Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:64
Say, "O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you - that we will not worship except Allah and not associate anything with Him and not take one another as lords instead of Allah." But if they turn away, then say, "Bear witness that we are Muslims [submitting to Him]."
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 interpretation of His word: قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ تَعَالَوْا إِلَى كَلِمَةٍ سَوَاءٍ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ أَلا نَعْبُدَ إِلا اللَّهَ وَلا نُشْرِكَ بِهِ شَيْئًا وَلا يَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُنَا بَعْضًا أَرْبَابًا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ فَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَقُولُوا اشْهَدُوا بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ ("Say: O People of the Book, come to a just word between us and you: that we worship none but Allah, and associate nothing with Him, and that some of us do not take others as lords besides Allah. And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we have submitted [as Muslims].") (64)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His praise — means by this: "Say", O Muḥammad, to the People of the Book — and they are the people of the Torah and the Gospel — "Come" — come hither — "to an equal/just word", that is to say: to a word of justice (ʿadl) between us and you. And the just word is this: that we acknowledge Allah as One and worship nothing besides Him, and that we declare ourselves free of every object of worship except Him, so that we associate nothing with Him.
And His word: "And that some of us do not take others as lords", He says: and that one of us does not submit himself to another by obedience in that which he commands of disobedience to Allah, and that he does not exalt him by prostrating before him as he prostrates before his Lord. "And if they turn away", He says: and if they turn aside from that to which you have called them, namely the equal/just word to which I have commanded you to call them, and they do not obey you therein, "then say", O believers, to those who turn away from it: "Bear witness that we have submitted [as Muslims]."
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The exegetes differed concerning the one about whom this verse was sent down.
Some of them said: it was sent down concerning the Jews of the Children of Israel who dwelt around the city of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).
Mention of who said that:
7191 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: It has been transmitted to us that the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) called the Jews, the inhabitants of Medina, to the equal/just word; and they were the ones who had disputed concerning Ibrāhīm.
7192 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, who said: It has been transmitted to us that the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) called the Jews to the equal/just word.
7193 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: It has reached us that the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) called the Jews, the inhabitants of Medina, to that, but they refused it to him, whereupon he fought them (with jihād). He said: He called them to the word of Allah, the Exalted and Mighty: "Say: O People of the Book, come to an equal word between us and you", the verse.
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And others said: rather, it was sent down concerning the delegation of the Christians of Najrān.
Mention of who said that:
7194 - 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: "Say: O People of the Book, come to an equal word between us and you", the verse, up to His word: "then say: Bear witness that we have submitted", he said: He called them to fairness (al-naṣaf) and cut off their counterargument — that is to say: the delegation of Najrān.
7195 - Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: Then the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) called them — that is to say: the delegation of the Christians of Najrān — and said: "O People of the Book, come to an equal word between us and you", the verse.
7196 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed me, saying: Ibn Zayd related to us, saying: He — exalted is His praise — means: إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْقَصَصُ الْحَقُّ ("Indeed, this is truly the true narrative") concerning ʿĪsā — in accordance with what we have clarified earlier. He said: Then they refused — that is to say: the delegation of Najrān — whereupon He said: Call them to something easier than this: "Say: O People of the Book, come to an equal word between us and you." And he recited on until he reached: "as lords besides Allah", but they refused to accept neither this nor the other.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: We have only said that by His word "O People of the Book" He means the people of both Books, because both belong to the People of the Book, and because He — exalted is His praise — by His word "O People of the Book" did not single out the one group to the exclusion of the other. It is then no more justified to direct it to the meaning that thereby the people of the Torah are intended than to direct it to the meaning that thereby the people of the Gospel are intended; nor have the people of the Gospel any more right to be intended thereby than the others, namely the people of the Torah. And since neither of the two groups has more right to it than the other — because there is no indication that it is singled out for the one to the exclusion of the other, nor any sound transmission — it is necessary that every possessor of a Book be intended thereby. For devoting worship to Allah alone, and keeping the affirmation of oneness (tawḥīd) pure for Him, is an obligation upon every creature of Allah that receives a command and a prohibition. And the name "People of the Book" applies both to the people of the Torah and to the people of the Gospel; by this it is known that both groups together are intended.
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As for the interpretation of His word "Come": it means: draw near and come hither. It is "tafāʿalū" from "al-ʿuluww" (loftiness); it is as if the one who says to his companion "taʿāla ilayya" (come to me) in fact says "tafāʿal", derived from "al-ʿuluww", as one says: "tadāna minnī" (draw near to me), derived from "al-dunuww" (nearness), and "taqārab minnī" (come close to me), derived from "al-qurb" (proximity).
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And His word: "to an equal word". It is the just word (al-ʿadl), and "al-sawāʾ" (equal) is a qualifier (naʿt) of "the word".
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The Arabic linguists differed concerning the manner in which "sawāʾ" follows "the word" in the case-inflection (iʿrāb), while it is a noun and not an adjective.
