Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:115
Allah said, "Indeed, I will sent it down to you, but whoever disbelieves afterwards from among you - then indeed will I punish him with a punishment by which I have not punished anyone among the worlds."
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 explanation of His saying: Allah said: "I will indeed send it down to you; but whoever among you disbelieves afterward, him I will punish with a punishment such as I have punished no one among the worlds." (5:115)
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is an answer from Allah, the Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, to the people regarding what they asked their prophet ʿĪsā, namely that he should ask their Lord to send down upon them a table. So the Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, said: I will indeed send it down to you, O disciples, and feed you from it. "But whoever among you disbelieves afterward" — He says: whoever, after its being sent down upon you and after I have fed you from it, denies My message to him and rejects the prophethood of My prophet ʿĪsā ﷺ and opposes My obedience in what I have commanded him and forbidden him — "him I will punish with a punishment such as I have punished no one among the worlds," from the worlds of his time. Then the people did that: they denied and became disbelievers (kāfir) after it had been sent down upon them, according to what has been mentioned to us, and they were punished, according to what has reached us, by being transformed into apes and swine, as in the following:
13023 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "I will indeed send it down to you" — the verse; it has been mentioned to us that they were transformed into swine.
13024 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿAdī and Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of Abū al-Mughīra al-Qawwās, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, who said: Verily, the people with the severest punishment are three: the hypocrites (munāfiqūn), whoever became a disbeliever among the people of the table, and the people of Pharaoh.
13025 — al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, who said: I heard Abū al-Mughīra al-Qawwās say: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr said: Verily, the people with the severest punishment on the Day of Resurrection are: whoever became a disbeliever among the people of the table, and the hypocrites (munāfiqūn), and the people of Pharaoh.
13026 — 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, concerning His saying: "but whoever among you disbelieves afterward," that is, after the table had come to him — "him I will punish with a punishment such as I have punished no one among the worlds," He says: I will punish him with a punishment with which I punish no one among the worlds, except the people of the table.
