Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:4
And who believe in what has been revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what was revealed before you, and of the Hereafter they are certain [in faith].
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 the words of Him whose praise is exalted: وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ
(And those who believe in what has been sent down to you and in what was sent down before you)
The exposition concerning those who are characterized by this trait, and what kinds of people they are, has already been given.⁽⁸¹⁾ Nevertheless, we mention here what has been transmitted in this connection, from those of whom a statement concerning its explanation has been related:
289 – 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: "والذين يؤمنون بما أنـزل إليك وما أنـزل من قبلك" (And those who believe in what has been sent down to you and in what was sent down before you): that is, they hold you to be truthful in what you have brought from Allah — exalted and mighty is He — and in what those before you among the messengers have brought; they make no distinction between them, and they do not deny what these brought to them from their Lord.⁽⁸²⁾
290 – Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī in a report which 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 people among the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: "والذين يؤمنون بما أنـزل إليك وما أنـزل من قبلك وبالآخرة هم يوقنون" (And those who believe in what has been sent down to you and in what was sent down before you, and who are certain of the Hereafter): these are the believers among the People of the Book.⁽⁸³⁾
The explanation of the words of Him whose praise is exalted: وَبِالآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ (4)
(And who are certain of the Hereafter)
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for the Hereafter (al-ākhira), it is an attribute of the Abode (al-dār), as He whose praise is exalted has said: وَإِنَّ الدَّارَ الآخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانُ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ [Surah Al-ʿAnkabūt: 64] (And indeed, the final Abode is the true Life, if they but knew). It has been described with that attribute only because it comes later (ākhira) in relation to an earlier abode that preceded it, just as you say to a man: "I have shown you favors one time after another, but you have thanked me neither for the first nor for the last." It became "the last" only in relation to "the first" because of the precedence of the first over it. So too is the case with the final Abode: it has been named "the last" because of the precedence of the first Abode over it, so that what follows it became "the last." And it is possible that it was named "the last" because of its coming after the creation, just as the present world (al-dunyā) was named "dunyā" because of its nearness (dunuww) to the creation.
As for that with which Allah, whose praise is exalted, has described the believers — those who believe in what has been sent down to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ and in what was sent down to the messengers before him — namely their certainty regarding the matter of the Hereafter: that is their certain conviction concerning that which the polytheists (mushrikīn) denied, namely the raising up, the resurrection, the reward, the punishment, the reckoning, the balance, and all else that Allah has prepared for His creation on the Day of Resurrection. As in:
291 – Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related this 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: (وَبِالآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ) (And who are certain of the Hereafter): that is, concerning the raising up, the Resurrection, the Garden, the Fire, the reckoning, and the balance; that is to say: these are not those who claim that they believe in what was before you, while they disbelieve in what has come to you from your Lord.⁽⁸⁴⁾
This explanation of Ibn ʿAbbās has made clear that the Surah, from its beginning — even though the verses at its beginning belong to the description of the believers — contains an allusion by Allah, mighty and exalted is He, by which He censures the unbelievers among the People of the Book: those who claimed that they held to be true that which the messengers of Allah, mighty and exalted is He, who were before Muḥammad — the blessings of Allah be upon them and upon him — had brought, while they made Muḥammad ﷺ out to be a liar and denied what he had brought of revelation (tanzīl). And they claimed, despite that denial of theirs, that they were rightly guided, and that none would enter the Garden (janna) except whoever was a Jew or a Christian. Thereupon Allah, whose praise is exalted, branded that statement of theirs a lie with His words: الم * ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لا رَيْبَ فِيهِ هُدًى لِلْمُتَّقِينَ * الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلاةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ * وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنْـزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنْـزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ وَبِالآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ (Alif Lām Mīm. That is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for the God-fearing. Those who believe in the unseen, who perform the ritual prayer (ṣalāh) and who spend out of what We have provided them. And those who believe in what has been sent down to you and in what was sent down before you, and who are certain of the Hereafter).
And He whose praise is exalted has informed His servants that this Book is a guidance for the people of faith in Muḥammad ﷺ and in what he brought — for those who hold to be true what was sent down to him and to the messengers before him of clear proofs and guidance — in particular, and not for whoever made Muḥammad ﷺ and what he brought out to be a lie, while he claimed that he held to be true the messengers before Muḥammad — upon him be prayer and peace — and the Books that they brought. Then He whose praise is exalted confirmed the matter of the believers among the Arabs and among the People of the Book who held to be true Muḥammad ﷺ and what was sent down to him and to the messengers before him, with His words: أُولَئِكَ عَلَى هُدًى مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ (Those follow guidance from their Lord, and those are the ones who prosper). Thus He informed that it is precisely they who are the people of guidance and prosperity, in particular and not others, and that those other than them are the people of error and loss.
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Footnotes:
(81) See 237 – 241.
(82) Report 289 – Ibn Kathīr mentions it, 1:79, together with the rest of it that follows: 291. And al-Suyūṭī mentions it, 1:27, and al-Shawkānī, 1:25, with a further addition to the two transmissions, attributed to Ibn Isḥāq, Ibn Jarīr, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim.
(83) Report 290 – This Ibn Kathīr also mentions, but by referring to it without reproducing its wording. Al-Shawkānī followed him in that.
In the original manuscript the following text appears thereafter:
Aḥmad, Muḥammad, and al-Ḥasan, the sons of ʿAbdallāh ibn Aḥmad al-Farghānī, heard all of this.
Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭarsūsī and al-Ḥasan, the sons of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdān, and al-Ḥasan ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥannās heard all of this. And to Allah belongs abundant praise.
(84) Report 291 – This is the continuation of the preceding report 289, and we have already referred to it there.
