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.
Part 3 of 3: the commentary on The family of ʿImrān (3:33-64). The parts follow the order of the verses; this one covers 3:55-57 to 3:64.
On 3:55-57
His words, Exalted: When God said: O Jesus (3:55), the verse.
Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, by way of ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words I am taking you (3:55) (mutawaffīka): He says: I am causing you to die.
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from al-Ḥasan, who said: taking you (3:55): from the earth.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, by another route, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words I am taking you (3:55): meaning the taking of sleep; God raised him in his sleep. Al-Ḥasan said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the Jews: “Jesus has not died, and he is returning to you before the Day of Resurrection.”
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from Qatādah: I am taking you and raising you to Myself (3:55). He said: This is of the kind in which what comes first is put later and what comes later is put first (al-muqaddam wa-l-muʾakhkhar), that is: raising you to Myself and taking you.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from Maṭar al-Warrāq, concerning the verse: He said: Taking you from this world, and it is not the taking of death.
Ibn Jarīr recorded, with a sound chain, from Kaʿb, who said: When Jesus saw the fewness of those who followed him and the multitude of those who denied him, he complained of that to God, and God revealed to him: I am taking you and raising you to Myself (3:55), and one whom I have raised to Myself is not dead; and I shall send you against the one-eyed Dajjāl1 and you will kill him; then after that you will live twenty-four years; then I shall cause you to die the death of the living. Kaʿb said: And that is the confirmation of the ḥadīth of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) where he said: “How can a community perish of which I am at the beginning and Jesus at the end?”
Isḥāq ibn Bishr and Ibn ʿAsākir recorded, from al-Ḥasan, who said: There was no prophet in whose time wonders were more numerous than Jesus, until God raised him. Among the causes of his being raised was that a tyrannical king called Dāwūd ibn Nūdhā, who was the king of the Children of Israel, was the one who sent in search of him to kill him. God had sent down the Gospel to him when he was thirteen years old, and he was raised when he was thirty-four years from his birth. So God revealed to him: I am taking you and raising you to Myself and purifying you from those who disbelieve (3:55), meaning: and delivering you from the Jews, so that they shall not be able to kill you.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, by another route, from al-Ḥasan, concerning the verse: He said: God raised him to Himself, and he is with Him in heaven.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from Wahb, who said: God made Jesus son of Mary die for three hours of the day, until He raised him to Himself.
Ibn ʿAsākir recorded, from Wahb, who said: God made him die for three days, then raised him up and lifted him.
Al-Ḥākim recorded, from Wahb, that God made Jesus die for seven hours, then brought him to life; and that Mary conceived him when she was thirteen years old; and that he was raised at the age of thirty-three; and that his mother remained six years after he was raised.
Isḥāq ibn Bishr and Ibn ʿAsākir recorded, by way of Juwaybir, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words I am taking you and raising you (3:55): meaning raising you, then taking you at the end of time.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from Ibn Jurayj, concerning the verse: He said: His raising him is His taking him.
Al-Ḥākim recorded, from al-Ḥurayth ibn Makhashsh, that ʿAlī was killed on the morning of the twenty-first of Ramaḍān, “and I heard al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī saying: He was killed on the night the Qurʾān was sent down, the night Jesus was taken up by night, and the night Moses was taken.”
Ibn Saʿd, Aḥmad in al-Zuhd and al-Ḥākim recorded, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, who said: Jesus was raised at the age of thirty-three years, and Muʿādh died at that same age.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words and purifying you from those who disbelieve (3:55): He said: He purified him from the Jews, the Christians and the Magians, and from the unbelievers of his people.
Ibn Jarīr recorded, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: and purifying you from those who disbelieve (3:55). He said: When they intended against you what they intended.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded, from Qatādah, concerning His words and placing those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection (3:55): He said: They are the people of Islam, who followed him upon his natural disposition (fiṭrah), his religion and his way; they shall not cease to prevail over those who oppose them until the Day of Resurrection.
