Section 21: Questions in the temple: authority, tribute, resurrection and the first commandment

On 3:64

On the interpretation of His words: Say: O People of the Book, come to a word that is equitable between us and you: that we worship none but God, and associate nothing with Him, and that none of us take others as lords besides God. But if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims. (3:64)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He means, Majestic is His praise: Say, O Muḥammad, to the People of the Book — and they are the people of the Torah and the Gospel — come, come along, to a word that is equitable, meaning: to a word of justice between us and you. The just word is that we declare God to be one, so that we worship none other than Him, and that we dissociate ourselves from every object of worship besides Him, so that we associate nothing with Him.

And His words and that none of us take others as lords, He says: and that none of us render obedience to another in what he commands of disobedience to God, nor exalt him by prostrating to him as one prostrates to one’s Lord; but if they turn away, He says: if they turn aside from the equitable word to which I have commanded you to call them, and to which you have called them, and do not answer you to it, then say, O believers, to those who turn away from it: Bear witness that we are Muslims.

Those versed in interpretation differed as to those concerning whom this verse was revealed.

• Some of them said: it was revealed concerning the Jews of the Children of Israel who lived around the city of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him).

Those who said this

(7191) 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 the Jews of Medina to the equitable word, and they are the ones who disputed concerning Abraham.

(7192) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, who said: It was mentioned to us that the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called the Jews to the equitable word.

(7193) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: It has reached us that the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called the Jews of Medina to that, and they refused him, so he fought them. He said: he called them to the word of God, Mighty and Majestic: Say: O People of the Book, come to a word that is equitable between us and you, the verse.

• Others said: rather, it was revealed concerning the delegation of the Christians of Najrān.

Those who said this

(7194) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: Say: O People of the Book, come to a word that is equitable between us and you, the verse, up to His words then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims, who said: so he called them to equity (naṣaf) and cut off their argument — meaning the delegation of Najrān.

(7195) Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, who said: Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called them — meaning the delegation of the Christians of Najrān — and said: O People of the Book, come to a word that is equitable between us and you, the verse.

(7196) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed me: Ibn Zayd related to us, who said: He means, Majestic is His praise: Indeed, this is the true narrative (3:62), concerning Jesus — according to what we have already set out above. He said: And they refused — meaning the delegation of Najrān — so He said: Call them to something easier than this: Say: O People of the Book, come to a word that is equitable between us and you; and he recited until he reached as lords besides God. And they refused to accept either this or the other.

Abū Jaʿfar said: We have said that by His words O People of the Book He meant the people of both Books only because both of them are among the People of the Book, and He, Majestic is His praise, did not single out by His words O People of the Book some to the exclusion of others. So there is no more reason for this to be directed to the people of the Torah as the ones intended than for it to be directed to the people of the Gospel as the ones intended, nor are the people of the Gospel more entitled to be the ones intended, to the exclusion of the people of the Torah. And since neither of the two parties has a better claim to this than the other — because there is no indication that one rather than the other is singled out by it, and no sound report — it must be that every person of the Book is meant by it. For devoting worship to God alone and making the declaration of His oneness sincerely His is incumbent upon every one of God’s creatures who is subject to command and prohibition. And the name “People of the Book” applies to the people of the Torah and the people of the Gospel alike; so it was known thereby that both parties together were meant by it.

As for the interpretation of His words come (taʿālaw), it is: draw near and come along. It is in fact a tafāʿalū form from al-ʿuluww (“height”), so that one who says to his companion taʿāla ilayya (“come to me”) is using a tafāʿal form from al-ʿuluww, just as one says tadāna minnī (“draw near to me”) from al-dunuww (“nearness”), and taqārab minnī (“come close to me”) from al-qurb (“closeness”).

And His words to a word that is equitable (sawāʾ): it is the just word, and al-sawāʾ is an attribute of kalimah (“word”).

The scholars of Arabic differed as to how sawāʾ can follow kalimah in its case-ending, it being a noun and not an adjective.

