Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:73
And do not trust except those who follow your religion." Say, "Indeed, the [true] guidance is the guidance of Allah. [Do you fear] lest someone be given [knowledge] like you were given or that they would [thereby] argue with you before your Lord?" Say, "Indeed, [all] bounty is in the hand of Allah - He grants it to whom He wills. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Wise."
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: وَلا تُؤْمِنُوا إِلا لِمَنْ تَبِعَ دِينَكُمْ ("And believe none except him who follows your religion").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, praised be His laud, means thereby: And believe none except him who follows your religion and was thus a Jew.
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This is a report from Allah about the saying of the group who said to their brethren among the Jews: "Believe in that which was sent down to the believers at the beginning of the day."
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And the "lām" in His word "to him who follows your religion (li-man tabiʿa dīna-kum)" is like the "lām" in His word: عَسَى أَنْ يَكُونَ رَدِفَ لَكُمْ ("It may be that part of that whose hastening you seek has already drawn near to you"), with the meaning: it has drawn near to you (radifa-kum), "part of that whose hastening you seek" (Sūrah al-Naml: 72).
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And in agreement with what we have said concerning the explanation thereof, the exegetes have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
7246 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "And believe none except him who follows your religion" — this is the saying of some of them to others.
7247 — 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, the like thereof.
7247 m — 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: "And believe none except him who follows your religion," he said: Believe none except him who follows Judaism.
7248 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "And believe none except him who follows your religion," he said: Believe none except him who believes in your religion, and whoever contradicts him, then do not believe him.
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The explanation of His word: قُلْ إِنَّ الْهُدَى هُدَى اللَّهِ أَنْ يُؤْتَى أَحَدٌ مِثْلَ مَا أُوتِيتُمْ أَوْ يُحَاجُّوكُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّكُمْ ("Say: Verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah — that anyone should be given the like of what you were given, or that they should dispute with you before your Lord").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differ concerning the explanation thereof.
Some of them said: His word "Say: Verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah" is a parenthetical clause in the midst of the discourse, as a report from Allah that the proclamation is His proclamation and the guidance is His guidance. They said: And the rest of the discourse after it is connected to the first discourse, as a report about what the Jews said to one another. The meaning of the discourse according to them is thus: And believe none except him who follows your religion, and do not believe that anyone should be given the like of what you were given, or that they should dispute with you before your Lord — that is to say: and do not believe that anyone should dispute with you before your Lord. Then Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said to His Prophet ﷺ: Say, O Muḥammad: إِنَّ الْفَضْلَ بِيَدِ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ("Verily, the bounty is in the hand of Allah, He gives it to whom He wills"), and "verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah."
Mention of who said that:
7249 — 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 His word: "that anyone should be given the like of what you were given" — out of envy of the Jews that prophethood should be among other than them, and out of the desire that they should be followed in their religion.
7250 — 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 like thereof.
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And others said: The explanation thereof is: Say, O Muḥammad: "Verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah," verily, the proclamation is the proclamation of Allah — "that anyone should be given." They said: The meaning of it is: To none of the communities is given the like of what was given to you, just as He said: يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَضِلُّوا (Sūrah al-Nisāʾ: 176), with the meaning: lest you go astray; and just as His word: كَذَلِكَ سَلَكْنَاهُ فِي قُلُوبِ الْمُجْرِمِينَ * لا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ (Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ: 200-201), which means: so that they would not believe in it. "The like of what you were given," he says: the like of what was given to you, O Muḥammad, and to your community, of Islam and guidance. "Or that they should dispute with you before your Lord," they said: and the meaning of "or (aw)" is "except (illā)," that is to say: except that "they should dispute with you," that is to say: except that they should argue with you before your Lord about what your Lord has done with them.
Mention of who said that:
7251 — 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: Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said to Muḥammad ﷺ: "Say: Verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah — that anyone should be given the like of what you were given," he says: the like of what was given to you, O community of Muḥammad — "or that they should dispute with you before your Lord," the Jews say: Allah honored us with such and such, until He sent down upon us the manna and the quails. Now, that which I have given to you is more excellent, so He says: إِنَّ الْفَضْلَ بِيَدِ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ("Verily, the bounty is in the hand of Allah, He gives it to whom He wills"), the verse.
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According to this explanation, this whole discourse is [a command] from Allah to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ to say it to the Jews, and it hangs together connectedly with no parenthetical clause in it. And "the guidance (al-hudā)," the second, refers back to "the guidance (al-hudā)," the first, and "that (an)" stands in the nominative, because it is the predicate of "the guidance."
