Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:183
[They are] those who said, "Indeed, Allah has taken our promise not to believe any messenger until he brings us an offering which fire [from heaven] will consume." Say, "There have already come to you messengers before me with clear proofs and [even] that of which you speak. So why did you kill them, if you should be truthful?"
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 statement concerning the explanation of His word: الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَهِدَ إِلَيْنَا أَلا نُؤْمِنَ لِرَسُولٍ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَنَا بِقُرْبَانٍ تَأْكُلُهُ النَّارُ قُلْ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِنْ قَبْلِي بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ وَبِالَّذِي قُلْتُمْ فَلِمَ قَتَلْتُمُوهُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ (183) (Those who said: "Verily, Allah has charged us not to believe in any messenger until he brings us an offering which the fire consumes." Say: "Messengers before me have surely come to you with the clear proofs and with that which you mention. Why then did you kill them, if you are truthful?" (183)).
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He means, exalted is His praise: Allah has surely heard the word of those who said: "Verily, Allah has charged us not to believe in any messenger."
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And His word: "Those who said: Verily, Allah," stands in the position of the genitive (khafḍ), as a back-reference to His word: الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ فَقِيرٌ ("Those who said: Verily, Allah is poor").
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And by His word: "they said: Verily, Allah has charged us not to believe in any messenger," He means: He has enjoined upon us and held before us in His books and by the tongues of His prophets = "not to believe in any messenger," he says: that we should not hold any messenger to be truthful in what he says by which he claims to have come from Allah, in command and prohibition and otherwise = "until he brings us an offering which the fire consumes," he says: until he brings us an offering (qurbān), and that is that by which the servant seeks to draw near to his Lord through charity.
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And it is a verbal noun (maṣdar) like "al-ʿudwān" and "al-khusrān," derived from your saying: "I brought near an offering (qarrabtu qurbānan)."
And He said only "which the fire consumes," because the consuming by the fire of what one of them in that time brought near to Allah was a proof of Allah's acceptance of what was brought near to Him, and an indication of the truthfulness of the one who brought it near in what he claimed, that he was in his right in what he disputed or said, as:-
8310 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to us, he said: my father related to me, he said: my paternal uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "until he brings us an offering which the fire consumes," the man used to give charity, and when it was accepted from him, a fire would descend upon him from heaven which consumed it.
8311 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: "an offering which the fire consumes," the man, when he gave charity and it was accepted from him, Allah would send a fire from heaven which descended upon the offering and consumed it.
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= Then Allah, exalted is He, said to His prophet Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: [Say, O Muḥammad, to those who say: Verily, Allah has charged us] not to believe in any messenger until he brings us an offering which the fire consumes: "[Surely there have come to you] messengers before me with the clear proofs" (13), that is to say: with the arguments that point to the truthfulness of their prophethood and the truth of their word = "and with that which you mention," that is to say: and with that which you claimed that, when he would bring it, it would be obligatory upon you to hold him truthful and to acknowledge his prophethood, namely the consuming by the fire of his offering when he brought it near to Allah, as an indication of his truthfulness (14) = "why then did you kill them, if you are truthful?", He says to him: say to them: surely the messengers who were before me came to you with that which you claimed to be an argument in their favor against you, and you killed them; why then did you kill them, while you acknowledge that what they came to you with was an argument in their favor against you = "if you are truthful" in that Allah charged you to believe in whoever of His messengers came to you with an offering which the fire consumes as an argument for his prophethood?
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And Allah has only made known to His servants by this verse: that those whose description He described among the Jews who lived in the time of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in their lie against Allah and their fabrication against their Lord and their denial of Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, while they knew that he was truthful and in his right, and in their denial of his prophethood while they found him recorded with them in the covenant of Allah, exalted is He, to them, that he was His messenger to His creation, obedience to whom is made obligatory – will be no different than those of their forefathers who passed away, who used to kill the prophets of Allah after Allah had cut off their excuse with the arguments by which Allah had supported them, and the proofs by which He had made clear their truthfulness, out of fabrication against Allah and contempt for His rights.
