Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:3
Who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them,
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 explanation of His word — exalted is His praise —: الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ ("Those who believe")
267 – Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd al-Rāzī related to us, saying: Salama ibn al-Faḍl related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Those who believe (yuʾminūna)", he said: that means: those who hold (it) to be true (yuṣaddiqūna).
268 – Yaḥyā ibn ʿUthmān ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Sahmī 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: "They believe (yuʾminūna)": they hold (it) to be true (yuṣaddiqūna).
269 – Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "They believe (yuʾminūna)": they fear (yakhshawna).
270 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Ṣanʿānī related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, saying: al-Zuhrī said: Faith (al-īmān) is action (al-ʿamal).
271 – 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-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Musayyab ibn Rāfiʿ, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh, saying: Faith (al-īmān) is holding (it) to be true (al-taṣdīq).
The meaning of īmān among the Arabs is: holding (something) to be true (al-taṣdīq). Thus the one who holds a statement to be true is called "one who gives credence to it (muʾmin)", and the one who confirms his statement by his action is likewise called a "believer (muʾmin)". To this belongs the word of Allah — exalted is His praise —: وَمَا أَنْتَ بِمُؤْمِنٍ لَنَا وَلَوْ كُنَّا صَادِقِينَ [Surah Yūsuf: 17] (And you will not believe us, even though we are truthful), that is to say: and you will not hold us to be truthful in our statement. And the fear of Allah (al-khashya) may fall under the meaning of īmān, which is: the confirmation of the statement by the action. The word īmān is a comprehensive term for the acknowledgment (al-iqrār) of Allah, of His books and His messengers, and for confirming that acknowledgment by action. Since that is so, the interpretation that is most suitable for the verse, and that most corresponds to the quality of this people, is that they are described as those who hold the unseen (al-ghayb) to be true in word, in conviction and in deed. For He — exalted is His praise — did not, with respect to the meaning of īmān, restrict them to one meaning to the exclusion of another, but rather gave their description with it in a general sense, without any one of its meanings being specifically excluded from their description, neither by a narration nor by reason.
The explanation of His word — exalted is His praise —: بِالْغَيْبِ ("in the unseen")
272 – Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd al-Rāzī related to us, saying: Salama ibn al-Faḍl related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "in the unseen (bi-l-ghayb)", he said: in that which has come from it, that is to say: from Allah — exalted is His praise.
273 – Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, in a narration he mentioned, on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra al-Hamdānī, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of a number of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "in the unseen (bi-l-ghayb)": as for the unseen, it is what is hidden from the servants concerning the matter of the Garden and the matter of the Fire, and what Allah — blessed and exalted is He — has mentioned in the Qurʾān. Their holding it to be true — that is, of the believers among the Arabs — was not on the basis of an original scripture or a knowledge that they possessed.
274 – Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq al-Ahwāzī related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Zirr, saying: The unseen (al-ghayb) is the Qurʾān.
275 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh al-ʿAqadī related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His word "Those who believe in the unseen", he said: They believed in the Garden and the Fire, and in the resurrection after death, and in the Day of Resurrection — and all of this is unseen (ghayb).
276 – It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: "Those who believe in the unseen": they believed in Allah, in His angels, in His messengers and in the Last Day, and in His Garden, His Fire and the meeting with Him, and they believed in the life after death. All of this is unseen (ghayb).
The root meaning of al-ghayb is: everything that is hidden from you of any matter. It is derived from your saying: "ghāba fulān yaghību ghayban" (so-and-so was absent, he is absent, absence).
The scholars of interpretation have differed over the identity of the people about whom Allah — exalted is His praise — sent down these two verses from the beginning of this surah, and over the characterization and description with which He described them, namely their faith in the unseen and the remaining meanings concerning their attributes that the two verses contain.
Some of them said: They are exclusively the believers among the Arabs, to the exclusion of the remaining believers among the People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb).
They adduced as proof for the correctness of that statement and the truth of their interpretation the verse that follows these two verses, namely the word of Allah — mighty and exalted is He —: وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنْـزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنْـزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ (And those who believe in what has been sent down to you and in what was sent down before you). They said: The Arabs had no book before the Book that Allah — mighty and exalted is He — sent down to Muḥammad ﷺ, which they adhered to as religion by holding it true, acknowledging it and acting upon it. The Book belonged only to the people of the two other Books. They said: When Allah — mighty and exalted is He — mentioned the report about those who believe in what was sent down to Muḥammad and in what was sent down before him — after His report about the believers in the unseen — we knew that each group of them differs from the other group, and that the believers in the unseen are a kind that differs from the kind that holds the two Books to be true, one of which was sent down to Muḥammad ﷺ and the other to whoever was before the Messenger of Allah.
