Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:41
O Messenger, let them not grieve you who hasten into disbelief of those who say, "We believe" with their mouths, but their hearts believe not, and from among the Jews. [They are] avid listeners to falsehood, listening to another people who have not come to you. They distort words beyond their [proper] usages, saying "If you are given this, take it; but if you are not given it, then beware." But he for whom Allah intends fitnah - never will you possess [power to do] for him a thing against Allah. Those are the ones for whom Allah does not intend to purify their hearts. For them in this world is disgrace, and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment.
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 word, mighty is His mention: Yā ayyuhā l-rasūlu lā yaḥzunka lladhīna yusāriʿūna fī l-kufri mina lladhīna qālū āmannā bi-afwāhihim wa-lam tuʾmin qulūbuhum
(O Messenger, let not those who hasten into unbelief (kufr) grieve you, from among those who said with their mouths "we believe" while their hearts did not believe.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The scholars of exegesis differed concerning who is intended by this verse.
Some of them said: it was revealed concerning Abū Lubāba ibn ʿAbd al-Mundhir, on account of his word to the Banū Qurayẓa when the Prophet ﷺ besieged them: "it is only the slaughter; so do not surrender to the judgment of Saʿd."
Mention of who said that:
11918 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "let not those who hasten into unbelief grieve you, from among those who said with their mouths 'we believe' while their hearts did not believe" — he said: it was revealed concerning a man of the Anṣār — it was claimed that it was Abū Lubāba — to whom the Banū Qurayẓa gave a sign on the day of the siege: how do matters stand? And upon what shall we surrender? Then he indicated to them by a gesture that it was the slaughter.
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And others said: rather it was revealed concerning a man of the Jews, who asked a man of the Muslims to ask the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about his judgment concerning someone who had been killed.
Mention of who said that:
11919 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Bishr related to us, on the authority of Zakariyyā, on the authority of ʿĀmir: "let not those who hasten into unbelief grieve you" — he said: there was a man of the Jews who had been killed by a man of his own religion. The killer said to their allies among the Muslims: ask Muḥammad ﷺ for me; if he has been sent with the blood-money (diya), then we will bring our dispute before him, and if he commands us the death penalty (qatl), then we will not come to him.
11920 - Al-Muthannā related to us, he said: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us, he said: Hushaym informed us, on the authority of Zakariyyā, on the authority of ʿĀmir, something similar.
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And others said: rather it was revealed concerning ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣūriyā, and that because he became an apostate (irtadda) after his islam.
Mention of who said that:
11921 - Hannād and Abū Kurayb related to us, they both said: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq; he said: al-Zuhrī related to me, he said: I heard a man of Muzayna narrate, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab: that Abū Hurayra recounted to them: that the scribes of the Jews gathered in the study house (bayt al-midrās) when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ arrived in Medina, while a man of them, after his marriage bond, had committed fornication (zinā) with a married woman of the Jews. They said: bring this man and this woman to Muḥammad ﷺ and ask him how the judgment concerning the two of them is, and leave the judgment concerning them to him; if he deals with the two of them according to your own practice of tajbīh — that is the flogging with a rope of fibers smeared with tar, after which the faces of the two are blackened, after which the two are set upon two donkeys and their faces are turned toward the tail of the donkey — then follow him, for he is only a king. But if he judges concerning the two of them with stoning (rajm), then beware of him regarding what is in your hands, lest he take it from you. Then they came to him and said: O Muḥammad, this man has committed fornication after his marriage bond with a married woman, so judge concerning the two of them, for we have entrusted the judgment concerning them to you. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ walked until he came to their scribes in the study house, and said: "O assembly of Jews, bring out to me your most learned man!" Then they brought out ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣūriyā the one-eyed — and some of the Banū Qurayẓa have related that on that day, together with Ibn Ṣūriyā, they also brought out Abū Yāsir ibn Akhṭab and Wahb ibn Yahūdhā, and said: these are our scholars! The Messenger of Allah ﷺ questioned them until he had sorted out their affair, until they said concerning Ibn Ṣūriyā: this one is the most learned of those who remain regarding the Torah. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ withdrew alone with him — and he was a young lad, one of the youngest in age — and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ persisted with him in questioning, saying: O Ibn Ṣūriyā, I adjure you by Allah and remind you of His favors toward the children of Israel: do you know that Allah in the Torah has judged concerning whoever commits fornication after his marriage bond with stoning? He said: O Allah, yes! But by Allah, O Abū l-Qāsim, indeed, they know that you are a sent prophet, but they envy you! Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out and gave the command concerning the two of them, and they were stoned at the gate of his mosque, in the quarter of the Banū Ghanm ibn Mālik ibn al-Najjār. Thereafter Ibn Ṣūriyā became an unbeliever (kāfir), and then Allah, mighty and exalted, revealed: "O Messenger, let not those who hasten into unbelief grieve you, from among those who said with their mouths 'we believe' while their hearts did not believe."
