Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:88
And they said, "Our hearts are wrapped." But, [in fact], Allah has cursed them for their disbelief, so little is it that they believe.
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: وَقَالُوا قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌ ("And they said: 'Our hearts are wrapped in covers.'")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differ over the reading of this. Some of them read it: (wa-qālū qulūbunā ghulf) with a light (undoubled), sukūn-marked lām. This is the reading of the overwhelming majority of the great cities in all the regions. And some of them read: "wa-qālū qulūbunā ghuluf" with a heavy (doubled), vocalized lām (vocalized with ḍamma).
* * *
As for those who read it with sukūn upon the lām and without doubling: they explained it in this way, that they (the Jews) said: "Our hearts are within wrappings, coverings, and casings (ghulf)." The word "al-ghulf" — according to the reading of these — is the plural of "aghlaf," which is that which is within a covering and a wrapping. Just as one says of a man who is not circumcised "aghlaf," and of the woman "ghalfāʾ." And just as one says of a sword, when it is in its scabbard: "a sheathed sword (sayf aghlaf)," and "a sheathed bow (qaws ghalfāʾ)," whose plural is "ghulf." Likewise the plural of all adjectival appellations whose masculine form follows the pattern "afʿal" and whose feminine form follows the pattern "faʿlāʾ": they are formed in the plural according to "fuʿl" with ḍamma upon the first letter and sukūn upon the second, such as: "aḥmar (red) and ḥumr, and aṣfar (yellow) and ṣufr." Thus this serves as the plural for both the feminine and the masculine. It is not permissible to heavify (double or vocalize) the middle radical (ʿayn) of "fuʿl" in this, except in the necessity of poetry, as Ṭarafa ibn al-ʿAbd said:
O young men in our assembly, bring forth therefrom the reddish-brown and sorrel-red (horses)
He means: "shuqr" (with sukūn), except that the meter of the verse compelled him to vocalize the second letter, and so he vocalized it. And to this also belongs the report which:
1497 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Bashīr ibn Salmān related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Qays al-Mulāʾī related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra al-Jamalī, on the authority of Abū al-Bakhtarī, on the authority of Ḥudhayfa, who said: The hearts are four kinds — then he named them — and he said in what was named: "And a wrapped (aghlaf) heart around which a bandage is wound; that is the heart of the unbeliever (kāfir)."
* * *
Mention of who said that, namely that they (the hearts) are within coverings:
1498 - 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 ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (wa-qālū qulūbunā ghulf), that is to say: within coverings.
1499 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, on the authority of Abū Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his saying: (qulūbunā ghulf), that is to say: within a covering.
1500 - 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: (wa-qālū qulūbunā ghulf), those are the hearts upon which a seal has been stamped.
1501 - ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr informed me, on the authority of Mujāhid, his saying: (wa-qālū qulūbunā ghulf), over it lies a veil.
1502 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr informed me, on the authority of Mujāhid: (wa-qālū qulūbunā ghulf), over it lies a veil.
1503 - Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq al-Ahwāzī related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, his saying: (qulūbunā ghulf), he said: they are within casings (ghuluf).
1504 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (wa-qālū qulūbunā ghulf), that is to say: they do not understand.
1505 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: (wa-qālū qulūbunā ghulf), he said: this is like His saying: قُلُوبُنَا فِي أَكِنَّةٍ ("Our hearts are within coverings") [Fuṣṣilat: 5].
1506 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda concerning his saying: (qulūbunā ghulf), he said: upon them lies a seal; he said: this is like His saying: قُلُوبُنَا فِي أَكِنَّةٍ ("Our hearts are within coverings").
1507 - 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: (qulūbunā ghulf), that is to say: they do not understand.
1508 - Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (wa-qālū qulūbunā ghulf), he said: they say: upon it lies a casing, and that is the covering.
1509 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning his saying: (qulūbunā ghulf), he said: he (the speaker) says: my heart is within a casing, so that nothing of what you say reaches it; and he recited: وَقَالُوا قُلُوبُنَا فِي أَكِنَّةٍ مِمَّا تَدْعُونَا إِلَيْهِ ("And they said: 'Our hearts are within coverings against that to which you invite us'") [Fuṣṣilat: 5].
