Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:89
Those are the ones to whom We gave the Scripture and authority and prophethood. But if the disbelievers deny it, then We have entrusted it to a people who are not therein disbelievers.
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: أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحُكْمَ وَالنُّبُوَّةَ ("These are they to whom We gave the Book, the wisdom, and the prophethood" (6:89)).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — exalted be His mention — means by His word "These are": these whom We have named of His prophets and messengers — Nūḥ and his progeny whom He guided to the religion of Islam and chose for His mission to His creatures — they are "they to whom We gave the Book," by which He means: the scrolls of Ibrāhīm and Mūsā, the psalter (zabūr) of Dāwūd, and the Gospel of ʿĪsā, the blessings of Allah be upon them all; "and the wisdom (al-ḥukm)," by which He means: the understanding of the Book and the knowledge of the rulings (aḥkām) it contains. And concerning this, the following has been related on the authority of Mujāhid:
13518 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Abān related to us, saying: Mālik ibn Shaddād related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid: "and the wisdom and the prophethood," he said: "the wisdom (al-ḥukm)," that is the intellect (al-lubb).
And by that Mujāhid meant, if Allah wills, what I have said, for "the intellect (al-lubb)" is "the understanding (al-ʿaql)." It is as though he meant: that Allah granted them understanding by means of the Book, and this has the meaning of what we have said, namely that it is the understanding of it.
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And we have already previously explained the meaning of "the prophethood (al-nubuwwa)" and "the wisdom (al-ḥukm)" with their attestations, so that this absolves us from repeating it.
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The explanation of His word: فَإِنْ يَكْفُرْ بِهَا هَؤُلاءِ فَقَدْ وَكَّلْنَا بِهَا قَوْمًا لَيْسُوا بِهَا بِكَافِرِينَ (89) ("And if these disbelieve in it, then We have already entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers in it" (6:89)).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — exalted be His mention — says: and if, O Muḥammad, these polytheists who ascribe partners to their Lord disbelieve in the verses of My Book which I have sent down to you, and reject them, as in the following:
13519 — ʿAlī ibn Dāwūd related to me, saying: Abū 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: "And if these disbelieve in it," he says: if they disbelieve in the Qurʾān.
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Then the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning who is meant by "these."
Some of them said: by it the disbelievers of Quraysh are meant; and by His word "then We have already entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers in it" the Anṣār are meant.
* Mention of those who said that:
13520 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sulaymān related to us, saying: Abū Hilāl related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the word of Allah — exalted be His mention —: "And if these disbelieve in it," he said: the people of Mecca; "then We have already entrusted it to (a people)," the people of Medina.
13521 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAbda ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "then We have already entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers in it," he said: the Anṣār.
13522 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mughrāʾ related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "And if these disbelieve in it," he said: if the people of Mecca disbelieve in it; "then We have already entrusted it to (a people)," the people of Medina, the Anṣār; "who are not disbelievers in it."
13523 — 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 if these disbelieve in it," he says: if Quraysh disbelieve in it; "then We have already entrusted it to (a people)," the Anṣār.
13524 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: "And if these disbelieve in it," the people of Mecca; "then We have already entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers in it," the people of Medina.
13525 — 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 if these disbelieve in it, then We have already entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers in it," he said: the people of Medina had taken up the dwelling (the abode) and the faith before the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace (the Prophet ﷺ), arrived among them. Then when Allah sent down the verses upon them, the people of Mecca rejected them. So Allah — exalted be His mention — said: "And if these disbelieve in it, then We have already entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers in it." ʿAṭiyya said: and I did not hear this from Ibn ʿAbbās, but I heard it from someone other than him.
13526 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "And if these disbelieve in it," he means the people of Mecca. He says: if they disbelieve in the Qurʾān; "then We have already entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers in it," he means the people of Medina and the Anṣār.
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And others said: the meaning of it is: if the people of Mecca disbelieve in it, then We have already entrusted it to the angels.
* Mention of those who said that:
13527 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ: "And if these disbelieve in it, then We have already entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers in it," he said: they are the angels.
13528 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar and Ibn Abī ʿAdī and ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, the like of it.
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And others said: by His word "And if these disbelieve in it" He meant Quraysh; and by His word "then We have already entrusted it to a people" (He meant) the prophets whom He named in the verses that preceded this verse.
* Mention of those who said that:
13529 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his word: "And if these disbelieve in it," he means the people of Mecca; "then We have already entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers in it," and they are the eighteen prophets concerning whom Allah said: أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ هَدَى اللَّهُ فَبِهُدَاهُمُ اقْتَدِهِ ("These are they whom Allah has guided; so follow their guidance" (6:90)).
13530 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: "And if these disbelieve in it," he said: he means the people of Muḥammad. Then he said: "then We have already entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers in it," he means: the prophets whose accounts He related before this verse. Then he said: "These are they whom Allah has guided; so follow their guidance."
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of these statements in the interpretation of it is the statement of him who said: by His word "And if these disbelieve in it" the disbelievers of Quraysh are meant; "then We have already entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers in it" — by it the eighteen prophets are meant whom Allah — exalted be His mention — named in the verses before this verse. And that is because the report in the verses before it has passed concerning them, and in the verse after it mention is made of them; so that which lies between has more claim to be a report about them than a report about others than them.
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The explanation of the word, when it is so: if your people of Quraysh, O Muḥammad, disbelieve in Our verses, and reject them and repudiate their truth, then We have caused them to be preserved and entrusted the upholding of them to Our messengers and Our prophets before you, who do not reject their truth nor declare them false, but rather deem them trustworthy and believe in their correctness.
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And some of them have said: the meaning of His word "then We have already entrusted it to a people" is: We have favored a people with it.
