al-Durr al-manthūr fī al-tafsīr bi-l-maʾthūr, by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 911 AH / 1505 CE). Al-Suyūṭī’s collection of every transmitted report on each verse, drawn from the ḥadīth collections and the early commentaries, many of them otherwise lost.
The complete commentary on Neither killed nor crucified (4:155-159), covering 4:155-156 to 4:159.
On 4:155-156
His words, Exalted: The People of the Book ask you (4:153), the verses.
Ibn Jarīr recorded from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, who said: Some people of the Jews came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: “Moses brought us the tablets from God; so bring us tablets from God, that we may believe you.” So God sent down: The People of the Book ask you to bring down to them a book from heaven (4:153), up to His words: and their uttering against Mary a monstrous calumny (4:156).
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Ibn Jurayj concerning the verse. He said: The Jews and the Christians said to Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him): “We will never pledge allegiance to you on what you call us to until you bring us a book from God: from God to so-and-so, that you are the Messenger of God; and to so-and-so, that you are the Messenger of God.” So God sent down: The People of the Book ask you (4:153), the verse.
Ibn Jarīr recorded from al-Suddī concerning the verse. He said: The Jews said: “If you are truthful that you are the Messenger of God, then bring us a book written from heaven, as Moses brought it.”
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Qatādah concerning His words: to bring down to them a book from heaven (4:153), that is, a book for them in particular; and concerning His words: openly (4:153), that is, in plain sight.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: and they said: Show us God openly (4:153). He said: Had they seen Him, they would simply have seen Him; what they said, openly, was: “Show us God.” He said: it is a case of what is placed first belonging later and what is placed later belonging first (muqaddam wa-muʾakhkhar)1.
Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb that he recited: so the thunderbolt (al-ṣaʿqah) seized them2.
Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Ibn Jurayj concerning His words: so the thunderbolt seized them (4:153). He said: Death; God made them die before their appointed terms, as a punishment for what they said, for as long as God willed to keep them dead; then He raised them up.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Qatādah: and We raised the Mount above them (4:154). He said: a mountain at whose foot they were; God lifted it and set it above them as though it were a canopy, and said: “You shall take My command, or I shall cast it upon you.” They said: “We take it.” So God held it back from them.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Qatādah concerning His words: and We said to them: Enter the gate prostrating (4:154). He said: We used to be told that it was one of the gates of Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis). And We said to them: Do not transgress on the Sabbath (4:154). He said: He commanded the people not to eat fish on the Sabbath day and not to interfere with them, and whatever was besides that was made lawful to them. And concerning His words: So for their breaking (4:155), He says: for their breaking of their covenant; and their saying: Our hearts are wrapped (4:155), that is, they do not understand; rather God has set a seal upon them (4:155), He says: when the people abandoned God’s command, killed His messengers, disbelieved in His signs and broke the covenant that was upon them, God set a seal upon their hearts and cursed them when they did that.
Al-Bazzār, and al-Bayhaqī in al-Shuʿab3—who declared it weak—recorded from Ibn ʿUmar, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “The seal hangs from a leg of the Throne; when what is sacred is violated, and sins are committed, and insolence is shown towards God, God sends the seal and it seals his heart, and after that he accepts nothing.”
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: and their uttering against Mary a monstrous calumny (4:156). He said: they accused her of fornication.
Al-Bukhārī in his Tārīkh, and al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—recorded from ʿAlī, who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me: “In you there is a likeness to Jesus: the Jews hated him until they slandered his mother, and the Christians loved him until they set him in a station that is not his.”
On 4:157
His words, Exalted: and their saying: We killed the Messiah (4:157), the verse.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Ibn Mardawayh recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When God wished to raise Jesus to heaven, he went out to his companions, and in the house were twelve men of the disciples. He came out to them from a spring in the house, his head dripping with water, and said: “There are among you some who will disbelieve in me twelve times after having believed in me.” Then he said: “Which of you will have my likeness cast upon him, and be killed in my place, and be with me in my rank?” A young man, one of the youngest of them, stood up, and he said to him: “Sit down.” Then he repeated it to them, and the young man stood up, and he said: “Sit down.” Then he repeated it to them, and the young man stood up and said: “I.” He said: “You are the one.” So the likeness of Jesus was cast upon him, and Jesus was raised from a skylight in the house to heaven. He said: The pursuers from among the Jews came, and they seized the one who bore the likeness and killed him, then crucified him. Some of them disbelieved in him twelve times after having believed in him, and they split into three sects. One party said: “God was among us as long as He willed, then He ascended to heaven”—these are the Jacobites. Another sect said: “The son of God was among us as long as he willed, then God raised him to Himself”—these are the Nestorians. And another sect said: “The servant of God and His messenger was among us”—these are the Muslims. The two unbelieving sects joined together against the Muslim one and killed it, and Islam remained effaced until God sent Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Then God sent down: So a party of the Children of Israel believed (61:14), meaning the party that believed in the time of Jesus; and a party disbelieved (61:14), the one that disbelieved in the time of Jesus; so We supported those who believed (61:14), in the time of Jesus, by Muḥammad making their religion prevail over the religion of the unbelievers.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Qatādah: and their saying: We killed the Messiah (4:157), the verse. He said: Those are the enemies of God, the Jews; they boasted of killing Jesus and claimed that they had killed him and crucified him. And it was mentioned to us that he said to his companions: “Which of you will have my likeness cast upon him? For he will be killed.” A man from among his companions said: “I, O Prophet of God.” So that man was killed, and God protected His prophet and raised him to Himself.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Mujāhid concerning His words: it was made to appear so to them (4:157). He said: They crucified a man other than Jesus, whom they took to be Jesus, thinking him to be he; and God raised Jesus to Himself alive.
