Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:113
They are not [all] the same; among the People of the Scripture is a community standing [in obedience], reciting the verses of Allah during periods of the night and prostrating [in prayer].
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 statement: ضُرِبَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الذِّلَّةُ أَيْنَ مَا ثُقِفُوا إِلا بِحَبْلٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَحَبْلٍ مِنَ النَّاسِ (Humiliation has been imposed upon them wherever they are found, except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His statement, exalted be His praise, "Humiliation has been imposed upon them," He means: humiliation has been laid upon them. And "al-dhilla" (humiliation) is the pattern "al-fiʿla" derived from "al-dhull" (subjection), and we have already set this forth elsewhere with its supporting evidences. (26)
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"Wherever they are found" (aynamā thuqifū) means: wherever they are encountered. (27)
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The Exalted, exalted be His praise, says: upon the Jews who deny Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, humiliation has been imposed wherever they may be upon the earth, and in whatever place of its regions they may be, whether it be the lands of the Muslims or of the polytheists (mushrikīn) — "except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people," as in:
7630 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Hawdha related to us, saying: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His statement: "Humiliation has been imposed upon them, wherever they are found, except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people, and they returned with wrath from Allah, and poverty was imposed upon them" (28); he said: this community (umma) has overtaken them, and even the Magians levy the poll-tax (jizya) from them.
7631 — Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me, saying: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, saying: ʿAbbād related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His statement: "Humiliation has been imposed upon them, wherever they are found, except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people"; he said: Allah humiliated them, so that they have no protection, and Allah placed them beneath the feet of the Muslims.
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As for the "bond" (al-ḥabl) which Allah mentions in this place (29), it is the means by which they enjoy security for themselves with respect to the believers, and for their possessions and their offspring, namely a covenant and a safe-conduct that had already been granted to them before they were found in the lands of Islam. As in:
7632 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: "except with a bond from Allah"; he said: with a covenant — "and a bond from the people"; he said: with their covenant.
7633 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "Humiliation has been imposed upon them, wherever they are found, except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people," he says: except with a covenant from Allah and a covenant from the people.
7634 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, the like of it.
7635 — Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn Ghiyāth, he said (30): ʿIkrima says concerning "except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people," he said: with a covenant from Allah and a covenant from the people.
7636 — Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people," he says: except with a covenant from Allah and a covenant from the people.
7637 — It was related to me, on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, his statement: "except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people," he says: except with a covenant from Allah and a covenant from the people.
7638 — 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, his statement: "wherever they are found, except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people," that is a covenant from Allah and a covenant from the people, as the man says: "the protection of Allah and the protection of His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace," and that is the compact (al-mīthāq).
7639 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Mujāhid said: "wherever they are found, except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people," he said: with a covenant from Allah and a covenant from the people toward them. Ibn Jurayj said: and ʿAṭāʾ said: the covenant is the bond of Allah.
7640 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: "wherever they are found, except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people," he said: except with a covenant, and they are the Jews. He said: and the bond is the covenant. He said: and that is the statement of Abū al-Haytham ibn al-Tayyihān to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when the Helpers (anṣār) came to him at al-ʿAqaba: "O man, for your sake we sever bonds between us and the people," by which he meant covenants. He said: and the Jews enjoy no security in any of Allah's lands, except with this bond of which Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, has spoken. And he recited: وَجَاعِلُ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوكَ فَوْقَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ [sūra Āl ʿImrān: 55] (And I place those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection). He said: there is no land in which there is so much as one of the Christians but that they are above the Jews, neither in the east nor in the west; they (the Jews) are humiliated in all lands. Allah said: وَقَطَّعْنَاهُمْ فِي الأَرْضِ أُمَمًا [sūra al-Aʿrāf: 168] (And We scattered them throughout the earth in communities), namely the Jews. (31)
7641 — It was related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His statement: "except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people," he says: with a covenant from Allah and a covenant from the people.
