Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:43
But how is it that they come to you for judgement while they have the Torah, in which is the judgement of Allah? Then they turn away, [even] after that; but those are not [in fact] believers.
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 His word: "And how would they appoint you as judge, while they possess the Tawrāh, in which is the judgement of Allah, and then turn away thereafter? And such people are not among the believers." (5:43)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise be mentioned, means: And how would these Jews appoint you, O Muḥammad, as judge among them, and be content with you as arbiter in their disputes — while they possess the Tawrāh, which I sent down to Moses, which they acknowledge to be true and to be My Book that I sent down to My prophet, and that the judgement contained in it derives from My judgement. They know that, they do not deny it nor thrust it away from themselves, and they know that My judgement therein concerning the married fornicator (al-zānī al-muḥṣan) is stoning (rajm). And they, despite their knowledge of that, "turn away." He says: they refrain from judging by it, after they know My judgement therein, out of insolence toward Me and disobedience to Me.
And although this, from the Exalted, whose praise be mentioned, is an address to His prophet ﷺ, it is nonetheless a reproach from Him to the Jews concerning whom this verse was sent down. The Exalted, whose praise be mentioned, says to them: How can you, O Jews, acknowledge the judgement of My prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, while you deny his prophethood and call him a liar, and you at the same time abandon My judgement which you acknowledge to be true and binding upon you, and which Moses brought you from Allah? He says: Since you, then, abandon My judgement which Moses brought you — Moses, whose prophethood you acknowledge in My Book — it is all the more to be expected that you would abandon My judgement which My prophet Muḥammad informs you is My judgement, given your denial of his prophethood.
Then the Exalted, whose praise be mentioned, said, while giving report about the state of these Jews whose description He has set forth in this verse before Him, and about the state of their like among those who deviate from His judgement and stray from the path of the truth: "And such people are not among the believers." He says: Whoever performs this deed — namely, whoever turns away from the judgement of Allah, which He has pronounced in His Book that He sent down to His prophet, concerning His creatures — that person is not among those who held Allah and His Messenger to be true and acknowledged His oneness and the prophethood of His prophet ﷺ, for such a thing is not the deed of the people of faith (īmān).
The origin of "turning away from a thing" (al-tawallī ʿan al-shayʾ) is turning oneself away from it, as in:
12002 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Kathīr: "then they turn away thereafter," he said: "their turning away" is what they have abandoned of the Book of Allah.
12003 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "And how would they appoint you as judge, while they possess the Tawrāh, in which is the judgement of Allah," that is: the prescribed penalties of Allah (ḥudūd Allāh). Thus Allah gave report about His judgement in the Tawrāh.
12004 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "while they possess the Tawrāh, in which is the judgement of Allah," that is: the explanation of Allah concerning that over which they disputed in the matter of their slain one, "then they turn away thereafter," to the end of the verse.
12005 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, he said — namely the Lord, the Exalted, whose praise be mentioned — reproaches them: "And how would they appoint you as judge, while they possess the Tawrāh, in which is the judgement of Allah," he says: the stoning (rajm).
