Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:44
Have you not seen those who were given a portion of the Scripture, purchasing error [in exchange for it] and wishing you would lose the way?
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: أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا نَصِيبًا مِنَ الْكِتَابِ ("Have you not seen those who were given a portion of the Book?").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differed concerning the meaning of His exalted word: "Have you not seen those…?". Some said: the meaning is: "Have you not been instructed?"
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Others said: the meaning is: "Do you not know?"
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct view concerning this is: have you not seen with your heart, O Muḥammad, through knowledge, "those who were given a portion"? For "being instructed" and "knowledge" are not made manifest as a seeing; rather it is a seeing of the heart by means of knowledge. This is as we have said concerning it.
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As for the interpretation of His word: "those who were given a portion of the Book," this means: those who were given a share of the Book of Allah and who learned it.
And it has been mentioned that Allah meant by this a group of the Jews who lived around the place of the Messenger of Allah's hijra, the Prophet ﷺ.
*Mention of who said that:
9687 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "Have you not seen those who were given a portion of the Book, who purchase error and wish that you should stray from the way?" They are the enemies of Allah, the Jews, who purchased error.
9688 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿIkrima: "Have you not seen those who were given a portion of the Book" up to His word: "They distort the words from their places" — he said: This was revealed concerning Rifāʿa ibn Zayd ibn al-Sāʾib, the Jew.
9689 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, he said: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, related to me, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr or ʿIkrima related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Rifāʿa ibn Zayd ibn al-Tābūt was among their leading men — that is, among the leading men of the Jews. When he spoke with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he would twist his tongue and say: "Grant us a hearing (rāʿinā samʿaka), O Muḥammad, until we understand you!" Then he would revile Islam and cast slander upon it. So Allah revealed: "Have you not seen those who were given a portion of the Book, who purchase error" up to His word: "so that they do not believe, except a few."
9690 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, with his isnād, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, something similar.
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The statement concerning the interpretation of His word: يَشْتَرُونَ الضَّلالَةَ وَيُرِيدُونَ أَنْ تَضِلُّوا السَّبِيلَ ("They purchase error and wish that you should stray from the way") (4:44).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His word: "They purchase error" the Jews who were given a portion of the Book; they prefer error — that is: the following of a way other than the way of the truth, and the taking of a path other than the path of right guidance and rectitude, while they know whither the way leads and what the path of the truth is. Allah means, by describing them as purchasers of error: their persistence in denying Muḥammad ﷺ and their refraining from believing in him, while they know that the true way is belief in him and the affirmation of what they have found of his characteristics in their books which they possess.
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As for His word: "and wish that you should stray from the way," the Exalted means by this: these Jews, whom the Exalted has described as those to whom a portion of the Book was given, wish "that you should stray," you, O company of the companions of Muḥammad ﷺ, who affirm him — "that you should stray from the way," that is: that you should deviate from the right way and the way of the truth, so that you deny Muḥammad and become those who go astray as they have.
And this is, from Allah, the Exalted, a warning to His believing servants, that they should not seek the counsel of any enemy of Islam in any matter of their religion, and that they should not listen to anything of his slander against the truth.
