Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:146
And how many a prophet [fought and] with him fought many religious scholars. But they never lost assurance due to what afflicted them in the cause of Allah, nor did they weaken or submit. And Allah loves the steadfast.
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, exalted is He: وَكَأَيِّنْ مِنْ نَبِيٍّ ("And how many a prophet…").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differ over the reading of this:
Some read it: (وَكَأَيِّنْ), with a hamza upon the "alif" and a doubling (tashdīd) of the "yāʾ".
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Others read it with lengthening (madd) of the "alif" and lightening (takhfīf) of the "yāʾ".
* * *
They are two well-known readings among the recitations of the Muslims, and two well-known linguistic variants, between which there is no difference in meaning. With whichever of the two readings a reciter recites this, he has hit upon what is correct, on account of the agreement in its meaning and the fame of both of them in the language of the Arabs. Its meaning is: "and how many a prophet".
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The explanation of His statement: قَاتَلَ مَعَهُ رِبِّيُّونَ كَثِيرٌ ("alongside whom many devout throngs fought").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differ over the reading of His statement: "qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn" (58).
A group of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and Baṣra read it: (قُتِلَ), with a ḍamma upon the "qāf" [i.e. passive: "was killed"].
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Another group read it with a fatḥa upon the "qāf" and "with the alif" (59) [i.e. qātala: "fought"]. That is the reading of a group of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and Kūfa.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: As for the one who read (قَاتَلَ — "fought"), he chose this because he said: if they had been killed (qutilū), there would be for His statement فَمَا وَهَنُوا ("yet they did not weaken") no known, intelligible import, for it is impossible that one describe them as not having flinched and not having weakened after they had been killed.
And those who read this as (قُتِلَ — "was killed"), they said: by the killing only the prophet was meant and a portion of the devout ones (ribbiyyūn) who were with him, not all of them; and the flinching and the weakness were denied only of those of the ribbiyyūn who remained, of those who were not killed.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the more correct of the two readings in this, in our judgement, is the reading of the one who read it with a ḍamma upon the "qāf": ("qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūna kathīr" — "alongside whom were many devout throngs, was killed"), because Allah, mighty and exalted is He, by this verse and the verses before it, was rebuking precisely those — beginning from His statement: أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَنْ تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَعْلَمِ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا مِنْكُمْ ("Or did you suppose that you would enter the Garden while Allah does not yet know those of you who have striven") (60) — who on the day of Uḥud took to flight and ceased the fighting, or heard the crier calling out: "Verily, Muḥammad has been killed." Allah, mighty and exalted is He, thus reproached them for their flight and their ceasing of the fight and said: "So if Muḥammad then dies or is killed, O believers, will you turn back upon your religion and turn about upon your heels?" Then He informed them about what many of the followers of the prophets before them used to do, and He said to them: "Why did you not do as the people of excellence and knowledge among the followers of the prophets before you used to do when their prophet was killed — namely, persevere upon the way of their prophet and fight for his religion against the enemies of the religion of Allah, in the manner in which they used to fight alongside their prophet — and not flinch and not weaken, just as those before you, from the people of knowledge and clear insight among the followers of the prophets, did not weaken when their prophet was killed, but remained persevering against their enemies until Allah judged between them and them?" And with that interpretation the interpretation of the exegetes has come (61).
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As for "al-ribbiyyūn", they stand in the nominative (marfūʿ) by His word "maʿahu" ("with him"), not by His word "qutila" ("was killed"). For the import of the statement is: "And how many a prophet was killed, while alongside him were many devout ones, and they did not flinch on account of what struck them on the way of Allah." In the statement a "wāw" has been omitted (suppressed), for it is a "wāw" that points to the meaning of the circumstantial state at the killing of the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him; only one has contented oneself with the indication that what is mentioned of the statement gives of it, instead of mentioning it. That is like the statement of one who says: "The commander was killed, with him a great army", in the meaning of: "He was killed while with him was a great army."
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As for "al-ribbiyyūn", the linguists differ over its meaning.
Some grammarians of Baṣra said: they are those who worship the Lord (al-Rabb); their singular is "ribbī".
* * *
And some grammarians of Kūfa said: had they been ascribed to the worship of the Lord, then they would be "rabbiyyūn" with a fatḥa upon the "rāʾ"; but rather it means: the scholars, and the thousands.
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And "al-ribbiyyūn", in our judgement, is: the many throngs (62); their singular is "ribbī", and they constitute the throng (63).
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The exegetes differ over its meaning.
* * *
Some of them said the same as what we said.
*Mention of who said that:
7957- Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Zirr, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh: "al-ribbiyyūn": the thousands.
7958- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān al-Thawrī related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Zirr, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, the same.
7959- Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: al-Thawrī and Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd, on the authority of Zirr ibn Ḥubaysh, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, the same.
7960- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Zirr, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, the same.
7961- Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: ʿAwf informed us on the authority of someone who related it to him, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His statement: "ribbiyyūn kathīr" ("many devout ones"), he said: many throngs.
7962- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: "qātala maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr" (64), he said: throngs.
7963- Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to me, saying: Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Zirr, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh: "wa-kaʾayyin min nabiyyin qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he said: the thousands.
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And others said what follows:-
7964- Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related it to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣalt related to us, saying: Abū Kudayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "wa-kaʾayyin min nabiyyin qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he said: many scholars.
