Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:105
And thus do We diversify the verses so the disbelievers will say, "You have studied," and so We may make the Qur'an clear for a people who know.
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 exposition of the words of the Exalted: En zo verklaren Wij de tekenen op verschillende wijzen, opdat zij zeggen: "Jij hebt geleerd", en opdat Wij het verduidelijken voor een volk dat weet (6:105).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: just as I have expounded for you, O people, the signs and the proofs in this sūra in various ways and have made them clear, so that I have made them known to you concerning My oneness, the confirmation of My Messenger, My Book, and have made you grasp them — so do I make clear for you My signs and My proofs in everything you did not know and did not understand of My command and My prohibition, such as:
13705 — 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 thus do We expound the signs in various ways," for these who ascribe equals to their Lord, just as I have expounded them in this sūra in various ways, and so that they may not say: "You have learned."
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The reciters differ over the reading of this.
Most of the reciters of Medina and Kūfa read it: (And so that they may say: "You have learned" — darasta), which means: you have recited, O Muḥammad, without an "alif."
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A number of the early authorities recited it, among them Ibn ʿAbbās — with disagreement reported about him in this — and others, and a number of the Successors (tābiʿūn), and it is the reading of some of the reciters of Baṣra: "And so that they may say: 'You have studied together' (dārasta)," with an "alif," in the meaning: you have recited together with and learned from the People of the Book.
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And it is related from Qatāda that he recited it: "Dūrisat," in the meaning: it has been recited and recounted.
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And from al-Ḥasan that he recited it: "Darasat," in the meaning: it has been effaced.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The most fitting of the readings in this, in my view, is the reading of the one who recited it: (And so that they may say: "You have learned" — darasta), with the interpretation: you have recited and learned; for the polytheists said this to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and Allah has reported about their utterance of this in His words: En voorzeker, Wij weten dat zij zeggen: "Het is slechts een mens die het hem leert." De taal van degene naar wie zij toespelen is niet-Arabisch, terwijl dit een duidelijke Arabische taal is [sūrat al-Naḥl: 103]. This, then, is a report from Allah announcing about them that they said: Muḥammad only learns from another what he brings to you. When that is so, then the reading: (And so that they may say: "You have learned" — darasta), O Muḥammad, in the meaning: you have learned from the People of the Book, is more in accordance with the truth and more fitting than the reading of the one who recited it "dārasta," in the meaning: you have recited together with them and disputed with them, or other readings.
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The people of exegesis differed over the interpretation of it, according to the difference of the reciters in the reading of it.
* Mention of those who recited it: (And so that they may say: "You have learned" — darasta), of the early authorities, and interpreted it in the meaning: you have learned and recited.
13706 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, saying: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (and so that they may say: you have learned), they said: you have recited and learned. That is what Quraysh says.
13707 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, on the authority of Mujāhid: (and so that they may say: you have learned), he said: you have recited and learned.
13708 — Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us = and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, in agreement with him, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (and so that they may say: you have learned), he said: you have recited and learned.
13709 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (and so that they may say: you have learned), he says: you have recited the books.
13710 — It was related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to me, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His words: (you have learned), he says: you have learned and recited.
13711 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAṭiyya related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, saying: I said to Ibn ʿAbbās: What do you make of His words: (you have learned)? He said: you have recited and learned.
13712 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the same.
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* Mention of those who recited it (dārasta), and interpreted it in the meaning: you have disputed, of the early authorities.
13713 — ʿImrān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wārith related to us, on the authority of Ḥumayd, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "dārasta," he says: you have recited together.
13714 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he recited it: "And so that they may say: you have studied together (dārasta)," I think he said: you have recited together with the People of the Book.
13715 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and so that they may say: you have studied together," he said: you have recited together and learned.
13716 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Dāwūd related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, saying: I heard al-Tamīmī say: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about His words: "and so that they may say: you have studied together," he said: you have recited together and learned.
13717 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū al-Muʿallā, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās recited it: "dārasta."