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And others said: Rather, this is a command from Allah to His Prophet to say it to the Jews. And they said: The explanation of it is: "Say," O Muḥammad, "Verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah — that anyone," of the people, "should be given the like of what you were given," he says: the like of what was given to you, O assembly of Jews, of the Book of Allah, and the like of your prophet, so do not envy the believers for what I have given them, the like of what I have given to you of My bounty, for the bounty is in My hand, I give it to whom I will.
Mention of who said that:
7252 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "Say: Verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah — that anyone should be given the like of what you were given," he says: When Allah sent down a Book like your Book, and sent a prophet like your prophet, you thereupon envied them. "Say: Verily, the bounty is in the hand of Allah," the verse.
7253 — 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, the like thereof.
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And others said: Rather, the explanation thereof is: "Say," O Muḥammad: "Verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah — that anyone should be given the like of what you were given," you, O assembly of Jews, of the Book of Allah. They said: And this is the end of the saying which Allah commanded our Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ to say to the Jews of this verse. They said: And His word "or that they should dispute with you" refers back to His word: وَلا تُؤْمِنُوا إِلا لِمَنْ تَبِعَ دِينَكُمْ ("And believe none except him who follows your religion").
And the explanation of the discourse — according to the saying of the people of this position — is: And believe none except him who follows your religion, lest you abandon the truth: that they should dispute with you about it before your Lord, namely those whose religion you have followed and chosen: that he is in the right, and that you find his description in your Book. In that case, His word "or that they should dispute with you" is referred back to the apodosis of an omitted prohibition, according to the saying of these.
Mention of who said that:
7254 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His word: "Verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah — that anyone should be given the like of what you were given," he says: This matter upon which you are: that anyone should be given the like of what you were given — "or that they should dispute with you before your Lord," he said: Some of them said to others: Do not inform them about what Allah has set forth for you in His Book, lest they should dispute with you — he said: lest they should argue with you — about it before your Lord. "Say: Verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah."
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[Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the sayings concerning that is that His word "Say: Verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah"] is a parenthetical clause, while the rest of the discourse proceeds in order upon one and the same line. The explanation of it is then: And believe none except him who follows your religion, and do not believe that anyone should be given the like of what you were given — with the meaning: to none is given the like of what was given to you — "or that they should dispute with you before your Lord," with the meaning: or that anyone should dispute with you before your Lord . . . . . . . . on account of your faith, because you are more honorable in the sight of Allah by reason of that with which He has favored you over them. Thus the whole discourse is then a report about the saying of the group concerning whom Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said: وَقَالَتْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ آمِنُوا بِالَّذِي أُنْـزِلَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَجْهَ النَّهَارِ ("And a group of the People of the Book said: Believe in that which was sent down to those who believe at the beginning of the day"), with the exception of His word "Say: Verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah." Then the discourse commences with their refutation in their saying: "Say," O Muḥammad, to those who said what they said of the group whose saying to their followers among the Jews I have described to you — "Verily, guidance is the guidance of Allah," verily, the success is the success of Allah and the proclamation is His proclamation, "and verily, the bounty is in His hand, He gives it to whom He wills," not what you have desired, O assembly of Jews.
And we have chosen that out of the remaining mentioned sayings only because it is the correct one as to meaning, and the most beautiful as to straightness according to the meaning of the language of the Arabs, and the most orderly as to sentence-structure and the coherence of the discourse. And what falls outside that of the sayings is a forced explanation, far from correctness, with great straining of the discourse.
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The explanation of His word: قُلْ إِنَّ الْفَضْلَ بِيَدِ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ (73) ("Say: Verily, the bounty is in the hand of Allah, He gives it to whom He wills, and Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing" (3:73)).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, praised be His laud, means thereby: "Say," O Muḥammad, to these Jews whose saying to their confederates I have described — "Verily, the bounty is in the hand of Allah," verily, the success in faith and the guidance to Islam is in the hand of Allah and with Him, not with you and not with the rest of the creatures — "He gives it to whom He wills" of His creatures, that is to say: He gives it to whomever He wills of His servants — as a refutation by Allah, mighty and exalted is He, against them in their saying to their followers: "To none is given the like of what was given to you." Allah, mighty and exalted is He, thus said to His Prophet ﷺ: Say to them: That is not up to you, it is only up to Allah, in whose hand are all things, and with whom is the bounty, and in whose hand it is, He gives it to whom He wills. "And Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing," that is to say: And Allah is the possessor of wide abundance with His bounty toward whomever He wills to favor — "All-Knowing," the possessor of knowledge about who of them is worthy of the bounty.
7255 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us by way of recitation, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His word: "Say: Verily, the bounty is in the hand of Allah, He gives it to whom He wills," he said: Islam.