Ibn Jarīr recorded, from Ibn Jurayj, concerning the verse: He said: Giving victory to those who follow you in Islam over those who disbelieve, until the Day of Resurrection.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “A party of my community shall not cease to prevail, not caring who opposes them, until the command of God comes.” Al-Nuʿmān said: So whoever says that I am attributing to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) what he did not say, the confirmation of this is in the Book of God, Exalted; God, Exalted, said: and placing those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection (3:55), the verse.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from al-Ḥasan: and placing those who follow you (3:55). He said: They are the Muslims, and we are of them, and we are above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection.
Ibn ʿAsākir recorded, from Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, who said: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “A band of my community shall never cease to fight for the truth, prevailing over the people, until the command of God comes while they are upon that.” Then he drew upon this verse: O Jesus, I am taking you and raising you to Myself and purifying you from those who disbelieve and placing those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection (3:55).
Ibn Jarīr recorded, from Ibn Zayd, concerning the verse: He said: The Christians are above the Jews until the Day of Resurrection; there is no land in which there is any of the Christians but that they are above the Jews, in east or west; the Jews are humbled in all lands.
Ibn al-Mundhir recorded, from al-Ḥasan, concerning the verse: He said: Jesus is raised up with God, then he will descend before the Day of Resurrection; and whoever believes in Jesus and in Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and is upon their religion, they shall not cease to prevail over those who part from them until the Day of Resurrection.
Ibn Jarīr recorded, by way of ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words But as for those who believe and do righteous deeds (3:57): He says: who perform My obligations; He will pay them their rewards in full (3:57): He says: He will give them the recompense of their righteous deeds complete, nothing of it being withheld from them, nor will they diminish it.
On 3:58
His words, Exalted: This We recite to you (3:58), the verse.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from al-Ḥasan, who said: The two monks of Najrān came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and one of them said: “Who is the father of Jesus?” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) would not hasten until he had consulted his Lord, and there came down to him: This We recite to you of the signs and the wise Remembrance (3:58), up to His words: of the doubters (3:60).
Ibn Jarīr recorded, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His words and the wise Remembrance (3:58): He said: The Qurʾān.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from ʿAlī: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “There will be trials (fitan).” I said: “What is the way out of them?” He said: “The Book of God; it is the wise Remembrance and the straight path.”
On 3:59-63
His words, Exalted: Surely the likeness of Jesus (3:59), the verse.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, by way of al-ʿAwfī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that a group of the people of Najrān2 came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and among them were al-Sayyid and al-ʿĀqib3. They said to him: “What is it with you, that you speak of our companion?” He said: “Who is he?” They said: “Jesus; you claim that he is the servant of God!” He said: “Indeed, he is the servant of God.” They said: “Have you ever seen the like of Jesus, or been told of one?” Then they went out from his presence, and Gabriel came to him and said: Say to them when they come to you: Surely the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam (3:59), to the end of the verse.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded from Qatādah, who said: It was mentioned to us that the two lords of the people of Najrān and their two bishops, al-Sayyid and al-ʿĀqib, met the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and asked him about Jesus. They said: “Every son of Adam has a father; so what is the case of Jesus, who has no father?” So God sent down concerning him this verse: Surely the likeness of Jesus with God (3:59), the verse.
Ibn Jarīr recorded from al-Suddī, who said: When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent and the people of Najrān heard of him, four men from among the best of them came to him, among them al-ʿĀqib, al-Sayyid, Māsarjis and Mārbaḥr. They asked him what he said about Jesus. He said: “He is the servant of God, and His spirit, and His word.” They said: “No; rather he is God, who came down from His kingdom and entered into the womb of Mary, then came forth from her, and so showed us His power and His command. Have you ever seen a human being created without a father?” So God sent down: Surely the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam (3:59), the verse.
Ibn Jarīr recorded from ʿIkrimah concerning His words: Surely the likeness of Jesus (3:59), the verse. He said: It was sent down concerning al-ʿĀqib and al-Sayyid of the people of Najrān.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Ibn Jurayj, who said: It has reached us that the delegation of the Christians of Najrān came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), among them al-Sayyid and al-ʿĀqib, who at that time were the two lords of the people of Najrān. They said: “O Muḥammad, why do you revile our companion?” He said: “Who is your companion?” They said: “Jesus son of Mary; you claim that he is a servant.” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Indeed, he is the servant of God and His word which He cast to Mary, and a spirit from Him.” They grew angry and said: “If you are truthful, then show us a servant who gives life to the dead, heals the blind from birth, and creates from clay the likeness of a bird and breathes into it”—the verse—“No, rather he is God.” He kept silent until Gabriel came to him and said: “O Muḥammad, They have certainly disbelieved who say that God is the Messiah, son of Mary (5:17), the verse.” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “O Gabriel, they asked me to tell them of the likeness of Jesus.” Gabriel said: The likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him “Be”, and he was.
