Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:48
And We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it. So judge between them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had Allah willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to [all that is] good. To Allah is your return all together, and He will [then] inform you concerning that over which you used to differ.
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, exalted is His mention: وَأَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَمُهَيْمِنًا عَلَيْهِ (And We have sent down to you the Book with the truth, confirming what preceded it of the Book, and as a guardian over it) (5:48).
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is an address from Allah, exalted is His mention, to His Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. He, exalted is His mention, says: We have sent down to you, O Muhammad, "the Book," and that is the Qurʾān which He sent down upon him. And by His word "with the truth" He means: with the veracity in which there is no falsehood, and concerning which there is no doubt that it is from Allah. And "confirming what preceded it of the Book," He says: We sent it down as a confirmation of the Books of Allah that preceded it, which He sent down to His prophets.
"And as a guardian over it," He says: We sent down the Book which We have sent down to you, O Muhammad, as a confirmation of the Books that preceded it, and as a witness over it that they are truth from Allah, as a preserver of it, as a protector of it.
The original meaning of "al-haymana" (guardianship) is safeguarding and watching over. One says, when a man safeguards, protects, and guards something: "So-and-so has watched over it (qad haymana fulān ʿalayhi), he watches over it a watching (yuhaymin haymana), and he is a guardian over it (muhaymin)."
And in the sense of what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken, except that their wordings concerning it differed from one another.
Some of them said: Its meaning is: as a witness.
Mention of who said that:
12103m – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh 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 as a guardian over it," he says: as a witness.
12104 – Muhammad 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: "and as a guardian over it," he said: as a witness over it.
12105 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "And We have sent down to you the Book with the truth, confirming what preceded it of the Book," he says: the Books that preceded it. "And as a guardian over it": as a preserver and witness over the Books that preceded it.
12106 – 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 Mujāhid: "and as a guardian over it": as a trustee over the Qurʾān, as a witness and confirmer. And Ibn Jurayj said: And others said: The Qurʾān is a trustee over the Books: when the People of the Book inform us about a matter in their Book, and it is in the Qurʾān, then believe it; and if not, then regard it as falsehood.
And some of them said: Its meaning is: as a trustee over it.
Mention of who said that:
12107 – Muhammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us – and Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us – both, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and as a guardian over it," he said: as a trustee over it.
12108 – Muhammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Muḥāribī related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His word "and as a guardian over it," he said: as a trustee over it.
12109 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, saying: Sufyān and Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
12110 – Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān and Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, with his chain of transmission (isnād), on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
12111 – Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAṭiyya related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
12112 – Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
12113 – Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Muṭarrif, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of a man of Tamīm, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
12114 – Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh 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 as a guardian over it," he said: and the guardian (al-muhaymin) is the trustee. He said: The Qurʾān is a trustee over every Book that preceded it.
12115 – Muhammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word "And We have sent down to you the Book with the truth, confirming what preceded it of the Book," and that is the Qurʾān, a witness over the Torah and the Gospel, confirming both. "And as a guardian over it," that is to say: as a trustee over it, which judges concerning the Books that preceded it.
12116 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, on the authority of Qays, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and as a guardian over it," he said: as a trustee over it.
12117 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Zuhayr, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of a man of the Banū Tamīm, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and as a guardian over it," he said: as a trustee over it.
12118 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Yaḥyā al-Ḥimmānī related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
12119 – Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us – and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us – on the authority of Sufyān and Isrāʾīl, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Badhīma, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "and as a guardian over it," he said: as a trustee over the Books that preceded it.
12120 – Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, he said: I asked al-Ḥasan about His word "And We have sent down to you the Book with the truth, confirming what preceded it of the Book and as a guardian over it," he said: confirming these Books, and as a trustee over it. And ʿIkrima was asked about it while I was listening, and he said: as a trustee over it.
And others said: The meaning of "the guardian" (al-muhaymin) is: the confirmer.
Mention of who said that:
12121 – Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word "and as a guardian over it," he said: as a confirmer over it. Everything that Allah has sent down of Torah, Gospel, or Zabūr (Psalms), of that the Qurʾān is the confirmer. And everything that Allah mentions in the Qurʾān, of that it is the confirmer, and of what is transmitted concerning it that it is truth.
And others said: By His word "confirming what preceded it of the Book and as a guardian over it" the Prophet of Allah ﷺ was meant.
Mention of who said that:
12122 – 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: "and as a guardian over it": Muhammad ﷺ, as a trustee over the Qurʾān.