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for those who read it as "ghuluf" with vocalization and ḍamma upon the lām: they explained it in this way, that they (the Jews) said: "Our hearts are casings (ghuluf) for knowledge," in the sense that they are receptacles.
He said: And "al-ghuluf" according to the explanation of these is the plural of "ghilāf" (casing), just as "al-kitāb" (book) becomes "kutub" in the plural, "al-ḥijāb" (veil) becomes "ḥujub," and "al-shihāb" (flame) becomes "shuhub." The meaning of the word according to the explanation of the reading of whoever reads "ghuluf" with vocalization and ḍamma upon the lām is therefore: and the Jews said: our hearts are casings for knowledge, and receptacles for it and for other matters.
Mention of who said that:
1510 - ʿUbayd ibn Asbāṭ ibn Muḥammad related to me, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya: (wa-qālū qulūbunā ghulf), he said: receptacles for the remembrance (al-dhikr).
1511 - Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra al-Asadī related to me, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Fuḍayl informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya concerning his saying: (qulūbunā ghulf), he said: receptacles for knowledge.
1512 - Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq al-Ahwāzī related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, the same.
1513 - 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 concerning his saying: (wa-qālū qulūbunā ghulf), he said: filled with knowledge; they have no need of Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — nor of any other.
* * *
The reading that is alone permissible for His saying: (qulūbunā ghulf), is the reading of whoever reads "ghulf" with sukūn upon the lām — in the sense that they (the hearts) are within casings and coverings — because of the agreement of the proof of the reciters and the exegetes upon its correctness, and the deviation of the one who deviated from them with that which contradicted it, namely the reading of it with ḍamma upon the lām.
We have already demonstrated that that upon which the proof is unanimous constitutes a binding proof for whoever it reaches. And that with which the isolated (deviant reciter) comes — with it is not permissible to raise objection against that with which the community comes, on the basis of which the proof is established in transmission, statement, and practice — and that we have treated elsewhere, so that it absolves us from repetition in this place.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: بَلْ لَعَنَهُمُ اللَّهُ بِكُفْرِهِمْ ("Nay, Allah has cursed them on account of their unbelief.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — exalted is His praise — means by His saying: (bal laʿanahumu Allāh): nay, Allah has rejected them, removed them, driven them away, debased them, and destroyed them on account of their unbelief (kufr), their denial of the signs of Allah and His clear proofs, and of that with which He sent His messengers, and on account of their repudiation of His prophets. He — exalted is His remembrance — thus informed that He removed them from Himself and from His mercy on account of what they used to do of that.
* * *
The origin of "al-laʿn" (the curse) is driving away, removal, and rejection. One says: "Allah cursed so-and-so, He curses him with a curse, and he is cursed (malʿūn)." Then the form "mafʿūl" is transposed, and one says: he is "laʿīn." To this belongs the saying of al-Shammākh ibn Ḍirār:
With it I startled the sandgrouse and drove away therefrom the place of the wolf, like the cursed man
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: In the saying of Allah — exalted is His remembrance —: (bal laʿanahumu Allāh bi-kufrihim) lies a repudiation from Him toward the Jews who said: (qulūbunā ghulf). For His saying: (bal) ("nay, rather") is an indication of His rejection — exalted is His remembrance — and His denial of what they claimed of that, since "bal" is used in a statement only to refute something rejected. If that is so, then it is clear that the meaning of the verse is: and the Jews said: our hearts are within coverings against that to which you invite us, O Muḥammad. Then Allah — exalted is His remembrance — said: it is not as they claimed, but rather Allah has removed the Jews and rejected them from His mercy, and driven them away from it, and debased them on account of their denial of Him and of His messengers, for little is it that they believe.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَقَلِيلا مَا يُؤْمِنُونَ (88) ("So little is it that they believe." (88))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differ over the explanation of His saying: (fa-qalīlan mā yuʾminūn). Some of them said: its meaning is: few of them believe, that is to say: only few of them believe.
