Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:181
Then whoever alters the bequest after he has heard it - the sin is only upon those who have altered it. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing.
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 statement concerning the interpretation of His saying, the Exalted: En wie het verandert nadat hij het heeft gehoord, voorwaar, de zonde daarvan rust op degenen die het veranderen (Sūrat al-Baqara, 2:181).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, means thereby: and whoever alters what the testator has left as a bequest — from his lawful disposition in favor of his parents or near kinsfolk who do not inherit from him — after he has heard the bequest, then verily the sin of that alteration rests upon whoever alters his bequest.
* * *
If a questioner says to us: To what does the "hāʾ" in His saying "whoever alters it" refer back?
The answer is: to something omitted from the words, but to which the apparent meaning points. That is the matter of the deceased, and his charge to the one to whom he entrusted the bequest, concerning what he has left behind, in favor of the one for whom he left it.
And the meaning of the words is: Prescribed for you, when death comes to one of you, if he leaves good behind, is the bequest in favor of the parents and the near kinsfolk, in a fitting manner, as a duty for the God-fearing, so let him make a bequest for them; and whoever alters what you have left for them after he has heard you when you left it in their favor, then verily the sin of what he has done thereof rests upon him and not upon you.
And we say only that the "hāʾ" in His saying "whoever alters it" refers back to something omitted from the words and to which the apparent meaning points, because His saying Prescribed for you, when death comes to one of you, if he leaves good behind, is the bequest are the words of Allah, while the alteration of the one who alters concerns only the bequest of the testator. As for the command of Allah to make the bequest, neither he nor anyone else can alter that; so it is permissible that the "hāʾ" in His saying "whoever alters it" refers back to "the bequest" (al-waṣiyya).
As for the "hāʾ" in His saying "after he has heard it," it refers back to the first "hāʾ" in His saying "whoever alters it."
As for the "hāʾ" in His saying "verily the sin thereof," it stands for "the alteration" (al-tabdīl), as though He said: verily the sin of what has been altered thereof rests upon those who alter it.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning that, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
2681 — 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: "whoever alters it after he has heard it," he said: the bequest.
2682 — 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 same.
2683 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū 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 "whoever alters it after he has heard it, verily the sin thereof rests upon those who alter it": the reward of the testator has already fallen due with Allah, and he is free of the sin thereof. And if he made a bequest with the intent of causing harm, then his bequest is not valid, as Allah has said: zonder schade te berokkenen [Sūrat al-Nisāʾ, 4:12].
2684 — Al-Ḥusayn ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying "whoever alters it after he has heard it," he said: whoever alters the bequest after he has heard it, upon him rests the sin of what he has altered.
2685 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "whoever alters it after he has heard it, verily the sin thereof rests upon those who alter it": whoever alters the bequest that he has left, and which was in a fitting manner, then verily the sin thereof rests upon whoever has altered it. He has truly committed wrong.
2686 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: that ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ said concerning His saying "whoever alters it after he has heard it, verily the sin thereof rests upon those who alter it": it is carried out as he has said.
2687 — Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: "whoever alters it after he has heard it," he said: whoever alters a bequest after he has heard it.
2688 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan concerning this verse: "whoever alters it after he has heard it, verily the sin thereof rests upon those who alter it," he said: this concerns the bequest; whoever alters it after he has heard it, verily the sin thereof rests upon whoever has altered it.
2689 — Ibn Bashshār and Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, both of them saying: Muʿādh ibn Hishām related to us, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ and Sālim ibn ʿAbdallāh and Sulaymān ibn Yasār, that they said: the bequest is carried out in favor of the one for whom it was left — here ends the narration of Ibn al-Muthannā, and Ibn Bashshār added in his narration — Qatāda said: and ʿAbdallāh ibn Maʿmar said: it is more pleasing to me when he makes a bequest in favor of his near kinsfolk, and it does not please me that I should withhold it from the one for whom it was left. Qatāda said: and it is more pleasing to me for the one for whom it was left; Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, said: "whoever alters it after he has heard it, verily the sin thereof rests upon those who alter it."
* * *
The statement concerning the interpretation of His saying, the Exalted: Voorwaar, Allah is Alhorend, Alwetend (181).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, means thereby: "Verily Allah is All-Hearing" — of your bequest which I have commanded you to leave in favor of your fathers, mothers, and kinsfolk, when you leave it: do you act justly therein in accordance with that which I have permitted you to do in a fitting manner, or do you deviate, so that you swerve from the truth and stray from the right course? — "All-Knowing" of that which your breasts conceal of inclination toward truth and justice, or toward wrong and deviation.
