Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:63
But if they turn away, then indeed - Allah is Knowing of the corrupters.
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.
فَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ بِالْمُفْسِدِينَ ("But if they turn away, then indeed Allah is All-Knowing of the corrupters") (63)
"But if they turn away," that is to say: if these ones who disputed with you concerning ʿĪsā turn away from the truth that has come to you from your Lord concerning ʿĪsā and others, from all the guidance and exposition that Allah has given you, &; 6-477 &; and they turn away from it and do not accept it = (3)
"then indeed Allah is All-Knowing of the corrupters," He says: indeed Allah is the possessor of knowledge concerning those who disobey their Lord, and who deal upon His earth and in His lands with that which He forbade them, and that is their corruption. (4) He, exalted is His mention, says: He knows them and their deeds, He counts them against them and preserves them, until He gives them their requital for that.
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And in accordance with what we said about that, the people of the interpretation (tafsīr) said:
Mention of who said that:
7176 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْقَصَصُ الْحَقُّ ("Indeed, this is the true narrative"), that is to say: indeed this which you have brought of report concerning ʿĪsā = لَهُوَ الْقَصَصُ الْحَقُّ ("indeed it is the true narrative") concerning his affair. (5)
7177 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْقَصَصُ ("Indeed, this is the narrative"), indeed this which we said concerning ʿĪsā = لَهُوَ الْقَصَصُ الْحَقُّ ("indeed it is the true narrative").
7178 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْقَصَصُ الْحَقُّ ("Indeed, this is the true narrative"). He said: Indeed, this is the true narrative concerning ʿĪsā: it does not befit ʿĪsā to exceed this nor to surpass it — namely that he exceed that he is the Word of Allah which He cast to Maryam, (6) and a spirit from Him, and the servant of Allah and His messenger.
7179 - 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: إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْقَصَصُ الْحَقُّ ("Indeed, this is the true narrative"), indeed this which we said concerning &; 6-478 &; ʿĪsā, that is the truth = وَمَا مِنْ إِلَهٍ إِلا اللَّهُ ("And there is no god but Allah"), the verse.
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When He, exalted is His praise, made a distinction between His prophet Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the delegation of the Christians of Najrān, with the decisive judgment and the just verdict, He commanded him (7) = that if they turn away from that to which he invited them, namely the acknowledgment of the oneness of Allah, and that He has no child nor consort, and that ʿĪsā is His servant and His messenger, and they refuse all but disputation and contention = (8) that he should invite them to the mutual invocation of a curse (mulāʿana). And the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did that. But when the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did that, they shrank back and refused the mutual invocation, and they called for reconciliation, as in that which follows:
7180 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of ʿĀmir, who said: He — namely the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace — was commanded to make the mutual invocation of a curse with them — that is to say: with the people of Najrān — through His statement: فَمَنْ حَاجَّكَ فِيهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ ("So whoever disputes with you concerning it after the knowledge has come to you"), the verse. Then they agreed that they would make the mutual invocation with him, and they appointed him the next day. Then they departed to al-Sayyid and al-ʿĀqib, who were the most intelligent of them, and these two agreed with them. Then they went to an intelligent man of theirs, and they told him what they had agreed with the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He said: What have you done!! And he made them feel remorse, (9) and he said to them: If he is a prophet and then prays against you, Allah will never make him pleased at your expense, and if he is a king and gains the upper hand over you, he will never leave you alive. (10) They said: How is it to be with us now that we have already made the appointment! He said to them: When you go to him in the morning and he presents to you that which you have agreed with him about, then say: "We seek refuge with Allah"! And if he invites you again, then say to him: "We seek refuge with Allah"! And perhaps he will exempt you from it. So when they came in the morning, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came in the morning while he was embracing al-Ḥasan and holding the hand of al-Ḥusayn, and Fāṭima walked behind him. Then he invited them to that which they had agreed with him about the previous day, &; 6-479 &; and they said: "We seek refuge with Allah"! Then he invited them again, and they said: "We seek refuge with Allah"! — repeatedly. He said: If you refuse, then become Muslim, and you have the same rights as the Muslims and the same duties as the Muslims, as Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said. And if you refuse, then give the poll-tax for non-Muslims (jizyah) with your own hand while you are subdued, as Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said. They said: We possess nothing other than ourselves! He said: If you refuse, then I declare war upon you on equal footing, as Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said. They said: We have no strength for war against the Arabs, but we will pay the jizyah. He said: Then he imposed upon them two thousand garments each year, a thousand in Rajab and a thousand in Ṣafar. Then the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: Indeed, the bringer of glad tidings has come to me with the destruction of the people of Najrān, (11) even the birds upon the trees = or: the sparrows upon the trees = had they completed the mutual invocation of the curse. (12)
= Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, saying: Then I said to al-Mughīra: The people narrate in the narration about the people of Najrān that ʿAlī was with them! He said: As for al-Shaʿbī, he did not mention him, and I do not know whether that was because of the ill disposition of the Banū Umayya toward ʿAlī, or whether it was not in the narration! (13)
