The Gospel According to Islam · Chapter 1, Birth and Childhood · Section 3

The promised messenger, Joseph and the creation of Jesus. 15 verses.

1That I may bring to the world the good news of a messenger who will come after me as light and mercy to all the nations; his name shall be called Admirable.¹ 2And he will be of the family of Abraham, as God promised to him saying, In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed² 3And he will be from Kedar, a tribe of the children of Ishmael, the son of Abraham. 4As Esias prophesied, saying, Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voices in rejoicing, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit³ 5And he shall come from Mount Paran, as Moses spoke of him, saying, God came from Mount Paran with ten thousand saints⁴ 6And when he is come, he will guide the nations into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he hears that shalt he speak and coming things he will announce to you.⁵

7He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set justice in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law.⁶ 8For God did choose the family of Abraham and the family of Amran and Adam and Noah over the people of all nations. 9And God heareth and knoweth all things.⁷ 10When Mary’s people heard this, they marveled at it. They said one to another, What do we about this marvelous babe? People will not believe what we have heard and seen. 11One of them, Joseph⁸ of Bethlehem, said, I wed her and take her and the babe to Bethlehem, and then we return to Nazareth after a period.⁹ And so it was done.

12And before God the creation of Jesus is like the creation of Adam. He made him from dust and then said to him, “Be,” and he was.¹⁰ 13This is the true account; and there is no God besides God, the exalted in power, the wise¹¹ 14He is self-sustaining, and He begetteth not, nor is He begotten. 15And there is none like unto Him.¹²

Qur’an 61:6. In Isaiah 9:6, one of the name’s of a promised figure is given in Hebrew as “Pele.” This name can be translated as “Admirable.” and indeed it is so translated in the Vulgate. The expectation of the figure of Isaiah 9:6 as well as the title ‘Admirable’ was current among the Qumran people (see Hymns III in G. Vermes’ translation, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Penguin Books, 1975), and there is some warrant for the view that the Qumran sectarians identified this figure, whom they also called Geber, Man, with the Messianic Prophet believed to be promised in Deuteronomy 18:18-19 (cf. G. Vermes, op. cit. p. 50). Since the Qumran tradition is known to have played a considerable part in the formation of Christianity, it is a plausible explanation of Qur’an 61.6 that the expection of the messianic prophet under the name Admirable was taken over by Christian tradition. Of course, as glorification of Jesus increased, Christianity lost inclination to expect an independent figure after Jesus and, in the main, began to see in Jesus the only bringer of salvation. Nevertheless, the New Testament has preserved evidence that shows that tradition sometimes expected not one but three messianic figures. Thus, in the Gospel of John (1:19-21, 25), the messengers sent from Jerusalem ask John the Baptist, “Who art thou?” and when he confessed, “I am not the Christ (i.e., the Messiah),” they asked him, “What then? Art thou Elias?” Again the Baptist denies, and this prompts the messengers’ next question, “Art thou that Prophet?” The Baptist denies even that, and then the messengers ask him, “Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not the Christ, nor Elias, neither that Prophet?”

In another passage of the same gospel, people argue among themselves about Jesus: “Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is that Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?” (7:40-41).

The evidence for the expectation of three messianic figures is not limited to the fourth gospel. The same expectation is presupposed in the synoptic account of Jesus’ transfiguration (Mark 9:2-13; Matt. 17:1-13; Luke 9:28-36) in which Jesus the Messiah appears to his close disciples in the company of Elias and Moses (who was often believed to return in the role of “that Prophet”). The earliest tradition, of course, saw the Messiah in Jesus and Elias in John the Baptist, but does not present us with any person corresponding to the figure of Moses redivivus or that Prophet; we must therefore assume that this latter figure was expected to come soon after John and Jesus. This expectation of Moses or a figure like him, soon abandoned by the mainstream Christianity, seems to have survived in some Eastern Christian circles and given rise to hopes for a messenger bearing the title Admirable. ↩
Gen 22:18. Following the story of the births of John and Jesus by the prophecies about the coming of Muhammad reflects the position, taken in this narrative, that the three prophets form the three figures that Israel awaited, with John corresponding to the messianic priest (or, Elias, or, in the language of the Qumran Scrolls, the messiah of Aaron), Jesus corresponding to the messianic king (or the Messiah of Israel), and Muhammad to the messianic prophet (or “that prophet” of John 1:20, 25; 7:40). In the Qur’an, too, the stories of the births of Mary, John, and Jesus (3:33-63) are followed by a reference to earlier prophecies about Muhammad (3:81) and his relation with Abraham (3:68).

To say that John, Jesus, and Muhammad correspond to the three messianic figures expected in the Jewish tradition cannot be true in the sense that they fulfill all what the tradition promised about those figures since the tradition is not consistent. One must go beyond the inconsistencies in detail and see what the Jewish messianism is really concerned with. And one must also rid it of some of its narrower, nationalistic concerns. If we do that, it would seem that the essential feature of the Jewish messianic thought, when it rises above nationalism and racialism, is the prediction that there will arise in the world up to three eschatological (or last) envoys from God who will usher in a final stage in human history during which there will be a period of dramatic improvement in man’s spiritual and material condition. And in view of the influence of John, Jesus, and Muhammad in history, it seems justified to regard them as the three promised eschatological messengers even though they do not fulfill some of the specific predictions found in the Jewish messianic tradition. ↩
Isa. 42:11. See A. Yusuf Ali on Qur’an 3.81, and also Mishkat Al-Masabih XXVI, 18:1:4 ↩
Deut. 33.2. ↩
John 16:12-13. For identity between John’s Paraclete (or Counselor), the Admirable, and the messianic prophet like Moses, see note 32 and note 192. ↩
Isa. 42:4. ↩
Qur’an 3:33-34. ↩
The tradition about the marriage of Joseph and Mary is so firmly established in the gospels that it cannot be ignored. Matthew (1:18-25) reconciles it with the virgin birth by saying that the birth of Jesus took place when Joseph and Mary were engaged and did not yet “know” each other, that is, did not have sexual relations. The Qur’an does not follow the story of Mary beyond the birth of Jesus and does not mention Joseph. We may therefore presume that Joseph entered Mary’s life after the birth. ↩
It is implied by Luke 2:1-5 that Joseph was of Bethlehem and that he made a journey from Nazareth and back with Mary. Matthew (2:1) also implies that Joseph and Mary lived both in Bethlehem and Nazareth. Both Matthew and Luke make Mary deliver in Bethlehem, in order to fulfil the Scriptures (see Matt. 2:5-6; cf. Micah 5:2). ↩
Qur’an 3:59. ↩
Qur’an 3:62. ↩
Qur’an 102:2-4. ↩

From the commentaries on 3:59-63, 19:34-37

What the classical commentators wrote on the verses this section rests on, each given in full and folded away until opened. The same texts, with the other passages, are on the classical commentaries.

al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān (d. 310 AH / 923 CE), about 8,000 words

On 3:59

On the interpretation of His words: Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him “Be”, and he is. (59) (3:59)

Abū Jaʿfar said: He means, Majestic is His praise: indeed the likeness of Jesus, in My creating him without a sire—so inform the delegation of the Christians of Najrān of it, O Muḥammad—is, with Me, as the likeness of Adam, whom I created from dust and then said to him “Be”, and he was, without sire, without male or female. He says: so My creating Jesus from his mother without a sire is not more wondrous than My creating Adam without male or female, and My command when I commanded him to be, and he became flesh. He says: so likewise was My creating Jesus: I commanded him to be, and he was.

The people of interpretation mentioned that God, Mighty and Majestic, sent down this verse as an argument for His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) against the delegation of the Christians of Najrān who disputed with him concerning Jesus.

Those who said this

(7160) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Jarīr related to us, from Mughīrah, from ʿĀmir, who said: The people of Najrān were the people among the Christians who made the greatest claims about Jesus, and they used to argue with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); so God, Mighty and Majestic, sent down this verse in Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is,” up to His words and invoke the curse of God upon the liars (3:61).

(7161) Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me: my father related to me: my paternal uncle related to me: my father related to me, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is”: that was because a group of the people of Najrān came to Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him)—among them were al-Sayyid and al-ʿĀqib¹³—and they said to Muḥammad: “What is the matter with you, that you speak of our master?” He said: “Who is he?” They said: “Jesus; you claim that he is a servant of God!” Muḥammad said: “Yes indeed, he is a servant of God.” They said to him: “Have you ever seen the like of Jesus, or been told of it?” Then they went out from his presence, and Gabriel (peace and blessings be upon him) came to him with the command of our Lord, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing, and said: Say to them when they come to you: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam,” to the end of the verse.

(7162) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is”: It was mentioned to us that the two chiefs 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, saying: “Every human being has a father; so what is the matter with Jesus, that he has no father?” So God, Mighty and Majestic, sent down concerning him this verse: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is.”

(7163) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust”: When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent and the people of Najrān heard of him, four men of their best came to him, among them al-ʿĀqib, al-Sayyid, Mā Sarjis¹⁴ and Mār Yaḥiz.¹⁵ They asked him what he said about Jesus, and he said: “He is the servant of God, and His spirit, and His word.” They said: “No! Rather he is God: He came down from His kingdom and entered the womb of Mary, then came out of her and showed us His power and His command! Have you ever seen a human being created without a father?” So God, Mighty and Majestic, sent down: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is.”

(7164) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from ʿIkrimah, concerning His words “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is”: he said: it was sent down concerning al-ʿĀqib and al-Sayyid of the people of Najrān, who were both Christians. Ibn Jurayj said: It has reached us that the delegation of the Christians of the people 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 chiefs of the people of Najrān, and they said: “O Muḥammad, why do you revile our master?” He said: “Who is your master?” They said: “Jesus son of Mary; you claim that he is a servant!” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Yes 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 brings the dead to life, heals the one born blind, and creates from clay the form of a bird and breathes into it”—the verse—“but 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, 72), the verse. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “O Gabriel, they asked me to tell them the likeness of Jesus.” Gabriel said: The likeness of Jesus is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him “Be”, and he is. When morning came they returned, and he recited the verses to them.

(7165) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God”—so listen—“is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is. The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters”: if they say Jesus was created without a male, then I created Adam from dust by that same power, without female or male, and he became, just as Jesus became, flesh and blood and hair and skin; so the creation of Jesus without a male is not more wondrous than this.

(7166) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust”: he said: Two men of Najrān came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and said to him: “Do you know of anyone who was born without a male, that Jesus should be so?” He said: So God, Mighty and Majestic, sent down: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is.” Did Adam have a father or a mother, as I created this one in the womb of this woman?

Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone were to say: How did He say “as the likeness of Adam: He created him”, when “Adam” is a definite noun, and definite nouns do not take an attached qualifying clause (ṣilah)?

It would be said: His words “He created him from dust” are not an attached clause qualifying Adam; rather they are an explanation of his affair by way of commentary on the parable He struck, and of how it came about.

As for His words “then said to him ‘Be’, and he is”: He said “and he is” (fa-yakūn), in the present tense, even though He had begun the report about the creation of Adam, which is a report about a matter already concluded, and He had expressed the report about it in the form of a report about what has passed, saying, Majestic is His praise, “He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’”—because it carries the sense of God’s informing His Prophet that His bringing things into being is by His word “Be”; then He said “and he is” as a fresh report, the report about the affair of Adam having come to its end at His word “Be”.

So the interpretation of the words is then: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’”—and know, O Muḥammad, that whatever your Lord says “Be” to, it is.

Since in His words “as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’” there is an indication that the speech is intended to inform the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and the rest of His creatures that whatever He brings into being from the first, without origin, beginning or element, comes to be, the indication of the speech sufficed for the meaning, and “and he is” was said, so that the future was conjoined to the past on the basis of that meaning.

Some of the scholars of Arabic have said: “and he is” is in the indicative as a fresh clause, and its meaning is: “Be”, and he was; as though He had said: and behold, he is.

On 3:60

On the interpretation of His words: The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters. (60) (3:60)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By this, Majestic is His praise, He means: that which I have told you of the account of Jesus, and that his likeness is as the likeness of Adam, whom He created from dust and then his Lord said to him “Be”—it is the truth from your Lord; He says: it is the account which is from your Lord; “so do not be among the doubters”, meaning: so do not be among those who doubt that this is so, as:

(7167) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: “The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters”, meaning: so do not be in doubt about Jesus, that he is as the likeness of Adam, the servant of God and His messenger, and the word of God and His spirit.

(7168) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words “The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters”: he says: so do not be in doubt about what We have narrated to you, that Jesus is the servant of God and His messenger, and a word from Him and a spirit, and that his likeness with God is as the likeness of Adam, whom He created from dust and then said to him “Be”, and he is.

(7169) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: “The truth is from your Lord”: what has come to you of the account of Jesus; “so do not be among the doubters”, that is: the truth has come to you from your Lord, so do not doubt it.

(7170) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His words “so do not be among the doubters”: he said: the doubters (al-mumtarūn) are those who are in doubt.

“Doubt” (miryah), “uncertainty” (shakk) and “misgiving” (rayb) are one and the same, after the manner of your saying “give me”, “hand me” and “come, bring it”: these differ in wording while being one in meaning.

On 3:61

On the interpretation of His words: So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves; then let us invoke earnestly and lay the curse of God upon the liars (3:61)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words, Majestic is His praise, So whoever disputes with you concerning him, He means: whoever argues with you, O Muḥammad, concerning the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary.

The pronoun “him” in His words concerning him refers back to the mention of Jesus. It is also possible that it refers back to “the truth” of which He, Exalted be His mention, said: The truth is from your Lord (3:60).

By His words after the knowledge that has come to you, He means: after the knowledge that has come to you which I have made clear to you concerning Jesus, namely that he is the servant of God; say: Come, that is, come along, and let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves; then let us invoke earnestly (nabtahil), He says: then let us call down the curse upon one another (naltaʿin).

It is said in speech, “What is the matter with him? May God bahala him,” meaning: may God curse him; and “What is the matter with him? Upon him be the buhla of God,” by which the curse is meant. Labīd¹⁶ said, mentioning a people who had perished:

Time looked upon them and invoked destruction upon them (fa-ibtahal);

meaning: it called down ruin upon them.

and lay the curse of God upon the liars: those among us and among you who lie concerning what Jesus is. As in:

(7171) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, that is: concerning Jesus, that he is the servant of God and His messenger, of the word of God and His spirit; say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, up to His words upon the liars.

(7172) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, that is: after what I have recounted to you of his story and of how his affair was; say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, the verse.

(7173) It was related to us from ʿAmmār: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you: he says: whoever disputes with you concerning Jesus after the knowledge concerning him that has come to you.

(7174) Yūnus related to us: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said, concerning then let us invoke earnestly and lay the curse of God upon the liars: he said: among us and among you.

(7175) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, and he said: Ibn Lahīʿah related to me, from Sulaymān ibn Ziyād al-Ḥaḍramī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Jazʾ al-Zubaydī¹⁷: that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “Would that there were a veil between me and the people of Najrān¹⁸, so that I should not see them and they should not see me!” — because of how fiercely they used to argue with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

On 3:62-63

On the interpretation of His words: Indeed, this is the true narrative, and there is no god but God; and indeed God, He is the Mighty, the Wise. (62) But if they turn away, then God is All-Knowing of those who work corruption. (63) (3:62-63)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He means, Majestic is His praise: Indeed, this which I have told you, O Muḥammad, concerning the matter of Jesus, and which I have recounted to you of his tidings — that he is My servant and My messenger and My word which I cast to Mary, and a spirit from Me — this is the true narrative and the true report; so know that. And know that created beings have no object of worship who deserves their worship by virtue of His owning them, except the One you worship, Who is God, the Mighty, the Wise.

