Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:85
Then, you are those [same ones who are] killing one another and evicting a party of your people from their homes, cooperating against them in sin and aggression. And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them, although their eviction was forbidden to you. So do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part? Then what is the recompense for those who do that among you except disgrace in worldly life; and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent back to the severest of punishment. 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 أَنْتُمْ هَؤُلاءِ تَقْتُلُونَ أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَتُخْرِجُونَ فَرِيقًا مِنْكُمْ مِنْ دِيَارِهِمْ تَظَاهَرُونَ عَلَيْهِمْ بِالإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ
(Then you are those who kill one another and drive out a party of you from their dwellings, supporting one another against them in sin and enmity.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: In His word ثم أنتم هؤلاء (Then you are these here) two interpretations are possible. The first is that what is meant is: "Then you, O you here," with the "yāʾ" (the vocative particle) omitted, because the sentence already points to it, as He says: يُوسُفُ أَعْرِضْ عَنْ هَذَا [Yūsuf: 29], the meaning of which is: "O Yūsuf, turn away from this." The meaning of the sentence would then be: Then you, O community of the Jews, the Children of Israel — after you had acknowledged the covenant which I took from you: that you would not shed your own blood, and that you would not drive your own people out of their dwellings, and after you had then confessed — after your testimony against yourselves — that this is a right of Mine over you, which you are obligated to fulfill toward Me — yet those among you who kill one another, and who drive out a party of you from their dwellings, while you assist one another against them in their expulsion, in sin and enmity.
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And mutual assistance (al-taʿāwun) is "al-taẓāhur" (supporting one another). Mutual assistance is called "al-taẓāhur" only because each one strengthens the back (ẓahr) of the other. It is therefore a "tafāʿul" form derived from "al-ẓahr" (the back), namely that they support each other's back, back to back.
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The other interpretation is that the meaning is: "Then you are a people who kill one another." This then reverts to the predication about "you" (antum). Between "you" and the predication about it, "hāʾulāʾ" (these here) is inserted, as the Arabs say: "I am the one who stands" and "I am this one who sits." And since one may say: "I am this one who sits," it is likewise correct and permissible to say: "You are that one there who stands."
Some of the scholars of Basra have claimed that His word "hāʾulāʾ" in His saying ثم أنتم هؤلاء is an indication and emphasis of "antum" (you). They claimed that "antum," though it is a designation of the names of the collective addressees, could nonetheless be emphasized with "hāʾulāʾ" and "ulāʾi," because it is a designation of the addressees, as Khufāf ibn Nadba said:
"I say to him, while the spear pierces his back: Recognize Khufāf, indeed, I am that one there."
He means: "I am this one." And as the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, said: حَتَّى إِذَا كُنْتُمْ فِي الْفُلْكِ وَجَرَيْنَ بِهِمْ [Yūnus: 22] (Until, when you are in the ships, and they sail with them).
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Then the scholars of interpretation differed concerning who is meant by this verse, in the same way as they differed concerning who is meant by His word: وَأَنْتُمْ تَشْهَدُونَ (while you bear witness).
* Mention of the disagreement among those who differed about this:
1471 — Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad related to me, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: ثم أنتم هؤلاء تقتلون أنفسكم وتخرجون فريقا منكم من ديارهم تظاهرون عليهم بالإثم والعدوان (Then you are those who kill one another and drive out a party of you from their dwellings, supporting one another against them in sin and enmity) — alongside the polytheists (ahl al-shirk), to the point that you shed their blood with them, and drive them out of their dwellings together with them. He said: Allah rebuked them [for this] regarding their conduct, while He had forbidden them in the Torah the shedding of their blood and had made obligatory upon them the ransoming of their captives. They were in two groups: a part of them were the Banū Qaynuqāʿ, allies of the Khazraj, and the Naḍīr and Qurayẓa, allies of the Aws. When war broke out between the Aws and the Khazraj, the Banū Qaynuqāʿ went to war with the Khazraj, and the Naḍīr and Qurayẓa went to war with the Aws. Each of the two groups assisted its allies against its own brothers, until they shed one another's blood among themselves, while the Torah was in their hands, from which they knew what was their duty and what was their right. The Aws and the Khazraj were polytheists who worshipped idols, who knew neither paradise nor Fire, neither resurrection nor raising, neither Book, nor forbidden nor permitted. So when the war laid down its burdens, they ransomed their captives, in confirmation of what is in the Torah and in compliance with it, one from another. The Banū Qaynuqāʿ ransomed their captives who were in the hands of the Aws, and the Naḍīr and Qurayẓa ransomed their captives who were in the hands of the Khazraj, while they declared null the blood they had shed and the dead whom they had killed among themselves — in their assistance of the polytheists against them. Allah, exalted is His mention, says, when He rebuked them for that: أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ (Do you then believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in another part?), that is: you ransom him according to the ruling of the Torah, but you kill him — while it is in the ruling of the Torah that he may not be killed, and may not be driven out of his dwelling, and that against him may not be given assistance to whoever ascribes partners to Allah and worships idols beside Him — out of desire for some perishable good of the perishable world.