Ibn Jarīr recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās: and they did not kill him for certain (4:157). He said: meaning, they did not slay their conjecture with certainty4.
Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Mujāhid concerning the verse. He said: They did not slay their conjecture with certainty.
Ibn Jarīr recorded the like of it from Juwaybir and al-Suddī.
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Aḥmad in al-Zuhd, and Ibn ʿAsākir recorded, by way of Thābit al-Bunānī, from Abū Rāfiʿ, who said: Jesus son of Mary was raised wearing a woollen tunic, a shepherd’s two boots, and a sling with which he used to pelt the birds.
Aḥmad in al-Zuhd, Abū Nuʿaym and Ibn ʿAsākir recorded, by way of Thābit al-Bunānī, from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, who said: Jesus son of Mary left nothing behind when he was raised save a tunic of wool, a shepherd’s two boots, and a sling with which he used to pelt the birds.
Ibn ʿAsākir recorded from ʿAbd al-Jabbār ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Salmān, who said: Jesus son of Mary turned to his companions on the night he was raised and said to them: “Do not eat by means of the Book of God, for if you do not do so, God will seat you upon pulpits a single stone of which is better than this world and all that is in it.” ʿAbd al-Jabbār said: These are the seats which God mentioned in the Qurʾān: in a seat of truth, with a King All-Powerful (54:55). And he (peace be upon him) was raised.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: When God informed Jesus that he was to depart from this world, he was distressed at death and it weighed heavily upon him. So he called the disciples and made food for them, and said: “Attend me tonight, for I have need of you.” When they gathered to him in the night, he gave them supper and stood serving them, and when they had finished the food he began to wash their hands and to perform the ablution for them with his own hand, wiping their hands on his garments. They thought this too great a thing and disliked it, and he said: “Whoever refuses me anything tonight of what I do is not of me, nor am I of him.” So they let him be, until, when he had finished that, he said: “As for what I have done with you tonight in serving you: let none of you exalt himself over another, and let each of you give himself for the other as I have given myself for you. As for my need in which I have sought your help: it is that you pray to God for me, and strive in supplication that He defer my appointed term.” But when they set themselves to supplication and wished to strive in it, sleep overcame them so that they were unable to pray. He began to wake them, saying: “Glory be to God! Can you not bear with me a single night in which to help me?” They said: “By God, we do not know what has come over us. We used to stay up talking at night and talk long, but tonight we cannot manage to stay awake, and no sooner do we wish to pray than we are held back from it.” He said: “The shepherd is taken away and the sheep are scattered,” and he went on uttering words of this sort, announcing his own death. Then he said: “Truly, one of you will deny me before the cock crows, three times; and one of you will sell me for a few dirhams and will eat my price.” They went out and dispersed. The Jews were seeking him, and they seized Simon (Shamʿūn), one of the disciples, and said: “This is one of his companions.” He denied it and said: “I am not his companion,” and they let him go. Then others seized him, and he denied likewise. Then he heard the crowing of a cock, and he wept and it grieved him. When morning came, one of the disciples went to the Jews and said: “What will you give me if I lead you to the Messiah?” They set thirty dirhams for him, and he took them and led them to him. But the semblance had already been made to confuse them before that, and they seized him and bound him securely and tied him with a rope, and began leading him along and saying: “You used to give life to the dead and heal the possessed; can you not save yourself from this rope?” They spat upon him and cast thorns upon him, until they brought him to the piece of wood on which they wished to crucify him. Then God raised him to Himself, and they crucified the one who had been made to appear so to them, and he remained seven days. Then his mother and the woman whom Jesus had been treating, whom God had healed of madness, came weeping at the place of the crucified one; and Jesus came to them and said: “For what do you weep?” They said: “For you.” He said: “God has raised me to Himself, and nothing but good has befallen me; and this is a thing that was made to appear so to them. So bid the disciples meet me at such-and-such a place.” Eleven of them met him at that place, and the one who had sold him and led the Jews to him was missing. He asked his companions about him, and they said: “He regretted what he had done, and strangled himself and killed himself.” He said: “Had he repented, God would have accepted his repentance.” Then he asked them about a lad who used to follow them, called Yuḥannā5, and he said: “He is with you. So go, for every one of you will wake tomorrow speaking the tongue of a people; so let him warn them and call them.”
Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: Jesus (peace be upon him) was a wanderer. He passed by a woman drawing water and said: “Give me to drink of your water, of which whoever drinks dies, and I will give you to drink of my water, of which whoever drinks lives.” He said: And he had chanced upon a wise woman, and she said to him: “Does your water, of which whoever drinks lives, not suffice you, so that you need not my water, of which whoever drinks dies?” He said: “Your water is of the present, and my water is of the hereafter.” She said: “Perhaps you are the man who is called Jesus son of Mary?” He said: “I am he, and I call you to the worship of God and to the abandoning of what you worship apart from God, Mighty and Majestic.” She said: “Then bring me a proof of what you say.” He said: “The proof of it is that you will return to your husband and he will divorce you.” She said: “In that there would indeed be a clear sign, for there is no woman among the Children of Israel more honoured by her husband than I; and if it is as you say, I shall know that you are truthful.” He said: So she returned to her husband, and her husband was a jealous young man, and he said: “What delayed you?” She said: “A man passed by me”—and she wished to tell him about Jesus, but jealousy carried him away and he divorced her. She said: “My companion has told me the truth,” and she went out following Jesus, having believed in him. Then Jesus came, with twenty-seven of the disciples with him, into a house, and they surrounded them and came in upon them; and God had formed them all in the form of Jesus. They said: “You have bewitched us! Either you bring out Jesus to us, or we shall kill you all.” Jesus said to his companions: “Which of you will buy for himself Paradise with his own soul?” A man from among the company said: “I.” So they took him and killed him and crucified him; and from this it was made to appear so to them, and they thought that they had killed Jesus and crucified him, and the Christians thought the same. And God raised Jesus on that very day. News reached the woman that Jesus had been killed and crucified, and she came and built a place of prayer at the foot of his tree, and began to pray and to weep for Jesus. Then she heard a voice from above her, the voice of Jesus, which she did not fail to recognise: “O so-and-so, by God they did not kill me, nor did they crucify me, but it was made to appear so to them; and the sign of it is that the disciples will gather tonight in your house and will divide into twelve bands, each band of them calling a people to the religion of God.” When evening came they gathered in her house, and she said to them: “Tonight I heard something which I shall tell you, and perhaps you will call me a liar, though it is the truth. I heard the voice of Jesus saying: ‘O so-and-so, by God I was not killed, nor was I crucified; and the sign of it is that you will gather tonight in my house and divide into twelve bands.’” They said: “What you heard is just as you heard it; Jesus was not killed, nor was he crucified; it was only so-and-so who was killed and crucified. And we have gathered in your house only for what he said: we intend to go out as callers throughout the earth.” Among those who set out towards the Romans were Nasṭūr and two companions of his. His two companions went out, but Nasṭūr was detained by some business of his, and he said to them: “Be gentle and do not be rash, and do not think me slow in anything.” When the two arrived at the district they were making for, they arrived on the day of their festival, when their king had come out and the people of his kingdom had come out with him. The two men came to him and stood before him and said to him: “Fear God, for you are committing acts of disobedience to God and violating the sanctities of God”—together with whatever else God willed that they should say. He said: The king was angered and intended to kill them, but a group of the people of his kingdom rose and went to him and said: “This is a day on which we do not shed blood; and you have your two men in your power, so if you would like to imprison them until our festival has passed, and then decide about them as you see fit, do so.” So he ordered them imprisoned; then forgetfulness of them was struck upon his ear, until Nasṭūr arrived and asked about them. He was told of their situation and that they were held in prison, and he went in to them and said: “Did I not say to you: be gentle and do not be rash, and do not think me slow in anything? Do you know what your likeness is? Your likeness is that of a woman who bore no child until she was advanced in years, and then, after she was advanced in years, she bore a child, and she wished to hasten his growing up so that she might have benefit of him, so she loaded his stomach with more than it could bear and killed him.” Then he said to them: “And now, do not think me slow in anything.” Then he went out and proceeded until he came to the king’s gate. Now when the people sat in session, the king’s couch would be set down and the people would sit in rows before him; and whenever they were faced with a question of the lawful or the unlawful they would raise it to him, and he would look into it, then ask the one next to him in his assembly about it, and the people would ask one another until the question reached the farthest end of the assembly. Nasṭūr came and sat at the farthest end of the company, and when they returned to the king the answer of each who had answered him, and returned to him the answer of Nasṭūr, he heard something upon which there was light and which was sweet in his ears. He said: “Who is the author of this saying?” It was said: “The man at the farthest end of the company.” He said: “Bring him to me.” He said: “Are you the one who said such-and-such?” He said: “Yes.” He said: “Then what do you say about such-and-such?” He said: “Such-and-such.” And he went on asking him about nothing but he explained it to him. He said: “You possess this knowledge, and you sit at the end of the company! Set him a seat by my couch.” Then he said: “If my son comes to you, do not rise from it for him.” Then he turned his attention to Nasṭūr and left the people. When he knew that his position had been firmly established, he said: “I shall surely visit them.” He said: “O king, I am a man whose home is far away and whose estate is far away; so if you would see fit to take what you need of me and give me leave, I shall return to my family.” He said: “O Nasṭūr, there is no way to that; but if you would like to bring your family to us, you shall have fair provision, and if you would like to take from the treasury what you need and send it to your family, do so.” Nasṭūr fell silent. Then he watched for a day on which one of them died, and he said: “O king, it has reached me that two men came to you finding fault with your religion.” He said: And he reminded him of them, and he sent for them, and said: “O Nasṭūr, you are the judge between me and them; whatever you say, I am content.” He said: “Yes, O king. Here is a dead man who has died among the Children of Israel; so command the two of them to call upon their Lord that He may bring him to life for them, for in that there is a clear sign.” He said: So the dead man was brought and set down before him, and the two stood and performed ablution and called upon their Lord, and He restored his spirit to him, and he spoke. He said: “O king, in this sign there is clear evidence; but command them to something other than it. Gather the people of your kingdom, then speak to your gods: if they are able to harm these two, then their affair is nothing; but if these two are able to harm your gods, then their affair is strong.” So the king gathered the people of his kingdom and went into the house in which the gods were, and he fell down prostrate, he and those of the people of his kingdom who were with him; and Nasṭūr fell down prostrate and said: “O God, I prostrate to You, and I plot against these gods, that they may not be worshipped apart from You.” Then the king raised his head and said: “These two wish to change your religion and call to a god other than yours; so put out their eyes, or cut off their limbs, or paralyse them.” But the gods returned him no answer. Now Nasṭūr had commanded his two companions to carry an axe with them, and he said: “O king, say to these two: Are you able to harm your gods?” He said: “Are you two able to harm our gods?” They said: “Leave us alone with them.” So they advanced upon them and broke them. Nasṭūr said: “As for me, I believe in the Lord of these two.” And the king said: “And I believe in the Lord of these two.” And all the people said: “We believe in the Lord of these two.” Then Nasṭūr said to his two companions: “Such is gentleness.”
