Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:54
O you who have believed, whoever of you should revert from his religion - Allah will bring forth [in place of them] a people He will love and who will love Him [who are] humble toward the believers, powerful against the disbelievers; they strive in the cause of Allah and do not fear the blame of a critic. That is the favor of Allah; He bestows it upon whom He wills. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.
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 statement: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَنْ يَرْتَدَّ مِنْكُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِي اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ ("O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion, Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His remembrance, says to those who believe in Allah and His Messenger: "O you who believe" — that is: those who held Allah and His Messenger to be truthful and acknowledged what their Prophet Muḥammad, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, brought them — "whoever among you turns back from his religion" — He says: whoever of you returns from his true religion upon which he is today, and exchanges it and alters it by entering into unbelief, whether into Judaism, or Christianity, or another kind of unbelief (kufr) — such a one will not harm Allah in anything, and Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him. He says: Allah will bring, as a replacement for them, the believers who did not exchange, did not alter, and did not become apostate — a people better than those who became apostate and exchanged their religion; Allah loves them and they love Allah.
And this threat from Allah applied to whoever had been established in His foreknowledge that he would become apostate after the passing of His Prophet Muḥammad, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him. And likewise His promise to those of the believers whom He promised what He promised them in this verse — applied to whoever had been established in His foreknowledge that he would not exchange his religion, would not alter it, and would not become apostate. So when Allah took His Prophet, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, to Himself, peoples became apostate from among the people of the bedouin tents (ahl al-wabar) and a portion of the town-dwellers (ahl al-madar). Then Allah replaced them for the believers with those who were better than them, just as He, exalted is His remembrance, has said, and He fulfilled His promise to the believers and carried out His threat against those of them who had become apostate.
And along the lines of what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation have spoken.
Mention of those who said that:
12177 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAyyāsh informed me, on the authority of Abū Ṣakhr, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb: that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz one day sent for him — and ʿUmar at that time was the governor of Medina — and he said: O Abū Ḥamza, a verse has kept me from sleep this night! Muḥammad said: And what verse is that, O governor? He said: The statement of Allah: "O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion," until he reached: وَلا يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَةَ لائِمٍ ("and they fear not the blame of any blamer"). Then Muḥammad said: O governor, Allah intended by "those who believe" only the rulers of Quraysh, whoever of them turns back from the truth.
Then the people of interpretation differed concerning the identity of the people whom Allah brought for the believers and with whom He replaced the believers in place of those of them who became apostate.
Some of them said: it is Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq and his companions, who fought the people of apostasy (ahl al-ridda) until they made them return through the door by which they had exited.
Mention of those who said that:
12178 - Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth related to us, on the authority of al-Faḍl ibn Dalham, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His statement: "O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion, Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him," he said: These, by Allah, are Abū Bakr and his companions.
12179 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of al-Faḍl ibn Dalham, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, the same.
12180 - Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbda ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of Sahl, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His statement: "Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him," he said: Abū Bakr and his companions.
12181 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī related to us, on the authority of Abū Mūsā, who said: al-Ḥasan recited: "Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him," he said: It applies, by Allah, to Abū Bakr and his companions.
12182 - Naṣr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Azdī related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn Bishr related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His statement: "Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him," he said: It was revealed concerning Abū Bakr and his companions.
12183 - ʿAlī ibn Saʿīd ibn Masrūq al-Kindī related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His statement: "Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him, humble toward the believers, mighty toward the unbelievers, who wage jihād in the path of Allah and fear not the blame of any blamer," he said: It is Abū Bakr and his companions. When those of the Arabs who became apostate from Islam became apostate, Abū Bakr with his companions waged jihād against them until he brought them back to Islam.
