Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:13
So for their breaking of the covenant We cursed them and made their hearts hard. They distort words from their [proper] usages and have forgotten a portion of that of which they were reminded. And you will still observe deceit among them, except a few of them. But pardon them and overlook [their misdeeds]. Indeed, Allah loves the doers of good.
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 statement, exalted is His mention: فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِمْ مِيثَاقَهُمْ لَعَنَّاهُمْ ("Because of their breaking of their covenant We cursed them").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, praised be His praise, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: O Muḥammad, do not be amazed at these Jews who intended to stretch out their hands against you and against your companions, and who broke the covenant that existed between you and them, out of treachery towards you and your companions. For that belongs to their customs and the customs of their forefathers. Among such matters is that I took the covenant of their forefathers in the time of Moses ﷺ, to obedience to Me, and that I sent forth from among them twelve chieftains (nuqabāʾ), chosen from their entirety to reconnoitre the reports concerning the tyrants (al-jabābira). I promised them the victory over them, and that I would make them inherit their land, their dwellings, and their possessions, after I had shown them the lessons (ʿibar) and the signs — through the destruction of Pharaoh and his people in the sea, the cleaving of the sea for them, and all the remaining lessons — which I showed them. Then they broke their covenant which they had sworn to Me and they violated My covenant, and so I cursed them because of their breaking of their covenant. Now, since this was the conduct of their best ones, despite My favours towards them, do not, then, regard such conduct on the part of their lowest ones as strange.
In this statement there is an omitted portion (maḥdhūf), where one has been content with the indication that its apparent wording provides. That is, that the meaning of the statement is: فَمَنْ كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ مِنْكُمْ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ سَوَاءَ السَّبِيلِ ("And whoever of you disbelieves after that has indeed strayed from the right path") — then they broke the covenant, and so I cursed them — "fa-bi-mā naqḍihim mīthāqahum laʿannāhum" ("because of their breaking of their covenant We cursed them"). Thus one has been content with the statement "fa-bi-mā naqḍihim mīthāqahum" ("because of their breaking of their covenant"), in place of mentioning "fa-naqaḍū" ("then they broke").
By His statement, exalted is His praise, "fa-bi-mā naqḍihim mīthāqahum" ("because of their breaking of their covenant") He means: because of their breaking of their covenant, as Qatāda said.
11584 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "fa-bi-mā naqḍihim mīthāqahum laʿannāhum" ("because of their breaking of their covenant We cursed them"), he says: because of their breaking of their covenant We cursed them.
11585 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: "fa-bi-mā naqḍihim mīthāqahum" ("because of their breaking of their covenant"), he said: it is a covenant that Allah took from the People of the Torah, and which they broke.
We have already expounded the meaning of "the curse" (al-laʿn) in a place other than this.
The "hāʾ and mīm" (the suffix "-hum", "their") in His statement "fa-bi-mā naqḍihim" ("because of their breaking") refer back to the previously mentioned Children of Israel.
The discourse on the explanation of His statement, exalted is His mention: وَجَعَلْنَا قُلُوبَهُمْ قَاسِيَةً ("and We made their hearts hardened / hard").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters (qurrāʾ) differed over the reading of this.
Most of the reciters of the people of Medina and some of the people of Mecca, Basra, and Kufa read it as (قَاسِيَةً) "qāsiya", with the alif —
— according to the pattern "fāʿila", derived from "qaswat al-qalb" (the hardness of the heart), from the saying of one who says: "qasā qalbuhu, fa-huwa yaqsū wa-huwa qāsin" ("his heart became hard, it hardens, and it is hard"), and that is when it becomes rough, harsh, and dry-hard. As the rajaz-poet (al-rājiz) said:
"And I have become hard, and my peers have become hard."
The explanation of the statement according to this reading is then: Then We cursed those of the Children of Israel who broke My covenant and did not fulfil My pact, because of their breaking of their covenant which they swore to Me — "wa-jaʿalnā qulūbahum qāsiya" ("and We made their hearts hard"): rough and dry, devoid of belief in Me and of the incitement to obedience to Me, stripped of compassion and mercy.