They said: Since that is so, what we have said is correct, namely that the interpretation of the word of Allah — exalted is He —: الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ (Those who believe in the unseen) concerns only those who believe in what was hidden from them, namely the Garden and the Fire, the reward, the punishment and the resurrection, and in holding to be true Allah, His angels, His books and His messengers, and all of that which the Arabs in their time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) did not adhere to as religion, namely that which Allah — exalted is His praise — has imposed upon His servants as a religious obligation — to the exclusion of others than they.
* Mention of who said that:
277 – Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, in a narration he mentioned, on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra al-Hamdānī, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of a number of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: As for الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ (Those who believe in the unseen), they are the believers among the Arabs, وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلاةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ (and who establish the ritual prayer and who spend out of what We have provided them). As for the unseen, it is what is hidden from the servants concerning the matter of the Garden and the Fire, and what Allah has mentioned in the Qurʾān. Their holding it to be true was not on the basis of an original scripture or a knowledge that they possessed. And وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلاةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ — these are the believers among the People of the Book.
Others said: No, these four verses were sent down concerning the believers among the People of the Book in particular, because of their faith in the Qurʾān when Allah — exalted is His praise — gave them therein news of the unseen matters that they used to keep hidden and secret among themselves. When Allah — exalted is His praise — informed His Prophet ﷺ of that in His revelation, they knew that it was from Allah — mighty and exalted is He — and they believed in the Prophet ﷺ and held the Qurʾān to be true, as well as the reports therein about the unseen matters of which they had no knowledge, because it was established with them — by the proof with which Allah — blessed and exalted is He — argued against them in His Book, namely the reporting therein of what they kept hidden in their inner selves — that all of this was from Allah.
Still others said: No, the four verses from the beginning of this surah were sent down to Muḥammad ﷺ as a description of all the believers who have this quality, among the Arabs, the non-Arabs, the people of the two Books and others than them. This is merely the description of one group of people, and the believer in what Allah sent down to Muḥammad ﷺ and in what was sent down before him is the same as the believer in the unseen.
They said: Allah described them with faith in what was sent down to Muḥammad and in what was sent down before him only after the completion of His description of them with faith in the unseen, because by His description of them with faith in the unseen was meant that they believe in the Garden, the Fire, the resurrection and the remaining matters that Allah — exalted is His praise — has imposed upon them as the obligation of faith, namely that which they have not seen and what has not yet come of what is to come — apart from the report about them that they believe in what Muḥammad ﷺ brought and whoever came before him of messengers and books.
They said: Since the meaning of His word — exalted is His remembrance —: وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنْـزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنْـزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ (And those who believe in what has been sent down to you and in what was sent down before you) is not contained in His word الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ (Those who believe in the unseen), the servants' need for knowledge of their description with it, so that they might recognize them, was equal to their need for knowledge of them by means of the description with which they were described, namely their faith in the unseen — so that they might know what pleases Allah of the deeds of His servants and what He loves of their attributes, so that thereby — if their Lord grants them the capacity for it — they might be [believers].
* Mention of who said that:
278 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Bāhilī related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Makhlad related to us, saying: ʿĪsā ibn Maymūn al-Makkī related to us, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Najīḥ related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, saying: Four verses from Surah al-Baqara are about the characterization of the believers, and two verses about the characterization of the unbelievers, and thirteen about the hypocrites (munāfiqīn).
279 – Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
280 – Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Mūsā ibn Masʿūd related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
281 – It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, saying: Four verses from the beginning of this surah — that is, Surah al-Baqara — are about those who believe, and two verses about the leaders of the confederates (al-aḥzāb).
The more correct of the two statements, in my view, and the statement that most corresponds to the interpretation of the Book, is the first statement, namely: that those whom Allah — exalted is His remembrance — described with faith in the unseen, and with that with which He — exalted is His praise — described them in the first two verses, are others than those whom He described with faith in what was sent down to Muḥammad and what was sent down to the messengers before him — for the grounds I previously mentioned for whoever said that.