12184 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "whoever among you turns back from his religion, Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him," up to His statement: وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ ("and Allah is all-encompassing, all-knowing"). Allah sent down this verse while He already knew that apostates among the people would become apostate. So when Allah took His Prophet Muḥammad, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, to Himself, the generality of the Arabs became apostate from Islam — except three places of prayer: the people of Medina, the people of Mecca, and the people of al-Baḥrayn of ʿAbd al-Qays. They said: We perform the prayer but we will not pay the zakāh; by Allah, our wealth will not be taken from us by force! Then Abū Bakr was spoken to about this, and it was said to him: If they were instructed in this, they would indeed give it — or: they would indeed render it. He said: No, by Allah, I will not make a distinction between anything that Allah has joined together, and even if they were to withhold from me an ʿiqāl (a rope or the yearly zakāh) of what Allah and His Messenger have made obligatory, then we would fight them for it! Then Allah sent a host with Abū Bakr, and he fought them for that for which the Prophet of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, had fought, until he took captives (sabā), killed, and burned with fire people who had become apostate from Islam and had withheld the zakāh. He continued to fight them until they acknowledged the māʿūn — that is the zakāh — humiliated and made small. Then the delegations of the Arabs came to him, and he gave them the choice between a humiliating condition or a banishing war. They chose the humiliating condition, and it was lighter for them: namely, that they acknowledge that their slain were in the Fire (al-nār), and that the slain of the believers were in the Garden (al-janna), and that they return to the Muslims what they had taken from them of wealth, while what the Muslims had taken from them of wealth remained permitted (ḥalāl) for them.
12185 - al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His statement: "O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion, Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him," Ibn Jurayj said: They became apostate when the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, passed away, and Abū Bakr fought them.
12186 - al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hishām related to us, saying: Sayf ibn ʿUmar informed us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Abū Ayyūb, on the authority of ʿAlī, concerning His statement: "O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion," he said: Allah knew the believers, and the meaning of the evil fell upon the filling among them of the hypocrites (munāfiqūn) and upon whoever, in His knowledge, would become apostate. He said: "O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion, Allah will bring" — the apostates in their houses — "a people whom He loves and who love Him," namely Abū Bakr and his companions.
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And others said: by this is intended a people from Yemen. And some of those who said that, said: they are the company of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qays.
Mention of those who said that:
12188 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk ibn Ḥarb, on the authority of ʿIyāḍ al-Ashʿarī, who said: When this verse was sent down, "O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion, Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him," he said: the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, pointed with something he had with him toward Abū Mūsā, and said: They are the people of this man!
12189 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū al-Walīd related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk ibn Ḥarb, who said: I heard ʿIyāḍ narrating on the authority of Abū Mūsā: that the Prophet, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, recited this verse: "Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him," he said: He means the people of Abū Mūsā.
12190 - Abū al-Sāʾib Salm ibn Junāda related to me, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba — Abū al-Sāʾib said: our companions said: it is "on the authority of Simāk ibn Ḥarb," but I do not remember "Simāk" — on the authority of ʿIyāḍ al-Ashʿarī: the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, said: They are the people of this man, that is to say Abū Mūsā.
12191 - Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIyāḍ al-Ashʿarī: the Prophet, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, said to Abū Mūsā: They are the people of this man — concerning His statement: "Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him."
12192 - Mujāhid ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Shuʿba informed us, on the authority of Simāk ibn Ḥarb, who said: I heard ʿIyāḍ al-Ashʿarī saying: When there was sent down: "Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him," the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, said: They are your people, O Abū Mūsā! — or he said: They are the people of this man — meaning by that Abū Mūsā.
12193 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān al-Ḥimyarī related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of ʿIyāḍ — or: Ibn ʿIyāḍ — "Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him," he said: They are the people of Yemen.
12194 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf related to us, saying: Abū al-Mughīra related to us, saying: Ṣafwān related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr related to us, on the authority of Shurayḥ ibn ʿUbayd, who said: When Allah sent down: "O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion," to the end of the verse, ʿUmar said: Is it I, together with my people, O Messenger of Allah? He said: No, but this man and his people! — meaning by that Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī.
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And others of them said: No, they are the people of Yemen together.
Mention of those who said that:
12195 - 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: "whom He loves and who love Him," he said: People from Yemen.
12196 - 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 same.
12197 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: They are the people of Sabaʾ.
12198 - Maṭar ibn Muḥammad al-Ḍabbī related to us, saying: Abū Dāwud related to us, saying: Shuʿba informed us, saying: someone who heard Shahr ibn Ḥawshab informed me, saying: They are the people of Yemen.
