Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:74
Then your hearts became hardened after that, being like stones or even harder. For indeed, there are stones from which rivers burst forth, and there are some of them that split open and water comes out, and there are some of them that fall down for fear of Allah. And Allah is not unaware of what you do.
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: ثُمَّ قَسَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ (Then your hearts hardened after all that)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this are meant the unbelievers (kuffār) of the Children of Israel, and they are — according to what has been transmitted — the sons of the brother of the murdered man. He said to them: "Then your hearts hardened," that is to say: they became dry, coarse, and hard, as the rajaz-poet said:
And I have grown hard, and my contemporaries have grown hard.
One says: "qasā" and "ʿasā" and "ʿatā," all with one and the same meaning, namely when something becomes dry, coarse, and hard. From this one says: qasā qalbuhu, yaqsū, qaswan, qaswatan, qasāwatan, and qasāʾan.
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And by His saying (after all that) He means: after He had brought to life for them the murdered man — about whose death they disagreed and quarreled with one another — whereupon he informed them about his murderer and about the reason why this one had killed him, as we have described earlier according to what the traditions (āthār) and reports have transmitted. And Allah, exalted is His mention, by that report distinguished between the one among them who was in his right and the one who was in his wrong. The hardness of their hearts with which Allah described them consisted in this, that they — according to what has reached us — denied that it was they who had killed the murdered man whom Allah brought to life, whereupon He informed the Children of Israel that they were his murderers — after his own announcement of that to them and after his second dying —, as:
1314 — 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, who said: When the murdered man was struck with a part of it — that is, with a part of the cow (al-baqarah) — he sat up alive, and it was said to him: "Who killed you?" He said: "The sons of my brother killed me." Then he died. When he died, the sons of his brother said: "By Allah, we did not kill him!" Thus they denied the truth after they had seen it. Thereupon Allah said: (Then your hearts hardened after all that) — that is, the sons of the brother of the old man — فَهِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً (They are like stones, or even harder).
1315 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda: (Then your hearts hardened after all that), he says: after Allah had shown them the raising of the dead, and after He had shown them regarding the matter of the murdered man what He showed them, فَهِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً (They are like stones, or even harder).
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَهِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً (They are like stones, or even harder)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His saying (they) He means: "your hearts." He says: Then your hearts hardened — after you had seen the truth, clearly distinguished it, and known it — against submission to it and against compliance with the obligatory right that Allah has upon you. Your hearts are therefore like stones in hardness, dryness, coarseness, and rigidity, "or even harder," that is to say: their hearts — with respect to compliance with the obligatory right that Allah has upon them and the acknowledgment of the necessary rights that are due to Him from them — are even harder than stones.
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If a questioner were to ask and say: "What then is the explanation of His saying (they are like stones, or even harder), while 'or' (aw) according to the linguists occurs in speech only with the meaning of doubt, and with Allah, exalted and mighty is His mention, doubt in His report is not permissible?"
Then it is answered: It is not in the manner that you have imagined, namely that it would be a doubt of Allah, mighty is His mention, about that of which He gives report. Rather it is a report from Him about their hard hearts, namely that they — in the eyes of His servants who are their possessors, those who denied the truth after they had seen the magnificence of Allah's signs — are like stones in hardness, or even harder than stones, in their eyes and in the eyes of whoever knows their condition.
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A group of the linguists have made statements about this. Some of them said: Allah, exalted is His praise, intended by His saying (they are like stones, or even harder) and by what resembles it among the reports that come with "or" (aw) — such as His saying: وَأَرْسَلْنَاهُ إِلَى مِائَةِ أَلْفٍ أَوْ يَزِيدُونَ [Al-Ṣāffāt: 147] (And We sent him to a hundred thousand, or even more), and such as the saying of Allah, mighty is His mention: وَإِنَّا أَوْ إِيَّاكُمْ لَعَلَى هُدًى أَوْ فِي ضَلالٍ مُبِينٍ [Sabaʾ: 24] (And indeed, we or you are upon guidance or in clear error) — [leaving it indeterminate for the one whom He addressed], while He knows which of the two it is. They said: And comparable to this is the saying of one who says: "I ate a fresh date or a ripe date," while he knows which of the two he has eaten, but he leaves it indeterminate for the one addressed, as Abū al-Aswad al-Duʾalī said:
I love Muḥammad with intense love, and ʿAbbās and Ḥamza and the Heir (al-Waṣī).