Most of the reciters of the Kufans read it as (وَجَعَلْنَا قُلُوبَهُمْ قَسِيَّةً) "wa-jaʿalnā qulūbahum qasiyya".
Then those who read it thus differed over its explanation.
Some of them said: its meaning is the meaning of "al-qaswa" (hardness), because "faʿīla" is more forceful in censure than "fāʿila"; therefore we chose the reading "qasiyya" over "qāsiya".
Others of them said: no, the meaning of "qasiyya" is other than the meaning of "al-qaswa". "Al-qasiyya" in this place are rather: the hearts whose belief in Allah is not pure, but whose belief is mixed with disbelief (kufr), like the "qasiyya" dirhams (coins), namely those whose silver is mixed with the adulteration of copper, lead, or the like. As Abū Zubayd al-Ṭāʾī said:
"She has resounding sounds among the hard stones (al-silām), as the qasiyya coins ring in the hands of the money-changers."
By this he describes the falling of the spades of those who dug the grave of ʿUthmān upon the rocks, and those are "al-silām" (the rocks).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most pleasing to me of the two readings therein is the reading of the one who read: (وَجَعَلْنَا قُلُوبَهُمْ قَسِيَّةً) "wa-jaʿalnā qulūbahum qasiyya", according to "faʿīla", because it is more forceful in the censure of the people than "qāsiya". And the correct of the two explanations therein is the explanation of the one who explained it as: "faʿīla" derived from "al-qaswa" (hardness), as one says: "nafs zakiyya" and "zākiya" (a pure soul), and "imraʾa shāhida" and "shahīda" (a witnessing woman); for Allah, praised be His praise, described the people with their breaking of their covenant and their disbelief therein, and He did not describe them with any belief, such that their hearts would be described as hearts whose belief is mixed with disbelief, like the qasiyya dirhams whose silver is mixed with adulteration.
The discourse on the explanation of His statement, exalted is His mention: يُحَرِّفُونَ الْكَلِمَ عَنْ مَوَاضِعِهِ ("they distort the words from their places").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, exalted is His mention, says: and We made the hearts of these ones of the Children of Israel who broke Our covenants hard (qasiyya), devoid of good, lifted from them is the incitement to good, so that they do not believe and do not follow guidance. Therefore, because Allah, mighty and exalted, removed the incitement to good and to belief from their hearts, they distort the words of their Lord which He sent down upon their Prophet Moses ﷺ, and that is the Torah. Thus they alter it, and they write with their hands something other than what Allah, mighty and exalted, sent down upon their Prophet. Then they say to the ignorant people: "This is the word of Allah which He sent down upon His Prophet Moses ﷺ, and the Torah which He revealed to him." This belongs to the description of the generations of the Jews who came after Moses, some of whom reached the time of our Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ. But Allah, exalted is His mention, counted them among the number of those concerning whom the report initially spoke, namely those of them who reached Moses, because they were their children and followed their path in lying about Allah, the lie against Him, and the breaking of the covenants which He had taken from them in the Torah — as in:
11586 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his statement: "yuḥarrifūna l-kalima ʿan mawāḍiʿihi" ("they distort the words from their places") means: the limits of Allah (ḥudūd Allāh) in the Torah. And they say: if Muḥammad commands you what you already adhere to, accept it; and if he contradicts you, then be on your guard.
The discourse on the explanation of His statement, exalted is His mention: وَنَسُوا حَظًّا مِمَّا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ ("and they forgot a portion of what they were reminded of").
The Exalted, exalted is His mention, means by His statement "wa-nasū ḥaẓẓan" ("and they forgot a portion"): and they abandoned a share. It is like His statement: نَسُوا اللَّهَ فَنَسِيَهُمْ [Surah At-Tawbah: 67] ("they forgot Allah, so He forgot them"), that is to say: they abandoned the command of Allah, so Allah abandoned them.