12199 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAyyāsh informed me, on the authority of Abū Ṣakhr, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī: that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz one day sent for him — while he was governor of Medina — to ask him about that. Then Muḥammad said: "Allah will bring a people" — and they are the people of Yemen! ʿUmar said: Oh, would that I were one of them! He said: Amen!
* * *
And others said: They are the helpers (anṣār) of the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him.
Mention of those who said that:
12200 - 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: "O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion, Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him," he claims that they are the anṣār.
* * *
And the interpretation of the verse according to the statement of those who said: Allah intended by His statement: "Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him" — Abū Bakr and his companions in their fighting against the people of apostasy after the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him — is: O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion, he will not harm Allah in anything, and Allah will bring against whoever among you turns back from his religion a people whom He loves and who love Him, who will take vengeance upon them by their hands. And in that sense the report and the narration have come from some who interpreted it thus:
12201 - al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hishām 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, concerning His statement: "O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion, Allah will bring a people whom He loves," he said: He says: Allah will bring the apostates in their houses — "a people whom He loves and who love Him," namely Abū Bakr and his companions.
* * *
As for the statement of those who said: Allah intended by it the people of Yemen, then its interpretation is: O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion, Allah will bring to the believers who did not become apostate a people whom He loves and who love Him, as allies and helpers for them. And in that sense the narration has come from some who used to interpret it thus.
12202 - 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: "O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion" — the verse — is a threat from Allah that, whoever among you turns back, He will surely set in his place someone better than him.
* * *
And as for the statement of those who said: He intended by it the anṣār, then its interpretation is comparable to the interpretation of those who interpreted it as meaning Abū Bakr and his companions.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the statements concerning this is, in our view, that for which the report has been transmitted from the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him: that they are the people of Yemen, the people of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī. And were it not for the report that has been transmitted concerning this from the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, with the report that has been transmitted from him, my statement concerning this would have been nothing other than the statement of those who said: "They are Abū Bakr and his companions." For no one fought a people who had shown Islam in the time of the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, and thereafter turned back on their heels as unbelievers, except Abū Bakr and those who were with him of those who fought the people of apostasy with him after the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him. But we abandoned the statement concerning this for the sake of the report that has been transmitted concerning it from the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him: since he, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, was the mine of the clear exposition concerning the interpretation of what Allah sent down of His revelation and the verses of His Book.
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If a speaker were to say to us: If the people whom Allah mentioned that He would bring — upon the apostasy of those who became apostate from their religion, of those who had accepted Islam in the time of the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him — are the people of Yemen, then were the people of Yemen, at the time of Abū Bakr's fighting, may Allah be pleased with him, against the people of apostasy, helpers of Abū Bakr in fighting against them, such that you deem it permissible to direct the interpretation of the verse to what you have directed it? Or were they not helpers for him against them, and how then did you deem it permissible to direct the interpretation of the verse to that, while you know that there is no breaking of the promise of Allah?
He is answered: Indeed, Allah, exalted is His remembrance, did not promise the believers that He would, for the apostates among them on that day, replace them with someone better than the apostates for the fighting against the apostates. He only informed that He would bring them someone better than them as a replacement for them. And that He did for them, soon thereafter and not far off: He brought them in the time of ʿUmar, and their place within Islam and its people was the best place, and they were helpers of the people of Islam and more beneficial to them than those who had become apostate after the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, of the riffraff of the bedouins and the coarse people of the deserts, who were to the people of Islam a burden and not a benefit.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the reciters differed concerning the recitation of His statement: "O you who believe, whoever among you turns back from his religion."
The reciters of Medina recited it: (yā ayyuhā alladhīna āmanū man yartadid minkum ʿan dīnihi), pronouncing the doubling, with two dāls, the last "dāl" being vocalized with sukūn (jazm). And so it stands also in their maṣāḥif (codices).
