Section 27: The empty tomb, the reports and the return

On 3:55

On the interpretation of His words: When God said: O Jesus, I am going to take you and raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieved (3:55)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By this, Majestic is His praise, He means: and God schemed against the people who sought to kill Jesus—together with their disbelief in God and their calling Jesus a liar in what he brought them from their Lord—when God, Majestic is His praise, said: “I am going to take you.” Thus “when” (idh) is connected to His words “and God schemed”, meaning: and God schemed against them at the time when God said to Jesus, “I am going to take you and raise you to Myself,” and so He took him and raised him to Himself.

Then the people of interpretation differed concerning the meaning of the “taking” (wafāh) which God, Mighty and Majestic, mentioned in this verse.

• Some of them said: it is the taking of sleep; and on their view the meaning of the words would be: I am going to make you sleep and raise you in your sleep.

Those who said this

(7133) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words “I am going to take you”: he said: he means the taking of sleep; God raised him in his sleep. Al-Ḥasan said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the Jews: “Jesus did not die, and he is returning to you before the Day of Resurrection.”

• Others said: its meaning is: I am going to seize you from the earth and raise you to Myself. They said: the meaning of “taking” (wafāh) is seizing (qabḍ), as in the expression “I took in full (tawaffaytu) from so-and-so what was owed to me,” meaning: I seized it and received it in full. They said: so the meaning of His words “I am going to take you and raise you” is: I am going to seize you from the earth alive, into My proximity, and take you to what is with Me without death, and raise you from among the polytheists and the people who disbelieve in you.

Those who said this

(7134) ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to us: Ḍamrah ibn Rabīʿah related to us, from Ibn Shawdhab, from Maṭar al-Warrāq, concerning God’s words “I am going to take you”: he said: taking you from this world, and it is not the taking of death.

(7135) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words “I am going to take you”: he said: taking you from the earth.

(7136) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, concerning His words “I am going to take you and raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieved”: he said: His raising him to Himself is His taking him, and His purifying him from those who disbelieved.

(7137) Al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us: Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me: that Kaʿb al-Aḥbār said: God, Mighty and Majestic, would not cause Jesus son of Mary to die; God only sent him as a caller and a bringer of good tidings, calling to Him alone. When Jesus saw how few followed him and how many called him a liar, he complained of that to God, Mighty and Majestic, and God revealed to him: “I am going to take you and raise you to Myself”—and one whom I have raised to Myself is not dead—“and I shall send you against the one-eyed Antichrist (al-Dajjāl) and you will kill him; then after that you will live twenty-four years; then I shall cause you to die the death of the living.”

Kaʿb al-Aḥbār said: And that confirms the saying of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) when he said: “How could a community perish of which I am the beginning and Jesus the end?”

(7138) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: “O Jesus, I am going to take you,” that is: seize you.

(7139) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His words “I am going to take you and raise you to Myself”: he said: “take you” means: seize you. He said: “take you” and “raise you” are one and the same. He said: he has not yet died, and will not until he kills the Antichrist, and then he will die. And he recited the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, and he will speak to people in the cradle and in maturity (3:46); he said: God raised him to Himself before he reached maturity; he said: and he will descend as a mature man.

(7140) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to us: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād, from al-Ḥasan, concerning the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, “O Jesus, I am going to take you and raise you to Myself,” the whole verse: he said: God raised him to Himself, so he is with Him in heaven.

• Others said: its meaning is: I am going to take you with the taking of death.

Those who said this

(7141) Al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us: Muʿāwiyah related to me, from ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words “I am going to take you”: he says: I am going to cause you to die.

(7142) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one who is not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih al-Yamānī, that he said: God caused Jesus son of Mary to die for three hours of the day, until He raised him to Himself.

(7143) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: And the Christians claim that He caused him to die for seven hours of the day, and then God brought him back to life.

• Others said: its meaning is: when God said: O Jesus, I am going to raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieved, and take you after I have sent you down to the world. And he said: this is one of those cases where what is placed first is meant to come later, and what is placed later is meant to come first.

Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of these opinions in our view is the opinion of those who said: “its meaning is: I am going to seize you from the earth and raise you to Myself,” because of the mass transmission (tawātur) of the reports from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: Jesus son of Mary will descend and kill the Antichrist; then he will remain on the earth for a period which he mentioned—the reports differ as to its extent—then he will die, and the Muslims will pray over him and bury him.

(7144) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhrī, from Ḥanẓalah ibn ʿAlī al-Aslamī, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “God will surely send down Jesus son of Mary as a just arbiter and an equitable leader; he will break the cross, kill the swine, abolish the poll-tax (jizyah), and pour out wealth until no one can be found to accept it; and he will surely halt at al-Rawḥāʾ²¹ as a pilgrim or as a visitor making the lesser pilgrimage, or he will surely combine them both.”

