Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:49
Have you not seen those who claim themselves to be pure? Rather, Allah purifies whom He wills, and injustice is not done to them, [even] as much as a thread [inside a date seed].
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 saying: أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ يُزَكُّونَ أَنْفُسَهُمْ بَلِ اللَّهُ يُزَكِّي مَنْ يَشَاءُ ("Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure? Nay, Allah declares pure whom He wills.").
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He means, exalted is His praise: Have you not seen, O Muḥammad, with your heart, those who declare themselves pure among the Jews, thereby clearing themselves of sins and declaring themselves clean.
* * *
The people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning the meaning by which the Jews declared themselves pure.
Some of them said: Their declaring themselves pure consisted of their saying: نَحْنُ أَبْنَاءُ اللَّهِ وَأَحِبَّاؤُهُ ("We are the sons of Allah and His beloved ones.").
* Mention of who said that:
9733 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure? Nay, Allah declares pure whom He wills, and they are not wronged by the measure of a fatīl" — they are the enemies of Allah, the Jews. They declared themselves pure with a matter they had not attained, and said: نَحْنُ أَبْنَاءُ اللَّهِ وَأَحِبَّاؤُهُ ("We are the sons of Allah and His beloved ones."). And they said: "We have no sins."
9734 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His saying: "Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure" — he said: They are the Jews and the Christians. They said: نَحْنُ أَبْنَاءُ اللَّهِ وَأَحِبَّاؤُهُ ("We are the sons of Allah and His beloved ones."). And they said: لَنْ يَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ إِلا مَنْ كَانَ هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى ("None shall enter Paradise except whoever is Jewish or Christian.").
9735 - And al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Tumayla related to us, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, who said: The Jews said: "We have no sins except like the sins of our children on the day they are born! And if they have sins, then we too have sins! We are only like them!" Allah, exalted is His mention, said: انْظُرْ كَيْفَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ وَكَفَى بِهِ إِثْمًا مُبِينًا ("See how they invent the lie against Allah, and that suffices as a manifest sin.").
9736 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: "Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure" — he said: The People of the Book said: لَنْ يَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ إِلا مَنْ كَانَ هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى ("None shall enter Paradise except whoever is Jewish or Christian."), and they said: نَحْنُ أَبْنَاءُ اللَّهِ وَأَحِبَّاؤُهُ ("We are the sons of Allah and His beloved ones."), and they said: "We follow that which Allah loves." Then He said, blessed and exalted is He: "Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure? Nay, Allah declares pure whom He wills" — when they claimed that they would enter Paradise, and that they were the sons of Allah and His beloved ones and the people of His obedience.
9737 - 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: "Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure? Nay, Allah declares pure whom He wills, and they are not wronged by the measure of a fatīl" — this was revealed concerning the Jews. They said: "We teach our children the Torah when they are small, so that they have no sins, and our sins are like the sins of our children; what we do by day is wiped out from us by night."
* * *
And others said: Nay, their declaring themselves pure consisted of bringing their children forward to lead them in their prayer, out of their claim that they had no sins.
* Mention of who said that:
9738 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: "those who declare themselves pure" — he said: The Jews would bring their boys forward in prayer, so that these would lead them, out of their claim that they had no sins. That is that declaration of purity.
9739 - 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.
9740 - 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 al-Aʿraj, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: They would bring the boys forward before themselves in supplication and prayer, so that these would lead them, and they claimed that they had no sins; that is the declaration of purity. Ibn Jurayj said: They are the Jews and the Christians.
9741 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Abū Mālik, concerning His saying: "Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure" — he said: This was revealed concerning the Jews. They would bring their boys forward, saying: "They have no sins."
9742 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Abū Makīn, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His saying: "Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure" — he said: The People of the Book would bring forward the boys who had not yet reached the age of accountability (al-ḥinth), so that these would lead the prayer with them, saying: "They have no sins!" Then Allah revealed: "Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure", the verse.
* * *
And others said: Nay, their declaring themselves pure consisted of their saying: "Our children will intercede for us and declare us pure."
* Mention of who said that:
9743 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: "Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure" — and that is because the Jews said: "Our children have died, and they are for us a nearness to Allah, and they will intercede and declare us pure!" Then Allah said to Muḥammad: "Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure" up to وَلا يُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلا ("and they are not wronged by the measure of a fatīl").
* * *
And others said: Nay, that was on their part a declaring of one another pure.
* Mention of who said that:
9744 - Yaḥyā ibn Ibrāhīm al-Masʿūdī related to me, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Qays ibn Muslim, on the authority of Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb, who said: ʿAbd Allāh said: Indeed, a man sets out in the morning with his religion, and then returns with nothing of it left with him! He meets a man who can bring him neither benefit nor harm, and says: "By Allah, indeed you are such-and-such," and perhaps he returns without having obtained anything of his need, while he has brought upon himself the wrath of Allah. Then he recited: "Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure", the verse.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct of these statements is the statement of him who said: The meaning of "the people's declaration of purity" — those whom Allah described as declaring themselves pure — is their description of themselves that they had no sins and no transgressions, and that they were sons and beloved ones to Allah, as Allah has reported about them that they used to say. For that is the clearest of its meanings, because of Allah's report about them that they only declared themselves pure and no one else.
