Tafseer of Ornaments of gold · Az-Zukhruf · 43:57
And when the son of Mary was presented as an example, immediately your people laughed aloud.
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.
And His statement: ( وَلَمَّا ضُرِبَ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ مَثَلا ) (And when the son of Mary was made an example). The Exalted, whose remembrance is sublime, says: and when Allah likened Jesus, in His bringing him forth and creating him without a male progenitor, to Adam — and He set him as an example equal to that, in that He created him from earth without a male progenitor — then your people, O Muḥammad, began to clamor about it and to say: Muḥammad wants nothing from us except that we take him as a god whom we worship, just as the Christians worshipped the Messiah.
The exegetes differed over the interpretation of this. Some of them said as we have said about it.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: ( إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ ) (then your people begin to clamor about it) — he said: they clamor; he said: the Quraysh said: Muḥammad only wants us to worship him as the people of Jesus worshipped Jesus.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: when Jesus the son of Mary was mentioned, the Quraysh became agitated about it and they said: O Muḥammad, why have you mentioned Jesus the son of Mary (1), and they said: Muḥammad only wants to do with us as the Christians did with Jesus the son of Mary. Then Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said: مَا ضَرَبُوهُ لَكَ إِلا جَدَلا (They presented him to you only as a matter of dispute).
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: when Jesus was mentioned in the Qurʾān, the polytheists (mushrikīn) of the Quraysh said: O Muḥammad, what did you intend by mentioning Jesus? He said: and they said: he only wants us to love him as the Christians loved Jesus.
And others said: rather, what is meant by this is the statement of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: إِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ حَصَبُ جَهَنَّمَ أَنْتُمْ لَهَا وَارِدُونَ (Indeed, you and what you worship besides Allah are fuel for Hell (jahannam); you will enter it). The polytheists said upon its revelation: we are content that our gods be together with Jesus, ʿUzayr, and the angels, for all these belong to what is worshipped besides Allah. Then Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said: ( وَلَمَّا ضُرِبَ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ مَثَلا إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ ) (And when the son of Mary was made an example, your people began to clamor about it), and they said: are our gods better, or he?
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, my father related to us, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: ( وَلَمَّا ضُرِبَ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ مَثَلا إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ ) (And when the son of Mary was made an example, your people began to clamor about it) — he said: he means the Quraysh, when it was said to them: إِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ حَصَبُ جَهَنَّمَ أَنْتُمْ لَهَا وَارِدُونَ (Indeed, you and what you worship besides Allah are fuel for Hell; you will enter it). Then the Quraysh said to him: and what about the son of Mary? He said: he is a servant of Allah and His messenger. Then they said: by Allah, this one only wants us to take him as a lord just as the Christians took Jesus the son of Mary as a lord. Then Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said: مَا ضَرَبُوهُ لَكَ إِلا جَدَلا بَلْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ خَصِمُونَ (They presented him to you only as a matter of dispute; nay, they are a contentious people).
The reciters differed over the reading of His statement: ( يَصُدُّونَ ). Most of the reciters of Medina and a group of the reciters of Kūfa read it: "يصُدُّونَ" with a ḍamma on the ṣād. And some of the reciters of Kūfa and Basra read it ( يَصِدُّونَ ) with a kasra on the ṣād.
The scholars of the Arabic language differed over the distinction between the two when it is read with a ḍamma on the ṣād and when it is read with a kasra. Some of the grammarians of Basra said, and some of the Kūfans agreed with them: they are two dialectal variants with one meaning, like yashuddu and yashiddu, and yanummu and yanimmu, from al-namīma (slander). And another said: as for whoever gives the ṣād a kasra, the sense thereof is "they clamor," and whoever gives it a ḍamma, the sense thereof is "they turn away." And some of those who read it with a kasra: he meant "they clamor," and whoever read it with a ḍamma meant the turning away from the truth.
And it was related to me on the authority of al-Farrāʾ, he said: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related to me that ʿĀṣim abandoned "yaṣiddūn" from the reading of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and recited "yaṣuddūn." He said: Abū Bakr said: ʿĀṣim related to me, on the authority of Abū Razīn, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, that Ibn ʿAbbās met the nephew of ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr and said: your uncle is indeed an Arab — so why does he make a linguistic error in his statement "إذَا قُومُكَ مِنْهُ يَصُدُّونَ", when it is rather ( يَصِدُّونَ ).
And the correct view concerning this is that they are two well-known readings and two famous dialectal variants with one meaning, and we have not found that the exegetes distinguished between its meaning when it is read with a ḍamma or a kasra. Had the meaning been different, then a difference in its interpretation among the exegetes would have been found, just as the difference in its reading is found through the difference of the two dialectal variants; but since the meaning was not different, they did not differ that its interpretation is: they clamor and they become agitated. So with whichever of the two readings the reciter recites, he is correct.
* Mention of what we have said concerning its interpretation:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: ( إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ ) (then your people begin to clamor about it) — he said: they clamor.
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: ( إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ ) (then your people begin to clamor about it) — he says: they clamor.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: Abū Ḥamza related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra al-Ḍabbī, on the authority of al-Ṣaʿb ibn ʿUthmān, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās used to recite ( إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ ), and he used to interpret it, saying: they clamor.
Ibn Bashshār, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Abū Razīn, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: ( إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ ) (then your people begin to clamor about it) — he said: they clamor.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Abū Razīn, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of that.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: ( إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ ) (then your people begin to clamor about it) — he said: they clamor.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ ) (then your people begin to clamor about it) — that is to say: they become agitated and clamor.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he read it ( يَصُدُّونَ ): that is to say: they clamor; and ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, read it ( يَصِدُّونَ ).
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say, concerning His statement: ( إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ ) (then your people begin to clamor about it) — he said: they clamor.
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: ( إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ ) (then your people begin to clamor about it) — he said: they clamor.
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The footnotes:
(1) Thus in the original; the sentence is incomplete, and perhaps he was content with the indication that what follows it gives concerning it.
