Tanwīr al-miqbās min tafsīr Ibn ʿAbbās, by attributed to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās; compiled by Majd al-Dīn al-Fīrūzābādī (d. compiler d. 817 AH / 1414 CE). A running gloss, phrase by phrase, transmitted under the name of the Prophet’s cousin Ibn ʿAbbās through a chain (al-Kalbī from Abū Ṣāliḥ) that Muslim scholars have long judged weak; it is read as a witness to early Kufan exegesis rather than as Ibn ʿAbbās’s own words.
The complete commentary on Neither killed nor crucified (4:155-159), covering 4:155-159.
On 4:155-159
4:155. So for their breaking: so because of their breaking; of their covenant: We did to them what We did; and their disbelief in the signs of God: and for their disbelief in Muḥammad and the Qur’an, the poll-tax (jizya) was imposed upon them; and their killing: and for their killing; of the prophets without right: without any crime, We destroyed them; and their saying: and for their saying; Our hearts are wrapped: receptacles for every knowledge, yet they do not take in your speech and your knowledge; rather, God has set a seal upon them: rather, it is not as they said, but God has sealed their hearts; for their disbelief: in Muḥammad and the Qur’an; so they do not believe: in Muḥammad and the Qur’an; except a few: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām and his companions.
4:156. And for their disbelief: in Jesus and the Gospel; and their saying: and for their saying; against Mary a tremendous calumny: and that is the false accusation; We made them swine.
4:157. And their saying: and for their saying; Indeed we killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God: God destroyed their companion Ṭaṭyānūs1; and they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it was made to appear so to them: the likeness of Jesus was cast upon Ṭaṭyānūs, and they killed him in place of Jesus; and indeed those who differ concerning him: concerning his killing; are in doubt about it: about his killing; they have no: concerning his killing; knowledge of it, except the following of conjecture: and not even conjecture; and they did not kill him for certain: that is, for certain they did not kill him.
4:158. Rather, God raised him up to Himself: to heaven; and God is Mighty: in vengeance upon His enemies; Wise: in granting victory to His friends: He saved His prophet and destroyed their companion.
4:159. And there is none of: and there is not of; the People of the Book: the Jews and the Christians, anyone; but will surely believe in him: in Jesus, that he was not a sorcerer, nor God, nor His son, nor His partner; before his death: before his soul departs, after the descent of Jesus; then he dies after every Jew who is alive in their time; and on the Day of Resurrection he will be: Jesus; a witness against them: to the conveying of the message.
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of Tanwīr al-miqbās min tafsīr Ibn ʿAbbās on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (shamela.ws, book 12877). 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 given in this commentary to the man upon whom the likeness of Jesus was cast and who was killed in his place; it is spelt variously in the manuscripts (Ṭaṭyānūs, Qaṭyānūs). ↩