7965- Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: ʿAwf informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan concerning His statement: "wa-kaʾayyin min nabiyyin qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he said: jurists, scholars.
7966- Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan concerning His statement: "wa-kaʾayyin min nabiyyin qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he said: the many throngs. Yaʿqūb said: and thus did Ismāʿīl read it: ("qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūna kathīr").
7967- Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "wa-kaʾayyin min nabiyyin qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he says: many throngs.
7968- Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan concerning His statement: "qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he said: many scholars (65). And Qatāda said: many throngs.
7969- Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿIkrima concerning His statement: "ribbiyyūn kathīr", he said: many throngs.
7970- ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Āmulī related to me, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿIkrima, the same.
7971- 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 the statement of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: "qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he said: many throngs.
7972- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
7973- It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he says: many throngs.
7974- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His statement: "wa-kaʾayyin min nabiyyin qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he says: many throngs, their prophet was killed.
7975- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Jaʿfar ibn Ḥabbān and al-Mubārak, on the authority of al-Ḥasan concerning His statement: "wa-kaʾayyin min nabiyyin qātala maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr". Jaʿfar said: scholars who persevered. And Ibn al-Mubārak said: God-fearing ones, persevering ones (66).
7976- It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His statement: "qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he means the many throngs, their prophet was killed.
7977- Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "qātala maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he says: many throngs.
7978- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, concerning His statement: "wa-kaʾayyin min nabiyyin qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he said: and how many a prophet did killing strike, while alongside him were throngs (67).
7979- 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: "wa-kaʾayyin min nabiyyin qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", "al-ribbiyyūn": they are the many throngs (68).
* * *
And others said: "al-ribbiyyūn" are the followers.
*Mention of who said that:
7980- Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: "wa-kaʾayyin min nabiyyin qutila maʿahu ribbiyyūn kathīr", he said: "al-ribbiyyūn" are the followers, and "al-rabbāniyyūn" are the governors, and "al-ribbiyyūn" are the subjects. And by this Allah rebuked them when they fled away from him (69), when the devil cried out: "Verily, Muḥammad has been killed." He said: the rout took place at his crying out upon [illegible]: "O people, verily Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah, has been killed; so return to your tribes, and they will grant you safety!" (70)
* * *
The explanation of His statement: فَمَا وَهَنُوا لِمَا أَصَابَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَمَا ضَعُفُوا وَمَا اسْتَكَانُوا وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الصَّابِرِينَ (146) ("Yet they did not weaken on account of what struck them on the way of Allah, and they did not slacken and they did not submit; and Allah loves the patiently steadfast").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His statement, exalted is His remembrance: "Yet they did not weaken on account of what struck them on the way of Allah", that is: they were not rendered powerless — on account of what struck them of the pain of the wounds that struck them on the way of Allah (71), nor on account of the killing of those of them who were killed — in the war against the enemies of Allah, and they did not recoil from their jihād. "And they did not slacken", He says: and their strength did not weaken on account of the killing of their prophet. "And they did not submit", that is: and they did not abase themselves so as to bow submissively before their enemy by entering into his religion and flattering him therein out of fear of him; rather they went forward upon their clear insight and the way of their prophet, patiently steadfast in the command of Allah and the command of their prophet, and in obedience to Allah and following of His revelation and His sending-down. "And Allah loves the patiently steadfast", He says: and Allah loves these and those who resemble them, of the patiently steadfast in His command and in obedience to Him and obedience to His Messenger in the jihād against His enemy — not the one who failed and so fled away from his enemy, nor the one who turned about upon his heels and so abased himself before his enemy because his prophet was killed or died, nor the one who was overcome by flinching before his enemy and by weakness on account of the loss of his prophet.
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And in accordance with what we said about this, the exegetes said.
*Mention of who said that:
7981- Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "fa-mā wahanū li-mā aṣābahum fī sabīli llāhi wa-mā ḍaʿufū wa-mā istakānū", he says: they were not rendered powerless and they did not waver on account of the killing of their prophet. "And they did not submit", he says: they did not turn away from their clear insight, nor from their religion (72), but they fought for that for which the prophet of Allah fought, until they met Allah.
7982- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ concerning His statement: "fa-mā wahanū li-mā aṣābahum fī sabīli llāhi wa-mā ḍaʿufū", he says: they were not rendered powerless and they did not weaken on account of the killing of their prophet. "And they did not submit", he says: and they did not turn away from their clear insight (73); they fought for that for which the prophet of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, fought, until they met Allah.
7983- Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "fa-mā wahanū", the devout ones did not flinch. "On account of what struck them on the way of Allah" — of the killing of the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. "And they did not slacken", he says: they did not weaken on the way of Allah on account of the killing of the prophet. "And they did not submit", he says: they did not abase themselves when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "O Allah, it is not for them to overcome us" — and وَلا تَهِنُوا وَلا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَنْتُمُ الأَعْلَوْنَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ ("And do not weaken and do not grieve, while you are the uppermost, if you are believers") (74).
7984- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: "fa-mā wahanū" on account of the loss of their prophet, "and they did not slacken" before their enemy, "and they did not submit" on account of what struck them in the jihād for Allah and for their religion; and that is patient steadfastness. "And Allah loves the patiently steadfast" (75).
7985- Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: "wa-mā istakānū" ("and they did not submit"), he said: they did not bow submissively.
7986- Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: "wa-mā istakānū", he said: they did not submissively surrender to their enemy. "And Allah loves the patiently steadfast."
