Tafseer of The Stories · Al-Qasas · 28:55
And when they hear ill speech, they turn away from it and say, "For us are our deeds, and for you are your deeds. Peace will be upon you; we seek not the ignorant."
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: وَإِذَا سَمِعُوا اللَّغْوَ أَعْرَضُوا عَنْهُ وَقَالُوا لَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ سَلامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ لا نَبْتَغِي الْجَاهِلِينَ (28:55) ("And when they hear vain talk, they turn away from it and say: 'For us our deeds and for you your deeds. Peace be upon you; we do not seek out the ignorant.'") (55)
The Exalted, whose mention is lofty, says: and when that people to whom We gave the Book hear the vain talk (al-laghw) — that is to say: the vain and false in speech.
As Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَإِذَا سَمِعُوا اللَّغْوَ أَعْرَضُوا عَنْهُ وَقَالُوا لَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ سَلامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ لا نَبْتَغِي الْجَاهِلِينَ ("And when they hear vain talk, they turn away from it and say: 'For us our deeds and for you your deeds. Peace be upon you; we do not seek out the ignorant.'") — they do not go along with the people of ignorance and vanity in their vanity; there has come to them from the command of Allah that which has held them back from that.
And others said: by the vain talk (al-laghw) in this place is meant: that which the People of the Book added to the Book of Allah while it is not part of it.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: وَإِذَا سَمِعُوا اللَّغْوَ أَعْرَضُوا عَنْهُ وَقَالُوا ("And when they hear vain talk, they turn away from it and say...") ... to the end of the verse, he said: this applies to the People of the Book; when they hear the vain talk that the people wrote with their own hands together with the Book of Allah, and they say: it is from Allah — when those who have submitted (the Muslims) hear that and pass it by while it is being recited, they turn away from it, as though they had not heard that before they believed in the Prophet ﷺ. For they were already Muslims according to the religion of ʿĪsā. Do you not see that they say: إِنَّا كُنَّا مِنْ قَبْلِهِ مُسْلِمِينَ ("We were Muslims before it.")?
And others said concerning this what Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَإِذَا سَمِعُوا اللَّغْوَ أَعْرَضُوا عَنْهُ وَقَالُوا لَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ سَلامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ ("And when they hear vain talk, they turn away from it and say: 'For us our deeds and for you your deeds. Peace be upon you.'") He said: this was revealed concerning a people who were polytheists (mushrikīn) and then submitted, after which their own people tormented them.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Juwayriya related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: وَإِذَا سَمِعُوا اللَّغْوَ أَعْرَضُوا عَنْهُ وَقَالُوا لَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ ("And when they hear vain talk, they turn away from it and say: 'For us our deeds and for you your deeds.'") He said: there were people of the People of the Book who had submitted, after which the polytheists (mushrikīn) tormented them, but they forgave them and said: سَلامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ لا نَبْتَغِي الْجَاهِلِينَ ("Peace be upon you; we do not seek out the ignorant.")
And His saying: أَعْرَضُوا عَنْهُ ("they turn away from it") means: they lent no ear to it and did not listen to it. وَقَالُوا لَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ ("And they said: for us our deeds and for you your deeds.") This indicates that the vain talk (al-laghw) that Allah mentions in this place is precisely that which Mujāhid said: namely that the people of the one who injures them with words hear what they detest in their soul, and that they answered them with good words: لَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا ("For us our deeds") — we have consented thereby for ourselves; وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ ("and for you your deeds") — you have consented thereby for yourselves. And His saying: سَلامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ ("Peace be upon you") means: there is from our side a security for you that we would revile you, or that you would hear from us anything that displeases you. لا نَبْتَغِي الْجَاهِلِينَ ("We do not seek out the ignorant") means: we do not desire any dispute with the people of ignorance, nor to revile them.
