Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:165
And [yet], among the people are those who take other than Allah as equals [to Him]. They love them as they [should] love Allah. But those who believe are stronger in love for Allah. And if only they who have wronged would consider [that] when they see the punishment, [they will be certain] that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah is severe in 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 exposition of the interpretation of His statement, the Exalted: وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَتَّخِذُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَنْدَادًا يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِلَّهِ
(And among mankind are those who take, besides Allah, equals whom they love as one loves Allah. But those who believe have a stronger love for Allah.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, means thereby: that among mankind are those who take, besides Allah, equals to Him.
And we have already set forth earlier that "al-nidd" (the equal) means "the peer," together with the testimonies that indicate this, so that we did not wish to repeat it.
* * *
And that those who have taken these "equals" (andād) besides Allah love their equals as the believers love Allah. Then He informed them that the believers have a stronger love for Allah than those who take these equals have for their equals.
* * *
The exegetes differed concerning the "equals" (andād) which the people had taken. And what are they?
* * *
Some of them said: they are their gods which they worshipped besides Allah.
* Mention of who said that:
2406 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "And among mankind are those who take, besides Allah, equals whom they love as one loves Allah. But those who believe have a stronger love for Allah" — [stronger] than the unbelievers (kuffār) for their idols.
2407 – 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 His statement, the Exalted, whose praise is exalted: "whom they love as one loves Allah" — out of ostentation and out of equating the truth with the equals; "But those who believe have a stronger love for Allah" — than the unbelievers for their idols.
2408 – 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, the like of that.
2409 – It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His statement: "And among mankind are those who take, besides Allah, equals whom they love as one loves Allah." He said: they are the gods which are worshipped besides Allah. He says: they love their idols as one loves Allah; "But those who believe have a stronger love for Allah" — that is to say [stronger] than the unbelievers for their idols.
2410 – Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: "And among mankind are those who take, besides Allah, equals whom they love as one loves Allah." He said: those are the polytheists (mushrikīn). Their equals are their gods which they worshipped besides Allah; they love them as those who believe love Allah, and those who believe have a stronger love for Allah than their love for their gods.
* * *
And others said: no, the "equals" (andād) in this place are rather their masters whom they obeyed in disobedience to Allah, the Exalted, whose praise is exalted.
* Mention of who said that:
2411 – Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And among mankind are those who take, besides Allah, equals whom they love as one loves Allah." He said: the equals are of the men; they obey them as they obey Allah — when they command them something, they obey them and are disobedient to Allah.
* * *
If a speaker were to say: how can it be said "as one loves Allah"? Does Allah, then, love the equals? And did those who took the equals love Allah, so that it is said: "they love them as one loves Allah"?
Then it is said: the meaning of it is other than that to which you went. It is rather comparable to the statement of someone: "I sold my slave as the sale of your slave" — with the meaning: I sold him as your slave was sold, and as your sale of your slave; and: "I demanded my right from him in the manner of the demanding of your right" — with the meaning: your demanding of your right. One thus omits from the second part the indication of the name of the one addressed, contenting oneself with the indication of it in "the slave" and "the right," as the poet said:
I shall, as long as I live, bring no greeting to Zayd with the greeting of the emir
By this he means: as one greets the emir.
* * *
The meaning of the word, then, is: and among mankind are those who, O believers, take, besides Allah, equals whom they love as you love Allah.
* * *
The exposition of the interpretation of His statement, the Exalted: وَلَوْ يَرَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا إِذْ يَرَوْنَ الْعَذَابَ أَنَّ الْقُوَّةَ لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعَذَابِ (165)
(And if those who did wrong could but see — when they behold the punishment — that the power belongs entirely to Allah, and that Allah is severe in punishment.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed concerning the recitation of this. The majority of the people of Medina and Syria recited: "wa-law tarā lladhīna ẓalamū" (And if you could see those who did wrong) with the tāʾ; "idh yarawna l-ʿadhāba" (when they behold the punishment) with the yāʾ; "anna l-quwwata li-llāhi jamīʿan wa-anna llāha shadīdu l-ʿadhāb" with the fatḥa on both "anna" and "anna," both of them — with the meaning: and if you, O Muḥammad, could but see those who were unbelievers and wronged themselves at the moment when they behold and see with their own eyes the punishment of Allah, "that the power belongs entirely to Allah and that Allah is severe in punishment."
