Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:157
Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel, who enjoins upon them what is right and forbids them what is wrong and makes lawful for them the good things and prohibits for them the evil and relieves them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them. So they who have believed in him, honored him, supported him and followed the light which was sent down with him - it is those who will be the successful.
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.
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الرَّسُولَ النَّبِيَّ الأُمِّيَّ الَّذِي يَجِدُونَهُ مَكْتُوبًا عِنْدَهُمْ فِي التَّوْرَاةِ وَالإِنْجِيلِ ("Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet (al-nabī al-ummī), whom they find described with them in the Torah and the Gospel") (7:157).
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: This saying is a clarification from Allah — exalted be His praise — that those whom He had promised His prophet Mūsā — peace be upon him — to record the mercy that He — exalted be His praise — described with His words: وَرَحْمَتِي وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ ("And My mercy encompasses all things"), are the community (ummah) of Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace. For there is no messenger of Allah known to have been described with this attribute — I mean "the unlettered" (al-ummī) — except our Prophet Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace. And thus have the reports of the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) come.
* Mention of who said that:
15214 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿImrān ibn ʿUyaynah related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ ("I will prescribe it for those who fear [Allah]"), he said: the community of Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
15215 — ... he said: Zayd ibn Ḥubāb related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Salamah, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: the community of Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
15216 — Abū Kurayb and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, they said: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, concerning His words: فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ ("I will prescribe it for those who fear"), he said: the community of Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace. And Mūsā — peace be upon him — said: "Would that I had been created among the community of Muḥammad!"
15217 — Ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, they said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ ("I will prescribe it for those who fear"), he said: those who follow Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
15218 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Nawf al-Ḥimyarī, he said: When Mūsā chose seventy men from his people for the meeting with his Lord, Allah said to Mūsā: I will make the earth for you a place of prayer (masjid) and a means of purification, and I will place inner tranquility (sakīna) among you in your houses, and I will make you recite the Torah from memory — the man among you will read it, and the woman, and the free man and the slave, the small and the great. Then Mūsā said to his people: Allah will make the earth for you a means of purification and a place of prayer. They said: We wish only to pray in the synagogues (kanāʾis)! He said: And He will place inner tranquility among you in your houses. They said: We wish only that it remain as it was, in the ark (tābūt)! He said: And He will make you recite the Torah from memory, and the man among you will read it, and the woman, and the free man and the slave, the small and the great. They said: We wish only to read it by looking into it! Then Allah said: فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ ("I will prescribe it for those who fear [Allah] and give the obligatory alms (zakāh)") up to His words: أُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ("they are the ones who succeed").
15219 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, on the authority of Nawf al-Bikālī, he said: When Mūsā set out with the delegation of the Children of Israel, Allah spoke to him and said: I have spread out the earth for them as a means of purification and as places of prayer where they may pray wherever the prayer overtakes them, except at a latrine, a grave, or a bathhouse. And I have placed inner tranquility in their hearts, and I have made them recite the Torah from the memory of their tongues. He said: Mūsā mentioned that to the Children of Israel, and they said: We are not able to bear the inner tranquility in our hearts, so place it for us in an ark, and we read the Torah only by looking into it, and we pray only in the synagogue! Then Allah said: فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ ("I will prescribe it for those who fear and give the zakāh") until He came to أُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ("they are the ones who succeed"). He said: Then Mūsā — peace be upon him — said: O Lord, make me their prophet! He said: Their prophet is from among them! He said: Lord, then make me one of them! He said: You will not reach them! He said: O Lord, I have come to You with the delegation of the Children of Israel, and You have assigned our delegation to others than us! Then Allah revealed: وَمِنْ قَوْمِ مُوسَى أُمَّةٌ يَهْدُونَ بِالْحَقِّ وَبِهِ يَعْدِلُونَ ("And among the people of Mūsā is a community that guides by the truth and acts justly thereby") [Surah Al-Aʿrāf: 159]. — Nawf al-Bikālī said: So praise Allah, who has preserved your absence, and has taken for you your share, and has assigned to you the delegation of the Children of Israel.
15220 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Muʿādh ibn Hishām related to us, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, on the authority of Nawf al-Bikālī, in a similar manner — except that he said: I will send down the Torah upon you, you will read it from the memory of your tongues, your men, your women, and your children. They said: We pray only in a synagogue. Then he mentioned the rest of the report in a similar manner.
