The Rightly-Guided Injil

Section 10: The traditions of the elders and the Syrophoenician woman

The Gospel According to Islam · Chapter 3, The Ministry in Galilee · Section 10

The traditions of the elders and the Syrophoenician woman. 19 verses.

10

1Then came together unto him certain of the Pharisees and the scribes from Jerusalem.1 2And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with unwashen hands, they found fault. 3For the Pharisees and many of the Jews held that if food is eaten with unwashen hands, it is defiled. 4And they asked Jesus, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? 5He answered and said unto them; Well hath Esias said of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.

6Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men.2 7For ye teach the traditions of men as commandments of God3 and lay aside what God commanded. 8For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die: 9But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Korban, that is, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. 10And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother.4

11Making the word of God of none effect. 12And when he had come away from the people and entered into a house, he received the Spirit and testified and said unto his disciples, Verily, verily, I say unto you, No prophet from Israel will be sent to uproot their traditions. 13For no man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; and no man putteth new wine into old bottles; but new wine must be put into new bottles. 14For this cause will the Lord raise a prophet from the midst of another nation, and put His word into his mouth, that He may uproot every plant which He hath not planted;5 that He may give unto the world a new wine that men of all nations may quench their thirst.

15After these things it came to pass that there came to Jesus a Greek woman, Syrophoenician by nation: 16Her daughter had an unclean spirit, and she besought Jesus that he would cast it out of her. 17But he answered her not a word; and his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 18But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.6 19Howbeit I know another man of God, and she can go to him, for he taketh devils out of all kinds of people.

  1. For the incident related here, see Mark 7:1-23 and Matt. 15:1-5. In accounts of such incidents, the canonical Gospels present Jesus’ attitude as being far more radical than it actually was. For it appears from the Acts that Jewish customs and attitudes condemned by the Gospels with merciless force, were shown by the closest of Jesus’ followers and leaders of the primitive Christian community. Thus, for example, we may note with Marcello Craveri, (The Life of Jesus, p. 140) how the Acts tell us of the great conflict that Peter suffered when he had to overcome his own resistance, presumably for the first time, to entering the house of a pagan (Cornelius), who had asked to be baptized, and how he later sought to explain to the company of the faithful, insisting that, at any rate, he had not eaten anything forbidden by the law as unclean (Acts 10:28; 11:8). But a criticism not aimed at destroying Jewish traditions of excessive rigidity in some matters on the part of his countrymen and a relaxed attitude toward some of their religious prohibitions can be attributed to Jesus. The Qur’an expresses this by saying that Jesus made lawful some of the things prohibited earlier to Israel, although, at the same time, he confirmed the Torah (3:50). What this means is that while Jesus confirmed the main and the basic part of the Jewish laws and traditions, he modified them in some of the details and tried to make it more flexible. ↩
  2. Isa. 29:13. The quotation in the Gospels is inaccurate. ↩
  3. Thus, without using a language destructive of Judaism, Jesus tried to point out that (1) true worship of God was more important than following religious rules and regulations, and (2) the children of Israel were bound by what God really commanded them and not by all the traditions of the elders. At Paul of Tarsus’s hand, this element of Jesus’ thinking became a declaration of total freedom from the law. The conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees was originally a conflict between hypocrisy and true religiosity within the Jewish tradition, but with Paul of Tarsus this became a question of whether or not Jewish rules have any religious validity anymore. The Gospel accounts of the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees are considerably influenced by Paul of Tarsus and the conflict he generated. In particular, Jesus’ speech to the “crowd” and his private conversation with his close disciples (Mark 7:14-23; Matt. 15:10-20), after his argument with the Pharisees from Jerusalem, are a product of this conflict, the purpose of the two evangelists being to give Jesus’ authority to the victorious Pauline view that Jewish rules about cleanliness, defilement, etc., had no religious validity. The strong language in which Jesus replied to the Pharisees also seems to be influenced by Paulinism. ↩
  4. If Jesus taught honoring one’s father and mother, he probably honored his own parents, too (cf. Qur’an 19:32). ↩
  5. Matt. 15:13; Luke 5:36-39. The two synoptic Gospels no doubt look toward the developments that took place after Jesus with the emergence of Paul of Tarsus and the Gentile Christianity. But since Gentile Christianity conflicts with the thinking and teachings of Jesus, it should be regarded as one of the plants that was not planted by the heavenly Father and needs to be uprooted. ↩
  6. Mark 7:25-27; Matt. 15:21-24. The two Gospels, however, continue the story and say that after further insistence from the mother, Jesus healed the girl, thus retreating from his position that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This is clearly an attempt to validate the Gentile mission started later under the leadership of Paul of Tarsus. Actually, the whole story seems to be the product of the conflict among Jewish Christians concerning the mission to the Gentiles. The story about the Syrophoenician woman was probably first created by those opposed to the mission, and then it was modified when the Gentiles finally began to be accepted by a majority of Christians as a result of Paul of Tarsus’s victory. But the original story is closer to Jesus’ own attitude (cf. note 44), and we have used it here to support the image of Jesus as primarily an Israeli prophet whose influence nevertheless extended beyond the Jewish people and became instrumental in preparing the way for a more truly universal religion—Islam. ↩