12123 – Muhammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "and as a guardian over it," he said: Muhammad ﷺ, as a trustee over the Qurʾān.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The interpretation of the statement according to what Mujāhid has interpreted is then: and We have sent down the Book, confirming the Books that preceded it, to you, as a guardian over it. Then His word "confirming" would be a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl) of "the Book" and form a part of it, and "the confirming" would belong to the attribute of "the Book," and "the guardian" would be a circumstantial qualifier of the "kāf" that is in "to you," which is a reference to the mention of the name of the Prophet ﷺ, and the "hāʾ" in His word "over it" would refer back to the Book.
But this interpretation is far removed from what is understood in the speech of the Arabs; rather, it is an error. That is because "the guardian" is connected (by coordination, ʿaṭf) to "the confirmer," so that it can only be an attribute of that of which "the confirmer" is an attribute. And if the meaning of the statement were what is transmitted from Mujāhid, then it would have been said: "And We have sent down to you the Book, confirming what preceded it of the Book, as a guardian over it" – because there preceded, in the attribute of the "kāf" that is in "to you," nothing onto which "as a guardian over it" could connect by coordination; for it is only coordinated upon "the confirmer," because it is an attribute of "the Book" of which "the confirmer" is an attribute.
And if someone supposes that "the confirmer" – according to the statement and interpretation of Mujāhid – is an attribute of the "kāf" that is in "to you," then His word "what preceded it of the Book" refutes that the interpretation would be so, and that "the confirmer" would be an attribute of the "kāf" that is in "to you." For the "hāʾ" in His word "preceded it" (bayna yadayhi) is a reference to the name of someone other than the addressee, and that is the Prophet ﷺ in His word "to you." And if "the confirmer" were an attribute of the "kāf," then the statement would read: and We have sent down to you the Book, confirming what preceded you of the Book, and as a guardian over it – then the meaning of the statement at that point would be so.
The explanation of His word, exalted is His mention: فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَلا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ عَمَّا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ (So judge between them according to what Allah has sent down, and do not follow their desires, turning away from what has come to you of the truth) (5:48).
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a command from Allah, exalted is His mention, to His Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, to judge between those who bring their disputes to him – of the People of the Book and the rest of the adherents of religions – according to His Book that He has sent down to him, and that is the Qurʾān by which He has singled him out with a law (sharīʿa). He, exalted is His mention, says: Judge, O Muhammad, between the People of the Book and the polytheists (mushrikīn) according to what has been sent down to you of My Book and My ordinances in everything in which they bring their dispute to you: of the prescribed punishments (ḥudūd), the wounds, the law of retaliation (al-qawad), and the lives. So stone the married fornicator, kill the murdering soul in retaliation for the soul that was killed unlawfully, gouge out the eye for the eye, cut off the nose for the nose. For I have sent down to you the Qurʾān, confirming therein what preceded it of Books, and as a guardian over it, as a watcher, which judges over all the rest of the Books that preceded it. And do not follow the desires of these Jews – who say: "If the flogging (jald) for the married fornicator is imposed on you in place of the stoning (rajm), and the killing of the lowly for the noble when he kills him, and the abandonment of the killing of the noble for the lowly when he kills him – then accept it; and if it is not imposed on you, then be on your guard" – turning away from what has come to you from Allah of the truth, and that is the Book of Allah which He has sent down to you. He says to him: act according to My Book that I have sent down to you when they bring their dispute to you and you choose to judge between them, and by no means abandon acting according to it out of compliance on your part with their desires and out of preferring that over the truth that I have sent down to you in My Book, as:
12124 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh 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: "So judge between them according to what Allah has sent down," he says: according to the prescribed limits of Allah (ḥudūd Allāh). "And do not follow their desires, turning away from what has come to you of the truth."
12125 – Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of Masrūq: that he made the Jew and the Christian swear by Allah, and then recited: وَأَنِ احْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ (And that: judge between them according to what Allah has sent down) (5:49), and Allah has sent down: أَلا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئًا (that you associate nothing with Him) (6:151).
The explanation of His word, exalted is His mention: لِكُلٍّ جَعَلْنَا مِنْكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْهَاجًا (For each of you We have made a law (shirʿa) and a way (minhāj)) (5:48).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, says: For each community of you We have made a law (shirʿa).