Concerning this conduct of theirs with the Aws and the Khazraj — according to what has reached me — this account was revealed.
1472 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to me, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: وَإِذْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَكُمْ لا تَسْفِكُونَ دِمَاءَكُمْ وَلا تُخْرِجُونَ أَنْفُسَكُمْ مِنْ دِيَارِكُمْ ثُمَّ أَقْرَرْتُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ تَشْهَدُونَ (And when We took your covenant: you shall not shed your blood and shall not drive your own people out of your dwellings; then you affirmed it while you bore witness.) He said: Allah imposed upon the Children of Israel in the Torah that they should not kill one another, and that whatever male or female slave of the Children of Israel you find, you should ransom him for the price he is worth, and set him free. The Qurayẓa were allies of the Aws, and the Naḍīr were allies of the Khazraj. They fought in the war of Sumayr. The Banū Qurayẓa fought with their allies against the Naḍīr and her allies. And the Naḍīr fought against the Qurayẓa and her allies, and they defeated them, destroyed their houses, and drove them out of them. So when a man of one of the two groups was taken captive, they gathered money for him to ransom him, and the Arabs reproached them for that and said: "How can you fight them and yet ransom them?" They said: "We have been commanded to ransom them, and fighting them is forbidden to us." They said: "Then why do you fight them?" They said: "We are ashamed that our allies be humiliated." That was when He, the Mighty and Exalted, reproached them and said: ثم أنتم هؤلاء تقتلون أنفسكم وتخرجون فريقا منكم من ديارهم تظاهرون عليهم بالإثم والعدوان (Then you are those who kill one another and drive out a party of you from their dwellings, supporting one another against them in sin and enmity.)
1473 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: The Qurayẓa and the Naḍīr were two brothers, and they were in this state, and the Book was in their hands. And the Aws and the Khazraj were two brothers, but they became divided, and the Qurayẓa and the Naḍīr became divided. The Naḍīr was with the Khazraj, and the Qurayẓa was with the Aws, and they fought one another. Each one killed the other, and Allah, whose praise is exalted, said: ثم أنتم هؤلاء تقتلون أنفسكم وتخرجون فريقا منكم من ديارهم (Then you are those who kill one another and drive out a party of you from their dwellings) — the verse.
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Others said, according to what:—
1474 — 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, who said: Among the Children of Israel it held: when they overpowered a people, they drove them out of their dwellings. And yet the covenant had been taken from them that they would not shed their blood and would not drive their own people out of their dwellings.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: As for "al-ʿudwān" (enmity), it is the "fuʿlān" form of "al-taʿaddī" (transgression). One says of it: "Someone transgressed in this matter, ʿadwan and ʿudwānan, and he transgresses, iʿtidāʾan," and that is when he oversteps his bounds in injustice and malice.
