Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:181
Allah has certainly heard the statement of those [Jews] who said, "Indeed, Allah is poor, while we are rich." We will record what they said and their killing of the prophets without right and will say, "Taste the punishment of the Burning Fire.
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: لَقَدْ سَمِعَ اللَّهُ قَوْلَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ فَقِيرٌ وَنَحْنُ أَغْنِيَاءُ سَنَكْتُبُ مَا قَالُوا وَقَتْلَهُمُ الأَنْبِيَاءَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ ("Indeed, Allah has heard the saying of those who said: 'Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich.' We shall write down what they said, and their killing of the prophets without right").
Abū Jaʿfar said: It is mentioned that this verse and the verses after it were revealed concerning some of the Jews who lived in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
The mention of the narrations concerning that:
8300 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima: that he related it to him on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, may Allah be pleased with him, entered the study house (bayt al-midrās), and he found there a large number of Jews who had gathered around a man of theirs named Finḥāṣ, who was one of their scholars and rabbis (aḥbār). With him was a rabbi named Ashyaʿ. Abū Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, said to Finḥāṣ: "Woe to you, O Finḥāṣ, fear Allah and embrace Islam, for by Allah, you surely know that Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah, who has come to you with the truth from Allah; you find him written down with you in the Torah and the Gospel!" Finḥāṣ said: "By Allah, O Abū Bakr, we have no poverty toward Allah, and He is truly poor toward us! We do not beseech Him as He beseeches us, and we are surely rich toward Him; and were He rich in relation to us, He would not borrow from us as your companion claims! He forbids you usury (ribā) and gives it to us! And were He rich in relation to us, He would not give us usury!" Then Abū Bakr became angry and struck the face of Finḥāṣ with a hard blow, and said: "By the One in whose hand is my soul, were it not for the covenant that is between us and you, I would strike off your neck, O enemy of Allah! So belie us as much as you can, if you are truthful." Finḥāṣ went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: "O Muḥammad, look at what your companion has done to me!" The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to Abū Bakr: "What brought you to what you have done?" He said: "O Messenger of Allah, the enemy of Allah uttered a grievous saying; he claimed that Allah is poor and that they are rich toward Him! When he said that, I became angry for the sake of Allah at what he said, and I struck his face." Finḥāṣ denied that and said: "I did not say that!" Then Allah, blessed and exalted is He, revealed concerning what Finḥāṣ had said, as a refutation against him and a confirmation for Abū Bakr: لقد سمع الله قول الذين قالوا إن الله فقير ونحن أغنياء سنكتب ما قالوا وقتلهم الأنبياء بغير حق ونقول ذوقوا عذاب الحريق ("Indeed, Allah has heard the saying of those who said: 'Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich.' We shall write down what they said, and their killing of the prophets without right, and We shall say: 'Taste the punishment of the burning fire'") — and concerning the saying of Abū Bakr and the anger that overcame him at that: وَلَتَسْمَعُنَّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا أَذًى كَثِيرًا وَإِنْ تَصْبِرُوا وَتَتَّقُوا فَإِنَّ ذَلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الأُمُورِ [Surah Āl ʿImrān: 186] ("And you will surely hear from those who were given the Book before you and from the polytheists much that is hurtful; and if you are patient and God-fearing, then that truly belongs to the resolute matters").
8301 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, the freedman of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Abū Bakr entered — and he mentioned something similar, except that he said: "and we are surely rich toward Him, and He is not rich in relation to us; and were He rich" — then he mentioned the rest of the narration in a similar manner.
8302 - 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: لقد سمع الله قول الذين قالوا إن الله فقير ونحن أغنياء ("Indeed, Allah has heard the saying of those who said: 'Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich'"), Finḥāṣ the Jew of the Banū Marthad said this; Abū Bakr met him and spoke with him, and said to him: "O Finḥāṣ, fear Allah and believe and bear witness to the truth, and lend Allah a goodly loan!" Finḥāṣ said: "O Abū Bakr, you claim that our Lord is poor, that He borrows from us our wealth! And only the poor borrows from the rich! If what you say is true, then Allah is indeed poor!" Then Allah, mighty and exalted is He, revealed this, and Abū Bakr said: "Were it not for a truce that existed between the Prophet ﷺ and the Banū Marthad, I would have killed him."
8303 - 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, who said: Abū Bakr struck a man of them — those who said: إن الله فقير ونحن أغنياء ("Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich"), would He not borrow from us while He is rich?! And they were Jews.
8304 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, who said: الذين قالوا إن الله فقير ونحن أغنياء ("those who said: 'Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich'"), would He not borrow from us while He is rich? — Shibl said: it has reached me that it was Finḥāṣ the Jew, and he is the one who said: إِنَّ اللَّهَ ثَالِثُ ثَلاثَةٍ ("Truly, Allah is the third of three") and يَدُ اللَّهِ مَغْلُولَةٌ ("The hand of Allah is chained").
8305 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to me, saying: it was related to me on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: when مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا [Surah Al-Baqarah: 245, Surah Al-Ḥadīd: 11] ("Who is it that will lend Allah a goodly loan") was revealed, the Jews said: "Truly, your Lord borrows from you!" Then Allah revealed: لقد سمع الله قول الذين قالوا إن الله فقير ونحن أغنياء ("Indeed, Allah has heard the saying of those who said: 'Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich'").
