Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:59
But those who wronged changed [those words] to a statement other than that which had been said to them, so We sent down upon those who wronged a punishment from the sky because they were defiantly disobeying.
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: فَبَدَّلَ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا قَوْلا غَيْرَ الَّذِي قِيلَ لَهُمْ
(But those who did wrong exchanged the word for another than what had been said to them.)
The explanation of His word (fa-baddala — "they exchanged") is: "they altered." By His word (alladhīna ẓalamū — "those who did wrong") He means: those who did what was not permitted to them to do. And by His word (qawlan ghayra alladhī qīla lahum — "a word other than what had been said to them") is meant: they exchanged it for a word other than what they had been commanded to say, and they uttered the opposite of it. This, then, was the exchanging and altering that proceeded from them. And their exchanging — of the word they had been commanded to say — for another word, was as follows:
1019 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related it to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Hammām ibn Munabbih, that he heard Abū Hurayrah say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Allah said to the Children of Israel: 'Enter the gate, bowed down in prostration, and say: ḥiṭṭah (forgiveness), and We shall forgive you your sins.' But they exchanged it and entered the gate crawling on their backsides, and they said: ḥabbah fī shaʿīrah (a grain in a barley-ear)."
1020 — Ibn Ḥumayd related it to us, he said: Salamah and ʿAlī ibn Mujāhid related to us, both of them said: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān, on the authority of Ṣāliḥ, the freedman of al-Tawʾamah, on the authority of Abū Hurayrah, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, who said:
1021 — And it was related to me on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, or on the authority of ʿIkrimah, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, who said: They entered the gate — through which they had been commanded to enter, bowed down in prostration — crawling on their backsides, while they said: ḥinṭah fī shaʿīrah (wheat in a barley-ear).
1022 — And Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Muḥāribī related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Hammām, on the authority of Abū Hurayrah, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, concerning His word ḥiṭṭah, he said: They exchanged it and said: ḥabbah (a grain).
1023 — Ibn Bashshār related it to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, on the authority of Abī al-Kunūd, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh: concerning (Enter the gate, bowed down in prostration, and say: ḥiṭṭah) they said: red wheat in which there is barley. Then Allah revealed: (But those who did wrong exchanged the word for another than what had been said to them).
1024 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related it to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word Enter the gate, bowed down in prostration, he said: bent down — through a small gate; but they began to enter with their backsides foremost while they said: ḥinṭah (wheat). That, then, is His word: (But those who did wrong exchanged the word for another than what had been said to them).
1025 — Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Zibriqān al-Nakhaʿī related it to us, he said: Abū Usāmah related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of al-Minhāl, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: They were commanded to enter bent down and to say: ḥiṭṭah. He said: They were commanded to ask for forgiveness. He said: But they began to enter with their backsides foremost through a small gate while they said: ḥinṭah (wheat) — by way of mockery. That, then, is His word: (But those who did wrong exchanged the word for another than what had been said to them).
1026 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related it to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatādah and al-Ḥasan: concerning Enter the gate, bowed down in prostration, they both said: They entered it in a manner other than what they had been commanded, and they entered it crawling on their hips, and they exchanged the word for another than what had been said to them, and they said: ḥabbah fī shaʿīrah (a grain in a barley-ear).
1027 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr al-Bāhilī 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, who said: Mūsā commanded his people to enter the gate, bowed down in prostration, and to say: ḥiṭṭah; and the gate was lowered for them so that they would prostrate themselves, but they did not prostrate themselves and entered with their backs foremost, and they said: ḥinṭah (wheat).
1028 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfah related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: Mūsā commanded his people to enter the mosque and to say: ḥiṭṭah; and the gate was lowered for them so that they would bow their heads, but they did not prostrate themselves and entered on their backsides toward the mountain — that is the mountain upon which his Lord revealed Himself to him — and they said: ḥinṭah (wheat). That, then, is the exchanging of which Allah, mighty and exalted, spoke: (But those who did wrong exchanged the word for another than what had been said to them).
1029 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn al-Hamdānī related to me [he said: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to me, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Murrah al-Hamdānī], on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, that he said: Indeed, they said: "haṭā samqā yā azbah hazbā," and that in Arabic is: a grain of red wheat, pierced, in which there is a black barley grain. That, then, is His word: (But those who did wrong exchanged the word for another than what had been said to them).
1030 — Abū Kurayb related it to us, he said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of al-Minhāl, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: And enter the gate, bowed down in prostration, he said: But they entered on their backsides, with their heads covered.
1031 — Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related it to us, he said: My father related to us, on the authority of al-Naḍr ibn ʿAdī, on the authority of ʿIkrimah: And enter the gate, bowed down in prostration — but they entered with their heads covered; and say: ḥiṭṭah — but they said: red wheat in which there is barley. That, then, is His word: (But those who did wrong exchanged the word for another than what had been said to them).
1032 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: And enter the gate, bowed down in prostration, and say: ḥiṭṭah, he said: The prostration of each of them was upon his cheek. And (say: ḥiṭṭah) means: We shall take your sins away from you; but they said: ḥinṭah (wheat). And some of them said: ḥabbah fī shaʿīrah (a grain in a barley-ear). Thus those who did wrong exchanged the word for another than what had been said to them.