From the commentaries on 3:50-51

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 1,590 words

On 3:50-51

On the interpretation of His words: “and confirming what was before me of the Torah, and to make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you” (3:50)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By that He means, Majestic is His praise: and announcing that I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, and I have come to you confirming what was before me of the Torah. For that reason “confirming” (muṣaddiqan) is in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl) of “I have come to you”.

What indicates that it is in the accusative on account of His words “and I have come to you”, and not by conjunction to His words “illustrious” (wajīhan) (3:45), is His words “what was before me of the Torah”. Had it been conjoined to His words “illustrious”, the wording would have been: “and confirming what was before him of the Torah, and that he might make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you.”

It was said “and confirming what was before me of the Torah” only because Jesus, God’s blessings be upon him, believed in the Torah and acknowledged it, and that it was from God. So too all the prophets: they affirm all the books of God and His messengers that came before them, even if some of the laws of their rulings differed, because God made them differ among themselves in that. Moreover, Jesus — according to what has reached us — acted by the Torah and did not depart from any of its rulings, save what God lightened for its people in the Gospel of that which in it had been made stringent for them. As:

(7111) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to me: that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: Jesus was upon the law of Moses (peace and blessings be upon him); he kept the Sabbath and faced Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) in prayer. He said to the Children of Israel: “I have not called you to contravene a single letter of what is in the Torah, save to make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you and to lift from you some of the burdens (āṣār).”

(7112) Bishr related to me: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: “and confirming what was before me of the Torah, and to make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you”: what Jesus brought was gentler than what Moses brought. Forbidden to them in what Moses brought had been the flesh of camels and the fat of the entrails (thurūb), and certain kinds of birds and fish.

(7113) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words “and confirming what was before me of the Torah, and to make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you”: he said: What Jesus brought was gentler than what Moses brought. He said: Forbidden to them in what Moses brought of the Torah had been the flesh of camels and the fat of the entrails, and He made these lawful to them by the tongue of Jesus — the fats had been forbidden to them, and they were made lawful to them in what Jesus brought — and in certain kinds of fish, and in certain kinds of birds, those which have no spur (ṣīṣiyah), and in things He had forbidden them and made stringent for them; so Jesus brought them relief from that in the Gospel, and what Jesus brought was gentler than what Moses, God’s blessings be upon him, brought.

(7114) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, on His words “and to make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you”: he said: The flesh of camels and the fats. When Jesus was sent he made them lawful to them; he was sent to the Jews, and they differed and split apart.

