Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:182
But if one fears from the bequeather [some] error or sin and corrects that which is between them, there is no sin upon him. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
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 interpretation of His statement, the Exalted: And whoever fears from a testator partiality (janaf) or sin, and brings about reconciliation between them, upon him is no sin; truly, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful (182).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differed concerning the interpretation of this verse.
Some of them said: its interpretation is: whoever is present with a sick person while the latter, at the threshold of death, makes a will, and he fears that the latter is committing an error in his will and doing what is not his to do, or that the latter deliberately intends therein injustice and enjoins what he is not permitted to enjoin — upon the one who is present with him and hears that from him there is no objection that he brings about reconciliation between him and his heirs, by enjoining upon him justice in his will, and forbidding them from withholding from him that which Allah has permitted him and made lawful for him.
* Mention of who said that:
2690 — 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 "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin, and brings about reconciliation between them, upon him is no sin," he said: this is when one is present with the man while he is dying; when he goes to excess, they enjoin justice upon him, and when he falls short, they say: do thus, give so-and-so such-and-such.
2691 — 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, concerning His statement "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin," he said: this is when one is present with the man while he is in death; when he is at the threshold of injustice, they enjoin justice upon him, and when he falls short in a right, they say: do thus, give so-and-so such-and-such.
* * *
Others said: no, the meaning of that is: whoever — from among the kinsfolk of a deceased person, or from among the one in authority over the affairs of the Muslims — fears from a testator partiality in the will that the deceased has left, and brings about reconciliation between his heirs and those for whom he has made the will, by restoring the will to justice and the truth, upon him is no objection and no sin.
* Mention of who said that:
2692 — Al-Muthannā related to me, Abū Ṣāliḥ, the scribe of al-Layth, related to us, Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement "whoever fears from a testator partiality" — that is to say: sin — he says: when the deceased commits an error in his will or is unjust therein, then upon the kinsfolk there is no objection that they restore his error to what is correct.
2693 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin," he said: that is the man who makes a will and is unjust therein, whereupon the kinsman restores it to the truth and justice.
2694 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin"; and Qatāda used to say: whoever makes a will with injustice or partiality therein, and the kinsman of the deceased or one of the imams of the Muslims restores it to the Book of Allah and to justice, that is permitted to him.
2695 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿd and Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin": whoever makes a will with injustice, and the executor restores it to the truth after his death, upon him is no sin — ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said in his narration: "and brings about reconciliation between them," he says: the executor restored it to the truth after his death, upon him is no sin.
2696 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Qabīṣa related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin and brings about reconciliation between them," he said: he restored it to the truth.
2697 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Masrūq, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: I asked him about a man who makes a will for more than a third? He said: restore it. Then he recited: "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin."
2698 — ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: Khālid ibn Yazīd, the pearl merchant, related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin and brings about reconciliation between them, upon him is no sin," he said: the executor restored it to the truth after his death, upon the executor is no sin.
* * *
And some of them said: no, the meaning of that is: whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin in his gift — at the approach of his life's end — to some of his heirs to the exclusion of others, upon the one who brings about reconciliation between them there is no sin — that is to say: between the heirs.
* Mention of who said that:
2699 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: I said to ʿAṭāʾ concerning His statement "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin," he said: the man who is unjust or sins at his death, so that he gives to some of his heirs to the exclusion of others something; Allah says: upon the one who brings about reconciliation between them there is no sin. I said to ʿAṭāʾ: may he give to his heir something at death, while it is only a bequest and there is no bequest for an heir? He said: that concerns what is divided among them.
* * *
Others said: the meaning of that is: whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin in his will in favor of someone who does not inherit from him, in such a manner that the benefit of it returns to someone who does inherit from him, and he brings about reconciliation between his heirs, upon him is no sin.
* Mention of who said that:
2700 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn Ṭāwūs informed me, on the authority of his father, that he used to say: his partiality and his sin consist in the man making a will in favor of the sons of his son, so that the property may go to their father, and the woman making a will in favor of the husband of her daughter, so that the property may go to her daughter; and the one with many heirs and little property, who makes a will over a third of his entire property, whereupon the one to whom the will is entrusted, or the one in authority, brings about reconciliation between them. I said: during his lifetime or after his death? He said: we have not heard anyone say other than after his death, and he is admonished therein.
