except he who was a Jew or a Christian"), and they said to him and to his companions: كُونُوا هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى تَهْتَدُوا ("Become Jews or Christians, and you will be rightly guided"). Then Allah sent down concerning them these verses, regarding their denial, their concealing of the truth, and their fabrication of falsehood and lies about the prophets of Allah.
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Discussion of the interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ (140)
("And Allah is not unaware of what you do")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He—exalted be His mention—means by it: And say—to these Jews and Christians who dispute with you, O Muḥammad—: "And Allah is not unaware of what you do," of your concealing of the truth regarding that whose clarification to the people He has imposed upon you in His book, concerning the affair of Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes regarding Islam, and that they were Muslims, and that the ḥanīfic religion, surrendered to Allah, is the religion of Allah, to which the whole creation is obligated to submit, and not Judaism, Christianity, or other communities—and He is not heedless concerning your punishment for the commission of that deed, (46) rather, He holds it to your account until He requites you for it with the requital for which you are eligible, in the near of this world and in the far of the Hereafter. Thus He has requited them in this world nearby, by killing some of them and expelling them from their homeland and their dwelling place, and He will requite them in the Hereafter with the humiliating punishment.
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Footnotes:
(39) See what passed earlier in the discussion of "am" 2: 492-494, and in this volume 3: 97.
(40) In the printed edition it reads "ayḍan" (likewise); the correct reading is what I have established.
(41) I fear that the correct reading would be "fa-yattaḍiḥu li-l-nās" (so that it becomes clear to the people); however, what stands in the original is acceptable.
(42) In the printed edition it reads "wa-annahu ʿanā taʿālā dhikruhu…," but the syntax is defective, so I have deemed it necessary to correct it as will appear in the following note:
(43) In the printed edition it reads "bayyana li-ahl al-shirk." The syntax requires what I have established.
(44) The syntax of this sentence from the beginning of the paragraph is: "He—exalted be His mention—meant only that the Jews and the Christians, if they claim that Abraham… for the people of shirk it becomes manifest… and if they deny Judaism of them, it is said to them:…," and thereby it appears that what we have established is most in accordance with the syntax.
(45) The narration 2138—in the printed edition it read "al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to me," where from the isnād "Isḥāq related to us" had fallen out, which is an isnād frequently occurring in the tafsīr; the nearest of them is number 117.
(46) See the interpretation of "ghāfil" in what passed earlier 2: 243-244 / and further: 316.
