Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:30
The Jews say, "Ezra is the son of Allah "; and the Christians say, "The Messiah is the son of Allah." That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved [before them]. May Allah destroy them; how are they deluded?
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 the words of Allah, the Exalted: وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ عُزَيْرٌ ابْنُ اللَّهِ وَقَالَتِ النَّصَارَى الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ اللَّهِ ذَلِكَ قَوْلُهُمْ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ يُضَاهِئُونَ قَوْلَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ قَاتَلَهُمُ اللَّهُ أَنَّى يُؤْفَكُونَ (And the Jews said: "ʿUzayr is the son of Allah", and the Christians said: "The Masīḥ (Messiah) is the son of Allah." That is their word with their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before. May Allah destroy them! How are they turned away!) (9:30).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The scholars of exegesis differed concerning who it was that said: (ʿUzayr is the son of Allah).
Some of them said: that was a single man, namely Finḥāṣ.
* Mention of who said that:
16619 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr regarding His words: (And the Jews said: "ʿUzayr is the son of Allah"), he said: a single man said it. They said: his name is Finḥāṣ. And they said: he is the one who said: إِنَّ اللَّهَ فَقِيرٌ وَنَحْنُ أَغْنِيَاءُ (Indeed, Allah is poor and we are rich) [Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: 181].
And others said: rather, that was the saying of a group of them.
* Mention of who said that:
16620 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the client (mawlā) of Zayd ibn Thābit, related to me, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr — or ʿIkrima — related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: To the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came Salām ibn Mishkam, Nuʿmān ibn Awfā, Shaʾs ibn Qays and Mālik ibn al-Ṣayf, and they said: how can we follow you, when you have abandoned our prayer direction (qibla), and when you do not claim that ʿUzayr is the son of Allah? Thereupon Allah revealed concerning their saying: (And the Jews said: "ʿUzayr is the son of Allah", and the Christians said: "The Masīḥ is the son of Allah"), up to: (How are they turned away!).
16621 - 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, regarding His words: (And the Jews said: "ʿUzayr is the son of Allah"). They only said: he is the son of Allah, because ʿUzayr was among the People of the Book, and the Torah was with them, and they acted upon it as Allah willed that they should act upon it. Then they let it be lost and acted upon something other than the truth, while the ark (al-tābūt) was among them. When Allah saw that they had neglected the Torah and acted according to their desires, Allah took the ark away from them, made them forget the Torah, and erased it from their breasts. And Allah sent upon them an illness, so that their bellies opened up (they were stricken with diarrhea), until a man would walk while his liver (flowed out of him), until they forgot the Torah and it was erased from their breasts; and among them was ʿUzayr. Thus they remained as long as Allah willed that they remain, after the Torah had been erased from their breasts. ʿUzayr had formerly been among their scholars, and ʿUzayr called upon Allah and supplicated Him fervently that He restore to him what had been erased from his breast of the Torah. And while he was supplicating to Allah, beseeching fervently, a light from Allah descended which entered into his inner being, and that which had vanished from his inner being of the Torah returned to him. Then he proclaimed among his people and said: O people, Allah has given me the Torah and restored it to me! Thus he held fast to them and taught them. So they remained as long as Allah willed, while he was teaching them. Then the ark descended, after that (all) and after its disappearance from them. When they saw the ark, they compared what was in it with what ʿUzayr had taught them, and they found it equal to it, and they said: by Allah, ʿUzayr has only been given this because he is the son of Allah.
16622 - 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 the Jews said: "ʿUzayr is the son of Allah"). They said that only because the Amalekites gained the upper hand over them and killed them, and took away the Torah. The scholars who remained departed, and they had buried the books of the Torah in the mountains. ʿUzayr was a youth who devoted himself to religion upon the peaks of the mountains; he would come down only on the day of a festival. Then the youth began to weep and said: "Lord, You have left the Children of Israel without a scholar!" And he kept weeping incessantly, until the lashes of his eyes fell out. On one occasion he came down for the festival, and when he returned, behold, there was a woman who appeared before him at one of those graves, weeping and saying: O my feeder! O my clother! He said to her: woe to you, who fed you, or clothed you, or gave you drink, or brought you benefit, before this man? She said: Allah! He said: then Allah is living, He has not died! She said: O ʿUzayr, then who taught the scholars before the Children of Israel? He said: Allah! She said: then why do you weep over them? When he realized that he was defeated in the dispute, he turned away and left. But she called him and said: O ʿUzayr, when you rise tomorrow morning, go to such and such a river and wash yourself in it, then come out and perform two units of prayer (rakʿa), for an old man will come to you; whatever he gives you, accept it. When it became morning, ʿUzayr went to that river, washed himself in it, then came out and performed two rakʿa. Then the old man came to him and said: open your mouth! He opened his mouth, and he cast into it something like a great glowing coal, compacted like a glass flask, three times. Thereupon ʿUzayr returned while he was the most knowledgeable of people concerning the Torah, and he said: O Children of Israel, I have come to you with the Torah! They said: O ʿUzayr, you have never been a liar! Then he proceeded to bind a pen to each of his fingers, and he wrote with all his fingers, and he wrote the entire Torah. When the scholars returned, they were informed about the affair of ʿUzayr, and those scholars brought out their books which they had buried of the Torah in the mountains — which were buried in jars — and they compared them with the Torah of ʿUzayr, and they found it equal to it, and they said: Allah has only given you this because you are His son!
* * *
The reciters differed concerning the recitation of this.
The majority of the reciters of the people of Medina, and some of the Meccans and the Kūfans, recited it: "Wa-qālat al-yahūdu ʿUzayru-bnu-llāh", without giving "ʿUzayr" tanwīn (nunation).
