Maʿālim al-tanzīl, by Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn ibn Masʿūd al-Baghawī (d. 516 AH / 1122 CE). A commentary of the school of ḥadīth, valued for its restraint; it keeps the early reports and little else.
The complete commentary on Neither killed nor crucified (4:155-159), covering 4:155-157 to 4:158-159.
On 4:155-157
His words, Exalted: And We raised over them the Mount for their covenant, and We said to them, “Enter the gate prostrating,” and We said to them, “Do not transgress on the Sabbath” (4:154). The people of Medina read with the dāl doubled and the ʿayn given fatḥa (taʿaddū), Nāfiʿ in the transmission of Warsh, while the others read it with the ʿayn unvowelled (taʿdū). Its meaning is: do not transgress and do not do wrong by catching fish on it. And We took from them a solemn covenant.
His words, Exalted: So for their breaking of their covenant (4:155), that is, because of their breaking it; mā is a connective particle, as in His words, Exalted: So by mercy from God (fa-bimā raḥmatin, 3:159), and the like. And their disbelief in the signs of God, and their killing of the prophets without right, and their saying, “Our hearts are wrapped.” Rather, God has sealed them because of their disbelief, that is, set a seal upon them, so they do not believe except a few, meaning of those who denied the messengers, not of those whose hearts were sealed, because whoever God has sealed his heart never believes. By “a few” He meant ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām and his companions. And it was said: its meaning is, they do not believe, neither a little nor much.
And for their disbelief and their uttering against Mary a tremendous slander (4:156), when they accused her of fornication.
And their saying, “Indeed we killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God.” But they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him (4:157).
That is because God, Exalted, cast the likeness of Jesus (peace be upon him) upon the one who led the Jews to him. And it was said: they confined Jesus (peace be upon him) in a house and set a guard over him, and God, Exalted, cast the likeness of Jesus (peace be upon him) upon the guard, and they killed him. And other things were said, as we mentioned in Sūrat Āl ʿImrān.
His words, Blessed and Exalted: And indeed those who differed over him, over his killing, are in doubt about it, that is, about his killing. Al-Kalbī said: their differing over him is that the Jews said “we killed him”, and a party of the Christians said “we killed him”, while a party of them said “neither these nor those killed him; rather, God raised him up to heaven while we were looking at him”. And it was said: God, Exalted, had cast the likeness of the face of Jesus (peace be upon him) upon the face of Ṣaṭyāfūs1, but had not cast it upon his body, so they differed over him: some of them said “we killed Jesus, for the face is the face of Jesus (peace be upon him)”, and some of them said “we did not kill him, because his body is not the body of Jesus (peace be upon him)”; so they differed. Al-Suddī said: their differing arose from their saying: “If this is Jesus, then where is our companion? And if this is our companion, then where is Jesus?” God, Exalted, said: They have no knowledge of it, of the reality of whether he was killed or not killed, except the following of conjecture; rather, they follow conjecture regarding his killing. God, Majestic is His majesty, said: and they did not kill him for certain, that is, they did not kill Jesus for certain.
On 4:158-159
Rather, God raised him up to Himself (4:158). And it was said: His word “for certain” refers to what follows it, and His words and they did not kill him are a complete statement, the implicit form being: rather, God raised him up to Himself for certain. The pronoun in “they did not kill him” refers to Jesus (peace be upon him). Al-Farrāʾ (may God have mercy on him) said: its meaning is, they did not kill for certain the one they supposed to be Jesus. It is related from Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both) that its meaning is: they did not kill their conjecture with certainty2. And God is Almighty, unassailable in taking vengeance on the Jews, All-Wise: He decreed the curse and wrath upon them, and set over them Ṭīṭūs son of Isbisyānūs the Roman (Titus son of Vespasian), who wrought great slaughter among them.
His words, Exalted: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159), that is, there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in Jesus (peace be upon him). This is the view of most of the commentators and the people of knowledge. As for His words before his death, they differed over this pronoun. ʿIkrima, Mujāhid, al-Ḍaḥḥāk and al-Suddī said: it is a pronoun referring to the person of the People of the Book, and its meaning is: there is no one of the People of the Book but will surely believe in Jesus (peace be upon him) before his own death, when he falls into distress, at the time when his faith will not benefit him, whether he burns or drowns or falls into a well or a wall collapses upon him or a wild beast devours him or he dies suddenly. This is a report from Abū Ṭalḥa, from Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them). He said: It was said to Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both): “What if he falls from the top of a house?” He said: “He speaks it in the air.” He said: It was said: “What if the neck of one of them is struck off?” He said: “His tongue stammers it out.”
A group held that the pronoun in “his death” refers to Jesus (peace be upon him), its meaning being: there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in Jesus before the death of Jesus (peace be upon him), and that is at his descent from heaven at the end of time, when no one will remain but will believe in him, until the religious community becomes one, the community of Islam.
We have related from Abū Hurayra (may God be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “The son of Mary is about to descend among you as a just judge: he will break the cross, kill the swine and abolish the poll-tax, and wealth will overflow until no one accepts it; in his time all the religious communities will perish except Islam; and he will kill the Dajjāl, then remain on the earth forty years, then he will die, and the Muslims will pray over him.” Abū Hurayra said: Recite if you wish: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death—before the death of Jesus son of Mary. Then Abū Hurayra would repeat it three times.
It is related from ʿIkrima that the pronoun in His words will surely believe in him refers to Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him); he says: no person of the People of the Book dies until he believes in Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
And it was said: it refers back to God, Mighty and Majestic; He says: there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in God, Mighty and Majestic, before his death, at the moment of seeing with his own eyes, when his faith will not benefit him.
His words, Exalted: And on the Day of Resurrection he will be, meaning Jesus (peace be upon him), a witness against them, that he conveyed to them the message of his Lord and acknowledged servanthood for himself, as He, Exalted, said, informing of him: and I was a witness over them as long as I was among them (5:117). Every prophet is a witness over his community; God, Exalted, said: So how will it be when We bring from every community a witness, and We bring you as a witness against these? (4:41).
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of Maʿālim al-tanzīl on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=baghawi). Nothing is abridged: every opinion, every report with its chain of transmission, every verse of poetry and every grammatical note is translated. Qur’anic quotations are in bold; the translator’s own notes are confined to the numbered footnotes and identify names, terms and variant readings only. A second translator has not checked the rendering, and the Arabic is linked so that any passage can be compared. The modern editors’ apparatus is not part of the classical text and is not translated.
Neither killed nor crucified (4:155-159): all commentaries · The classical commentaries
Notes
- The name of the man crucified in Jesus’s place is given in various forms in the sources; above, in the commentary on 3:54, he is called Ṭaṭyānūs. ↩
- That is, they did not put their conjecture to death by attaining certain knowledge; the Arabs say “he killed a thing with knowledge” meaning he knew it thoroughly. ↩