And "al-shirʿa" is precisely "al-sharīʿa" (the law) itself. The plural of "al-shirʿa" is "shiraʿ," and of "al-sharīʿa" is "sharāʾiʿ." And if one were to make the plural of "al-shirʿa" as "sharāʾiʿ," that would be correct, because its meaning and that of "al-sharīʿa" is one, so that one brings it back, in the plural, to the form of its counterpart. And everything in which you make a beginning is a "sharīʿa." For this reason a watering-place is called "sharīʿa," because one makes from it an approach to the water. And from this the laws of Islam are called "sharāʾiʿ," on account of the fact that their adherents make a beginning in them. And from this it is said of people, when they are equal in something: "they are sharaʿ," equal.
As for "al-minhāj," its original meaning is: the clear, plain road. One says of it: "it is a road that is nahj and manhaj," clear, as the poet (al-rājiz) said:
"Whoever is in doubt, behold Falj: Clear, sweet water and a plain road (nahj)."
Then it is used for everything that is plain, clear, and easy.
The meaning of the statement is then: for each community of you We have made a road to the truth toward which it turns, and a clear path by which it acts.
Then the exegetes differed concerning what is meant by His word "For each of you We have made."
Some of them said: By this were meant the adherents of the various religions, that is to say: that Allah has made for each religious community (milla) a law and a way.
Mention of who said that:
12126 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "For each of you We have made a law and a way," he says: a path and a custom (sunna). And the customs (sunan) differ: for the Torah there is a law, for the Gospel there is a law, and for the Qurʾān there is a law. Allah permits therein what He wills and forbids what He wills as a trial, so that it may be known who obeys Him and who disobeys Him. But the one religion which He accepts from no one else is: the oneness (tawḥīd) and the sincere devotion to Allah, with which the messengers came.
12127 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "For each of you We have made a law and a way," he said: The religion is one, and the law differs.
12128 – Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hāshim related to us, saying: Sayf ibn ʿUmar informed us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of Abū Ayyūb, on the authority of ʿAlī, he said: The faith, since Allah, exalted is His mention, sent Adam ﷺ, is: the testimony that there is no god but Allah, and the acknowledgment of what has come from Allah. For each community there is what came to them of a law or a way, so that the one who acknowledges is not a forsaker, but rather an obedient one.
And others said: Rather, by this was meant the community (umma) of Muhammad ﷺ. And they said: The meaning of the statement is only: We have made the Book that We have sent down to Our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, O people, for all of you – that is to say: for everyone who has entered into Islam and acknowledged that Muhammad ﷺ is indeed my prophet – a law and a way.
Mention of who said that:
12129 – 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 Mujāhid, concerning His word "For each of you We have made a law and a way," he said: a custom (sunna). "And a way": the path. "For all of you": everyone who has entered into the religion of Muhammad ﷺ, for him Allah has made a law and a way. He says: the Qurʾān, that is for him a law and a way.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the more correct of the two statements concerning this, in my judgment, is the statement of the one who said: its meaning is: for every adherent of a religious community of you, O communities, We have made a law and a way.
And we have only said that this is the most correct on account of His word وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً (And had Allah willed, He would have made you one community). For if by His word "For each of you We have made" He had meant the community of Muhammad, while they are one community, then His word "And had Allah willed, He would have made you one community" – while He has already done that and made them one community – would have no intelligible meaning. But its meaning, according to the manner in which the address of Allah to His Prophet Muhammad ﷺ has proceeded, is: that He mentioned what He prescribed for the Children of Israel in the Torah, and commanded them to act according to what is in it. Then He mentioned that He made ʿĪsā the son of Maryam follow upon the traces of the prophets before him, and sent down upon him the Gospel, and commanded those to whom He sent him to act according to what is in it. Then He mentioned our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and informed him that He has sent down to him the Book, confirming what preceded it of the Book, and commanded him to act according to what is in it, and to judge according to what He has sent down to him in it, to the exclusion of what is in all the rest of the Books. And He let him know that He has made for him and his community a law that is different from the laws of the prophets and communities before him, whose stories He has told him. And even though his religion and theirs – in affirming the oneness of Allah, the acknowledgment of what has come to them from Him, and the adherence to His command and prohibition – is one, yet they differ in state in what He has prescribed for each of them and his community of what He permitted to them and forbade them.
And in the sense of what we have said about "al-shirʿa" and "al-minhāj" by way of interpretation, the exegetes have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
12130 – Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Misʿar related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "For each of you We have made a law and a way," he said: a custom (sunna) and a path.
12131 – Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān and Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "For each of you We have made a law and a way," he said: a custom and a path.
12132 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān and Isrāʾīl and his father, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
12133 – Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Yaḥyā al-Rāzī related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Waththāb, he said: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about His word "For each of you We have made a law and a way," he said: a custom and a path.
12134 – Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "a law and a way," he said: a custom and a path.
