Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:269
He gives wisdom to whom He wills, and whoever has been given wisdom has certainly been given much good. And none will remember except those of understanding.
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 Word concerning the explanation of His statement: يُؤْتِي الْحِكْمَةَ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَمَنْ يُؤْتَ الْحِكْمَةَ فَقَدْ أُوتِيَ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا
(He gives wisdom to whom He wills, and whoever is given wisdom has truly been granted much good.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His praise — means thereby: Allah gives the attainment of what is correct in word and deed to whom He wills of His servants, and whoever of them is given the attainment of what is correct therein has truly been granted much good.
* * *
The exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning this.
Some of them said: the "wisdom" (al-ḥikma) which Allah mentions in this place is: the Qurʾān and the understanding of jurisprudence (fiqh) thereof.
* Mention of who said that:
6177 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: وَمَنْ يُؤْتَ الْحِكْمَةَ فَقَدْ أُوتِيَ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا (and whoever is given wisdom has truly been granted much good), he said: that means: the knowledge of the Qurʾān — the abrogating therein and the abrogated (al-nāsikh and al-mansūkh), the unambiguous and the ambiguous thereof (al-muḥkam and al-mutashābih), the earlier-revealed and the later-revealed thereof, the permitted and the forbidden thereof, and its parables.
6178 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "He gives wisdom to whom He wills," he said: wisdom is: the Qurʾān, and the understanding of jurisprudence (fiqh) in the Qurʾān.
6179 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "He gives wisdom to whom He wills, and whoever is given wisdom has truly been granted much good," and wisdom is: the understanding of jurisprudence (fiqh) in the Qurʾān.
6180 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Hilālī related to us, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Mahdī ibn Maymūn related to us, saying: Shuʿayb ibn al-Ḥabḥāb related to us, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: "and whoever is given wisdom has truly been granted much good," he said: the Book and the understanding of it.
6181 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: "He gives wisdom to whom He wills," the verse, he said: it is not the prophethood (al-nubuwwa), but it is the Qurʾān, knowledge (al-ʿilm), and the understanding of jurisprudence (al-fiqh).
6182 — 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 understanding of jurisprudence (fiqh) in the Qurʾān.
* * *
Others said: the meaning of "wisdom" (al-ḥikma) is the attainment of what is correct in word and deed.
* Mention of who said that:
6183 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, he said: I heard Mujāhid say: "and whoever is given wisdom," he said: the attainment of what is correct.
6184 — 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 the statement of Allah — mighty and exalted is He —: "He gives wisdom to whom He wills," he said: He gives His attainment of what is correct to whom He wills.
6185 — 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: "He gives wisdom to whom He wills," he said: the Book; He gives His attainment of what is correct to whom He wills.
* * *
Others said: it is the knowledge of the religion (al-ʿilm bi-l-dīn).
* Mention of who said that:
6186 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: "He gives wisdom to whom He wills" is understanding in the religion, and he recited: "and whoever is given wisdom has truly been granted much good."
6187 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: wisdom is: the intellect (al-ʿaql).
6188 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: I said to Mālik: and what is wisdom? He said: the knowledge of the religion, the understanding of jurisprudence (fiqh) therein, and the following of it.
* * *
Others said: "wisdom" is comprehension (al-fahm).
* Mention of who said that:
6190 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥamza, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: wisdom is: comprehension (al-fahm).
* * *
Others said: it is the fear of God (al-khashya).
* Mention of who said that:
6191 — 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, concerning His statement: "He gives wisdom to whom He wills, and whoever is given wisdom," the verse, he said: "wisdom" is the fear of God (al-khashya), for the head of all things is the fear of Allah. And he recited: إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى اللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاءُ (It is only the learned among His servants who fear Allah). [Surah Fāṭir: 28].
* * *
Others said: it is the prophethood (al-nubuwwa).
* Mention of who said that:
6192 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His statement: "He gives wisdom to whom He wills, and whoever is given wisdom," the verse, he said: wisdom is: the prophethood (al-nubuwwa).
* * *
We have already previously expounded the meaning of "wisdom" (al-ḥikma) — and that it is derived from "judgment" (al-ḥukm) and the adjudication of a legal dispute, and that it is the attainment of what is correct — with that which demonstrates the correctness thereof, so that this relieves us of repeating it in this place.
* * *
When its meaning, then, is thus, then all the statements which the spokesmen — whose statement we have mentioned — have made concerning it fall under what we have said about it. For the attainment of what is correct in matters arises only from comprehension thereof, knowledge, and acquaintance. And when that is so, then the one who attains what is correct on the basis of his comprehension of the places of correctness in his affairs is one who possesses comprehension, who fears Allah, who is a jurist (faqīh) and learned.
And prophethood belongs to the components thereof. For the prophets are rightly guided and endowed with comprehension, and they are aided to attain what is correct in some matters; and "prophethood" is one of the meanings of "wisdom."
* * *
The explanation of the statement is thus: Allah gives the attainment of what is correct in word and deed to whom He wills, and to whomever Allah gives that, He has truly granted him much good.
* * *
The Word concerning the explanation of His statement: وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلا أُولُو الأَلْبَابِ (269)
(And none takes heed except the possessors of understanding.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His praise — means thereby: and none takes to heart that with which his Lord has admonished him in these verses — in which He has admonished those who spend their wealth with that with which others have admonished them — therein and in other verses of His Book, so that he remembers His promise and His threat therein, and refrains from that from which his Lord has restrained him, and obeys Him in that which He has commanded him — "except the possessors of understanding," that is to say: except the possessors of understanding, who have understood from Allah — mighty and exalted is He — His command and His prohibition.
He — exalted is His praise — thus informed that admonitions bring benefit only to the possessors of understanding and discernment, and that the admonition restrains only the people of insight and understanding.