2701 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father, concerning His statement "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin and brings about reconciliation between them," he said: that is the man who makes a will in favor of the child of his daughter.
* * *
Others said: no, the meaning of that is: whoever fears from a testator partiality in favor of some of his parents and relatives at the expense of others, and brings about reconciliation between the parents and the relatives, upon him is no sin.
* Mention of who said that:
2702 — 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 fears from a testator partiality or sin and brings about reconciliation between them, upon him is no sin." As for "partiality" (janaf): that is an error in his will; and as for "sin" (ithm): that is that he deliberately intends injustice in his will. Indeed, this increases his reward all the more, that he does not carry it out, but brings about reconciliation between them according to what he deems to be the truth, whereby he diminishes for some and increases for others. He said: and this verse was revealed concerning the parents and the near relatives.
2703 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin and brings about reconciliation between them, upon him is no sin," he said: "the partiality" (al-janaf) is that he is partial in the will in favor of some of them at the expense of others, and "the sin" (al-ithm) is that he has sinned against some of his parents at the expense of others; "and brings about reconciliation between them" — the one to whom the will is entrusted brings about reconciliation between the parents and the near relatives — the son and the sons, they are "the near relatives" — upon him is no sin. This, then, is the executor to whom he has entrusted that and to whom he has charged it, and who sees that the latter has been partial in favor of one at the expense of another, and he brings about reconciliation between them, upon him is no sin. Thus the testator fell short of making a will as Allah, the Exalted, had commanded him, and the executor fell short of bringing about reconciliation, whereupon Allah, whose mention is exalted, removed that from them and prescribed the fixed shares of inheritance (al-farāʾiḍ).
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the statements concerning the interpretation of the verse is that its interpretation is: whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin — namely, that he deviates by an error on his part to something other than the truth, or that he deliberately intends a sin in his will, by making a will in favor of his parents and near relatives who do not inherit from him for more than is permitted him to leave to them of his property, and for something other than what Allah has permitted him, namely that he exceeds the third, or leaves the entire third while there is little property and many heirs — then there is no objection upon the one who is present with him that he brings about reconciliation between those for whom the will is made, the heirs of the deceased, and the deceased, by enjoining upon the deceased therein what is fitting and acquainting him with what Allah has allowed him therein and permitted him of testamentary disposal over his property, and forbidding him in his will from exceeding what is fitting, that concerning which Allah, whose mention is exalted, said in His Book: It is prescribed for you, when death comes to one of you, if he leaves goods, the bequest to the parents and the near relatives, in a fitting manner. And that is "the reconciliation" (al-iṣlāḥ) concerning which Allah, whose mention is exalted, said: "and brings about reconciliation between them, upon him is no sin." Likewise it applies to the one who has abundance and much property, while there are few heirs, and who wishes in his will in favor of his parents and near relatives to remain below his third, that the one who is present with him brings about reconciliation between him and his heirs and his parents and near relatives in favor of whom he wishes to make a will, by enjoining upon the sick person to increase his will for them and thereby to reach what Allah has permitted, namely the third. That too belongs to bringing about reconciliation between them in a fitting manner.
And we have preferred this statement only because Allah, whose mention is exalted, said: "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin," by which He means: whoever fears from a testator that he will be partial or will sin. For the fear of the partiality and sin of the testator exists only before the occurrence of the partiality and the sin; but after their occurrence there is no longer any ground to fear that he will be partial or will sin, for that is then the state of one who has already been partial or has sinned. And had that been the meaning, it would have been said: whoever ascertains from a testator partiality or sin — or knows for certain or knows it — and it would not have been said: whoever fears partiality from him.
* * *
If what we have said about that is unclear to some people, so that someone says: what then is the meaning of "bringing about reconciliation" in this case, while reconciliation only takes place between people who disagree about a matter?