On 4:158
His words, Exalted: And God is ever Mighty, Wise (4:158).
Ibn Jarīr recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: And God is ever Mighty, Wise (4:158). He said: the meaning of that is that He is so.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās that a Jew said to him: “You claim that God was Mighty, Wise; so how is He today?” Ibn ʿAbbās said: “He was Mighty, Wise in Himself.”6
On 4:159
His words, Exalted: And there is none of the People of the Book (4:159), the verse.
al-Firyābī, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—reported from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: the coming forth of Jesus son of Mary.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim reported through several routes from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: before the death of Jesus.
Ibn Jarīr reported from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning the verse: he said: It means that some people of the People of the Book will live to see the time when Jesus is sent, and they will believe in him.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim reported from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book (4:159): he said: the Jews in particular; but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: before the death of the Jew.
al-Ṭayālisī, Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: In the reading of Ubayy it is “before their death” (qabla mawtihim). He said: There is never a Jew but that he believes in Jesus. It was said to Ibn ʿAbbās: What do you say if he falls from the top of a house? He said: He utters it as he falls. It was said: What do you say if the neck of one of them is struck off? He said: His tongue stammers it out.
Ibn Jarīr reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Were his neck struck off, his soul would not depart until he believed in Jesus.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: No Jew dies until he testifies that Jesus is the servant of God and His Messenger, even if he is dispatched in haste with a weapon.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Ibn ʿAbbās: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: Were a Jew thrown from the top of a palace, he would not reach the ground until he believed that Jesus is the servant of God and His Messenger.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr reported from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning the verse: he said: No Jew dies until he believes in Jesus. It was said: Even if he is struck with the sword? He said: He utters it. It was said: And if he falls? He said: He utters it while he is falling.
Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Abū Hāshim and ʿUrwah, who both said: In the codex (muṣḥaf) of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb it is: “And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before their death.”
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159), from Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—he is Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah—who said: There is none of the People of the Book but that the angels come to him, striking his face and his back, and then it is said: O enemy of God, Jesus is the Spirit of God and His Word; you lied against God and claimed that he was God. Jesus has not died; he was raised up to heaven, and he will descend before the Hour comes, and then no Jew or Christian will remain but will believe in him.
Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, who said: al-Ḥajjāj said to me: O Shahr, there is a verse of the Book of God which I never recite without something about it troubling my mind. God said: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159); yet captives are brought to me and I strike off their necks, and I do not hear them say anything! I said: It has been presented to you otherwise than as it truly is. When the soul of the Christian departs, the angels strike him from before him and from behind him and say: O wicked one, the Messiah whom you claimed to be God, or the son of God, or the third of three, is the servant of God, and His Spirit and His Word. So he believes at a time when his belief does not benefit him. And when the soul of the Jew departs, the angels strike him from before him and from behind him and say: O wicked one, the Messiah whom you claimed to have killed is the servant of God and His Spirit. So he believes in him at a time when belief does not benefit him. And when the time of the descent of Jesus comes, the living among them will believe in him just as their dead have believed in him. He said: From where did you take this? I said: From Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. He said: You have taken it from its very source. Shahr said: By God, none related it to me but Umm Salamah; but I wished to vex him.
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Qatādah concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: When he descends, all the religions will believe in him; and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159): that he conveyed the message of his Lord and acknowledged servanthood for himself.
Ibn Jarīr reported from Ibn Zayd concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: When Jesus descends and kills the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl), there will remain no Jew on earth but will believe in him; and that is at a time when belief will not benefit them.
Ibn Jarīr reported from Abū Mālik: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: That is at the descent of Jesus son of Mary; there will remain none of the People of the Book but will believe in him.
Ibn Jarīr reported from al-Ḥasan: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: before the death of Jesus. By God, he is now alive with God; but when he descends they will all believe in him.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim reported from al-Ḥasan that a man asked him about His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159); he said: before the death of Jesus. God raised Jesus up to Himself, and He will send him before the Day of Resurrection in a station in which the righteous and the wicked alike will believe in him.
Ibn Abī Shaybah, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, al-Bukhārī and Muslim reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “By Him in whose hand is my soul, the son of Mary is surely about to descend among you as a just judge; he will break the cross, kill the swine and abolish the poll-tax (jizyah), and wealth will overflow until no one accepts it, until a single prostration will be better than the world and all that is in it.” Then Abū Hurayrah would say: Recite if you wish: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159).
Ibn Mardawayh reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The son of Mary is about to descend among you as a just judge; he will kill the Antichrist, kill the swine, break the cross and abolish the poll-tax, and wealth will overflow, and prostration will be one alone, to God, Lord of the Worlds.” Abū Hurayrah said: Recite if you wish: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): before the death of Jesus son of Mary. Then Abū Hurayrah would repeat it three times.
