Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:99
Say, "O People of the Scripture, why do you avert from the way of Allah those who believe, seeking to make it [seem] deviant, while you are witnesses [to the truth]? And Allah is not unaware of what you do."
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 the saying of the Exalted: "Say: 'O People of the Book, why do you turn away from the path of Allah him who believes, desiring to make it crooked, while you are witnesses? And Allah is not heedless of what you do.'" (3:99)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He means, exalted is His praise: O company of Jews of the Banū Isrāʾīl and others who profess to hold the books of Allah for true: "Why do you turn away from the path of Allah" — He says: why do you cause to stray from the way of Allah and His clear path, which He has prescribed for His prophets, His protégés, and the people of faith (īmān) — "him who believes", He says: him who holds Allah and His messenger and what he has brought from Allah for true — "desiring to make it crooked", that is to say: you desire crookedness for it.
* * *
"The hāʾ and the alif" that occur in His saying "tabghūnahā" (you desire it) refer back to "the path" (al-sabīl), and He has placed it in the feminine because of the feminine gender of "al-sabīl".
* * *
The meaning of His saying "you desire crookedness for it" is derived from the saying of the poet, namely Suḥaym, the slave of the Banū al-Ḥasḥās:
"She sought you, and you did not seek her, until you found her, as though yesterday you had made an appointment with her."
That is to say: your seeking and what you seek. One says: "abghinī kadhā" (seek for me such and such), by which is meant: seek it for me. But when they mean "help me in seeking it and seek it together with me", they say "abghinī" with a fatḥa on the alif. Likewise one says "uḥlubnī" (milk for me), in the sense of: take over the milking from me — and "aḥlibnī" means: help me with it. And so it is with all that occurs of this kind; it proceeds in this manner.
* * *
As for "al-ʿiwaj" (crookedness), that is the bending and the deviation. By this is meant: the straying away from guidance.
* * *
He says, exalted is His praise: why do you turn away him who holds Allah and His messenger for true from the religion of Allah, while you desire for the religion of Allah a deviation, away from His established path and its straightness?
The words are uttered with respect to "the path", while the meaning concerns the people of it. It is as though the meaning is: you desire for the people of the religion of Allah, and for him who is upon the path of the truth, crookedness — He says: a straying from the truth, and a deviation from steadfastly remaining upon guidance and the clear path.
* * *
"Al-ʿiwaj" with a kasra on the first letter: the bending in the religion and in words. "Al-ʿawaj" with a fatḥa on the first letter: the deviation in a wall, a water-channel, and all that stands upright and erect.
* * *
As for His saying "while you are witnesses": by this is meant: witnesses of the fact that that from which you turn away, namely the path, is true, you know it and you find it in your books — "and Allah is not heedless of what you do", He says: Allah is not heedless of your deeds which you perform, belonging to that which He does not approve for His servants, and other of your deeds, so that He either punishes you forthwith with an advanced punishment, or defers that for you until you meet Him and He will requite you for it.
* * *
It has been mentioned that these two verses, from His saying "O People of the Book, why do you disbelieve in the signs of Allah" and the verses that follow thereafter up to His saying "and for them is a tremendous punishment", were revealed concerning a man of the Jews who sought to sow discord between the two tribes of the Aws and the Khazraj after Islam, so that they would return to what they had known in their time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) of enmity and hatred. Allah rebuked him for that deed of his, and condemned what he did and reproached him, and He also admonished the companions of the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and forbade them division and discord, and commanded them concord and unity.
