Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:110
You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah. If only the People of the Scripture had believed, it would have been better for them. Among them are believers, but most of them are defiantly disobedient.
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 His word, exalted is His praise: كُنْتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ
(You are the best community brought forth for mankind; you enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in Allah.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differed concerning the explanation of His word "You are the best community brought forth for mankind."
Some of them said: They are those who emigrated with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from Mecca to Medina, and in particular from among the Companions (ṣaḥāba) of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
* Mention of who said that:
7606 – Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said concerning "You are the best community brought forth for mankind": They are those who departed with him from Mecca.
7607 – Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAṭiyya related to us, on the authority of Qays, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind," he said: They are those who emigrated from Mecca to Medina.
7608 – Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind, you enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong," ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said: Had Allah willed, He would have said "you are," so that we would all be it, but He said "you were" with reference to a particular group of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; and whoever acts as they acted, they are the best community brought forth for mankind, who enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong.
7609 – Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: ʿIkrima said: It was revealed concerning Ibn Masʿūd, and Sālim the freedman of Abū Ḥudhayfa, and Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, and Muʿādh ibn Jabal.
7610 – Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Muṣʿab ibn al-Miqdām related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of al-Suddī, from someone who related it to him: ʿUmar said concerning "You are the best community brought forth for mankind": It applies to our first ones and not to our last ones.
7611 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Simāk ibn Ḥarb, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind," he said: They are those who emigrated with the Prophet ﷺ to Medina.
7612 – Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: It was mentioned to us that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, during a pilgrimage (ḥajj) that he performed and in which he saw a bad attitude among the people, said: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind," the verse. Then he said: O people, whoever would like to belong to that community, let him fulfill the condition of Allah for it.
7613 – Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Yazīd informed us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His word: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind," he said: They are in particular the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that is to say — and they were the transmitters and the callers whom Allah commanded the Muslims to obey.
* * *
And others said: The meaning of it is: You are the best community brought forth for mankind, when you fulfill these conditions with which He, exalted is His praise, has described them. The explanation of it, according to them, was thus: You are the best community, you who enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in Allah, who are brought forth for the people of your time.
* Mention of who said that:
7614 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning the word of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind," he says: on this condition: that you enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in Allah — he says: for those among whom you dwell, like His word: وَلَقَدِ اخْتَرْنَاهُمْ عَلَى عِلْمٍ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ (And We chose them, with knowledge, above the worlds) [Surah Al-Dukhān: 32].
7615 – 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, his word: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind," he said, he says: You are the best of mankind for mankind, on this condition: that you enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in Allah — he says: for those among whom he dwells, like His word: وَلَقَدِ اخْتَرْنَاهُمْ عَلَى عِلْمٍ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ (And We chose them, with knowledge, above the worlds) [Surah Al-Dukhān: 32].
7616 – And Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Maysara, on the authority of Abū Ḥāzim, on the authority of Abū Hurayra: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind," he said: You are the best of mankind for mankind; you bring them in chains, so that you cause them to enter into Islam.
7617 – ʿUbayd ibn Asbāṭ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya concerning His word: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind," he said: The best of mankind for mankind.
* * *
And others said: It was only said "You are the best community brought forth for mankind" because they, of all communities, were the most responsive to Islam.
* Mention of who said that:
7618 – It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, his word: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind, you enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong," he said: There was no community more responsive to Islam than this community, and therefore He said: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind."
* * *
And some of them said: By this was meant that they were the best community brought forth for mankind.
* Mention of who said that:
7619 – Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me, saying: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, on the authority of ʿAbbād, on the authority of al-Ḥasan concerning His word: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind, you enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong," he said: The good that you hear of has truly been in this community.
7620 – Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: Al-Ḥasan said: We are the last of it and the most honored with Allah.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most fitting of these statements for the explanation of the verse is what al-Ḥasan said, and that is because:
7621 – Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Bahz ibn Ḥakīm, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "Indeed, you are the completion of seventy communities; you are the last of them and the most honored with Allah."
7622 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Bahz ibn Ḥakīm, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather: that he heard the Prophet ﷺ say concerning His word "You are the best community brought forth for mankind," he said: "You complete seventy communities; you are the best of them and the most honored with Allah."
7623 – Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: It was mentioned to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ said one day, while resting his back against the Kaʿba: "We complete seventy communities on the Day of Resurrection; we are the last of them and the best of them."
* * *
And as for His word "you enjoin what is right," that means: you enjoin belief in Allah and His Messenger, and acting according to His laws. "And forbid what is wrong," that means: and you forbid the ascribing of partners to Allah (shirk), and the denial of His Messenger, and acting according to what He has forbidden. As:
7624 – ʿAlī ibn Dāwūd related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his word: "You are the best community brought forth for mankind," he says: you enjoin upon them what is right: that they testify that there is no god but Allah, and the acknowledgment of what Allah has sent down, and you fight them for that (in armed combat, qitāl). And "there is no god but Allah" is the greatest of what is right. And you forbid them what is wrong, and what is wrong is denial, and that is the most wrong of what is wrong.
* * *
And the basic meaning of "what is right" (al-maʿrūf) is everything whose performance is regarded as known, fine, and praiseworthy, not as reprehensible, among the people who believe in Allah. Obedience to Allah was called "what is right" only because it belongs to that which the believers know and whose performance they do not disapprove of.
* * *
And the basic meaning of "what is wrong" (al-munkar) is what Allah disapproves of, and what they regard as hideous to do. Therefore disobedience to Allah was called "what is wrong," because the believers in Allah disapprove of performing it and regard committing it as grave.
* * *
And His word: "and you believe in Allah," that means: you believe in Allah and devote to Him purely the oneness (tawḥīd) and worship.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: If a questioner asks and says: How was it said "You were the best community," when you have claimed that the explanation of the verse is that this community is the best of the communities that have passed away? For one says "you were the best community" to a people who were the best and then changed from what they were?
The answer is: The meaning of it is contrary to what you suppose. Its meaning is only: You are the best community, as it is said: وَاذْكُرُوا إِذْ أَنْتُمْ قَلِيلٌ (And remember when you were few) [Al-Anfāl: 26], while in another place He said: وَاذْكُرُوا إِذْ كُنْتُمْ قَلِيلا فَكَثَّرَكُمْ (And remember when you were few and He made you many) [Al-Aʿrāf: 86]. The inserting of "kāna" (was/were) in such a thing and the omitting of it thus have one and the same meaning, because the meaning of the statement is known. And were someone to say concerning it that "kuntum" (you were) has the meaning of completion, then the explanation of it would be: you were created as the best community — or: you were found to be the best community, and that would be a correct meaning.
* * *
And some of the linguists have claimed that the meaning of it is: You were the best community with Allah in the well-preserved tablet (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ), which is brought forth for mankind.
* * *
And the first two statements that we have mentioned are the most resembling the meaning of the report that we transmitted earlier.
* * *
And others said: The meaning of it is: You were the best people in respect of a way. And he said: "al-umma" (the community) means: the way.