Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:71
He said, "He says, 'It is a cow neither trained to plow the earth nor to irrigate the field, one free from fault with no spot upon her.' " They said, "Now you have come with the truth." So they slaughtered her, but they could hardly do it.
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: قَالَ إِنَّهُ يَقُولُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌ لا ذَلُولٌ تُثِيرُ الأَرْضَ وَلا تَسْقِي الْحَرْثَ
(He said: "He says: It is a cow not broken in to plough the earth, nor to water the tilled land.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The explanation of it is: Mūsā said: Allah says that the cow which I have commanded you to slaughter is a cow that is not submissive (lā dhalūl).
By His words (lā dhalūl) is meant: that labor has not made it submissive. The meaning of the verse, then, is: it is a cow not worn out by ploughing up the earth with its hooves, and upon which no water has been drawn to irrigate crops with it. Just as one says of a beast of burden that has been made submissive by being ridden or by labor: "a docile animal, clear in its submissiveness (dhill)" — with a kasra on the dhāl. And one says of something similar among the children of Ādam: "a submissive man (dhalīl), clear in his lowliness and abasement (al-dhill wa-l-dhilla)."
1248 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words (it is a cow that is not submissive): he says: refractory, which no labor has made docile, (which ploughs up the earth, nor waters the tilled land).
1249 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (it is a cow that is not submissive, which ploughs up the earth): he says: a cow that is not submissive so as to be sown with, and which does not water the tilled land.
1250 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: (it is a cow that is not submissive), that is to say: which labor has not made docile. (Which ploughs up the earth) means: it is not submissive so as to plough up the earth. (Nor does it water the tilled land) — he says: and it does not work upon the tilled land.
1251 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: (it is a cow that is not submissive) — he says: labor has not made it docile; (which ploughs up the earth) — he says: it ploughs up the earth with its hooves; (nor does it water the tilled land) — he says: it does not work upon the tilled land.
1252 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: al-Aʿraj said: Mujāhid said concerning His words (not submissive, which ploughs up the earth, nor waters the tilled land): he says: it is not submissive so as to do that.
1253 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: it is not submissive so as to plough up the earth, nor to water the tilled land.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words (which ploughs up the earth) is meant: it turns over the earth for cultivation. One says of this: "I ploughed the earth, I plough it, ploughing (ithāra)," when one turns it over for sowing. He, exalted be His praise, described it with this attribute only because — as it is said — it was a wild cow.
1254 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of Kathīr ibn Ziyād, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, saying: it was a wild cow.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: مُسَلَّمَةٌ
(sound / free of defects — musallama)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The meaning of "musallama" is "mufʿala" (passive form) from "al-salāma" (soundness). One says of this: "it was made sound (sullimat), it is sound (taslamu), so it is sound (musallama)."
* * *
Then the exegetes differed concerning that from which it was made free, and with respect to which Allah described it with soundness. Mujāhid said the following:
1255 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "musallama," he says: made free of the marking (al-shiya); and لا شِيَةَ فِيهَا (no marking upon it): no white in it and no black.
1256 — 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 same.
1257 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: Mujāhid said: (musallama), he said: made free of the marking, لا شِيَةَ فِيهَا (no marking upon it): no white in it and no black.
* * *
Others said: made free of defects.
* The mention of who said that:
1258 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (sound, no marking upon it), that is to say: made free of defects.
1259 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: (musallama), he says: there is no defect in it.
1260 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: (musallama), that means: made free of defects.
1261 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, the same.
1262 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning His words (musallama): there is no blemish (ʿawār) in it.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And what Ibn ʿAbbās and Abū al-ʿĀliya and those who said the same as them said in the explanation of it is more fitting for the explanation of the verse than what Mujāhid said. For if its soundness pertained to the remaining kinds of colors apart from the color of its hide, then in His words (musallama) there would lie a sufficient statement that would render His words لا شِيَةَ فِيهَا (no marking upon it) superfluous. In His words لا شِيَةَ فِيهَا there lies precisely what makes clear that the meaning of His words (musallama) is something other than the meaning of His words لا شِيَةَ فِيهَا. And since that is so, the meaning of the saying is: He says: it is a cow not worn out by ploughing up the earth and turning it over for cultivation, nor by drawing water upon it for the fields, and along with that it is healthy and free of defects.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: لا شِيَةَ فِيهَا
(no marking upon it)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words (no marking upon it) is meant: there is no color upon it that differs from the color of its hide. Its origin is from "the adorning of a garment (washy al-thawb)," which is the embellishing of the unevennesses in it with various kinds of colors in its warp and weft. One says of this: "I adorned the garment, I adorn it, an adornment (shiya) and (washy)"; and from this it is said of him who denounces a man before the ruler or another: "an informer (wāshin)," because of his lying about him to that person and his embellishing of his lie with falsehoods. One says of this: "I informed against him to the ruler, an informing (wishāya)." And from this is the saying of Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr:
The informers strive on her two sides, and their words are: "You, O son of Abū Sulmā, shall surely be killed."
