Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:160
For wrongdoing on the part of the Jews, We made unlawful for them [certain] good foods which had been lawful to them, and for their averting from the way of Allah many [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: Vanwege onrecht van degenen die jodendom aanhingen, hebben Wij hun goede dingen verboden die hun toegestaan waren, en vanwege hun veelvuldig afhouden van de weg van Allah (160)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He means — exalted be His praise —: We forbade to the Jews, who broke their covenant which they had entered into with their Lord, and who disbelieved in the signs of Allah, and who killed their prophets, and uttered the slander against Maryam, and did what Allah has described of them in His Book — We forbade to them good things of foods and otherwise that had been permitted to them, as a punishment for them on account of their wrongdoing about which Allah has informed concerning them in His Book, such as:
10833 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "Because of the wrongdoing of those who adhered to Judaism, We forbade to them good things that had been permitted to them" — the verse. The people were punished on account of the wrongdoing they committed and the transgression they perpetrated; things were forbidden to them on account of their transgression and their wrongdoing.
* * *
And His word: "and because of their frequently turning away from the way of Allah" means: and because of their turning the servants of Allah away from His religion and His ways which He prescribed for His servants, a frequent turning away. And their turning away from the way of Allah consisted in this: their uttering falsehood about Allah, their claim that such was from Allah, their falsification of the Book of Allah, and their distorting of its meanings away from their [proper] purports. And among the gravest of that was: their denial of the prophethood of our Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, and their refraining from giving the clarification of what they already knew of his affair to those of the people who were unacquainted with his affair.
* * *
And in accordance with that Mujāhid used to say:
10834 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to me, saying: ʿĪsā related to me, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, [concerning] the word of Allah: "and because of their frequently turning away from the way of Allah", he said: themselves and others [they turned away] from the truth.
10835 — 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.