When morning came they returned, and he recited the verses to them.
Ibn Saʿd and ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd recorded from al-Azraq ibn Qays, who said: The bishop of Najrān and al-ʿĀqib came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and he offered Islam to them. They said: “We were already Muslims before you.” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “You both lie. Three things keep you from Islam: your saying that God has taken a son, your prostration to the cross, and your eating the flesh of swine.” They said: “Then who is the father of Jesus?” He did not know what to say, and so God sent down: Surely the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam (3:59), up to His words the corrupters (3:63). When these verses came down, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called the two of them to mutual imprecation (mulāʿanah)4, and they said: “If he is a prophet, it is not fitting for us to imprecate against him.” So they refused, and said: “Do you offer anything other than this?” He said: “Islam, or the poll-tax (jizyah), or war.” So they agreed to the poll-tax.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded from Qatādah: The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters (3:60), meaning: do not be in doubt concerning Jesus, that he is as the likeness of Adam—the servant of God, His messenger and His word.
Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from al-Shaʿbī, who said: The delegation of Najrān came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: “Tell us about Jesus son of Mary.” He said: “The messenger of God and His word which He cast to Mary.” They said: “Jesus ought to be above this.” So God sent down: Surely the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam (3:59), the verse. They said: “Jesus ought not to be like Adam.” So God sent down: So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you (3:61), the verse.
Ibn Jarīr recorded from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Jazʾ al-Zubaydī that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “Would that there were a veil between me and the people of Najrān, so that I should not see them and they should not see me”—because of the severity with which they used to dispute with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
Al-Bayhaqī recorded in al-Dalāʾil, by way of Salamah ibn ʿAbd Yashūʿ, from his father, from his grandfather, that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) wrote to the people of Najrān, before Ṭā Sīn Sulaymān5 was sent down to him: “In the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. From Muḥammad, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), to the bishop of Najrān and the people of Najrān. If you submit, then I praise to you God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To proceed: I call you to the worship of God rather than the worship of servants, and I call you to the guardianship of God rather than the guardianship of servants. If you refuse, then the poll-tax; and if you refuse that, then I have given you notice of war. And peace.” When the bishop read the letter he was appalled by it and seized with a great dread, and he sent for a man of the people of Najrān called Shuraḥbīl ibn Wadāʿah and handed him the letter of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). He read it, and the bishop said to him: “What is your view?” Shuraḥbīl said: “You know what God promised Abraham concerning prophethood among the descendants of Ishmael; so what is to guarantee that this is not that man? I have no opinion to give on prophethood; were it a matter of worldly affairs I would counsel you in it and strive on your behalf.” The bishop then sent for one man after another of the people of Najrān, and every one of them said the same as Shuraḥbīl had said. So their opinion was agreed that they should send Shuraḥbīl ibn Wadāʿah, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shuraḥbīl and Jabbār ibn Fayḍ, to bring them back news of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). The delegation set out until they came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him); he questioned them and they questioned him, and the questioning went on between him and them until they said to him: “What do you say about Jesus son of Mary?” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “I have nothing on him this day of mine; so stay until I inform you of what is told me concerning Jesus tomorrow morning.” Then God sent down this verse: Surely the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam (3:59), up to His words: and invoke the curse of God upon the liars (3:61). They refused to acknowledge that, and when the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) rose the next morning, after he had told them the news, he came forward wrapping al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn in a cloak of his, with Fāṭimah walking behind his back, for the mutual imprecation; and he had at that time a number of wives. Shuraḥbīl said to his two companions: “I see a matter coming upon us. If this man is a prophet sent by God and we imprecate against him, there will not remain on the face of the earth of us a hair or a nail but it will perish.” They said to him: “What is your view?” He said: “My view is that I should let him be the judge over us, for I see a man who will never judge unjustly.” They said to him: “It is yours to decide.” Shuraḥbīl went to meet the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: “I have seen something better than imprecating against you.” He said: “And what is it?” He said: “Your judgement, this day until nightfall and your night until the morning; whatever you judge concerning us is binding.” So the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) went back and did not imprecate against them, and made peace with them on terms of the poll-tax.