(7115) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: “and confirming what was before me of the Torah”, that is: what preceded me of it; “and to make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you”, that is: I tell you that it was forbidden to you and you left it, and then He made it lawful to you as a relief for you, so that you obtain its ease and go out from its liability (tibāʿah).

(7116) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād, from al-Ḥasan: “and to make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you”: he said: Certain things had been forbidden to them, and Jesus came to them to make lawful to them what had been forbidden to them, seeking by that their gratitude.

On the interpretation of His words: “and I have come to you with a sign from your Lord” (3:50)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By that He means: and I have come to you with a proof and a lesson from your Lord, by which you know the reality of what I say to you. As:

(7117) Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, from ʿĪsā, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid: “and I have come to you with a sign from your Lord”: he said: All the things that Jesus made clear to them, and what his Lord gave him.

(7118) Al-Muthannā related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfah related to us: Shibl related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid: “and I have come to you with a sign from your Lord”: all the things that Jesus made clear to them.

By His words “from your Lord” He means: from your Lord’s presence.

On the interpretation of His words: “So fear God and obey me. (50) Surely God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path.” (51) (3:50-51)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By that He means: and I have come to you with a sign from your Lord by which you know with certainty my truthfulness in what I say; “so fear God”, O company of the Children of Israel, in what He has commanded you and forbidden you in His Book which He sent down to Moses, and fulfil His covenant which you made with Him in it; “and obey me” in what I have called you to, of believing me in that with which my Lord and your Lord has sent me to you — so worship Him, for it is with that He has sent me to you, and with the making lawful of some of what had been forbidden to you in your Book; and that is the upright road and the firm guidance in which there is no crookedness. As:

(7119) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: “So fear God and obey me. Surely God is my Lord and your Lord”: a disavowal of what they say about him — meaning what the Christians say about him — and an argument for his Lord against them; “so worship Him. This is a straight path”, that is: this which I have charged you with and brought to you.

Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed over the reading of His words “Surely God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him”.

The generality of the reciters of the garrison cities read it “Surely (inna) God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him”, with kasrah on the alif of inna, as the beginning of a new statement.

Some of them read it “that (anna) God is my Lord and your Lord”, with fatḥah on the alif of anna, with the interpretation: and I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, that God is my Lord and your Lord — referring anna back to “the sign” and making it stand in apposition to it.

Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct reading in our view is that which the reciters of the garrison cities follow, namely kasrah on the alif of inna as the beginning of a new statement, because of the consensus of the authoritative body of reciters on its soundness. What they agree upon is a binding proof, and what a lone individual holds apart from them is an opinion; and the proof is not to be contested by opinion.

This verse, even though its outward form is a report, contains the conclusive argument from God for His Messenger Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) against the delegation of the people of Najrān who disputed with him, in that God, Mighty and Majestic, reports that Jesus was innocent of what was attributed to him by those who attributed to him something other than that by which he described himself: that he is a servant of God like all His other servants among the people of the earth, except for what God, Majestic is His praise, singled him out with, of prophethood and the proofs He gave him as evidence of his truthfulness — just as He gave the other messengers besides him tokens and evidences of their truthfulness — and as an argument for his prophethood.

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

al-Baghawī, Maʿālim al-tanzīl (d. 516 AH / 1122 CE), about 1,700 words

On 3:50-52

And confirming (3:50), conjoined to His words “and a messenger”, what was before me of the Torah, and to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you, of meats and fats. Abū ʿUbayda said: by “some” He meant “all”, meaning all of what was forbidden to you; “some” may be mentioned while “all” is meant, as in the saying of Labīd:

One who abandons places when I am not pleased with them,

or else death takes hold of some of the souls;

meaning: all of the souls.

His words, Exalted: And I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, meaning the signs that have been mentioned; He put it in the singular only because they are all one kind in their indication of his message. So fear God and obey me.