The answer is: even though that belongs to the meanings of "reconciliation," yet bringing about reconciliation between two parties in that concerning which it is feared that disagreement will arise between them, in a manner that prevents the occurrence of disagreement, also belongs to reconciliation. For "the reconciliation" is only the act whereby the mutual relationship is set right; and it makes no difference whether that act whereby the mutual relationship is set right takes place before the occurrence of the disagreement or after its occurrence.
If a questioner says: how was it said "and brings about reconciliation between them," while no mention has been made of the heirs, nor of those who disagree or of whom it is feared that they will disagree?
The answer is: no, mention has indeed been made of those whom the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, commanded to make a will in favor of, namely the parents of the testator and his near relatives, and those who were commanded to make a will in His statement: It is prescribed for you, when death comes to one of you, if he leaves goods, the bequest to the parents and the near relatives, in a fitting manner. Then the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, said: "whoever fears from a testator" — in favor of those whom I commanded him to make a will for — "partiality or sin, and brings about reconciliation between them" — and between those for whom I commanded a will to be made — "upon him is no sin." And the reconciliation between him and them is the reconciliation between them and the heirs of the testator.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And His statement "whoever fears from a testator (mūṣ)" is recited with lightening (takhfīf) of the "ṣād" and quiescence (taskīn) of the "wāw" — and with movement of the "wāw" and doubling (tashdīd) of the "ṣād" (muwaṣṣ).
Whoever recites it with lightening of the "ṣād" and quiescence of the "wāw," recites it according to the linguistic form of one who says: "awṣaytu fulānan bi-kadhā" (I charged so-and-so with such-and-such).
And whoever recites it with movement of the "wāw" and doubling of the "ṣād," recites it according to the linguistic form of one who says: "waṣṣaytu fulānan bi-kadhā". These are two well-known linguistic forms of the Arabs: "waṣṣaytuka" and "awṣaytuka".
As for "the partiality" (al-janaf): that is, in the language of the Arabs, injustice and deviation from the truth; and of that is the statement of the poet:
They are the near kin, even though they are partial against us,
and we truly turn away from meeting them.
One says of that: "janafa al-rajulu ʿalā ṣāḥibihi yajnafu" — when he is partial and unjust against him — "janafan".
* * *
The meaning of the words, then, is: whoever fears from a testator partiality in the placement of the will, a deviation from what is correct therein, and injustice toward the correct course, or a sin in that he does that deliberately while he knows that what he produces of it is wrong, and brings about reconciliation between them, upon him is no sin.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning the meaning of "the partiality" and "the sin," the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
2704 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement "whoever fears from a testator partiality": thereby he means by the partiality: the error.
2705 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Jābir ibn Nūḥ related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ: "whoever fears from a testator partiality," he said: deviation.
2706 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Malik informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, the same.
2707 — ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: Khālid ibn al-Ḥārith and Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, both of them saying: ʿAbd al-Malik related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, the same.
2708 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, he said: the partiality is the error, and the sin is the deliberate intent.
2709 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq al-Ahwāzī related to us, saying: [Abū Aḥmad] al-Zubayrī related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, the same.
2710 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin," as for "partiality": that is an error in his will; and as for "sin": that is deliberate intent, he deliberately intends injustice in his will.
2711 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin," he said: an error or deliberate intent.
2712 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿd and Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin," he said: the partiality is the error, and the sin is the deliberate intent.
2713 — ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: Khālid ibn Yazīd, the pearl merchant, related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, the same.
2714 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Qabīṣa related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: "whoever fears from a testator partiality or sin," he said: the partiality is the error, and the sin is the deliberate intent.
2715 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya: "whoever fears from a testator partiality," he said: an error, "or sin": deliberately.
2716 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿUyayna, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father: "whoever fears from a testator partiality," he said: deviation.
2717 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement "partiality": injustice (ḥayf), "and the sin": his inclination in favor of some at the expense of others. And it all comes to the same thing, like "Pardoning, Forgiving" and "Forgiving, Merciful".
2718 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: the partiality is the error, and the sin is the deliberate intent.