7642 — Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Yazīd informed us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, the like of it.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The grammarians differed concerning the meaning that the "bāʾ" (the preposition "bi-") evokes in His statement "except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people." One of the grammarians of Kūfa said (32): what the "bāʾ" evokes in His statement "bi-ḥabl" (with a bond) is an elided verb whose mention has been omitted. He said: and the meaning of the statement is: humiliation has been imposed upon them wherever they are found, unless they cling fast to a bond from Allah — thus he posited it implicitly, and in support of his statement he adduced the verse of the poet (33):
"She saw me with her two ropes and turned away in fear, and in the rope is one skittish of heart, easily startled." (34)
And he said: he meant: I came along with her two ropes. And with the statement of another (35):
"The calamities of time have bent me, until I am like a stalking hunter approaching a quarry. (36)
Small of stature, whoever sees me thinks, though I am not shackled, that I am in fetters."
Thus he made it obligatory to assume an elided verb and to give expression to its complement, while it has been omitted. (37) But that is weak in the methods of the Arabic language, and far-fetched in the speech of the Arabs. As for the verses he adduced in support of his statement, they do not indicate the soundness of his claim, for in the statement of the poet "she saw me with her two ropes" there is a clear indication that she saw him while he was holding the rope. In his report about her, that she saw him "with her two ropes," there is thus a report from him that she saw him while he was holding the two ropes. In what became apparent of the statement, one was thus spared the mention of "the holding," and the "bāʾ" was a connective (ṣila) to his statement "she saw me," as in the statement of one who says (38): "I [rely] upon Allah," whereby one is content with oneself and with the listener's knowledge of its meaning, without the "bāʾ" requiring another clause to evoke it beyond what became apparent, the meaning being: "I seek help from Allah."
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And one of the grammarians of Baṣra said: His statement "except with a bond from Allah" is an exception falling outside the beginning of the statement (a disconnected exception). He said: and that is no stronger than His statement: لا يَسْمَعُونَ فِيهَا لَغْوًا إِلا سَلامًا [sūra Maryam: 62] (They hear therein no idle talk, except "peace").
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And others of the grammarians of Kūfa said: it is a connected exception (istithnāʾ muttaṣil), and the meaning is: humiliation has been imposed upon them wherever they are found, that is: in every place — except in the place of a bond from Allah, as you say: humiliation has been imposed upon them in all places except in this place.
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This one too sought what was correct but missed the pivot. That is because he claimed that it is a connected exception, and if it were connected as he claimed, then it would be necessary that, for the people, when they are found with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people, no poverty would have been imposed. But that is not the description of the Jews, for wherever they are found — whether with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people, or without a bond from Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, and without a bond from the people — humiliation is imposed upon them in any case, in accordance with what we have previously transmitted from the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl). If, therefore, His statement "except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people" were a connected exception, then it would be necessary that, for the people, when they are found with a covenant and protection, no humiliation would have been imposed. And that is contrary to the attribute with which Allah has described them, and contrary to the attribute they actually possess. Thus, by this too, the unsoundness of the statement of this speaker has become clear.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: But the statement, according to us, is that the "bāʾ" in His statement "except with a bond from Allah" was inserted because the clause preceding the exception requires, in meaning, the "bāʾ." That is because the meaning of His statement "Humiliation has been imposed upon them wherever they are found" is: humiliation has been imposed upon them in every place where they are found — then He said: "except with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people," not in the manner of connection with what precedes, but rather in the manner of disconnection from it. And its meaning is: but they are found with a bond from Allah and a bond from the people, as it is said: وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ أَنْ يَقْتُلَ مُؤْمِنًا إِلا خَطَأً [sūra al-Nisāʾ: 92] (And it is not for a believer to kill a believer, except by mistake). For "by mistake" (khaṭaʾan), even though it is placed in the accusative by that which operates in the clause before the exception, yet his statement is not a connected exception to what precedes in the meaning: "except by mistake," as though it were permitted for him to kill him in that manner — but rather its meaning is: but sometimes he kills him by mistake. Likewise is His statement "wherever they are found, except with a bond from Allah" — even though that which the "bāʾ" that stands after "illā" (except) evokes is the verb that requires it before "illā" — yet the exception is not a connected exception to what precedes, in the meaning that, for the people, when they are encountered, humiliation would have departed from them; rather humiliation is enduring in every condition. But its meaning is what we have just set forth.