By His words the Mighty He means: mighty in His vengeance upon whoever disobeys Him, opposes His command, and claims a god alongside Him other than Him, or worships a lord besides Him; the Wise, in His governance, into which no weakness enters, and which no defect reaches.

But if they turn away, He means: if these people who have disputed with you concerning Jesus turn their backs on the truth that has come to you from your Lord concerning Jesus and concerning all else of the guidance and clear exposition that God has given you, and turn aside from it and do not accept it;

then God is All-Knowing of those who work corruption, He says: then God possesses knowledge of those who disobey their Lord and do in His earth and His lands what He has forbidden them, and that is their corruption. He says, Exalted be His mention: He knows them and their deeds, reckons them against them and preserves them, until He requites them for them with their due requital.

Those versed in interpretation said much the same as we have said on this.

Those who said this

(7176) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: Indeed, this is the true narrative, that is: this report concerning Jesus which you have brought is the true narrative of his affair.

(7177) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj: Indeed, this is the narrative: indeed this which We have said concerning Jesus is the true narrative.

(7178) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His words Indeed, this is the true narrative: he said: Indeed this is the true narrative concerning Jesus; it is not fitting for Jesus to go beyond this or to exceed it — that he should go beyond being the word of God which He cast to Mary, and a spirit from Him, and the servant of God and His messenger.

(7179) Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me: my father related to me: my paternal uncle related to me: my father related to me, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās: Indeed, this is the true narrative: indeed this which We have said concerning Jesus is the truth; and there is no god but God, the verse.

Then, when He, Majestic is His praise, had decided between His Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and the delegation of the Christians of Najrān with the decisive judgement and the just verdict, He commanded him — should they turn away from what he called them to, namely the acknowledgement of the oneness of God, that He has neither child nor consort, and that Jesus is His servant and His messenger, and should they refuse all but argument and contention — to call them to the mutual invocation of curses (mulāʿanah). The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) did so. And when the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) did so, they shrank back and refused the mutual cursing, and called instead for a settlement; as in:

(7180) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Jarīr related to us, from Mughīrah, from ʿĀmir¹⁹, who said: He — meaning the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) — was commanded to invoke curses against them — meaning the people of Najrān — by His words So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, the verse. So they agreed to engage him in mutual cursing and appointed the following morning with him. Then they went off to al-Sayyid and al-ʿĀqib²⁰, who were the most sensible of them, and these two followed them. Then they went off to a sensible man among them and told him the terms on which they had parted from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). He said: “What have you done!” and made them regret it, and said to them: “If he is a prophet, and then invokes against you, God will never leave him unanswered in his anger against you; and if he is a king, and then prevails over you, he will never spare you.” They said: “What then can we do, when we have already given our word?” He said to them: “When you go to him in the morning and he offers you that on which you parted from him, say: ‘We seek refuge in God!’ And if he calls you to it again, say to him: ‘We seek refuge in God!’ Perhaps he will excuse you from it.” When they went in the morning, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went out, holding al-Ḥasan to his breast and taking al-Ḥusayn by the hand, with Fāṭimah walking behind him. He called them to that on which they had parted from him the day before, and they said: “We seek refuge in God!” Then he called them again, and they said: “We seek refuge in God!” — several times. He said: “If you refuse, then embrace Islam, and you shall have what the Muslims have and owe what the Muslims owe, as God, Mighty and Majestic, has said. And if you refuse, then pay the tribute (jizyah) out of hand, being humbled, as God, Mighty and Majestic, has said.” They said: “We possess nothing but ourselves!” He said: “Then if you refuse, I renounce my covenant with you on equal terms, as God, Mighty and Majestic, has said.” They said: “We have no strength to make war on the Arabs; rather, we will pay the tribute.” He said: So he imposed upon them two thousand garments (ḥullah) each year, a thousand in Rajab and a thousand in Ṣafar. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The bringer of tidings came to me of the destruction of the people of Najrān, even the birds upon the trees — or: the sparrows upon the trees — had they gone through with the mutual cursing.”

Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Jarīr related to us, and said: I said to al-Mughīrah: “People relate in the account of the people of Najrān that ʿAlī was with them!” He said: “As for al-Shaʿbī, he did not mention him; and I do not know whether it was because of the Umayyads’ ill opinion of ʿAlī, or because it was not in the account.”

(7181) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: Indeed, this is the true narrative, up to His words then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims (3:64): so he called them to equity (naṣaf) and cut off their argument. And when the report from God concerning him came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and the decisive judgement between him and them, and He commanded him what He commanded him of invoking curses against them if they rejected it, he called them to that. They said: “O Abū al-Qāsim, let us consider our affair; then we will come to you with what we intend to do about that to which you have called us.” So they left him, and then went aside with al-ʿĀqib, who was the man of counsel among them, and said: “O ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, what is your view?” He said: “By God, O company of Christians, you know that Muḥammad is indeed a prophet sent, and he has brought you the decisive word concerning the affair of your master; and you know that no people has ever invoked curses against a prophet and had its elders survive or its young grow up. It will surely mean your extirpation if you do it. So if you refuse all but attachment to your religion and persistence in what you hold concerning your master, then make peace with the man and go back to your country until time shows you his outcome.” So they came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: “O Abū al-Qāsim, we have decided not to invoke curses with you, and to leave you to your religion and return to our religion. But send with us a man from among your Companions whom you approve for us, to judge between us in certain matters of our property over which we have differed, for you are acceptable to us.”

(7182) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: ʿĪsā ibn Farqad related to us, from Abū al-Jārūd, from Zayd ibn ʿAlī, concerning His words Come, let us call our sons and your sons, the verse, who said: It was the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn.

(7183) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, the verse: so he — meaning the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) — took al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn and Fāṭimah by the hand and said to ʿAlī: “Follow us.” So he went out with them. But the Christians did not go out that day, and said: “We fear that this may be the Prophet, and the invocation of a prophet is not like that of anyone else!” So they stayed away from him that day, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Had they gone out, they would have been burnt!” Then they made peace with him on these terms: that he should have from them eighty thousand, and whatever the dirhams fell short of should be made up in goods, a garment reckoned at forty; and that he should have from them thirty-three coats of mail, thirty-three camels, and thirty-four horses fit for raiding every year, and that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) would stand surety for them until we delivered them to them.

(7184) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, who said: It was mentioned to us that the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called a delegation from the delegation of Najrān, the Christians — they being the ones who disputed with him concerning Jesus — and they drew back from it and were afraid. And it was mentioned to us that the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say: “By Him in Whose hand is Muḥammad’s soul, the punishment had already come hanging low over the people of Najrān, and had they done it they would have been extirpated from the face of the earth.”

(7185) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, who said: It has reached us that the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) went out to engage the people of Najrān in mutual invocation, and when they saw him come out they were awed and afraid, and turned back. Maʿmar said: Qatādah said: When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to confront the people of Najrān, he took Ḥasan and Ḥusayn by the hand and said to Fāṭimah: “Follow us.” And when the enemies of God saw that, they turned back.

(7186) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jazarī, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Had those who were to engage the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in mutual invocation (mubāhalah) gone out, they would have returned to find neither family nor property.

(7187) Abū Kurayb related to us: Zakariyyā related to us, from ʿAdī, who said: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAmr related to us, from ʿAbd al-Karīm, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.

(7188) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “By Him in Whose hand is my soul, had they engaged me in mutual cursing, the year would not have come round with a single one of them remaining among them, but God would have destroyed the liars.”

(7189) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd related to us, who said: It was said to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him): “Had you engaged the people in mutual cursing, whom would you have brought when you said our sons and your sons?” He said: “Ḥasan and Ḥusayn.”

(7190) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us: al-Mundhir ibn Thaʿlabah related to us: ʿIlbāʾ ibn Aḥmar al-Yashkurī related to us, who said: When this verse was revealed, say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, the verse, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent for ʿAlī and Fāṭimah and their two sons al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, and called the Jews to engage them in mutual cursing. A young man of the Jews said: “Woe to you! Was it not only yesterday that your brethren were transformed into apes and swine? Do not engage in mutual cursing!” So they desisted.

On 19:34

On the interpretation of His words: Such is Jesus son of Mary — the word of truth about which they are in doubt (34) (19:34)

God, Exalted be His mention, says: This one whose description I have set forth to you, and whose story I have told you, concerning the matter of the boy whom Mary bore, is Jesus son of Mary; this description is his description and this account is his account; and it is the word of truth, meaning that this account which I have narrated to you is the word of truth, and the speech I have recited to you is the word of God and His account, not the account of any other, into which illusion and doubt, addition and diminution enter. It is as though God, Exalted be His mention, were saying: So say concerning Jesus, O people, this word of which God has informed you about him — not what the Jews said, who claimed that he was not born of lawful wedlock and that he was a lying sorcerer, nor what the Christians said, that he was a son to God; for God has not taken a son, nor does that befit Him.

The people of interpretation said the like of what we have said about this.

Those who said this

Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from Mujāhid, His words Such is Jesus son of Mary — the word of truth, he said: God is the Truth.

Yaḥyā ibn Ibrāhīm al-Masʿūdī related to me: my father related to me, from his father, from his grandfather, from al-Aʿmash, from Ibrāhīm, who said: They used to say of this word, in the reading of ʿAbd Allāh²¹ — he said: about which they are in doubt — he said: the Word of God.

Were the interpretation of this directed to “Such is Jesus son of Mary, the true word (al-qawl al-ḥaqq)”, in the sense “that is the true word”, with the definite article then removed from “word” and the word placed in construct with “truth” — as it is said Indeed this is the truth of certainty (56:95), and as it is said the true promise which they were promised (46:16) — it would be a sound interpretation.

The reciters differed in the reading of this. The generality of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and Iraq read it qawlu l-ḥaqq, with the nominative on “word”, according to the meaning I have described, making it in its inflection follow “Jesus”, as an attribute (naʿt) of him. But the matter of its inflection is not, in my view, as those said who claimed that it is nominative as an attribute of “Jesus” — unless the meaning of “word” (qawl) be “the Word” (kalimah), according to what we have mentioned from Ibrāhīm concerning his interpretation of it in that way; in that case it would be correct for it to be an attribute of “Jesus”. Otherwise its nominative is, in my view, by virtue of an implied word, namely “this is the word of truth”, as the beginning of a new sentence (ibtidāʾ). That is because the account of the story of Jesus and his mother has come to its end at His words Such is Jesus son of Mary; then He began a new report, that the truth in the matter of Jesus about which the nations dispute is this word of which God has informed His servants about him, and no other. ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir read it with the accusative, and it is as though the two of them intended by that the verbal noun: “Such is Jesus son of Mary — a true saying (qawlan ḥaqqan)”, and then the definite article was introduced into it. As for what is reported of Ibn Masʿūd, that he read “Such is Jesus son of Mary, qāl al-ḥaqq“, it is in the sense of qawl al-ḥaqq, on the pattern of al-ʿāb and al-ʿayb (fault), and al-dhām and al-dhaym (blame).

Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct reading of this, in our view, is the nominative, because of the consensus of the authoritative reciters upon it. As for His words, Exalted be His mention, about which they are in doubt, He means: about which they contend and differ, from their saying “I disputed (māraytu) so-and-so”, when you argue and contend with him.

The people of interpretation said the like of what we have said about this.

Those who said this

Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, His words Such is Jesus son of Mary — the word of truth about which they are in doubt: The Jews and the Christians fell into doubt about him. As for the Jews, they claimed he was a lying sorcerer; as for the Christians, they claimed he was the son of God, and the third of three, and a god. All of them lied; rather he is the servant of God and His messenger, His Word and a spirit from Him.

Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, His words about which they are in doubt, he said: They differed. One party said: he is the servant of God and His prophet — and they believed in him. Another party said: nay, he is God. Another party said: he is the son of God — Blessed and Exalted is He, far above what they say. He said: That is His words Then the factions differed among themselves (19:37), and the verse in al-Zukhruf (43:65). He said: Diqyūs, Nasṭūr and Mār Yaʿqūb²² — one of them said, when God raised Jesus up: he is God; another said: the son of God; and another said: the Word of God and His servant. Then the two slanderers said: my saying is closer to your saying, and your saying to mine, than the saying of this man; so come, let us fight them. So they fought them and set the Children of Israel upon them. Then they brought out from among themselves four men, each people bringing out its learned man, and they disputed about Jesus after he had been raised up. One of them said: he is God, who came down to earth, gave life to whom he gave life and caused to die whom he caused to die, then ascended to heaven — and these are the Nestorians. The other two said: you lie. Then one of the two said to the other: say what you hold about him. He said: he is the third of three: God is a god, he is a god, and his mother is a god — and these are the Isrāʾīliyyah, the kings of the Christians. The fourth said: you lie; he is the servant of God and His messenger, His spirit and His Word — and these are the Muslims. Every man among them had followers according to what he said, and they fought one another, and the Muslims were overcome; and that is the word of God: and kill those among the people who enjoin justice (3:21). Qatādah said: They are the ones of whom God said Then the factions differed: they differed about him and became factions.

On 19:35-36

On the interpretation of His words: It is not for God to take any son — glory be to Him! When He decrees a matter He only says to it “Be”, and it is. (35) And indeed God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him; this is a straight path (36) (19:35–36)

God, Exalted be His mention, says: Those who said “Jesus is the son of God” have disbelieved and have made a monstrous fabrication against Him; for it is not fitting for God to take a son, nor is that proper for Him, nor can it be; rather everything other than Him is His creation. This is like the saying of ʿAmr ibn Aḥmar:

On the summit of a smooth crag, soaring and lofty, / short of which no plain and no mountain is to be sought.²³

And an in His words to take (an yattakhidha) is in the position of the nominative by virtue of kāna.

As for His words glory be to Him: He says, a declaration of God’s transcendence and His exoneration from having what the disbelievers attribute to Him, who say “Jesus is the son of God”. As for His words When He decrees a matter He only says to it “Be”, and it is: He, Majestic is His praise, says: God only originated the creation of Jesus by an act of origination, and brought him into being by an act of bringing-into-being, without any male who impregnated his mother; rather He said to him “Be”, and it is, because that is how He originates things and invents them: He only says, when He decrees the creation of a thing or its bringing-into-being, “Be”, and it is, existent, newly come into being; the creation of it is not burdensome for Him, because He does not create it with toil and trouble, nor bring it into being with labour and hardship.

