Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:64
And the Jews say, "The hand of Allah is chained." Chained are their hands, and cursed are they for what they say. Rather, both His hands are extended; He spends however He wills. And that which has been revealed to you from your Lord will surely increase many of them in transgression and disbelief. And We have cast among them animosity and hatred until the Day of Resurrection. Every time they kindled the fire of war [against you], Allah extinguished it. And they strive throughout the land [causing] corruption, and Allah does not like corrupters.
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: وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ يَدُ اللَّهِ مَغْلُولَةٌ غُلَّتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَلُعِنُوا بِمَا قَالُوا بَلْ يَدَاهُ مَبْسُوطَتَانِ يُنْفِقُ كَيْفَ يَشَاءُ (And the Jews said: the hand of Allah is fettered. Their hands are fettered, and they are cursed for what they said. Nay, both His hands are outstretched, He spends however He wills. (5:64))
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is an announcement from Allah, exalted is His mention, concerning the insolence of the Jews toward their Lord, and concerning their describing Him with something that is not among His attributes, as a rebuke to them therewith, and as an announcement from Him to His Prophet ﷺ concerning their ancient ignorance and their conceit, and their denial of all the goodly favors that He bestowed upon them, and the abundance of His pardon toward them and His concealing of their grave crimes = and as a proof for His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ that he is a sent prophet and a dispatched messenger: namely that these reports which he conveyed to them were among their hidden knowledge and the veiled contents thereof, which none knows except their rabbis and their scholars, and not the rest of the Jews, let alone the unlettered community of the Arabs who had read no book and had grasped no knowledge of the knowledge of the People of the Book. Allah thereupon made His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ take note of it, so that He might confirm before them his truthfulness, and thereby cut off their argument.
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He, exalted is His mention, says: "and the Jews said," of the Children of Israel = "the hand of Allah is fettered," by which they mean: that the good of Allah is withheld and His gift restrained from extending toward them, as He, exalted is His mention, said when instructing His Prophet ﷺ: وَلا تَجْعَلْ يَدَكَ مَغْلُولَةً إِلَى عُنُقِكَ وَلا تَبْسُطْهَا كُلَّ الْبَسْطِ [Surah Al-Isrāʾ: 29]. (And do not make your hand fettered to your neck, nor extend it entirely. (17:29))
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He, exalted is His mention, described "the hand" only in that manner, while the meaning is "the gift," because the giving of people and the bestowing of their bounty occurs predominantly by means of their hands. Thus it became customary among people, in describing one another, that when they describe someone with generosity and magnanimity, or with stinginess, meanness, and tightfistedness, they ascribe to his hands that which belongs to the quality of the one being described, as al-Aʿshā said in praise of a man:
Both your hands are hands of glory: a hand that does good and a hand that gives out when the food is hoarded stingily.
Thus he ascribed to "the hand" that which was the quality of the possessor of the hand — namely giving and doing good. And the like of that in the language of the Arabs, in their poetry and their sayings, is too abundant to count. So Allah addressed them with that which they mutually recognize and employ in their speech with one another, and said: "and the Jews said: the hand of Allah is fettered," by which He means: that they said: indeed, Allah is stingy toward us, and withholds from us His favor and is not generous, like one whose hand is fettered and who is unable to extend it with a gift or the bestowing of a bounty. Exalted is Allah above what they said, O enemies of Allah!
Then Allah said, giving them the lie and announcing to them His wrath upon them: "their hands are fettered" — He says: their hands are withheld from goodly things, and restrained from extending with gifts = "and they are cursed for what they said," and they are removed far from the mercy of Allah and His favor for that which they said of disbelief (kufr), and (for) what they invented about Allah and ascribed to Him of lying and fabrication.
= "Nay, both His hands are outstretched," He says: nay, both His hands are outstretched with bestowing and giving, and the provisions of His servants and the sustenance of His creatures, neither fettered nor withheld = "He spends however He wills," He says: He gives to this one, and withholds from that one and restricts it for him.