(7145) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from al-Ḥasan ibn Dīnār, from Qatādah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ādam, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The prophets are brothers by different mothers²²: their mothers are various, but their religion is one. I am the closest of people to Jesus son of Mary, because there was no prophet between me and him, and he is my deputy over my community. He will descend, and when you see him, recognise him: he is a man of medium build, inclining to red and white, with straight hair, as though his hair were dripping even though no moisture has touched it, wearing two garments lightly tinged with yellow. He will smash the cross, kill the swine, pour out wealth, and fight people for Islam, until in his time God destroys all the religious communities, and in his time God destroys the Messiah of error, the lying Antichrist. Security will settle upon the earth, so that lions will graze with camels, leopards with cattle, and wolves with sheep, and boys will play with snakes, none harming another. He will remain on the earth for forty years, then he will die, and the Muslims will pray over him and bury him.”

Abū Jaʿfar said: It is known that had God, Mighty and Majestic, caused him to die, He would not be one to cause him to die a second death and so bring two deaths upon him, for God, Mighty and Majestic, has told His servants only that He creates them, then causes them to die, then brings them to life, as He said, Majestic is His praise: God is He who created you, then provided for you, then will cause you to die, then will bring you to life. Is there any of your partners who does any of that? (30:40).

So the interpretation of the verse is then: God said to Jesus: O Jesus, I am going to seize you from the earth, and raise you to Myself, and purify you from those who disbelieved and so denied your prophethood.

And this report, although it is expressed in the form of a report, contains from God, Mighty and Majestic, an argument against those of the delegation of Najrān who disputed with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) concerning Jesus: that Jesus was neither killed nor crucified as they claimed, and that they and the Jews who affirmed that and made that claim against Jesus are liars in their claim and their assertion, as:

(7146) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: Then He informed them—meaning the delegation from Najrān—and refuted them in what they had conceded to the Jews regarding his crucifixion, how He raised him and purified him from them, and said: “When God said: O Jesus, I am going to take you and raise you to Myself.”

As for “and purify you from those who disbelieved”, He means: cleanse you, and so deliver you from those who disbelieved in you and denied the truth you brought them, from among the Jews and all the other religious communities besides them, as:

(7147) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: “and purify you from those who disbelieved”: he said: when they intended against you what they intended.

(7148) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words “and purify you from those who disbelieved”: he said: He purified him from the Jews, the Christians, the Magians, and the disbelievers of his own people.

On the interpretation of His words, Mighty and Majestic: and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection (3:55)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By this, Majestic is His praise, He means: and I am going to place those who followed you upon your way and your religious community of Islam and its natural disposition, above those who denied your prophethood and opposed their path from among all the people of the religious communities, and so called a lie what you brought and turned away from acknowledging it: I shall make the former above them, prevailing over them, as:

(7149) Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words “and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection”: they are the people of Islam who followed him upon his natural disposition, his religious community and his way; they will not cease to prevail over those who oppose them until the Day of Resurrection.

(7150) Al-Muthannā related to us: Isḥāq related to us: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words “and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection”; then he mentioned the like of it.

(7151) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj: “and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection”; then he mentioned the like of it.

(7152) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj: “and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection”: he said: giving victory to those who followed you upon Islam over those who disbelieved, until the Day of Resurrection.

(7153) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: “and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection”: as for “those who followed you”, it is said: they are the believers; and it is said: rather, they are the Byzantines (al-Rūm).

(7154) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād, from al-Ḥasan: “and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection”: he said: He placed those who followed him above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection. He said: the Muslims are above them, and He made them higher than those who abandoned Islam, until the Day of Resurrection.

• Others said: its meaning is: and I am going to place those of the Christians who followed you above the Jews.

Those who said this

(7155) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said, concerning God’s words “and purify you from those who disbelieved”: he said: those of the Children of Israel who disbelieved; “and I am going to place those who followed you”: he said: those of the Children of Israel and others who believed in him; “above those who disbelieved”: the Christians above the Jews until the Day of Resurrection. He said: there is no land in which there is a single Christian but that they are above the Jews, whether in east or in west; in all the lands the Jews are humbled.

On the interpretation of His words: Then to Me is your return, and I shall judge between you concerning that wherein you used to differ. (55) (3:55)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By this, Majestic is His praise, He means: “then to Me”, then to God, O you who differ concerning Jesus, “is your return”, meaning: your destination on the Day of Resurrection; “and I shall judge between you”, He says: then I shall decide between all of you in the matter of Jesus with the truth, “concerning that wherein you used to differ” of his affair.