Aḥmad, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Jesus son of Mary will descend; he will kill the swine, efface the cross, the prayer will be gathered in congregation for him, he will give away wealth until it is no longer accepted, he will abolish the land-tax (kharāj), and he will alight at al-Rawḥāʾ and from there perform the pilgrimage (ḥajj), or the lesser pilgrimage (ʿumrah), or combine the two.” He said: And Abū Hurayrah recited: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159). Abū Hurayrah said: he believes in him before his death—the death of Jesus.
Aḥmad, Ibn Abī Shaybah and Muslim reported from Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Jesus son of Mary will surely raise the cry of talbiyah in the pass of al-Rawḥāʾ for the pilgrimage or for the lesser pilgrimage, or he will surely combine the two together.”
Aḥmad, al-Bukhārī, Muslim and al-Bayhaqī in al-Asmāʾ wa-l-ṣifāt reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “How will you be when the son of Mary descends among you, and your leader (imām) is from among you?”
Ibn Abī Shaybah, Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Ḥibbān reported from Abū Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The prophets are brothers of one father by different mothers: their mothers are various, but their religion is one. I am the closest of people to Jesus son of Mary, because there was no prophet between me and him. He is my deputy over my community, and he will descend; so when you see him, recognise him: a man of medium build, between ruddy and fair, wearing two garments dyed a light yellow, his head seeming to drip though no moisture has touched it. He will smash the cross, kill the swine, abolish the poll-tax and call people to Islam; in his time God will destroy all religious communities except Islam, and in his time God will destroy the Messiah the Antichrist. Then security will settle upon the earth, so that lions will graze with camels, leopards with cattle and wolves with sheep, and children will play with snakes and they will not harm them. He will remain forty years; then he will die, and the Muslims will pray over him and bury him.”
Aḥmad reported from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “I hope, if my life is prolonged, to meet Jesus son of Mary; and if death hastens upon me, then whoever of you meets him, let him convey to him my greeting of peace.”
al-Ṭabarānī reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Behold, between me and Jesus son of Mary there is no prophet and no messenger. Behold, he is my deputy in my community after me. Behold, he will kill the Antichrist, break the cross and abolish the poll-tax, and war will lay down its burdens. Behold, whoever of you lives to see him, let him recite to him my greeting of peace.”
al-Ṭabarānī and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Jesus son of Mary will descend and remain among the people forty years.”
Aḥmad and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The son of Mary will descend as a just leader and an equitable judge; he will break the cross, kill the swine, restore peace, and turn swords into sickles; the venom of every venomous creature will be gone; the sky will send down its provision and the earth will bring forth its blessing, until a child will play with a serpent and it will not harm him, the wolf will pasture the sheep and not harm them, and the lion will pasture the cattle and not harm them.”
Aḥmad, al-Ṭabarānī and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from Samurah ibn Jundub that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Antichrist will come forth; he is blind in the left eye, over which is a thick film. He will heal the one born blind and the leper, and raise the dead, and he will say: I am your Lord. Whoever says: You are my Lord, has fallen into trial; and whoever says: My Lord is God, the Living who does not die, has been protected from his trial, and there is no trial upon him and no punishment. He will tarry on the earth as long as God wills; then Jesus son of Mary will come from the west”—and al-Ṭabarānī’s wording is: from the east—”affirming Muḥammad and upon his religion, and he will kill the Antichrist; and then there is nothing but the rising of the Hour.”
Ibn Abī Shaybah, Aḥmad, Abū Yaʿlā and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from ʿĀʾishah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) came in to me while I was weeping and said: “What makes you weep?” I said: O Messenger of God, I remembered the Antichrist and wept. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “If the Antichrist comes forth while I am alive, I shall suffice you against him; and if he comes forth after me, then your Lord is not one-eyed. He will come forth among the Jews of Iṣbahān, until he comes to Medina and encamps on its outskirts—and on that day it will have seven gates, with two angels at every opening of it—and the worst of its people will go out to him, until he comes to Syria, to a city in Palestine, at the gate of Ludd; then Jesus son of Mary will descend and kill him. Then Jesus will remain on the earth forty years, a just leader and an equitable judge.”
Aḥmad reported from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Antichrist will come forth at a time of slackness in religion and retreat of knowledge. He will have forty nights in which he roams the earth: one day of them like a year, one day of them like a month, one day of them like a week, and the rest of his days like these days of yours. He will have a donkey which he rides, the breadth between whose ears is forty cubits. He will say to the people: I am your Lord—yet he is one-eyed, and your Lord is not one-eyed. Between his eyes is written k-f-r, spelt out letter by letter, which every believer will read, literate or illiterate. He will come to every water and watering-place except Medina and Mecca, which God has forbidden to him, and the angels will stand at their gates. With him are mountains of bread, while the people are in hardship, except those who follow him. With him are two rivers—I know them better than he does: a river which he says is the Garden, and a river which he says is the Fire. Whoever enters the one he calls the Garden, it is the Fire; and whoever enters the one he calls the Fire, it is the Garden. Devils will be sent with him who speak to the people, and with him is a great trial. He will command the sky and it will rain, as the people see it; and he will kill a soul and then bring it back to life—he will not be given power over any other person—as the people see it. He will say to the people: O people, does anyone but the Lord do the like of this? Then the Muslims will flee to the Mountain of Smoke (Jabal al-Dukhān) in Syria; he will come to them and besiege them, and the siege will press hard upon them and distress them with severe distress. Then Jesus will descend and call out in the time before dawn, saying: O people, what prevents you from going out against the wicked liar? They will say: This is a man of the jinn. Then they will set out, and behold, it is Jesus. The prayer will be established, and it will be said to him: Step forward, O Spirit of God. He will say: Let your leader step forward and lead you in prayer. When they have prayed the dawn prayer they will go out to him, and when the liar sees him he will dissolve as salt dissolves in water. He will walk towards him and kill him, until even the tree will call out: O Spirit of God, here is a Jew! And none of those who followed him will be left but he will kill him.”
