Tafseer of The Stories · Al-Qasas · 28:52
Those to whom We gave the Scripture before it - they are believers in it.
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.
And His statement: الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ هُمْ بِهِ يُؤْمِنُونَ ("Those to whom We gave the Book before it, they believe in it") (28:52). By this the Exalted, whose praise is sublime, means a group of the People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb) who believed in His Messenger and held him to be truthful. So He says: Those to whom We gave the Book before this Qurʾān, they believe in this Qurʾān; they acknowledge that it is the truth from Allah, while the ignorant among the unlettered ones (al-ummiyyīn), to whom no Book from Allah has come, deny it.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
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, concerning His statement, the Exalted: الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ هُمْ بِهِ يُؤْمِنُونَ — he said: by this are meant those of the People of the Book who believed in Muḥammad ﷺ.
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 — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ هُمْ بِهِ ("Those to whom We gave the Book before it, they in it") ... up to His statement: لا نَبْتَغِي الْجَاهِلِينَ ("we do not seek the ignorant") — concerning the Muslims among 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, concerning His statement: الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ ... up to His statement: الْجَاهِلِينَ ("the ignorant") — he said: they are the Muslims among the People of the Book.
Ibn Jurayj said: ʿAmr ibn Dīnār informed me that Yaḥyā ibn Jaʿda informed him, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Rifāʿa, who said: Ten persons of the People of the Book set out — among them Abū Rifāʿa, that is, his father — to the Prophet ﷺ, and they believed, whereupon harm was inflicted upon them; then there was revealed: الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ ("Those to whom We gave the Book before it"), that is, before the Qurʾān.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ هُمْ بِهِ يُؤْمِنُونَ — he said: we were told that it was revealed concerning people of the People of the Book who followed a law-path of the truth, adhered to it and oriented themselves by it, until Allah sent Muḥammad ﷺ; then they believed in him and held him to be truthful, whereupon Allah gave them their reward twice over because of their steadfastness upon the first Book and their following of Muḥammad ﷺ and their steadfastness upon that. And it was mentioned that among them were Salmān and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām.
I was told on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say, concerning His statement: الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ هُمْ بِهِ يُؤْمِنُونَ ... up to His statement: مِنْ قَبْلِهِ مُسْلِمِينَ ("before it submitters to Allah") — people of the People of the Book who believed in the Torah and the Gospel, and who then encountered Muḥammad ﷺ and believed in him. So Allah gave them their reward twice over because of their steadfastness: through their belief in Muḥammad ﷺ before he was sent, and through their following of him when he was sent. That is His statement: إِنَّا كُنَّا مِنْ قَبْلِهِ مُسْلِمِينَ ("indeed, we were submitters to Allah even before it").