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And in agreement with what we have said concerning this, the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.
Mention of who said that:
12242 - 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 statement: "and the Jews said: the hand of Allah is fettered; their hands are fettered and they are cursed for what they said," he said: they do not mean by it that the hand of Allah is tied up, but they say: indeed, He is stingy, He withholds what He has. Exalted is Allah, far exalted above what they say.
12243 - 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: "the hand of Allah is fettered," they said: indeed, we have assailed Allah with questions — O Children of Israel — until Allah has placed His hand to His throat! And they lied!
12244 - 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 hand of Allah is fettered," he said: the Jews say it: indeed, we have assailed Allah with questions, O Children of Israel and O People of the Book, until His hand is (bound) to His throat = "nay, both His hands are outstretched, He spends however He wills."
12245 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "and the Jews said: the hand of Allah is fettered; their hands are fettered and they are cursed for what they said" up to وَاللَّهُ لا يُحِبُّ الْمُفْسِدِينَ (and Allah does not love the corrupters): as for His statement "the hand of Allah is fettered," they said: Allah is stingy, not generous! Allah said: "nay, both His hands are outstretched, He spends however He wills."
12246 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "and the Jews said: the hand of Allah is fettered; their hands are fettered and they are cursed for what they said; nay, both His hands are outstretched, He spends however He wills," they said: indeed, Allah has placed His hand upon His breast, and He does not extend it until He restores our kingship to us.
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= And as for His statement: "He spends however He wills," He says: He provides however He wills.
12247 - al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: ʿIkrima said: "and the Jews said: the hand of Allah is fettered," the verse, it was revealed concerning Finḥāṣ the Jew.
12248 - al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Tumayla related to us, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim, concerning His statement: "the hand of Allah is fettered," they say: indeed, He is stingy, not generous! Allah said: "their hands are fettered," their hands are withheld from spending and good. Then He said, meaning Himself: "nay, both His hands are outstretched, He spends however He wills." And He said: وَلا تَجْعَلْ يَدَكَ مَغْلُولَةً إِلَى عُنُقِكَ [Surah Al-Isrāʾ: 29] (and do not make your hand fettered to your neck (17:29)), He says: do not withhold your hand from spending.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the people of dialectic (ahl al-jadal) differed concerning the interpretation of His statement: "nay, both His hands are outstretched." Some of them said: by it His two favors were intended. And it was said: that has the meaning of "the hand of Allah over His creation," and those are His favors toward them. And it was said: the Arabs say: "you have with me a hand," by which they mean: a favor.
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And others among them said: by it strength was intended. And they said: that is like the statement of Allah, exalted is His mention: وَاذْكُرْ عِبَادَنَا إبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ أُولِي الأَيْدِي [Surah Ṣād: 45]. (and remember Our servants Ibrāhīm, Isḥāq, and Yaʿqūb, possessors of hands (i.e. strength) (38:45))
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And others among them said: nay, "His hand" is His dominion. And it was said: the meaning of His statement "and the Jews said: the hand of Allah is fettered" is His dominion and His treasuries.
They said: and that is like the statement of the Arabs concerning the slave: "he is the possession of his right hand" (milk yamīnihi), and "so-and-so has in his hand the marriage bond of such-and-such a woman," that is to say: he possesses that, and like the statement of Allah, exalted is His mention: فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً [Surah Al-Mujādala: 12]. (then let a charity precede before your private consultation (58:12))
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And others among them said: nay, "the hand of Allah" is an attribute among His attributes; it is a hand, except that it is not a limb like the limbs of the children of Adam.
They said: and that is because Allah, exalted is His mention, gave an announcement concerning the distinction He conferred upon Adam, namely that He created him with His hand.
They said: and if [the meaning of "the hand" were the favor, or the strength, or the dominion, then for the distinction conferred upon Adam] there would be no intelligible meaning therein, since all His creatures are created by His power, and His will in His creation is a favor, and He is the Possessor of them all.