As for His words And indeed God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him: the reciters differed in reading this. The generality of the reciters of the people of Medina and Baṣrah read it wa-anna llāha rabbī wa-rabbukum, with fatḥah on anna. The scholars of Arabic differed as to the grounds for the fatḥah of an when it is read with fatḥah. Some of the grammarians of Kūfah said: it is given fatḥah in reference back to “Jesus” and in coordination with him, in the sense: “Such is Jesus son of Mary, and such is the fact that God is my Lord and your Lord”; and if that is so, an is in the nominative, though it may be construed as being in the genitive, as He said That is because your Lord would not destroy the towns unjustly (6:131). He said: and were it given fatḥah in dependence upon His words and has enjoined upon me — “that God is…” — that would be a possible construction. Some of the Baṣrans used to say — and this is reported also of Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ, who was among those who read it with fatḥah — that an is given fatḥah only on the construal of “and He decreed (qaḍā) that God is my Lord and your Lord”. The generality of the Kūfan reciters read it wa-inna llāha, with kasrah on inna, in the sense of being in sequence upon His words He only says to it. And it is reported of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb that he used to read it “fa-innamā yaqūlu lahu kun fa-yakūn, inna llāha rabbī wa-rabbukum“, without the wāw.

Abū Jaʿfar said: The reading we choose in this is the kasrah, as beginning a new sentence. When it is read thus it has no syntactic position; though it may also be a coordination with the inna which accompanies His words He said: I am (innī) the servant of God; He has given me the Scripture … and indeed God is my Lord and your Lord. And were someone among those who read it with the accusative to say: it is in the accusative by coordination with “the Scripture”, in the sense “He has given me the Scripture, and He has given me that God is my Lord and your Lord”, that would be a fine construction. The meaning of the passage is: I and you, O people, are all servants of God, so worship Him alone and none other.

The people of interpretation said the like of what we have said about this.

Those who said this

Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one who is not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: He charged them, when he informed them about himself, his birth, his death and his resurrection: Indeed God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him; this is a straight path — that is, I and you are servants of God, so worship Him and worship none other.

As for His words this is a straight path: He says, this which I have enjoined upon you, and of which I have informed you that God commanded me, is the straight road, which whoever travels is saved, and whoever takes it is guided, because it is the religion of God which He commanded His prophets.

On 19:37

On the interpretation of His words: Then the factions differed among themselves; so woe to those who disbelieve from the witnessing of a mighty Day (37) (19:37)

God, Exalted be His mention, says: Then those who differed concerning Jesus differed, and became divided factions from among his people; as in:

Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me: al-Ḥasan related to me: Warqāʾ related to us; both from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, His words Then the factions differed among themselves, he said: the People of the Book.

Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from Mujāhid, the like of it.

Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, His words Then the factions differed among themselves: It was mentioned to us that when the son of Mary was raised up, the Children of Israel chose four of their jurists. They said to the first: What do you say about Jesus? He said: He is God; he came down to earth, created what he created and gave life to what he gave life, then ascended to heaven. Some people followed him in that, and they were the Jacobites among the Christians. The other three said: We bear witness that you are a liar. Then they said to the second: What do you say about Jesus? He said: He is the son of God. Some people followed him in that, and they were the Nestorians among the Christians. The other two said: We bear witness that you are a liar. Then they said to the third: What do you say about Jesus? He said: He is a god, and his mother is a god, and God is a god. Some people followed him in that, and they were the Isrāʾīliyyah among the Christians. The fourth said: I bear witness that you are a liar; rather he is the servant of God and His messenger; he is the Word of God and His spirit. So the people disputed, and the Muslim man said: I adjure you by God — do you not know that Jesus used to eat food, and that God, Blessed and Exalted, does not eat food? They said: By God, yes. He said: Do you know that Jesus used to sleep? They said: By God, yes. He said: So the Muslim overcame them in argument. He said: Then the people fought one another. He said: It was mentioned to us that the Jacobites prevailed that day and the Muslims were struck down, and God sent down concerning that in the Qurʾān: Indeed those who disbelieve in the signs of God and kill the prophets without right, and kill those among the people who enjoin justice — give them tidings of a painful punishment (3:21).

Al-Ḥasan related to us: Isḥāq informed us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah: Then the factions differed among themselves: they differed about him and became factions.

As for His words so woe to those who disbelieve from the witnessing of a mighty Day: He says, then the valley of Hell which is called Wayl (Woe) is for those who disbelieve in God — those who claim that Jesus is a son to God, and others among the people of disbelief in Him — because of their witnessing a Day mighty in its import, namely the Day of Resurrection.

Qatādah used to say in the interpretation of this what:

Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: God said: so woe to those who disbelieve from the witnessing of a mighty Day: they will witness then a mighty terror.

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

al-Baghawī, Maʿālim al-tanzīl (d. 516 AH / 1122 CE), about 2,740 words

On 3:56-60

“As for those who disbelieve, I shall punish them with a severe punishment in this world” (3:56), by killing, captivity, the poll-tax and humiliation, “and the Hereafter,” that is, and in the Hereafter by the Fire, “and they shall have no helpers.”

“And as for those who believe and do righteous deeds, He will pay them their rewards in full” (3:57). Al-Ḥasan and Ḥafṣ read with the yāʾ (yuwaffīhim), and the rest with the nūn (nuwaffīhim), that is, “We shall pay in full the rewards of their deeds”. And God does not love the wrongdoers: that is, He does not have mercy on the disbelievers nor praise them with anything good.

His words, Exalted: That (3:58), that is, this which I have mentioned to you of the report concerning Jesus, Mary and the disciples, We recite to you, We inform you of it by Gabriel’s recitation to you, of the signs and the wise Remembrance, meaning the Qur’an, the Remembrance possessed of wisdom. Muqātil said: the wise Remembrance, that is, the firmly established, secured against falsehood. And it was said: the wise Remembrance is the Preserved Tablet, which hangs from the Throne, made of a white pearl. And it was said: of the signs, that is, the marks pointing to your prophethood, because they are reports known only to one who reads a book or to one who receives revelation, and you are unlettered and do not read.

His words, Exalted: Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam (3:59), to the end of the verse. It was sent down concerning the delegation of Najrān. That was because they said to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him): “Why do you revile our master?” He said: “And what do I say?” They said: “You say that he is the servant of God.” He said: “Indeed, he is the servant of God and His messenger and His word, which He cast to Mary, the virgin, the chaste.” They grew angry and said: “Have you ever seen a human being without a father?” So God, Exalted, sent down: Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God, in His having created him without a father, is as the likeness of Adam, because he was created without father or mother. He created him from dust, then said to him, meaning to Jesus (peace be upon him), “Be,” and he is, meaning, and he was. If it is asked: what is the meaning of His words He created him from dust, then said to him, “Be,” and he is, when there is no bringing into being after creation? It is answered: its meaning is “then He created him, then I inform you that I said to him, ‘Be,’ and he was”, without any sequence in the creation such as occurs in birth. It is like a man’s saying “I gave you a dirham today, then I gave you a dirham yesterday”, that is, “then I inform you that I gave you a dirham yesterday”. In the foregoing comparison there is evidence for the permissibility of analogy (qiyās), because analogy is the referring of a derivative case back to a root case by a kind of resemblance, and God, Exalted, referred the creation of Jesus back to Adam (peace be upon them) by a kind of resemblance.

His words, Exalted: The truth is from your Lord (3:60), that is, it is the truth; and it was said: the truth has come to you from your Lord. So do not be among the doubters, those who are in doubt. The address is to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and his community is what is meant.

On 3:61

His words, Mighty and Majestic: Then whoever disputes with you concerning him (3:61), that is, argues with you about Jesus, or about the truth, after the knowledge that has come to you, that Jesus is the servant of God and His messenger, say, “Come” (taʿālaw). Its original form is taʿālayū, the tafāʿala form from ʿuluww (height); the ḍamma on the yāʾ was felt to be heavy, so it was dropped. Al-Farrāʾ said: it has the sense of taʿāli, as though he were saying “rise up”. His words “let us call” (nadʿu) is in the jussive as the answer to the imperative, and the mark of the jussive is the dropping of the wāw. “Our sons and your sons, and our women and your women, and ourselves and yourselves.” It was said: by “our sons” he meant al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn; “our women”, Fāṭima; and by “ourselves” he meant himself and ʿAlī (may God be pleased with him). The Arabs call a man’s cousin “himself”, as God, Exalted, said: and do not defame yourselves (49:11), meaning your brothers. And it was said: it is general, meaning the whole body of the people of the religion. “Then let us pray earnestly” (nabtahil). Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both) said: that is, let us humble ourselves in supplication. Al-Kalbī said: let us strive and go to the utmost in supplication. Al-Kisāʾī and Abū ʿUbayda said: let us invoke curses upon one another; ibtihāl is mutual cursing, and one says “upon him be the bahla of God”, that is, His curse. “And invoke the curse of God upon the liars,” from among us and from among you, in the matter of Jesus. When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) recited this verse to the delegation of Najrān and called them to the mutual invocation of curses (mubāhala), they said: “Let us go back and consider our affair, then we will come to you tomorrow.” They withdrew by themselves and said to al-ʿĀqib, who was the man of judgement among them: “O ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, what is your view?” He said: “By God, O company of Christians, you know that Muḥammad is a prophet sent by God, and by God, no people has ever invoked curses with a prophet and then their elder lived or their young grew up. If you do that you will surely perish. So if you refuse anything but to remain upon the view you hold about your master, then take leave of the man and go back to your country.” So they came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) had gone out in the morning carrying al-Ḥusayn in his arms and holding al-Ḥasan by the hand, with Fāṭima walking behind him and ʿAlī behind her, and he was saying to them: “When I pray, say Amen.” The bishop of Najrān said: “O company of Christians, I see faces such that, were they to ask God to remove a mountain from its place, He would remove it. So do not invoke curses, lest you perish and there remain no Christian of you on the face of the earth until the Day of Resurrection.” So they said: “O Abū al-Qāsim, we have decided not to invoke curses with you, and to leave you to your religion while we remain firm in our religion.” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “If you refuse the mutual cursing, then accept Islam, and you will have what the Muslims have and owe what they owe.” They refused. He said: “Then I declare war on you.” They said: “We have no strength for war against the Arabs; but we will make peace with you on condition that you do not make war on us, nor frighten us, nor turn us back from our religion, on condition that we pay you every year two thousand garments, a thousand in Ṣafar and a thousand in Rajab.” So the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) made peace with them on that, and said: “By Him in whose hand is my soul, the punishment had already hung down over the people of Najrān; had they invoked curses, they would have been transformed into apes and swine, the valley would have blazed with fire over them, God would have uprooted Najrān and its people, even to the birds on the trees, and the year would not have turned upon all the Christians before they perished.”

On 3:62-64

God, Exalted, said: Indeed this is the true narrative (3:62), the true report, and there is no god but God; here min (“any”) is a connective particle, the implicit form being “and there is no god but God”. And indeed God is the Almighty, the All-Wise.

Then if they turn away (3:63), turn aside from faith, then indeed God is All-Knowing of the corrupters, those who worship other than God and call people to the worship of other than God.

His words, Exalted: Say, “O People of the Book, come to a word that is equitable between us and you” (3:64), to the end of the verse. The commentators said: The delegation of Najrān came to Medina and met with the Jews, and they disputed over Abraham (peace be upon him). The Christians claimed that he was a Christian and that they follow his religion and have the best claim of people to him, and the Jews said: rather, he was a Jew, and they follow his religion and have the best claim of people to him. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Both parties are free of Abraham and his religion; rather, Abraham was a ḥanīf, a Muslim²⁴, and I follow his religion; so follow his religion, the religion of Islam.” The Jews said: “O Muḥammad, you only wish that we take you as a lord, as the Christians took Jesus as a lord,” and the Christians said: “O Muḥammad, you only wish that we say about you what the Jews said about Ezra.” So God, Exalted, sent down: Say, “O People of the Book, come to a word.” The Arabs call every account that has an exposition a “word” (kalima), and from this the ode is called a kalima. Equitable (sawāʾ): just between us and you, even, that is, an even matter. One says “so-and-so called to al-sawāʾ“, that is, to fairness. The sawāʾ of anything is its middle, and from this come His words, Exalted: and he saw him in the midst (sawāʾ) of the Blaze (37:55). Fairness is called sawāʾ only because the most just of affairs and the best of them is the middle of them. Sawāʾ is an adjective qualifying “word”, except that it is a verbal noun, and verbal nouns take neither dual nor plural nor feminine. When you give the sīn a fatḥa you lengthen it (sawāʾ), and when you give it kasra or ḍamma you shorten it (siwan, suwan), as in His words, Exalted: a place equally distant (suwan) (20:58). Then He explained the word and said: “that we worship none but God.” The position of an is nominative, on the assumption of an implied “it is”; al-Zajjāj said: nominative as a subject (mubtadaʾ); and it was said: its position is accusative through the removal of the preposition, its meaning being “in that we worship none but God”; and it was said: its position is genitive as a substitute for “word”, that is, “come to our worshipping none but God”. “And that we associate nothing with Him, and that none of us take others as lords besides God,” as the Jews and the Christians did; God, Exalted, said: They have taken their rabbis and their monks as lords besides God (9:31). ʿIkrima said: it is their prostrating to one another, that is, do not prostrate to other than God. And it was said: its meaning is, we do not obey anyone in disobedience to God. “Then if they turn away, say, ‘Bear witness‘,” then you say to them, “bear witness”, “‘that we are Muslims‘,” sincere in the affirmation of God’s oneness.

ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Aḥmad al-Malīḥī informed us: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nuʿaymī informed us: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf informed us: Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl informed us: Abū al-Yamān al-Ḥakam ibn Nāfiʿ informed us: Shuʿayb informed us, from al-Zuhrī: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtba ibn Masʿūd informed us that ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both) informed him that Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb informed him that Heraclius sent for him among a party of riders of Quraysh who were trading in Syria during the period in which the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) had made a truce with Abū Sufyān and the disbelievers of Quraysh. They came to him while he was at Īliyāʾ (Jerusalem), and he summoned them to his court, with the great men of the Romans around him, and called for the letter of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) which he had sent with Diḥya ibn Khalīfa al-Kalbī to the governor of Buṣrā, who had handed it over to Heraclius. He read it, and behold, it ran:

“In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. From Muḥammad, the servant of God and His messenger, to Heraclius, the great one of the Romans. Peace be upon whoever follows the guidance. To proceed: I call you with the call of Islam. Accept Islam and you will be safe; accept Islam and God will give you your reward twice over. But if you turn away, then upon you is the sin of the peasants (arīsiyyīn)²⁵. O People of the Book, come to a word that is equitable between us and you: that we worship none but God, and that we associate nothing with Him, and that none of us take others as lords besides God. Then if they turn away, say, ‘Bear witness that we are Muslims’ (3:64).”

On 19:34-37

That is Jesus son of Mary (19:34). Al-Zajjāj said: that is, the one who said “I am the servant of God” is Jesus son of Mary. The word of truth: Ibn ʿĀmir, ʿĀṣim and Yaʿqūb read qawla al-ḥaqqi with the lām in the accusative, which is the accusative of the verbal noun, that is: he spoke the word of truth; concerning which they are in doubt, that is, concerning which they differ: one says he is the son of God, another says he is God, and another says he is a lying sorcerer.

The others read it with the lām in the nominative, meaning: he is the word of truth, that is, this speech is the word of truth; the word is annexed to the truth, as He said “the truth of certainty” and “the promise of truth”.

