Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:163
Indeed, We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], as We revealed to Noah and the prophets after him. And we revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the Descendants, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the book [of Psalms].
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement: إِنَّا أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ كَمَا أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى نُوحٍ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَالأَسْبَاطِ وَعِيسَى وَأَيُّوبَ وَيُونُسَ وَهَارُونَ وَسُلَيْمَانَ وَآتَيْنَا دَاوُدَ زَبُورًا (163) ("We have revealed to you just as We revealed to Nūḥ and the prophets after him, and We revealed to Ibrāhīm, Ismāʿīl, Isḥāq, Yaʿqūb, and the tribes, and to ʿĪsā, Ayyūb, Yūnus, Hārūn, and Sulaymān, and We gave to Dāwūd the Zabūr.") (4:163)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by His statement "We have revealed to you just as We revealed to Nūḥ": We have sent you, O Muḥammad, with prophethood, just as We sent Nūḥ and the rest of the prophets whom I have named to you after him, and those whom I have not named to you, as in:
10839 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Mundhir al-Thawrī, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Khuthaym, concerning His statement "We have revealed to you just as We revealed to Nūḥ and the prophets after him," he said: He revealed to him just as He revealed to all the prophets before him.
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And it has been mentioned that this verse was revealed to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, because when Allah disgraced some of the Jews with the verses that He sent down to His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace — and that is His statement: يَسْأَلُكَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ أَنْ تُنَزِّلَ عَلَيْهِمْ كِتَابًا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ ("The People of the Book ask you to bring down upon them a book from heaven") — and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recited that to them, they said: "Allah has sent down nothing upon any human being after Mūsā!" Then Allah sent down these verses, giving them the lie, and He informed His prophet and the believers that He had indeed sent down to him after Mūsā, and to those whom He named in this verse, and to others whom He did not name, as in:
10840 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us — and Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us — on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, he said: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, related to me, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr related to me — or ʿIkrima — on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: Sukayn and ʿAdī ibn Zayd said: O Muḥammad, we do not know that Allah has sent down anything upon any human being after Mūsā! Then Allah, concerning their statement, sent down: "We have revealed to you just as We revealed to Nūḥ and the prophets after him," to the end of the verses.
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And others said: Rather they said — when Allah sent down upon them the verses that precede this —: "Allah has sent down nothing upon any human being, neither upon Mūsā nor upon ʿĪsā!" Then Allah, exalted is His praise, sent down: وَمَا قَدَرُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ إِذْ قَالُوا مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَى بَشَرٍ مِنْ شَيْءٍ [Surah Al-Anʿām: 91] ("And they did not appraise Allah with the appraisal due to Him when they said: Allah has not sent down anything upon any human being"), neither upon Mūsā nor upon ʿĪsā.
*Mention of who said that:
10841 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Abū Maʿshar related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, he said: Allah sent down: يَسْأَلُكَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ أَنْ تُنَزِّلَ عَلَيْهِمْ كِتَابًا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ ("The People of the Book ask you to bring down upon them a book from heaven") up to His statement: وَقَوْلِهِمْ عَلَى مَرْيَمَ بُهْتَانًا عَظِيمًا ("and their statement against Maryam, a tremendous slander"). And when he recited that to them — that is: to the Jews — and informed them of their corrupt deeds, they denied everything that Allah had sent down and said: "Allah has sent down nothing upon any human being, neither upon Mūsā nor upon ʿĪsā!! And Allah has sent down nothing upon any prophet!" He said: Then he unclasped his interlocked posture and said: "Nor upon anyone whatsoever!!" Then Allah, exalted is His praise, sent down: وَمَا قَدَرُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ إِذْ قَالُوا مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَى بَشَرٍ مِنْ شَيْءٍ [Surah Al-Anʿām: 91] ("And they did not appraise Allah with the appraisal due to Him when they said: Allah has not sent down anything upon any human being").
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And as for His statement "and We gave to Dāwūd the Zabūr," the reciters have differed concerning their reading of it.
The general reciters of the regions of Islam, with the exception of a group of the reciters of Kūfa, read it: (وَآتَيْنَا دَاوُدَ زَبُورًا), with a fatḥa on the "zāy," in the singular, with the meaning: and We gave to Dāwūd the book that is called "Zabūr."
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And some of the reciters of the Kūfans read that: (وَآتَيْنَا دَاوُدَ زُبُورًا), with a ḍamma on the "zāy," as a plural of "zabr."
As if they directed its interpretation to: and We gave to Dāwūd written books and pages.
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This is derived from their statement: "zabartu l-kitāba azburuhu zabran" and "dhabartuhu adhburuhu dhabran," when one wrote it down.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the more correct of the two readings therein, in our opinion, is the reading of the one who read: (وَآتَيْنَا دَاوُدَ زَبُورًا), with a fatḥa on the "zāy," on the grounds that it is the name of the book that was given to Dāwūd, just as the book that was given to Mūsā was called "the Tawrāh," and that which was given to ʿĪsā "the Injīl," and that which was given to Muḥammad "the Furqān," because that is the name by which what was given to Dāwūd is known. And the Arabs only say: "the Zabūr of Dāwūd"; by that name all the rest of the nations know his book.