Some of the grammarians of Basra said: sawāʾ is in the genitive because it is an attribute of kalimah, and it means “the just one”; he intended “equal” (mustawiyah). He said: had he intended “equality” (istiwāʾ, the verbal noun), it would be in the accusative. And if one wishes to take it in the sense of “equality” and put it in the genitive, that is permissible, making it an attribute of kalimah, like khalq (“creation”), because khalq is “the created” (makhlūq); khalq may be both an attribute and a noun, and one treats istiwāʾ like mustawan (“equal”). He, Mighty and Majestic, said: which We have made for mankind, equal are the one who dwells therein and the visitor (22:25), because here al-sawāʾ belongs to what follows it, and it is a noun, not an adjective, that it should be made to follow the first; that is so when “equality” is meant by it. But if “equal” (mustawiyan) is meant by it, it is permissible for it to be made to follow the first. And the nominative in this sense is good, because it does not change from its state, nor is it made dual, plural or feminine, so it resembles the nouns that are like ʿadl (“just”), riḍan (“approved”) and junub (“ritually impure”) and the like. And they said, concerning His words that We shall make them like those who believe and do righteous deeds, equal in their life and their death (45:21): here al-sawāʾ belongs to “their life and their death”, which is the subject of the sentence (mubtadaʾ).

And if you wish, you may make it follow the first and make it an attribute placed in advance, as though it belonged to the first by way of connection and therefore followed it; that is so when you take it in the sense of mustawan. And the nominative is the proper form of the expression, as I have explained to you.

Some of the grammarians of Kufa said: sawāʾ is a verbal noun (maṣdar) put in the place of the derived adjective, that is, in the place of mutasāwiyah and mutasāwin (“equal”); sometimes it comes as the derived form and sometimes as the verbal noun. In the sense of “just”, one may also say of sawāʾ: siwan and suwan, as He said, Majestic is His praise, a place equal (makānan suwan) (20:58), also read siwan⁵, by which is meant: just and fair between us and you. And it has been related of Ibn Masʿūd (may God be pleased with him) that he used to read this: to a word of justice (ʿadl) between us and you.

Those versed in interpretation said the like of what we have said in the interpretation of His words to a word that is equitable between us and you, namely that al-sawāʾ is “justice”.

Those who said this

(7197) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words O People of the Book, come to a word that is equitable between us and you: just between us and you; that we worship none but God, the verse.

(7198) Al-Muthannā related to us: Isḥāq related to us: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words Say: O People of the Book, come to a word that is equitable between us and you: that we worship none but God, and associate nothing with Him, the like of it.

• Others said: it is the saying “There is no god but God”.

Those who said this

(7199) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, who said: Abū al-ʿĀliyah said: “the equitable word” is: There is no god but God.

As for His words that we worship none but God, the particle an is in the position of the genitive, the meaning being: come to [the position] that we worship none but God.

We have already explained the meaning of “worship” (ʿibādah) in the speech of the Arabs earlier, and have demonstrated the correct one among its meanings in a manner that dispenses with repeating it.

As for His words and that none of us take others as lords, the “taking of one another” [as lords] is what consisted in the followers’ obeying their chiefs in the acts of disobedience to God they commanded them, and their abandoning what they forbade them of obedience to God, as He said, Majestic is His praise: They have taken their rabbis and their monks as lords besides God, and the Messiah son of Mary; yet they were commanded only to worship one God (9:31); as in:

(7200) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, and said: Ibn Jurayj said: and that none of us take others as lords besides God, he says: that none of us obey another in disobedience to God. And it is said that this lordship consists in people’s obeying their masters and leaders in something other than worship, even if they do not pray to them.

• Others said: “the taking of one another as lords” is their prostrating to one another.

Those who said this

(7201) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar related to us, from al-Ḥakam ibn Abān, from ʿIkrimah, concerning His words and that none of us take others as lords besides God, who said: their prostrating to one another.

As for His words But if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims, He means: if those whom you call to the equitable word turn away from it and disbelieve, then say to them, O believers: Bear witness against us that we — in respect of that from which you have turned away, namely the declaration of God’s oneness, the devoting of servanthood sincerely to Him, and that He is the God who has no partner — are Muslims, meaning: submissive to God in it, humbling ourselves to Him by acknowledging it with our hearts and our tongues.

We have already explained the meaning of “Islam” earlier, and have demonstrated it in a manner that dispenses with repeating it.

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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 Muslim⁶, 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)⁷. 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).”

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On 3:64

There are three questions in this verse.