It was also said that it is an epithet of Jesus son of Mary, meaning: that is Jesus son of Mary, the word of God; “the Truth” is God, concerning whom they are in doubt, doubting and differing and saying what is not true. Then He denied of Himself the having of a child, saying: It is not for God to take any child (19:35), that is, taking a child is not among His attributes. It was also said: the lām is transposed, that is: God was not one to take any child. Glory be to Him! When He decrees a matter, when He wills to bring a matter into being, He only says to it: Be! and it is. And God is my Lord and your Lord (19:36): the people of the Ḥijāz and Abū ʿAmr read anna Allāha with fatḥah on the alif, referring back to His words and He has enjoined on me prayer and almsgiving and “that God is my Lord and your Lord”; the people of Syria and Kufa and Yaʿqūb read it with kasrah on the alif, as the beginning of a new sentence. So worship Him. This is a straight path. Then the factions differed among themselves (19:37), meaning the Christians; they were called factions because they split into three parties over the matter of Jesus: the Nestorians, the Melkites and the Jacobites.

So woe to those who disbelieve from the witnessing of a tremendous day, meaning the Day of Resurrection.

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān (d. 671 AH / 1273 CE), about 3,820 words

On 3:59-60

His words, Exalted: Truly the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust (3:59). This is a proof of the validity of analogical reasoning (qiyās). The comparison rests on the fact that Jesus was created without a father, like Adam, not on his having been created from dust. A thing may be likened to another thing even if there is a great difference between them, once they share a single attribute; for Adam was created from dust and Jesus was not created from dust, so there is a difference between them in this respect, but the resemblance between them is that He created both of them without a father. And also because the origin of the creation of both was from dust, since Adam was not created from the dust itself; rather, He made the dust into clay, then made it into dried clay, then created him from it. So likewise Jesus: He turned him from one state to another, then made him a human being without a father. This verse was sent down on account of the delegation of Najrān, when they objected to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) over his saying “Jesus is the servant of God and His word.” They said: Show us a servant who was created without a father. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them: “Adam, who was his father? Do you marvel at Jesus having no father? Adam (peace be upon him) had neither father nor mother.” That is His words, Exalted: And they bring you no comparison, that is, concerning Jesus, but We bring you the truth, concerning Adam, and a better exposition (25:33). It is related that when he (peace be upon him) called them to Islam they said: We were Muslims before you. He said: “You lie. Three things keep you from Islam: your saying that God has taken a son, your eating of swine, and your prostrating to the cross.” They said: Who is the father of Jesus? So God, Exalted, sent down: Truly the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, up to His words: then let us invoke the curse of God upon the liars (3:61). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) then summoned them, and they said to one another: If you do it, the valley will blaze up with fire against you. So they said: Will you not offer us anything other than this? He said: “Islam, or the poll-tax, or war.” So they agreed to the poll-tax, as will come. The sentence is complete at His word Adam. Then He said: He created him from dust, then said to him, Be, and he is, that is, and he was. The future tense stands in the place of the past when the meaning is understood. Al-Farrāʾ said: The truth is from your Lord (3:60) is in the nominative by an implied “it” (huwa). Abū ʿUbaydah: it is a fresh sentence, and its predicate is in His words from your Lord. And it has been said that it is the agent, that is, the truth has come to you. So be not of those who doubt: the address is to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and those intended are his community, because he (peace and blessings be upon him) was not in doubt about the matter of Jesus (peace be upon him).

On 3:61

There are three questions in this verse.

The first: His words, Exalted: And whoever disputes with you concerning him (3:61), that is, argues and contends with you, O Muḥammad, concerning him, that is, concerning Jesus, after the knowledge that has come to you that he is the servant of God and His messenger. say: Come, that is, draw near. The word taʿālaw was originally coined for one possessing majesty and elevation, then it came in usage to be employed by anyone calling another to approach; further explanation of it will come in al-Anʿām. let us call is in the position of the jussive. our sons: a proof that the sons of daughters are called sons, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came with al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, Fāṭimah walking behind him and ʿAlī behind her, and he was saying to them: “When I supplicate, say Amen.” then let us pray earnestly (nabtahil), that is, let us humble ourselves in supplication; this is from Ibn ʿAbbās. Abū ʿUbaydah and al-Kisāʾī: let us invoke curses upon one another. The root meaning of ibtihāl is exertion in supplication, with cursing or otherwise. Labīd said:

Among mature men, lords of his people,

upon whom Time looked, and then strove earnestly (ibtahal),

that is, strove to destroy them. One says bahalahu Llāh, that is, God cursed him; al-bahl is cursing. Al-bahl is also a small quantity of water. Abhaltuhu means I left him alone with his own wishes; and bahaltuhu likewise. Abū ʿUbaydah related: bahalahu Llāh, yubhiluhu, bahlatan, that is, He cursed him. Ibn ʿAbbās said: They were the people of Najrān: al-Sayyid, al-ʿĀqib and Ibn al-Ḥārith, their chiefs. and invoke the curse of God upon the liars.

The second: This verse is among the signs of the prophethood of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), because he called them to the mutual invocation of curses (mubāhalah) and they refused it and were content with the poll-tax, after their leader al-ʿĀqib had told them that if they engaged him in the mutual cursing, the valley would blaze up with fire against them, for Muḥammad is a prophet sent by God; “and you well know that he has brought you the decisive word on the matter of Jesus.” So they abandoned the mutual cursing and departed to their land on condition that they pay every year a thousand suits of clothing in Ṣafar and a thousand suits in Rajab, and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) made peace with them on that basis in lieu of Islam.
The third: Many scholars have said that his words (peace be upon him) concerning al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn when he engaged in the mutual cursing, let us call our sons and your sons, and his words concerning al-Ḥasan, “This son of mine is a lord (sayyid)”, are specific to al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, that they be called the sons of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to the exclusion of others, because of his words (peace be upon him): “Every bond and lineage is cut off on the Day of Resurrection except my lineage and my bond.” For this reason some of the companions of al-Shāfiʿī said concerning one who makes a bequest to the child of so-and-so, when the latter has no child of his own loins but has a son’s child and a daughter’s child, that the bequest goes to the son’s child and not the daughter’s child; and this is the view of al-Shāfiʿī. Further explanation of this will come in al-Anʿām and al-Zukhruf, if God, Exalted, wills.

On 3:62-63

His words, Exalted: Truly this is the true narrative (3:62). The demonstrative in His words Truly this points to the Qur’an and the narratives it contains. They are called qaṣaṣ because the meanings follow one upon another in them; so it is from their saying “so-and-so follows (yaquṣṣu) the track of so-and-so”, that is, he follows him.

and there is no god but God: min is redundant, for emphasis, and the meaning is “and there is no god but God”. the Mighty, that is, He who is not overcome.

the Wise: the possessor of wisdom. The like of this has already been discussed, and praise belongs to God.

On 19:34-37

His words, Exalted: That is Jesus son of Mary (19:34), that is: the one whom We have described is Jesus son of Mary, so believe this concerning him, not as the Jews say, that he was not born of a lawful union and that he was the son of Joseph the carpenter, and not as the Christians said, that he is God or the son of God.

the word of truth (19:34). Al-Kisāʾī said: “the word of truth” is a descriptive of Jesus, that is: that is Jesus son of Mary, the word of truth. He was named “the word of truth” just as he was named “the word of God”, and the Truth (al-Ḥaqq) is God, Mighty and Majestic. Abū Ḥātim said: the meaning is “he is the word of truth”. It has been said that the implied construction is: this speech is the word of truth. Ibn ʿAbbās said: “He means: this speech of Jesus son of Mary (peace and blessings be upon him) is the word of truth, not falsehood”; and “word” is annexed to “truth” as He said: the promise of truth which they were promised (46:16), that is, the promise and the truth; and as He said: and the abode of the Hereafter is surely better (6:32), that is, “and surely the abode, the Hereafter”. ʿĀṣim and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir read qawla l-ḥaqqi in the accusative as a circumstantial accusative (ḥāl), that is, “I say a true saying”; and the governing element is the sense of pointing contained in That. Al-Zajjāj said: it is a verbal noun, that is, “I say the word of truth”, because what precedes it points to it. It has been said that it is an accusative of praise. And it has been said that it is an accusative of incitement (ighrāʾ). ʿAbd Allāh²⁶ read qāla l-ḥaqqa. Al-Ḥasan read qūla l-ḥaqqi with a ḍammah on the qāf, and likewise in al-Anʿām qawluhu l-ḥaqqu.²⁷ Al-qawl, al-qāl and al-qūl all have one meaning, like al-rahb, al-rahab and al-ruhb.

concerning whom (19:34) is a descriptive of Jesus.

they are in doubt (19:34), that is, they are uncertain; that is: that is Jesus son of Mary concerning whom they are in doubt, the word of truth. It has been said that they are in doubt means they differ. ʿAbd al-Razzāq mentioned: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words, Exalted, That is Jesus son of Mary, the word of truth concerning whom they are in doubt (19:34), who said: The Children of Israel gathered and brought forth from among themselves four men, each party bringing forth its learned man, and they disputed about Jesus when he was raised up. One of them said: “He is God; He came down to the earth and gave life to whom He gave life and caused to die whom He caused to die, then He ascended to heaven”; these are the Jacobites. The other three said: “You lie.” Then two of them said to the third: “Speak concerning him.” He said: “He is the son of God”; these are the Nestorians. The two said: “You lie.” Then one of the two said to the other: “Speak concerning him.” He said: “He is the third of three: God is a god, and he is a god, and his mother is a god”; these are the Isrāʾīliyyah, the kings of the Christians.²⁸ The fourth said: “You lie; rather he is the servant of God and His messenger and His spirit and His word”; these are the Muslims. Each man among them had followers who held what he said, and they fought one another, and the Muslims were overcome. That is the meaning of the words of God, Exalted: and they kill those among the people who enjoin justice (3:21). Qatādah said: and they are those of whom God, Exalted, said: Then the factions differed among themselves (19:37); they differed concerning him and became factions. This is the meaning of His words concerning whom you are in doubt with the tāʾ dotted above,²⁹ which is the reading of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī and others. Ibn ʿAbbās said: Her cousin³⁰ travelled with Mary, and her son with her, to Egypt, and they remained there twelve years until the king whom they feared died. Al-Māwardī mentioned this.

I say: it occurs in the History of Egypt, in what I have seen, and it has come in the Gospel in circulation, that when the Lord Messiah was born in Bethlehem, Herod was king at that time, and that God, Exalted, revealed to Joseph the carpenter in a dream and said to him: “Arise, take the child and his mother and go to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is resolved to seek out Jesus in order to destroy him.” So he rose from his sleep, obeyed the command of his Lord, took the Lord Messiah and Mary his mother, and came to Egypt. On his way to Egypt he alighted at the Well of the Balsam (Biʾr al-Balasān) which lies on the outskirts of Cairo,³¹ and she washed his garments at that well. The balsam tree springs up and grows nowhere except in that land, and from it is extracted the oil which is mixed into the oil with which the Christians baptise; for that reason a single flask of it had great value in the days of the Egyptians, and it holds a very lofty place in the esteem of the kings of the Christians, such as the king of Constantinople, the king of Sicily, the king of Abyssinia, the king of Nubia, the king of the Franks and other kings, when the kings of Egypt send it to them as a gift, and it is dearer to them than any other gift of value. On that journey the Lord Messiah reached the city of al-Ushmūnayn³² and Qusqām,³³ known now as al-Muḥarraqah, and for that reason the Christians venerate it to this day and come to it at the feast of Easter from every place, because it is the furthest point which he reached in the land of Egypt, and from it he returned to Syria. And God knows best.

His words, Exalted: It is not for God (19:35), that is, it does not befit Him and is not permissible for Him, to take any son (19:35). “Any” (min) is a connective particle in the speech, that is, “to take a son”. And “to” (an) with its verb is in the position of the nominative as the subject of kāna, that is: it was not for God to take a son; that is, taking a son was never one of His attributes. Then He, Exalted, declared Himself free of what they said and said: Glory be to Him (19:35), far above having a son.

When He decrees a matter, He only says to it “Be”, and it is (19:35). This has been treated exhaustively in al-Baqarah.³⁴

Indeed God is my Lord and your Lord (19:36). The people of Medina, Ibn Kathīr and Abū ʿAmr read anna with fatḥah, and the people of Kufa read wa-inna with kasrah on the hamzah, taking it as the beginning of a new sentence. This is supported by the reading of Ubayy, “Be, and it is. Indeed God” without the wāw, in coordination with He said: Indeed I am the servant of God (19:30). Concerning the reading with fatḥah there are several views. The position of al-Khalīl and Sībawayh is that the meaning is “and because God is my Lord and your Lord”, and likewise and that the places of prostration are for God (72:18); so anna is in the position of the accusative according to them both. Al-Farrāʾ allowed that it be in the position of the genitive by the suppression of the lām, and he also allowed that it be in the position of the genitive with the sense “and He has enjoined upon me prayer and alms as long as I live, and that God is my Lord and your Lord”. Al-Kisāʾī allowed that it be in the position of the nominative with the sense “and the matter is that God is my Lord and your Lord”. There is a fifth view concerning it: Abū ʿUbayd related that Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ held it, namely that the meaning is “and He decreed that God is my Lord and your Lord”, so that it is coordinated with His word a matter in His words When He decrees a matter, and the meaning is: when He decrees a matter, and He decrees that God is my Lord. One may not begin recitation with anna according to this construal, nor according to the third construal; but beginning with it is permissible according to the remaining construals.

So worship Him. This is a straight path (19:36), that is, an upright religion in which there is no crookedness.

His words, Exalted: Then the factions differed among themselves (19:37). “Among” (min) is redundant, that is, “the factions differed between themselves”. Qatādah said: that is, “what was between them”; so the sects of the People of the Book differed over the matter of Jesus (peace be upon him). The Jews with slander and the charge of sorcery; as for the Christians, the Nestorians among them said he is the son of God, the Melkites (al-Malkāniyyah) said he is the third of three, and the Jacobites said he is God. So the Christians went to excess and exaggerated, and the Jews fell short and belittled. This has already been treated in al-Nisāʾ.³⁵ Ibn ʿAbbās said: what is meant by “the factions” are those idolaters who banded together against the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and called him a liar.

So woe to those who disbelieve from the witnessing of a tremendous day (19:37), that is, from witnessing the Day of Resurrection. “Witnessing” (mashhad) is here in the sense of the verbal noun, and shuhūd means presence. It is also possible that the presence is theirs, and that it is annexed to the adverb of time because it occurs within it, as one says “woe to so-and-so from the fighting of such-and-such a day”, that is, from his presence on that day. It has been said that mashhad means the place which all creatures will witness, like maḥshar for the place to which creation is gathered. And it has been said: so woe to those who disbelieve from their presence at the great assembly in which they gathered for consultation and agreed upon disbelief in God and upon their saying that God is the third of three.

His words, Exalted: How clearly they will hear and see on the day they come to Us (19:38). Abū l-ʿAbbās³⁶ said: the Arabs use this form in the position of wonder, so they say “asmiʿ bi-Zayd” and “abṣir bi-Zayd“, that is, “how well he hears and sees!” He said: so its meaning is that He caused His Prophet to wonder at them. Al-Kalbī said: on the Day of Resurrection there will be no one who hears better or sees better than they, when God, Blessed and Exalted, says to Jesus: Did you say to the people, “Take me and my mother as two gods besides God”? (5:116). It has been said that “hear” is in the sense of obedience, that is, “how obedient they will be to God on that day!” But the wrongdoers today (19:38) means in this world,

are in manifest error (19:38). And what error is more manifest than that a man should believe, of a person like himself, whom wombs carried, who ate and drank, who relieved himself and stood in need, that he is a god? Whoever is of this description is deaf and blind, but he will see and hear in the Hereafter when he beholds the punishment, though that will not avail him. Qatādah and others said this in meaning.