Then, regarding the accusative of "anna" and "anna" in this recitation, there are two aspects: the first is that they stand in the accusative because of the omitted part of the phrase that is sought in the sentence. The interpretation of the sentence is then: and if you, O Muḥammad, could but see those who did wrong when they behold the punishment of Allah, then they would acknowledge — and the meaning of "tarā" is: you see — that the power belongs entirely to Allah, and that Allah is severe in punishment. And the answer [to the conditional] is then — when one puts "anna" in the fatḥa in this manner — omitted, since one contents oneself with the indication which the word gives thereto, and the meaning is then as I have described. This, then, is one of the two aspects of the fatḥa on "anna," according to the recitation of the one who recites "wa-law tarā" with the tāʾ.
The other aspect of the fatḥa is: that the meaning would be: and if you, O Muḥammad, could but see when those who did wrong behold the punishment of Allah, because the power belongs entirely to Allah, and that Allah is severe in punishment, then you would know the extent of Allah's punishment. Then one omits the "lām" and puts [the word] in the fatḥa with that meaning, because of the indication which the word gives thereto.
* * *
And others among the earlier reciters recited this: "wa-law tarā lladhīna ẓalamū idh yarawna l-ʿadhāba inna l-quwwata li-llāhi jamīʿan wa-inna llāha shadīdu l-ʿadhāb" — with the meaning: and if you, O Muḥammad, could but see those who did wrong at the moment when they see with their own eyes the punishment of Allah, then you would know the state into which they will come. Then the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, in a new, independent communication concerning His power and authority, after the completion of the first communication, informed and said: "verily, the power belongs entirely to Allah" — in this life and in the hereafter — not to anyone other than Him, of the equals and the gods; "and verily, Allah is severe in punishment" — for whoever ascribes partners to Him (shirk), and invokes partners besides Him, and ascribes to Him an equal.
* * *
And there is possibly yet another aspect in the recitation of the one who puts the "inna" in the kasra with "tarā" with the tāʾ. That is that the meaning would be: and if you, O Muḥammad, could but see those who did wrong when they behold the punishment, while they say: verily, the power belongs entirely to Allah, and verily, Allah is severe in punishment. Then one omits "the saying" and contents oneself therefrom with what is said.
* * *
And others recited this: "wa-law yarā lladhīna ẓalamū" (And if those who did wrong could see) with the yāʾ; "idh yarawna l-ʿadhāba anna l-quwwata li-llāhi jamīʿan wa-anna llāha shadīdu l-ʿadhāb" with the fatḥa on the "alif" of "anna" and "anna" — with the meaning: and if those who did wrong could but see the punishment of Allah which He has prepared for them in Hell (jahannam), then, when they see it and behold it with their own eyes, they would know that the power belongs entirely to Allah and that Allah is severe in punishment, when they behold the punishment. The first "anna" then stands in the accusative because of its connection with the omitted answer to "law," and the answer is omitted, and the second [anna] is coupled to the first. And this is the recitation of the majority of the reciters of Kūfa and Baṣra and of the people of Mecca.
* * *
And some grammarians of Baṣra claimed that the interpretation of the recitation of the one who recites: "wa-law yarā lladhīna ẓalamū idh yarawna l-ʿadhāba anna l-quwwata li-llāhi jamīʿan wa-anna llāha shadīdu l-ʿadhāb" — with the yāʾ in "yarā" and the fatḥa on the two "alifs" in "anna" and "anna" — is: and if they could but know, because they did not know the extent of what they will behold of punishment. And the Prophet ﷺ had indeed known it, and so when He says "wa-law tarā" (and if you could see), then He is in fact addressing the Prophet ﷺ.
And if one puts "inna" in the kasra as the opening word [of a new sentence], when one recites "wa-law yarā," then that is permissible, because "law yarā" [means] "law yaʿlam" (if he could but know).
And "law" can have a meaning whereby nothing [as an answer] is needed. One says to a man: "Truly, by Allah, if he could but know, and if you could but know!" — as the poet said:
If your nature was the coquettish play, then it was only in far bygone times and the years gone by!
This has no answer, except in the meaning. And the poet said:
And with a portion of that whereby we live; and let not the trifles carry you off into the terrors
He thus left unspoken [as an answer]: then live!
He said: and some recited "wa-law tarā," with the fatḥa on "anna" because of "tarā." But that is not correct, because the Prophet ﷺ knows [it]; rather He willed that the people should know that, as the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, said: أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ [Surah al-Sajda: 3] (Or do they say: "He has invented it"?), in order to inform the people concerning their ignorance; and as He said: أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ [Surah al-Baqarah: 107] (Do you not know that to Allah belongs the dominion over the heavens and the earth?).