• The first: His words, Exalted: Say: O People of the Book (3:64). The address, according to al-Ḥasan, Ibn Zayd and al-Suddī, is to the people of Najrān; and according to Qatādah, Ibn Jurayj and others, to the Jews of Medina, who were addressed in this way because they had set their rabbis, in the obedience they rendered them, in the place of lords. And it has been said: it is to the Jews and the Christians together. In the letter of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to Heraclius: “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. From Muḥammad, the Messenger of God, to Heraclius, the great one of the Romans. Peace be upon whoever follows the guidance. To proceed: I call you with the summons of Islam. Submit, and you will be safe; submit, and God will give you your reward twice over. But if you turn away, then upon you is the sin of the peasants (arīsiyyīn)⁸. O People of the Book, come to a word common between us and you: that we worship none but God“, up to His words then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims. This is the wording of Muslim. Al-sawāʾ means justice and fair dealing; Qatādah said this. Zuhayr said:

Show me a course in which there is no injustice,

in which fair dealing (al-sawāʾ) makes us equal.

Al-Farrāʾ: In the sense of justice one also says siwan and suwan; when you give the sīn a fatḥah you lengthen the final vowel, and when you give it a kasrah or a ḍammah you shorten it, as in His words, Exalted: a place equidistant (makānan suwan) (20:58). He said: In the reading of ʿAbd Allāh it is “to a word of justice (ʿadl) between us and you”. Qaʿnab read kilmah with the lām unvowelled, transferring the vowel of the lām to the kāf, just as one says kibd (for kabid). So the meaning is: respond to what you have been called to, which is the just and upright word in which there is no deviation from the truth; and He has explained it by His words, Exalted: that we worship none but God. So the position of an is the genitive, as a substitute (badal) for a word; or the nominative, by an implied subject, the sense being “it is that we worship none but God”; or else it is explicative (mufassirah) and has no syntactic position. Along with this, both the indicative and the jussive are permissible in we worship and what is conjoined to it. The jussive is on the basis that an is explicative in the sense of “that is” (ay), as He, Mighty and Majestic, said: that: Walk on (ani mshū) (38:6), and lā is then a jussive particle; this is the doctrine of Sībawayh. On this basis it is also permissible for you to put we worship in the indicative, and what follows it is then a predicate. And the indicative is permissible with the meaning “that we do not worship” (with annahu understood), the like of which is that he did not return to them a word, nor had he power to harm or benefit them (20:89). Al-Kisāʾī and al-Farrāʾ said: and that we associate nothing with Him, and that none of us take are in the jussive, on the supposition that there is no an at the beginning of the sentence.

• The second: His words, Exalted: and that none of us take others as lords besides God, that is, that we do not follow him in declaring anything lawful or unlawful except in what God, Exalted, has made lawful. It is the counterpart of His words, Exalted: They have taken their rabbis and their monks as lords besides God (9:31), the meaning of which is that they set them in the place of their Lord in accepting their declaring unlawful and lawful what God had not made unlawful nor made lawful. This shows the falsity of the doctrine of bare juristic preference (istiḥsān) that does not rest on a legal proof. Al-Kiyā al-Ṭabarī said: like the juristic preferences of Abū Ḥanīfah in the quantitative determinations he fixed without clear grounds. It also contains a refutation of the Rāfiḍah, who say that the word of the Imām must be accepted without his disclosing any legal ground, and that he may make lawful what God has made unlawful without setting out any ground from the revealed Law. Arbāb is the plural of rabb. And dūn here has the meaning of “other than”.
• The third: His words, Exalted: But if they turn away, that is, turn aside from what they have been called to. then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims, that is, characterised by the religion of Islam, submissive to its rulings, acknowledging the favours and bounties that God has bestowed upon us in that regard, taking no one as a lord, neither Jesus nor Ezra nor the angels, because they are human beings like us, originated as we are originated; nor do we accept anything from the monks when they forbid us what God has not forbidden us, for then we would have taken them as lords. ʿIkrimah said: the meaning of take is “prostrate”. It has already been mentioned that prostration (to persons) continued until the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade Muʿādh when he wished to prostrate, as its explanation has gone before in al-Baqarah. Anas ibn Mālik related, saying: We said: O Messenger of God, should some of us bow to others? He said: “No.” We said: Should some of us embrace others? He said: “No, but shake hands.” Ibn Mājah transmitted it in his Sunan. Further explanation of this meaning will come in the sūrah of Yūsuf, if God wills; and in al-Wāqiʿah, touching the Qur’an or part of it without ritual purity, if God, Exalted, wills.