His words, Exalted: And warn them of the Day of Regret, when the matter will be decided (19:39). It is related from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd that he said: there is no one who enters the Fire but that he has a house in the Garden, and he regrets it. It has been said that the regret falls when a man is given his book in his left hand. when the matter will be decided, that is, when the reckoning has been concluded, and the people of the Garden have been admitted to the Garden and the people of the Fire to the Fire. In the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim, from the ḥadīth of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may God be pleased with him), who said: the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “When the people of the Garden have entered the Garden and the people of the Fire the Fire, death will be brought on the Day of Resurrection as though it were a ram of mingled black and white, and it will be made to stand between the Garden and the Fire, and it will be said: O people of the Garden, do you recognise this? They will crane their necks and look and say: Yes, this is death. He said: Then it will be said: O people of the Fire, do you recognise this? They will crane their necks and look and say: Yes, this is death. He said: Then the command will be given concerning it and it will be slaughtered; then it will be said: O people of the Garden, everlastingness, and no death; and O people of the Fire, everlastingness, and no death.” Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) recited And warn them of the Day of Regret, when the matter will be decided, while they are in heedlessness and do not believe (19:39). Al-Bukhārī transmitted it in its meaning from Ibn ʿUmar, Ibn Mājah from the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah, and al-Tirmidhī from Abū Saʿīd, tracing it to the Prophet, and he said of it: a good, sound ḥadīth (ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ). We have mentioned this in the book al-Tadhkirah, and we made clear there that the unbelievers abide forever, on the strength of these ḥadīths and verses, in refutation of those who say that the attribute of wrath comes to an end, and that Iblīs and the unbelievers who followed him, such as Pharaoh, Hāmān, Qārūn and their like, will enter the Garden.

His words, Exalted: Indeed it is We who shall inherit the earth and whoever is upon it (19:40), that is, We cause its inhabitants to die and inherit it.

and to Us they shall be returned (19:40), on the Day of Resurrection, and We shall recompense each according to his deeds. This has already been treated in al-Ḥijr³⁷ and elsewhere.

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE), about 6,050 words

On 3:59-63

He, Exalted, says: Surely the likeness of Jesus with God (3:59)—in the power of God, Exalted, in that He created him without a father—is as the likeness of Adam (3:59), for God, Exalted, created him without father or mother; rather, He created him from dust, then said to him “Be”, and he was (3:59). And He who created Adam is able to create Jesus with all the greater and more fitting reason; and if the claim of sonship in the case of Jesus were admissible on account of his having been created without a father, then its admissibility in the case of Adam would follow with greater reason—and it is known by agreement that that is false; so the claim of it in the case of Jesus is more gravely false and more manifestly corrupt. But the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, wished to display His power to His creation when He created Adam from neither male nor female, created Eve from a male without a female, and created Jesus from a female without a male, just as He created the rest of creation from male and female. For this reason He, Exalted, said in Sūrat Maryam: and that We may make him a sign for mankind (19:21).

And He said here: The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters (3:60), that is: this statement is the truth concerning Jesus, from which there is no escape and apart from which nothing is sound; and what is there after the truth but error?

Then He, Exalted, said—commanding His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to engage in mutual imprecation (mubāhalah) with whoever obstinately opposed the truth in the matter of Jesus after the clear exposition had appeared: So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves (3:61), that is: we bring them to be present at the time of the imprecation, then let us pray humbly and invoke the curse of God upon the liars (3:61), that is: let us invoke a curse upon one another, and invoke the curse of God upon the liars (3:61), that is: whether from among us or from among you.

The occasion of the revelation of this imprecation, and of what precedes it from the beginning of the sūrah up to this point, was the delegation of Najrān: when the Christians arrived they began to dispute concerning Jesus and to claim about him what they claim of sonship and divinity, so God sent down the opening part of this sūrah in refutation of them, as the Imām Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār and others have mentioned.

Ibn Isḥāq said in his famous Sīrah, and others also said: The delegation of the Christians of Najrān came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), sixty riders, among them fourteen men of their nobles to whom their affairs were referred, namely: al-ʿĀqib, whose name was ʿAbd al-Masīḥ; al-Sayyid, who was al-Ayham; Abū Ḥārithah ibn ʿAlqamah, the brother of Bakr ibn Wāʾil³⁸; Uways al-Ḥārith; Zayd; Qays; Yazīd; Nabīh; Khuwaylid; ʿAmr; Khālid; ʿAbd Allāh; and Yuḥannas.

The affairs of these men were referred to three of them: al-ʿĀqib, who was the commander of the people, the man of their counsel and the master of their deliberation, from whose opinion alone they would proceed; al-Sayyid, who was their scholar and the master of their journeying and their assembly; and Abū Ḥārithah ibn ʿAlqamah, who was their bishop, their learned man, their leader and the master of their schools. He was a man of the Arabs, of Banū Bakr ibn Wāʾil, but he had become a Christian, and the Romans and their kings honoured him and ennobled him, built churches for him, endowed him with wealth and gave him servants, because of what they knew of his firmness in their religion. He knew well the matter of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), his affair and his description, from what he had learned from the earlier scriptures, but his ignorance carried him on to persist in Christianity because of the honour he saw accorded to him in it and his standing among its people.

Ibn Isḥāq said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr related to me, saying: They came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) in Medina and entered upon him in his mosque when he had prayed the afternoon prayer, wearing garments of striped Yemeni cloth (ḥibarāt), cloaks and mantles, with the handsome bearing of the men of Banū al-Ḥārith ibn Kaʿb. He said: Some of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who saw them would say: We never saw after them a delegation like them. The time of their prayer came, and they stood up in the mosque of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) to pray, and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Leave them. So they prayed towards the east.

He said: Those of them who spoke with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) were Abū Ḥārithah ibn ʿAlqamah, and al-ʿĀqib ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, or al-Sayyid al-Ayham. They were, among the Christians, upon the religion of the king, though their doctrine was divided: they say: he is God; and they say: he is the son of God; and they say: he is the third of three—exalted is God far above that in great exaltation. Such is the doctrine of Christianity. They argue for their saying “he is God” by the fact that he used to revive the dead, cure the sick, tell of unseen things, and create from clay the shape of a bird and then breathe into it so that it became a bird—all of which was by the command of God, and that He might make him a sign for mankind.

They argue for their saying that he is the son of God, saying: he had no known father, and he spoke in the cradle with something no child of Adam before him had done.

They argue for their saying that he is the third of three by the saying of God, Exalted: We did, We commanded, We created, We decreed; so they say: if He were one, He would only have said: I did, I decreed, I commanded, I created; but it is He, and Jesus, and Mary. Concerning all of these sayings of theirs the Qur’an came down.

When the two learned men spoke to him, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them: “Submit, you two.” They said: We have submitted. He said: “You have not submitted, so submit.” They said: Yes indeed, we submitted before you. He said: “You lie. What prevents you two from submission is your claiming a son for God, your worship of the cross, and your eating of swine.” They said: Then who is his father, O Muḥammad? The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) kept silent before them and did not answer them, and God sent down concerning that—their sayings and the division of their doctrine—the opening part of Sūrat Āl ʿImrān up to eighty-odd verses of it.

Then Ibn Isḥāq spoke on the interpretation, until he said: When there came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) the tidings from God and the decisive judgement between him and them, and he was commanded, as he was commanded, to engage in mutual cursing with them if they rejected that from him, he called them to it. They said: O Abū al-Qāsim, let us look into our affair, then we will come to you with what we wish to do concerning what you have called us to. So they departed from him and then withdrew in private with al-ʿĀqib, who was the man of their counsel, and said: O ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, what is your view? He said: By God, O company of Christians, you know full well that Muḥammad is a prophet sent, and he has brought you the decisive word concerning the affair of your master; and you know that no people ever cursed a prophet and their elder survived or their young one grew up. It would surely be extermination for you if you did it. So if you refuse anything but attachment to your religion and remaining upon what you hold concerning your master, then make peace with the man and return to your country.

So they came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Abū al-Qāsim, we have decided not to curse you; we leave you upon your religion and return to our religion. But send with us a man from among your companions whom you approve for us, to judge between us in matters of our property in which we have differed, for you are acceptable to us.

Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Come to me in the evening and I shall send with you the strong and trustworthy one.” ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb used to say: I never loved command as I loved it that day, hoping that I might be the one. So I went out to the noon prayer in the heat of midday, and when the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) had prayed the noon prayer he gave the salutation, then looked to his right and to his left, and I began to stretch myself up so that he might see me; but he kept searching with his gaze until he saw Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ, and he called him: “Go out with them and judge between them with truth in what they have differed over.” ʿUmar said: So Abū ʿUbaydah (may God be pleased with him) went off with it.

Ibn Mardawayh related, by way of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatādah, from Maḥmūd ibn Labīd, from Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj, that the delegation of the people of Najrān came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him)—and he mentioned the like of it, except that he said of the nobles: they were twelve. And he mentioned the rest of it at greater length than this account, with other additions.

Al-Bukhārī said: ʿAbbās ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, from Isrāʾīl, from Abū Isḥāq, from Ṣilah ibn Zufar, from Ḥudhayfah, who said: Al-ʿĀqib and al-Sayyid, the two chiefs of Najrān, came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) intending to engage in mutual cursing with him. He said: One of them said to his companion: Do not do it, for by God, if he is a prophet and we curse him, neither we nor our descendants after us will prosper. They said: We will give you what you have asked of us; so send with us a trustworthy man, and send with us none but a trustworthy man. He said: “I shall surely send with you a trustworthy man, truly trustworthy.” The Companions of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) craned forward for it, and he said: “Stand up, Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ.” When he stood, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “This is the trustee of this community.”

Al-Bukhārī also related it, as did Muslim, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Mājah, by several routes from Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī, from Ṣilah, from Ḥudhayfah, in like terms.

Aḥmad, al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Mājah related it from the ḥadīth of Isrāʾīl, from Abū Isḥāq, from Ṣilah, from Ibn Masʿūd, in like terms.

Al-Bukhārī said: Abū al-Walīd related to us: Shuʿbah related to us, from Khālid, from Abū Qilābah, from Anas, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “Every community has a trustee, and the trustee of this community is Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ.”

The Imām Aḥmad said: Ismāʿīl ibn Yazīd al-Raqqī Abū Yazīd related to us: Furāt related to us, from ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Mālik al-Jazarī, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Abū Jahl said: If I see the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) praying at the Kaʿbah, I shall surely go to him and tread upon his neck. He said: So he said: “Had he done so, the angels would have seized him before all eyes; and had the Jews wished for death, they would have died and seen their seats in the Fire; and had those who were to engage in mutual cursing with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) gone out, they would have returned to find neither property nor family.”

Al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī related it from the ḥadīth of ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from Maʿmar, from ʿAbd al-Karīm, with the same chain. Al-Tirmidhī said: a good, sound ḥadīth (ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ).

Al-Bayhaqī related in Dalāʾil al-nubuwwah the story of the delegation of Najrān at very great length; let us mention it, for it contains many benefits, and it contains some singularity, and it is pertinent to this context. Al-Bayhaqī said:

Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ and Abū Saʿīd Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn al-Faḍl related to us; they both said: Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb related to us: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to us: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, from Salamah ibn ʿAbd Yasūʿ, from his father, from his grandfather—Yūnus said: and he had been a Christian and then became a Muslim—that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) wrote to the people of Najrān, before Ṭā Sīn Sulaymān was sent down to him³⁹: “In the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. From Muḥammad the Prophet, the Messenger of God, to the bishop of Najrān and the people of Najrān: peace be upon you. I praise to you the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To proceed: I call you to the worship of God in place of the worship of servants, and I call you to the guardianship of God in place of the guardianship of servants. If you refuse, then the poll-tax (jizyah); and if you refuse, I give you notice of war. And peace.”

When the letter came to the bishop and he read it, he was appalled by it, and it alarmed him with a severe alarm. He sent for a man of the people of Najrān called Shuraḥbīl ibn Wadāʿah—he was of Hamdān, and no one was summoned before him when a difficult matter arose, neither al-Ayham nor al-Sayyid nor al-ʿĀqib. The bishop handed the letter of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) to Shuraḥbīl, and he read it. The bishop said: O Abū Maryam, what is your view? Shuraḥbīl said: You know what God promised Abraham concerning prophethood in the progeny of Ishmael; so what guarantees that this is not that very man? I have no opinion in the matter of prophethood; had it been a matter of worldly affairs, I would have counselled you with my opinion on it and exerted myself for you. The bishop said to him: Step aside and sit. So Shuraḥbīl stepped aside and sat to one side. Then the bishop sent for a man of the people of Najrān called ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shuraḥbīl, who was of Dhū Aṣbaḥ of Ḥimyar, and had him read the letter and asked him his opinion on it, and he said to him the like of what Shuraḥbīl had said. The bishop said to him: Then sit; so he stepped aside and sat to one side. Then the bishop sent for a man of the people of Najrān called Jabbār ibn Fayḍ, of Banū al-Ḥārith ibn Kaʿb, one of Banū al-Ḥamās, and had him read the letter and asked him his opinion on it, and he said to him the like of what Shuraḥbīl and ʿAbd Allāh had said; so the bishop ordered him, and he stepped aside and sat to one side.