Al-Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī and Abū Nuʿaym in al-Dalāʾil recorded from Ḥudhayfah that al-ʿĀqib and al-Sayyid came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and he wished to imprecate against them, but one of them said to his companion: “Do not imprecate against him, for by God, if he is a prophet and he imprecates against us, neither we nor our posterity after us will ever prosper.” So they said to him: “We will give you what you have asked; so send with us a trustworthy man.” He said: “Rise, O Abū ʿUbaydah.” And when he stood up he said: “This is the trustee of this community.”
Al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—Ibn Mardawayh and Abū Nuʿaym in al-Dalāʾil recorded from Jābir, who said: Al-ʿĀqib and al-Sayyid came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he called them to Islam. They said: “We have submitted, O Muḥammad.”
He said: “You both lie. If you wish, I shall tell you what keeps you from Islam.” They said: “Go on, then.” He said: “Love of the cross, drinking of wine, and eating the flesh of swine.” Jābir said: Then he called them to mutual imprecation, and they made an appointment with him for the morrow. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) went out in the morning and took ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn by the hand, then sent for the two of them; but they refused to answer him and yielded to him. He said: “By Him who sent me with the truth, had they done it, the valley would have rained fire upon them.” Jābir said: Concerning them was sent down: Come, let us call our sons and your sons (3:61), the verse. Jābir said: and ourselves and yourselves (3:61): the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and ʿAlī; our sons (3:61): al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn; and our women (3:61): Fāṭimah.
Al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—recorded from Jābir that the delegation of Najrān came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: “What do you say about Jesus?” He said: “He is the spirit of God and His word, and the servant of God and His messenger.” They said to him: “Are you willing that we should imprecate with you that it is not so?” He said: “Is that more pleasing to you?” They said: “Yes.” He said: “Then whenever you wish.” He came and gathered his offspring, al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, and their chief said: “Do not imprecate against this man, for by God, if you imprecate against him, one of the two parties will surely be swallowed up by the earth.” So they came and said: “O Abū al-Qāsim, it was only our foolish ones who wished to imprecate against you, and we would like you to excuse us.” He said: “I have excused you.” Then he said: “The punishment had overshadowed Najrān.”
Abū Nuʿaym recorded in al-Dalāʾil, by way of al-Kalbī, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the delegation of Najrān, of the Christians, came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), fourteen men of their nobles, among them al-Sayyid, who was the great one among them, and al-ʿĀqib, who was the one next after him and the holder of their counsel. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the two of them: “Submit.” They said: “We have submitted.” He said: “You have not submitted.” They said: “Yes indeed, we submitted before you.” He said: “You both lie. Three things in you keep you from Islam: your worship of the cross, your eating of swine, and your claim that God has a son.” And there came down: Surely the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust (3:59), the verse. When he recited it to them they said: “We do not recognise what you say.” And there came down: So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you (3:61). He says: whoever argues with you about the matter of Jesus after there has come to you of the knowledge (3:61)—of the Qurʾān—then say: Come (3:61), up to His words: then let us earnestly pray (3:61). He says: let us strive in supplication that what Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has brought is the truth and that what they say is falsehood. He said to them: “God has commanded me, if you do not accept this, to engage you in mutual imprecation (mubāhalah).” They said: “O Abū al-Qāsim, rather let us go back and consider our affair, then we will come to you.” They withdrew with one another and spoke frankly among themselves. Al-Sayyid said to al-ʿĀqib: “By God, you know that the man is a prophet sent by God, and if you imprecate against him it will mean your extirpation; never did a people imprecate against a prophet and their elder survive or their young one grow up. So if you will not follow him and insist only on clinging to your religion, then make a truce with him and return to your country.” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) had gone out with ʿAlī, al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn and Fāṭimah with him, and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “When I pray, say Amen.” But they refused to imprecate against him and made peace with him on terms of the poll-tax.