Maʿmar in his Jāmiʿ reported from al-Zuhrī: ʿAmr ibn Abī Sufyān al-Thaqafī informed me: a man of the Anṣār informed me, from one of the Companions of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the Antichrist and said: “He will come to the salt-flats of Medina, though it is forbidden to him to enter it; and it will shake with its people one shaking or two—that is the earthquake—and every hypocrite, man and woman, will go out from it to him. Then the Antichrist will go towards Syria, until he comes to one of the mountains of Syria and besieges them; the remnant of the Muslims on that day will be holding fast to the summit of a mountain, and he will besiege them, encamped at its foot. When the siege has gone on long against them, a man will say: How long will you remain thus, with your enemy encamped at the foot of your mountain? Are you not between one of the two good outcomes: either that you be martyred, or that He grant you victory? So they will pledge themselves to fight, with a pledge which God knows to be sincere from their souls. Then a darkness will seize them in which none of them can see his own palm, and the son of Mary will descend and lift it from their eyes, and in their midst will be a man wearing a coat of mail. They will say: Who are you? He will say: I am the servant of God, and His Spirit and His Word, Jesus. Choose one of three: either that God send upon the Antichrist and his hosts a mighty punishment, or that He cause the earth to swallow them, or that He loose your weapons upon them and hold back their weapons. They will say: This last, O Messenger of God, is more healing to our breasts. On that day you will see the great, tall Jew, the mighty eater and drinker, whose hand cannot lift his sword for terror. They will go down to them and be given power over them, and the Antichrist will melt when Jesus overtakes him, and he will kill him.”
Ibn Abī Shaybah, Aḥmad, al-Ṭabarānī and al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—reported from ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “The Muslims will have three garrison-cities: a city at the meeting of the two seas, a city in the Jazīrah and a city in Syria. The people will be struck by three panics, and the Antichrist will come forth among the flanks of an army, and he will be routed from the direction of the east. The first city he comes to will be the city at the meeting of the two seas, and its people will become three parties: a party that stays and says: We shall sniff him out and see what he is; a party that joins the Bedouin; and a party that joins the city next to them. With the Antichrist are seventy thousand wearing green cloaks (sījān), and most of those with him are Jews and women. Then he will come to the city next to them, and its people will become three parties: a party that says: We shall sniff him out and see what he is; a party that joins the Bedouin; and a party that joins the city next to them. Then he will come to Syria, and the Muslims will withdraw to the pass of Afīq. They will send out their grazing herds and their herds will be seized, and that will bear hard upon them, and a severe famine and severe hardship will strike them, so that one of them will burn his bowstring and eat it. While they are thus, a crier will call out to them in the time before dawn: Help has come to you, O people!—three times. They will say to one another: This is surely the voice of a well-fed man. Then Jesus will descend at the dawn prayer, and the commander of the people will say to him: Step forward, O Spirit of God, and lead us in prayer. He will say: You, the company of this community, are commanders one over another; you step forward and lead us in prayer. So he will step forward and lead them in prayer, and when he has finished Jesus will take his spear towards the Antichrist, and when he sees him he will melt as lead melts, and his spear will land in his breast and he will kill him. Then his companions will be routed, and nothing on that day will hide any of them, so that even the stone will say: O believer, here is a disbeliever, kill him! and the tree will say: O believer, here is a disbeliever, kill him!”
al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—reported from Abū al-Ṭufayl, who said: I was in Kūfah when it was said: The Antichrist has come forth! So we went to Ḥudhayfah ibn Asīd and I said: This Antichrist has come forth. He said: Sit down. So I sat, and then it was proclaimed: It is a dyer’s lie. Then Ḥudhayfah said: If the Antichrist came forth in your time, children would pelt him with potsherds; but he will come forth at a time of dwindling of people, lightness of religion and badness of relations between people. He will come to every watering-place, and the earth will be folded up for him like the folding of a ram’s fleece, until he comes to Medina and prevails over its outskirts but is barred from its interior; then to the mountain of Īliyāʾ,7 where he will besiege a band of Muslims. Their commander will say to them: What are you waiting for with this tyrant, that you do not fight him until you join God or victory is opened to you? So they will resolve to fight him when morning comes; and in the morning Jesus son of Mary will be with them, and he will kill the Antichrist and rout his companions.
Muslim and al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—reported from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Antichrist will come forth and tarry in my community as long as God wills; he will tarry forty—I do not know whether nights, or months, or years.” He said: “Then God will send Jesus son of Mary, as though he were ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd al-Thaqafī, and he will seek him out until he destroys him. Then the people will remain seven years with no enmity between any two. Then God will send a cold wind which comes from the direction of Syria, and it will leave no one with an atom’s weight of faith in his heart but it will take his soul, so that even if one of you entered into the heart of a mountain it would enter upon him until it took him”—I heard this from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him): “the heart of a mountain”—”then the worst of people will remain, who know no good and forbid no evil, with the lightness of birds and the dispositions of beasts of prey. Satan will come to them and say: Will you not respond? They will say: What do you command us? He will command them to worship idols, and they will worship them, while in that state their provision flows abundantly and their life is good. Then the Trumpet will be blown.”
Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Mājah reported from Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) delivered a sermon to us, and most of his sermon was an account which he related to us about the Antichrist, warning us against him. Among what he said was: “There has been no trial on the earth, since God scattered the progeny of Adam, greater than the trial of the Antichrist. God has not sent a prophet but he warned against the Antichrist; and I am the last of the prophets and you are the last of the communities, and he will without doubt come forth among you. If he comes forth while I am among you, I shall be the advocate for every Muslim; and if he comes forth after me, then each is his own advocate, and God is my deputy over every Muslim. He will come forth from a gap between Syria and Iraq, and will wreak havoc to the right and wreak havoc to the left. O servants of God, stand firm! I shall describe him to you with a description which no prophet before me has given of him. He will begin by saying: I am a prophet—and there is no prophet after me. Then he will say a second time: I am your Lord—and you will not see your Lord until you die. He is one-eyed, and your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, is not one-eyed. Between his eyes is written: disbeliever, which every believer will read, literate or illiterate. Among his trials is that he has with him a garden and a fire; his fire is a garden and his garden is a fire. Whoever is tried with his fire, let him seek help in God and recite the opening verses of al-Kahf, and it will be coolness and safety for him, as the fire was for Abraham. Among his trials is that he will say to a Bedouin: Tell me, if I raise your father and your mother for you, will you testify that I am your Lord? He will say to him: Yes. Then two devils will take on for him the forms of his father and his mother and say: My son, follow him, for he is your Lord. Among his trials is that he will be given power over a single soul and will kill it, sawing it with a saw until it is thrown down in two halves; then he will say: Look at this servant of mine, for I shall now raise him, and then he will claim that he has a Lord other than me. Then God will raise him, and the wicked one will say to him: Who is your Lord? He will say: My Lord is God, and you are the enemy of God, the Antichrist; by God, I was never clearer-sighted about you than I am today. Among his trials is that he will command the sky to rain and it will rain, and command the earth to bring forth and it will bring forth. Among his trials is that he will pass by a tribe who disbelieve him, and no grazing animal of theirs will remain but it will perish. Among his trials is that he will pass by a tribe who believe him, and he will command the sky to rain and it will rain, and command the earth to bring forth and it will bring forth, until their cattle return that very day fatter than they ever were, and larger, with fuller flanks and udders more flowing with milk. And no part of the earth will remain but he will tread it and prevail over it, except Mecca and Medina; for he will not come to them by any of their mountain openings but the angels will meet him with swords drawn, until he encamps at al-Ẓurayb al-Aḥmar, where the salt-flat ends. Then Medina will quake with its people three quakes, and no hypocrite, man or woman, will remain but will go out to him; and it will cast out the dross from itself as the bellows casts out the dross of iron, and that day will be called the Day of Deliverance.” Umm Sharīk bint Abī al-ʿAkar said: O Messenger of God, where will the Arabs be on that day? He said: “They will be few, and most of them will be in Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis), and their leader will be a righteous man. While their leader has stepped forward to lead them in the dawn prayer, Jesus son of Mary will descend upon them at dawn. That leader will walk backwards so that Jesus may step forward and lead the prayer, but Jesus will place his hand between his shoulders and say to him: Step forward and pray, for it was established for you. So their leader will lead them in prayer, and when he has finished, Jesus will say: Open the gate. It will be opened, and behind it is the Antichrist with seventy thousand Jews, every one of them with an ornamented sword and a green cloak. When the Antichrist looks at him he will dissolve as salt dissolves in water, and will set off fleeing. Jesus will say: I have a blow to deal you which you shall not escape. He will overtake him at the eastern gate of Ludd and kill him, and God will rout the Jews. Nothing which God created will remain behind which a Jew might hide but God will make that thing speak—no stone, no tree, no beast, no wall—except the gharqadah (boxthorn), for it is one of their trees and does not speak—saying: O servant of God, O Muslim, here is a Jew, come and kill him!” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “His days will be forty years: a year like half a year, a year like a month, a month like a week, and the last of his days like a spark: one of you will be at the gate of the city in the morning and will not reach its other gate before evening.” It was said to him: O Messenger of God, how shall we pray in those short days? He said: “You will reckon the prayer in them as you reckon it in these long days, and then pray.” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Jesus son of Mary will surely be in my community a just judge and an equitable leader; he will smash the cross, slaughter the swine, abolish the poll-tax and leave off the alms-tax, so that no collector will go out after sheep or camel; rancour and mutual hatred will be lifted, and the venom of every venomous creature will be drawn out, so that an infant will put his hand into the mouth of a snake and it will not harm him, and an infant will chase off a lion and it will not harm him, and the wolf will be among the sheep as though it were their dog; and the earth will be filled with peace as a vessel is filled with water. The word will be one, so that none but God is worshipped, and war will lay down its burdens; Quraysh will be stripped of their kingship; and the earth will be like a platter of silver, bringing forth its plants as in the time of Adam, so that a group will gather round a single bunch of grapes and it will satisfy them, and a group will gather round a single pomegranate and it will satisfy them; an ox will fetch such-and-such a sum of money, while a horse will go for a few dirhams.” It was said: O Messenger of God, what will make horses so cheap? He said: “They will never be ridden for war.” It was said to him: And what will make oxen so dear? He said: “The ploughing of the whole earth. And before the coming forth of the Antichrist there will be three hard years, in which the people will be struck by severe hunger: God will command the sky to withhold a third of its rain, and command the earth to withhold a third of its produce; then in the second year He will command the sky and it will withhold two thirds of its rain, and command the earth and it will withhold two thirds of its produce; then in the third year He will command the sky and it will withhold all its rain, so that not a drop falls, and command the earth and it will withhold all its produce, so that nothing green grows; and no cloven-hoofed animal will remain but it will perish, save what God wills.” It was said: Then what will keep the people alive in that time? He said: “The declaration that there is no god but God, the proclamation of His greatness, His glorification and His praise; and that will serve them in place of food.”