12135 – Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Muṭarrif, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of a man of the Banū Tamīm, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
12136 – Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
12137 – Muhammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word "For each of you We have made a law and a way," that is to say: a path and a custom.
12138 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Sufyān ibn Ḥusayn, he said: I heard al-Ḥasan saying: "al-shirʿa" (the law): the custom (sunna).
12139 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā al-Qattāt, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: a custom and a path.
12140 – Muhammad 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 His word, exalted is His mention, "a law and a way," he said: "al-shirʿa" (the law): the custom. "And a way," he said: the path.
12141 – 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, the like of it.
12142 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh 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 "For each of you We have made a law and a way," he says: a path and a custom.
12143 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥawḍī related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: Abū Isḥāq related to us, saying: I heard a man of the Banū Tamīm, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
12144 – Muhammad 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: "a law and a way," he says: a path and a custom.
12145 – 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 Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: the custom and the path.
12146 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "For each of you We have made a law and a way," he says: a path and a custom.
12147 – It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh al-Faḍl ibn Khālid saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed me, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word "a law and a way," he said: a path and a custom.
The explanation of His word, exalted is His mention: وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَلَكِنْ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِي مَا آتَاكُمْ (And had Allah willed, He would have made you one community, but that He might test you in what He has given you) (5:48).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, says: And had your Lord willed, He would have made your laws one, and not made for each community a law and a way that is different from the laws of the other communities and their way, so that you would be one community whose laws and way do not differ. But He, exalted is His mention, knows that, and therefore made your laws different in order to test you, so that the obedient among you may be distinguished from the disobedient, and the one who acts according to what He has commanded him in the Book that He has sent down to His Prophet ﷺ, from the opponent.
And "al-ibtilāʾ" (the testing): that is putting to the test, and I have already expounded that previously with its proofs.
And His word "in what He has given you," that is to say: in what has been sent down to you of Books, as:
12148 – Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: (but that He might test you in what He has given you) ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr said: I do not know it except that he said: that He might test you in what He has given you of Books.
And if someone says: How then did He say "that He might test you in what He has given you," and who is addressed by this? While you have mentioned that by His word لِكُلٍّ جَعَلْنَا مِنْكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْهَاجًا (For each of you We have made a law and a way) our Prophet together with the prophets who preceded him and their communities is meant, and those who were before our Prophet ﷺ separately?
To this it is answered: The address, even though it is directed to our Prophet ﷺ, by it the report about the prophets before him and their communities is meant. But the Arabs have the habit, when they address a human being and join to him an absent one, and they wish to give the report about him, of giving precedence to the addressee, so that the report about both of them comes out in the form of a direct address. For this reason He, exalted is His mention, said: لِكُلٍّ جَعَلْنَا مِنْكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْهَاجًا (For each of you We have made a law and a way).
The explanation of His word, exalted is His mention: فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِ إِلَى اللَّهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ جَمِيعًا فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ (So race to the good deeds. To Allah is your return, all together, and He will inform you concerning that about which you used to differ) (5:48).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, says: So hasten, O people, to the good of deeds and to the deeds that bring nearness to your Lord, by persevering in acting according to what is in your Book that He has sent down to your Prophet. For He has only sent it down as a trial for you and as a test, so that the doer of good among you may be distinguished from the doer of evil, so that He may give all of you, for your deed, your recompense upon your return to Him. For to Him is your return, all together, and He will inform every faction among you concerning that in which it differed from the other factions, and He will separate between them with the separation of the judgment. And the one proven right is made manifest by His rewarding him with His gardens (of Paradise), in distinction from the doer of evil by His punishing him with the Fire. At that point it becomes clear to each party, with their own eyes, who among them is the one proven right and who the one proven wrong.
And if someone says: Has not our Lord informed us in this worldly life, before our return to Him, concerning that about which we differ?
To this it is answered: He has clarified that in the worldly life through the messengers, the indications, and the proofs, but not through the reward and the punishment with one's own eyes. So of it there is one who affirms it and one who denies it. But upon the return to Him He will inform them concerning it through the recompense, regarding which they will have no doubt about recognizing the one proven right and the one proven wrong, and they will not be able to bring confusion upon themselves regarding it. So too is His report, exalted is His mention, that He will inform us, upon the return to Him, concerning that about which we differed in the worldly life. And its meaning is only: to Allah is your return, all together, and then at that point you will recognize the one proven right from the one proven wrong among you, as:
12149 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying: "So race to the good deeds. To Allah is your return, all together," he said: the community of Muhammad ﷺ, the pious and the corrupt.