And if their love is right guidance, I shall attain it, and I am not one who errs, if it is error.
They said: And there is no doubt that Abū al-Aswad did not doubt the fact that love for those whom he mentioned was right guidance (rashad), but he left it indeterminate for the one whom he addressed with it. And it has been transmitted about Abū al-Aswad that, when he had said these verses, it was said to him: "You doubt!" Whereupon he said: "By no means, by Allah!" Then he cited as proof the saying of Allah, mighty and exalted: وَإِنَّا أَوْ إِيَّاكُمْ لَعَلَى هُدًى أَوْ فِي ضَلالٍ مُبِينٍ (And indeed, we or you are upon guidance or in clear error), and he said: "Did He who reported this perhaps doubt about who was the rightly-guided one amid the error?"
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Some of them said: That is like the saying of one who says: "I gave you nothing to eat except something sweet or something sour," while he gave him both kinds to eat. They said: The one who says this does not doubt that he gave his companion both the sweet and the sour to eat, but he wishes thereby to report that what he gave him to eat did not fall outside these two kinds. They said: And so too is His saying (they are like stones, or even harder); its meaning is only: their hearts do not fall outside one of these two likenesses — either they are like the stones in hardness, or they are harder than these in hardness. And the meaning of that according to this explanation is: some of them are like the stones in hardness, and some of them are harder in hardness than the stones.
Some of them said: "or" (aw) in His saying (or even harder) has the meaning of "and harder," as the Blessed and Exalted said: وَلا تُطِعْ مِنْهُمْ آثِمًا أَوْ كَفُورًا [Al-Insān: 24] (And obey not among them any sinner or unbeliever) with the meaning: "and any unbeliever," and as Jarīr ibn ʿAṭiyya said:
He attained the caliphate, and it was for him as a decree of destiny, as Mūsā came to his Lord according to an appointed measure.
He means: he attained the caliphate, and it was for him a decree of destiny. And as al-Nābigha said:
She said: "Oh, would that this dove were ours, added to our doves — and half of it, then it would be enough!"
He means: and half of it.
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Others said: "or" (aw) in this place has the meaning of "bal" (rather, but). Its explanation according to them is therefore: they are like stones, nay even harder in hardness, as He, exalted is His praise, said: وَأَرْسَلْنَاهُ إِلَى مِائَةِ أَلْفٍ أَوْ يَزِيدُونَ [Al-Ṣāffāt: 147] (And We sent him to a hundred thousand, or even more) with the meaning: nay even more.
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Others said: The meaning of that is: they are like stones, or harder in hardness, in your eyes.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: Each of these statements which we have reported has a valid basis and explanation within the speech of the Arabs. However, the statement which pleases me most therein is what we said first, and then the statement which we have mentioned from the one who explained this in the sense of: they are in two possible ways as regards hardness — either they are like the stones, or harder — according to the explanation that a part of them is like the stones, and a part of them is harder in hardness. For "or" (aw), even though it is used in some places in the places of "and" (al-wāw), so that its meaning and the meaning of "and" become confused on account of the nearness of the meanings of the two in some of those places, its fundamental meaning is that it comes with the meaning of one of two. Bringing it back to its fundamental meaning — so long as we find a way to that — pleases me more than diverting it from its fundamental meaning and its meaning known with it.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: As for the nominative (rafʿ) in His saying (or even harder — aw ashaddu qaswatan), it is there for two reasons. One of them: that it is a conjunction (ʿaṭf) upon the meaning of the "kāf" in His saying (like stones — ka-l-ḥijāra), because its meaning stands in the nominative. That is because its meaning is the meaning of "mithl" (equal to), [so that its explanation is]: they are equal to the stones, or harder in hardness than the stones.