7181 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْقَصَصُ الْحَقُّ ("Indeed, this is the true narrative") up to His statement: فَقُولُوا اشْهَدُوا بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ ("Then say: bear witness that we are Muslims"). Thus he invited them to fairness, (14) and he deprived them of the argument. When the report of Allah concerning him had come to the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the decisive verdict between him and them, and His command to him with that which He commanded him, namely the mutual invocation of the curse with them, if they should refuse it him = (15) he invited them to that, and they said: O Abū l-Qāsim, let us consider our affair, then we will come to you with what we wish to do concerning that to which you have invited us. Then they departed from him, and afterward they secluded themselves with al-ʿĀqib, who was the possessor of their opinion, (16) and they said: O ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, what is your opinion? He said: &; 6-480 &; By Allah, O assembly of Christians, you surely know that Muḥammad is a sent prophet, (17) and he has come to you with the decisive report concerning your companion, and you surely know that no people ever undertook the mutual invocation of a curse with a prophet without their elders being left over nor their little ones growing up, and it will surely be your extermination if you do it. So if you refuse all but the attachment to your religion, and the persistence in that upon which you stand concerning the statement about your companion, then make a truce with the man, and afterward return to your lands until time shows you its opinion. (18) Then they came to the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and they said: O Abū l-Qāsim, we have decided that we will not undertake the mutual invocation of the curse with you, and that we leave you upon your religion and return to our religion, but send with us a man of your companions, one with whom you are pleased for us, who will judge between us concerning matters about which we have differed concerning our possessions, for you are acceptable to us. (19)
7182 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: ʿĪsā ibn Farqad related to us, on the authority of Abī l-Jārūd, on the authority of Zayd ibn ʿAlī, concerning His statement: تَعَالَوْا نَدْعُ أَبْنَاءَنَا وَأَبْنَاءَكُمْ ("Come, let us call our sons and your sons"), the verse. He said: They were the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and ʿAlī and Fāṭima and al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn. (20)
7183 - 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: فَمَنْ حَاجَّكَ فِيهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ ("So whoever disputes with you concerning it after the knowledge has come to you"), the verse. Then he — namely the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace — took the hand of al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn and Fāṭima, and he said to ʿAlī: Follow us. Then he went out with them, but the Christians did not come out that day, and they said: We fear that this is the prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the invocation of the prophet is not like that of another!! So they stayed away from him that day, and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "Had they gone out, they would have been burned!" Then they made a peace treaty with him: on the basis that he would receive from them eighty thousand, and what fell short in dirhams would be in goods: the garment for forty = and on the basis that he would receive from them thirty-three coats of mail, and thirty-three camels, and thirty-four warhorses each year, and that the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would stand surety for that until we should deliver them to them.
7184 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: It was related to us that the prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, invited a delegation from the delegation of Najrān of the Christians, and they are the ones who disputed with him concerning ʿĪsā, and they shrank back from that and feared = and it was related to us that the prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say: By Him in Whose hand is the soul of Muḥammad, indeed the punishment had already descended upon the people of Najrān, and had they done it, they would have been exterminated from the surface of the earth. (21)
7185 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: فَمَنْ حَاجَّكَ فِيهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ فَقُلْ تَعَالَوْا نَدْعُ أَبْنَاءَنَا وَأَبْنَاءَكُمْ ("So whoever disputes with you concerning it after the knowledge has come to you, then say: come, let us call our sons and your sons"). He said: It has reached us that the prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went out to call the people of Najrān to the mutual invocation of the curse. (22) When they saw him go out, they became anxious and afraid, and they turned back = Maʿmar said, Qatāda said: When the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, intended the people of Najrān, he took the hand of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn and said to Fāṭima: Follow us. When the enemies of Allah saw that, they turned back.
7186 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jazarī, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Had those who wished to undertake the mutual invocation of the curse (mubāhala) with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gone out, they would have returned to find neither family nor possessions.
7187 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Zakariyyā related to us, on the authority of ʿAdī, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Karīm, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
7188 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: The messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: By Him in Whose hand is my soul, had they undertaken the mutual invocation of the curse with me, the year would not have passed without there remaining none of them in their vicinity, without Allah destroying the liars.
7189 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd related to us, saying: It was said to the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: Had you undertaken the mutual invocation of the curse with the people, with whom would you have come when you said "our sons and your sons"? He said: Al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn.
7190 - Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me, saying: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, saying: Al-Mundhir ibn Thaʿlaba related to us, saying: ʿAlbāʾ ibn Aḥmar al-Yashkurī related to us, saying: When this verse was revealed: فَقُلْ تَعَالَوْا نَدْعُ أَبْنَاءَنَا وَأَبْنَاءَكُمْ وَنِسَاءَنَا وَنِسَاءَكُمْ ("Then say: come, let us call our sons and your sons, and our women and your women"), the verse, the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent to fetch ʿAlī and Fāṭima and their two sons al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, and he called the Jews to undertake the mutual invocation of the curse with them. Then a young man of the Jews said: Woe to you! Was your experience not just yesterday with your brethren who were changed into apes and swine?! Do not undertake the mutual invocation of the curse! Then they desisted from it. (23)
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The footnotes:
(3) See the explanation of "tawallā" in what passed earlier 2: 162-164, 298 / 3: 131 / 4: 237 / 6: 283, 291.