When their opinion had all agreed upon that statement, the bishop ordered the bell (nāqūs) to be struck, and the fires were raised and the sackcloths in the cells—for that is what they used to do when they were alarmed by day; and when their alarm was by night they would strike the bell and raise the fires in the cells. So, when the bell was struck and the sackcloths raised, the people of the valley gathered, its upper part and its lower—and the length of the valley was a day’s journey for a swift rider, and in it were seventy-three villages and one hundred and twenty thousand fighting men. He read to them the letter of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and asked them their opinion on it, and the opinion of the men of counsel among them agreed that they should send Shuraḥbīl ibn Wadāʿah al-Hamdānī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shuraḥbīl al-Aṣbaḥī and Jabbār ibn Fayḍ al-Ḥārithī, to bring them news of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). So the delegation set out, and when they were in Medina they put off their travelling clothes and put on robes of theirs of striped Yemeni cloth which they trailed behind them, and gold rings; then they went on until they came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and greeted him, but he did not return their greeting. They sought to engage him in speech for a long part of the day, but he did not speak to them while they were wearing those robes and gold rings. So they went off seeking ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, who were acquaintances of theirs, and found them among a group of the Emigrants and the Helpers in a gathering, and said: O ʿUthmān and O ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, your Prophet wrote us a letter, and we came in response to him; we came to him and greeted him, but he did not return our greeting, and we sought to engage him in speech for a long part of the day, but it wearied us that he would not speak to us. What is your counsel, do you think we should go back? The two of them said to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, who was among the people: What do you think, O Abū al-Ḥasan, about these people? ʿAlī said to ʿUthmān and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān: I think they should put off these robes of theirs and their rings and put on their travelling clothes, and then return to him. They did so and greeted him, and he returned their greeting; then he said: “By Him who sent me with the truth, they came to me the first time and Iblīs was with them.” Then he questioned them and they questioned him, and the questioning went on between him and them until they said: What do you say about Jesus? For we are returning to our people, and we are Christians; it would please us, if you are a prophet, to hear what you say about him. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “I have nothing about him this day of mine; so stay until I inform you of what my Lord says to me about Jesus.” The next morning came, and God, Mighty and Majestic, had sent down this verse: Surely 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. The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters. So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves, then let us pray humbly and invoke the curse of God upon the liars (3:59-61). But they refused to acknowledge that. So when the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) rose the next morning, after he had informed them of the tidings, he came forward wrapping al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn in a cloak (khamīl) of his, with Fāṭimah walking behind his back, for the mutual cursing—and he had at that time several wives. Shuraḥbīl said to his two companions: You both know that when the valley gathers, its upper part and its lower, they neither come nor go except upon my opinion; and by God, I see a grave matter. By God, if this man is a king who has been sent forth, and we are the first of the Arabs to stab him in the eyes⁴⁰ and reject his command, it will not leave his breast nor the breasts of his companions until they strike us with a calamity—and we are the nearest of the Arabs to them as neighbours. And if this man is a prophet sent, and we curse him, there will not remain on the face of the earth a hair or a nail of us but will perish. His two companions said to him: O Abū Maryam, then what is your counsel? He said: I think I should make him arbiter, for I see a man who will never judge unjustly. They said to him: You and that be it. He said: So Shuraḥbīl met the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and said to him: I have found something better than cursing you. He said: “And what is it?” He said: Your judgement, today until nightfall and your night until morning; whatever you decree concerning us shall be binding. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Perhaps there is someone behind you who will reproach you?” Shuraḥbīl said: Ask my two companions. He asked them and they said: The valley neither comes nor goes except upon the opinion of Shuraḥbīl. So the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) went back and did not curse them, until, when the next day came, they came to him and he wrote for them this document: “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. This is what Muḥammad the Prophet, the Messenger of God, has written for Najrān—since his judgement was binding upon them—concerning every fruit, and every yellow and white and black thing, and slaves held in surplus by them: all of that is left to them in return for two thousand robes, in every Rajab a thousand robes and in every Ṣafar a thousand robes.” And he mentioned the rest of the conditions and the remainder of the account.

The point is that their delegation came in the year nine, because al-Zuhrī said: The people of Najrān were the first to pay the poll-tax to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and the verse of the poll-tax was only sent down after the Conquest, namely His words, Exalted: Fight those who do not believe in God nor in the Last Day, and do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden, and do not follow the religion of truth, from among those who were given the Book, until they pay the poll-tax out of hand while they are humbled (9:29).

Abū Bakr ibn Mardawayh said: Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad related to us: Aḥmad ibn Dāwūd al-Makkī related to us: Bishr ibn Mihrān related to us: Muḥammad ibn Dīnār informed us, from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, from al-Shaʿbī, from Jābir, who said: Al-ʿĀqib and al-Ṭayyib came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he called them to mutual cursing, and they promised him that they would curse with him the next morning. He said: So 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 come and acknowledged the tribute (kharāj). He said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “By Him who sent me with the truth, had they said no, the valley would have rained fire upon them.” Jābir said: Concerning them was sent down let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves (3:61). Jābir said: ourselves and yourselves: the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib; our sons: al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn; our women: Fāṭimah.

Thus al-Ḥākim related it in his Mustadrak, from ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā, from Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Azharī, from ʿAlī ibn Ḥujr, from ʿAlī ibn Mushir, from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, with the same chain and meaning. Then he said: sound according to the criterion of Muslim, though the two of them did not include it.

So he said; but Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī related it from Shuʿbah, from al-Mughīrah, from al-Shaʿbī, as a mursal report⁴¹, and this is more sound. The like of this has been related from Ibn ʿAbbās and al-Barāʾ.

Then God, Exalted, said: Surely this is the true narrative (3:62), that is: this which We have related to you, O Muḥammad, concerning the affair of Jesus is the truth from which there is no turning aside and no escape; and there is no god but God, and surely God is the Mighty, the Wise. But if they turn away (3:62-63), that is: from this to something else, then surely God knows the corrupters (3:63), that is: whoever turns aside from the truth to falsehood is the corrupter, and God knows him and will requite him for that with the worst of requitals; and He is the Powerful, whom nothing escapes—glory be to Him and praise, and we seek refuge in Him from the descent of His vengeance.

On 19:34-37

He, Exalted, says to His Messenger Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him): that which We have related to you of the account of Jesus is the word of truth concerning which they are in doubt (19:34), that is: concerning which the followers of falsehood and the followers of truth differ, those who believe in him and those who disbelieve in him. For this reason the majority read “qawlu al-ḥaqq” with the nominative on “qawl”, while ʿĀṣim and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir read qawla al-ḥaqq (with the accusative).⁴²

It is related of Ibn Masʿūd that he read: “That is Jesus son of Mary; he spoke the truth” (qāla al-ḥaqqa). The nominative is the more evident in point of grammatical analysis (iʿrāb), and His words, Exalted, bear witness to it: The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters (3:59–60).

And when He, Exalted, had mentioned that He created him a servant and a prophet, He declared His Holy Self free of all blemish and said: It is not for God to take any son; glory be to Him (19:35), that is: far above what these ignorant, wrongdoing, transgressing people say, in great exaltation. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it “Be”, and it is (19:35), that is: when He wills a thing, He merely commands it, and it comes to be as He wishes, as He, Exalted, said: Surely 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. The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters (3:59–60).

And His words: And surely God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him; this is a straight path (19:36), that is: among the things that Jesus commanded his people while he was in his cradle was that he informed them at that very time that God was their Lord and his Lord, and he commanded them to worship Him, saying: so worship Him; this is a straight path (19:36),

that is: this which I have brought you from God is a straight path, that is, an upright one: whoever follows it is rightly guided and well directed, and whoever opposes it goes astray and errs.

And His words: Then the factions differed among themselves (19:37), that is: the statements of the People of the Book concerning Jesus diverged after the exposition of his affair and the clarity of his condition, namely that he is His servant and His messenger and His word which He cast to Mary and a spirit from Him. One party—the generality of the Jews, upon them be the curses of God—resolved that he was a child of fornication, and they said: this speech of his is sorcery. Another party said: it was really God who spoke. Others said: he is the son of God. Others said: the third of three. And others said: rather, he is the servant of God and His messenger. This is the word of truth, to which God guided the believers. Something like this has been related from ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, Ibn Jurayj, Qatādah and more than one of the early and the later authorities.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq said: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words: That is Jesus son of Mary, the word of truth concerning which they are in doubt (19:34), he said: The Children of Israel assembled and brought forth from among themselves four men, each people bringing forth its learned man, and they disputed about Jesus when he was raised up. One of them said: He is God; He came down to the earth, gave life to whom He gave life and caused to die whom He caused to die, then ascended to heaven—these are the Jacobites. The three said: You have lied. Then two of them said to the third: You speak concerning him. He said: He is the son of God—these are the Nestorians. The two said: You have lied. Then one of the two said to the other: You speak concerning him. He said: He is the third of three: God is a god, he is a god, and his mother is a god—these are the Isrāʾīliyyah⁴³, the kings of the Christians, upon them be the curses of God. The fourth said: You have lied; rather, he is the servant of God and His messenger and His spirit and His word—and these are the Muslims. Each man among them had followers upon what they said, and they fought one another, and the Muslims were overcome. That is the saying of God, Exalted: and they kill those among the people who enjoin justice (3:21). Qatādah said: They are the ones of whom God said: Then the factions differed among themselves (19:37); he said: they differed concerning him and became factions.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim has related, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr and from some of the people of knowledge, something close to that. And more than one of the historians, from among the People of the Book and others, has mentioned that Constantine gathered them in a great assembly, one of their three councils famous among them; the company of bishops among them numbered two thousand one hundred and seventy bishops, and they differed concerning Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him) with widely divergent differences. Every small band said something about him: a hundred would say one thing about him, seventy would say another thing about him, fifty would say something else about him, and a hundred and sixty would say something; and no more than three hundred and eight of them agreed upon a single statement. These agreed upon a position and held firmly to it, and the king inclined towards them—he was a philosopher—so he advanced them, supported them and drove out all who were other than them. They composed for him the Great Trust⁴⁴—nay, it is rather the great treachery—and they composed for him the books of the canons, legislated things for him, innovated many innovations, and distorted the religion of the Messiah and altered it. He then built for them the great churches throughout the whole of his kingdom: the lands of Syria, the Jazīrah and the Byzantine lands, so that the number of churches in his days reached nearly twelve thousand churches. And his mother Helena built the Qumāmah⁴⁵ over the place where the crucified one was crucified—the one whom the Jews and the Christians allege was the Messiah, though they lied; rather, God raised him up to heaven.

And His words: So woe to those who disbelieve from the witnessing of a tremendous Day (19:37): this is a threat and a severe warning to whoever lies against God, forges falsehood and alleges that He has a son. But He, Exalted, has granted them respite until the Day of Resurrection and deferred them, out of forbearance and out of confidence in His power over them, for He is the One who does not hasten against whoever disobeys Him, as has come in the two Ṣaḥīḥs: “Surely God grants respite to the wrongdoer, until, when He seizes him, He does not let him escape.” Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) recited: And such is the seizing of your Lord when He seizes the towns while they are wrongdoing; surely His seizing is painful, severe (11:102). In the two Ṣaḥīḥs also it is related from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: “No one is more patient over an injury he hears than God: they attribute a son to Him, while He provides for them and keeps them in health.” And God, Exalted, has said: And how many a town I granted respite while it was wrongdoing; then I seized it, and to Me is the return (22:48). And He, Exalted, said: And do not think that God is heedless of what the wrongdoers do; He only defers them to a Day on which the eyes will stare (14:42).

For this reason He said here: So woe to those who disbelieve from the witnessing of a tremendous Day (19:37), that is: the Day of Resurrection. And it has come in the sound ḥadīth, agreed upon as to its soundness, from ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit (may God be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever bears witness that there is no god but God alone, who has no partner, and that Muḥammad is His servant and His messenger, and that Jesus is the servant of God and His messenger and His word which He cast to Mary and a spirit from Him, and that Paradise is true and the Fire is true, God will admit him to Paradise, whatever his deeds may have been.”

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

Tanwīr al-Miqbās, Tanwīr al-miqbās min tafsīr Ibn ʿAbbās (d. compiler d. 817 AH / 1414 CE), about 4,090 words

On 3:33-64

3:33. This verse was revealed when the Jews said: We are upon the religion of Adam, Muslims. So God sent down Indeed God chose Adam: He elected Adam for Islam; and Noah: for Islam; and the family of Abraham: the children of Abraham, for Islam; and the family of ʿImrān: Moses and Aaron, for Islam; above the worlds: the people of their age. And it is said that ʿImrān was not the father of Moses and Aaron.

3:34. Offspring, one from another: some of them upon the religion of others, and some of them born of others; and God is All-Hearing: of the saying of the Jews, “We are the sons of God and His beloved ones, upon His religion”; All-Knowing: of their punishment, and of who is upon His religion.

3:35. And remember, O Muḥammad, when the wife of ʿImrān said: Ḥannah, the mother of Mary; My Lord, I have vowed to You: I have made over to You; what is in my womb, consecrated: as a servant for the sanctuary of Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis); so accept it from me; indeed You are the All-Hearing: of supplication; the All-Knowing: of the answer, and of what is in my womb.

3:36. Then when she delivered her: gave birth to her, and behold, she was a girl; she said: My Lord, I have delivered her, a female: I have given birth to her, a girl; and God knows best what she delivered: what she gave birth to; and the male is not: in service and in the matter of nakedness (ʿawra); like the female: like the girl; and I have named her Mary, and I seek refuge for her with You: I place her under Your protection and guard her by You; and her offspring: if she should have offspring; from Satan the accursed: the damned.

3:37. So her Lord accepted her with a gracious acceptance: that is, He dealt graciously with her, so that He accepted her in place of a boy; and made her grow in a goodly growth: He nourished her in worship, through the years and the months and the days and the hours, with a goodly nourishment; and Zachariah took charge of her: he took her to himself to raise her; whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the sanctuary: meaning her chamber in which she used to worship; he found with her provision: the fruit of winter in summer, such as sugar-cane, and the fruit of summer in winter, such as grapes; he said: O Mary, whence comes this to you?: from where do you have this, out of its season?; She said: It is from God: Gabriel brought it to me; indeed God provides for whom He wills: He gives to whom He wills, in its season and out of its season; without reckoning: without measure and without stint.

3:38. There: at that; Zachariah prayed: and hoped; to his Lord; he said: My Lord, grant me: give me; from Yourself: from Your presence; a goodly offspring: a righteous child; indeed You are the Hearer of prayer: the Answerer of prayer.

3:39. Then the angels called him: meaning Gabriel; while he stood praying in the sanctuary: in the place of worship; that God gives you glad tidings of John: of a son to be named John; confirming a Word from God: Jesus son of Mary, that he comes to be by a word from God, created without a father; and a master: forbearing in the face of ignorance; and chaste: he had no desire for women; and a prophet from among the righteous: from among the messengers.

3:40. He said: My Lord: Zachariah said to Gabriel: O my master; how shall I have a boy: from where shall I have a child; when old age has reached me: when old age has overtaken me; and my wife is barren: sterile, she does not bear; He said: Gabriel; Thus: as I have told you; God does what He wills: as He wills.

3:41. He said: Zachariah; My Lord: that is, O my Lord; appoint for me a sign: a mark of my wife’s pregnancy; He said: Your sign: your mark of your wife’s pregnancy; is that you shall not speak to people: you will not be able to speak to people; for three days: without being dumb; except by gesture: except by a movement of the lips, the eyebrows, the eyes and the hands; and it is said, except by writing on the ground; and remember your Lord: with the tongue and the heart; much: in every state; and glorify Him in the evening and the early morning: pray in the morning and in the evening as you used to pray.

3:42. And when the angels said: meaning Gabriel; O Mary, indeed God has chosen you: it is said, He elected you for Islam and worship; and purified you: from unbelief, polytheism and impurities; and it is said, He saved you from being killed; and chosen you: elected you; above the women of the worlds: the women of your age, by the birth of Jesus.

3:43. O Mary, be devout to your Lord: obey your Lord, in gratitude for that; and it is said, prolong the standing in prayer, in gratitude to your Lord; and prostrate and bow: its meaning is, bow and prostrate, by bowing and prostrating; with those who bow: with the people of prayer.

3:44. That: this which I have related of the account of Mary and Zachariah; is of the tidings of the unseen: of the reports of what is hidden from you, O Muḥammad; which We reveal to you: He says, We send Gabriel to you with it; and you were not with them: meaning with the rabbis; when they cast their pens: into the running water; as to which of them should take charge: should take; of Mary: to raise her; and you were not with them: in their presence; when they disputed: argued with proofs over the raising of Mary.

