Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:86
How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief and had witnessed that the Messenger is true and clear signs had come to them? And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.
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: كَيْفَ يَهْدِي اللَّهُ قَوْمًا كَفَرُوا بَعْدَ إِيمَانِهِمْ وَشَهِدُوا أَنَّ الرَّسُولَ حَقٌّ وَجَاءَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ وَاللَّهُ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ (3:86) (How would Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief, while they had borne witness that the Messenger is true and the clear proofs had come to them? And Allah does not guide the unjust people.)
The scholars of interpretation differed concerning who was meant by this verse, and concerning whom it was sent down.
Some of them said: It was sent down concerning al-Ḥārith ibn Suwayd al-Anṣārī, who was a Muslim and then apostatized (irtadd) after his Islam.
Mention of who said that:
7360 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Bazīʿ al-Baṣrī related to me, he said: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, he said: Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: There was a man of the Anṣār who accepted Islam, then apostatized and joined idolatry (shirk). Then he repented and sent a message to his people: Send to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ [to ask]: do I still have a means of repentance (tawba)? He said: Then there was sent down: "How would Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief," up to His word: "and the clear proofs came to them, and Allah does not guide the unjust people ... except those who repented thereafter and made amends, for Allah is indeed Forgiving, Merciful." Then his people sent him a message and he accepted Islam.
7361 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, he said: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, in a similar manner, except that he did not trace it back to Ibn ʿAbbās — except that he said: his people wrote to him, whereupon he said: My people have not lied to me! And he returned.
7362 — Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ḥakīm ibn Jumayʿ related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Mushir, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: A man of the Anṣār apostatized, and he mentioned something similar.
7363 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān informed us, he said: Ḥumayd al-Aʿraj informed us, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: Al-Ḥārith ibn Suwayd came and accepted Islam with the Prophet ﷺ, then al-Ḥārith disbelieved and returned to his people. Then Allah, Mighty and Exalted, sent down concerning him the Qurʾān: "How would Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief," up to "except those who repented thereafter and made amends, for Allah is indeed Forgiving, Merciful." He said: A man of his people carried it to him and recited it to him, whereupon al-Ḥārith said: Indeed, by Allah, as far as I know you are truthful, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is more truthful than you, and Allah, Mighty and Exalted, is the most truthful of the three. He said: Then al-Ḥārith returned and accepted Islam, and his Islam became excellent.
7364 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "How would Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief, while they had borne witness that the Messenger is true," he said: It was sent down concerning al-Ḥārith ibn Suwayd al-Anṣārī, who disbelieved after his belief. Then Allah, Mighty and Exalted, sent down concerning him these verses, up to: "they are the inhabitants of the Fire, therein they will abide eternally." Then he repented and accepted Islam, and Allah abrogated the [judgment] upon him (nasakhahā) and said: "except those who repented thereafter and made amends, for Allah is indeed Forgiving, Merciful."
7365 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah, Mighty and Exalted: "How would Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief, while they had borne witness that the Messenger is true and the clear proofs came to them," he said: It was a man of the Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf, who disbelieved after his belief.
7366 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
7367 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: It is a man of the Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf, who disbelieved after his belief. Ibn Jurayj said: ʿAbdallāh ibn Kathīr informed me, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: He joined the land of the Romans (Rūm) and became a Christian, then he wrote to his people: "Send [word]: do I still have a means of repentance?" He said: I think that he became a believer again and then returned. Ibn Jurayj said: ʿIkrima said: It was sent down concerning Abū ʿĀmir the monk (al-Rāhib), and al-Ḥārith ibn Suwayd ibn al-Ṣāmit, and Waḥwaḥ ibn al-Aslat — concerning twelve men who turned away from Islam and joined Quraysh, and then wrote to their families: is there still for us a means of repentance? Then there was sent down: "except those who repented thereafter," [to the end of] the verses.
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And others said: By this verse the People of the Book were meant, and it was sent down concerning them.
Mention of who said that:
7368 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my 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: "How would Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief" — they are the People of the Book, who knew Muḥammad ﷺ and then disbelieved in him.
7369 — Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to us, he said: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, he said: ʿAbbād ibn Manṣūr related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: "How would Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief" — the entire verse — he said: the Jews and the Christians.
7370 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: Al-Ḥasan said concerning His word: "How would Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief," the verse: they are the People of the Book, of the Jews and the Christians; they saw the description of Muḥammad ﷺ in their Book and acknowledged it, and bore witness that he was true. But when he was sent from another [people] than themselves, they envied the Arabs on account of that and denied him, and disbelieved after their acknowledgment, out of envy toward the Arabs, because he was sent from another [people] than themselves.
7371 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: "How would Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief," he said: they are the People of the Book; they found Muḥammad ﷺ in their Book and sought victory through him, but they disbelieved after their belief.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The more consistent of the two opinions with the apparent meaning of the revelation is what al-Ḥasan said: that by this verse the People of the Book are meant, as he said. Except that the narrations with the other opinion are more numerous, and those who hold it are more knowledgeable in the interpretation of the Qurʾān. And it is possible that Allah, Mighty and Exalted, sent down these verses on the occasion of the people about whom it is mentioned that they had apostatized from Islam, and thus brought together their story with the story of everyone whose path was like their path in his apostasy from belief in Muḥammad ﷺ, in these verses. Then He instructed His servants concerning His way of dealing (sunna) with them, so that under it falls everyone who was a believer in Muḥammad ﷺ before he was sent and then disbelieved in him after he was sent, and everyone who was a disbeliever and then accepted Islam in his time ﷺ, and then apostatized while he [the Prophet] was still living, from his Islam. Thus both kinds are meant by the verse, and also others than them who are similar to them in meaning; yes, so it is, if Allah wills.
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The interpretation of the verse is thus: "How would Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief," that is to say: how would Allah guide to the right course and grant the capacity for belief to a people who denied the prophethood of Muḥammad ﷺ — "after their belief," that is to say: after their affirmation of him and their acknowledgment of what he brought them from their Lord — "while they had borne witness that the Messenger is true," he says: and after they had acknowledged that Muḥammad was truly the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to His creatures — "and the clear proofs came to them," that is to say: and the proofs from Allah and the indications of their correctness came to them? — "and Allah does not guide the unjust people," he says: and Allah does not grant the capacity for truth and the right course to the group of wrongdoers, and they are those who exchanged the truth for falsehood and thus preferred disbelief over belief.
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We have already previously expounded what the meaning of "injustice (al-ẓulm)" is, namely: the placing of something in a place other than where it belongs, in a manner that absolves us from repeating it.