As for the reciters of Iraq, they recited it: (man yartadda minkum ʿan dīnihi), with assimilation (idghām), with one dāl, and with its movement to the fatḥa, based on the dual form; for a word vocalized with jazm in which the doubling appears in the singular, when it is put into the dual, is assimilated. And one says to a single person: "Return, O so-and-so, to so-and-so his right (urdud)," but when it is put into the dual, one says: "Return both of you to him his right (ruddā)," and one does not say "urdudā." And likewise in the plural: "Return (ruddū)," and one does not say "urdudū." So the Arabs sometimes build the singular upon the form of the dual, and sometimes show in the singular the doubling on account of the sukūn of the lām of the verb. And both forms are eloquent and known among the Arabs.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the recitation in this, in our view, is as it is in our maṣāḥif and the maṣāḥif of the people of the East, with one doubled (mushaddada) dāl, omitting the pronunciation of the doubling, and with the fatḥa on the "dāl," for the reason which I have described.
* * *
The explanation of His statement: أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَعِزَّةٍ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ ("humble toward the believers, mighty toward the unbelievers")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His remembrance, intends by His statement: "humble toward the believers" — gentle toward them, merciful to them.
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= derived from the statement of him who says: "so-and-so was submissive (dhalla) to so-and-so," when he submitted to him and yielded himself to him.
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And He intends by His statement: "mighty toward the unbelievers" — stern against them, harsh toward them.
* * *
= derived from the statement of him who says: "so-and-so overpowered me (ʿazzanī)," when he displayed the might (ʿizza) of himself against him and showed him hardness and harshness.
* * *
And along the lines of what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation have spoken.
Mention of those who said that:
12203 - al-Muthannā related to me, 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, concerning His statement: "humble toward the believers" — people of gentleness toward the people of their religion — "mighty toward the unbelievers" — people of hardness toward whoever opposes them in their religion.
12204 - 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: "humble toward the believers, mighty toward the unbelievers" — He intends by "the humble": the merciful.
12205 - al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said concerning His statement: "humble toward the believers," he said: merciful among themselves — "mighty toward the unbelievers," he said: stern against them.
12206 - al-Ḥārith ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Sufyān said: I heard al-Aʿmash say concerning His statement: "humble toward the believers, mighty toward the unbelievers": weak toward the believers.
* * *
The explanation of His statement: يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلا يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَةَ لائِمٍ ذَلِكَ فَضْلُ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ (5:54) ("They wage jihād in the path of Allah and fear not the blame of any blamer. That is the bounty of Allah, which He gives to whom He wills. And Allah is all-encompassing, all-knowing.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His remembrance, intends by His statement: "They wage jihād in the path of Allah" — these believers whom Allah promised the believers He would bring if one of them became apostate, as a replacement for them — they wage jihād in fighting against the enemies of Allah in the manner in which Allah has commanded them to be fought, and in the manner which He has permitted them, and they wage jihād against their enemy. That is their jihād in the path of Allah. "and they fear not the blame of any blamer" — He says: and they fear in the matter of Allah no one, and nothing holds them back from acting according to what Allah has commanded them of fighting against their enemy — no blame of any blamer concerning that.
* * *
As for His statement: "That is the bounty of Allah" — He intends: this description with which He, exalted is His remembrance, has characterized them — namely, that they are humble toward the believers, mighty toward the unbelievers, waging jihād in the path of Allah and fearing in the matter of Allah no blame of any blamer — is the bounty of Allah with which He has favored them. And Allah gives His bounty to whom He wills of His creatures, as a favor toward him and out of graciousness. "and Allah is all-encompassing (wāsiʿ)" — He says: and Allah is generous with His bounty toward whoever He favors with it, He does not fear the exhaustion of His treasuries, such that they would be depleted by His bestowing. "all-knowing (ʿalīm)" — concerning the place of His generosity and His bestowing; He grants it only to whoever deserves it, and He grants it to whoever deserves it only to the measure of the welfare, on account of His knowledge of the place of his welfare relative to the place of his harm.
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Footnotes:
(33) See the explanation of "irtadda" (to become apostate) at what has already preceded p.: 170, note: 1, and the references therein.
(34) The import of this expression: "Allah will surely bring... the believers... a people...".
