Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:79
So woe to those who write the "scripture" with their own hands, then say, "This is from Allah," in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.
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 words of the Exalted: فَوَيْلٌ ("So woe")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes have differed concerning the explanation of His word: (فويل) ("So woe"). Some of them said the following:
1381 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Bishr ibn ʿUmāra, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (فويل) ("So woe") means: the punishment shall befall them.
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And others said the following:
1382 — Ibn Bashshār related this to us, saying: Ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ziyād ibn Fayyāḍ, saying: I heard Abū ʿIyāḍ say: "Al-wayl (woe) is that which flows down of pus (ṣadīd) into the bottom of Hell (jahannam)."
1383 — Bishr ibn Abān al-Ḥaṭṭāb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ziyād ibn Fayyāḍ, on the authority of Abū ʿIyāḍ, concerning His word: (فويل) ("So woe"), he said: "It is a basin of water in the bottom of Hell (jahannam), into which their pus flows down."
1384 — ʿAlī ibn Sahl al-Ramlī related to us, saying: Zayd ibn Abī al-Zarqāʾ related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ziyād ibn Fayyāḍ, on the authority of Abū ʿIyāḍ, he said: "Al-wayl (woe) is a valley of pus in Hell (jahannam)."
1385 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Shaqīq, he said: (ويل) (woe) is that which flows down of pus into the bottom of Hell (jahannam).
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And others said the following:
1386 — Al-Muthannā related this to us, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Tustarī related to us, saying: ʿAlī ibn Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Salama [ibn] ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar, on the authority of Kināna al-ʿAdawī, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said: "Al-wayl (woe) is a mountain in the Fire."
1387 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith related to me, on the authority of Darrāj, on the authority of Abū al-Haytham, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "Wayl (woe) is a valley in Hell (jahannam), in which the unbeliever (kāfir) plunges down for forty years before he reaches the bottom of it."
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The meaning of the verse — in accordance with what has been transmitted from those whose statements I have mentioned in the explanation of (ويل) (woe) — is therefore: The punishment — which consists of drinking the pus of the inhabitants of Hell (jahannam) in the deepest bottom of the hellfire — is for the Jews who write the lie with their own hands and then say: "This is from Allah."
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The explanation of the words of the Exalted: لِلَّذِينَ يَكْتُبُونَ الْكِتَابَ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ ثُمَّ يَقُولُونَ هَذَا مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ لِيَشْتَرُوا بِهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلا ("for those who write the Book with their own hands and then say: 'This is from Allah,' that they may acquire thereby a small price")
Abū Jaʿfar said: What is meant by this are those who distorted the Book of Allah among the Jews of the Banū Isrāʾīl, and who wrote a writing according to their own interpretations, in opposition to what Allah had revealed to His prophet Mūsā ﷺ, and who then sold it to a people who had no knowledge of it, nor of what is in the Torah — those ignorant of what is contained in the Books of Allah — out of desire for a contemptible worldly gain. So Allah said to them: فَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا يَكْسِبُونَ ("So woe to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they earn"), as in:
1388 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning: (فويل للذين يكتبون الكتاب بأيديهم ثم يقولون هذا من عند الله ليشتروا به ثمنا قليلا) ("So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say: 'This is from Allah,' that they may acquire thereby a small price"), he said: There were people among the Jews who wrote a writing out of themselves, which they sold to the Arabs, and they made them believe that it was from Allah, in order to receive a small price for it.
1389 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, 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, he said: The unlettered ones (al-ummiyyūn) are a people who believed in no messenger whom Allah had sent, nor in any Book that Allah had revealed, and who wrote a writing with their own hands and then said to a debased, ignorant people: "This is from Allah" — "that they may acquire thereby a small price." He said: that is to say: a gain out of the worldly gain.
1390 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: (للذين يكتبون الكتاب بأيديهم ثم يقولون هذا من عند الله) ("for those who write the Book with their own hands and then say: 'This is from Allah'"), he said: These are those who knew that it was from Allah, and who distort it.
1391 — 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, except that he said: then they distort it.
1392 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (فويل للذين يكتبون الكتاب بأيديهم) ("So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands"), the verse, and they are the Jews.
1393 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: (فويل للذين يكتبون الكتاب بأيديهم ثم يقولون هذا من عند الله) ("So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say: 'This is from Allah'"), he said: There were people among the Banū Isrāʾīl who wrote a writing with their own hands, in order to exploit people thereby, and they said: "This is from Allah," while it was not from Allah.