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The explanation of the statement of the Exalted: وَبَاءُوا بِغَضَبٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَضُرِبَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَسْكَنَةُ ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يَكْفُرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَيَقْتُلُونَ الأَنْبِيَاءَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ (And they returned with wrath from Allah, and poverty was imposed upon them. That was because they used to reject the signs of Allah and kill the prophets without right.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, exalted be His mention, means: "And they returned with wrath from Allah," that is: they took the wrath of Allah upon themselves and returned with it, as those who deserved it. We have already set forth its root meaning with its supporting evidences, as well as the meaning of "al-maskana" (poverty) — that it is the humiliation of neediness and poverty and the subjection of both — and the meaning of "the wrath of Allah" in what preceded, in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat in this place. (39)
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And His statement "That was because they used to reject the signs of Allah," thereby He means, exalted be His praise, by His statement "that," namely: their returning with which they returned, that is, with the wrath of Allah, and the imposing of humiliation upon them — that is a requital for the fact that they rejected the signs of Allah. He says: for the fact that they denied the signs of Allah and His proofs of the truthfulness of His prophets, and what He had imposed upon them of obligations — "and kill the prophets without right," He says: and for the fact that they killed their prophets, the messengers of Allah to them, out of transgression against Allah and insolence toward Him with falsehood, and without a right by which their killing (qatl) would have been deserved.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The explanation of the clause is thus: humiliation has been imposed upon them in whatever place they are encountered, except with a protection from Allah and a protection from the people, and they returned with the wrath of Allah as those who bear it, and the humiliation of neediness and the subjection of poverty has been imposed upon them, as a requital for the fact that they denied the signs of Allah and His proofs and His arguments, and killed His prophets without right, out of wrongdoing and transgression.
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The explanation of His statement: ذَلِكَ بِمَا عَصَوْا وَكَانُوا يَعْتَدُونَ (112) (That was because they disobeyed and used to transgress. (3:112))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, exalted be His mention, says: We did that to them because of their disbelief, their killing of the prophets, their disobedience to their Lord, and their transgression of the command of their Lord.
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We have already set forth the meaning of "al-iʿtidāʾ" (transgression) in more than one place in what preceded of our book, in a manner sufficient to make repeating it unnecessary. (40)
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Thus our Lord, exalted be His praise, instructed His servants concerning what He did with this people of the People of the Book — His sending down upon them humiliation and disgrace in this near worldly life, alongside what He has stored up for them in the deferral of chastisement, deterrent punishment, and painful torment (41) — when they overstepped the bounds of Allah and declared lawful what He had forbidden. This as an admonition from Him, exalted be His mention, to them, and as a warning of the place of the trial from whose direction they were struck, that they might repent and take heed; and as a lesson from Him to our community (umma) that they should not follow their custom nor take their path (42), lest their roads be trodden with them, and lest there descend upon them of Allah's acts of vengeance and His exemplary punishments what descended upon those others. As in:
7643 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "That was because they disobeyed and used to transgress," avoid disobedience and transgression, for by it was destroyed whoever was destroyed before you of the people.
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The footnotes:
(26) See the explanation of "humiliation has been imposed upon them" in what preceded 2: 136.
(27) See the explanation of "thaqf" (finding) in what preceded 3: 564.
(28) The copyist omitted "and they returned with wrath from Allah," and the printed edition followed it in that, so I have restored the recitation form.
(29) See the explanation of "al-ḥabl" (the bond) in what just preceded, pp. 70, 71.
(30) In the manuscript it reads: "ʿUthmān ibn ʿItāb," and the correct reading is what is in the printed edition.
(31) The report 7640 — has already occurred in abridged form under no. 7155.
(32) That is al-Farrāʾ in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān 1: 230.
(33) That is Ḥumayd ibn Thawr al-Hilālī.
