Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:174
O mankind, there has come to you a conclusive proof from your Lord, and We have sent down to you a clear light.
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 statement concerning the interpretation of His word: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ بُرْهَانٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَأَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكُمْ نُورًا مُبِينًا ("O mankind, there has indeed come to you a proof from your Lord, and We have sent down to you a clear light") (174).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by His word: "O mankind, there has indeed come to you a proof from your Lord": O people of all kinds of religious communities — the Jews, the Christians, and the polytheists (mushrikīn) among them, whose accounts Allah, exalted is His praise, has related in this surah = "there has indeed come to you a proof from your Lord," He says: there has indeed come to you a proof from Allah which demonstrates to you the falsehood of that upon which you persist of your religions and religious communities, and that is Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, whom Allah has made a proof for you by which He has cut off your excuse and rendered you wholly without defense, by sending him to you, together with the fact that He has made known to you the soundness of his prophethood and confirmed the truth of his message = "and We have sent down to you a clear light," He says: and We have sent down to you with him "a clear light," that is to say: one that shows you the plain path and the ways that lead to that wherein lies for you the deliverance from the punishment of Allah and His painful chastisement, if you tread them and let yourselves be illuminated by its radiance.
And that "clear light" is the Qurʾān which Allah sent down to Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation have spoken.
*Mention of those who said that:
10858 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: "a proof from your Lord," he said: an argument (ḥujja).
10859 — 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.
10860 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his word: "O mankind, there has indeed come to you a proof from your Lord," that is to say: a clear declaration from your Lord = "and We have sent down to you a clear light," and that is this Qurʾān.
10861 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "there has indeed come to you a proof from your Lord," He says: an argument (ḥujja).
10862 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: "a proof," he said: a clear declaration = "and We have sent down to you a clear light," he said: the Qurʾān.