11922 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us = ḥ, and Hannād related to us, he said: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash = ḥ, and Hannād related to us, he said: ʿUbayda ibn Ḥumayd related to us = on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Murra, on the authority of al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib; he said: the Prophet ﷺ passed by a Jew with a blackened face who had been flogged, and the Prophet ﷺ called a man of their scholars and said: do you find thus the prescribed punishment (ḥadd) for the fornicator among you? He said: yes! He said: I adjure you by Him who sent down the Torah to Mūsā: do you find thus the prescribed punishment for fornication among you? He said: no; and were it not that you had adjured me with this, I would not have told you, but it is stoning. But fornication increased among our nobles, and so, when we seized a noble, we let him go, and when we seized a weak one, we carried out upon him the prescribed punishment. Then we said: come, let us gather and set up something in place of stoning, so that it strikes both the noble and the lowly, and so we set up the blackening and the flogging in place of stoning! Then the Prophet ﷺ said: I am the first to revive your affair now that they have let it die! Then he gave the command concerning him and he was stoned; and Allah revealed: "let not those who hasten into unbelief grieve you" — the verse.
11923 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī; he said: I was sitting with Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, and with Saʿīd was a man whom he held in honor; and behold, it was a man of Muzayna whose father had been a witness at al-Ḥudaybiya, and who belonged to the companions of Abū Hurayra. He said: Abū Hurayra said: I was sitting with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ =
11924 - ḥ, and al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ the scribe of al-Layth related to us, he said: al-Layth related to me, he said: ʿUqayl related to me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb; he said: a man of Muzayna, one of those who follows and preserves knowledge, informed me, relating on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, that Abū Hurayra said: while we were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, suddenly a man of the Jews came to him — and they had consulted among themselves concerning a companion of theirs who had committed fornication after his marriage bond — and one of them had said to the other: indeed, this prophet has been sent, and you know that stoning has been imposed upon you in the Torah, but you have kept it hidden and have agreed among yourselves upon a lighter punishment. So go, and we will ask this prophet; if he gives us a ruling according to that which has been imposed upon us in the Torah, namely stoning, then we will abandon that (the deviation), for we have already abandoned it in the Torah, and it has more right to be obeyed and believed! Then they came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: O Abū l-Qāsim, indeed, a companion of ours has committed fornication after his marriage bond, what punishment do you deem fitting for him? Abū Hurayra said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave them no answer until he stood up, and we stood up with him, and he set out, aiming for the study house of the Jews, until he came to them and found them while they were studying the Torah in the study house. He said to them: O assembly of Jews, I adjure you by Allah who sent down the Torah to Mūsā, what do you find in the Torah as punishment for whoever has committed fornication while he was married? They said: indeed, we find that he is blackened and flogged! And their scribe was silent in a corner of the house. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ noticed his silence, he persisted and adjured him, and then their scribe said: O Allah, since you have adjured us: indeed, we find stoning over them! Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him: and what then was the first thing by which you lightened the command of Allah? He said: a nephew of the king committed fornication and he did not stone him; thereafter another man, of a family of the common people, committed fornication, and that king wanted to stone him, but his people opposed him and said: by Allah, you will not stone him until you stone so-and-so, the nephew of the king! Then they agreed among themselves upon a punishment in place of stoning and abandoned stoning. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: I therefore judge according to what is in the Torah! And Allah revealed concerning that: "O Messenger, let not those who hasten into unbelief grieve you" up to His word: wa-man lam yaḥkum bimā anzala llāhu fa-ulāʾika humu l-kāfirūna (and whoever does not judge by what Allah has sent down, these are the unbelievers).