(34) His dīwān: 35, and Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 230, and al-Lisān (entry nsʿ) and (frq). In the transmission of the verse in entry (frq) there is an ugly error and a corruption; the correct reading is what is here in the tafsīr. As for the transmission of the dīwān, it reads: "I came with her two ropes, and she turned away in fear toward the soul, skittish of heart, easily startled." And "rawʿāʾ al-janān" means: very sharp-witted, lively of spirit, vigorous, as though there were a startle in her from her sharpness and the lightness of her spirit. And "farūq" means: very skittish. He intended no criticism, but praised his she-camel for the sharpness of heart, skittish at every sound out of her watchfulness, as they said in praise of her: "possessed." This he says of his she-camel: she saw me coming with the two ropes to bind my saddle upon her, and she turned away frightened. He describes her as noble, not worn down by travel. Then he said: and when I bound the saddle upon her, she was in the rope sharp-witted and vigorous, alert to every sound out of her watchfulness and liveliness.
(35) That is Abū al-Ṭamaḥān al-Qaynī, Ḥanẓala ibn al-Sharqī, of the Banū Kināna ibn al-Qayn. He is one of the long-lived. This poem is also attributed to ʿAdī ibn Zayd, and to al-Misḥāj ibn Sibāʿ al-Ḍabbī.
(36) Kitāb al-Muʿammarīn: 57, and Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 230, and al-Aghānī 2: 353, 356, and therein also 12: 347, and Ḥamāsat al-Buḥturī: 202, and Amālī al-Qālī 1: 110, and Amālī al-Sharīf 1: 46, 257, and Majmūʿat al-Maʿānī: 123, and al-Maʿānī al-Kabīr: 1214, with great differences in transmission, and al-Lisān (entry khtl), and others. The printed edition and the manuscript confined themselves to the first verse, and that is a very poor procedure, and certainly not the work of Abū Jaʿfar, but rather an error of the copyist. For Abū Jaʿfar took over the statement of al-Farrāʾ from Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, and the omission of the second verse, which is the verse of evidence, is a great error; therefore I have restored the verse, and also restored the commentary of al-Farrāʾ upon it, namely his statement: "he means: fettered with a fetter," and I have not placed this between brackets, because the copyist's error is established by clear evidence. In the manuscript and the printed edition it read: "I bend toward a quarry," and that is without doubt a corruption. That is because Abū Jaʿfar only transmits the statement of al-Farrāʾ, and it stands in the book of al-Farrāʾ, and in what the transmitters from him have transmitted in the aforementioned sources, it is what I have restored. This in addition to the clear and proximate character of the corruption, and in addition to the unsoundness of the meaning of this corruption, and in addition to the absence of this strange transmission. And his statement "khātil" means a hunter; one says: "khatala al-ṣayd," that is: the hunter concealed himself behind something to shoot the quarry; to that end he walks little by little in concealment, so that the quarry does not hear his sound. This, then, is the "khatl" and the "mukhātala" (the stalking).
(37) "Al-ṣila" (the connective) is here: the preposition and the word governed by it.
(38) In the printed edition it reads: "as in the statement of one who says" with the addition "fī," and that is even more corrupting to the clause than this copyist's corruption in a part of what he writes. And his statement "one is content with oneself" is the predicate to his statement "as the statement of one who says," and his statement "and with the knowledge of the listener" is coupled to his statement "with oneself," that is: one is content with oneself and with the listener's knowledge of its meaning.
(39) See the explanation of "bāʾa" (to return) in what preceded 2: 138, 345. And the explanation of "the wrath of Allah" 1: 188, 189 / 2: 138, 345. And the explanation of "is imposed upon them" 2: 136 / 7: 110. And the explanation of "al-maskana" (poverty) 2: 137, 292, 293 / 3: 345 / 4: 295.
(40) See what preceded 2: 142, 167, 307 / 3: 375, 376, 564, 580 / 4: 583, 584, and others.
(41) In the printed edition it reads: "alongside what He has stored up for them," and I have taken over what is in the manuscript, and they are equal in meaning.
(42) In the printed edition it reads: "minhā jahm," and I have taken over what is in the manuscript, and that is better.