3:45. When the angels said: meaning Gabriel; O Mary, indeed God gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him: of a son who will come to be by a word from God, created; whose name is the Messiah: he is called the Messiah because he travels (yasīḥ) through the lands; and it is said, the Messiah means the king; Jesus son of Mary, eminent in this world: he has rank and station in this world among people; and the Hereafter: and in the Hereafter, with God, he has rank and station; and of those brought near: to God, in the Garden of Eden.

3:46. And he will speak to people in the cradle: in the lap, at forty days old: “I am the servant of God and His Messiah”; and in maturity: after thirty years, with prophethood; and of the righteous: of the messengers.

3:47. She said: My Lord: Mary said to Gabriel: O my master; how shall I have a child: from where shall I have a boy, a child; when no man has touched me: neither lawfully nor unlawfully; He said: Gabriel; Thus: as I have told you; God creates what He wills: as He wills; when He decrees a matter: when He wills to create a child from you without a father; He only says to it, Be, and it is: a child without a father.

3:48. And He will teach him the Book: the books of the prophets; and it is said, writing; and the Wisdom: the lawful and the unlawful; and it is said, the wisdom of the prophets before him; and the Torah: in his mother’s womb; and the Gospel: after his coming forth from his mother’s womb.

3:49. And a messenger: after thirty years; to the Children of Israel: and when he came to them he said: I have come to you with a sign: with a mark; from your Lord: of my prophethood. They said: And what is the mark? He said: I create: I fashion; for you from clay the likeness of a bird: the semblance of a bird; then I breathe into it: like the breathing of a sleeper; and it becomes a bird: it turns into a bird that flies between heaven and earth; by God’s leave: by God’s command. So he fashioned for them a bat, and they said: This is sorcery; have you anything else? He said: Yes. And I heal: I make sound; the blind from birth: he who has never ceased to be blind; and the leper: likewise; and I give life to the dead by God’s leave: by the greatest name of God, “O Living, O Self-Subsisting”. When he had done that, they said: This is sorcery; have you anything else? He said: Yes. And I inform you: I tell you; of what you eat: morning and evening; and what you store up: what you put away from the morning meal for the evening meal, and from the evening meal for the morning meal; in your houses. Indeed in that: in what I have told you; is a sign: a mark; for you: of my prophethood; if you are believers: assenting.

3:50. And confirming: and I have come to you in agreement, in the profession of God’s oneness, in religion; what was before me of the Torah: what was before me of the Torah and the rest of the scriptures; and to make lawful for you: to grant you licence and make clear to you; some of that which: the making lawful of some of that which; was forbidden to you: such as the flesh of camels, the fat of cattle and sheep, the Sabbath, and other things. And I have come to you with a sign: with a mark; from your Lord; so fear God: so be in awe of God in what He has commanded you, and turn to Him in repentance; and obey me: and follow my command and my religion.

3:51. Indeed God is my Lord: He is my Lord; and your Lord, so worship Him: so declare Him One; this: the profession of His oneness; is a straight path: an upright religion with which He is pleased, and it is Islam.

3:52. Then when he perceived: knew; Jesus, from them, unbelief: and saw from them killing, when they wanted to kill him; and it is said, “he perceived” means he heard from them the repetition of unbelief; he said: Jesus; Who are my helpers: who are my supporters; towards God: with God, against His enemies; the disciples said: his chosen ones, the fullers (al-qaṣṣārūn), and they were twelve men; We are the helpers of God: your supporters, with God, against His enemies; we believe in God, and bear witness: know, you, O Jesus; that we are Muslims: acknowledging God with worship and the profession of His oneness.

3:53. Our Lord: O our Lord; we believe in what You have sent down: of the Book, meaning the Gospel; and we follow the Messenger: the religion of the Messenger, Jesus; so write us down among the witnesses: so make us among the foremost, the first ones, who bore witness before us; and it is said, so make us of the community of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

3:54. And they schemed: they intended, meaning the Jews, the killing of Jesus; and God schemed: God intended the killing of their companion Qaṭyānūs⁴⁶; and God is the best of schemers: the strongest of those who intend; and it is said, the most excellent of those who contrive.

3:55. When God said: O Jesus, I am going to take you and raise you: this is an advancing and a postponing in the order of words; He says: I am going to raise you; to Myself, and purify you: deliver you; from those who disbelieve: in you; and make those who follow you: who follow your religion; above those who disbelieve: in proof and in victory; until the Day of Resurrection: then I am going to take you, seizing you in death after the descent; and it is said, taking your heart away from love of this world; then to Me is your return: after death; and I shall judge between you: I shall decide between you; in that wherein you: in religion; used to differ: used to dispute.

3:56. As for those who disbelieve: in God and His Messenger Muḥammad, and in Jesus; I shall punish them with a severe punishment in this world: by the sword and the poll-tax (jizya); and the Hereafter: by the Fire; and they shall have no helpers: none to ward off from them the punishment of God in this world and the Hereafter.

3:57. And as for those who believe: in God, the Book, and the Messenger Muḥammad, and in Jesus; and do righteous deeds: between themselves and their Lord, sincerely; He will pay them in full: He will give them in abundance; their rewards: their recompense in the Garden on the Day of Resurrection; and God does not love the wrongdoers: the polytheists, for their wrongdoing and their polytheism.

3:58. That: which I have related, O Muḥammad, of the account of Jesus; We recite to you: We send down Gabriel to you with it; of the signs: He says, of the verses of the Qur’an, with command and prohibition; and the wise Reminder: the one made firm with the lawful and the unlawful; and it is said, in agreement with the Torah and the Gospel; and it is said, the Preserved Tablet.

3:59. Then He made clear the creation of Jesus without a father, because of the words of the delegation of the Banū Najrān: “Bring us a proof from the Qur’an for your claim that Jesus is not the son of God.” So God said: Indeed the likeness of Jesus: the likeness of the creation of Jesus; with God: without a father; is as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust: without father or mother; then He said to him: to Jesus; Be, and he was: a child without a father.

3:60. The truth: it is the true report; from your Lord: that Jesus was not God, nor His son, nor His partner; so do not be of the doubters: of those who doubt what I have made clear to you of the creation of Jesus without a father.

3:61. Then He mentioned the dispute of the delegation of the Banū Najrān with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), after it had been made clear to them that his likeness with God is as the likeness of Adam; they said: It is not as you say, that Jesus was not God, nor His son, nor His partner. So God said: Then whoever argues with you concerning him: whoever disputes with you concerning him, concerning Jesus; after what has come to you of knowledge: of the clear exposition that Jesus was not God, nor His son, nor His partner; say: Come, let us call our sons: let us bring out our sons; and your sons: bring out, you, your sons; and our women: let us bring out our women; and your women: bring out, you, your women; and ourselves: let us come out ourselves; and yourselves: come out, you, yourselves; then let us pray earnestly: let us humbly implore and strive in supplication; and invoke: and lay; the curse of God: in what is between us; upon the liars: against God concerning Jesus.

3:62. Indeed this: which I have related, O Muḥammad, of the account of Jesus and of the delegation of the Banū Najrān; is the true narrative: the true report, that Jesus was not God, nor His son, nor His partner; and there is no god but God: without child and without partner; and indeed God is the Mighty: in vengeance against him who does not believe in Him; the Wise: God commanded that none other than He be worshipped; and it is said, the Judge (al-ḥakam): He decreed against them the mutual cursing (mulāʿana), but they turned away from it and did not go out to the mutual cursing with the Prophet (upon him be blessings and peace), because they knew that they were liars and that Muḥammad was a truthful prophet, sent, whose description and attributes are in their scripture.

3:63. So God said: Then if they turn away: from your call to the mutual cursing with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); then indeed God is All-Knowing of the corrupters: of the Christians of the Banū Najrān.

3:64. Then He called them to the profession of God’s oneness and said: Say: O People of the Book, come to a word: “There is no god but God”; equitable: just; between us and you, that we worship none but God: that we declare none One but God; and associate nothing with Him: of created beings; and that none of us take others as lords: that none of us obey any of the chiefs in disobedience to God; besides God. But they refused that too, so God said: Then if they turn away: turn aside and withdraw from the profession of God’s oneness; then say: Bear witness: know, you; that we are Muslims: acknowledging Him with worship and the profession of His oneness.

On 19:16-37

19:16. And mention: O Muḥammad; in the Book: in the Qur’an; Mary: the account of Mary; when she withdrew: she went apart and secluded herself; from her family to an eastern place: on the eastern side of their house.

19:17. And took, apart from them: she let down, apart from her family; a screen: a veil, so as to wash herself therein from menstruation; then We sent to her: after she had finished; Our Spirit: Our messenger Gabriel; and he appeared to her: he took on a likeness for her; as a well-proportioned man: in the form of a young man lacking nothing.

19:18. She said: Mary; I seek refuge: I seek protection; in the Most Gracious from you, if you are God-fearing: obedient to the Most Gracious; and it is said, al-Taqī was the name of a wicked man, and she thought that he was that man, and for that reason she sought refuge from him.

19:19. He said: Gabriel, to her; I am only a messenger of your Lord, to grant you: so that God may grant you; a pure boy: a righteous child.

19:20. She said: Mary, to Gabriel (peace be upon him); How shall I have a boy: from where shall I have a child; when no man has touched me: no husband has come near me; and I have not been unchaste: an adulteress.

19:21. He said: Gabriel, to her; Thus: so it is, as I have told you; your Lord has said: It is easy for Me: his creation is easy for Me, without a father; and that We may make him: so that We may make him; a sign: a mark and a lesson; for people: for the Children of Israel, a child without a father; and a mercy from Us: for him who believes in him; and it is a matter decreed: a decree that is to be, that he should be a child without a father.

19:22. So she conceived him: Mary; and her pregnancy with him lasted nine months, and it is said, a single day; and she withdrew: she went apart; with him: with her giving birth to him; to a distant place: far from people.

19:23. And the pangs of childbirth drove her: the labour-pains compelled her; to the trunk of the palm-tree: to the base of a dried-up palm; she said: Would that I had died before this: this child; and it is said, before this day; and had been a thing forgotten, out of mind: a thing abandoned and not remembered; and it is said, a discarded menstrual cloth; and it is said, a miscarriage.

19:24. Then he called to her from beneath her: from below her, meaning Gabriel; Do not grieve: O Mary, over the birth of Jesus; your Lord has placed beneath you a sariyy: a prophet; and it is said, “then he who was beneath her called to her”, if you read it with the fatḥa on the mīm⁴⁷, meaning Jesus: Do not grieve; your Lord has placed beneath you a sariyy, a small stream.

19:25. And shake towards you: take hold, towards you; the trunk of the palm-tree: the base of the palm, and move it; it will drop upon you fresh ripe dates: tender and fresh.

19:26. So eat: of the fresh dates; and drink: from the stream; and be comforted: be of good cheer at the birth of Jesus (peace be upon him); and if you see of mankind: of human beings; anyone: after this day; then say: I have vowed to the Most Gracious a fast: a silence; so I shall not speak today to any human: to any son of Adam; then keep silent after that, until Jesus speaks in your excuse.

19:27. Then she brought him: Jesus; to her people: to her people; carrying him: when he was forty days old; they said: O Mary, you have done a thing unheard of: a tremendous abomination.

19:28. O sister of Aaron: O you who resemble Aaron in worship; and Aaron was a righteous man, among the best of people; and it is said, Aaron was a wicked man and they likened her to him; and it is said, Aaron was her brother on her father’s side; your father was not a man of evil: a fornicating man; nor was your mother unchaste: an adulteress.

19:29. So she pointed to him: to Jesus (peace be upon him), meaning: speak to him; they said: to her; How can we speak to one who is in the cradle: in the lap; and it is said, in the bed; a child: a small one, forty days old. Then Jesus (peace be upon him) spoke.

19:30. He said: I am the servant of God; He has given me the Book: He taught me the Torah and the Gospel in my mother’s womb; and made me a prophet: after my coming forth from my mother’s womb.

19:31. And He has made me blessed: a teacher of good; wherever I am: wherever I am and wherever I dwell; and has enjoined upon me prayer: the completion of prayer; and almsgiving: charity; as long as I live: as long as I am alive.

19:32. And dutiful to my mother: kind to my mother; and He has not made me a tyrant: in my religion, one who kills in anger; wretched: disobedient to my Lord.

19:33. And peace be upon me the day I was born: safety for me when I was born, from the prick of Satan; and the day I die: when I die, from the squeeze of the grave; and the day I am raised alive: when I am raised alive from the grave.

19:34. That is Jesus son of Mary: the account of Jesus son of Mary; the word of truth: the true report; about which: about Jesus; they doubt: they are in doubt, meaning the Christians: some of them said he is God, some of them said he is the son of God, and some of them said he is His partner.

19:35. It is not for God: it does not befit God; to take any son. Glory be to Him: He declared Himself transcendent above child and partner; when He decrees a matter: when He wills to create a child without a father; He only says to it, Be, and it is: a child without a father, like Jesus. And when Jesus came with the message to his people, he said: I am the servant of God and His Messiah.

19:36. And indeed God: He; is my Lord: my Creator and my Provider; and your Lord: your Creator and your Provider; so worship Him: declare Him One; this: the profession of His oneness which I command you; is a straight path: an upright religion with which He is pleased, and it is Islam.

19:37. But the factions differed: the unbelievers; among themselves: between themselves; some of them said he is God, some of them said he is the son of God, and some of them said he is His partner; so woe: Woe (al-wayl) is a valley in Hell of pus and blood; and it is said, a pit in the Fire; and it is said, “so woe” means severe punishment; to those who disbelieve: who formed factions concerning Jesus; from the witnessing of a tremendous Day: from the punishment of the Day of Resurrection.

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

al-Jalālayn, Tafsīr al-Jalālayn (d. 864 AH / 1459 CE and 911 AH / 1505 CE), about 740 words

On 3:59

Truly the likeness of Jesus (3:59), his strange condition, with God is as the likeness of Adam, like his condition, [being] without a father; this is the likening of the strange to what is stranger still, so that it is more decisive against the opponent and more effective upon the soul. He created him, that is, Adam, that is, his mould, of dust, then said to him: Be, a human being, and he was, that is, and he came to be. So too with Jesus: He said to him “Be” – without a father – and he was.

On 3:60

The truth is from your Lord (3:60): the predicate of an elided subject, that is, the affair of Jesus [is the truth from your Lord]; so do not be of the doubters, those who are uncertain about it.

On 3:61

And whoever argues with you (3:61), disputes with you, of the Christians, concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you of his affair, say to them: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves, so that we gather them together, then let us pray humbly, let us plead earnestly in supplication, and invoke the curse of God upon the liars, by saying: O God, curse the liar concerning the affair of Jesus. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called the delegation of Najrān to this when they argued with him about it, and they said: Let us look into our affair, then we shall come to you. Those of sound judgment among them said: You know well his prophethood, and that no people has ever engaged in mutual imprecation with a prophet without perishing; so make peace with the man and depart. So they came to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), who had come out with al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn, Fāṭima and ʿAlī with him, and he said to them: When I supplicate, say “Amen”. But they refused to engage in the mutual cursing, and made terms with him on payment of the poll-tax (jizya). Abū Nuʿaym related it. And from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Had those who were to engage in the mutual imprecation gone out, they would have returned to find neither property nor family. And it is related: Had they gone out, they would have been consumed by fire.