1394 — 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, concerning His word: (فويل للذين يكتبون الكتاب بأيديهم ثم يقولون هذا من عند الله ليشتروا به ثمنا قليلا) ("So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say: 'This is from Allah,' that they may acquire thereby a small price"), he said: They deliberately turned to that which Allah had revealed in their Book concerning the description of Muḥammad ﷺ, and they distorted it from its places, thereby seeking a gain out of the worldly gain. And He said: فَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا يَكْسِبُونَ ("So woe to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they earn").
1395 — Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām related to us, saying: ʿAlī ibn Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Salama, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar, on the authority of Kināna al-ʿAdawī, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān — may Allah be pleased with him — on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: فَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا يَكْسِبُونَ ("So woe to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they earn"): al-wayl (woe) is a mountain in the Fire, and it is that which was revealed concerning the Jews, because they distorted the Torah and added to it what they wished, and erased from it what they detested, and they erased the name of Muḥammad ﷺ from the Torah. For that reason Allah became wrathful with them, and He took away a portion of the Torah. And He said: فَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا يَكْسِبُونَ ("So woe to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they earn").
1396 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Abī Ayyūb informed me, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, he said: Wayl (woe) is a valley in Hell (jahannam); if the mountains were set in motion within it, they would melt from the intensity of its heat.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone were to say to us: What is the import of His word: (فويل للذين يكتبون الكتاب بأيديهم) ("So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands")? Can writing also occur with something other than the hand, such that it was necessary for those to whom this address is directed to be informed about this people — whose tale Allah has told — that they wrote the Book with their own hands?
Then he is told: The writing that proceeds from the children of mankind does indeed occur among them with the hand, but writing can be attributed to someone other than the one who wrote it and to someone other than the one who undertook the actual execution of the script. Thus it is said: "So-and-so wrote to so-and-so about such-and-such," even though the one who carried out the writing with his hand was other than the one to whom the writing is attributed, namely when the writer wrote it at the command of the one to whom the writing is attributed. Thus our Lord, with His word: (فويل للذين يكتبون الكتاب بأيديهم) ("So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands"), has let His believing servants know that the scholars (aḥbār) of the Jews wrote the lie and the fabrications about Allah with their own hands, in knowledge of themselves and with deliberate lying about Allah, and then falsely attributed it to being from Allah and to being in the Book of Allah — as a lie about Allah and a fabrication against Him. With His word: (يكتبون الكتاب بأيديهم) ("they write the Book with their own hands") He — exalted be His praise — has excluded the possibility that some of their ignorant ones undertook the execution of that writing at the command of their scholars and their rabbis (aḥbār). That is comparable to the saying of one who says: "So-and-so himself sold me such-and-such," and "So-and-so himself bought such-and-such," whereby with the addition of "himself" and "in person" it is intended to remove from the hearer of it any confusion, so that the one who carried out the selling or the buying of it would be no other than the one to whom the matter is attributed, and so that the reality of the act is ascribed to the one about whom it is reported. So it is also with His word: (فويل للذين يكتبون الكتاب بأيديهم) ("So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands").
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The explanation of the words of the Exalted: فَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا يَكْسِبُونَ ("So woe to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they earn") (79)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted be His praise — means with His word: (فويل لهم مما كتبت أيديهم) ("So woe to them for what their hands have written"), namely: the punishment — in the valley that flows down of the pus of the inhabitants of the Fire, in the deepest bottom of Hell (jahannam) — is for them, that is to say: for those who write the Book, whose matter we have described, among the Jews of the Banū Isrāʾīl, in distorted form, and who then said: "This is from Allah," seeking a small worldly gain thereby, from those who buy it from them.
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And His word: (مما كتبت أيديهم) ("for what their hands have written") means: for that which their hands have written of it; and woe to them also (مما يكسبون) ("for what they earn"), that is to say: for the sins that they commit, and the crimes that they perpetrate, and the forbidden (ḥarām) that they earn through their writing that they write with their own hands, in opposition to what Allah has revealed, and the price of which they then consume, while they have sold it to those to whom they sold it under the pretext that it is from the Book of Allah, as in:
1397 — 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: (وويل لهم مما يكسبون) ("and woe to them for what they earn"), that is to say: of sin.
1398 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Bishr ibn ʿUmāra, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (فويل لهم) ("So woe to them"), he says: the punishment shall befall them. He said: he means: for the lie that they wrote with their own hands; (وويل لهم مما يكسبون) ("and woe to them for what they earn"), he says: for that with which they feed themselves at the expense of the debased people and others.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The fundamental meaning of "al-kasb" (earning) is: the act, the work. Every actor who performs an act by undertaking it himself and exerting himself therein through some occupation is an "earner" (kāsib) of what he has performed, as Labīd ibn Rabīʿa said:
For a young one [covered with dust], whose limbs the grizzled-brown [wolves] contend over, earners who seize their food themselves, without anyone reproaching them for it.