They said: and since He, exalted is His mention, distinguished Adam by mentioning that He created him with His hand, and not the rest of His servants, it is known that He distinguished him therewith only on account of a meaning by which he was set apart from the rest of creation.
They said: and if that is so, then the statement of whoever said: the meaning of "the hand" of Allah is the strength, the favor, or the dominion, falls away in this place.
They said: and it is more fitting that, were it as those claim who hold that "the hand of Allah" in His statement "and the Jews said: the hand of Allah is fettered" is His favor, it would have been said: "nay, His hand is outstretched" (singular), and it would not have been said: "nay, both His hands," because the favor of Allah cannot be counted in its multitude. And with that (latter) the revelation has come, Allah, exalted is He, says: وَإِنْ تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لا تُحْصُوهَا [Surah Ibrāhīm: 34 and Surah al-Naḥl: 18] (and if you were to count the favor of Allah, you would not be able to enumerate it (14:34; 16:18)).
They said: and were they two favors, then both would be countable.
They said: and if someone holds that the two favors have the meaning of the numerous favors, then that is an error on his part, and that is because the Arabs sometimes express the plural with the wording of the singular, so that the one stands for its entire kind, and that is like the statement of Allah, exalted is His mention: وَالْعَصْرِ * إِنَّ الإِنْسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ [Surah al-ʿAṣr: 1, 2] (by time, indeed man is truly in loss (103:1-2)), and like His statement لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الإِنْسَانَ [Surah al-Ḥijr: 26] (truly, We have created man (15:26)), and His statement وَكَانَ الْكَافِرُ عَلَى رَبِّهِ ظَهِيرًا [Surah al-Furqān: 55] (and the disbeliever is a supporter (of the devil) against his Lord (25:55)). He said: by "man" and "the disbeliever" in these places no particular man was intended, nor a present disbeliever to whom reference is made, but by it the totality of men and the totality of the disbelievers was intended; yet the one stands for its kind, as the Arabs say: "how abundant is the dirham in the hands of the people," and likewise His statement "and the disbeliever is" — its meaning is: and those who disbelieve.
They said: but when the noun is placed in the dual, then it does not stand for the kind, and it stands only for two particular (things) to the exclusion of the totality and to the exclusion of the rest.
They said: and it is an error in the language of the Arabs that one should say: "how abundant are the two dirhams in the hands of the people," in the meaning of: how abundant are the dirhams in their hands.
They said: and that is because the dirham, when it is placed in the dual, stands in their language only for two particular (coins).
They said: and not impossible are: "how abundant is the dirham in the hands of the people," and "how abundant are the dirhams in their hands," because the one stands for the totality.
They said: thus in the statement of Allah, exalted is He: "nay, both His hands are outstretched," together with His announcement to His servants that His favors cannot be counted, together with what we have described, namely that it is not intelligible in the language of the Arabs that two stand for the totality = is that which indicates the invalidity of the statement of whoever said: the meaning of "the hand" in this place is the favor = and the soundness of the statement of whoever said: indeed, "the hand of Allah" is for Him an attribute.
They said: and with that the reports from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ have come in abundance, and the scholars and the people of interpretation have said that.
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The explanation of His statement: وَلَيَزِيدَنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ طُغْيَانًا وَكُفْرًا (And verily, what has been sent down to you from your Lord will increase many of them in tyrannical transgression and disbelief. (5:64))
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: indeed, this of which We have made you take note concerning the hidden matters of these Jews, which none knows except their scholars and their rabbis, as a proof against them for the soundness of your prophethood, and as a cutting off of the excuse of whoever of them might say: مَا جَاءَنَا مِنْ بَشِيرٍ وَلا نَذِيرٍ (no bringer of glad tidings nor warner has come to us) = "what has been sent down to you from your Lord will increase many of them in tyrannical transgression (ṭughyān) and disbelief (kufr)." He means by "the tyrannical transgression": the going beyond bounds in denying that whose soundness they have already perceived — namely the prophethood of Muḥammad ﷺ — and persisting therein = "and disbelief," He says: and it will increase them, besides their excessiveness in denying that, in their rejection of the greatness of Allah and their describing Him with something that is not His attribute, by ascribing stinginess to Him and saying: يَدُ اللَّهِ مَغْلُولَةٌ (the hand of Allah is fettered). He, exalted is His mention, only announced to His Prophet ﷺ that they are people of obstinacy and rebelliousness toward their Lord, and that they do not submit to the truth, even though they know its soundness, but that they resist it, in order thereby to console His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ concerning the bitterness toward them on account of their turning away from Allah and their rejection of him.