2719 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: Al-Faḍl ibn Khālid related to us, he said: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, he said: the partiality is the error, and the sin is the deliberate intent.
* * *
As for His statement "truly, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful," thereby He means: and Allah is Forgiving toward the testator — for that to which he had incited himself of partiality and sin, when he refrains from sinning and from being partial in his will; He then overlooks for him that to which he had incited himself of injustice, since he did not carry it out, so that He refrains from calling him to account for it — "Merciful" toward the one who brings about reconciliation between the testator and the one against whom he wished to commit injustice in favor of another, or against whom he wished to sin in favor of another.
----------------
Footnotes:
(1) In the printed edition it reads: "when he is at the threshold of death, they enjoin justice upon him," but that does not accord with the import of the narration, nor with the preceding narration of Mujāhid. I consider it probable that the copyist miswrote "al-jawr" (injustice) as "al-mawt" (death), or erred or made a scribal error. Or perhaps he erred, miswrote, and added, and the original wording was as the preceding import: "when he goes to excess, they enjoin justice upon him." Both are admissible and correct in meaning.
(2) In the printed edition it reads: "the executors of a deceased person," and both are equivalent.
(3) In the printed edition it reads: "al-Ḥasan ibn ʿĪsā," and that is a pure error; it is an isnād that circulates in the tafsīr, and the example nearest to us is no. 2684.
(4) In the printed edition it reads: "the one in authority (al-wālī)," but the correct reading is what has been established, namely the kinsman of the deceased.
(5) In the printed edition it reads: "for belonging to the reconciliation between the two parties is...," but the correct reading is the addition "the reconciliation," as the import indicates.
(6) See the explanation of (waṣṣā) in what has preceded in this volume, 3:93-96.
(7) He is ʿĀmir al-Khaṣafī, of the Banū Khaṣafa ibn Qays ʿAylān.
(8) Majāz al-Qurʾān of Abū ʿUbayda: 66, 67, and Mushkil al-Qurʾān: 219, and al-Lisān (janaf) (waliya). And al-mawlā: the paternal cousin, and he set the singular in place of the plural, and he meant "al-mawālī"; Abū ʿUbayda said: it is like His statement, the Exalted: then He brings you forth as a child (ṭiflan). And zūr is the plural of azwar: he who deviates from something. He says: they are our cousins, and we abhor meeting them and fighting them, on account of the right of the blood tie that they have.
(9) The narration 2710 — has already occurred under no. 2702, more fully.
(10) The narration 2711 — read in the printed edition: "whoever fears from a testator partiality, he said: partiality, sin," and that is a confused, corrupted wording. I did not deem it admissible to leave it in its corrupted state, and I have adopted the statement of Mujāhid which Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna and ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd have transmitted, as al-Suyūṭī has rendered it in al-Durr al-manthūr 1:175.
(11) The narration 2719 — al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj al-Khayyāṭ al-Baghdādī: a transmitter whose narration carries no weight in the balance; Ibn Maʿīn said of him: "a liar, a drunkard, a scoundrel"; he has a biography in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/2/62-63, and Tārīkh Iṣbahān 1:266-267, and Tārīkh Baghdād 8:84-86, and Lisān al-Mīzān 2:307. And al-Ṭabarī often transmits from him in the tafsīr with an unknown isnād, saying: "it was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj". Perhaps that is on account of the weakness of his narration, so that the isnād does not reach him. And he has sometimes in the Tārīkh named the one who related to him from him, see the Tārīkh 1:30, 42.
And his name occurs in the printed edition correctly, as in 2898. And often it occurs miswritten: "al-Ḥasan ibn al-Faraj," as in this place, and as in 2750. And of that is what has preceded: 691, where I said: "I have not been able to determine who he is." That should be corrected in that place, and everywhere it occurs in the tafsīr.
Al-Faḍl ibn Khālid: his biography has previously occurred: 691.
(12) In the printed edition it read: "Forgiving, Merciful toward the testator...," and that is not correct; the import of his wording indicates the correctness of what we have established.
(13) In the printed edition it reads: "so that He does call him to account for it," and perhaps the correct reading is what has been established.