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And others said: rather the hypocrites (munāfiqūn) were intended by this.
Mention of who said that:
11925 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr, concerning His word: "O Messenger, let not those who hasten into unbelief grieve you, from among those who said with their mouths 'we believe' while their hearts did not believe" — he said: they are the hypocrites.
11926 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "they believed with their mouths" — he said, he says: they are the hypocrites = sammāʿūna li-qawmin ākharīna (listeners to another people) — he said: they are likewise listeners to the Jews.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of these statements concerning this is, in my judgment, that one says: by His word "let not those who hasten into unbelief grieve you, from among those who said with their mouths 'we believe' while their hearts did not believe" a group of the hypocrites was intended. It is possible that among those who fall under this verse was also Ibn Ṣūriyā = and it is possible that it was Abū Lubāba = and it is possible that it was others than the two of them; yet the most firmly established that has been related concerning this is what we have mentioned earlier of the narration of Abū Hurayra and al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib, because that comes from two men among the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And when that is so, the correct statement concerning this is that one says: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣūriyā was intended by it.
And when that is correct, the explanation of the verse is: O Messenger, let not those grieve you who hasten into the denial of your prophethood and the giving of the lie to your being a prophet for Me, from among those who said: "we have affirmed you, O Muḥammad, that you are for Allah a sent messenger, and we have known that with certainty, in that we find your description in our Book."
That is because in the narration of Abū Hurayra which Ibn Isḥāq relates on the authority of al-Zuhrī: that Ibn Ṣūriyā said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: "but by Allah, O Abū l-Qāsim, indeed, they know that you are a sent prophet, but they envy you." That was therefore — according to this report — on the part of Ibn Ṣūriyā a belief in the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with his mouth, while he did not affirm that with his heart. Then Allah, mighty and exalted, said to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, informing him about the hidden state of Ibn Ṣūriyā and that he did not believe with his heart, saying: and his heart has not affirmed that you are for Allah a sent messenger.
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The statement concerning the explanation of His word, mighty and exalted: Wa-mina lladhīna hādū sammāʿūna li-l-kadhibi sammāʿūna li-qawmin ākharīna lam yaʾtūka
(And from among those who follow Judaism there are listeners to the lie, listeners to another people who have not come to you.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He says, exalted is His praise, to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: O Messenger, let not the haste grieve you of those who hasten among these hypocrites — who show with their tongues their affirmation of you while in their hearts they believe in giving you the lie — toward unbelief against you, nor the haste of the Jews toward the denial of your prophethood. Then He, mighty and exalted, described their characteristic, and characterized them for him with their contemptible characteristics and their abominable deeds, and informed him — consoling him over the grief that struck him through their giving him the lie, despite their knowledge of his truthfulness — that they are a people who hold the forbidden to be permitted and who use abominable foods and contemptible earnings, of bribery and unlawfully acquired property (suḥt), and that they are a people of deceit and of lying against Allah, and of distortion of His Book. Then He informed him that He would bring down upon them His disgrace in the near part of this world, and His punishment in the ultimate part of the hereafter. He therefore said: they are "listeners to the lie", by which He means these hypocrites of the Jews; He says: they listen to the lie, and "their listening to the lie" is their listening to the word of their scribes: that the judgment concerning the married fornicator in the Torah is the blackening and the flogging = "listeners to another people who have not come to you", He says: they listen to the relatives of the fornicator, who wanted to bring their dispute before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and they are the other people who had not come to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, while they insisted on not coming to him, as Mujāhid said:
11927 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj; Mujāhid said: "listeners to another people who have not come to you", together with those who did come to you.