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And I have already set forth previously the meaning of "the tyrannical transgression" (al-ṭughyān) with its proofs, in a manner that makes its repetition superfluous.
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And in agreement with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation spoke.
Mention of who said that:
12249 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "and verily, what has been sent down to you from your Lord will increase many of them in tyrannical transgression and disbelief," their envy toward Muḥammad ﷺ and the Arabs drove them not to believe in him, while they found him (described) recorded with them.
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The explanation of His statement: وَأَلْقَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَاءَ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ (And We have cast between them enmity and hatred until the Day of Resurrection. (5:64))
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, means by His statement "and We have cast between them enmity and hatred until the Day of Resurrection": between the Jews and the Christians, as:-
12250 - 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 We have cast between them enmity and hatred until the Day of Resurrection," (those are) the Jews and the Christians.
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And if someone were to say: how is it said "and We have cast between them enmity and hatred," whereby you have taken the "hāʾ and mīm" (the suffix "-hum") in His statement "between them" as a reference to the Jews and the Christians, while no mention of the Jews and the Christians has preceded?
It is said: mention of them has already preceded, and that is His statement: لا تَتَّخِذُوا الْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَى أَوْلِيَاءَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ [Surah Al-Māʾida: 51] (do not take the Jews and the Christians as protectors; they are protectors of one another (5:51)). The announcement ran in some verses concerning both groups, and in some concerning one of the two, until it arrived at His statement "and We have cast between them enmity and hatred," whereupon by His statement "We have cast between them" He intended the announcement concerning both groups.
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The explanation of His statement: كُلَّمَا أَوْقَدُوا نَارًا لِلْحَرْبِ أَطْفَأَهَا اللَّهُ (Every time they kindled a fire for war, Allah extinguished it. (5:64))
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, says: every time they united their affair upon something so that it stood firm and became settled, and they then desired the confrontation with whoever was hostile to them, Allah scattered it for them and spoiled it, on account of the wickedness of their deeds and the malice of their intentions, as that which:-
12251 - al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His statement: لَتُفْسِدُنَّ فِي الأَرْضِ مَرَّتَيْنِ وَلَتَعْلُنَّ عُلُوًّا كَبِيرًا * فَإِذَا جَاءَ وَعْدُ أُولاهُمَا بَعَثْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ عِبَادًا لَنَا أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ فَجَاسُوا خِلالَ الدِّيَارِ وَكَانَ وَعْدًا مَفْعُولا * ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَا لَكُمُ الْكَرَّةَ عَلَيْهِمْ [Surah Al-Isrāʾ: 4-6] (verily, you will twice spread corruption on the earth and you will surely exalt yourselves with great haughtiness. So when the promise of the first of the two comes, We will send against you servants of Ours, possessors of mighty strength, and they will roam through the dwellings, and it is a promise fulfilled. Then We give you back the upper hand over them. (17:4-6)). He said: the first corruption occurred, and Allah sent against them an enemy who plundered the dwellings, took the women as wives, enslaved the children (istaʿbadū), and destroyed the temple. Thus they remained for a time, then Allah sent among them a prophet and returned their affair to the best it ever was. Then the second corruption occurred through their killing of the prophets, until they killed Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā, whereupon Allah sent against them Bukht Naṣṣar (Nebuchadnezzar), and he killed of them whom he killed, and took captive whom he took captive, and destroyed the