Some grammarians of Basra said: "sawāʾ" stands in the genitive (jarr) because it is a qualifier of "the word", namely the just (al-ʿadl), and he meant "an even [word]" (mustawiya). He said: and had he meant "istiwāʾ" (equality as an abstract notion), then it would stand in the accusative (naṣb). And if one wishes to base it upon "al-istiwāʾ" and put it in the genitive, that is permissible, and one makes it a qualifier of "the word", just like "al-khalq" (creation), for "al-khalq" is "al-makhlūq" (the created thing). And "al-khalq" may be both a qualifier and a noun, and one makes "al-istiwāʾ" equivalent to "al-mustawā". He — Mighty and Exalted — said: الَّذِي جَعَلْنَاهُ لِلنَّاسِ سَوَاءً الْعَاكِفُ فِيهِ وَالْبَادِ (sūra al-Ḥajj: 25) ("[the Sacred Mosque] which We have made equal for mankind, [for] the resident therein and the [visiting] desert-dweller"), because "al-sawāʾ" applies to the last [mentioned], and it is a noun, not a qualifier, which then refers to the first; and that is when one means thereby "al-istiwāʾ". But if one means thereby "mustawiyan" (even), it is permissible that it refer to the first. And the nominative (rafʿ) is excellent in this meaning, because it [the word sawāʾ] does not change from its state, is not put into the dual, nor the plural, nor the feminine, and thereby it resembles the nouns such as "ʿadl", "riḍan" and "junub", and what resembles them. And they said [concerning His word]: أَنْ نَجْعَلَهُمْ كَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ سَوَاءً مَحْيَاهُمْ وَمَمَاتُهُمْ (sūra al-Jāthiya: 21) ("that We should make them like those who believe and do righteous deeds, equal in their life and their death"), that "al-sawāʾ" here applies to life and death, with this as the inceptive subject (mubtadaʾ).
And if you wish, you may make it refer to the first and make it a fronted qualifier, as if it belongs to the cause of the first, and then make it refer to it. And that is when you take it in the meaning of "mustawan" (even). And the nominative is the [most usual] manner of expression, as I have explained to you.
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And some grammarians of Kufa said: "sawāʾ" is a verbal noun (maṣdar) that has been placed in the position of the verb [i.e. the participle], that is to say in the position of "mutasāwiya" (being even). And "mutasāwin" — sometimes it comes according to the [participle] pattern and sometimes according to the maṣdar pattern. And one may also say for "sawāʾ" in the meaning of "ʿadl" (justice): "siwan" and "suwan", as He — exalted is His praise — said: مَكَانًا سُوًى and سُوًى (sūra Ṭāhā: 58) ("an equal/level place"), by which is meant: justice and fairness between us and you. And it has been transmitted from Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) that he used to recite this as: "to a word of justice (ʿadlin) between us and you".
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And in accordance with what we have said in the interpretation of His word "to an equal word between us and you", namely that "al-sawāʾ" is justice (al-ʿadl), the exegetes have also spoken.
Mention of who said that:
7197 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "O People of the Book, come to an equal word between us and you" — justice between us and you — "that we worship none but Allah", the verse.
7198 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His word: "Say: O People of the Book, come to an equal word between us and you, that we worship none but Allah and associate nothing with Him", in the same manner.
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And others said: it is the statement "There is no god but Allah".
Mention of who said that:
7199 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, who said: Abū al-ʿĀliya said: "the equal word" is: There is no god but Allah.
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As for His word "that we worship none but Allah", the "an" stands in the position of genitive, with the meaning: come to [the principle] that we worship none but Allah.
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And we have already clarified the meaning of "worship" (al-ʿibāda) in the language of the Arabs earlier, and we have demonstrated the correct of its meanings in a manner that makes repetition unnecessary.
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As for His word "and that some of us do not take others as lords", the "some of them taking others as lords" is that which occurs through the followers obeying the leaders in that which they command them of disobedience to Allah, and through their abandoning that which they forbid them of obedience to Allah, as He — exalted is His praise — said: اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَالْمَسِيحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلا لِيَعْبُدُوا إِلَهًا وَاحِدًا (sūra al-Tawba: 31) ("They took their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah, and also the Messiah, the son of Maryam, while they were not commanded except to worship one God"). As:
7200 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: "And that some of us do not take others as lords besides Allah", he says: that one of us does not obey the other in disobedience to Allah. And it is said that this lordship (rubūbiyya) consists in this: that the people obey their masters and their leaders in something other than worship, even though they perform no prayer for them.
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And others said: "the fact that some of them take others as lords" is that some of them prostrate before others.
Mention of who said that:
7201 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam ibn Abān, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His word: "And that some of us do not take others as lords besides Allah", he said: that some of them prostrate before others.
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As for His word "And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we have submitted", it means: and if those whom you call to the equal/just word turn away from it and become disbelievers, then say, O believers, to them: Bear witness against us that we — with respect to that from which you have turned away, namely the oneness of Allah, the pure devoting of servitude to Him, and that He is the God who has no partner — are "Muslims", that is to say: submissive to Allah therein, humbling ourselves before Him by acknowledging that with our hearts and our tongues.
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And we have already clarified the meaning of "Islam" (al-islām) earlier, and we have pointed to it in a manner that makes repetition unnecessary.