13718 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ādam al-ʿAsqalānī related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: Abū al-Muʿallā related to us, saying: I heard Saʿīd ibn Jubayr say: Ibn ʿAbbās recited: "dārasta," with the "alif," with sukūn on the sīn and fatḥa on the tāʾ.
13719 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, saying: ʿAmr ibn Kaysān informed me: that Ibn ʿAbbās recited: "dārasta," [in the meaning:] you have recited, you have disputed, you have argued.
13720 — Abū Kurayb and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them saying: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Kaysān, Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning "dārasta," he said: you have recited, you have disputed, you have argued.
13721 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr concerning this verse: "and so that they may say: you have studied together," he said: you have recited together.
13722 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: Abū Bishr related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, that he recited: "dārasta," likewise with the "alif," with fatḥa on the tāʾ, and he said: you have recited together.
13723 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, that he recited: "dārasta," that is to say: you have copied from / exchanged with one another.
13724 — 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 Allah's words: "dārasta," he said: you have understood and comprehended, you have read aloud to the Jews and they have read aloud to you.
13725 — 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 so that they may say: you have studied together," he said: you have recited together, you have read aloud to the Jews and they have read aloud to you.
13726 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His words: "dārasta," he means: the People of the Book.
13727 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "dārasta," he said: you have read aloud to the Jews and they have read aloud to you.
13728 — 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 words: "and so that they may say: you have studied together," he said: they said: you have studied together with the People of the Book, and you have recited the books and learned them.
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* Mention of those who recited it: "Dūrisat," in the meaning: it has been recounted and recited, in the passive form whose agent is not named.
13729 — ʿImrān ibn Mūsā al-Qazzāz related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn al-Muʿallim and Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "And thus do We expound the signs in various ways, and so that they may say: it has been recounted (dūrisat)," that is to say: it has been recited and learned.
13730 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, saying: Qatāda said: "dūrisat," [means] it has been recited = and in the reading of Ibn Masʿūd: "darasa."
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Mention of those who said: "Darasat," in the meaning: it has been effaced and become obsolete, that is to say: this which you recite to us has already passed away from us long ago and its time has elapsed.
13731 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, saying: al-Ḥasan recited: "And so that they may say: it has been effaced (darasat)," that is to say: it has vanished.
13732 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: Abū Isḥāq al-Hamdānī related to us, saying: in the reading of Ibn Masʿūd: "darasat," without "alif," with fatḥa on the sīn and a stop (waqf) on the tāʾ.
13733 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, saying: I heard Ibn al-Zubayr say: there are youths here who recite: "dārasta," but it is in reality "darasat."
13734 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, saying: al-Ḥasan said: "and so that they may say: it has been effaced (darasat)": he says: it has become obsolete and effaced.
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Others recited it: "darasa," derived from "darasa al-shayʾ" — he has recounted it.
13735 — Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Thaʿlabī related to me, saying: Abū ʿUbayda related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Hārūn, saying: it is in the reading of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb and Ibn Masʿūd: "And so that they may say: he has recounted (darasa)," he said: this refers to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, [namely] he has recited.
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And it was permissible that one says at one time: "darasta" and at another time "darasa," so that at one time direct address is made and at another time a report is given, on account of [the nature of] the saying.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: We have already explained which of these readings in this is, in our view, the correct one, and the proof for the correctness of what we have chosen of it.
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And as for the interpretation of His words: "and so that We may make it clear for a people who know," the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: just as We have expounded the signs, the lessons, and the proofs in this sūra in various ways for these who set up gods and partners alongside their Lord, so do We expound for them the signs in various ways in other [sūras], so that they may not say to Our Messenger, whom We have sent to them: "You have only learned from the People of the Book what you bring us and recite to us," so that they may be deterred from their denial of him and their fabrication of lies and falsehood about him; and so that We, through Our expounding of the signs in various ways, may make clear the truth for a people who recognize the truth when it is made clear to them, so that they follow it and accept it — and are not like the one who, when it is made clear to him, remains blind and does not grasp it and only draws further away from understanding it.