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The reciters differed concerning the recitation of تظاهرون. Some recited it: "tuẓāhirūna" according to the pattern "tufāʿilūna," with the additional "tāʾ" — the final "tāʾ" — omitted. Others recited it: "taẓẓāharūna," with doubling, in the meaning of "tataẓāharūna," except that they assimilated the second "tāʾ" into the "ẓāʾ," because of the closeness of their points of articulation, so that they both became a doubled "ẓāʾ." These two recitations, although their wordings differ, are in agreement in meaning. It therefore makes no difference with which of the two the reciter recites, for both are well-known linguistic forms and widespread recitations in the regions of Islam with one and the same meaning, and in neither of them is there a meaning that makes it preferable over the other, except that whoever chooses "taẓẓāharūna" with the doubling thereby seeks the completeness of the word.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَإِنْ يَأْتُوكُمْ أُسَارَى تُفَادُوهُمْ وَهُوَ مُحَرَّمٌ عَلَيْكُمْ إِخْرَاجُهُمْ أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ
(And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them, while it is forbidden to you to drive them out. Do you then believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in another part?)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His word, whose praise is exalted, وإن يأتوكم أسارى تفادوهم (And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them) He means the Jews. He rebukes them by it and makes known to them the hideousness of their actions which they used to perform. He said to them: Then you are those who — after your acknowledgment of the covenant which I took from you: that you would not shed your blood, and would not drive your own people out of their dwellings — kill one another — that is: one of you kills the other — and you, alongside your killing of those of your own whom you kill, when you find the captive of your own in the hands of others among your enemies, you ransom him, and one of you drives the other out of his dwelling. And your killing of them and your driving of them out of their dwellings is forbidden to you, and leaving them as captives in the hands of your enemy [is forbidden to you]. So how do you deem it permissible to kill them, while you do not deem it permissible to leave off their ransoming from their enemy? Or how do you deem it impermissible to leave off their ransoming, while you do deem it permissible to kill them? — when both, in the ruling that is obligatory upon you concerning them, are equal. For that which is forbidden to you — namely to kill them and to drive them out of their houses — is equal to that which is forbidden to you — namely to leave them as captives in the hands of their enemy. Do you then believe in part of the Book — in which I imposed upon you My obligations, in which I set forth to you My limits (ḥudūd), and to whose observance I bound you by covenant — and affirm it, so that you ransom your captives from the hands of your enemy; but disbelieve in another part of it, so that you deny it and kill those whose killing is forbidden to you, of the people of your faith and of your people, and drive them out of their dwellings? While you know that your disbelief in part of it is a breaking of My covenant and My agreement? As:—
1475 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ثم أنتم هؤلاء تقتلون أنفسكم وتخرجون فريقا منكم من ديارهم تظاهرون عليهم بالإثم والعدوان وإن يأتوكم أسارى تَفْدُوهم وهو محرم عليكم إخراجهم أفتؤمنون ببعض الكتاب وتكفرون ببعض (Then you are those who kill one another and drive out a party of you from their dwellings, supporting one another against them in sin and enmity; and if they come to you as captives, you ransom them, while it is forbidden to you to drive them out. Do you then believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in another part?). [Do you then believe in part of the Book by ransoming, and disbelieve in another part by killing and driving out?] By Allah, indeed, their ransoming was belief, and indeed, their driving out was disbelief. For they drove them out of their dwellings, and when they saw them as captives in the hands of their enemy, they ransomed them.
1476 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, or of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وإن يأتوكم أسارى تَفْدوهم (And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them) — you already knew that that was your duty in your faith, وهو محرم عليكم (while it is forbidden to you) in your Book إخراجهم أفتؤمنون ببعض الكتاب وتكفرون ببعض (to drive them out; do you then believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in another part?) — you ransom them believing in it, and you drive them out disbelieving in it.
1477 — 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: وإن يأتوكم أسارى تفدوهم (And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them) — he says: when you find him in the hand of another, you ransom him, while you kill him with your own hand?
1478 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar said: Qatāda used to say about His word: أفتؤمنون ببعض الكتاب وتكفرون ببعض (Do you then believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in another part?) — their driving out was disbelief, and their ransoming was belief.
1479 — al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, about His word: ثُمَّ أَنْتُمْ هَؤُلاءِ تَقْتُلُونَ أَنْفُسَكُمْ (Then you are those who kill one another) — the verse. He said: Among the Children of Israel it held: when they overpowered a people, they drove them out of their dwellings, while the covenant had been taken from them: that they would not shed their blood and would not drive their own people out of their dwellings, and the covenant had been taken from them: that when one of them was taken captive, they would ransom them. But they drove them out of their dwellings, and ransomed them afterward, and so they believed in part of the Book and disbelieved in another part. They believed in the ransoming and so they ransomed, and they disbelieved in the [prohibition of] driving out of the dwellings and so they drove out.
1480 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, saying: al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas related to us, saying: Abū al-ʿĀliya informed me: that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām passed by the head of the Jewish exilarchate (raʾs al-jālūt) at Kūfa, while he was ransoming those of the women with whom the Arabs had not had intercourse, but not ransoming those with whom the Arabs had had intercourse. Then ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām said to him: "Verily, it is written with you in your Book: that you must ransom them all."
1481 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: أفتؤمنون ببعض الكتاب وتكفرون ببعض (Do you then believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in another part?), he said: their disbelief was the killing and the driving out, and their belief was the ransoming. Ibn Jurayj said: He says: when they are with you, you kill them and drive them out of their dwellings, but when they are taken captive, you ransom them? And it has reached me that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said about the account of the Children of Israel: "The Children of Israel have passed away, and it is you who are meant by this narration."