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And the scholars of exegesis differed concerning "the listeners to the lie, the listeners to another people."
Some of them said: "listeners to another people" are the Jews of Fadak. And "the other people" who did not come to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ are the Jews of Medina.
Mention of who said that:
11928 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿUyayna; he said: Zakariyyā and Mujālid related to us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of Jābir, concerning His word: "and from among those who follow Judaism there are listeners to the lie, listeners to another people" — he said: the Jews of Medina = "who have not come to you; they distort the words out of their context" — he said: the Jews of Fadak, who say to the Jews of Medina: in ūtītum hādhā fa-khudhūhu (if this is given to you, then accept it).
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And others said: by this a people of the Jews was intended, who had sent out the relatives of the woman who had committed fornication to ask the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the judgment concerning her. And the senders are "the other people", and they are the relatives of the fornicating woman, who had not come to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Mention of who said that:
11929 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: "and from among those who follow Judaism there are listeners to the lie, listeners to another people who have not come to you, who distort" — indeed, Allah had sent down to the children of Israel: "when one of you commits fornication, then stone him", and they continued with that until one of their foremost men committed fornication. When the children of Israel gathered to stone him, the foremost and the nobles rose up and prevented it. Thereafter a man of the weak committed fornication, and they gathered to stone him; but the weak gathered and said: you will not stone him until you bring your companion and stone the two of them together! Then the children of Israel said: indeed, this matter has become too heavy for us, so come, let us set it in order! And they abandoned stoning and set in its place forty lashes with a tarred rope, whereby the fornicator is set upon a donkey with his face toward its tail, and his face is blackened and he is paraded around. Thus they continued doing that until the Prophet ﷺ was sent and arrived in Medina. Then a woman of the nobles of the Jews, named "Busra", committed fornication, and her father sent some of his companions to the Prophet ﷺ and said: ask him about fornication and what has been revealed to him concerning it, for we fear that he will disgrace us and inform us of what we have done; if he gives you the flogging, then accept it, and if he commands you stoning, then beware! Then they came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and asked him, and he said: stoning! Then Allah, mighty and exalted, revealed: "and from among those who follow Judaism there are listeners to another people who have not come to you, who distort the words out of their context", when they distorted stoning and made it into flogging.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the statements concerning this is, in my judgment, the statement of him who said: indeed, "the listeners to the lie" are "the listeners to another people."
It is possible that these belonged to the Jews of Medina, and that those to whom they listened were the Jews of Fadak = and it is possible that they were others than these. Yet whatever it may have been, it is a characteristic of a people of the Jews, who listened to the lie against Allah concerning the judgment over the woman who had committed fornication among them while she was married, namely that her judgment in the Torah is the blackening and the flogging, and who asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the judgment applying to her, and who heard what the relatives of the fornicating woman said about her before they came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to bring their dispute before him. They asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about that only on their behalf, so that they might inform the relatives of the fornicating woman about what his answer to them would be. If his judgment were not stoning, then they would be content with him as arbiter among them. And if his judgment were stoning, then they would beware of him and refrain from contentment with him and with his judgment.
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And in the manner of what we have said Ibn Zayd used to say.
11930 - Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "listeners to the lie, listeners to another people" — he said: to another people who have not come to him, of the People of the Book; these are listeners to that other people who have not come to him, who say to them the lie: "Muḥammad is a liar, and this is not in the Torah, so do not believe in him."
