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 The son of Mary as an example (43:57-65), covering 43:57-58 to 43:62-65.
On 43:57-58
So when they had angered Us (43:55), provoked Us to wrath, We took vengeance on them and drowned them all together.
And We made them a precedent (43:56). Ḥamzah and al-Kisāʾī read sulufan with ḍammah on the sīn and the lām. Al-Farrāʾ said: It is the plural of salīf, from salufa, with ḍammah on the lām, yaslufu, that is, to go before. The others read it with fatḥah on the sīn and the lām, as the plural of sālif, like ḥāris and ḥaras, khādim and khadam, and rāṣid and raṣad. Both mean those of the nations who have passed away and gone before. One says salufa yaslufu when someone goes before, and the salaf are those of the forefathers who went before. So We made them go before, that others might take warning from them.
And an example for those who come after: a lesson and an admonition for those who remained after them. It was also said: a precedent to the Fire for the unbelievers of this community, and an example for those who come after them.
And when the son of Mary is cited as an example (43:57). Ibn ʿAbbās and most of the commentators said: The verse was revealed concerning the dispute of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zibaʿrā with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about Jesus (peace be upon him), when His words, Mighty and Majestic, You and what you worship besides God are the fuel of Hell (21:98) were revealed; and we have recounted it in the sūrah of the Prophets (peace be upon them). Behold, your people cry out at it. The people of Medina and Syria and al-Kisāʾī read yaṣuddūna with ḍammah on the ṣād, that is, they turn away; its parallel is His words, Exalted, turning away from you in aversion (4:61). The others read it with kasrah on the ṣād.
They differed about its meaning. Al-Kisāʾī said: They are two dialectal forms, like yaʿrushūna and yaʿrishūna, shadda ʿalayhi yashuddu and yashiddu, and namma bi-l-ḥadīthi yanummu and yanimmu.
Ibn ʿAbbās said: Its meaning is: they clamour. Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab said: they shout. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: they cry aloud. Qatādah said: they are dismayed. Al-Quraẓī said: they are vexed. “And when the son of Mary is cited as an example, behold, your people cry out at it”, saying: Muḥammad wants nothing from us but that we should worship him and take him as a god, as the Christians worshipped Jesus.
And they say: Are our gods better, or he? (43:58). Qatādah said: By “or he” they mean Muḥammad; so that we should worship him and obey him and abandon our gods.
Al-Suddī and Ibn Zayd said: “or he” means Jesus. They said: Muḥammad claims that everything worshipped besides God is in the Fire; well, we are content for our gods to be with Jesus, Ezra and the angels in the Fire. God, Exalted, said: They cite it, meaning this example, to you only for the sake of argument, disputation by falsehood; for they knew that what is meant by His words “and what you worship besides God are the fuel of Hell” (21:98) is these idols.
Rather, they are a contentious people.
Abū Saʿīd al-Shurayḥī informed us: Abū Isḥāq al-Thaʿlabī informed us: Abū Bakr ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥamshāwī informed us: Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Ḥamdān al-Qaṭīʿī informed us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal related to us: my father related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr related to us: Ḥajjāj ibn Dīnār al-Wāsiṭī related to us, from Abū Ghālib, from Abū Umāmah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “No people have gone astray after guidance they were upon except that they were given to argument,” and then he recited: They cite it to you only for the sake of argument; rather, they are a contentious people (43:58).
On 43:59-61
Then He mentioned Jesus, saying: He is not (43:59), he is nothing, meaning Jesus (peace be upon him), but a servant on whom We bestowed favour, by prophethood, and We made him an example, a sign and a lesson, for the Children of Israel, by which they might know the power of God, Mighty and Majestic, over whatever He wills, in that He created him without a father.
And had We willed, We could have made from among you angels (43:60), that is, had We willed, We would have destroyed you and put angels in your place, to succeed in the earth, to be successors to you, populating the earth and worshipping Me and obeying Me. It was also said: succeeding one another.
And he (43:61), meaning Jesus (peace be upon him), is indeed a means of knowledge of the Hour, meaning that his descent is one of the portents of the Hour, by which its nearness is known. Ibn ʿAbbās, Abū Hurayrah and Qatādah read “and he is indeed a mark (ʿalam) of the Hour”, with fatḥah on the lām and the ʿayn, that is, a token and a sign.
We have related from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “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, and in his time all religious communities will perish except Islam.”
It is related: “He will descend upon a mountain pass in the Holy Land, wearing two garments dyed pale yellow, with the hair of his head oiled and a spear in his hand, which is the one with which he will kill the Antichrist. He will come to Jerusalem while the people are at the afternoon prayer, and the imam will step back, but Jesus will put him forward and pray behind him according to the law of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Then he will kill the swine, break the cross, demolish the synagogues and churches, and kill the Christians except those who believe in him.”
ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Malīḥī informed us: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nuʿaymī informed us: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf informed us: Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl related to us: Ibn Bukayr related to us: al-Layth related to us, from Yūnus, from Ibn Shihāb, from Nāfiʿ the client of Abū Qatādah al-Anṣārī, that Abū Hurayrah 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 imam is from among you?”
Al-Ḥasan and a group said: “And it”, meaning: and the Qurʾān is indeed a means of knowledge of the Hour; it teaches you of its coming and informs you of its conditions and its terrors. So do not doubt concerning it, have no doubt about it. Ibn ʿAbbās said: do not deny it. And follow me, upon the affirmation of God’s oneness; this, which I am upon, is a straight path.
On 43:62-65
And let not (43:62), let him not turn you away, Satan, from the religion of God; he is indeed a manifest enemy to you.
And when Jesus came with the clear proofs, he said: I have come to you with wisdom (43:63), with prophethood, and to make plain to you some of that over which you differ, of the rulings of the Torah. Qatādah said: He means the differing of the parties who split into factions over the matter of Jesus. Al-Zajjāj said: What Jesus brought in the Gospel is only some of that over which they differed, and he made plain to them outside the Gospel what they needed.
So fear God and obey me.
God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him; this is a straight path. (64) Then the factions differed among themselves; so woe to those who do wrong from the punishment of a painful day. (65) Are they waiting for anything but the Hour (43:66), meaning that it will come to them without fail, so it is as though they are waiting for it, that it should come upon them suddenly, unexpectedly, while they do not perceive?
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.
The son of Mary as an example (43:57-65): all commentaries · The classical commentaries