And "al-wushāt" is the plural of "wāshin," that is to say: they fabricated falsehoods and informed him that, if he were to join the Prophet ﷺ, he would be killed.
Some of the linguists have claimed that "al-washy" means the mark (al-ʿalāma). But that has no sense, unless by it one were to mean the embellishing of the garment with marks. For it is well known that of one who says: "I informed against so-and-so to so-and-so," it cannot be supposed that he means: I set up a mark for him at that person's. And one says only (lā shiyata fīhā) — though it is derived from "washaytu" — because, when the "wāw" at the beginning was omitted, in its place the "hāʾ" was put at the end. Just as one says: "I weighed it, a weighing (zina)," and "he slept, a sleep (sina)," and "I promised him, a promise (ʿida)," and "I paid blood-money for him, a blood-money (diya)."
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning the meaning of His words (no marking upon it), the exegetes have spoken:
1263 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (no marking upon it), that is to say: no white in it.
1264 — Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, the same.
1265 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: (no marking upon it), he says: no white in it.
1266 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr 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: (no marking upon it), that is to say: no white in it and no black.
1267 — 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 same.
1268 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya: (no marking upon it), he said: its color is a single one; there is nothing upon it except its color.
1269 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (no marking upon it), of white, nor black, nor red.
1270 — Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: (no marking upon it), it is yellow, there is no white upon it and no black.
1271 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: (no marking upon it), he says: no white in it.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: قَالُوا الآنَ جِئْتَ بِالْحَقِّ
(They said: "Now you have come with the truth.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differed concerning the explanation of His words (they said: now you have come with the truth). Some of them said: the meaning of it is: now you have made the truth clear to us, so that we see it plainly and know which cow you meant. Among those who said that is Qatāda:
1272 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (they said: now you have come with the truth), that is to say: now you have made it clear to us.
* * *
And others said: that is a report from Allah, exalted be His praise, about the people, that they reproached the prophet of Allah, Mūsā — Allah's blessings be upon him — for not having come to them with the truth before that moment in the matter of the cow. Among those from whom this saying is related is ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd:
1273 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: they were compelled to a cow of which they knew no other with that attribute; it was yellow, there was no black and no white upon it. Then they said: this is the cow of so-and-so: (now you have come with the truth), though he — by Allah — had already come to them with the truth before that moment.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the more fitting of the two explanations in our view concerning His words (they said: now you have come with the truth), is the saying of Qatāda. That is to say that the explanation of it is: now you have made the truth clear to us in the matter of the cow, so that we know which of them we are obliged to slaughter. For Allah, exalted be His praise, reported about them that they obeyed Him and slaughtered it after this saying of theirs, despite the heavy burden that slaughtering it brought upon them and the weight of that affair. So He said: فَذَبَحُوهَا وَمَا كَادُوا يَفْعَلُونَ (and they slaughtered it, and they almost did not do so). And even though they — with their saying "now you have made the truth clear to us" — had uttered a foolish saying, and had fallen into error and ignorance in the matter. That is because the prophet of Allah, Mūsā ﷺ, had made the truth clear to them — at every question they asked him and at every objection they raised against him in the matter of the cow. One says "now you have made the truth clear to us" only to someone who had not made it clear before; but to one whose every word — in what he made memorable from Allah, the Exalted, and made clear — was truth and clarification, it is impermissible that it be said to him — concerning a part of what he made clear about Allah in His command and prohibition, and what he conveyed on His behalf to His servants of the duties He imposed upon them: (now you have come with the truth), as though he had not come to them with the truth before that moment!
* * *
Some of the predecessors claimed that the people apostatized from their religion and became unbelievers by their saying to Mūsā: (now you have come with the truth). They claimed that they denied that Mūsā had come to them with the truth before that moment in the matter of the cow, and that this, on their part in deed and word, was unbelief (kufr).
But what he said about that is not, in our view, as he said, for they gave heed to obedience by slaughtering it, even though the saying they uttered to Mūsā was ignorance on their part and a lapse among their lapses.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَذَبَحُوهَا وَمَا كَادُوا يَفْعَلُونَ (71)
(And they slaughtered it, and they almost did not do so.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words (and they slaughtered it) is meant: the people of Mūsā slaughtered the cow which Allah had described to them and which He had commanded them to slaughter.
