Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:31
They have taken their scholars and monks as lords besides Allah, and [also] the Messiah, the son of Mary. And they were not commanded except to worship one God; there is no deity except Him. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Him.
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: اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَالْمَسِيحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلا لِيَعْبُدُوا إِلَهًا وَاحِدًا لا إِلَهَ إِلا هُوَ سُبْحَانَهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ (9:31) (They have taken their scholars (aḥbār) and their monks as lords besides Allah, and also the Messiah, the son of Mary, while they were only commanded to worship one God — there is no god but He. Glory be to Him, exalted above what they associate with Him.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted in praise says: The Jews have taken their scholars (aḥbār) as lords, and they are the learned ones.
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I have already set forth the explanation of that, with its proofs, earlier in this book of ours. The singular of it is "ḥabr" and "ḥibr," with a kasra under the ḥāʾ and with a fatḥa above it.
Yūnus al-Jarmī claimed, according to what has been related from him, that he had only heard it as "ḥibr" with a kasra under the ḥāʾ, and he relied in that upon the saying of the people: "this is the ink (midād) of a ḥibr," by which is meant: the ink of a scholar.
And al-Farrāʾ mentioned that he had heard it as "ḥibran" and as "ḥabran," with a kasra under the ḥāʾ and with a fatḥa above it.
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= And the Christians have taken "their monks" (ruhbān) [as lords], and they are the inhabitants of the hermitages and those among them who exert themselves in their religion, as in:
16630- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Salama, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: (they have taken their scholars and their monks), he said: their reciters and their learned ones.
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= (as lords besides Allah), that is to say: as masters for them besides Allah, whom they obey in disobedience to Allah, so that they permit what these have permitted them of what Allah had forbidden them, and forbid what these have forbidden them of what Allah had permitted them, as in:
16631- Al-Ḥusayn ibn Yazīd al-Ṭaḥḥān related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Ḥarb al-Mulāʾī related to us, on the authority of Ghaṭīf ibn Aʿyan, on the authority of Muṣʿab ibn Saʿd, on the authority of ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim, who said: I came to the Prophet ﷺ while he was reciting in "Sūrat Barāʾa": (they have taken their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah), and he said: "Truly, they did not worship them, but they permitted things for them and they then regarded them as permitted."
16632- Abū Kurayb and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them saying: Mālik ibn Ismāʿīl related to us = and Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us = all together, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Ḥarb, saying: Ghaṭīf ibn Aʿyan related to us, on the authority of Muṣʿab ibn Saʿd, on the authority of ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim, who said: I came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while around my neck there hung a cross of gold, and he said: O ʿAdī, cast off this idol from your neck! He said: So I cast it off, and I came to him while he was reciting in "Sūrat Barāʾa," and he recited this verse: (they have taken their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah). He said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, we do not worship them! Then he said: Do they not forbid what Allah has permitted, and do you then also forbid it, and do they not permit what Allah has forbidden, and do you then also permit it? He said: I said: Yes indeed! He said: That, then, is your worship of them! = and the wording is that of the narration of Abū Kurayb.
16633- Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī related to me, saying: Baqiyya related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Ḥarb al-Nahdī, on the authority of Ghuḍayf, on the authority of Muṣʿab ibn Saʿd, on the authority of ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ reciting "Sūrat Barāʾa," and when he recited: (they have taken their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah), I said: O Messenger of Allah, truly, they did not perform prayer to them! He said: You speak the truth, but they permitted for them what Allah had forbidden and they then regarded it as permitted, and they forbade what Allah had permitted them and they then regarded it as forbidden.
16634- Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, on the authority of Abī al-Bakhtarī, on the authority of Ḥudhayfa: that he was asked about His word: (they have taken their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah), did they then worship them? He said: No, but when they permitted them something, they regarded it as permitted, and when they forbade them something, they regarded it as forbidden.
16635- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥabīb, on the authority of Abī al-Bakhtarī, who said: It was said to Abū Ḥudhayfa, and he mentioned something similar = except that he said: but they permitted for them the forbidden and they regarded it as permitted, and they forbade for them the permitted and they regarded it as forbidden.
16636- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, on the authority of al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Ḥabīb, on the authority of Abī al-Bakhtarī, who said: It was said to Ḥudhayfa: What do you think of the word of Allah: (they have taken their scholars)? He said: Truly, they did not fast for them and did not pray to them, but when they permitted them something, they regarded it as permitted, and when they forbade them something that Allah had permitted them, they forbade it. That, then, was their lordship (rubūbiyya).
16637- ...... he said: Jarīr and Ibn Faḍīl related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Abī al-Bakhtarī: (they have taken their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah), he said: They went to what Allah had permitted and made it forbidden, and they went to what Allah had forbidden and made it permitted, and they obeyed them in that. Thus Allah made their obedience to them their worship of them. And even if these had said to them: "Worship us," they would not have done it.
16638- Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, on the authority of Abī al-Bakhtarī, who said: A man asked Ḥudhayfa and said: O Abū ʿAbd Allah, what do you think of His word: (they have taken their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah), did they then worship them? He said: No, but when they permitted them something, they regarded it as permitted, and when they forbade them something, they regarded it as forbidden.
16639- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: (they have taken their scholars and their monks as lords), he said: in obedience.
16640- 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, his word: (they have taken their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah), he says: they made obedience to them seem fair to them.
16641- 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 have taken their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah), ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās said: They did not command them to prostrate to them, but they commanded them disobedience to Allah, and they obeyed them, and therefore Allah called them lords.
16642- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of Abī Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abī al-ʿĀliya: (they have taken their scholars and their monks as lords), he said: I said to Abū al-ʿĀliya: How was the lordship (rubūbiyya) that existed among the Children of Israel? He said: [they reproached our scholars with nothing that had passed] "what they commanded us, we obeyed, and from what they restrained us, we abstained, on the basis of their word," while they found in the Book of Allah what was commanded them and what was forbidden them; but they sought the counsel of the men and cast the Book of Allah behind their backs.
16643- Bishr ibn Suwayd related to me, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Abī al-Bakhtarī, on the authority of Ḥudhayfa: (they have taken their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah), he said: They did not worship them, but they obeyed them in the acts of disobedience.
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And as for His word: (and the Messiah, the son of Mary), its meaning is: they have taken their scholars and their monks and the Messiah, the son of Mary, as lords besides Allah.
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And as for His word: (while they were only commanded to worship one God), by it is meant: and these Jews and Christians who had taken the scholars, the monks, and the Messiah as lords, were commanded nothing other than that they should worship one Object of worship, and that they should obey only one Lord and not several lords — and that is Allah, to whom belongs the worship of all things and the obedience of all creatures, He who deserves that His entire creation should submit to Him in oneness and lordship = "there is no god but He," the Exalted in mention says: divinity belongs to none but the One, who has commanded the creation to worship Him and whose obedience is binding upon all servants = (Glory be to Him, exalted above what they associate with Him), he says: an exaltation and a purification of Allah above what they associate with Him in His obedience and His lordship, they who say: عُزَيْرٌ ابْنُ اللَّهِ (ʿUzayr is the son of Allah), and they who say: الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ اللَّهِ (the Messiah is the son of Allah), who have taken their scholars as lords besides Allah.