(35) The narration 12177: "ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAyyāsh ibn ʿAbbās al-Qitbānī," he is not strong, and he is trustworthy (thiqa). He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb. And "Abū Ṣakhr" is "Ḥumayd ibn Ziyād al-Kharrāṭ," he has already passed repeatedly, among others under no.: 4280, 4325, 5386, 8391, 11867, 11891. See then the following narration under no.: 12199.
(36) The narration 12178: "al-Faḍl ibn Dalham al-Wāsiṭī al-Qaṣṣāb." Concerning his case there is disagreement. Passed under no.: 4928.
(37) The narration 12181: "Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Walīd al-Juʿfī," passed recently: 12164. And "Abū Mūsā" is: "Isrāʾīl ibn Mūsā al-Baṣrī," resident in India. He narrated from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. Trustworthy, nothing wrong with him. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb.
(38) The narration 12182: "Naṣr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Azdī"; thus it has also come here in the manuscript and the printed edition: "al-Awdī." My brother al-Sayyid Aḥmad has already spoken about this and corrected it to "al-Azdī" as I have established it here, but I doubt the correctness of that correction, on account of its frequent establishment in the tafsīr in every place as "al-Awdī." See what preceded: 423, 875, 2859, 8783. And "Aḥmad ibn Bishr al-Qurashī al-Makhzūmī," Abū Bakr al-Kūfī. Passed under no.: 7819. And "Hishām" is: "Hishām ibn ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām," passed under no.: 2889, 8461.
(39) The speakers: "We perform the prayer but we will not pay the zakāh" are those who became apostate from the generality of the Arabs.
(40) In the printed edition: "they would give it or they would increase it," which is a gross confusion; the correct reading is from the manuscript, and his statement: "or: they would render it," as if he said: it is narrated in place of "they would give it" as "they would render it." And the "hāʾ" in both refers to the "zakāh" which they withheld.
(41) "Al-ʿiqāl" (with kasra on the ʿayn): the zakāh of one year on camels and sheep. One says: "he took from them the ʿiqāl of this year," that is their zakāh and their alms. Others have explained it as the rope with which the obligatory animal taken in alms was tied. That was so because it rested upon the owner of the camels to render with each obligatory animal an ʿiqāl with which it was tied, and a "riwāʾ," that is: a rope. And the narration is also transmitted as "if they withheld from me an ʿanāq." And "al-ʿanāq" is the female of the young of the goat, when it has become a year old.
(42) "Ṣaghara" is the plural of "ṣāghir": that is he who is content with humiliation and injustice. And "aqmiyāʾ" is the plural of "qamiʾ": that is the humiliated, subjugated, made small. What stands in the lexical works as the plural of "qamiʾ" is "qimāʾ" (with kasra on the qāf) and "qumāʾ" (with ḍamma). And in the narration no.: 4221 "qamʾa" has come in the manuscript; see the note thereon there. And "aqmiyāʾ" is here a rare plural; for "faʿīl" as an adjective is made plural analogously on "afʿilāʾ" if it is doubled, like "shadīd" and "ashiddāʾ," and likewise if it is defective with wāw or yāʾ, like "ghaniyy" and "aghniyāʾ," and "shaqiyy" and "ashqiyāʾ." As for the sound [verb], its plural on "afʿilāʾ" is rare, like "ṣadīq" and "aṣdiqāʾ." If then the narration "aqmiyāʾ" in this report is correct, then it is correct in Arabic, if Allah wills, for this reason and also for others.
(43) In the printed edition: "that they prepare themselves that their slain are in the Fire," and in the manuscript the same stands, undotted, and I have not found for it a distortion closer than what I have established, which I have inferred from the report that al-Shaʿbī transmitted from Ibn Masʿūd, namely his statement: "By Allah, he was content for them only with the humiliating condition or the banishing war. As for the humiliating condition: that they acknowledge that whoever of them is slain is in the Fire, and that what they have taken of our wealth be returned to us. As for the banishing war: that they depart from their dwellings" (Futūḥ al-buldān of al-Balādhurī: 101).
(44) In the printed edition: "and he made the meaning of the evil fall," and I have established what stands in the manuscript, and I doubt the whole expression, even though it has an aspect and a meaning.
(45) In the printed edition: "the apostates away from their religion," and in the manuscript: "in their religion," and the correct reading is what I have established from the following narration no.: 12201.