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed concerning the recitation of His word: وإن يأتوكم أسارى تفدوهم (And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them). Some recited it: "asrā tafdūhum," others: "usārā tufādūhum," others: "usārā tafdūhum," and yet others: "asrā tufādūhum."
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Abū Jaʿfar said: Whoever recited that as "wa-in yaʾtūkum asrā," he meant the plural of "asīr" (captive), since it is of the pattern "faʿīl," on the model of the plural of the names of people with afflictions whose singular comes on the pattern "faʿīl" — since captivity (al-asr) in meaning — as regards the suffering and the unpleasantness that befalls the captive — resembles some of the meanings of afflictions; and so the plural of the added one was equated with the plural of what we have described, and one said: "asīr and asrā," as one said: "marīḍ and marḍā (sick/the sick), kasīr and kasrā (broken one/the broken), and jarīḥ and jarḥā (wounded one/the wounded)."
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And Abū Jaʿfar said: As for those who recited it as "usārā," they brought it onto the pattern of the plural of "faʿlān," since the plural of "faʿlān" that has a "faʿlā" form sometimes shares in the plural of "faʿīl," as they said: "sakārā and sakrā (drunkards), and kasālā and kaslā (the lazy)"; so they equated "asīr" — which they once made plural as "usārā" and another time as "asrā" — with it.
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Some claimed that the meaning of "al-asrā" differs from the meaning of "al-usārā," and they claimed that the meaning of "al-asrā" is: the voluntary surrender of a people without their having been captured by the captor, and that the meaning of "al-usārā" is: the falling into the hands of the captured people into the hands of those who captured them by their capturing and their seizing them by force and overpowering.
Abū Jaʿfar said: For that there is no intelligible basis in the language of any Arab. It is rather as I have described: that the plural of "asīr" was once formed onto "faʿlā" for the reason I have set forth, and another time onto "fuʿālā," for what I have mentioned: because of their equating its plural with the plural of "sakrān and kaslān" and what resembles them.
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The most correct in this is the recitation of whoever recites "wa-in yaʾtūkum asrā," because "fuʿālā" as a plural of "faʿīl" is not widespread in the speech of the Arabs. And since that is not widespread in their speech, and widespread and current among them is the plural on "faʿlā" of those qualities that have the meaning of pain and chronic suffering and whose singular is on the pattern "faʿīl" — as we described earlier — and since "al-asīr" was one of those, it was necessary that it be classed with its peers and likes, and so take the plural of them, and not that of others that differ from it.
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As for whoever recites "tufādūhum," he means: that you ransom them from their captivity, and that ransoming on your part — those who captured them and then returned them with them to you — being your captives from them.
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As for whoever recites that as "tafdūhum," he means: verily you, O community of the Jews, when those whom you had driven out of their dwellings come to you as captives, you ransom them and rescue them.
And this recitation pleases me more than the first — I mean: "asrā tufādūhum" — because the duty of the Jews in their faith was the ransoming of their captives in every case, whether the captors ransomed their captives from them or not.
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As for His word وهو محرم عليكم إخراجهم (while it is forbidden to you to drive them out), in His word وهو (while it) two interpretations are possible. The first is that it is a designation of the driving out (al-ikhrāj) mentioned earlier. As if He said: "and you drive out a party of you from their dwellings, and their driving out is forbidden to you." Then He repeated "al-ikhrāj" that comes after "wa-huwa muḥarramun ʿalaykum," as a repetition of "huwa," because between "al-ikhrāj" and "huwa" an expression had been inserted.
The second interpretation is that it is a supporting word (ʿimād), since the "wāw" that stands with "huwa" requires a noun to follow it, not a verb. And when the verb was placed before the noun — which the "wāw" requires to follow it — "huwa" was added to it, because it is a noun, as you say: "I came to you, and it is standing, your father," in the meaning: "and your father is standing," since the "wāw" required a noun, and so it was supported with "huwa" when the verb preceded the noun, so that the sentence would be in order. As the poet said:
"Then inform Abū Yaḥyā, when you meet him, upon the blond camels, with dried sweat beneath their armpits,
That al-Sulāmī, he who is at Ḍariyya, the lord of the pasture-land, has sold my right to the Banū ʿAbs,
For a garment, a dinar, a sheep and a dirham — is there then anyone whose head is raised up by what is here?"