* * *
As for those who said that the meaning thereof is "their bringing their children forward for prayer" — that is an interpretation whose correctness can only be established by an authoritative report furnishing certain knowledge.
* * *
And as for His saying, exalted is His praise: "Nay, Allah declares pure whom He wills" — this is a refutation by Allah of those who declare themselves pure among the Jews and the Christians, who clear themselves of sins. Allah says to them: The matter is not as you claimed, that you have no sins and no transgressions, and that you are free of that which Allah detests; nay, you are people of fabrication and lie against Allah. It is not he who declares himself pure who is the one declared pure, but rather he who is declared pure by Allah. And Allah declares pure whom He wills of His creatures, and purifies him and clears him of sins, by enabling him (tawfīq) to abstain from that which He detests of disobedience to Him, and guiding him to that which pleases Him of obedience to Him.
* * *
And we have only said that it is so because of His saying, exalted is His praise: انْظُرْ كَيْفَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ ("See how they invent the lie against Allah"). He reported that they invent the lie against Allah with their claim that they are the sons of Allah and His beloved ones, and that Allah has already purified them of sins.
* * *
The discourse on the explanation of His saying: وَلا يُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلا (49) ("and they are not wronged by the measure of a fatīl").
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He means, exalted is His praise: And Allah does not wrong these about whom He reported that they declare themselves pure, nor others of His creatures — by shortchanging them in His refraining from declaring them pure, and in the declaring pure of whom He did not declare pure, and in the declaring pure of whom He did declare pure of His creatures — in anything of their rights. And He places nothing in a place where it does not belong, but rather He declares pure whom He wills of His creatures, and enables him (to good); and He forsakes whom He wills of the people of His disobedience. All of that lies with Him and is in His hand, and He in all of that does no wrong to anyone — among those He declared pure or did not declare pure — by the measure of a fatīl.
* * *
The people of interpretation differed concerning the meaning of "the fatīl".
Some of them said: It is that which comes out from between the two fingers and the two palms as dirt, when you rub the one against the other.
* Mention of who said that:
9745 - Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to me [saying: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣalt related to us], saying: Abū Kudayna related to us, on the authority of Qābūs, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The fatīl is that which comes out from between your two fingers.
9746 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq al-Hamdānī, on the authority of al-Taymī, who said: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about His saying: "and they are not wronged by the measure of a fatīl", he said: That which you rub between your two fingers.
9747 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Dirham Abū al-ʿAlāʾ, who said: I heard Abū al-ʿĀliya, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and they are not wronged by the measure of a fatīl", he said: The fatīl is that which comes out from between the two fingers of the man.
9748 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and they are not wronged by the measure of a fatīl" — the fatīl is that you rub your two fingers, and what comes out from between them, that is it.
9749 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥuṣayn informed us, on the authority of Abū Mālik, concerning His saying: "and they are not wronged by the measure of a fatīl", he said: The fatīl is the dirt that comes out from between the two palms.
9750 - 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, who said: The fatīl is that which you rub with your two hands, so that dirt comes out.
9751 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: "and they are not wronged by the measure of a fatīl", he said: That which you rub in your two hands, so that it comes out from between them.
* * *
And some people say: It is that which is in the kernel of the date-stone.
* Mention of who said that:
9752 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: "a fatīl", he said: That which is in the kernel of the date-stone.
9753 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: The fatīl is that which is in the kernel of the date-stone.
9754 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAmr related to me that he heard ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ say the same, and he mentioned the like of it.
9755 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr informed me that he heard Mujāhid say: The fatīl is that which is in the cleft of the date-stone.
9756 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: Sufyān ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: The fatīl is in the date-stone.
9757 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "and they are not wronged by the measure of a fatīl", he said: The fatīl is that which is in the cleft of the date-stone.
9758 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say: The fatīl is the cleft of the date-stone.
9759 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: The fatīl is that which is in the kernel of the date-stone.
9760 - Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Yazīd informed us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, who said: The fatīl is that which is in the cleft of the date-stone.
9761 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "and they are not wronged by the measure of a fatīl" — the fatīl of the date-stone.
9762 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀmir related to us, saying: Qurra related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, who said: The fatīl is that which is in the kernel of the date-stone.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The origin of "the fatīl" is "the twisted/rubbed thing" (al-maftūl), derived from the form "mafʿūl" to the form "faʿīl", as one says "ṣarīʿ" and "dahīn" from "maṣrūʿ" (the thrown-down one) and "madhūn" (the anointed one).
And since that is so — and since Allah, exalted is His praise, intended by His saying "and they are not wronged by the measure of a fatīl" only to report that He does not wrong His servants by the measure of the least of things, which has no weight — how then with that which does have weight? — and since the dirt that comes out from between the two fingers of the man or from between his two palms when he rubs the one against the other is equal to that which is in the cleft of the date-stone and in its kernel, and to what resembles it of things that are twisted and have no weight and no value — therefore it is necessary that all of this fall within the meaning of "the fatīl", except that something thereof is excepted for which submission is obligatory, because of that to which the plain wording of the Revelation points.