(46) The narration 12186: in the printed edition: "Sayf ibn ʿAmr," which is an error; the correct reading is what I have established from the manuscript. A similar narration has already passed under no.: 12128 and therein stands "ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hishām." And I have mentioned there that I did not know him. And from the numbering, through inattention, the number: 12187 has fallen out.
(47) At this place ends a part of an old division, and in the manuscript stands what reads: "Following this: mention of those who said that. And Allah's blessing be upon Muḥammad." Then there follows upon it what reads: "In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. My Lord, make it easy by Your mercy."
(48) The narrations 12188-12192: "ʿIyāḍ al-Ashʿarī" is "ʿIyāḍ ibn ʿAmr al-Ashʿarī," a tābiʿī, concerning whose companionship there is disagreement; he narrated from the Prophet, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, mursal (without a complete chain). He saw Abū ʿUbayda ibn al-Jarrāḥ, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, and others. Ibn Saʿd said 6: 104: "He had little narration." From him narrated al-Shaʿbī and Simāk ibn Ḥarb. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb, Usd al-ghāba, al-Iṣāba, al-Istīʿāb: 498, and al-Kabīr of al-Bukhārī 4/1/19. And this report Ibn Saʿd transmitted in al-Ṭabaqāt 4/1/79, via ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs and ʿAffān ibn Muslim, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIyāḍ. And al-Ḥākim in al-Mustadrak 2: 313, via Wahb ibn Jarīr and Saʿīd ibn ʿĀmir, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIyāḍ, and he said: "This is a ṣaḥīḥ narration according to the condition of Muslim, but they did not include it," and al-Dhahabī agreed with him. And al-Haythamī included it in Majmaʿ al-zawāʾid 7: 16, and said: "al-Ṭabarānī transmitted it, and his transmitters are the transmitters of the Ṣaḥīḥ." And al-Suyūṭī included it in al-Durr al-manthūr 2: 292, and added the attribution to Ibn Abī Shayba in his Musnad, and ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, and al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, and Ibn al-Mundhir, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim, and Abū al-Shaykh, and Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Bayhaqī in al-Dalāʾil. And Ibn Kathīr mentioned it in his tafsīr 3: 179, 180, on the authority of Ibn Abī Ḥātim, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn Shabba, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith, on the authority of Shuʿba.
(49) The narration 12193: "and Abū Sufyān al-Ḥimyarī" is "Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā ibn Mahdī al-Ḥimyarī" al-Ḥadhdhāʾ, al-Wāsiṭī. Truthful (ṣadūq), and al-Dāraquṭnī said: "moderate in condition, not strong." He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb, al-Kabīr of al-Bukhārī 2/1/477, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 2/1/74. And "Ḥuṣayn" is "Ḥuṣayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī," trustworthy, one of the great imams. Passed under no.: 579, 2986. And "ʿIyāḍ" is al-Ashʿarī as already appeared in the preceding narrations. As for "Ibn ʿIyāḍ," I have found no one who mentions that, and it appears to be a doubt of Abū Sufyān al-Ḥimyarī or of Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ. And see the source-citation of the preceding narrations.
(50) The narration 12194: "Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf ibn Sufyān al-Ṭāʾī," the teacher of al-Ṭabarī, trustworthy, a ḥāfiẓ, passed under no.: 5445. And "Abū al-Mughīra" is: "ʿAbd al-Quddūs ibn al-Ḥajjāj al-Khawlānī," "Abū al-Mughīra al-Ḥimṣī," trustworthy, truthful. Passed under no.: 10371. And "Ṣafwān" is: "Ṣafwān ibn ʿAmr ibn Hirm al-Saksakī," he heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr, passed under no.: 7009. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb, al-Kabīr of al-Bukhārī 2/2/309, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 2/1/422, and in his biography in al-Tahdhīb there is a clear error: it states that he died in the year (100), and the correct is the year (155), as in al-Tārīkh al-kabīr and elsewhere. And "ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr al-Ḥaḍramī," a trustworthy tābiʿī. Passed under no.: 186, 187. And "Shurayḥ ibn ʿUbayd ibn Shurayḥ al-Ḥaḍramī," a trustworthy tābiʿī, passed under no.: 5445. And "Ṣafwān ibn ʿAmr" narrates directly from Shurayḥ, but he narrated here from him via "ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr." And this narration al-Suyūṭī included in al-Durr al-manthūr 2: 292, and attributed it to no one other than Ibn Jarīr.
