Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:61
And when they come to you, they say, "We believe." But they have entered with disbelief [in their hearts], and they have certainly left with it. And Allah is most knowing of what they were concealing.
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.
Discussion of the explanation of His word: وَإِذَا جَاءُوكُمْ قَالُوا آمَنَّا وَقَدْ دَخَلُوا بِالْكُفْرِ وَهُمْ قَدْ خَرَجُوا بِهِ وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْتُمُونَ (61) (And when they come to you, they say, "We believe," while they have entered with disbelief and have also departed with it. And Allāh knows best what they were concealing. (61))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: And when these hypocrites (munāfiqūn) from among the Jews come to you, O believers, they say to you, "We believe," that is to say: we have accepted as true that with which your prophet Muḥammad — may peace and blessings be upon him — has come, and we have followed him in his religion. And that while they persist in their disbelief (kufr) and their error. They have entered upon you with their disbelief, which they harbor in their hearts as conviction and keep hidden in their breasts, while outwardly they lyingly display belief to you with their tongues. "And with it they have also departed," He says: they have gone away from you with the disbelief, just as they entered upon you with it; through their coming to you they did not turn back from their disbelief and their error. They suppose that what they do remains hidden from Allāh, out of ignorance on their part concerning Allāh. "And Allāh knows best what they were concealing," He says: and Allāh knows best what they — when they say to you with their tongues, "We believe in Allāh and in Muḥammad, and we have accepted as true that with which he has come" — were concealing within themselves, namely the disbelief which they harbor in themselves. And Allāh is better acquainted with themselves than they are.
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And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
12230 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "And when they come to you, they say: We believe" — the entire verses — : they were people from among the Jews who used to come in to the Prophet — may peace and blessings be upon him — and inform him that they were believers and content with that with which he had come, while they held fast to their error and their disbelief. And they came in with it and departed with it again from the prophet of Allāh — may peace and blessings be upon him.
12231 - 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: "And when they come to you, they say: We believe, while they have entered with disbelief and have departed with it," he said: These were people from among the hypocrites who were Jews. He says: they entered as disbelievers and departed as disbelievers.
12232 - Muḥammad 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 when they come to you, they say: We believe, while they have entered with disbelief and have departed with it" — indeed, they entered while they were speaking the truth, but their hearts kept the disbelief hidden; and that is why He said: "They have entered with disbelief and departed with it again."
12233 - Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "And when they come to you, they say: We believe, while they have entered with disbelief and have departed with it" — and وَقَالَتْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ آمِنُوا بِالَّذِي أُنْزِلَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَجْهَ النَّهَارِ وَاكْفُرُوا آخِرَهُ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ [Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: 72] (And a group of the People of the Book said: "Believe in what has been sent down to those who believe at the beginning of the day, and reject it at the end of it, so that they may perhaps turn back.") — so when they returned to their disbelievers from among the People of the Book and their devils, they returned with their disbelief. And these are the People of the Book from among the Jews.
12234 - 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 ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr: "While they have entered with disbelief and have departed with it," that is to say: it comes from themselves.