His words, Exalted: Then when Jesus perceived (aḥassa) from them disbelief (3:52): that is, “found”—this was said by al-Farrāʾ; Abū ʿUbayda said: “knew”; and Muqātil said: “saw” from them disbelief, and they wished to kill him, he sought help against them and said, “Who are my helpers towards God?” Al-Suddī said: The cause of that was that when God, Mighty and Majestic, sent Jesus (peace be upon him) to the Children of Israel and commanded him to summon them, the Children of Israel banished him and drove him out. So he and his mother went out wandering through the land, and he lodged in a village with a man who entertained them both as guests and treated them kindly. That city had a tyrant who transgressed all bounds. One day that man came home anxious and sorrowful and entered his house while Mary was with his wife. Mary said to her: “What is the matter with your husband? I see him dejected.” She said: “Do not ask me.” She said: “Tell me; perhaps God will relieve his distress.” She said: “We have a king who imposes on each man among us one day on which he must feed him and his troops and give them wine to drink, and if he does not do it, he punishes him. Today is our turn, and we have not the means for it.” She said: “Then tell him not to be anxious, for I will instruct my son and he will pray for him, and that will be taken care of.” So Mary spoke to Jesus (peace be upon him) about that. Jesus said: “If I do that, evil will come of it.” She said: “Do not mind that, for he has treated us kindly and honoured us.” Jesus (peace be upon him) said: “Then tell him: when the time draws near, fill your cooking-pots and your jars with water, then let me know.” He did that, and Jesus (peace be upon him) prayed to God, Exalted, and the water of the pots turned into broth and meat, and the water of the jars into wine the like of which people had never seen. When the king came he ate, and when he drank the wine he said: “Where is this wine from?” He said: “From such-and-such a land.” The king said: “But my wine is from that land, and it is not like this.” He said: “It is from another land.” When the matter became confused for the king and he pressed him hard, he said: “Then I will tell you: I have a lad who does not ask God for anything but He gives it to him, and he prayed to God and turned the water into wine.” Now the king had a son whom he wished to make his successor, but he had died some days before that, and he was the dearest of creatures to him. So he said: “A man who prayed to God until He turned water into wine will surely be answered so that he brings my son to life.” He summoned Jesus and spoke to him about that. Jesus said: “Do not do it, for if he lives, evil will come of it.” The king said: “I do not care—shall I not see him?” Jesus said: “If I bring him to life, will you let me and my mother go wherever we wish?” He said: “Yes.” So he prayed to God, and the boy lived. When the people of his kingdom saw that he had come to life, they rushed to arms and said: “This man has devoured us, and now, when his death draws near, he wishes to make his son successor over us so that he may devour us as his father devoured us.” So they fought one another, and Jesus and his mother went away. He passed by the disciples while they were fishing, and said: “What are you doing?” They said: “We are catching fish.” He said: “Will you not come along, so that we may catch men?” They said: “And who are you?” He said: “I am Jesus son of Mary, the servant of God and His messenger. Who are my helpers towards God?” So they believed in him and set off with him.

