Tafseer of The Believers · Al-Muminoon · 23:53
But the people divided their religion among them into sects - each faction, in what it has, rejoicing.
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 Qurʾān-reciters differed in the reading of His word: زُبُرًا . The majority of the reciters of Medina and Iraq read it as زُبُرًا — the plural of "al-zabūr." The meaning of the statement, according to the reading of this group, is: the people whom Allah commanded to adhere to His religion from the community of the messenger ʿĪsā divided their religion — to which Allah commanded them to bind themselves — among themselves as زُبُرًا (books/writings), and each group among them followed a book other than the book that the other group followed — like the Jews, who claimed that they followed the ruling of the Torah and rejected the ruling of the Gospel and the Qurʾān, and like the Christians, who followed the Gospel according to their claim and rejected the ruling of the Qurʾān.
*Mention of those who interpreted it thus:*
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: زُبُرًا — he said: books.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda — the same.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: بَيْنَهُمْ زُبُرًا — he said: the books of Allah, which they divided into pieces.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: فَتَقَطَّعُوا أَمْرَهُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ زُبُرًا — Mujāhid said: their books they divided into pieces.
And others among those with this reading said: the meaning of the statement is: they divided their religion among themselves as books that they themselves composed and with which they supported their own opinion.
*Mention of those who said this:*
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: فَتَقَطَّعُوا أَمْرَهُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ زُبُرًا كُلُّ حِزْبٍ بِمَا لَدَيْهِمْ فَرِحُونَ — he said: this is that concerning which they differed regarding the religions and the scriptures — each [of them] is delighted with his own opinion. There is no sect or group that is not delighted with its own opinion, its preference, and the [scholar] who devised that for them. And the majority of the reciters of Syria read it as فَتَقَطَّعُوا أَمْرَهُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ زُبَرًا — with ḍamma on the zāy and fatḥa on the bāʾ — with the meaning: they divided their affair among themselves into pieces like fragments of iron (zubara al-ḥadīd), and those pieces, singular zubra, according to His word: آتُونِي زُبَرَ الْحَدِيدِ — so that some became Jews and others became Christians.
The reading which we prefer is the reading of the one who read it with ḍamma on the zāy and the bāʾ, because the exegetes are unanimous that the meaning of it is the books (kutub) — which makes clear the correctness of our preference, for the zubur are the books. One says: "zabartu al-kitāb" — when one has written it.
The meaning of the statement is thus: the communities whom Allah commanded to follow His religion divided their religion among themselves as books — as we have explained above.
And His word: كُلُّ حِزْبٍ بِمَا لَدَيْهِمْ فَرِحُونَ — that is to say: each of those communities is delighted and rejoices over the religion and the books that they have chosen for themselves, and they think that the truth rests exclusively with them.
As Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: كُلُّ حِزْبٍ بِمَا لَدَيْهِمْ فَرِحُونَ — a group, and these are the People of the Book.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: كُلُّ حِزْبٍ — a group of the People of the Book.