Abū Nuʿaym recorded in al-Dalāʾil, by way of ʿAṭāʾ and al-Ḍaḥḥāk, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that eight of the bishops of the Arabs, of the people of Najrān, came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), among them al-ʿĀqib and al-Sayyid. So God sent down: then say: Come, let us call our sons (3:61), up to His words: then let us earnestly pray (3:61). He means: let us call upon God to lay the curse upon the liar. They said: “Grant us a delay of three days.” So they went to Banū Qurayẓah, al-Naḍīr and Banū Qaynuqāʿ6 and consulted them, and these counselled them to make peace with him and not to imprecate against him, for he was the prophet whom we find in the Torah. So they made peace with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) on terms of a thousand garments in Ṣafar and a thousand in Rajab, and dirhams.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Abū Nuʿaym in al-Dalāʾil recorded from Qatādah: So whoever disputes with you concerning him (3:61): concerning Jesus; then say: Come, let us call our sons (3:61), the verse. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) summoned the delegation of Najrān to this, and they are the ones who had disputed with him concerning Jesus; but they drew back and refused. And it was mentioned to us that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Punishment had indeed come down upon the people of Najrān; had they done it, they would have been extirpated from the face of the earth.”
Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr, Ibn Abī Shaybah, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Abū Nuʿaym recorded from al-Shaʿbī, who said: The people of Najrān were the most extreme of the Christians in what they said about Jesus son of Mary, and they used to argue with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about him. So God sent down these verses in Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: Surely the likeness of Jesus with God (3:59), up to His words: and invoke the curse of God upon the liars (3:61). He was commanded to engage them in mutual imprecation, and they made an appointment with him for the morrow. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went out in the morning with al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn and Fāṭimah with him; but they refused to imprecate against him and made peace with him on terms of the poll-tax. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The bearer of tidings came to me with the destruction of the people of Najrān, even to the birds upon the trees, had they gone through with the mutual imprecation.”
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, al-Bukhārī, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, Ibn Mardawayh and Abū Nuʿaym in al-Dalāʾil recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Had the people of Najrān engaged in mutual imprecation with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), they would have returned to find neither family nor property.
Muslim, al-Tirmidhī, Ibn al-Mundhir, al-Ḥākim and al-Bayhaqī in his Sunan recorded from Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, who said: When this verse was sent down: then say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons (3:61), the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, Ḥasan and Ḥusayn, and said: “O God, these are my family.”
Ibn Jarīr recorded from ʿAlbāʾ ibn Aḥmar al-Yashkurī, who said: When this verse was sent down: then say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons (3:61), the verse, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent for ʿAlī, Fāṭimah and their two sons al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, and summoned the Jews to imprecate against them. A young man of the Jews said: “Woe to you! Is it not within your recent memory, as of yesterday, that your brethren were transformed into apes and swine? Do not imprecate.” So they desisted.
Ibn ʿAsākir recorded from Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, from his father, concerning this verse: Come, let us call our sons (3:61), the verse. He said: He brought Abū Bakr and his son, ʿUmar and his son, ʿUthmān and his son, and ʿAlī and his son.
Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, by way of Ibn Jurayj, from Ibn ʿAbbās: then let us earnestly pray (3:61): let us strive in supplication.
Al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—and al-Bayhaqī in his Sunan recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “This is sincere devotion (ikhlāṣ),” pointing with the finger next to the thumb; “and this is supplication (duʿāʾ),” and he raised his hands level with his shoulders; “and this is earnest entreaty (ibtihāl),” and he raised his hands stretched out high.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās: Surely this is the true narrative (3:62). He says: surely this which We have said concerning Jesus is the truth.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd recorded from Qays ibn Saʿd, who said: There was something between Ibn ʿAbbās and another man, and he recited this verse: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves, then let us earnestly pray (3:61), and he raised his hands and faced the Corner7: and invoke the curse of God upon the liars (3:61).
On 3:64
His words, Exalted: Say: O People of the Book, come (3:64), the verse.
