Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:47
O Children of Israel, remember My favor that I have bestowed upon you and that I preferred you over the worlds.
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 saying of the Exalted: يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ
(O Children of Israel, remember My favour which I bestowed upon you)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The explanation of this in this verse is the same as its explanation in the preceding verse, in His saying: (Remember My favour which I bestowed upon you and fulfil My covenant). I have already discussed that there (128).
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَأَنِّي فَضَّلْتُكُمْ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ (47)
(and that I preferred you above the worlds)
Abū Jaʿfar said: This too belongs to that which He — exalted be His praise — brought to their remembrance of His blessings and favours towards them. By His saying: (and that I preferred you above the worlds) He means: that I preferred your forefathers. Thus He ascribed His favours to their fathers and forefathers as favours from Himself towards them [the ones addressed], since the glorious deeds of the fathers are also glorious deeds for the sons, and the favours bestowed upon the fathers are also favours bestowed upon the sons, because the sons descend from the fathers. And He — exalted be His remembrance — expressed His saying: (and that I preferred you above the worlds) in a general wording, while by it He means a specific meaning; for the meaning is: and I preferred you above the world of which you were a part and in whose time you lived (129). As in that which:
868 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Ṣanʿānī related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar — and al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, he said: Maʿmar informed us — on the authority of Qatāda, concerning (and that I preferred you above the worlds), he said: He preferred them above the world of that time.
869 – Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Ādam related to us, he said: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning: (and that I preferred you above the worlds), he said: because of what was given to them of kingship, messengers, and books, above the world that existed in that time; for every time has a world.
870 – Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Mujāhid said concerning His saying: (and that I preferred you above the worlds): above those among whom they lived.
871 – And Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: above those among whom they lived.
872 – And Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: I asked Ibn Zayd about the saying of Allah: (and that I preferred you above the worlds), he said: the world of the people of that time. And he recited the saying of Allah: وَلَقَدِ اخْتَرْنَاهُمْ عَلَى عِلْمٍ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ [al-Dukhān: 32] (And We chose them, with knowledge, above the worlds), he said: This applies to whoever obeyed Him and followed His command, while among them were apes, and they were the most hateful of His creatures to Him. And He said to this community [umma]: كُنْتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ [Āl ʿImrān: 110] (You are the best community brought forth for mankind), he said: This applies to whoever obeyed Allah, followed His command, and avoided His forbidden things.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the proof for the correctness of what we have said — that its explanation pertains to the specific meaning which we have described — is that which:
873 – Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us — and al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us — both on the authority of Bahz ibn Ḥakīm, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying: "Verily, you complete seventy communities" — Yaʿqūb said in his narration: "you are the last of them" —. And al-Ḥasan said: "you are the best and the most honoured of them with Allah." (130)
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This narration from the Prophet ﷺ thus makes clear that the Children of Israel were not preferred above the community of Muḥammad — peace and blessings be upon him — and that the meaning of His saying: وَفَضَّلْنَاهُمْ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ [al-Jāthiya: 16] (and We preferred them above the worlds) and His saying: (and that I preferred you above the worlds) corresponds to the explanation which we have set forth. And we have already dealt sufficiently with the explanation of His saying: (the worlds / al-ʿālamīn) in another place, so that this dispenses us from the need to repeat it (131).
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Footnotes:
(128) See 1: 555–559.
(129) See 1: 143–146, then 151–152. Of everything that is in the middle and principal part of something, one says: "it is between our backs (bayna ẓahraynā wa-ẓahrānīnā)", proceeding from the notion that it dwells between the back of whoever is behind it and the back of whoever is in front of it, so that it is enclosed on both sides. Then it was used frequently, until it came to be applied generally to dwelling in the midst of a people. One also says: "he dwells between their backs (bayna aẓhurihim)" in this meaning. And one also says: "I met him bayna ẓahrānay al-layl", that is, between the evening prayer (ʿishāʾ) and the dawn; according to this example one should judge the use of this word.
(130) The narration: 873 – Bahz, with fatḥa on the bāʾ and sukūn on the hāʾ: that is Ibn Ḥakīm ibn Muʿāwiya ibn Ḥaydah al-Qushayrī. He is trustworthy (thiqa); Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn al-Madīnī, and others have declared him trustworthy, and there is no valid argument for whoever has voiced criticism of him. Al-Bukhārī devoted a biography to him in al-Kabīr 1/2/143, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim in al-Jarḥ wa-l-taʿdīl 1/430–431. Indeed, al-Bukhārī narrated from him in the Ṣaḥīḥ in the form of a taʿlīq (without a complete isnād), as al-Ḥāfiẓ mentions in al-Iṣāba 6: 112, in the biography of his grandfather. His father Ḥakīm ibn Muʿāwiya: a trustworthy tābiʿī; al-Bukhārī devoted a biography to him 2/1/12, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/2/207. And his grandfather Muʿāwiya ibn Ḥaydah: a Companion (ṣaḥābī) whose companionship is established; Ibn Saʿd said in the Ṭabaqāt 7/1/22: "He came as an envoy to the Prophet ﷺ, embraced Islam, accompanied him, asked him about various matters, and narrated from him narrations." Al-Bukhārī devoted a biography to him 4/1/329, and said: "He heard the Prophet ﷺ."
And this narration al-Ṭabarī has narrated here with two isnāds: through the route of Ibn ʿUlayya on the authority of Bahz, and through the route of Maʿmar ibn Rāshid on the authority of Bahz. Both isnāds will follow separately (4: 30, Būlāq edition).
Al-Tirmidhī narrated it 4: 82–83, through the route of ʿAbd al-Razzāq, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Bahz, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather: "that he heard the Prophet ﷺ saying, concerning the saying of the Exalted (You are the best community brought forth for mankind), he said: you complete seventy communities, you are the best and the most honoured of them with Allah." Then al-Tirmidhī said: "This is a good (ḥasan) narration. And more than one person has narrated this narration on the authority of Bahz ibn Ḥakīm in a similar manner, without mentioning therein (You are the best community brought forth for mankind)." Ibn Māja narrated it: 4288, through the route of Ibn ʿUlayya, on the authority of Bahz. Imam Aḥmad narrated it in the Musnad (5: 3, Ḥalabī edition), on the authority of Yazīd ibn Hārūn, on the authority of Bahz. And he narrated it (5: 5), on the authority of Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān, on the authority of Bahz.
Al-Dārimī narrated it 2: 313, on the authority of al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl, on the authority of Bahz. And Ibn Māja also narrated it: 4287, through the route of Ibn Shawdhab, on the authority of Bahz.
Then Bahz was not alone in narrating it on the authority of his father Ḥakīm, for Saʿīd ibn Iyās al-Jurayrī also narrated it: Imam Aḥmad narrated it (4: 447), on the authority of ʿAffān, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Salama, on the authority of al-Jurayrī, on the authority of Ḥakīm ibn Muʿāwiya, on the authority of his father, in a similar manner. And he also narrated it in a more extensive form (5: 3), on the authority of Ḥasan ibn Mūsā, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Salama, on the authority of al-Jurayrī. Ibn Kathīr mentioned the narration 1: 160, and attributed it to "the Masānīd and the Sunan". Then he mentioned it again 2: 214, on the authority of "the Musnad of Imam Aḥmad, the Jāmiʿ of al-Tirmidhī, the Sunan of Ibn Māja, and the Mustadrak of al-Ḥākim". Then he said thereafter: "It is a well-known (mashhūr) narration. And al-Tirmidhī declared it good (ḥasan)."
(131) See the preceding 1: 143–146.