This is one of those passages in which the speech is turned from reporting about the absent third person to direct address, for by His words “then to Me is your return” only a report about the followers of Jesus and those who disbelieved in him is intended.

The interpretation of the words is: and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection; then to Me is the return of both parties, those who followed you and those who disbelieved in you, and I shall judge between them concerning that wherein they used to differ. But the speech was turned back to direct address because of the utterance that precedes it, in the manner we have described of speech that comes out in the form of a quotation, as He said: until, when you are in the ships and they run with them with a fair wind (10:22).

On 3:56-57

On the interpretation of His words: As for those who disbelieved, I shall punish them with a severe punishment in this world and the Hereafter, and they shall have no helpers. (56) And as for those who believed and did righteous deeds, He will pay them their rewards in full; and God does not love the wrongdoers. (57) (3:56–57)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words, Majestic is His praise, “As for those who disbelieved”, He means: as for those who denied your prophethood, O Jesus, and opposed your religious community, and called a lie the truth you brought them, and spoke falsehood about you, and attributed you to other than that to which they ought to have attributed you—from among the Jews, the Christians and all the other kinds of religions—I shall punish them with a severe punishment: as for this world, by killing, captivity, abasement and wretchedness; and as for the Hereafter, by the fire of Hell, abiding therein for ever. “And they shall have no helpers”, He says: they shall have no one to ward off God’s punishment from them, and no one to avert from them His painful chastisement, whether by force or by intercession, for He is the Mighty, the Possessor of vengeance.

As for His words “And as for those who believed and did righteous deeds”, He means, Exalted is His mention: and as for those who believed in you, O Jesus—He says: who affirmed you as truthful—and so acknowledged your prophethood and the truth you brought them from Me, and professed the religion of Islam with which I sent you, and acted according to the obligations I laid down by your tongue, the laws I legislated and the practices I established. As:

(7156) Al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us: Muʿāwiyah related to me, from ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words “and did righteous deeds”: he says: they performed My obligations.

“He will pay them their rewards in full”, He says: He will give them the recompense of their righteous deeds complete; they will not be cheated of anything of it, nor will it be diminished for them.

As for His words “and God does not love the wrongdoers”, He means: and God does not love one who wrongs another in a right that is his, or puts something in other than its proper place.

By this, Majestic is His praise, He denied of Himself that He would wrong His servants by recompensing the evildoer among those who disbelieved with the recompense of the doers of good among those who believed in Him, or by recompensing the doer of good among those who believed in Him, followed His command, refrained from what He forbade him and so obeyed Him, with the recompense of the evildoers among those who disbelieved in Him, called His messengers liars, and opposed His command and His prohibition. So He said: I do not love the wrongdoers, so how could I wrong My creatures?

And this statement from God, Exalted is His mention, although it is expressed in the form of a report, is a threat from Him to those who disbelieve in Him and in His messengers, and a promise from Him to those who believe in Him and in His messengers, because He informed both parties together that He does not cheat this believer of his due, nor does He wrong his honour by placing it in one who disbelieved in Him and opposed His command and His prohibition, so that by placing it in those who do not deserve it He would be a wrongdoer.

On 3:58

On the interpretation of His words: This We recite to you of the signs and the wise Remembrance. (58) (3:58)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words, Majestic is His praise, “This”, He means: these tidings with which He informed His Prophet concerning Jesus and his mother Mary, and her mother Ḥannah, and Zachariah and his son John, and what He narrated of the affair of the disciples and of the Jews among the Children of Israel; “We recite to you”, O Muḥammad—He says: We read them to you, O Muḥammad, by the tongue of Gabriel (peace and blessings be upon him), through Our revealing them to you; “of the signs”, He says: of the lessons and the proofs against those of the delegation of the Christians of Najrān who disputed with you, and the Jews of the Children of Israel who called you a liar and called a lie the truth you brought them from Me; “and the Remembrance”, meaning: and the Qurʾān; “the wise”, meaning: possessed of the wisdom that decides between truth and falsehood, and between you and those who attribute the Messiah to a lineage other than his own, as:

(7157) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: “This We recite to you of the signs and the wise Remembrance”: the decisive, that which settles the truth, which no falsehood has adulterated, of the report concerning Jesus and concerning that wherein they differed about his affair; so do not accept any report other than it.

(7158) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Abū Zuhayr related to us, from Juwaybir, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk: “This We recite to you of the signs and the wise Remembrance”: he said: the Qurʾān.

