Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:154
And We raised over them the mount for [refusal of] their covenant; and We said to them, "Enter the gate bowing humbly", and We said to them, "Do not transgress on the sabbath", and We took from them a solemn covenant.
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: "And We raised the mountain (al-Ṭūr) above them on account of their covenant, and We said to them: 'Enter the gate, bowing down,' and We said to them: 'Transgress not on the Sabbath,' and We took from them a firm pledge (mīthāq)" (4:154)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His word "and We raised above them the mountain (al-Ṭūr)" the mountain, and that came to pass when they refused to act according to what was in the Torah and to accept what Mūsā brought them therewith; "on account of their covenant," that is to say: on account of the covenant and the pledge (mīthāq) which they had given to Allah: that they would surely act according to what is in the Torah; "and We said to them: 'Enter the gate, bowing down,'" that is to say: the "gate of remission (ḥiṭṭah)," when they were commanded to enter through it bowing down, but they entered crawling upon their backsides; "and We said to them: 'Transgress not on the Sabbath,'" by which He means with His word "transgress not on the Sabbath": exceed not on the day of the Sabbath that which is permitted to you toward that which is not permitted to you, as in:
10773 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "and We said to them: 'Enter the gate, bowing down,'" he said: We were taught that it was one of the gates of Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis).
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"And We said to them: 'Transgress not on the Sabbath'" — He commanded the people that on the day of the Sabbath they should not eat fish, nor lay hands upon them, and He made permissible to them what lay outside of that.
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The reciters differed over the reading thereof.
Most of the reciters of the regions of Islam read it: ( lā taʿdū fī al-sabt ), with softening of the "ʿayn," derived from the saying: "ʿadawtu fī al-amr" (I went beyond the bounds in the matter), when you transgress the right therein; "aʿdū, and ʿadwan, and ʿuduwwan, and ʿudwānan, and ʿadāʾan."
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And some of the reciters of Medina read it: ( wa-qulnā lahum lā taʿaddū ) with quiescence of the "ʿayn" and doubling of the "dāl," whereby two quiescent letters come together, with the meaning: that you should not transgress (taʿtadū); then the "tāʾ" is assimilated into the "dāl," so that it becomes a doubled "dāl" pronounced with ḍamma, as the one recites who reads ( amman lā yahaddī ) [Sūrah Yūnus: 35], with quiescence of the "hāʾ."
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And His word: "and We took from them a firm pledge (mīthāq)," that is to say: a confirmed, strict covenant, that they would act according to what Allah commanded them and would abstain from what Allah forbade them, of that which is mentioned in this verse and of that which is in the Torah.
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We have already previously set forth the reason why they were commanded to enter the gate bowing down, and what befell them in this matter, and their account and their story, and the story of the Sabbath, and what their transgression therein was, in a manner that makes it superfluous to repeat this in this place.
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