The other reason: that it stands in the nominative on the basis of the repetition of "hiya" (they) upon it. Its explanation is then: they are like the stones, or they are harder in hardness than the stones.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَإِنَّ مِنَ الْحِجَارَةِ لَمَا يَتَفَجَّرُ مِنْهُ الأَنْهَارُ (And indeed, among the stones are some from which rivers gush forth)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His saying, mighty is His mention (And indeed, among the stones are some from which rivers gush forth), He means: indeed, among the stones are stones from which gushes forth the water from which the rivers come into being. He contented Himself with mentioning the rivers in place of mentioning the water. And He mentioned only "minhu" (from it), on account of the word "mā" (that which).
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And "al-tafajjur" is the form "al-tafaʿʿul" of "tafajjara al-māʾ" (the water gushed forth), and that is when it comes out and pours down from its source. And every fluid that wells up and comes out from its place and station is "infajara" (burst forth), whether that be water, blood, pus, or something else, and from this is the saying of ʿUmar ibn Lajaʾ:
And when I was chained to Jarīr, what was in his belly refused anything but to burst forth.
He means: nothing but to come out and stream forth.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَشَّقَّقُ فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ الْمَاءُ (And indeed, among them are some that split open so that water comes forth from them)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His saying, exalted is His praise, "And indeed, among them are some that split open," He means: and indeed, among the stones are stones that split open. And their "tashaqquq" is their bursting open. And it is in origin "lammā yatashaqqaqu" (which split themselves), but the "tāʾ" is assimilated into the "shīn," so that it became a doubled "shīn."
And His saying (so that water comes forth from them) — so that it becomes a welling spring and flowing rivers.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَهْبِطُ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ (And indeed, among them are some that fall down out of fear of Allah)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He means, exalted is His praise: and indeed, among the stones are some that fall down — that is to say: that tumble down from the top of the mountain to the ground and the mountainside — out of fear of Allah and dread of Him. And we have already pointed out earlier the meaning of "al-hubūṭ" (the falling down), in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat it in this place.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And these "lām" letters that are found in "mā" are placed there for emphasis (tawkīd) of the report.
And Allah, exalted is His mention, described the stones only with that with which He described them — namely that among them are some from which rivers gush forth, that among them are some that burst open with water, and that among them are some that fall down out of fear of Allah — after He had made them a likeness for the hearts of those of the Children of Israel about whose hardness of heart He gave report, as a justification from Him, exalted is His praise, in favor of those stones, against those of the Children of Israel about whose hardness of heart He gave report. For these latter were in the state with which Allah described them: the denial of His messengers and the rejection of His signs, after that which He had shown them of signs and lessons, and after what they had perceived with their own eyes of wondrous proofs and arguments — besides what He, exalted is His mention, had given them of sound rational faculties, and the gift He had bestowed upon them of the integrity of the souls which He had not bestowed upon the stone and the clod. And yet it is so that among those stones are some from which rivers gush forth, that among them are some that burst open with water, and that among them are some that fall down out of fear of Allah. He, exalted is His mention, therefore gave report that among the stones are some that are softer than their hearts with respect to the truth to which they are called, as:
1316 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq.
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And in agreement with what we have said about the explanation of this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
1317 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, about the saying of Allah, exalted is His praise: (Then your hearts hardened after all that, so that they are like stones or even harder, and indeed, among the stones are some from which rivers gush forth, and indeed, among them are some that split open so that water comes forth from them, and indeed, among them are some that fall down out of fear of Allah). He said: Every stone from which water gushes forth, or which bursts open with water, or which tumbles down from a mountaintop — that occurs out of fear of Allah, mighty and exalted. With this the Qurʾān was sent down.
1318 — 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.
1319 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: فَهِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً (So that they are like stones or even harder). Then He excused the stones, but He did not excuse the wretched son of Adam. He said: (And indeed, among the stones are some from which rivers gush forth, and indeed, among them are some that split open so that water comes forth from them, and indeed, among them are some that fall down out of fear of Allah).