(51) The narration 12198: "Maṭar ibn Muḥammad al-Ḍabbī," the teacher of al-Ṭabarī, I have found for him neither a biography nor a mention. Among those named "Maṭar" are: "Maṭar ibn Muḥammad ibn Naṣr al-Tamīmī al-Harawī," with a biography in Tārīkh Baghdād 3: 275. And "Maṭar ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Sukkarī," who narrates from Yazīd ibn Hārūn. With a biography in Lisān al-Mīzān 6: 49. And I do not think he is either of the two, and I fear that his name has undergone some distortion.
(52) The narration 12199: see the preceding narration no.: 12177, and the note thereon.
(53) His statement: "in their houses" is the correct reading, and in the manuscript and the printed edition there stood in the preceding narration no.: 12186 "in their religion" and "away from their religion," and the correct is what stands here. See the preceding note p.: 414, note: 2.
(54) The narration 10201 [12201]: it is a part of the preceding narration no.: 12186, and at this place there also stood "Sayf ibn ʿAmr," which is an error, as I have set forth there.
(55) "Al-maʿdin" (with fatḥa on the mīm, sukūn on the ʿayn and kasra on the dāl): the place of every matter in which its origin and its beginning lie. From it one says: "the mine of gold and silver," and that is what we today call "al-manjam" (the mine), where Allah, the Exalted, brought their substance into being and fixed it therein. And from it, in a figurative sense, what has come in the report: "Do you ask me about the lineages (maʿādin) of the Arabs? They said: yes" — meaning by that: their origins to which they are ascribed and in which they take pride.
(56) In the printed edition: "until you deem it permissible," and in the manuscript: "you deem it permissible" without "until," and I have preferred to read it as I have established it.
(57) In the printed edition: "He has already done that," which has no meaning, and the correct is what stands in the manuscript.
(58) "Al-ṭaghām" (with fatḥa on the ṭāʾ): the riffraff of the people and their lowest. And "al-kall" (with fatḥa on the kāf): the burden and the weight upon its bearer or upon whoever takes his affair upon himself.
(59) In the printed edition and the manuscript: "in usage," and I have preferred to read it as I have established it, and that is the correct.
(60) And see the explanation of "al-dhull" (humility) at what has already preceded 2: 212 / 7: 171.
(61) See the explanation of "al-ʿizza" (might) at what has already preceded 9: 319, note: 5, and the references therein.
(62) The narration 12203: see the chains of the preceding narrations no.: 12186, 12201, and the notes thereon. And in the manuscript and the printed edition: "Sufyān ibn ʿUmar" in place of "Sayf ibn ʿUmar," which is a gross error.
(63) In the manuscript: "He intends by the humble: mercy," and in the printed edition: "He intends by humility mercy," and I have preferred what I have written, and it is a near-distortion.
(64) In the printed edition: "weak toward the believers," and I have established what stands in the manuscript, and it is a good, correct reading.
(65) See the explanation of "yujāhid" (to wage jihād) at what has already preceded 4: 318 / 10: 292 = and the explanation of "sabīl Allah" (the path of Allah) at what has already preceded in the lexical registers (s-b-l).
(66) The import of the sentence: "this description with which He has characterized them... is the bounty of Allah...".
(67) See the explanation of "al-faḍl" (the bounty) at what has already preceded in the lexical registers (f-ḍ-l).
(68) See the explanation of "wāsiʿ" (all-encompassing) at what has already preceded 9: 294, note: 2, and the references therein.
(69) In the printed edition: "fa-kayfa min ʿaṭāʾihi," differing from what stands in the manuscript, because he could not read it well since it was undotted. And this is the correct reading thereof.
(70) See the explanation of "ʿalīm" (all-knowing) at what has already preceded in the lexical registers (ʿ-l-m).