Ibn Abī Shaybah, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī and al-Bayhaqī in his Sunan recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to recite in the two rakʿahs of dawn, in the first of them: Say: We believe in God and what has been sent down to us (2:136), the verse; and in the second: Come to a word common between us and you (3:64).
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, al-Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Abū Sufyān related to me that Heraclius called for the letter of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and read it, and in it was: “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. From Muḥammad, the Messenger of God, to Heraclius, the great one of the Romans. Peace be upon whoever follows the guidance. To proceed: I call you with the summons of Islam. Submit, and you will be safe; submit, and God will give you your reward twice over. But if you turn away, then upon you is the sin of the arīsiyyīn8. O People of the Book, come to a word common between us and you: that we worship none but God, and that we associate nothing with Him (3:64),” up to His words: bear witness that we are Muslims (3:64).
Al-Ṭabarānī recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās that the letter of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) to the unbelievers was: Come to a word common between us and you (3:64), to the end of the verse.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Ibn Jurayj concerning His words: Come to a word (3:64), the verse. He said: It has reached me that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called the Jews of the people of Medina to that, but they refused him; so he fought them until they agreed to the poll-tax (jizyah).
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded from Qatādah, who said: It was mentioned to us that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called the Jews of the people of Medina to the common word; they are the ones who disputed concerning Abraham and claimed that he died a Jew, so God gave them the lie and disowned them from him, saying: O People of the Book, why do you dispute concerning Abraham (3:65), the verse.
Ibn Jarīr recorded from al-Rabīʿ, who said: It was mentioned to us that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called the Jews to the common word.
He recorded from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr concerning His words: Say: O People of the Book, come (3:64), the verse. He said: So he called them to a fair settlement and cut off the argument from them—meaning the delegation of Najrān.
He recorded from al-Suddī, who said: Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called them—meaning the delegation of the Christians of Najrān—and said: O People of the Book, come to a common word (3:64), the verse.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Qatādah: Come to a word common (3:64). He said: just.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded the like of it from al-Rabīʿ.
Al-Ṭastī recorded in his Masāʾil9 from Ibn ʿAbbās that Nāfiʿ ibn al-Azraq asked him about His words: common between us and you (3:64). He said: just. He said: And do the Arabs know that? He said: Yes; have you not heard the words of the poet:
We met and settled our account on even terms (sawāʾ), but he was dragged from one state to another.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, who said: The common word is: there is no god but God.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Mujāhid: Come to a word common (3:64). He said: there is no god but God.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Ibn Jurayj concerning His words: and that none of us take others as lords apart from God (3:64). He said: that none of us obey another in disobedience to God. And it is said that that lordship consists in people obeying their chiefs and leaders in what is not worship, even though they do not pray to them.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from ʿIkrimah concerning His words: and that none of us take others as lords (3:64). He said: their prostrating to one another.
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.
← Part 2 · The family of ʿImrān (3:33-64): all commentaries · The classical commentaries
Notes
- The Dajjāl is the false messiah, or Antichrist, whom Muslim tradition expects at the end of time. ↩
- a Christian town and district in the south of Arabia, whose delegation came to the Prophet in Medina ↩
- the two leading men of the Christian delegation of Najrān: al-Sayyid was their chief and al-ʿĀqib his deputy and the holder of their counsel ↩
- the solemn procedure of 3:61 in which each party calls down the curse of God upon whichever of them is lying; also called mubāhalah ↩
- that is, Sūrat al-Naml (27), which opens with the letters Ṭā Sīn and contains Solomon’s letter beginning “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful” (27:30); before it was revealed the Prophet’s letters opened with the older formula “In the name of the God of…” or “In Your name, O God” ↩
- the three Jewish tribes of Medina ↩
- the corner of the Kaʿbah in which the Black Stone is set ↩
- the peasants or subject tillers of the land under Byzantine rule; the sin of their remaining outside Islam would fall upon Heraclius if he turned them away from it ↩
- the “Questions of Nāfiʿ ibn al-Azraq”, a collection of lexical questions put to Ibn ʿAbbās, each answered with a verse of Arabic poetry ↩