Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:167
Indeed, those who disbelieve and avert [people] from the way of Allah have certainly gone far astray.
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 words of the Exalted: إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَصَدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ قَدْ ضَلُّوا ضَلالا بَعِيدًا (4:167) (Indeed, those who disbelieve (kafarū) and turn away from the path of Allah have strayed far astray.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, whose praise is exalted, means by this: Indeed, those who, O Muḥammad, denied your prophethood after they had knowledge of it, from the People of the Book whose history I have related to you, and who denied that Allah, whose praise is exalted, had revealed His Book to you — "and turn away from the path of Allah," that is to say: from the religion with which Allah sent you to His creatures, and that is Islam. And their turning away from it was their saying to the people who asked them about Muḥammad, from the people of associating partners (shirk): "We do not find the description of Muḥammad in our Book!", and their claim that it had been entrusted to them that prophethood can only occur among the descendants of Hārūn and from the progeny of Dāwūd, and the like of that, of matters by which they used to discourage the people from following the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and holding him to be truthful and what he brought from Allah.
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And His words: "they have strayed far astray," that is to say: they have deviated with a severe straying from what is correct of the way, and they have deviated from the main road.
And He, whose praise is exalted, means by their deviation from the main road and their straying from it only: their abandonment of the religion of Allah which He has chosen for His servants and with which He has sent His messengers. He says: Whoever denies the messengership of Muḥammad ﷺ and turns away from that with which he was sent to the community of faith, away from him who accepts it from him, that one has strayed and has deviated from the religion which is the religion of Allah, with which He has sent His prophets, with a far straying.