* * *
And some of the Meccans and the Kūfans recited it: (ʿUzayrun-bnu-llāh), with tanwīn of "ʿUzayrun". He said: it is a declinable name, even though it is non-Arabic (aʿjamī), because of its lightness (in sound). Moreover, it is not related to Allah, so that it is equivalent to the saying of one who says: "Zayd ibn ʿAbd Allāh", and one places "the son" (al-ibn) in the position of the predicate. If it were related to Allah, then the correct (form) in that case — when "the son" is the predicate — would be the declension and the tanwīn; how much more so, then, while it is ascribed to one other than his father.
As for the one who omitted the tanwīn of "ʿUzayr": since the bāʾ of "ibn" was quiescent (sukūn), together with the quiescent tanwīn, two quiescent (consonants) met each other, and therefore one omitted the first of the two because of the heaviness of vocalizing it. The rajaz poet said:
"You will find me dutiful toward the emir, and thrusting and charging with the lance, when Ghuṭayf the Sulamite flees."
Thus he omitted the nūn because of the quiescent (consonant) that followed it.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The more correct of the two recitations in this is the recitation of him who read it: (ʿUzayrun-bnu-llāh), with tanwīn of "ʿUzayr", for the Arabs do not give names tanwīn when "the son" is an attributive qualifier (naʿt) of the name, [but they do give it tanwīn when it is a predicate], such as their saying: "This is Zaydun-bnu ʿAbd Allāh", whereby they intend to report about "Zayd" that he is "the son of ʿAbd Allāh", and they do not intend to make "the son" an attributive qualifier of it. And "the son" in this place is a predicate of "ʿUzayr", for those whom Allah has mentioned as saying that, were only reporting about "ʿUzayr" that he was so — even though they were, by that saying of theirs, liars against Allah and fabricators (of lies).
* * *
(And the Christians said: "The Masīḥ is the son of Allah." That is their word with their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before). He means the saying of the Jews: (ʿUzayr is the son of Allah). He says: the saying of these (the Christians) resembles — in the lie against Allah, the calumny against Him, and their ascribing of the Masīḥ as being a son to Allah — the lie of the Jews and their fabrication against Allah in their ascribing of ʿUzayr as being a son to Allah. And it is not fitting that Allah should have a child, glory be to Him; rather, to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and on the earth, all are submissive to Him.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the scholars of exegesis have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
16623 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, regarding His words: (they imitate — yuḍāhiʾūna — the saying of those who disbelieved before), he says: they make (their saying) equal to it.
16624 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, regarding His words: (they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before), the Christians imitated the saying of the Jews before them.
16625 - 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: (they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before), the Christians imitate the saying of the Jews concerning "ʿUzayr".
16626 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: (they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before), he says: the Christians imitate the saying of the Jews.
16627 - 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, regarding His words: (they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before), he says: they said the same as what the idolaters said.
* * *
And it has been said: the meaning of it is: they imitate with their saying the saying of the idolaters, who said: اللاتَ وَالْعُزَّى * وَمَنَاةَ الثَّالِثَةَ الأُخْرَى (al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā * and Manāt, the third, the other).
* * *
The reciters differed concerning the recitation of this.
The majority of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and Iraq recited it: (yuḍāhūna), without hamza.
* * *
And ʿĀṣim recited it: (yuḍāhiʾūna), with the hamza, and that is a dialect of (the tribe of) Thaqīf.
* * *
Both are dialects; one says: "I made it equal to that (ḍāhaytuhu ʿalā kadhā uḍāhīhi muḍāhāt)" and "I assisted him in that (ḍāhaʾtuhu ʿalayhi muḍāhaʾa)", when one supported and aided him in it.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct (form) of the recitation in this is the omission of the hamza, for that is the widespread recitation among the reciters of the regions, and the most eloquent dialect.
* * *
As for His words: (May Allah destroy them — qātalahum Allāh), the meaning of it is, according to what has been transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, the following:-
16628 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, regarding His words: (May Allah destroy them), he says: may Allah curse them. And everything in the Qurʾān that is "qatl" (killing), that is (in reality) cursing.
* * *
And Ibn Jurayj said concerning it the following:-
16629 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, regarding His words: (May Allah destroy them), he means the Christians, it is a word from the language of the Arabs.
* * *
As for the experts in the language of the Arabs, they say: the meaning of it is: may Allah kill them. And the Arabs say: "Qātaʿaka Allāh" and "qātaʿahā Allāh", in the meaning of: may Allah destroy you. They said: and "qātaʿaka Allāh" is milder than "qātalahu Allāh".
And they have mentioned that they say: "Shāqāhu Allāh mā tāqāhu", by which they mean: may Allah make him wretched as long as he remains.
They said: and the meaning of His words: (May Allah destroy them) is like His words: قُتِلَ الْخَرَّاصُونَ (May the liars be destroyed) [Sūrat al-Dhāriyāt: 10], and قُتِلَ أَصْحَابُ الأُخْدُودِ (Cursed were the people of the trench) [Sūrat al-Burūj: 4] — it is one and the same, it has the meaning of wonder.
* * *
If it is as they said, then it belongs to the rare expressions that have come contrary to the rule (qiyās), for the form "fāʿalat" hardly occurs as a verb except from two (parties), such as their saying: "I disputed with a certain person (khāṣamtu fulānan)" and "I fought him (qātaltuhu)" and the like. And they have claimed that their saying: "ʿĀfāka Allāh" (may Allah grant you wellbeing) belongs to this, and that the meaning of it is: may Allah preserve you (aʿfāka Allāh), in the meaning of supplication for the one one calls upon, that He should preserve him from evil.
* * *
And His words: (How are they turned away — annā yuʾfakūna), He says: which direction are they driven, and turned away? And how are they kept away from the truth? And we have already expounded that previously with its evidentiary proofs.