8306 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, who said: when مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا ("Who is it that will lend Allah a goodly loan") was revealed, he said: the Jews marveled and said: "Truly, Allah is poor, He borrows!" Then it was revealed: لقد سمع الله قول الذين قالوا إن الله فقير ونحن أغنياء ("Indeed, Allah has heard the saying of those who said: 'Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich'").
8307 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: الذين قالوا إن الله فقير ونحن أغنياء ("those who said: 'Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich'"), it was mentioned to us that it was revealed concerning Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab, when Allah revealed: مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا فَيُضَاعِفَهُ لَهُ أَضْعَافًا كَثِيرَةً ("Who is it that will lend Allah a goodly loan, so that He may multiply it for him manifold"), he said: "Does our Lord borrow from us? Only the poor borrows from the rich!"
8308 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: when مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا ("Who is it that will lend Allah a goodly loan") was revealed, the Jews said: "Only the poor borrows from the rich!!" He said: then Allah revealed: لقد سمع الله قول الذين قالوا إن الله فقير ونحن أغنياء ("Indeed, Allah has heard the saying of those who said: 'Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich'").
8309 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: I heard Ibn Zayd say concerning His word: لقد سمع الله قول الذين قالوا إن الله فقير ونحن أغنياء ("Indeed, Allah has heard the saying of those who said: 'Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich'"), he said: these are the Jews.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The explanation of the verse is therefore: indeed, Allah has heard the saying of those of the Jews who said: "Truly, Allah is poor toward us, and we are rich in relation to Him"; We shall write down what they said of falsehood and fabrication against their Lord, and their killing of their prophets without right.
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The reciters differ over the reading of His word: سنكتب ما قالوا وقتلهم ("We shall write down what they said, and their killing").
The reciters of the Ḥijāz and the majority of the reciters of Iraq read it: (سَنَكْتُبُ مَا قَالُوا) ("We shall write down what they said") with the nūn, and وقَتْلَهُمُ الأنْبِياءَ بغير حقٍّ ("and their killing of the prophets without right") with the accusative of "the killing (al-qatl)".
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Some of the reciters of the Kūfans read it: (سَيُكْتَبُ مَا قَالُوا وَقَتْلُهُمُ الأنْبِيَاءَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ) ("There shall be written what they said, and their killing of the prophets without right") with the yāʾ of "sayuktabu (it shall be written)" and with the ḍamma upon it, and the nominative of "the killing (al-qatl)", according to the manner of the passive construction (mā lam yusamma fāʿiluhu), following a reading that is reported to belong to the reading of ʿAbd Allāh in His word: ونقول ذوقوا ("and We shall say: 'Taste'"), which is reported to be in the reading of ʿAbd Allāh as: ويُقَالُ ("and it shall be said").
The reciter of this has neglected the correct manner in what he intended by the explanation of the reading attributed to ʿAbd Allāh, and he departs from the evidence of the reciters of Islam. That is because it would be fitting for whoever reads سيكتب ما قالوا وقتلهم الأنبياء ("there shall be written what they said, and their killing of the prophets") according to the manner of the passive construction, that he read ويقال ("and it shall be said"), for His word ونقول ("and We shall say") is joined to His word سنكتب ("We shall write down"). The correct reading is therefore that one should bring the two into agreement with each other in meaning, by reading both according to the manner of the passive construction, or according to the manner of the active construction. But that one read the one according to the manner of the passive construction and the other according to the manner of the active construction, without a meaning that compels that, is a choice that falls outside the eloquent speech of the language of the Arabs.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct reading herein, in our judgment, is: سَنَكْتُب ("We shall write down") with the nūn, and وقَتْلَهُمْ ("and their killing") with the accusative, on account of His word وَنَقُول ("and We shall say"). And if the reading in سيكتب ("it shall be written") were with the yāʾ and the ḍamma upon it, then it would be said: ويقال ("and it shall be said"), in accordance with what we have set forth.
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If someone says: how was it said وقتلهم الأنبياء بغير حق ("and their killing of the prophets without right"), while you have mentioned in the narrations you have transmitted that those intended by His word لقد سمع الله قول الذين قالوا إن الله فقير ("Indeed, Allah has heard the saying of those who said: 'Truly, Allah is poor'") were some of the Jews who lived in the time of our Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, while none of them killed a prophet of the prophets, because they did not encounter a prophet of Allah's prophets so as to kill him?
The answer is: its meaning is other than the way in which you have understood it. It was only said thus because those whom Allah, blessed and exalted is He, intended by this verse were content with what their forefathers had done of killing the prophets whom they had killed, and they belonged to them and followed their path in deeming that lawful and approving of it. Thus the Exalted, mighty is His praise, ascribed the deed of those who were on his path and his way to them all, since they were the people of one religious community and one doctrine, and with the agreement of them all, the one among them who carried out what he carried out did so, in accordance with what we have set forth earlier of examples of that.
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The explanation of His word: وَنَقُولُ ذُوقُوا عَذَابَ الْحَرِيقِ (181) ("And We shall say: 'Taste the punishment of the burning fire'").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, mighty is His praise, means by this: ونقول ("and We shall say") to those who said that Allah is poor and that we are rich, who killed the prophets of Allah without right, on the Day of Resurrection — ذوقوا عذاب الحريق ("taste the punishment of the burning fire"), He means by it: the punishment of a burning, blazing Fire.
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And "al-nār (the Fire)" is a collective name for both its blazing part and its non-blazing part; "al-ḥarīq (the burning)" is only a quality of it, by which is meant that it burns, just as it is said: "ʿadhābun alīm (a painful punishment)", that is: causing pain, and "wajīʿ", that is: causing anguish.