His words, Exalted: “Who are my helpers towards (ilā) God?” Al-Suddī and Ibn Jurayj said: “with God, Exalted”. The Arabs say “the small herd to the small herd makes a herd of camels”, meaning “with the small herd”; and as God, Exalted, said: and do not consume their wealth to your wealth (4:2), that is, with your wealth. Al-Ḥasan and Abū ʿUbayda said: ilā has the sense of “in” (fī), that is, “who are my supporters in God”, that is, for the sake of God and in His path. And it was said: ilā is in its proper place, its meaning being: who will join his support to the support of God for me? They differed concerning the disciples (al-ḥawāriyyūn). Mujāhid and al-Suddī said: they were fishermen who caught fish; they were called ḥawāriyyūn because of the whiteness of their garments. And it was said: they were sailors. Al-Ḥasan said: they were fullers; they were named thus because they used to whiten (yuḥawwirūna) garments, that is, bleach them. ʿAṭāʾ said: Mary handed Jesus (peace be upon him) over to various trades, and the last to whom she handed him over were the disciples, who were fullers and dyers. She handed him over to their chief so that he might learn from him. A quantity of garments had accumulated with him, and a journey came up for him, so he said to Jesus: “You have learnt this craft, and I am going out on a journey from which I will not return for ten days. Here are people’s garments of different colours, and I have marked each one of them with a thread of the colour in which it is to be dyed, so you must have finished them by the time I arrive.” And he departed. Jesus boiled up a single vat in a single colour, put in all the garments, and said: “Be, by God’s leave, as I wish you to be.” The disciple arrived while all the garments were in the vat, and said: “What have you done?” He said: “I have finished them.” He said: “Where are they?” He said: “In the vat.” He said: “All of them?” He said: “Yes.” He said: “You have ruined those garments!” He said: “Get up and look.” Then Jesus took out a red garment, a yellow garment and a green garment, until he had taken them out in the colours that he had wanted. The disciple began to marvel, and knew that this was from God, and said to the people: “Come and look!” So he and his companions believed in him, and they are the disciples. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: they were called ḥawāriyyūn because of the purity of their hearts. Ibn al-Mubārak said: they were named thus because of the mark of worship and its light that was upon them. The root of ḥawar among the Arabs is intense whiteness; one says “a man aḥwar” and “a woman ḥawrāʾ“, meaning with intensely white eyes. Al-Kalbī and ʿIkrima said: the ḥawāriyyūn are the chosen ones, and they were the chosen ones of Jesus (peace be upon him); they were twelve men. Rawḥ ibn al-Qāsim said: I asked Qatāda about the disciples, and he said: they are those who are fit for succession. From him too it is reported that he said: the disciples are the ministers. Al-Ḥasan said: the disciples are the helpers; and the ḥawārī is the helper. In the speech of the Arabs specifically, the ḥawārī is the man whom one calls upon for help in whatever befalls one.

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: al-Ḥumaydī informed us: Sufyān informed us: Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir informed us, who said: I heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh (may God be pleased with them both) say: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called upon the people on the day of the Trench, and al-Zubayr answered the call; then he called upon them again, and al-Zubayr answered the call. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Every prophet has a ḥawārī, and my ḥawārī is al-Zubayr.”

Sufyān said: the ḥawārī is the helper. Maʿmar said: Qatāda said: The ḥawāriyyūn are all of Quraysh: Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Ḥamza, Jaʿfar, Abū ʿUbayda ibn al-Jarrāḥ, ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, Ṭalḥa ibn ʿUbayd Allāh and al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām (may God be pleased with them all).

The disciples said, “We are the helpers of God,” the supporters of the religion of God and of His messenger; “we have believed in God, and bear witness,” O Jesus, “that we are Muslims (those who submit).”

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 450 words

On 3:50-51

His words, Exalted: And confirming what was before me of the Torah, and to make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you; and I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear God and obey me. Surely God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him; this is a straight path (3:50-51). and confirming is conjoined to His words “and a messenger”. It was said: the meaning is, and I have come to you confirming.

what was before me: what was prior to me.

and to make lawful to you: there is an ellipsis in it, that is, and to make lawful to you I have come to you.

some of what was forbidden to you, meaning of foods. It was said: Jesus (peace be upon him) made lawful to them only what had been forbidden to them because of their sins and was not in the Torah, such as eating fats and every animal with claws. It was said: he made lawful to them only things which the rabbis had forbidden them, and which were not forbidden to them in the Torah. Abū ʿUbaydah said: it is possible that “some” has the meaning of “all”, and he cited Labīd:

One who forsakes places when I am not pleased with them, / or else its appointed death binds some souls fast.

