al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān, by Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Qurṭubī (d. 671 AH / 1273 CE). The commentary of the Andalusian jurist, which takes each verse through its legal and grammatical questions as well as its narrative.
The complete commentary on The good news of Aḥmad (61:6), covering 61:6.
On 61:6
His words, Exalted: And when Jesus son of Mary said (61:6), that is: and relate to them this story also. He said O Children of Israel and did not say “O my people” as Moses said, because he had no lineage among them by which they would be his people.
Indeed I am the Messenger of God to you (61:6), that is, with the Gospel.
confirming what came before me of the Torah (61:6), because in the Torah is my description, and because I have not brought you anything that contradicts the Torah so that you should shy away from me.
and bringing good tidings of a messenger (61:6), confirming. “Bringing good tidings” (mubashshiran) is in the accusative as a circumstantial accusative, and what governs it is the sense of sending; and “to you” is the complement of “Messenger”.
who will come after me, whose name is Aḥmad (61:6). Nāfiʿ, Ibn Kathīr and Abū ʿAmr read min baʿdiya with fatḥah on the yāʾ, and this is the reading of al-Sulamī, Zirr ibn Ḥubaysh and Abū Bakr from ʿĀṣim; Abū Ḥātim preferred it because it is a noun, like the kāf of baʿdaka and the tāʾ of qumtu. The others read it with sukūn. It has also been read min baʿdi smuhu Aḥmad with the yāʾ dropped from the pronunciation. Aḥmad is the name of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). It is a proper name transferred from an adjective, not from a verb, and that adjective is the pattern afʿal by which superlative preference is intended. So the meaning of Aḥmad is “the most praising of those who praise their Lord”. The prophets (the blessings of God be upon them) all praise God, and our Prophet Aḥmad is the most abundant of them in praise. As for Muḥammad, it too is transferred from an adjective, and it is in the sense of maḥmūd, “praised”, but it carries the sense of intensification and repetition. So al-muḥammad is the one who is praised time after time, just as al-mukarram is from being honoured time after time, and likewise al-mumaddaḥ and the like. Thus the name Muḥammad corresponds to its meaning, and God, Glorified is He, named him by it before he named himself by it. This is one of the signs of his prophethood, since his name proved true of him: he is praised in this world for the knowledge and wisdom to which he was guided and by which he benefited others, and he is praised in the Hereafter by the intercession. So the meaning of praise is repeated, as the word requires. Moreover, he was not Muḥammad until he was Aḥmad: he praised his Lord, and so He made him a prophet and ennobled him. For that reason the name Aḥmad came before the name Muḥammad, and so Jesus (peace be upon him) mentioned it and said: whose name is Aḥmad. And Moses (peace be upon him) mentioned it when his Lord said to him “That is the community of Aḥmad”, and he said: “O God, make me one of the community of Aḥmad.” So He mentioned him as Aḥmad before He mentioned him as Muḥammad, because his praise of his Lord came before the praise of people for him. When he came into existence and was sent, he was Muḥammad in actuality. And likewise in the intercession he will praise his Lord with the praises which He will open to him, so that he will be the most praising of people towards his Lord; then he will intercede and be praised for his intercession. It is related that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “My name in the Torah is Aḥyad, because I turn (uḥīd) my community away from the Fire; my name in the Psalms is al-Māḥī, for God has effaced (maḥā) by me the worshippers of idols; my name in the Gospel is Aḥmad; and my name in the Qurʾān is Muḥammad, because I am praised among the people of heaven and earth.” In the Ṣaḥīḥ: “I have five names: I am Muḥammad and Aḥmad; I am al-Māḥī, the Effacer, by whom God effaces unbelief; I am al-Ḥāshir, the Gatherer, at whose feet people will be gathered; and I am al-ʿĀqib, the Last.” This has already been discussed. But when he came to them with the clear proofs (61:6): it has been said, Jesus; and it has been said, Muḥammad (the blessings and peace of God be upon them both).
they said: this is manifest sorcery (61:6). Al-Kisāʾī and Ḥamzah read sāḥir, “a sorcerer”, as a descriptive of the man, and it is related that this is the reading of Ibn Masʿūd. The others read siḥr, “sorcery”, as a descriptive of what the Messenger brought.
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=qurtubi). 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 good news of Aḥmad (61:6): all commentaries · The classical commentaries