Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:77
Say, "O People of the Scripture, do not exceed limits in your religion beyond the truth and do not follow the inclinations of a people who had gone astray before and misled many and have strayed from the soundness of the way."
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 saying: Zeg: O Mensen van het Boek, overdrijft niet in jullie godsdienst tegen de waarheid in, en volgt niet de begeerten van een volk dat vroeger reeds is afgedwaald en velen heeft doen afdwalen en is afgedwaald van het rechte pad (5:77).
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is an address from Allah — exalted, whose remembrance is exalted — to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ. The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: "Say," O Muḥammad, to these exaggerators among the Christians concerning the Masīḥ (Messiah) — "O People of the Book," by which, with "the Book," He means the Injīl — "do not exaggerate in your religion," that is: do not go beyond bounds in your statement about that to which you commit yourselves regarding the matter of the Masīḥ, such that you therein transgress the truth toward falsehood and say about him, "he is Allah," or "he is His son"; rather say, "he is the servant of Allah and His word which He cast to Maryam, and a spirit from Him" — "and do not follow the desires of a people who went astray before and led many astray," that is: and likewise do not follow, concerning the Masīḥ, the desires of the Jews who before you strayed from the path of guidance in their statement about him, such that you say about him as they said, "he is from an illicit begetting," and slander his mother as they slandered her with the lie, while she is a truthful woman (ṣiddīqa) — "and led many astray," that is, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and these Jews led many of the people astray, and carried them away from the path of truth, and incited them to disbelief in Allah and to denial of the Masīḥ —
"and strayed from the right way," that is: and these Jews strayed from the correct course of the path, and trod a road other than the highway of the truth.
And the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, means by that only their disbelief in Allah, and their denial of His messengers: ʿĪsā and Muḥammad ﷺ, and their turning away from the faith and their distancing themselves from it. And that was their straying with which Allah described them.
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And in accordance with what we have said about that, the people of interpretation have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
12296 - 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 saying of Allah: "and strayed from the right way," he said: the Jews.
12297 - 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 do not follow the desires of a people who went astray before and led many astray" — they are those who strayed and led their followers astray — "and strayed from the right way," away from the straight course of the path.