Aḥmad and Muslim reported from Jābir, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “A party of my community will not cease fighting for the truth, prevailing, until the Day of Resurrection.” He said: “Then Jesus son of Mary will descend, and their commander will say: Come, lead us in prayer. He will say: No; some of you are commanders over others, as God’s honouring of this community.”
al-Ṭabarānī reported from Aws ibn Aws, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “Jesus son of Mary will descend at the white minaret in Damascus.”
al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī in Nawādir al-uṣūl reported from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samurah, who said: Khālid ibn al-Walīd sent me as a bearer of good tidings to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) on the day of Muʾtah. When I came in to him I said: O Messenger of God—and he said: “Gently, O ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Zayd ibn Ḥārithah took the standard and fought until he was killed—may God have mercy on Zayd. Then Jaʿfar took the standard and fought and was killed—may God have mercy on Jaʿfar. Then ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah took the standard and fought and was killed—may God have mercy on ʿAbd Allāh. Then Khālid took the standard, and God granted victory to Khālid; so Khālid is a sword among the swords of God.” The Companions of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), who were around him, wept, and he said: “What makes you weep?” They said: And why should we not weep, when the best of us and our nobles and the people of merit among us have been killed? He said: “Do not weep. The likeness of my community is only the likeness of a garden whose owner tended it: he uprooted its stunted shoots, prepared its beds and trimmed its palm-fronds, so that it fed one year a company, then another year a company, then another year a company; and perhaps the last of them to taste of it will find it the finest of them in clusters and the longest of them in fruit-stalks. By Him who sent me with the truth, the son of Mary will surely find in my community a successor to his disciples.”
Ibn Abī Shaybah, al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī and al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—reported from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr al-Ḥaḍramī, from his father, who said: When the grief of the Companions of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) over those killed on the day of Muʾtah grew severe, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Antichrist will surely find in this community a people like you, or better than you”—three times—”and God will never disgrace a community of which I am the first and Jesus son of Mary the last.” Al-Dhahabī said: It is mursal,8 and it is a rejected (munkar) report.
al-Ḥākim reported from Anas, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Men of my community will live to see Jesus son of Mary, and will witness the fighting against the Antichrist.”
al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The son of Mary will surely come down as a just judge and an equitable leader; he will surely travel a mountain pass as a pilgrim or as a performer of the lesser pilgrimage; and he will surely come to my grave until he greets me, and I shall surely return his greeting.” Abū Hurayrah would say: O sons of my brother, if you see him, say: Abū Hurayrah conveys to you his greeting of peace.
al-Ḥākim reported from Anas, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever of you lives to see Jesus son of Mary, let him convey to him my greeting of peace.”
Aḥmad in al-Zuhd reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: Jesus son of Mary will remain on the earth forty years; were he to say to the valley-bed (al-Baṭḥāʾ): Flow with honey, it would flow.
Ibn Abī Shaybah, Aḥmad and al-Tirmidhī—who declared it sound—reported from Mujammiʿ ibn Jāriyah: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “The son of Mary will surely kill the Antichrist at the gate of Ludd.”
Aḥmad reported from Thawbān, from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “Two bands of my community God has secured from the Fire: a band that will raid India, and a band that will be with Jesus son of Mary.”
al-Tirmidhī—who graded it fair (ḥasan)—and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām, from his father, from his grandfather, who said: Written in the Torah is the description of Muḥammad, and that Jesus son of Mary will be buried with him.
al-Bukhārī in his Tārīkh and al-Ṭabarānī reported from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām, who said: Jesus son of Mary will be buried with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and his two companions, and his grave will be the fourth.
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of al-Durr al-manthūr fī al-tafsīr bi-l-maʾthūr on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=aldur-almanthoor). 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
- that is, Ibn ʿAbbās takes “openly” to qualify their saying, not the seeing: “they said openly: Show us God” ↩
- a variant reading (qirāʾah) of 4:153, al-ṣaʿqah in place of the standard al-ṣāʿiqah ↩
- Shuʿab al-īmān, “The Branches of Faith” ↩
- the Arabic idiom “to kill a thing with knowledge” means to master it thoroughly; the sense is that they never turned their supposition into certain knowledge ↩
- John ↩
- the Jew’s objection turns on the past tense of kāna, “was”; Ibn ʿAbbās answers that these are attributes God has of Himself, not ones He acquired or lost ↩
- Aelia, the old name of Jerusalem. ↩
- A report whose chain omits the Companion between the Successor and the Prophet. ↩