15221 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Isḥāq ibn Ismāʿīl related to us, on the authority of Yaʿqūb, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ ("I will prescribe it for those who fear"), he said: the community of Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
15222 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ ("I will prescribe it for those who fear"), he said: these are the community of Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
15223 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: When it was said: فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ بِآيَاتِنَا يُؤْمِنُونَ ("I will prescribe it for those who fear and give the zakāh and for those who believe in Our signs"), the Jews and the Christians longed for it. Then Allah sent down a clear, binding condition and said: "Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet (al-nabī al-ummī)" — and that is your Prophet — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — he was unlettered, he did not write.
* * *
And we have already previously set forth the meaning of "the unlettered" (al-ummī), in a manner that makes repetition unnecessary.
* * *
As for His words: "whom they find described with them in the Torah and the Gospel" — the "hāʾ" [the suffixed pronoun] in His words "whom they find" (yajidūnahu) refers back to "the Messenger," and that is Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — as in the following:
15224 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His words: "Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet" — this is Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
15225 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmar related to us, he said: Fulayḥ related to us, on the authority of Hilāl ibn ʿAlī, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, he said: I met ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr and said: Tell me about the description of the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — in the Torah. He said: Certainly, by Allah, he is described in the Torah just as his description in the Qurʾān: "O Prophet, We have sent you as a witness, as a bearer of glad tidings, and as a warner, and as a protection for the unlettered ones (al-ummiyyīn). You are My servant and My messenger; I have named you al-mutawakkil ('he who relies upon Allah'). He is neither rough, nor harsh, nor clamorous in the marketplaces; he does not repay evil with evil, but he pardons and overlooks. And We will not take him away until We straighten through him the crooked creed, by their saying: 'There is no god but Allah,' and We open through him enveloped hearts, and deaf ears, and blind eyes." ʿAṭāʾ said: Then I met Kaʿb and asked him about that, and they did not differ by a single letter, except that Kaʿb said it in his language: "qulūban ghulūfiyā" (enveloped hearts), "wa-ādhānan ṣumūmiyā" (deaf ears), and "wa-aʿyunan ʿumūmiyā" (blind eyes).
15226 — Abū Kurayb related to me, he said: Mūsā ibn Dāwūd related to us, he said: Fulayḥ ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of Hilāl ibn ʿAlī, he said: ʿAṭāʾ related to me, he said: I met ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, and he mentioned something similar — except that in the words of Kaʿb he said: "aʿyunan ʿumūmā" (blind eyes), "wa-ādhānan ṣumūmā" (deaf ears), and "wa-qulūban ghulūfā" (enveloped hearts).
15227 — ... he said: Mūsā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Salama related to us, on the authority of Hilāl ibn ʿAlī, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh, in a similar manner — but in it the words of Kaʿb are not present.
15228 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, that Allah said: "whom they find described with them" — He says: they find his characteristic, his affair, and his prophethood recorded with them.
* * *
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: يَأْمُرُهُمْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَاهُمْ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْخَبَائِثَ وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِصْرَهُمْ وَالأَغْلالَ الَّتِي كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ ("He commands them what is right and forbids them what is wrong, and he makes lawful for them the good things and forbids them the bad things, and he removes from them their burden and the shackles that were upon them") (7:157).
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The Exalted — whose mention is exalted — says: This unlettered Prophet commands his followers what is right (al-maʿrūf) — and that is belief in Allah and adherence to obedience to Him in what He commanded and forbade; that is "the right" which he commands them — "and he forbids them what is wrong (al-munkar)," and that is the assigning of partners to Allah (shirk) and refraining from what Allah has forbidden them. And His words: "and he makes lawful for them the good things" — that is what the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) used to declare forbidden of the baḥāʾir, the sawāʾib, the waṣāʾil, and the ḥawāmī [certain categories of livestock that the pre-Islamic Arabs would release for the sake of idolatrous customs]. "And he forbids them the bad things (al-khabāʾith)," and that is the flesh of the pig, usury (ribā), and what they declared lawful of the foods and drinks that Allah had forbidden, as in:
15229 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and he forbids them the bad things" — that is the flesh of the pig, usury (ribā), and what they declared lawful of the forbidden foods that Allah had forbidden.
* * *
As for His words: "and he removes from them their burden (iṣr) and the shackles that were upon them" — the people of interpretation have differed over its interpretation.
Some of them said: by "the burden" (al-iṣr) is meant the covenant and the agreement that He had taken from the Children of Israel to act according to what is in the Torah.
* Mention of who said that:
15230 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Jābir ibn Nūḥ related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and he removes from them their burden," he said: their covenant.