1320 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, the like of it.
1321 — 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, who said: Then Allah excused the stones and said: وَإِنَّ مِنَ الْحِجَارَةِ لَمَا يَتَفَجَّرُ مِنْهُ الأَنْهَارُ وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَشَّقَّقُ فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ الْمَاءُ (And indeed, among the stones are some from which rivers gush forth, and indeed, among them are some that split open so that water comes forth from them).
1322 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, that he said about it: Every stone from which water bursts forth, or which bursts open with water, or which tumbles down from a mountain — that occurs out of fear of Allah. With this the Qurʾān was sent down.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: Then the people of interpretation disagreed about the meaning of the falling down of those stones that fall down out of fear of Allah.
Some of them said: The falling down of those stones that fall down out of fear of Allah is the bending of their shadows.
Others said: That is the mountain which was turned to rubble when its Lord manifested Himself to it.
Some of them said: That occurred and occurs because Allah, mighty is His mention, gave to some stones knowledge and understanding, whereby the stone understood obedience to Allah and obeyed Him.
1324 — As what has been transmitted about the palm trunk against which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to lean when he delivered a sermon; when he turned away from it, the trunk moaned out of longing.
1325 — And as what has been transmitted about the Prophet ﷺ, that he said: "Indeed, there was a stone that used to greet me in the time of ignorance (al-jāhiliyya); I still recognize it now."
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Others said: Rather, His saying (which falls down out of fear of Allah) is like His saying جِدَارًا يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَنْقَضَّ (a wall on the point of collapsing), while it has no will. They said: By that is meant only that it, on account of the magnificence of the matter of Allah, is seen as if it falls down and humbles itself in lowliness out of submission and fear of Allah, as Zayd al-Khayl said:
With an army in whose surroundings the piebald horses get lost, you see therein the hills as if bowing down to the hooves.
And as Suwayd ibn Abī Kāhil said, describing an enemy of his:
With the nostrils in bowing down, he does not raise them, lowly of gaze, deaf to what he hears.
He means that he is humbled.
And as Jarīr ibn ʿAṭiyya said:
When the report about the Messenger came, there reeled the walls of the city and the humble mountains.
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Others said: The meaning of His saying (which falls down out of fear of Allah) is: that it instills fear in another, through its pointing to its Maker, as one says: "a trading she-camel" (nāqa tājira), when by her excellence and superiority she moves the people to desire her, as Jarīr ibn ʿAṭiyya said:
And a one-eyed man of the tribe of Nabhān — as for his day, it is blind, and as for his night, it sees.
He applied the description to the night and the day, while by it he meant his companion of Nabhān whom he reviles, because in both of them (the day and the night) there occurred that with which he described him.
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And these statements, even though in meaning they are not far removed from what the āyah bears of interpretation, yet the interpretation of the people of interpretation among the scholars of the early generation (salaf) of the community is in conflict with it. For that reason we did not deem it permissible to bend the interpretation of the āyah toward one of those meanings.
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And we have already pointed out earlier the meaning of "al-khashya" (fear), and that it is the trembling and the dread, so that we deemed it unfitting to repeat that in this place.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ (74) (And Allah is not unmindful of what you do)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His saying (And Allah is not unmindful of what you do) He means: and Allah is not unmindful — O community of deniers of His signs, rejecters of the prophethood of His messenger Muḥammad ﷺ, and fabricators of lies against Him among the Children of Israel and the scribes of the Jews — of what you do of your evil deeds and your corrupt actions. Rather, He counts these against you, after which He will requite you for them in the Hereafter, or will punish you for them in this world.
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And the fundamental meaning of "al-ghafla" (unmindfulness) toward something is the neglecting of it in the manner of inattention and forgetting.
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He therefore gave report to them, exalted is His mention, that He is not unmindful of their evil deeds, nor does He forget them, but rather counts them and preserves them.