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The statement concerning the explanation of His word, mighty and exalted: Yuḥarrifūna l-kalima min baʿdi mawāḍiʿihi yaqūlūna in ūtītum hādhā fa-khudhūhu wa-in lam tuʾtawhu fa-ḥdharū
(They distort the words out of their context; they say: if this is given to you, then accept it, and if it is not given to you, then beware.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He says, exalted is His mention: these, the listeners to the lie, the listeners to another people among them who have not yet come to you of the Jews, distort "the words". And their distortion of that was their alteration of the judgment of Allah, exalted is His mention — which He had sent down in the Torah concerning the married fornicating women and men, namely stoning — into the flogging and the blackening. He therefore said, exalted is His mention: "they distort the words", by which He means these Jews, and what is meant is the judgment of the words; and He contented Himself with the mention of the report about "the distortion of the words" instead of the mention of "the judgment", on account of the knowledge of the listeners concerning its meaning. Likewise His word: "out of their context", while the meaning is: after Allah has set it in its place; and He contented Himself with the report by the mention of "their context" instead of the mention of "the setting of it", as He, exalted is His mention, said: wa-lākinna l-birra man āmana bi-llāhi wa-l-yawmi l-ākhiri [sūra al-Baqara: 177] (but righteousness is whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day), while the meaning is: but righteousness is the righteousness of whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day.
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And it is possible that its meaning is: they distort the words from their place = so that "baʿda" (after) is set in the place of "ʿan" (from), as one says: "jiʾtuka ʿan farāghī mina l-shughl" (I came to you after my becoming free from the occupation), by which he means: after my becoming free from the occupation.
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And by His word: "if this is given to you, then accept it, and if it is not given to you, then beware", He means: these transgressors, the listeners to the lie, say: if Muḥammad gives you a ruling with the flogging and the blackening concerning our companion = "then accept it", He says: then accept it from him; and if he does not give you that as ruling, but gives you stoning as ruling, then beware.
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And in the manner of what we have said concerning the explanation of that, the scholars of exegesis have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
11931 - Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq; he said: al-Zuhrī related to me, he said: I heard a man of Muzayna tell Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab: that Abū Hurayra recounted to them — in a story that he mentioned — wa-mina lladhīna hādū sammāʿūna li-l-kadhibi sammāʿūna li-qawmin ākharīna lam yaʾtūka (and from among those who follow Judaism there are listeners to the lie, listeners to another people who have not come to you) — he said: [that is to say: those who sent them out, those whom] they sent out, while they themselves remained behind, and charged them with what they charged them concerning the distorting of the words out of their context. He therefore said: "they distort the words out of their context; they say: if this is given to you, then accept it", namely for the tajbīh = "and if it is not given to you, then beware", that is to say: of the stoning.
11932 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: "if this is given to you", if this agrees with you, then accept it. The Jews say it to the hypocrites.
11933 - Al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "if this is given to you, then accept it", if this agrees with you, then accept it, and if it does not agree with you, then beware of it. The Jews say it to the hypocrites.
11934 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "they distort the words out of their context", when they distorted stoning and made it into flogging = "they say: if this is given to you, then accept it, and if it is not given to you, then beware."
11935 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿUyayna; he said: Zakariyyā and Mujālid related to us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of Jābir: "they distort the words out of their context; they say: if this is given to you, then accept it" — the Jews of Fadak, who say to the Jews of Medina: if this flogging is given to you, then accept it, and if it is not given to you, then beware of the stoning.
11936 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "if this is given to you, then accept it, and if it is not given to you, then beware" — they are the Jews; a woman of them committed fornication, and Allah had in the Torah judged concerning fornication with stoning, but it was heavy upon them to stone her and they said: go to Muḥammad, perhaps there is with him an alleviation; if there is with him an alleviation, then accept it! Then they came to him and said: O Abū l-Qāsim, indeed, a woman of ours has committed fornication, what do you say concerning her? Then the Prophet ﷺ said to them: how does the judgment of Allah in the Torah read concerning the fornicator? They said: leave us alone regarding the Torah, but what do you have concerning that? He said: bring me your most learned regarding the Torah that was sent down to Mūsā! Then he said to them: by Him who saved you from the people of Pharaoh, and by Him who split the sea for you and saved you and drowned the people of Pharaoh, you will surely inform me what the judgment of Allah in the Torah concerning the fornicator is?! They said: His judgment is stoning! Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave the command concerning her, and she was stoned.
