Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:56
Then We revived you after your death that perhaps you would be grateful.
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 (157): ثُمَّ بَعَثْنَاكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَوْتِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ (56)
(Then We raised you up after your death, that perhaps you might be grateful.)
By His saying (ثم بعثناكم) — "then We raised you up" — He means: then We brought you back to life.
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The root meaning of "al-baʿth" is the setting of something in motion from its place. From it is derived the expression "so-and-so baʿatha his mount" when he drives it up from its resting place to set off, as the poet said:
"Then I drive her on, while she is well-fed from a full year, like the flank of a mountain peak, a swift, hardy she-camel." (158)
And "al-raʿn" is the broken-off jutting part (the nose) of the mountain; "al-dhiʿlibah" is the light (swift) she-camel; and "al-waqāḥ" is the one with the hard hoof or foot-sole. From it is also derived the expression "I baʿathtu so-and-so for my need" when one makes him rise from the place where he is to occupy himself with it. And from it the Day of Resurrection is called "Yawm al-Baʿth," because it is the day on which people are raised up from their graves to stand for the reckoning.
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By His saying (من بعد موتكم) — "after your death" — He means: after your death by the thunderbolt (al-ṣāʿiqah) that destroyed you.
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And His saying (لعلكم تشكرون) — "that perhaps you might be grateful" — He says: We did that with you so that you would be grateful to Me for the favour I bestowed upon you by bringing you back to life, as a form of preservation of you on My part, so that you would return to repentance for your great sin, after I had caused the punishment to descend upon you through the thunderbolt that I sent down upon you, which made you die because of your grave offence committed on your part in the relationship between you and your Lord.
This position is based on the interpretation of the one who explained His saying (ثم بعثناكم) as: "then We brought you back to life."
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Others have said: the meaning of His saying (ثم بعثناكم) is: We sent you forth as prophets.
955 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related that to me, he said: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The interpretation of the words according to the explanation of al-Suddī is: Then the thunderbolt seized you, then We brought you back to life after your death, while you watched how We brought you back to life after your death, then We sent you forth as prophets, that perhaps you might be grateful.
Al-Suddī claimed that this belongs to what is placed first but in meaning has a later placement, and what is placed later but in meaning has an earlier placement (i.e., an inversion of the order).
956 — Mūsā related that to us, he said: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī.
This is an interpretation whose plain wording of the recitation indicates the contrary, while moreover the people of interpretation are unanimously agreed that it is incorrect. According to the interpretation of al-Suddī that we have transmitted from him, the meaning of His saying (لعلكم تشكرون) would necessarily have to be: that perhaps you might be grateful to Me because I made you prophets.
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The occasion for their saying to Mūsā was — according to what Allah, exalted and mighty is He, has reported about them, that they said to him, namely their saying: لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى نَرَى اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً ("We will not believe you until we see Allah plainly") — that which:—
957 — Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related it to us, he said: Salamah ibn al-Faḍl related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, who said: When Mūsā returned to his people and saw the state they were in, namely the worship of the calf, and said to his brother and to al-Sāmirī what he said, and the calf was burned and its ashes scattered in the sea (159), Mūsā selected from among them seventy men, the best of the best, and he said: Go forth to Allah, mighty and exalted is He, and show Him repentance for what you have done, and ask Him for repentance for those of your people whom you have left behind; fast, purify yourselves and purify your garments. Then he set out with them to Mount Sinai, before the time that his Lord had appointed for him, and he used not to come to Him except with His permission and knowledge. And the seventy said to him — as it has been related to me — when they had done what he had commanded them, and they set out to meet their Lord (160): O Mūsā, ask your Lord for us that we may hear the words of our Lord (161). He said: I will do so. When Mūsā drew near the mountain, a column of cloud descended upon him, until it enveloped the whole mountain (162), and Mūsā drew near and entered it, and he said to the people: Come near. And whenever his Lord spoke with Mūsā, there fell upon his forehead a radiant light that no child of Ādam could behold. Then a veil was hung before him. And the people drew near, until, when they entered the cloud, they fell down in prostration, and they heard Him while He spoke to Mūsā and commanded him and forbade him: do this, and do not do that. When He had completed His command to him, the cloud withdrew from Mūsā (163). And he turned toward them, and they said to Mūsā: لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى نَرَى اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً ("We will not believe you until we see Allah plainly"). Then the quaking seized them — and that is the thunderbolt (al-ṣāʿiqah) — [and their souls were suddenly snatched away] and they all died together (164). And Mūsā rose, beseeching his Lord and calling upon Him and turning to Him with longing, and he said: My Lord, had You willed, You would have destroyed them before, and me with them! They have acted foolishly; will You then destroy those of the children of Isrāʾīl whom I have left behind for what the foolish among us do? (165) — that is to say: truly, this is destruction for them; I chose from among them seventy men, the best of the best, and shall I now return to them without even a single man of them being with me! What then will lead them to believe me, or to trust me after this? إِنَّا هُدْنَا إِلَيْكَ ("Truly, we have turned to You in repentance"). And Mūsā kept on ceaselessly beseeching his Lord, mighty and exalted is He, and calling upon Him (166), until He returned their souls to them. Then he asked Him for repentance for the children of Isrāʾīl for the worship of the calf, and He said: No, except that they kill themselves (167).