And by His words (and they almost did not do so) is meant: they were near to leaving off slaughtering it and neglecting the duty that Allah imposed upon them therein.
* * *
Then the exegetes differed concerning the reason why they almost neglected the duty that Allah imposed upon them, namely the slaughtering of what He commanded them to slaughter of it. Some of them said: that reason was the high price of the cow which they had been commanded to slaughter and whose attribute had been made clear to them.
* The mention of who said that:
1274 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Abū Maʿshar al-Madanī informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī concerning His words (and they slaughtered it, and they almost did not do so), he said: because of its high price.
1275 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd al-Hilālī related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Khaṭṭāb related to us, saying: Abū Maʿshar related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī: (and they slaughtered it, and they almost did not do so), he said: because of the height of its value.
1276 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn informed us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid; and Ḥajjāj, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī and Muḥammad ibn Qays — in a long related account, in which it was mentioned that the account of some of them became mingled with the account of others — concerning His words (and they slaughtered it, and they almost did not do so): because of the high price. They took it for the full extent of its hide in gold from the property of the murdered man; it corresponded exactly, there was no surplus in it, and then they slaughtered it.
1277 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Minjāb, saying: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (and they slaughtered it, and they almost did not do so), he says: they almost did not do it, and it was not what they wished, for they wished not to slaughter it. And everything in the Qurʾān in which "kāda" or "kādū" (almost) or "law" (if) occurs, that does not happen. It is like His words: أَكَادُ أُخْفِيهَا (I almost keep it hidden) [Ṭā Hā: 15].
* * *
And others said: they were almost brought to not doing that, out of fear of disgrace, should Allah reveal the murderer of the slain man over whom they were in dispute before Mūsā.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct explanation in our view is that the people almost did not do what Allah commanded them, namely the slaughtering of the cow, for both reasons together: the one was its high price, together with what has been reported to us about its slight significance and slight worth; and the other was the fear of great disgrace upon themselves, through Allah's making His prophet Mūsā — Allah's blessings be upon him — and his followers triumph over the murderer.
* * *
As for its high price, concerning that various kinds of reports have been related to us.
1278 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, saying: they bought it for ten times its weight in gold; its owner sold it to them and received its price.
1279 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard Ayyūb, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of ʿAbīda, saying: they bought it for the full extent of its hide in dīnārs.
1280 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr 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, saying: the cow belonged to a man who showed kindness to his mother; Allah bestowed upon him that He destined that cow for him, and he sold it for the full extent of its hide in gold.
1281 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, saying: Khālid ibn Yazīd related to me, on the authority of Mujāhid, saying: they gave its owner the full extent of its hide in gold, and he sold it to them.
1282 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to me that he heard Wahb say: they bought it from him on the condition that they would fill its hide for him with dīnārs; then they slaughtered it, took the hide of the cow, filled it with dīnārs, and then handed it over to him.
1283 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: they found it with a man who claimed that he would never sell it for money. They did not cease pressing him until they settled with him that they would flay its hide and fill it for him with dīnārs; he agreed to that and gave it to them.
1284 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, saying: they found it only with an old woman, and she asked them a multiple of its price. Then Mūsā said to them: give her what satisfies her and what her judgment determines. They did that, bought it, and slaughtered it.
1285 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, saying: Ayyūb said, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of ʿAbīda, saying: they found this cow only with a single man, and he sold it for its weight in gold — or: the full extent of its hide in gold — and then they slaughtered it.
1286 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Hishām ibn Ḥassān, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of ʿAbīda al-Salmānī, saying: they found the cow with a man, and he said: I will sell it only for the full extent of its hide in gold. Then they bought it for the full extent of its hide in gold.
1287 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: they kept offering its owner more until they filled its hide — that is, its skin — for him with gold.
* * *
And as for its slight significance and slight worth: Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā —
1288 — related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Sūqa related to me, on the authority of ʿIkrima, saying: its price did not amount to more than three dīnārs.
And as for what we said about their fear of disgrace upon themselves: Wahb ibn Munabbih used to say: when the people were commanded to slaughter the cow, they said to Mūsā only: أَتَتَّخِذُنَا هُزُوًا (Do you take us in mockery?), because they knew that they would be disgraced as soon as it was slaughtered, and so they evaded slaughtering it.
1289 — That was related to me on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih.
And Ibn ʿAbbās used to say: the people — after Allah had brought the dead man to life and he made known to them his murderer — the murderers of him denied his killing and said: by Allah, we did not kill him; and that after they had seen the sign and the truth.
1290 — That was related to me by Muḥammad ibn Saʿd, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās.