(7159) Al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us: Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, from ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words “and the Remembrance”: he says: the Qurʾān; “the wise”: that which has been made perfect in its wisdom.

On 4:158

On the interpretation of His words: Rather, God raised him to Himself; and God is ever Mighty, Wise (4:158)

Abū Jaʿfar said: As for His words, Majestic is His praise, Rather, God raised him to Himself, He means: rather, God raised the Messiah to Himself. He says: they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but God raised him to Himself and purified him of those who disbelieved.

We have already explained how God’s raising of him to Himself took place, in what has preceded, and we have mentioned the disagreement of those who disagreed about that, and the correct opinion on it together with the evidence testifying to its correctness, in a manner that dispenses with repeating it.

As for His words and God is ever Mighty, Wise, He means: God has never ceased to take vengeance upon His enemies, as He took vengeance upon those whom the thunderbolt seized for their wrongdoing, and as He cursed those whose story He recounted in His words So for their breaking of their covenant and their disbelief in the signs of God (4:155); Wise: He says: possessed of wisdom in His management and His disposal of His creation in His decree. He says: So beware, O you who ask Muḥammad to bring down upon you a book from heaven, lest My punishment befall you as it befell your forebears who did as you do, in their giving the lie to My messengers and their fabrications against My friends. And indeed:

(10793) Abū Kurayb related to us: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Abī Sārah al-Ruʾāsī related to us, from al-Aʿmash, from al-Minhāl, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words and God is ever Mighty, Wise: he said: The meaning of that is: that He is so.²³

On 4:159

On the interpretation of His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159)

Abū Jaʿfar said: The people of interpretation disagreed about the meaning of that.

• Some of them said: The meaning of that is: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him, meaning: in Jesus, before his death, meaning: before the death of Jesus. Whoever holds this directs it to mean that all of them will affirm him when he descends to kill the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl), so that all the religious communities become one, namely the community of Islam, the upright religion (al-ḥanīfiyya), the religion of Abraham (peace and blessings be upon him).

Those who said this

(10794) Ibn Bashshār related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us: Sufyān related to us, from Abū Ḥaṣīn, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: Before the death of Jesus son of Mary.

(10795) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us, from Sufyān, from Abū Ḥaṣīn, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: Before the death of Jesus.

(10796) Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me: Hushaym related to us: Ḥuṣayn informed us, from Abū Mālik, concerning His words but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: That is at the descent of Jesus son of Mary; not one of the People of the Book will remain but will surely believe in him.

(10797) al-Muthannā related to me: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us: Ḥammād ibn Salamah related to us, from Ḥumayd, from al-Ḥasan, who said: before his death: he said: Before Jesus son of Mary dies.

(10798) Yaʿqūb related to me: Ibn ʿUlayyah related to us, from Abū Rajāʾ, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: Before the death of Jesus. By God, he is at this moment alive with God; but when he descends, they will all believe in him.

(10799) Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he says: Before the death of Jesus.

(10800) al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: Before the death of Jesus.

(10801) al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: Before the death of Jesus; when he descends, all the religions will believe in him.

(10802) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us, from Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, from al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, from al-Ḥasan, who said: Before the death of Jesus.

(10803) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: Abū Usāmah related to us, from ʿAwf, from al-Ḥasan, concerning but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: Jesus; and he has not died yet.

(10804) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: ʿImrān ibn ʿUyaynah related to us, from Ḥuṣayn, from Abū Mālik, who said: Not one of them will remain, at the descent of Jesus, but will believe in him.

(10805) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us, from Sufyān, from Ḥuṣayn, from Abū Mālik, who said: Before the death of Jesus.

(10806) Yūnus related to us: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: When Jesus son of Mary descends and kills the Antichrist, no Jew will remain on the earth but will believe in him. He said: And that is the time when faith will not benefit them.

(10807) Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me: my father related to me: my paternal uncle related to me: my father related to me, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he means: that some people of the People of the Book will live to see the time when Jesus is sent forth, and they will believe in him, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159).

(10808) Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us: Shuʿbah related to us, from Manṣūr ibn Zādhān, from al-Ḥasan, that he said concerning this verse, And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death — Abū Jaʿfar said: I think he said: When Jesus comes forth, the Jews will believe in him.

• Others said: He means by that: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in Jesus before the death of the man of the Book himself. Whoever holds this directs it to mean that when he beholds death he comes to know the truth from falsehood, because no one upon whom death descends has his soul leave him until the truth in his religion has become distinct to him from falsehood.

Those who said this

(10809) al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us: Muʿāwiyah related to me, from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: No Jew dies until he believes in Jesus.