15231 — ... he said: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, he said: their covenant.
15232 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, he said: Hushaym informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, the same.
15233 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Mubārak, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: "and he removes from them their burden," he said: the covenants that they had given of their own accord.
15234 — ... he said: Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of Mūsā ibn Qays, on the authority of Mujāhid: "and he removes from them their burden," he said: their covenant.
15235 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "and he removes from them their burden and the shackles that were upon them," he says: he removes from them their covenants and their agreements that were taken from them in the Torah and the Gospel.
15236 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and he removes from them their burden and the shackles that were upon them" — what Allah had taken as an agreement from them concerning what He had forbidden them. He says: he removes that from them.
* * *
And some of them said: by it is meant that he removes from those whom the Prophet of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — follow, the severity that rested upon the Children of Israel in their religion.
* Mention of who said that:
15237 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "and he removes from them their burden and the shackles that were upon them" — then Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — came with remission of that and forgiveness concerning it.
15238 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: al-Ḥimmānī related to us, he said: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd: "and he removes from them their burden," he said: the urine and the like, of that which had been made severe for the Children of Israel.
15239 — ... he said: al-Ḥimmānī related to us, he said: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, he said: the heaviness of the [prescribed] acts.
15240 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Mujāhid said concerning His words: "and he removes from them their burden and the shackles that were upon them," he said: whoever of the People of the Book followed Muḥammad and his religion, from them was removed what severity rested upon them in their religion.
15241 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, he said: Abū Hurayra said to Ibn ʿAbbās: Is there no objection upon us in the religion to commit fornication and to steal? He said: Yes indeed [there is]! But the burden (iṣr) that rested upon the Children of Israel has been removed from you.
15242 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words: "and he removes from them their burden," he said: their burden which He had imposed upon them.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The most correct of the statements about that is that one says: "the burden" (al-iṣr) is the covenant — and we have set that forth conclusively with its proofs in a place other than this — and that the meaning of the words is: the unlettered Prophet removes the covenant that Allah had taken from the Children of Israel, namely the upholding of the Torah and acting according to what is in it of heavy acts, such as the cutting away of the skin because of urine, the prohibition of the spoils of war, and the like of those acts that had been imposed upon them as obligatory; and the ruling of the Qurʾān has abrogated those.
* * *
And as for "the shackles that were upon them" — Ibn Zayd used to say, as in the following:
15243 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, on his authority, concerning His words: "and the shackles that were upon them," he said: "the shackles" — and he recited: غُلَّتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ ("their hands are shackled") [Surah Al-Māʾidah: 64]. He said: those are the shackles. He said: and He called them to believe in the Prophet, so that He might remove that from them.
* * *
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِهِ وَعَزَّرُوهُ وَنَصَرُوهُ وَاتَّبَعُوا النُّورَ الَّذِي أُنْـزِلَ مَعَهُ أُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ (157) ("Those who believe in him, honor him, and support him, and follow the light that was sent down with him — they are the ones who succeed") (7:157).
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The Exalted — whose mention is exalted — says: Those who held the unlettered Prophet to be truthful and acknowledged his prophethood — "and honored him" (ʿazzarūhu), He says: they honored him, magnified him, and protected him against the people, as in:
15244 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and they honored him," he says: they protected and honored him.
15245 — Al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, he said: Mūsā ibn Qays related to me, on the authority of Mujāhid: "and they honored him and supported him" — "they honored him": they set his affair in order and aided his messenger — "and they supported him."
* * *
And His words: "they supported him" (naṣarūhu), He says: they helped him against the enemies of Allah and his enemies, by their jihād and by waging war against them — "and they followed the light that was sent down with him," by which the Qurʾān and Islam are meant — "they are the ones who succeed," He says: those who perform these deeds with which He — exalted be His praise — described the followers of Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — they are the successful ones who attain what they sought and hoped for through that action of theirs.
15246 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: They — namely the Jews — held nothing against [him] except that they envied the Prophet of Allah, so Allah said: "Those who believe in him, honor him, and support him." As for his support and his honoring, in those you have preceded [others]; but the best of you are those who believed in Allah and followed the light that was sent down with him.
* * *
Qatāda means by his words "They held nothing against [him] except that they envied the Prophet of Allah": that Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — with what he brought from Allah, was a mercy for the Jews, had they followed him, for he came with the removal of the burden and the shackles from them; but envy drove them to disbelief in him and to refraining from accepting the relief [of their burdens], because of the predominance of Allah's forsaking (khidhlān) over them.