(4) See the meaning of "al-fasād" in what passed earlier 1: 287, 416 / 4: 238, 243, 244 / 5: 372.
(5) The narration 7176 - Sīra of Ibn Hishām 2: 232, it is the continuation of the narrations the last of which is number 7172.
(6) In the printed edition: "wa-lā yujāwiz ay yataʿaddā..." and the correct is what is in the manuscript.
(7) In the printed edition and the manuscript: "wa-amarahu..." with the wāw, and it is superfluous and corrupting, so I have omitted it.
(8) The coherence of the sentence is: "He commanded him... that he should invite them to the mutual invocation of the curse," and what stands between is a parenthetical insertion.
(9) His statement "naddamahum" (with tashdīd on the dāl): he reproached them until he brought them to regret and remorse. And this is a deep-rooted Arabic word that one rarely finds in many of the books of the language.
(10) In the printed edition: "lā yastabqinnakum," with an added nūn, and the correct is from the manuscript.
(11) In the printed edition: "qad atānī," and I have adopted what is in the manuscript.
(12) "Tamma ʿalā l-shayʾ": he persisted in it and carried it out.
(13) This passage is the continuation of the preceding narration, therefore I have not numbered it separately.
(14) Al-naṣaf and al-naṣafa (both with two fatḥas): that is fairness, and the giving of the right to your companion just as that which you claim for yourself.
(15) In the manuscript: "aw raddū ʿalayhi," and that is an error, and the correct is what is in the printed edition, in agreement with the Sīra of Ibn Hishām, in which: "in raddū dhālika ʿalayhi."
(16) "Dhū raʾyihim": the possessor of opinion and counsel, who is consulted about what befalls them because of his intellect and good judgment.
(17) In the printed edition: "anna Muḥammadan nabiyyun mursalun," and that is an error, and a distortion of what is in the manuscript as I have adopted it, and it also agrees with what is in the Sīra of Ibn Hishām.
(18) His statement "ḥattā yuriyakum zamanun raʾyahu" is not in the Sīra of Ibn Hishām. And he means by it: until a time passes, and the circumstances change, so that you see the outcome of his affair, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. And the commentator of the Sīra, al-Suhaylī, said in al-Rawḍ al-unuf 2: 50: "And in the narration about the people of Najrān is a great addition from Ibn Isḥāq, beyond the narration of Ibn Hishām."
(19) The narration 7181 - Sīra of Ibn Hishām 2: 232, 233, and it is the continuation of the narrations the last of which is number 7176. One says: "rajul riḍan min qawmin riḍan," that is to say accepted, described with the maṣdar like "rajul ʿadl," as Zuhayr said:
When a people dispute, their nobles say:
"They are between us, so they are acceptable (riḍan), and they are just (ʿadl)."
(20) The narration 7182 - "ʿĪsā ibn Farqad al-Marwazī," Abū Muṭahhar. From him narrated ʿAmr ibn Rāfiʿ and Ibn Ḥumayd. Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: "I asked my father about him and he said: a Marwazī. I said: how is he? He said: a shaykh." A biography of him is in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 3/1/284. And "Abū l-Jārūd" is: Ziyād ibn al-Mundhir al-Hamdānī. Ibn Maʿīn said: "A liar, enemy of Allah, not worth a fils." And he was a Rāfiḍī who fabricated narrations about the faults of the companions of the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he narrated concerning the virtues of the people of the House, may Allah be pleased with them, things that had no basis. It is not permissible to write down his narration, and he belongs to the extremists of the Shīʿa, and he has a sect known as the Jārūdiyya.
(21) "Jadīd al-arḍ," and "jadduhā" (with fatḥa and kasra on the jīm), and "jadaduhā" (with fatḥas): that is the surface of the earth.
(22) In the printed edition: "kharaja li-yulāʿina ahla Najrān," read "li-yudāʿiya" for "li-yulāʿina," and "yudāʿī" comes from "al-duʿāʾ," that is to say this mubāhala and mutual invocation of the curse.
(23) The narration 7190 - "Al-Mundhir ibn Thaʿlaba ibn Ḥarb al-Ṭāʾī," Ibn Ḥibbān mentioned him in al-Thiqāt. A biography of him is in al-Tahdhīb. And "ʿAlbāʾ ibn Aḥmar al-Yashkurī" narrated from ʿIkrima, the freedman of Ibn ʿAbbās. Aḥmad said: "There is nothing wrong with him, I know only good of him," and Ibn Ḥibbān mentioned him in al-Thiqāt. A biography of him is in al-Tahdhīb.
And the narrations of this chapter are all mursal, as you have seen, except for the report of Ibn ʿAbbās.