11937 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "who have not come to you; they distort the words out of their context; they say: if this is given to you, then accept it, and if it is not given to you, then beware" — it has been related to us that this occurred concerning a slain man of the Banū Qurayẓa, whom the Naḍīr had killed. For when the Naḍīr killed someone of the Banū Qurayẓa, they did not make them pay for it with retaliation, but only gave them the blood-money (diya), on account of their precedence over them. And when Qurayẓa killed a slain man of the Naḍīr, they were satisfied only with retaliation (qawad), on account of their feeling of precedence over them in self-conceit, out of pride. Then the prophet of Allah ﷺ arrived in Medina at the time of this slain one of theirs, and they wanted to bring that before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Then a man of the hypocrites said to them: indeed, this slain one of yours is a slain one by premeditation; when you bring it before Muḥammad ﷺ I fear for you the retaliation, so if he accepts from you the blood-money, then take it, and otherwise, then be on your guard against him!
11938 - Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "they distort the words out of their context", he says: these who have not come to you distort the words from their place; they do not establish them in accordance with what Allah has sent down. He said: and these are all Jews, one of the other.
11939 - Hannād related to us, he said: Abū Muʿāwiya and ʿUbayda ibn Ḥumayd related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Murra, on the authority of al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib: "they say: if this is given to you, then accept it, and if it is not given to you, then beware" — they say: go to Muḥammad; if he gives you a ruling with the blackening and the flogging, then accept it, and if he gives you a ruling with the stoning, then beware.
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The statement concerning the explanation of His word, mighty and exalted: Wa-man yuridi llāhu fitnatahu fa-lan tamlika lahu mina llāhi shayʾan
(And whoever Allah wills to afflict with his trial, for him you will not be able to do anything against Allah.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a consolation from Allah, exalted is His mention, to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ for his grief over the hastening of those whose account He has recounted, of the Jews and the hypocrites in this verse. He says to him, exalted is His mention: let not their haste toward the denial of your prophethood grieve you, for I have already decreed concerning them that they will not show repentance over their error and will not return from their unbelief, on account of the preceding wrath of Mine over them. And your grief over what you see of their haste toward what I have made the cause of their destruction and of their deserving My threat does not benefit them.
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And the meaning of "the trial (al-fitna)" in this place is: the going astray away from the right way.
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He says, exalted is His mention: and whoever Allah wills, O Muḥammad, his return through his going astray away from the way of guidance, for him you will not be able to do anything against Allah by way of rescue from that which Allah has willed for him of bewilderment and going astray. So let not your soul feel grief over the guidance to the truth that has escaped him, as:
11940 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "and whoever Allah wills to afflict with his trial, for him you will not be able to do anything against Allah."
............................................. [the rest of this narration has dropped out of the manuscript and the printed edition]
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The statement concerning the explanation of His word, mighty and exalted: Ulāʾika lladhīna lam yuridi llāhu an yuṭahhira qulūbahum lahum fī l-dunyā khizyun wa-lahum fī l-ākhirati ʿadhābun ʿaẓīmun (41)
(These are those whose hearts Allah did not will to purify; for them in this world there is disgrace, and for them in the hereafter there is a tremendous punishment (41).)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He says, exalted is His mention, to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: let not those grieve you who hasten into unbelief, from among the Jews whose characteristic I have described to you. And their haste toward it means that Allah has willed their trial and has sealed upon their hearts, and they will never find guidance = "these are those whose hearts Allah did not will to purify", He says: these are those whose hearts Allah did not will to purify from the pollution of unbelief (kufr) and the filth of assigning partners (shirk), through the purity of islam and the cleanness of faith (īmān), so that they might show repentance; but He has willed for them disgrace in this world — and that is the humiliation and the contempt — and in the hereafter the punishment of hell (jahannam), in which they will abide forever.
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And in the manner of what we have said concerning the meaning of "the disgrace (al-khizy)" is the statement related on the authority of ʿIkrima.
11941 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn al-Aqmar and others, on the authority of ʿIkrima: "these are those whose hearts Allah did not will to purify; for them in this world there is disgrace" — he said: a city in the Byzantine empire that will be conquered, after which they are led away as captives (yusbawna).
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