Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:15
O People of the Scripture, there has come to you Our Messenger making clear to you much of what you used to conceal of the Scripture and overlooking much. There has come to you from Allah a light and a clear Book.
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 explanation of the saying of Him, mighty is His remembrance: يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولُنَا يُبَيِّنُ لَكُمْ كَثِيرًا مِمَّا كُنْتُمْ تُخْفُونَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَيَعْفُو عَنْ كَثِيرٍ ("O People of the Book, Our Messenger has already come to you to make clear to you much of what you used to conceal of the Book, and he overlooks much").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, mighty is His remembrance, says to the collective People of the Book among the Jews and the Christians who lived in the era of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: "O People of the Book" among the Jews and the Christians = "Our Messenger has already come to you," that is to say Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as in:-
11608 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "O People of the Book, Our Messenger has already come to you," and that is Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
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And His saying: "to make clear to you much of what you used to conceal of the Book," he says: Muḥammad, Our Messenger, makes clear to you much of what you used to conceal from the people and did not make plain to them of what is in your book. And among the things that they concealed from their book, and which the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, made clear to the people, was: the stoning (rajm) of the married fornicators.
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And it has been said: this verse was revealed concerning the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, making clear that to the people, because of their concealing of it from their book.
Mention of who said that:
11609 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid related to us, on the authority of Yazīd al-Naḥwī, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Whoever denies the stoning (rajm) has denied the Qurʾān without realizing it. His saying: "O People of the Book, Our Messenger has already come to you to make clear to you much of what you used to conceal of the Book" - and the stoning was among what they concealed.
11610 - ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Shabbawayh related to us, ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan informed us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, something similar.
11611 - al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Thaqafī related to us, on the authority of Khālid al-Ḥadhdhāʾ, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His saying: "O People of the Book, Our Messenger has already come to you to make clear to you" - up to His saying: صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ ("a straight path") - he said: The Prophet of Allah was visited by the Jews who questioned him about the stoning, and they gathered in a house. He said: Which of you is the most learned? Then they pointed to Ibn Ṣūriyā. He said: Are you the most learned among them? He said: Ask whatever you wish. He said: "Are you the most learned among them?" He said: They claim so indeed! Then he adjured him by Him who sent down the Torah to Moses, and by Him who raised up the mountain of Ṭūr, and he adjured him by the covenants that were taken upon them, until a trembling (afkal) seized him. Then he said: Our women are beautiful women, and killing increased among us, so we adopted a reduction (of the punishment) as a measure of leniency: we flogged a hundred lashes, and we shaved the heads bald, and we turned the heads in the opposite direction upon the mounts = I think he said: the camels = he said: And he passed upon them the judgment of stoning, whereupon Allah sent down concerning them: "O People of the Book, Our Messenger has already come to you to make clear to you," the verse = and this verse: وَإِذَا خَلا بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَى بَعْضٍ قَالُوا أَتُحَدِّثُونَهُمْ بِمَا فَتَحَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لِيُحَاجُّوكُمْ بِهِ عِنْدَ رَبِّكُمْ (sūrat al-Baqara, 2:76: "And when some of them are alone with some others, they say: Do you tell them what Allah has disclosed to you, so that they may dispute with you thereby before your Lord?").
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And His saying: "and he overlooks much," He means by His saying "and he overlooks": and he refrains from calling you to account for much of what you used to conceal of your book that Allah sent down to you - and that is the Torah - and which you do not act upon, until Allah commands him to call you to account for it.
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The explanation of the saying of Him, mighty is His remembrance: قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ نُورٌ وَكِتَابٌ مُبِينٌ (5:15) ("There has already come to you from Allah a light and a clear Book").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, says to those whom He addressed among the People of the Book: "There has already come to you," O people of the Torah and the Gospel = "from Allah a light," He means by the light Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, through whom Allah has illuminated the truth, through whom He has made Islam appear, and through whom He has effaced shirk (the assigning of associates to Allah). He is thus a light for whoever lets himself be illuminated by him; he makes the truth clear. And among his illumination of the truth is his clarification to the Jews of much of what they used to conceal of the Book.
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And His saying: "and a clear Book," He, exalted is His praise, says: There has already come to you from Allah, the Exalted, the light by which He has illuminated for you the landmarks of the truth = "and a clear Book," He means a Book in which is the exposition of that over which they used to differ among themselves: concerning the profession of the oneness of Allah, and what is permitted and forbidden by Him, and the laws of His religion. And that is the Qurʾān which He sent down to our Prophet Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, which sets forth for the people everything they need concerning the matter of their religion, and makes it clear to them, until they distinguish its truth from its falsehood.
