Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:285
The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], "We make no distinction between any of His messengers." And they say, "We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final] destination."
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 Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, as do the believers; they all believe in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers.
The exposition of the interpretation of the word of Allah the Exalted: آمَنَ الرَّسُولُ بِمَا أُنـزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ رَبِّهِ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ كُلٌّ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ (2:285):
Allah — exalted be His praise — means by this: the Messenger — that is, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — has affirmed and acknowledged what has been revealed to him from his Lord of the Book and what it contains of the permitted and the forbidden, promise and threat, command and prohibition, and all the other meanings it contains.
Mention of who said this:
It is also related that when this verse was revealed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he said: "It befits Him."
6499 — Bishr related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning "the Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord": he said: it has been related to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, when this verse was revealed, said: "And it befits him to believe."
It is said that this verse was revealed after His words: وَإِنْ تُبْدُوا مَا فِي أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَوْ تُخْفُوهُ يُحَاسِبْكُمْ بِهِ اللَّهُ فَيَغْفِرُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيُعَذِّبُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (2:284) — because the believers among the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were sorely afflicted by what Allah had threatened them with regarding the reckoning of what their souls concealed. They complained of that to the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ said to them: "Will you perhaps say: 'we hear and do not obey' as the Children of Israel said?" They answered: "No, we say: we hear and obey!" Thereupon Allah revealed, in response to the saying of the Prophet ﷺ and the saying of his companions: "The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, as do the believers; they all believe in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers" — that is: and the believers likewise affirmed, together with their Prophet, belief in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers — the two verses. We have already mentioned earlier those who said this.
The reciters differed over the reading of His words "wa-kutubihī".
Most of the reciters of Medina and some of the reciters of Iraq read it as "wa-kutubihī" in the plural form of "the book" — with the meaning: and the believers all believe in Allah, His angels, and all the Books which He has sent down upon His prophets and messengers.
A group of the reciters of Kūfa read it as "wa-kitābihī" — with the meaning: and the believers all believe in Allah, His angels, and the Qurʾān which He has sent down upon His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ.
It is related of Ibn ʿAbbās that he read it as "wa-kitābihī" and said: "The singular is more comprehensive than the plural." And it appears that Ibn ʿAbbās interpreted this according to the style of His words: وَالْعَصْرِ إِنَّ الإِنْسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ (103:1-2) — with the meaning of the genus "mankind" and the genus "the Book," as one says: "how great are the dirham and the dinar of so-and-so" while one means the genus of the dirham and the dinar. That is a well-known and recognized usage — but as for me, the plural form is preferable in the reading, because what precedes it is in the plural, as is what follows it — that is: "wa-malāʾikatihī wa-kutubihī wa-rusulihī" — so for "kutub" to correspond, in its plural form, to what precedes and what follows is dearer to me than the singular, so that it accords both in form and in meaning with what comes before and after it.
The exposition of the interpretation of the words لا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِنْ رُسُلِهِ (we make no distinction between any of His messengers):
Allah — exalted be His praise — informed thereby about the believers that they say this. In the text of those who read "lā nufarriqu" with the nūn (we make no distinction) there is an omitted element which the context sufficiently indicates. That omitted element is "yaqūlūna" (they say). The interpretation of the text is then: and the believers all believe in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers — they say: we make no distinction between any of His messengers. The omission of "they say" is on account of the context's indication of it, just as it was omitted in His words: وَالْمَلائِكَةُ يَدْخُلُونَ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ كُلِّ بَابٍ سَلامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ بِمَا صَبَرْتُمْ (13:23-24) — with the meaning: they say: peace be upon you.
A group of the earlier reciters read it: "lā yufarriqu" with the yāʾ (he makes no distinction) — with the meaning: and the believers all believe in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers — none of them makes a distinction between any of His messengers by believing in some and disbelieving in others; rather they affirm them all and acknowledge that what they came with was from Allah, and that they called to Allah and to obedience to Him — and they thereby distinguish themselves from the Jews who acknowledged Mūsā and denied ʿĪsā, and from the Christians who acknowledged Mūsā and ʿĪsā and denied Muḥammad ﷺ and rejected his prophethood, and from those resembling them among the nations who denied some of the messengers of Allah and acknowledged others.
6500 — Yūnus related to me, on the authority of Ibn Zayd: "we make no distinction between any of His messengers" — as those people did — that is: the Children of Israel — who said: so-and-so is a prophet, and so-and-so is not a prophet; in so-and-so we believe and in so-and-so we do not believe.
The reading which in our view is the only correct one in this matter is with the nūn: "lā nufarriqu bayna aḥadin min rusulihī" — because this is the reading whose validity is established by the abundantly transmitted transmission that excludes mutual collusion and error — with the meaning we have described: they say: we make no distinction between any of His messengers — and an anomalous reading does not count as a counterargument against what has been validly transmitted through transmission and inheritance.
The exposition of the interpretation of the words وَقَالُوا سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ (and they said: we hear and obey; Your forgiveness, our Lord! And to You is the return) (2:285):
Allah — exalted be His praise — means by this: and all the believers said: "we hear" the word of our Lord and His command to us with what He has charged us, and His prohibition of what He has forbidden us — "and we obey" — that is: we obey our Lord in what He has imposed upon us of His obligations and with which He has obligated us to His obedience, and we submit to Him. And His words "ghufrānaka rabbanā" — that is: and they said: "ghufrānaka rabbanā" — with the meaning: forgive us, our Lord, with Your forgiveness, as one says "subḥānaka" with the meaning: we glorify You with Your glorification.
We have already explained earlier that "al-ghufrān" and "al-maghfira" mean: Allah's covering of the sins of the one who is forgiven, and His overlooking of them so that they do not become manifest in the worldly life and the Hereafter, and His remission of the punishment for them.
His words "wa-ilayka al-maṣīr" (and to You is the return): Allah — exalted be His praise — means that they said: and to You, our Lord, is our return and our final destination — so forgive us our sins.
Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone asks: by what is the word "ghufrānaka" placed in the accusative? — It is said: because it, being a verbal noun (maṣdar), takes the function of an imperative. Thus the Arabs do with verbal nouns and nouns when these take the place of the imperative: they place them in the accusative. Thus they say: "shukran lillāh yā fulān" and "ḥamdan lahu" — with the meaning: thank Allah and praise Him. And "al-ṣalātu, al-ṣalātu" — with the meaning: perform the prayer. They also say with regard to nouns: "Allāha Allāha yā qawm" — and had one placed it in the nominative with the meaning: He is Allah, or: this is Allah — and considered it a predicate while it has an imperative force, that too would have been permissible.
It is related that when this verse was revealed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as praise from Allah for him and his community, Jibrīl said to him: Allah — mighty and majestic — has remembered you and your community with goodly praise; so ask your Lord.
6501 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, on the authority of Biyān, on the authority of Ḥakīm ibn Jābir: he said: when it was revealed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: "The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, as do the believers; they all believe in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers — we make no distinction between any of His messengers — and they said: we hear and obey; Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return" — Jibrīl said: Allah — mighty and majestic — has remembered you and your community with goodly praise; so ask — you shall be given! Thereupon he asked: لا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلا وُسْعَهَا — to the end of the sūra.