temple. Thus Bukht Naṣṣar was the second corruption = he said: and "the corruption" is disobedience = then He said: فَإِذَا جَاءَ وَعْدُ الآخِرَةِ لِيَسُوءُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَلِيَدْخُلُوا الْمَسْجِدَ كَمَا دَخَلُوهُ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ up to His statement وَإِنْ عُدْتُمْ عُدْنَا [Surah Al-Isrāʾ: 7, 8] (so when the promise of the latter comes, that they may bring evil to your faces and that they may enter the mosque as they entered it the first time ... and if you return, We return (17:7-8)). Then Allah sent for them ʿUzayr, and he had learned the knowledge of the Torah and preserved it in his breast and written it down for them. Thus that generation maintained it, and they remained (so), until they forgot (it). And ʿUzayr died, and events occurred, and they forgot the covenant and charged their Lord with stinginess, and said: يَدُ اللَّهِ مَغْلُولَةٌ غُلَّتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَلُعِنُوا بِمَا قَالُوا بَلْ يَدَاهُ مَبْسُوطَتَانِ يُنْفِقُ كَيْفَ يَشَاءُ (the hand of Allah is fettered; their hands are fettered and they are cursed for what they said; nay, both His hands are outstretched, He spends however He wills). And they said concerning ʿUzayr: "indeed, Allah has taken him as a son," while they reproached the Christians for that in their statement concerning the Messiah. Thus they acted contrary to that which was forbidden to them, and did what they declared (others) disbelievers for, whereupon a word from Allah then went forth that they would never attain victory over an enemy until the end of time. Then He said: "every time they kindled a fire for war, Allah extinguished it, and they strive on the earth for corruption, and Allah does not love the corrupters." Thus Allah sent as a third against them the Magians (al-Majūs) as rulers, and they remained thus and the Magians (sat) upon their necks, and they said: "would that we had reached this prophet whom we find (described) recorded with us; perhaps Allah will deliver us through him from the Magians and the humiliating punishment!" Then Allah sent Muḥammad ﷺ = and his name is "Muḥammad," and his name in the Gospel is "Aḥmad" = and when he came to them and they recognized (him), they did not believe in him. He said: فَلَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ [Surah Al-Baqara: 89] (so the curse of Allah be upon the disbelievers (2:89)), and He said: فَبَاءُوا بِغَضَبٍ عَلَى غَضَبٍ [Surah Al-Baqara: 90] (so they returned with wrath upon wrath (2:90)).
12252 - 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: "every time they kindled a fire for war, Allah extinguished it," they are the Jews.
12253 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "every time they kindled a fire for war, Allah extinguished it, and they strive on the earth for corruption," those are the enemies of Allah, the Jews; every time they kindled a fire for war, Allah extinguished it, so that you will not find the Jews in any land but you will find them as the most humiliated of its inhabitants. Truly, Islam came when it came, while they were under the hands of the Magians, the most hated of His creatures to Him.
12254 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His statement: "every time they kindled a fire for war, Allah extinguished it," he said: every time they united their affair upon something, Allah scattered it, and extinguished their ferocity and their fire, and cast terror into their hearts.
* * *
And Mujāhid said that which:-
12255 - al-Qāsim related to me, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: "every time they kindled a fire for war, Allah extinguished it," he said: the war against Muḥammad ﷺ.
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The explanation of His statement: وَيَسْعَوْنَ فِي الأَرْضِ فَسَادًا وَاللَّهُ لا يُحِبُّ الْمُفْسِدِينَ (64) (And they strive on the earth for corruption, and Allah does not love the corrupters. (5:64))
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, says: and these Jews and Christians act in disobedience to Allah, so that they disbelieve in His signs and give the lie to His messengers, and act contrary to His command and His prohibition, and that is their striving therein for corruption =
"and Allah does not love the corrupters," He says: and Allah does not love whoever acts in disobedience to Him on His earth.