The exposition of that, with its testimonies, has already passed in a place other than this, and that makes its repetition superfluous.
And with what we have said about it, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have concurred.
Mention of who said that:
11587 - 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: "wa-nasū ḥaẓẓan mimmā dhukkirū bihi" ("and they forgot a portion of what they were reminded of"), he says: they abandoned a share.
11588 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Mubārak ibn Faḍāla related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning his statement: "wa-nasū ḥaẓẓan mimmā dhukkirū bihi" ("and they forgot a portion of what they were reminded of"), he said: they abandoned the bonds of their religion, and the obligations of Allah, praised be His praise, without which deeds are not accepted.
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The discourse on the explanation of His statement, exalted is His mention: وَلا تَزَالُ تَطَّلِعُ عَلَى خَائِنَةٍ مِنْهُمْ إِلا قَلِيلا مِنْهُمْ ("and you will not cease to discover treachery on their part, except a few of them").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Blessed and Exalted says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: and you, O Muḥammad, will not cease to discover from the Jews — those whose report I have conveyed to you, concerning their breaking of My covenant and their violation of My pact, despite My favours towards them and My grace upon them — something of the like of treachery and perfidy — "illā qalīlan minhum" ("except a few of them"), except a few of them [who committed no treachery].
"Al-khāʾina" (treachery) in this place means: the treachery (al-khiyāna); it, although it is a noun, is placed in the position of the verbal noun (al-maṣdar), as one says "khāṭiʾa" for "al-khaṭīʾa" (the sin), and "qāʾila" for "al-qaylūla" (the midday rest).
His statement "illā qalīlan minhum" ("except a few of them") is an exception from the "hāʾ and mīm" (the suffix "-hum") which are in His statement "ʿalā khāʾinatin minhum" ("treachery on their part").
And in accordance with what we have said about it, the people of interpretation have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
11589 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his statement: "wa-lā tazālu taṭṭaliʿu ʿalā khāʾinatin minhum" ("and you will not cease to discover treachery on their part"), he said: treachery, lying, and depravity.
11590 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, 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 statement of Allah, mighty and exalted: "wa-lā tazālu taṭṭaliʿu ʿalā khāʾinatin minhum" ("and you will not cease to discover treachery on their part"), he said: these are Jews, like that which they intended against the Prophet ﷺ on the day he entered their walled garden.
11591 - 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, with a similar narration.
11592 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: Mujāhid and ʿIkrima said concerning his statement: "wa-lā tazālu taṭṭaliʿu ʿalā khāʾinatin minhum" ("and you will not cease to discover treachery on their part"): from Jews, like that which they intended against the Prophet ﷺ on the day he entered upon them.
Some speakers said: its meaning is: and you will not cease to discover a traitor (khāʾin) from them. He said: and the Arabs add the "hāʾ" (the tāʾ marbūṭa) to the end of the masculine word, as in their saying: "huwa rāwiya li-l-shiʿr" ("he is a great transmitter of poetry") and "rajul ʿallāma" ("a very learned man"). And he recited:
"You have sustained yourself with fidelity, while you were not inclined to treachery, O traitor, you with treachery in your finger."
Thus he said "khāʾina" (with the feminine ending), while he was addressing a man.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct of the explanation therein is the statement which we have transmitted from the people of interpretation. For Allah meant by this verse the people of the Jews of Banū al-Naḍīr who intended to kill the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to them to seek their aid regarding the blood-money (diya) of the two men of Banū ʿĀmir. Then Allah, exalted is His mention, showed him what they intended. Then He, praised be His praise, after making known to him the reports concerning their forefathers, and teaching him the path of their forefathers, and that their last ones follow the path of their first ones in perfidy and treachery — so that their conduct would not weigh too heavily upon the Prophet of Allah ﷺ — said, praised be His praise: and you will not cease to discover from the Jews treachery, perfidy, and covenant-breaking. He did not mean that he would not cease to discover one single treacherous man of them. That is because the report begins concerning their community as a whole, for it was said: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ هَمَّ قَوْمٌ أَنْ يَبْسُطُوا إِلَيْكُمْ أَيْدِيَهُمْ ("O you who believe, remember the favour of Allah upon you, when a people intended to stretch out their hands against you"). Then it was said: "wa-lā tazālu taṭṭaliʿu ʿalā khāʾinatin minhum" ("and you will not cease to discover treachery on their part"). Since the opening, then, was about the community as a whole, the conclusion with the community as a whole is more fitting.