This view is an error according to the critical scholars among the people of the language, because “some” and “part” do not have the meaning of “all” in this place, since Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him) made lawful to them only some things of what Moses had forbidden them, such as eating fats and other things, and did not make lawful to them killing, theft or indecency. The proof of this is what is related from Qatādah, who said: Jesus came to them with something gentler than what Moses came with (God bless them both and our Prophet), because Moses came to them with the prohibition of camels and some fats, and Jesus came to them making some of them lawful. Al-Nakhaʿī read “baʿḍa alladhī ḥaruma ʿalaykum”, like karuma, that is, became forbidden. “Some” may be put in the sense of “all” when a contextual indication is joined to it pointing to that, as the poet7 said:

Abū Mundhir, you have destroyed; so spare some of us. / Have mercy! Some evil is lighter than some.

He means: some evil is lighter than all of it.

and I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: He used the singular, though they are signs, because they are one kind in indicating his messengership.

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

Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE), about 840 words

On 3:48-51

He, Exalted, says, informing of the completion of the angels’ glad tiding to Mary concerning her son Jesus (peace be upon him), that God will teach him the Book and the Wisdom (3:48). The apparent meaning is that what is meant by the Book here is writing. As for the Wisdom, discussion of its interpretation has preceded in Sūrat al-Baqarah.

and the Torah and the Gospel (3:48). The Torah is the Book which God sent down to Moses son of ʿImrān, and the Gospel is that which God sent down to Jesus (peace be upon them both); and Jesus (peace be upon him) used to have both this and that by heart.

His words: and a messenger to the Children of Israel (3:49), that is: and He will make him a messenger to the Children of Israel, saying to them: I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: that I create for you out of clay the likeness of a bird, then I breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by the permission of God (3:49). And so he used to do: he would fashion from clay the shape of a bird, then breathe into it, and it would fly before their eyes by the permission of God, Mighty and Majestic, who made this a miracle indicating that God had sent him.

And I heal the one born blind (al-akmah) (3:49). It was said: he is the one who sees by day and does not see by night. And it was said: the reverse. And it was said: he is the one of weak sight (al-aʿshā). And it was said: the bleary-eyed (al-aʿmash). And it was said: he is the one who is born blind; and this is the most fitting, because it is more far-reaching as a miracle and stronger as a challenge. and the leper (3:49) is well known.

And I give life to the dead by the permission of God (3:49). Many scholars said: God sent every one of the prophets with a miracle suited to the people of his age. What prevailed in the time of Moses (peace be upon him) was sorcery and the veneration of sorcerers, so God sent him with a miracle that dazzled the eyes and bewildered every sorcerer; and when they were certain that it was from the Tremendous, the Compeller, they submitted to Islam and became among the pious. As for Jesus (peace be upon him), he was sent in the age of physicians and the masters of natural science, so he brought them signs to which no one has any means, unless he be supported by the One who laid down the Law. For whence has a physician the power to give life to inanimate matter, or to cure the one born blind and the leper, or to raise up one who is held in his grave until the Day of Mutual Calling? Likewise Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him): God sent him in the age of the eloquent and the rhetoricians and the masterly poets, and he brought them a Book from God, Mighty and Majestic, such that if mankind and the jinn gathered together to produce its like, or ten sūrahs like it, or a single sūrah like it, they could never do so, even if they were helpers one to another; and that is only because the speech of the Lord never resembles the speech of creatures.

His words: And I inform you of what you eat and what you store in your houses (3:49), that is: I tell you what one of you has just eaten, and what he has stored in his house for the morrow. Indeed in that (3:49), that is, in all of that, is a sign for you (3:49), that is, of my truthfulness in what I have brought you, if you are believers (3:49).

And confirming what was before me of the Torah (3:50), that is, affirming it for them and establishing it. and to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you (3:50): in this is proof that Jesus (peace be upon him) abrogated (nasakha) part of the law of the Torah, and this is the correct one of the two views. Some scholars said: he did not abrogate any of it; he only made lawful for them some of what they had disputed over and erred in, and uncovered for them what had been concealed in that, as He said in the other verse: and to make clear to you some of that in which you differ (43:63). And God knows best.

