Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:59
Say, "O People of the Scripture, do you resent us except [for the fact] that we have believed in Allah and what was revealed to us and what was revealed before and because most of you are defiantly disobedient?"
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement: Zeg: O Mensen van het Boek, neemt gij ons iets kwalijk anders dan dat wij in Allah geloven, en in wat tot ons is neergezonden, en in wat eerder is neergezonden, en dat de meesten van jullie verdorvenen (fāsiqūn) zijn? (5:59).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says to His Prophet ﷺ: Say, O Muḥammad, to the People of the Book among the Jews and the Christians: O People of the Book, do you abhor anything in us, or do you find anything against us, because you mock our religion, and because, when we call to the ritual prayer (ṣalāh), you make our call into mockery and play — "other than that we believe in Allah," that is to say: other than that we held Allah to be true and acknowledged Him and declared Him to be One, and that we believe in what has been sent down to us from Allah of the Book, and in what has been sent down to the prophets of Allah of Books before our Book — "and that the most of you are transgressors," that is to say: and other than that the most of you oppose the command of Allah, depart from His obedience, and tell lies about Him.
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And the Arabs say: "naqamtu ʿalayka kadhā anqim" (I took such-and-such amiss against you) — and thus the reciters of the people of the Ḥijāz and of Iraq and others recited it — and "naqimtu anqim" are two linguistic forms — and we know of no reciter who recited with both of these [the second form] — with the meaning of "found" and "abhorred." To that belongs the statement of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qays al-Ruqayyāt:
They took nothing amiss against the Banū Umayya, except that they are forbearing when they are angered.
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And it has been reported that this verse was sent down because of a group of the Jews.
Mention of who said that:
12219 - Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, he said: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, related to me, he said: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr or ʿIkrima related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: To the Messenger of Allah ﷺ there came a group of the Jews, among whom were Abū Yāsir ibn Akhṭab, and Rāfiʿ ibn Abī Rāfiʿ, and ʿĀzir, and Zayd, and Khālid, and Azār ibn Abī Azār, and Ashyaʿ, and they asked him in which of the messengers he believed. He said: "I believe in Allah, and in what has been sent down to us, and in what has been sent down to Ibrāhīm and Ismāʿīl and Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb and the tribes, and in what was given to Mūsā and ʿĪsā, and in what was given to the prophets from their Lord; we make no distinction between any of them, and we have submitted ourselves to Him." But when he mentioned ʿĪsā, they denied his prophethood and said: "We do not believe in whoever believes in him!" Then Allah sent down concerning them: "Say: O People of the Book, do you take anything amiss against us other than that we believe in Allah, and in what has been sent down to us, and in what was sent down before, and that the most of you are transgressors?"
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— as a linking of it to "an" (that) in His statement "other than that we believe in Allah," because the meaning of the words is: do you take anything amiss against us other than our belief in Allah and your transgression?