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On 3:64

This address encompasses the People of the Book, both the Jews and the Christians, and whoever follows their course: Say: O People of the Book, come to a word (3:64). The term “word” (kalimah) is applied to a complete meaningful sentence, as He has used it here. Then He described it with His words: common between us and you (3:64), that is: just and equitable, in which we and you stand equal. Then He explained it with His words: that we worship none but God, and associate nothing with Him (3:64)—

no idol, no graven image, no cross, no false deity (ṭāghūt), no fire, nor anything else; rather, we devote worship to God alone, who has no partner. This is the call of all the messengers. God, Exalted, said: And We did not send before you any messenger but We revealed to him that there is no god but I, so worship Me (21:25). And He, Exalted, said: And We indeed sent forth among every community a messenger, saying: Worship God and shun the false deity (16:36).

Then He said: and that none of us take others as lords besides God (3:64). Ibn Jurayj said: meaning, that none of us obey another in disobedience to God. ʿIkrimah said: meaning, that none of us prostrate to another.

But if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims (3:64), that is: if they turn away from this equitable offer and this call, then you call them to witness that you continue upon the Islam which God has laid down for you.

We have mentioned in the commentary on al-Bukhārī, at his narration by way of al-Zuhrī, from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah ibn Masʿūd, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from Abū Sufyān, in his story when he went in before Caesar, who asked them about the lineage of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), his description, his qualities and what he called to, and he informed him of all of that plainly—even though Abū Sufyān was at that time a polytheist who had not yet become a Muslim, and that was after the truce of al-Ḥudaybiyah and before the Conquest, as is stated explicitly in the ḥadīth, and because when he asked: Does he act treacherously? he said: I said: No, and we are in a period of truce with him in which we do not know what he will do. He said: And no word was possible for me in which I could add anything beyond this. The point is that he said: Then the letter of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was brought and he read it, and in it was:

“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. From Muḥammad, the Messenger of God, to Heraclius, the great one of the Romans. Peace be upon whoever follows the guidance. To proceed: Submit and you will be safe; submit, and God will give you your reward twice over; but if you turn away, then upon you is the sin of the peasants (arīsiyyīn)⁹. And: O People of the Book, come to a word common between us and you: that we worship none but God, and associate nothing with Him, and that none of us take others as lords besides God. But if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims (3:64).”

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq and more than one other have mentioned that the opening part of Sūrat Āl ʿImrān, up to eighty-odd verses of it, was sent down concerning the delegation of Najrān; and al-Zuhrī said: they were the first to offer the poll-tax (jizyah); and there is no disagreement that the verse of the poll-tax was sent down after the Conquest. So how is one to reconcile the writing of this verse, before the Conquest, to Heraclius as part of the letter, with what Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq and al-Zuhrī have mentioned? The answer is from several aspects:

• The first: it is possible that this verse was sent down twice, once before al-Ḥudaybiyah and once after the Conquest.
• The second: it is possible that the opening part of Sūrat Āl ʿImrān was sent down concerning the delegation of Najrān up to the point of this verse, and that this verse had been sent down before that, so that the statement of Ibn Isḥāq, “up to eighty-odd verses”, is not accurately preserved, by the indication of the ḥadīth of Abū Sufyān.
• The third: it is possible that the arrival of the delegation of Najrān was before al-Ḥudaybiyah, and that what they offered was a settlement in lieu of the mutual imprecation, not by way of the poll-tax; rather, it would be of the nature of a truce and settlement, and the sending down of the verse of the poll-tax afterwards happened to accord with that—just as the imposition of the fifth and the four-fifths came in accordance with what ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaḥsh had done in that expedition before Badr, after which the obligatory division was sent down in accordance with it.
• The fourth: it is possible that when the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was commanded to write these words in his letter to Heraclius, it had not yet been sent down, and then the Qur’an came down in agreement with it, just as it came down in agreement with ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may God be pleased with him) regarding the veil, regarding the captives, regarding not praying over the hypocrites, regarding His words And take the Station of Abraham as a place of prayer (2:125), and regarding His words It may be that his Lord, if he divorces you, will give him in exchange wives better than you, to the end of the verse (66:5).