On 3:62

Truly this (3:62), what has been mentioned, is indeed the narrative, the report, that is true, in which there is no doubt; and there is no – min being redundant – god but God; and truly God is indeed the Mighty in His dominion, the Wise in His handiwork.

On 3:63

And if they turn away (3:63), turn aside from belief, then truly God is Knowing of the corrupters, and He will requite them. Here the overt noun is placed in the position of the pronoun.

On 19:34

He, Exalted, said: That is Jesus son of Mary, the word of truth (19:34) – in the nominative, the predicate of an implied subject, that is, “[this is] the word of the son of Mary”; and in the accusative, with “I say” implied, the meaning being “the true word” – concerning which they are in doubt, from mirya, that is, they doubt; they are the Christians, who said that Jesus is the son of God. They lied.

On 19:35

It is not for God to take any son. Glory be to Him (19:35), declaring Him far above that. When He decrees a matter, that is, wills to bring it into being, He only says to it “Be”, and it is – in the nominative (fa-yakūnu), with “he” implied; and in the accusative (fa-yakūna), with an implied. And among such is the creation of Jesus without a father.

On 19:36

And truly God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him (19:36) – with anna taking fatḥa, with “remember” implied; and with kasra (inna), with “say” implied, as is shown by I said to them nothing except what You commanded me: Worship God, my Lord and your Lord (5:117). This, what has been mentioned, is a path, a way, that is straight, leading to Paradise.

On 19:37

But the factions differed among themselves (19:37), that is, the Christians, concerning Jesus: is he the son of God, or a god alongside Him, or the third of three? So woe, severity of punishment, to those who disbelieve in what has been mentioned and in other things, from the witnessing of a tremendous day, that is, being present at the Day of Resurrection and its terrors.

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

al-Durr al-Manthūr, al-Durr al-manthūr fī al-tafsīr bi-l-maʾthūr (d. 911 AH / 1505 CE), about 4,110 words

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 Najrān⁴⁸ came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and among them were al-Sayyid and al-ʿĀqib⁴⁹. 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)⁵⁰, 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 Sulaymān⁵¹ 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 Qaynuqāʿ⁵² 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 Corner⁵³: and invoke the curse of God upon the liars (3:61).

On 19:34-37

His words, Exalted: That is Jesus son of Mary (19:34), and the following verses.

Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim reported from Mujāhid, concerning His words That is Jesus son of Mary, the word of truth (19:34), that he said: God is the Truth, Mighty and Majestic.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq and Ibn Abī Ḥātim reported from Qatādah, concerning His words about which they are in doubt (19:34), that he said: The Children of Israel gathered and brought forth from among themselves four men; from every people their learned man was brought forth, and they disputed about Jesus when he was raised up. One of them said: He is God; He descended to the earth, and gave life to whom He gave life and caused to die whom He caused to die, then ascended to heaven. These are the Jacobites. The other three said: You have lied. Then two of them said to the third: Speak. He said: He is the son of God. These are the Nestorians. The two said: You have lied. Then one of the two said to the other: Speak concerning him. He said: He is the third of three: God is a god, Jesus is a god, and his mother is a god. These are the Israelites⁵⁴, and they are the kings of the Christians. The fourth said: You have lied. He is the servant of God and His Messenger, and His spirit and His word. These are the Muslims. Each man of them had followers who held to what he said, and they fought one another, and the Muslims were overcome. That is God’s saying: and kill those who enjoin justice among the people (3:21). Qatādah said: And they are those of whom God said Then the factions differed among themselves (19:37). He said: They differed about him and became factions. The people disputed, and the Muslim said: I adjure you by God, do you know that Jesus used to eat food, and that God does not eat food? They said: By God, yes. He said: And do you know that Jesus used to sleep, and that God does not sleep? They said: By God, yes. So the Muslims defeated them in argument, and the people fought one another. It was mentioned to us that the Jacobites prevailed that day and the Muslims were struck down, and God sent down the Qurʾan concerning that: So woe to those who disbelieve from the witnessing of a tremendous Day (19:37).

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim reported from Mujāhid, concerning His words Then the factions differed among themselves (19:37), that he said: they are the People of the Book.

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

al-Saʿdī, Taysīr al-Karīm al-Raḥmān fī tafsīr kalām al-Mannān (d. 1376 AH / 1956 CE), about 1,240 words

On 3:59

When He had mentioned the story of Mary and Jesus and the true tidings of them both, and that he is a servant upon whom God bestowed favour, and that whoever claims there is anything of divinity in him has lied against God, given the lie to all His prophets and given the lie to Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him): the doubt that presented itself to those who took him as a god is a false doubt, for had it any sound basis, Adam would have had a better claim to it than he, since he was created without mother or father; yet despite that all mankind agree that he is one of the servants of God. So the claim that Jesus is divine because he was created from a mother without a father is one of the most false of claims.

On 3:60

This is the truth in which there is no doubt: that Jesus is as he said of himself: I said to them nothing except what You commanded me: Worship God, my Lord and your Lord (5:117).

On 3:61

A delegation of the Christians of Najrān had come to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and they had hardened themselves in their falsehood after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had set before them the proofs that Jesus is the servant of God and His messenger, since they claimed his divinity. Matters between him and them reached the point where God, Exalted, commanded him to invoke a mutual curse (mubāhala) with them, for the truth had become plain to them but obstinacy and partisanship kept them from it. So the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called them to the mutual imprecation: that he should come with his household and his sons, and they should come with their households and their sons, and then they would pray to God, Exalted, to send down His punishment and His curse upon the liars. They consulted among themselves whether to accept this from him, and their opinion settled on not accepting it, because they knew that he was truly the prophet of God and that if they imprecated against him they would perish, they and their children and their households. So they made peace with him, offered him the poll-tax (jizya) and asked him for a truce and a treaty, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) granted them that and did not press them hard, because the purpose had been achieved in the clarity of the truth and the exposure of their obstinacy, since they resolved to refuse the mutual imprecation; and that demonstrates that they were wrongdoers.

On 3:62

For this reason He, Exalted, said: Indeed this is the true narrative, that is, that in which there is no doubt; and indeed God is surely the Mighty, who by His power and strength has subdued all existing things, and to whom the inhabitants of the earth and the heavens have submitted; and together with that He is the Wise (3:62), who puts things in their proper places and sets them down in their proper stations.

On 19:34

That is: that one who is described with those attributes is Jesus son of Mary, without doubt or uncertainty; rather it is the word of truth, and the speech of God, than which none is more truthful in saying or finer in discourse. This, then, is the certain report concerning Jesus (peace be upon him), and whatever has been said of him that contradicts this is definitely false, and at most it is doubt on the part of the one who says it, who has no knowledge of it. For this reason He said: about which they are in doubt (19:34), that is, they doubt, and so they dispute on the basis of their doubt and argue on the basis of their guessing. Among them is one who says of him that he is God, or the son of God, or the third of three. Exalted is God above their falsehood and their fabrication, in great exaltation.

On 19:35

So it is not for God to take any son, that is, it is not proper or fitting, because that is among impossible things, for He is the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy, the Owner of all dominions; how then should He take from among His servants and His possessions a son? Glory be to Him, that is, He is transcendent and holy, far above having a son and above any deficiency. When He decrees a matter, that is, any matter, small or great, it is neither impossible for Him nor difficult; He only says to it Be, and it is (19:35). So when His determination and His will take effect in the upper world and the lower, how should He have a son?! And when it is the case that, when He intends a thing, He says to it Be, and it is, how can His bringing Jesus into existence without a father be thought improbable?!

On 19:36

For this reason Jesus declared that he is a servant with a Lord, like everyone else, and said: And indeed God is my Lord and your Lord, who created us and fashioned us, whose governance takes effect in us and whose determination disposes of us; so worship Him, that is, devote worship sincerely to Him and strive in turning to Him in repentance. In this is the affirmation of the oneness of lordship (tawḥīd al-rubūbiyya) and the oneness of divinity (tawḥīd al-ilāhiyya), and the use of the first as evidence for the second. For this reason he said: This is a straight path (19:36), that is, an even path leading to God, since it is the path of the messengers and their followers; and whatever is other than this is among the paths of misguidance and error.

On 19:37

When He, Exalted, had made plain the condition of Jesus son of Mary, concerning which there is no doubt or uncertainty, He informed that the factions, that is, the sects of misguidance among the Jews, the Christians and others, in their various classes, differed concerning Jesus (peace be upon him): some went to excess regarding him and some fell short. Among them were those who said that he is God! Among them were those who said that he is the son of God! Among them were those who said that he is the third of three! And among them were those who did not make him a messenger at all, but accused him of being the child of fornication, like the Jews! The sayings of all of these are false and their opinions corrupt, built upon doubt and obstinacy, upon corrupt proofs and worthless doubts, and all of these deserve the severe threat. For this reason He said: So woe to those who disbelieve, in God, His messengers and His books, among whom are included the Jews and the Christians who say of Jesus the saying of disbelief, from the witnessing of a mighty Day (19:37), that is, the witnessing of the Day of Resurrection, which the first and the last will witness, the inhabitants of the heavens and the inhabitants of the earth, the Creator and the created, a Day filled with convulsions and terrors, comprising the recompense for deeds. Then at that time will become clear what they used to conceal and what they used to disclose, and what they used to hide.

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

← Section 2 · Contents · Section 4 →

Notes

Titles of the two leading men of the Najrān delegation: al-Sayyid, its chief, and al-ʿĀqib, its deputy in charge of affairs. ↩
That is, Mār Sarjis (Mar Sergius), a Syriac Christian name; the spelling in the manuscript is uncertain. ↩
The reading of this name is uncertain in the sources. ↩
Labīd ibn Rabīʿah (d. c. 661), the pre-Islamic poet who later embraced Islam; the line is from his elegy for his brother Arbad. ↩
A Companion of the Prophet who settled in Egypt and was the last of the Companions to die there. ↩
Najrān, a Christian town in the south of Arabia, whose delegation came to the Prophet at Medina and disputed with him about Jesus; the verses from 3:59 onwards are reported to have been revealed on that occasion. ↩
ʿĀmir ibn Sharāḥīl al-Shaʿbī (d. c. 721), the Kufan Successor. ↩
The two chief men of the Najrān delegation; al-ʿĀqib’s personal name was ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, as the next report shows. ↩
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, whose codex and reading were followed in Kūfah. ↩
The eponyms, as the early narrators knew them, of the three Christian parties: Nestorius for the Nestorians, Jacob (Mār Yaʿqūb Baradaeus) for the Jacobites, and “Diqyūs” for the imperial church, called below “the Isrāʾīliyyah, the kings of the Christians”. ↩
The poet describes a mountain: nothing is “sought” (lā yubtaghā), that is, nothing is fitting (lā yanbaghī), beyond it. Al-Ṭabarī cites the line because mā kāna li-llāhi likewise means “it is not fitting for God”. ↩
Ḥanīf: one who turns away from false religion to the pure worship of the one God. ↩
Variously explained as the peasants and subjects of his realm, whose sin would be on him for keeping them from Islam, or as the followers of Arius. ↩
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd; his reading is qāla l-ḥaqqa, “he spoke the truth”. ↩
Qurʾān 6:73, “His word is the truth”. ↩
That is, the Melkites, the party of the Byzantine emperor; the name is given below as the Malkāniyyah. ↩
That is, tamtarūn, “you are in doubt”, in the second person, instead of yamtarūn, “they are in doubt”. ↩
That is, Joseph the carpenter. ↩
At al-Maṭariyyah, the site of the “Tree of the Virgin”, traditionally associated with the Holy Family’s stay in Egypt. ↩
Hermopolis Magna in Upper Egypt, near present-day Mallawī. ↩
Near al-Qūṣiyyah in the district of Manfalūṭ; the Coptic monastery there, Dayr al-Muḥarraq, is held to mark the furthest point of the Holy Family’s journey. ↩
At Qurʾān 2:117. ↩
At Qurʾān 4:157 and 4:171. ↩
Abū l-ʿAbbās Thaʿlab, the Kufan grammarian. ↩
At Qurʾān 15:23. ↩
That is, a member of the tribe of Bakr ibn Wāʾil. ↩
That is, Sūrat al-Naml (27), which opens with the letters Ṭā Sīn and relates Solomon’s letter beginning “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful” (27:30); hence the Prophet’s letter here opens with a different formula. ↩
That is, to defy him to his face. ↩
A report whose chain omits the Companion, so that the Successor al-Shaʿbī relates it directly without naming Jābir. ↩
With the nominative the phrase stands as a predicate, “That is Jesus son of Mary: the word of truth…”; with the accusative it is read as an emphatic complement, “I say the word of truth”. ↩
So the text; other transmissions of this report call this third party the Malkāniyyah (Melkites), the church of the Byzantine emperors, which is clearly what is meant by “the kings of the Christians”. ↩
al-Amānah al-kabīrah, the Muslim historians’ name for the Nicene Creed; Ibn Kathīr puns on amānah (trust) and khiyānah (treachery). ↩
Literally “the Dunghill”, the Muslim writers’ deliberate deformation of al-Qiyāmah, the Church of the Resurrection (the Holy Sepulchre) in Jerusalem. ↩
The name given in this commentary to the man upon whom the likeness of Jesus was cast and who was killed in his place; it is spelt variously in the manuscripts (Qaṭyānūs, Ṭaṭyānūs). ↩
The reading man taḥtahā, “he who was beneath her”, in place of min taḥtihā, “from beneath her”. ↩
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 ↩
So the text; the group is usually named the Malkites (Malkāniyyah), the “royal” church, as the following words show. ↩

Section 3: The promised messenger, Joseph and the creation of Jesus

From the commentaries on 3:59-63, 19:34-37

On 3:59

On the interpretation of His words: Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him “Be”, and he is. (59) (3:59)

Those who said this

On 3:60

On the interpretation of His words: The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters. (60) (3:60)

On 3:61

On the interpretation of His words: So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves; then let us invoke earnestly and lay the curse of God upon the liars (3:61)

On 3:62-63

On the interpretation of His words: Indeed, this is the true narrative, and there is no god but God; and indeed God, He is the Mighty, the Wise. (62) But if they turn away, then God is All-Knowing of those who work corruption. (63) (3:62-63)

Those who said this

On 19:34

On the interpretation of His words: Such is Jesus son of Mary — the word of truth about which they are in doubt (34) (19:34)

Those who said this

Those who said this

On 19:35-36

On the interpretation of His words: It is not for God to take any son — glory be to Him! When He decrees a matter He only says to it “Be”, and it is. (35) And indeed God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him; this is a straight path (36) (19:35–36)

Those who said this

On 19:37

On the interpretation of His words: Then the factions differed among themselves; so woe to those who disbelieve from the witnessing of a mighty Day (37) (19:37)

On 3:56-60

On 3:61

On 3:62-64

On 19:34-37

On 3:59-60

On 3:61

On 3:62-63

On 19:34-37

On 3:59-63

On 19:34-37

On 3:33-64

On 19:16-37

On 3:59

On 3:60

On 3:61

On 3:62

On 3:63

On 19:34

On 19:35

On 19:36

On 19:37

On 3:59-63

On 19:34-37

His words, Exalted: That is Jesus son of Mary (19:34), and the following verses.

On 3:59

On 3:60

On 3:61

On 3:62

On 19:34

On 19:35

On 19:36

On 19:37

Notes