Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:54
And when those come to you who believe in Our verses, say, "Peace be upon you. Your Lord has decreed upon Himself mercy: that any of you who does wrong out of ignorance and then repents after that and corrects himself - indeed, He is Forgiving and Merciful."
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 word: وَإِذَا جَاءَكَ الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِآيَاتِنَا فَقُلْ سَلامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ كَتَبَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ الرَّحْمَةَ أَنَّهُ مَنْ عَمِلَ مِنْكُمْ سُوءًا بِجَهَالَةٍ ثُمَّ تَابَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ وَأَصْلَحَ فَأَنَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (54) (And when those who believe in Our signs come to you, then say: peace be upon you. Your Lord has prescribed mercy upon Himself, namely that whoever of you does evil out of ignorance and then repents thereafter and amends — He is Forgiving, Merciful.) (54)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning whom Allah, exalted is His mention, intended by this verse.
Some of them said: By it He intended those whom Allah forbade His Prophet ﷺ to drive away. The narration concerning that from those who said this has already been given previously.
Others said: By it He intended a people who asked the Prophet ﷺ for a ruling concerning grave sins that they had committed, and Allah did not let them despair of repentance (tawba).
* Mention of who said that:
13291 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Mujammiʿ, who said: I heard Māhān say: A people came to the Prophet ﷺ who had committed grave sins. Māhān said: I think that he gave them no answer. He said: Then Allah, exalted is His mention, revealed this verse: "And when those who believe in Our signs come to you, then say: peace be upon you" — the verse.
13292 — Hannād related to us, he said: Qabīṣa related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Mujammiʿ, on the authority of Māhān: that a people came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "O Muḥammad, we have committed grave sins!" And I think that he gave them no answer, and they departed. Then Allah, exalted is His mention, revealed: "And when those who believe in Our signs come to you, then say: peace be upon you; your Lord has prescribed mercy upon Himself." He said: Then he called them and recited it to them.
13293 — Al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Mujammiʿ al-Tamīmī, who said: I heard Māhān say — and he mentioned something similar.
Others said: No, by it was intended a people of the believers who had advised the Prophet ﷺ to drive away the people whom Allah had forbidden him to drive away. That was an error on their part, but Allah forgave them that and granted them pardon, and He commanded His Prophet ﷺ that, when they came to him, he should give them the good news that the error had been forgiven them which they had previously committed by advising the Prophet ﷺ to drive away the people whom they had advised him to drive away. That is the statement of ʿIkrima and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd, and we have already mentioned previously the narration concerning that from both of them.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The statement which in my view is most fitting for the interpretation of this verse is the statement of him who said: those who are intended by His word "And when those who believe in Our signs come to you, then say: peace be upon you" are others than those whom Allah forbade the Prophet ﷺ to drive away. For His word "And when those who believe in Our signs come to you" is a newly commenced statement, after the completion of the statement concerning those whom Allah forbade His Prophet ﷺ to drive away. Had they been the same, it would have been said: "And when they come to you, then say: peace be upon you." And in the fact that Allah recommences the statement concerning their case and omits the conjoining of the speech with the statement concerning the first ones, there is an indication that they are others than they.
The interpretation of the statement is then — the matter being as we have described —: And when there come to you, O Muḥammad, the people who hold Our revelation, Our proofs, and Our arguments to be true and who acknowledge them in word and deed, while they seek guidance from you concerning their sins which they previously committed between Me and them — whether there is repentance (tawba) for them therefrom — then do not let them despair of that, and say to them: "Peace be upon you," that is, the safeguarding by Allah for you from your sins, that He would punish you for them after your repentance therefrom = "your Lord has prescribed mercy upon Himself," that is to say: your Lord has decreed mercy for His creation = "namely that whoever of you does evil out of ignorance and then repents thereafter and amends — He is Forgiving, Merciful."
The reciters differed concerning the recitation of this:
The general body of reciters of Medina read it: (annahu man ʿamila minkum sūʾan), placing "anna" in the accusative as an explanatory apposition to "the mercy" = (thumma tāba min baʿdihi wa-aṣlaḥa fa-innahu ghafūrun raḥīm), with "innahu" recommenced after the "fāʾ," so that they read it with a kasra and regard it as a particle that has no syntactic position, with the meaning: then He is, for him, Forgiving, Merciful = or: then for him is forgiveness and mercy.
Some of the Kufans read both with a fatḥa on the "alif" of both, with the meaning: "your Lord has prescribed mercy upon Himself" = and then He explained, by His word "namely that whoever of you does evil out of ignorance," the mercy, (fa-annahu ghafūrun raḥīm), conjoining the second "annahu" with "annahu" upon the first and regarding both as nouns in the accusative, in the manner that I have set forth.
Some of the Meccans and the general body of reciters of Iraq, of Kufa and Basra, read it with a kasra on the "alif" of "innahu" and "innahu," as the beginning of a new sentence, and as being two particles that have no syntactic position.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The recitation which in my view is the most correct is the recitation of him who read them both with the kasra: (kataba rabbukum ʿalā nafsihi al-raḥmata innahu), as the beginning of a new sentence, and because the statement has ended at His word "your Lord has prescribed mercy upon Himself," after which the statement recommences concerning what He, exalted is His mention, will do with whoever did evil out of ignorance and then repented thereafter and amended.
The meaning of His word "namely that whoever of you does evil out of ignorance" is: that whoever of you commits a sin while being ignorant in committing it = and then repents thereafter and amends = "then He is Forgiving" of his sin when he shows repentance and turns to Allah, and returns to acting in obedience to Allah, and refrains from returning to the like of it, with regret over what has escaped him = "Merciful" toward the repentant, that He should punish him for his sin after his repentance therefrom.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning that, a group of the people of interpretation spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
13294 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, on the authority of ʿUthmān, on the authority of Mujāhid: "whoever of you does evil out of ignorance," he said: of him who is ignorant: that he does not know the permitted (ḥalāl) from the forbidden (ḥarām), and out of his ignorance undertakes the matter.
13295 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Abū Khālid related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, the like.
13296 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: "they do evil out of ignorance," he said: whoever commits disobedience to Allah, that is from him ignorance until he returns.
13297 — Al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, he said: Bakr ibn Khunays related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: "whoever of you does evil out of ignorance," he said: everyone who commits an error is ignorant therein.
13298 — Al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, he said: Khālid ibn Dīnār Abū Khalda related to us, he said: When we would enter upon Abū al-ʿĀliya, he would say: "And when those who believe in Our signs come to you, then say: peace be upon you; your Lord has prescribed mercy upon Himself."