Mention of who said that:
1514 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying: (bal laʿanahumu Allāh bi-kufrihim fa-qalīlan mā yuʾminūn): by my life, those who converted from the ranks of the polytheists (ahl al-shirk) are more numerous than those who converted from the People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb); only a small group of the People of the Book have believed.
1515 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: (fa-qalīlan mā yuʾminūn), he said: only few of them believe.
* * *
And others said: nay, the meaning of that is: they believe only in a small portion of what they hold in their hands.
Mention of who said that:
1516 - 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: (fa-qalīlan mā yuʾminūn), he said: only few of them believe. Maʿmar said: and another said: they believe only in a small portion of what they hold in their hands.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct explanation of His saying: (fa-qalīlan mā yuʾminūn) is — if Allah wills — that which we set forth precisely. It is that Allah — exalted is His praise — informed that He cursed those whose characteristic He described in this verse, and then informed concerning them that they are little in their belief in what Allah sent down to His prophet Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Therefore His saying (fa-qalīlan) stands in the accusative (naṣb), because it is a qualifier (naʿt) of the verbal noun (maṣdar) whose mention has been omitted. Its meaning is: nay, Allah has cursed them on account of their unbelief, for with a small belief do they believe. Thus, by what we have set forth, the incorrectness has become clear of the statement transmitted on the authority of Qatāda concerning this. For if its meaning were as transmitted — namely that what is meant by it is: only few of them believe, or: few of them believe — then "al-qalīl" would stand in the nominative (rafʿ) and not in the accusative. For if that were its explanation, then "al-qalīl" at that point would be the nominative-governor (rāfiʿ) of "mā." But since "al-qalīl" stands in the accusative — while "mā" has the meaning of "man" (who) or "alladhī" (that which) — [then] "mā" remains without a nominative-governor, and that is not permissible in the language of any Arab.
* * *
As for the grammarians: they differed concerning the meaning of the "mā" in His saying: (fa-qalīlan mā yuʾminūn). Some of them said: it is redundant (zāʾid) and has no meaning; the explanation of the word is merely: little do they believe (fa-qalīlan yuʾminūn), as He — exalted is His remembrance — said: فَبِمَا رَحْمَةٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ لِنْتَ لَهُمْ ("Through a mercy from Allah you were gentle toward them") [Āl ʿImrān: 159], and what resembles it. He claimed that "mā" therein is redundant, and that the meaning of the word is: through a mercy from Allah you were gentle toward them. And in support of that statement he cited the following verse of Muhalhil:
Had he come to Abānayn to ask for her hand in marriage, then the nose of no suitor would have been smeared with blood
He claimed that he means: then the nose of a suitor would have been smeared with blood, and that "mā" is redundant.
* * *
Others rejected what the proclaimer of this statement said concerning "mā," in the verse and in the line of poetry that he cited, and they said: that rather belongs to the speaker who begins his statement with a report about the totality of all things, since "mā" is a word that encompasses all things, and which then specifies and makes general what it encompasses by means of what it names after it.
* * *
This statement is, in our view, more correct. For adding that which gives the word no meaning is not permissible to attribute to Allah — exalted is His praise.
* * *
Perhaps someone might say: did those concerning whom Allah informed that they believe little — have any belief, little or much, such that it is said of them: "fa-qalīlan mā yuʾminūn"?
To this it is answered: the meaning of "al-īmān" (belief) is affirmation (taṣdīq). The Jews concerning whom Allah conveyed this report affirmed the oneness of Allah, the resurrection, the reward, and the punishment, while they did not believe in Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — and his prophethood. And belief in all of this was obligatory upon them, because it was in their books and belonged to that with which Mūsā had come to them. They thus affirmed a part — and that is the small portion of their belief — and denied a part, and that is the large portion concerning which Allah conveyed about them that they repudiated it.
* * *
Some of them said: they did not believe in anything at all, and it was said only: (fa-qalīlan mā yuʾminūn) while they are unbelieving in everything, just as the Arabs say: "Rarely have I ever seen anything like this." And it has been transmitted as directly heard from them: "I passed through regions where rarely does anything grow other than leeks and onions," whereby is meant: nothing grows other than leeks and onions — and what resembles it of expressions by which one describes something with "fewness," while the meaning therein is the negation of the whole of it.
