Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:53
And [recall] when We gave Moses the Scripture and criterion that perhaps you would be guided.
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 discourse on the explanation of His exalted statement: وَإِذْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ وَالْفُرْقَانَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ (53)
(And when We gave Mūsā the Book and the Criterion (al-furqān), that you might be rightly guided.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His statement (And when We gave Mūsā the Book) He means: and remember also when We gave Mūsā the Book and the Criterion (al-furqān). By "the Book" He means the Torah, and by "the Criterion" (al-furqān) the means of distinguishing between truth and falsehood, as in the following:
928 — Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning His statement (And when We gave Mūsā the Book and the Criterion), he said: By it He distinguished between truth and falsehood.
929 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr al-Bāhilī related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah (And when We gave Mūsā the Book and the Criterion), he said: The Book is the Criterion, a means of distinguishing between truth and falsehood.
930 — 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, the like of it.
931 — And al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥasan related to me, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement (And when We gave Mūsā the Book and the Criterion), he said: The Book is the Criterion; it distinguished between truth and falsehood.
932 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: And Ibn ʿAbbās said: "The Criterion" (al-furqān) is a collective name for the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms (al-Zabūr), and the Furqān.
And Ibn Zayd said the following concerning it:
933 — Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related this to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: I asked him — namely Ibn Zayd — concerning the statement of Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He: (And when We gave Mūsā the Book and the Criterion). He said: As for "the Criterion" (al-furqān) concerning which Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, said: يَوْمَ الْفُرْقَانِ يَوْمَ الْتَقَى الْجَمْعَانِ [al-Anfāl: 41] (the Day of the Criterion, the day on which the two armies met), that is the day of Badr, the day on which Allah distinguished between truth and falsehood, and the judgment by which He distinguished between truth and falsehood. He said: Thus did Allah give Mūsā the Criterion; Allah distinguished between them, delivered him, and brought him to safety; He distinguished between them through the victory. Just as Allah brought that about between Muḥammad ﷺ and the polytheists (al-mushrikīn), so did He bring it about between Mūsā and Pharaoh.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most fitting of these two interpretations for the explanation of the verse is what has been transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, Abū al-ʿĀliya, and Mujāhid: namely, that the Criterion (al-furqān) which Allah mentions that He gave to Mūsā in this place is the Book by which He distinguished between truth and falsehood, and that it is a qualification of the Torah and a description of it. The explanation of the verse then becomes: and when We gave Mūsā the Torah which We had written for him upon the tablets, and by which We distinguished between truth and falsehood.
Thus "the Book" is a qualification of the Torah placed in its stead, so that the mention of the Torah may be omitted; then "the Criterion" (al-furqān) is appended to it as a conjunction, since it belongs to its qualifications.
* * *
We have already explained the meaning of "the Book" in what preceded of this our book, and that it has the meaning of "that which is written."
* * *
We say that this interpretation is the most fitting for the verse — although another interpretation is possible — because what precedes it is the mention of "the Book," and because the meaning of "the Criterion" (al-furqān) is "the distinguishing" — and we have already demonstrated that in what preceded of this our book —, so that, this being so, it is more obvious to connect it with the description of that which immediately precedes it than to connect it with the description of that which is more remote from it.
As for the explanation of His statement (that you might be rightly guided), it is the same as the explanation of His statement لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ (that you might be grateful), and its meaning is: that you might be rightly guided.
It is as though He said: and remember also when We gave Mūsā the Torah which distinguishes between truth and falsehood, that you might be rightly guided by it and might follow the truth that is in it, for I made it thus: a guidance for whoever lets himself be guided by it and follows what is in it.
-----------
Footnotes:
(113) In the manuscript it reads: "it is the Criterion between truth and falsehood," and what is in the printed edition is better.
(114) In the printed edition it reads: "between Muḥammad and the polytheists," and I have adopted what is in the manuscript.
(115) In the printed edition it reads: "So the most fitting of these two interpretations…".
(116) See what preceded, volume 1: 97–99.
(117) In the printed edition it reads: "because what precedes it is the mention of the Book," with the omission of "of."
(118) See what preceded, volume 1: 98–99.
(119) See what preceded, volume 2: 69.