958 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, he said: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, he said: Asbāṭ ibn Naṣr related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: When the children of Isrāʾīl showed repentance for the worship of the calf, and Allah accepted their repentance through their killing one another as He had commanded them, Allah the Exalted commanded Mūsā that he should come to Him with a number of people from the children of Isrāʾīl, who would excuse themselves before Him for the worship of the calf, and He promised them an appointed time. Mūsā chose from his people seventy men of his own choosing, and then went forth with them so that they would excuse themselves. When they reached that place, they said: لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى نَرَى اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً ("We will not believe you until we see Allah plainly"), for you have spoken with Him, so show Him to us. Then the thunderbolt seized them and they died. And Mūsā rose, weeping and calling upon Allah, and he said: My Lord, what shall I say to the children of Isrāʾīl when I come to them while You have destroyed the best among them? My Lord, had You willed, You would have destroyed them before, and me with them. Will You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done? Then Allah revealed to Mūsā: Truly, these seventy are among those who took the calf (for worship). That is the moment at which Mūsā says: إِنْ هِيَ إِلا فِتْنَتُكَ تُضِلُّ بِهَا مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتَهْدِي مَنْ تَشَاءُ ("It is nothing but Your trial, by which You let go astray whom You will and guide whom You will") [up to His saying] إِنَّا هُدْنَا إِلَيْكَ ("Truly, we have turned to You in repentance") [al-Aʿrāf: 155-156]. [He says: we have repented before You.] (168) And that is His saying: وَإِذْ قُلْتُمْ يَا مُوسَى لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى نَرَى اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً فَأَخَذَتْكُمُ الصَّاعِقَةُ ("And when you said: O Mūsā, we will not believe you until we see Allah plainly, whereupon the thunderbolt seized you"). Then Allah, praised be His praise, brought them back to life, and they rose and lived, man by man, while they looked at one another how they were being brought back to life. And they said: O Mūsā, you call upon Allah and ask Him for nothing but that He gives it to you; call upon Him then that He may make us prophets! Then he called upon Allah the Exalted, and He made them prophets. That is His saying: (ثم بعثناكم من بعد موتكم) — "then We raised you up after your death" — but He placed a part first and a part later. (169)
959 — Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said: Mūsā said to them — when he returned from his Lord with the tablets, in which the Torah was written, and found them worshipping the calf, and commanded them to kill themselves, and they did so, whereupon Allah accepted their repentance (170) —: Truly, in these tablets is the Book of Allah, in it is His command that He has enjoined upon you, and His prohibition that He has forbidden you. Then they said: And who would accept it on your word alone! No, by Allah, not until we see Allah plainly, until Allah shows Himself to us (171) and says: This is My Book, accept it then. Why does He not speak to us as He spoke to you, O Mūsā (172), and say: This is My Book, accept it then? And he recited the saying of Allah the Exalted: لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى نَرَى اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً ("We will not believe you until we see Allah plainly"). He said: Then there came a wrath from Allah, and a thunderbolt came upon them after the repentance, which struck them so that they all died together. He said: Then Allah brought them back to life after their death, and he recited the saying of Allah the Exalted: (ثم بعثناكم من بعد موتكم لعلكم تشكرون) ("then We raised you up after your death, that perhaps you might be grateful"). Then Mūsā said to them: Accept the Book of Allah. They said: No. He said: What has befallen you? They said: What has befallen us is that we died and were then brought back to life. He said: Accept the Book of Allah. They said: No. Then Allah the Exalted sent angels, who drew the mountain up over them (and raised it high) (173).
960 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatādah, concerning His saying: (فأخذتكم الصاعقة وأنتم تنظرون ثم بعثناكم من بعد موتكم) ("whereupon the thunderbolt seized you while you watched, then We raised you up after your death"), he said: The thunderbolt seized them, then Allah the Exalted raised them up so that they would complete the remainder of their appointed lifespans.
961 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, concerning His saying: فَأَخَذَتْكُمُ الصَّاعِقَةُ ("whereupon the thunderbolt seized you"), he said: They are the seventy whom Mūsā had chosen and who set out with him. He said: Then they heard words, and they said: لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى نَرَى اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً ("We will not believe you until we see Allah plainly"). He said: Then they heard a sound and were struck by the thunderbolt — he means: they died. And that is His saying: (ثم بعثناكم من بعد موتكم) ("then We raised you up after your death"); thus they were raised up after their death, for that death of theirs was a punishment for them, and they were raised up for the remainder of their appointed lifespans.
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This is what has been transmitted concerning the occasion why they said to Mūsā: لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى نَرَى اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً ("We will not believe you until we see Allah plainly"). But we possess no report that confirms the correctness of anything of what they have said, of those whose saying we have cited concerning the occasion of their saying this to Mūsā, upon which a conclusive proof (ḥujjah) rests and which could be accepted as binding (174). And it is possible that this was a part of what they said. However, since there is no report upon which a conclusive proof rests, the correct position in this matter is to say: that Allah, praised be His praise, has reported about the people of Mūsā that they said to him: يَا مُوسَى لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى نَرَى اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً ("O Mūsā, we will not believe you until we see Allah plainly"), as He has reported about them that they said it. And Allah, mighty and exalted is He, has reported that about them to those who were addressed with these verses, as a rebuke for their unbelief (kufr) toward Muḥammad ﷺ, and His proof is conclusive against the one against whom it has been advanced as an argument. And the one to whom it has come has no need of knowledge of the occasion that led them to say that. And those whose sayings we have transmitted, which we have cited, have spoken, and it is possible that a part of it is true, as he has said.