*Mention of the narration concerning that:
7524 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, he said: the trustworthy transmitter related to me, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, he said: Shās ibn Qays — who was an old man who had grown advanced in years in the jāhiliyya, tremendous in his unbelief (kufr), severe in his rancor toward the Muslims, severe in his envy toward them — passed by a group of companions of the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, of the Aws and the Khazraj, in a gathering that had brought them together and in which they were conversing with one another. It enraged him what he saw of their togetherness and their unity and the good understanding between them on the basis of Islam, after the enmity that had existed between them in the jāhiliyya. He said: The notables of the Banū Qayla have gathered in this region! Nay, by Allah, there is for us no stability with them when their notables gather here! Then he commanded a young lad of the Jews who was with him, and said: Go to them, sit with them, and remind them of the day of Buʿāth and what preceded it, and recite to them some of the poems with which they had contended against one another. The day of Buʿāth was a day on which the Aws and the Khazraj fought one another, and the victory therein was for the Aws over the Khazraj. And he did it. Then the people spoke about that and became entangled in dispute and boasting, until two men of the two tribes rose up against one another upon their knees: Aws ibn Qayẓī, one of the Banū Ḥāritha ibn al-Ḥārith of the Aws — and Jabbār ibn Ṣakhr, one of the Banū Salama of the Khazraj. They contended with words, and then the one said to the other: If you wish, by Allah, then we will bring it back now anew, fresh and young! And the two groups became enraged, and said: We have done it — to arms, to arms!! Your meeting-place is al-Ẓāhira — and al-Ẓāhira is the Ḥarra (the lava-plain). So they set out thither. And the people divided; the Aws joined together with one another, and the Khazraj with one another, on the basis of their claim which they had pursued in the jāhiliyya. That reached the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he set out toward them with those of his companions among the emigrants (muhājirūn) who were with him, until he came to them, and said: "O company of Muslims, Allah, Allah! With the claim of the jāhiliyya, while I am among you, after Allah has guided you to Islam and honored you with it, and thereby cut off the affair of the jāhiliyya from you, and thereby saved you from unbelief (kufr), and thereby united your hearts — do you return to what you were as unbelievers?" Then the people recognized that this was a whispering of Satan and a stratagem of their enemy, and they cast the weapons from their hands, and wept, and the men of the Aws and the Khazraj embraced one another, and thereafter they returned with the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, hearing and obeying, while Allah had extinguished from them the stratagem of the enemy of Allah, Shās ibn Qays, and what he had wrought. Then Allah revealed concerning Shās ibn Qays and what he had wrought: "Say: 'O People of the Book, why do you disbelieve in the signs of Allah, while Allah is witness of what you do? * Say: O People of the Book, why do you turn away from the path of Allah him who believes, desiring to make it crooked'", the verse. And Allah, mighty and exalted, revealed concerning Aws ibn Qayẓī and Jabbār ibn Ṣakhr and those who were with them of their people who did what they did, regarding what Shās ibn Qays had brought about among them of the affair of the jāhiliyya: "O you who believe, if you obey a group of those to whom the Book was given, then they will return you, after your belief, to unbelievers", up to His saying "for them is a tremendous punishment".
* * *
It has been said: that by His saying "Say: O People of the Book, why do you turn away from the path of Allah" He meant a group of Jews of the Banū Isrāʾīl who were in the midst of the city of the messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the days when these verses were revealed, and the Christians — and that their turning away from the path of Allah consisted in this, that they reported to whoever questioned them about the affair of the prophet of Allah, Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace — whether they found mention of him in their books — that they did not find his description in their books.
*Mention of who said that:
7525 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Say: O People of the Book, why do you turn away from the path of Allah him who believes, desiring to make it crooked" — when someone asked them: Do you find Muḥammad? they would say: No! Thus they turned the people away from him, and they desired for Muḥammad crookedness: ruin.
7526 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying: "Say: O People of the Book, why do you turn away from the path of Allah", He says: why do you turn away from Islam and from the prophet of Allah, him who believes in Allah, while you are witnesses in what you read of the Book of Allah: that Muḥammad is the messenger of Allah, and that Islam is the religion of Allah of which He accepts no other and by which one is not rewarded except thereby, you find it written with you in the Tawrāt and the Injīl.
7527 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: ʿAbdallāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, something similar.
7528 — Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to us, he said: Abū Bakr related to us, he said: ʿAbbād related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, in his saying: "Say: O People of the Book, why do you turn away from the path of Allah", he said: they are the Jews and the Christians, He forbade them to turn the Muslims away from the path of Allah, while they want to cause the people to deviate into error.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The explanation of the verse according to what al-Suddī said is thus: O company of Jews, why do you turn away from Muḥammad, and restrain those who believe in him from following him, by your concealment of his description which you find in your books? And "Muḥammad" is according to this saying "the path" — "you desire its crookedness", you desire ruin for Muḥammad. As for the remaining narrations besides that and the sayings concerning it, those are in accordance with the explanation which we have set forth earlier: that the meaning of "the path" which He mentions in this place is Islam, and what Muḥammad has brought of truth from Allah.
