Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:74
He selects for His mercy whom He wills. And Allah is the possessor of great bounty.
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: يَخْتَصُّ بِرَحْمَتِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ (74) (He singles out for His mercy whom He wills, and Allah is the Possessor of tremendous bounty.) (3:74)
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for His word "He singles out for His mercy whom He wills" (yakhtaṣṣu bi-raḥmatihi man yashāʾu) — this is a verbal form on the pattern of "yaftaʿil," derived from the saying of one who says: "I singled out so-and-so with such-and-such (khaṣaṣtu fulānan bi-kadhā), I single him out with it (akhuṣṣuhu bihi)."
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As for "His mercy" (raḥmatihi) in this place: it is Islam and the Qurʾān, together with prophethood, as in:-
7256 - 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: "He singles out for His mercy whom He wills," he said: prophethood, with which He singles out whom He wills.
7257 - 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 same.
7258 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "He singles out for His mercy whom He wills," he said: He singles out with prophethood whom He wills.
7259 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, by recitation, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: "He singles out for His mercy whom He wills," he said: the Qurʾān and Islam.
7260 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, the same.
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= "and Allah is the Possessor of tremendous bounty" (wa-Llāhu dhū al-faḍl al-ʿaẓīm), He says: Possessor of a bounty with which He bestows favor upon whom He loves and wills of His creatures. Then He described His bounty with tremendousness and said: "His bounty is tremendous," for it is not comparable — in the tremendousness of the place it holds with the one upon whom He bestows His bounty — to [any bounty] from the bounties of His creatures, and nothing approaches it in the loftiness of its weight, and nothing comes near to it.