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And a group denied that "anna" should be governed by His statement "wa-law yarā." And they said: those who did wrong, when they see the punishment, have already known that the power belongs entirely to Allah, so there is no basis for the one who interprets it thus: and if those who did wrong could but see that the power belongs to Allah. And they said: "anna" is rather governed by the answer to "law," which has the meaning of "knowing," because of the precedence of the first "knowing."
* * *
And some grammarians of Kūfa said: whoever puts [the words] in the accusative — "anna l-quwwata li-llāh wa-anna llāha shadīdu l-ʿadhāb" — of those who recite "wa-law yarā" with the yāʾ, he puts them in the accusative precisely by causing "the seeing" to operate thereon, and makes "the seeing" applicable thereto. But whoever puts them in the accusative of those who recite "wa-law tarā" with the tāʾ, he puts them in the accusative on the basis of the interpretation: because the power belongs entirely to Allah, and because Allah is severe in punishment. He said: and whoever puts them both in the kasra of those who recite with the tāʾ, he puts them in the kasra on the basis of [their character as] communication.
* * *
And others among them said: the fatḥa on "anna" in the recitation of the one who recites "wa-law yarā lladhīna ẓalamū" with the yāʾ is by causing "yarā" to operate, and the answer of the word is then omitted, just as the answer of وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ أَوْ قُطِّعَتْ بِهِ الأَرْضُ [Surah al-Raʿd: 31] (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion or by which the earth were cleaved) is omitted, because the meaning of the Garden and the Fire is repeated and known. And they said: it is permissible to put "inna" in the kasra in the recitation of the one who recites with the yāʾ, and to let "the seeing" fall, in meaning, upon "idh" (when); and they permitted the accusative of "anna" according to the recitation of the one who recites that with the tāʾ, because of the intention of another, [unexpressed] verb, and that the interpretation of the word would be: "and if you could but see those who did wrong when they behold the punishment, [then they would see] that the power belongs entirely to Allah." And they claimed that putting "inna" in the kasra is the [correct] approach, when one recites "wa-law tarā" with the tāʾ, as a new beginning, because His statement "wa-law tarā" already applies to "those who did wrong."
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct reading herein, according to us, is: "wa-law tarā lladhīna ẓalamū" — with the tāʾ of "tarā" — "idh yarawna l-ʿadhāba anna l-quwwata li-llāhi jamīʿan wa-anna llāha shadīdu l-ʿadhāb" — with the meaning: then you would see that the power belongs entirely to Allah and that Allah is severe in punishment. His second statement "then you would see" (la-raʾayta) is then omitted, since one contents oneself with the indication of His statement "and if you could but see those who did wrong," without its being mentioned, even though it is the answer to "law."
And the word — even though it has the form of an address to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — is intended for someone other than him. For the Prophet ﷺ undoubtedly knew that the power belongs entirely to Allah, and that Allah is severe in punishment. And this is comparable to His statement: أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ [Surah al-Baqarah: 107] (Do you not know that to Allah belongs the dominion over the heavens and the earth?), and we have already set this forth in its place.
And we have preferred that over the recitation with the "yāʾ," because the people, when they see the punishment, already know with certainty that the power belongs entirely to Allah and that Allah is severe in punishment. There is thus no basis for saying: if they could but see that the power belongs entirely to Allah — at that moment. For one says "if you could but see" only to the one who has not seen; but as for the one who has already seen it, for him there is no sense in saying: "if you could but see."
* * *
And the meaning of His statement "when they behold the punishment" is: when they see the punishment with their own eyes, as:
2412 – It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His statement: "And if those who did wrong could but see — when they behold the punishment — that the power belongs entirely to Allah, and that Allah is severe in punishment." He says: if they could but see the punishment with their own eyes.
* * *
And the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, meant by His statement "and if you could but see those who did wrong": and if you, O Muḥammad, could but see those who wronged themselves and took besides Me equals whom they loved as you love Me, at the moment when they see with their own eyes My punishment on the Day of Resurrection, which I have prepared for them, then you would know that the power belongs entirely to Me, not to the equals and the gods, and that the equals and the gods avail them nothing there, and avert from them no punishment which I cause to descend upon them; and you would know with certainty that I am severe in My punishment for whoever is unbelieving toward Me, and invokes besides Me another god than Me.