The discourse on the explanation of His statement, exalted is His mention: فَاعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَاصْفَحْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ (13) ("so pardon them and overlook; verily, Allah loves the doers of good (13)").
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a command from Allah, exalted is His mention, to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ to pardon this people who intended to stretch out their hands against him, of the Jews. Allah, mighty and exalted, says to him: pardon, O Muḥammad, these Jews who intended what they intended — the stretching out of their hands against you and your companions to kill —, and overlook their crime by refraining from inflicting upon them what is disagreeable to them. For I love that one should do good with pardon and overlooking towards whoever has done him evil.
Qatāda used to say: this (verse) is abrogated (mansūkha). And he said: it is abrogated by the verse of "Barāʾa" (Surah At-Tawbah): قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلا بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ ("Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day") — the verse [Surah At-Tawbah: 29].
11593 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his statement: "fa-ʿfu ʿanhum wa-ṣfaḥ" ("so pardon them and overlook"), he said: it is abrogated by: قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلا بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَلا يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ ("Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, and who do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden").
11594 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Hammām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "fa-ʿfu ʿanhum wa-ṣfaḥ inna llāha yuḥibbu l-muḥsinīn" ("so pardon them and overlook; verily, Allah loves the doers of good"), and on that day he had not yet been commanded to fight them, so Allah, exalted is His mention, commanded him to pardon them and to overlook. Then He abrogated that in "Barāʾa" and said: قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلا بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَلا يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَلا يَدِينُونَ دِينَ الْحَقِّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ حَتَّى يُعْطُوا الْجِزْيَةَ عَنْ يَدٍ وَهُمْ صَاغِرُونَ [Surah At-Tawbah: 29] ("Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, and who do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, and who do not profess the religion of truth, among those who were given the Book, until they pay the poll-tax for non-Muslims (jizyah) with their own hands, while they are subdued"). And they are the People of the Book. Thus Allah, praised be His praise, commanded His Prophet ﷺ to fight them until they submit (convert to Islam) or acknowledge the jizyah.
11595 - Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAbda ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I read aloud to Ibn Abī ʿArūba, on the authority of Qatāda, a similar narration.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And what Qatāda has said is, in its possibility, not to be refuted. However, the abrogating (al-nāsikh) concerning which there is no doubt in the matter is that which lifts every meaning that contradicts that which preceded it. But that which does not lift the whole of it — there is no way to know that it is abrogating, except through a report from Allah, mighty and exalted, or from His Messenger ﷺ. And in His statement قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلا بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ ("Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day") there is no indication for the command to lift the meanings of overlooking (al-ṣafḥ) and pardon (al-ʿafw) towards the Jews.
And since this is so — and since it was permissible, despite their acknowledgement of subjection and their payment of the jizyah after the fighting, to command pardoning them for a treachery they intended or a covenant-breaking upon which they resolved, so long as they did not wage war without paying the jizyah and did not withdraw from the prescriptions that were obligatory upon them — it was not necessary, on the basis of His statement قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلا بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ ("Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day"), the verse, to judge that it abrogates His statement "fa-ʿfu ʿanhum wa-ṣfaḥ inna llāha yuḥibbu l-muḥsinīn" ("so pardon them and overlook; verily, Allah loves the doers of good").