1033 — And Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said: And enter the gate, bowed down in prostration, and say: ḥiṭṭah — by which Allah will take away from you your sins and your misdeeds. He said: But they mocked him — that is, Mūsā — and said: "Mūsā wants nothing but to play with us, he is only playing with us! ḥiṭṭah, ḥiṭṭah! What is ḥiṭṭah anyway?" And they said to one another: ḥinṭah (wheat).
1034 — Al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥasan related it to us, he said: Al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj; and Ibn ʿAbbās said: When they entered, they said: ḥabbah fī shaʿīrah (a grain in a barley-ear).
1035 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: My father, Saʿd ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan, related to me, he said: My uncle informed me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When they entered the gate, they said: ḥabbah fī shaʿīrah (a grain in a barley-ear), "thus they exchanged the word for another than what had been said to them."
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَأَنْزَلْنَا عَلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا رِجْزًا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ
(Then We sent down upon those who did wrong a punishment (rijz) from heaven.)
By His word (fa-anzalnā ʿalā alladhīna ẓalamū — "then We sent down upon those who did wrong") He means: upon those who did what was not permitted to them to do — namely their exchanging of the word that Allah, mighty and exalted, had commanded them to say, for another word, their disobedience to Him in what He had commanded them, and their committing of what He had forbidden them to commit — (a punishment from heaven, on account of the moral corruption that they perpetrated).
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And "al-rijz" means, in the language of the Arabs: the punishment (al-ʿadhāb), and it is something other than "al-rujz." For al-rijz means: the pustule/boil (al-bathr). To that also belongs the report that is related from the Prophet ﷺ concerning the plague (al-ṭāʿūn), that he said: "It is a punishment (rijz) with which a portion of the communities before you were punished."
1036 — Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Yūnus informed me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, he said: ʿĀmir ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ informed me, on the authority of Usāmah ibn Zayd, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said: "Indeed, this pain — or this sickness — is a punishment (rijz) with which a portion of the communities before you were punished."
1037 — And Abū Shaybah ibn Abī Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah related to me, he said: ʿUmar ibn Ḥafṣ related to us, he said: My father related to us, on the authority of al-Shaybānī, on the authority of Riyāḥ ibn ʿUbaydah, on the authority of ʿĀmir ibn Saʿd, who said: I was present when Usāmah ibn Zayd said in the presence of Saʿd ibn Mālik: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Indeed, the plague (al-ṭāʿūn) is a punishment (rijz) that was sent down upon those who were before you — or upon the Children of Israel."
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And as for what we have said in the explanation thereof, so too have the people of exegesis said.
* Mention of who said that:
1038 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related it to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatādah, concerning His word (rijzan), he said: a punishment (ʿadhāban).
1039 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Ādam al-ʿAsqalānī related to us, he said: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliyah, concerning His word (Then We sent down upon those who did wrong a punishment from heaven), he said: al-rijz means: the wrath (al-ghaḍab).
1040 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said: When it was said to the Children of Israel: "Enter the gate, bowed down in prostration, and say: ḥiṭṭah" — and those among them who did wrong exchanged the word for another than what had been said to them — Allah, mighty and exalted, sent the plague (al-ṭāʿūn) upon them, and there remained none of them. And he recited: (Then We sent down upon those who did wrong a punishment from heaven, on account of the moral corruption that they perpetrated). He said: And the sons remained — among them is the excellence and the piety that is ascribed to the Children of Israel, and the good — while the fathers all perished, the plague destroyed them.
1041 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said: al-rijz means: the punishment (al-ʿadhāb). And everything in the Qurʾān that is "rijz," that is punishment.
1042 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Minjāb, he said: Bishr related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word (rijzan), he said: Everything in the Book of Allah that is of "al-rijz," by it the punishment is meant.
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And we have already demonstrated that the explanation of "al-rijz" is the punishment. And the punishment of Allah, exalted be His praise, is of various kinds. And Allah, exalted be His praise, has reported that He sent down al-rijz from heaven upon those whose condition we have described. And it is possible that this was the plague, and it is possible that it was something else. And there is no indication in the outward text of the Qurʾān, nor in any established report from the Messenger, as to which of those kinds it was.
The correct word concerning that, then, is that one says as Allah, mighty and exalted, has said: Then We sent down upon them a punishment from heaven on account of their moral corruption.
Nevertheless, the notion prevails in the soul that what Ibn Zayd has said is correct, on account of the report that I have mentioned from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, in his report concerning the plague that it is a punishment (rijz), and that a people before us were punished with it. Although I do not say that it is so with certainty, for in the report of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ it is not made clear which community was punished with it. And it is possible that those who were punished with it were others than those whose characteristic Allah has described in His word: But those who did wrong exchanged the word for another than what had been said to them.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ (59)
(on account of the moral corruption that they perpetrated.) (59)
And we have already — in what preceded in this our book — demonstrated that the meaning of "al-fisq" is the going forth out of something.
The explanation of His word (bimā kānū yafsuqūn — "on account of the moral corruption that they perpetrated") is then: on account of the fact that they abandoned obedience to Allah, mighty and exalted, and went forth out of it into disobedience to Him and the opposing of His command.