So he added "huwa" to "hal," because of its need for the supporting noun.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَمَا جَزَاءُ مَنْ يَفْعَلُ ذَلِكَ مِنْكُمْ إِلا خِزْيٌ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا
(What then is the recompense of whoever of you does that except disgrace in the worldly life?)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His word, whose praise is exalted, فما جزاء من يفعل ذلك منكم (What then is the recompense of whoever of you does that) He means: there is for whoever of you kills one who is killed — and so becomes a disbeliever by killing him, through the breaking of the covenant of Allah which He decreed concerning him in the Torah — and whoever of you drives out a party from their dwellings, while assisting their enemies among the polytheists against them, in injustice and enmity, and in contradiction of what Allah commanded him in His Book which He sent down to Mūsā — for him there is no recompense — by "recompense" is meant: the reward, namely the requital for what he did of that, and the wage for it — except disgrace in the worldly life. And "al-khizy" (disgrace) is the humiliation and the belittlement; one says of it: "The man was disgraced, he is disgraced, disgrace." في الحياة الدنيا (in the worldly life), that is: in the nearer world, before the Hereafter.
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Then they differed concerning the disgrace with which Allah disgraced them on account of what preceded of their disobedience to Him. Some said: that is the ruling of Allah which He sent down to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: the calling to account of the killer for whom he killed, and the requital from him as qiṣāṣ (retaliation), and the vengeance for the wronged upon the wrongdoer.
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Others said: no, that is rather the levying of the jizyah (poll-tax for non-Muslims) from them as long as they remain in their faith, as humiliation and belittlement for them.
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Others said: no, that disgrace with which they were recompensed in the worldly life was: the driving out by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ of the Naḍīr from their dwellings at the first gathering (al-ḥashr), and the killing of the warriors of the Qurayẓa and the taking captive of their offspring (sabī). That was disgrace in the worldly life, and for them in the Hereafter there is a tremendous punishment (ʿadhāb).
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى أَشَدِّ الْعَذَابِ
(And on the Day of Resurrection they will be returned to the severest punishment.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His word ويوم القيامة يردون إلى أشد العذاب (And on the Day of Resurrection they will be returned to the severest punishment) He means: and on the Day when the Hour arrives, whoever of you does that — after the disgrace that befalls him in the worldly life as a recompense for the disobedience to Allah — is returned to the severest punishment which Allah has prepared for His enemies.
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Some have said: the meaning of that is: and on the Day of Resurrection they are returned to something that is severer than the punishment of the worldly life.
But the statement of whoever says that has no valid meaning. That is because Allah, whose praise is exalted, in fact informed that they are returned to the severest of the meanings of punishment, and therefore He added in it the definite article "al-alif wa-al-lām," because He thereby meant the entire genus of the punishment, not a particular kind of it.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ (85)
(And Allah is not unaware of what you do.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed concerning its recitation. Some recited it: وما الله بغافل عما يعملون (And Allah is not unaware of what they do) with the "yāʾ," in the manner of informing about them. It is as if by their recitation they sought the meaning: فما جزاء من يفعل ذلك منكم إلا خزي في الحياة الدنيا ويوم القيامة يردون إلى أشد العذاب وما الله بغافل عما يعملون (What then is the recompense of whoever of you does that except disgrace in the worldly life, and on the Day of Resurrection they are returned to the severest punishment, and Allah is not unaware of what they do), that is: of what they perform — those concerning whom Allah informed that there is for them no recompense for their conduct except the disgrace in the worldly life, and whose return in the Hereafter is to the severest punishment.
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Others recited it: وما الله بغافل عما تعملون (And Allah is not unaware of what you do) with the "tāʾ," in the manner of address. He said: It is as if by their recitation they sought: أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ (Do you then believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in another part?). And Allah is not unaware, O community of the Jews, of what you do.
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The recitation that pleases me most of the two is the recitation of whoever recites with the "yāʾ," in conformity with His word: فَمَا جَزَاءُ مَنْ يَفْعَلُ ذَلِكَ مِنْكُمْ (What then is the recompense of whoever of you does that), and His word: وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُرَدُّونَ (And on the Day of Resurrection they will be returned). For His word وما الله بغافل عما يعملون (And Allah is not unaware of what they do) stands closer to that, than to His word: أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ (Do you then believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in another part?). The connection to what is nearest to it is therefore more fitting than the connection to what is farther from it. And the other interpretation is not far removed from the correct.
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The explanation of His word وما الله بغافل عما يعملون (And Allah is not unaware of what they do) is: and Allah is not indifferent toward their corrupt deeds, but rather He keeps precise account of them and preserves them against them, until He recompenses them for them in the Hereafter, and disgraces them in the worldly life, and so humiliates them and exposes them.