Then he said: And I have come to you with a sign from your Lord (3:50), that is, with a proof and an indication of my truthfulness in what I say to you. So fear God and obey me. Indeed God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him (3:50-51), that is: I and you are equal in servitude to Him and in submission and humble resort to Him. This is a straight path (3:51).

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Tanwīr al-Miqbās, Tanwīr al-miqbās min tafsīr Ibn ʿAbbās (d. compiler d. 817 AH / 1414 CE), about 2,880 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 Qaṭyānūs8; 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.

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al-Jalālayn, Tafsīr al-Jalālayn (d. 864 AH / 1459 CE and 911 AH / 1505 CE), about 150 words

On 3:50

And (3:50) I have come to you confirming what was before me, prior to me, of the Torah, and to make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you in it. So he made lawful to them such fish and birds as have no spur or spine9; and it was said that he made all of it lawful, so that “some” has the sense of “all”. And I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: he repeated it for emphasis and in order to build upon it: so fear God and obey me in what I command you of affirming God’s oneness and obeying Him.

On 3:51

Truly God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This (3:51), which I command you, is a path, a way, that is straight. But they called him a liar and did not believe in him.

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al-Durr al-Manthūr, al-Durr al-manthūr fī al-tafsīr bi-l-maʾthūr (d. 911 AH / 1505 CE), about 290 words

On 3:50

His words, Exalted: and confirming what was before me (3:50), the verse.

Ibn Jarīr recorded, from Wahb, that Jesus was upon the law (sharīʿah) of Moses (peace be upon them both); he used to keep the Sabbath and to face Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) in prayer, and he said to the Children of Israel: “I have not called you to go against a single letter of what is in the Torah, except in order to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you, and to lift from you some of the burdens.”

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words and to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you (3:50): He said: What Jesus brought was gentler than what Moses brought. In what Moses brought, the flesh of camels and the fat of the entrails (thurūb) had been forbidden to them, and He made these lawful for them by the tongue of Jesus; the fats had been forbidden to them, and they were made lawful for them in what Jesus brought; and likewise certain kinds of fish, and certain kinds of birds, those which have no spur (ṣīṣiyah), and other things which He had forbidden them and in which He had been severe upon them; so Jesus came to them with the lightening of that in the Gospel.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded, from Qatādah, the like of it.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from Mujāhid, concerning His words and I have come to you with a sign from your Lord (3:50): He said: All the things that Jesus made clear to them, and what his Lord gave him.

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al-Saʿdī, Taysīr al-Karīm al-Raḥmān fī tafsīr kalām al-Mannān (d. 1376 AH / 1956 CE), about 210 words

On 3:50

And confirming what is before me of the Torah. So God supported him with two kinds of signs and proofs: the extraordinary, astonishing miracles which none but the prophets are able to bring, and the message, the call and the religion that he brought, and the fact that it is the religion of the Torah and the religion of the earlier prophets. This is the greatest of the proofs of the truthfulness of the truthful, for had he been one of the liars he would have opposed what the messengers brought and contradicted them in their fundamentals and their branches. By this it is known that he is the messenger of God and that what he brought is truth in which there is no doubt. And likewise his words: and to make lawful to you some of what was forbidden to you, that is, and to lighten for you some of the burdens and the shackles; so fear God and obey me (3:50).

On 3:51

Indeed God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is what all the messengers call to: the worship of God alone, without partner, and obedience to them. This is the straight path which brings whoever travels it to the Gardens of bliss.

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Notes

  1. Ṭarafah ibn al-ʿAbd, addressing the king ʿAmr ibn Hind, whose kunyah was Abū Mundhir, when he had ordered his killing. ↩
  2. 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). ↩
  3. ṣīṣiya: a spur, horn or hard protrusion. ↩