Likewise indicating the correctness of this statement is the fact that He — after the description of the believers with the two attributes that He described, and after the division of each of the two kinds just as He divided the unbelievers — made of them two kinds: He made one of them someone whose heart is sealed, sealed shut, of whose return (to Allah) one despairs, and the other a hypocrite who outwardly feigns faith and inwardly conceals hypocrisy. Thus He made the unbelievers two kinds, just as He made the believers two kinds at the beginning of the surah. Then He made His servants know the characterization and description of each group of them, and what He has prepared for each party of them of reward or punishment, and He censured the blameworthy among them, and showed gratitude for the effort of the obedient among them.
The explanation of His word — exalted is His praise —: وَيُقِيمُونَ ("and who establish")
The establishment of it (of the prayer) is: the performance of it — with its limits, its obligations and what is commanded in it — in accordance with the manner in which it is prescribed. As one says: "the people established their market (aqāma al-qawmu sūqahum)", when they do not leave it idle of buying and selling therein. And as the poet said:
We set up for the people of the two ʿIrāqs the market of swordfighting, but they recoiled and turned away together.
282 – And as Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama ibn al-Faḍl related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and who establish the ritual prayer", he said: Those who establish the prayer with its obligations.
283 – Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Bishr ibn ʿUmāra, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and who establish the ritual prayer", he said: The establishment of the prayer is the complete performance of the bowing (rukūʿ) and the prostration (sujūd), the recitation, the humble submission (khushūʿ), and devoting oneself attentively to it.
The explanation of His word — exalted is His praise —: الصَّلاةَ ("the ritual prayer")
284 – Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Juwaybir related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His word: "Those who establish the ritual prayer": that is to say the prescribed prayer (al-ṣalāt al-mafrūḍa).
As for the ṣalāt: in the speech of the Arabs it means the supplication (al-duʿāʾ), as al-Aʿshā said:
She has a guardian who never leaves her dwelling, and when she is slaughtered (opened), he prays over her and murmurs (zamzama).
He means by it: he prayed for her. And as al-Aʿshā also said:
And he set her up against the wind by her water-jar, and prayed over her water-jar and made the sign.
I am of the view that the prescribed prayer was called "ṣalāt" because the one praying directs himself toward obtaining what he desires of Allah's reward through his action, together with what he asks of his Lord of needs — just as the supplicant directs himself with his supplication toward his Lord to obtain the success of his needs and his request.
The explanation of His word — exalted is His praise —: وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ (3) ("and who spend out of what We have provided them")
The exegetes differed over its interpretation. Some of them said what:
285 – Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and who spend out of what We have provided them", he said: They give the obligatory alms (zakāh), in hope of its reward.
286 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, on the authority of Muʿāwiya, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and who spend out of what We have provided them", he said: The zakāh of their wealth.
287 – Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "and who spend out of what We have provided them", he said: The expenditures were acts of drawing near (qurubāt) by which they sought to raise themselves toward Allah, according to the measure of their ease and their effort, until the ordinances of the alms (ṣadaqāt) were sent down: seven verses in Surah Barāʾa, in which the alms are mentioned — these are the establishing, abrogating (nāsikha) verses.
And some said what:
288 – Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, in a narration he mentioned, on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra al-Hamdānī, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of a number of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "and who spend out of what We have provided them": this is the maintenance that the man provides to his family. And this was before the zakāh was sent down.
The most suitable of the interpretations for the verse, and the most justified with respect to the quality of this people, is: that they fulfilled everything that was obligatory upon them in their wealth — whether that was zakāh, or the maintenance of whoever's support rested upon them, of family, children and others, namely of those whose support is obligatory upon them by kinship, by ownership (al-milk, i.e. slaves) and otherwise. For Allah — exalted is His praise — gave their description in a general sense when He described them with spending out of what He had provided them, and praised them with it in their description. It is thus known that — since He did not restrict their praise and their description to one kind of expenditure for which the one who does it is praised, to the exclusion of another kind, neither by a narration nor otherwise — they are described with all the meanings of expenditures for which the one who does them is praised, namely out of the good that their Lord has provided them of wealth and possessions, and that is the permissible (ḥalāl) thereof, which is not mixed with anything forbidden (ḥarām).