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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 Qaṭyānūs¹⁰; 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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On 3:64

Say: O People of the Book (3:64), Jews and Christians, come to a word that is equitable – a verbal noun (maṣdar) meaning one whose purport is even – between us and you; it is that we worship none but God, and associate nothing with Him, and that none of us take others as lords besides God, as you have taken the rabbis and the monks. And if they turn away, turn aside from affirming God’s oneness, then say, you, to them: Bear witness that we are submitters, affirmers of God’s oneness.

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On 3:64

His words, Exalted: Say: O People of the Book, come (3:64), the verse.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī and al-Bayhaqī in his Sunan recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to recite in the two rakʿahs of dawn, in the first of them: Say: We believe in God and what has been sent down to us (2:136), the verse; and in the second: Come to a word common between us and you (3:64).

ʿAbd al-Razzāq, al-Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Abū Sufyān related to me that Heraclius called for the letter of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and read it, and in it was: “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. From Muḥammad, the Messenger of God, to Heraclius, the great one of the Romans. Peace be upon whoever follows the guidance. To proceed: I call you with the summons of Islam. Submit, and you will be safe; submit, and God will give you your reward twice over. But if you turn away, then upon you is the sin of the arīsiyyīn¹¹. O People of the Book, come to a word common between us and you: that we worship none but God, and that we associate nothing with Him (3:64),” up to His words: bear witness that we are Muslims (3:64).

Al-Ṭabarānī recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās that the letter of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) to the unbelievers was: Come to a word common between us and you (3:64), to the end of the verse.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Ibn Jurayj concerning His words: Come to a word (3:64), the verse. He said: It has reached me that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called the Jews of the people of Medina to that, but they refused him; so he fought them until they agreed to the poll-tax (jizyah).

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded from Qatādah, who said: It was mentioned to us that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called the Jews of the people of Medina to the common word; they are the ones who disputed concerning Abraham and claimed that he died a Jew, so God gave them the lie and disowned them from him, saying: O People of the Book, why do you dispute concerning Abraham (3:65), the verse.

Ibn Jarīr recorded from al-Rabīʿ, who said: It was mentioned to us that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called the Jews to the common word.

He recorded from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr concerning His words: Say: O People of the Book, come (3:64), the verse. He said: So he called them to a fair settlement and cut off the argument from them—meaning the delegation of Najrān.

He recorded from al-Suddī, who said: Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called them—meaning the delegation of the Christians of Najrān—and said: O People of the Book, come to a common word (3:64), the verse.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Qatādah: Come to a word common (3:64). He said: just.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded the like of it from al-Rabīʿ.

Al-Ṭastī recorded in his Masāʾil¹² from Ibn ʿAbbās that Nāfiʿ ibn al-Azraq asked him about His words: common between us and you (3:64). He said: just. He said: And do the Arabs know that? He said: Yes; have you not heard the words of the poet:

We met and settled our account on even terms (sawāʾ), but he was dragged from one state to another.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, who said: The common word is: there is no god but God.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Mujāhid: Come to a word common (3:64). He said: there is no god but God.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Ibn Jurayj concerning His words: and that none of us take others as lords apart from God (3:64). He said: that none of us obey another in disobedience to God. And it is said that that lordship consists in people obeying their chiefs and leaders in what is not worship, even though they do not pray to them.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from ʿIkrimah concerning His words: and that none of us take others as lords (3:64). He said: their prostrating to one another.

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On 3:64

This noble verse was one the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to write to the kings of the People of the Book. He would sometimes recite in the first unit (rakʿa) of the voluntary dawn prayer Say: We believe in God (2:136), to the end of the verse, and recite this verse in the final unit of the voluntary morning prayer, because it contains the call to a single religion upon which the prophets and messengers agreed, and because it embodies the oneness of divinity (tawḥīd al-ilāhiyya) which is built upon the worship of God alone without partner, and upon the belief that human beings and all created things, every one of them, are at the level of created humanity, and none of them deserves anything of the particular attributes of lordship or the qualities of divinity. If the People of the Book and others submit to this, they are guided; but if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims (3:64), like His words, Exalted: Say: O disbelievers (109:1), to the end of the sūra.

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