(10810) Ibn Wakīʿ and Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; they said: Jarīr related to us, from Manṣūr, from Mujāhid, concerning And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: His soul does not leave him until he believes in Jesus, even if he drowns, or falls headlong from a wall, or dies whatever manner of death it may be.

(10811) Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, concerning His words but will surely believe in him before his death: every possessor of a scripture will surely believe in him, that is, in Jesus, before his death, that is, the death of the possessor of the scripture.

(10812) al-Muthannā related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfah related to us: Shibl related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid: will surely believe in him: every possessor of a scripture believes in Jesus, before his death: before the death of the possessor of the scripture. Ibn ʿAbbās said: Were his neck struck off, his soul would not leave him until he believed in Jesus.

(10813) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Abū Tumaylah Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us: al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid related to us, from Yazīd al-Naḥwī, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Jew does not die until he testifies that Jesus is the servant of God and His messenger, even if he is dispatched in haste by the weapon.

(10814) Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥabīb ibn al-Shahīd related to me: ʿAttāb ibn Bashīr related to us, from Khuṣayf, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: In the reading of Ubayy it is before their death²⁴: there is no Jew who ever dies until he believes in Jesus. It was said to Ibn ʿAbbās: What do you think if he falls from the top of a house? He said: He utters it while plunging down. It was then said: What do you think if the neck of one of them is struck off? He said: His tongue stammers it out.

(10815) al-Muthannā related to me: Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn related to me: Sufyān related to us, from Khuṣayf, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: No Jew dies until he believes in Jesus son of Mary. He said: And even if he is struck with the sword, he utters it. He said: And if he falls, he utters it while he is falling.

(10816) And Ibn al-Muthannā related to me: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to me: Shuʿbah related to us, from Abū Hārūn al-Ghanawī, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that he said concerning this verse, And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: If a Jew were to fall from the top of this house, he would not die until he believed in him — meaning: in Jesus.

(10817) Ibn al-Muthannā related to us: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to us: Shuʿbah related to us, from a client (mawlā) of Quraysh, who said: I heard ʿIkrimah say: If a Jew were to fall from the top of the palace, he would not reach the ground until he believed in Jesus.

(10818) Ibn Bashshār related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us: Sufyān related to us, from Abū Hāshim al-Rummānī, from Mujāhid, concerning will surely believe in him before his death: he said: Even if he falls from the top of the house, he does not die until he believes in him.

(10819) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Ḥakkām related to us, from ʿAmr ibn Abī Qays, from Manṣūr, from Mujāhid, concerning And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: No man of the People of the Book dies until he believes in him, even if he drowns, or falls headlong, or dies by any means whatever.

(10820) Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me: Ibn ʿUlayyah related to us, from Layth, from Mujāhid, concerning His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: His soul does not leave him until he believes in him.

(10821) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us, from Sufyān, from Khuṣayf, from ʿIkrimah, concerning And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: Not one of them dies until he believes in him — meaning: in Jesus — and even if he plunges from the top of a house, he believes in him while he is falling.

(10822) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, from Juwaybir, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, who said: There is no one of the Jews who departs from this world until he believes in Jesus.

(10823) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us, from Isrāʾīl, from Furāt al-Qazzāz, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: Not one of them dies until he believes in Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him) before he dies — meaning: the Jews and the Christians.

(10824) al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Isrāʾīl informed us, from Furāt, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: Not one of them dies until he believes in Jesus before he dies.

(10825) Ibn Bashshār related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us: al-Ḥakam ibn ʿAṭiyyah related to us, from Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, concerning And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: The death of the man of the People of the Book.

(10826) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, concerning And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: There is no Jew who dies until he believes in Jesus son of Mary.

Then a man among his companions said to him: How can that be, when a man may drown, or burn, or have a wall fall upon him, or be eaten by a wild beast? He said: His spirit does not leave his body until faith in Jesus is cast into him.

(10827) I was told, from al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us; he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death: he said: No one of the Jews dies until he testifies that Jesus is the messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him).

(10828) al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Yaʿlā related to us, from Juwaybir, concerning His words will surely believe in him before his death: he said: In the reading of Ubayy it is before their death.

• Others said: The meaning of that is: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) before the death of the man of the Book himself.

Those who said this

(10829) al-Muthannā related to me: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us: Ḥammād related to us, from Ḥumayd, who said: ʿIkrimah said: The Christian and the Jew do not die until they believe in Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) — meaning, concerning His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death.

Abū Jaʿfar said: The opinion most deserving of soundness and correctness is the opinion of those who said: the interpretation of that is: “And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in Jesus before the death of Jesus.”

We have said that this is more deserving of correctness than the other opinions only because God, Majestic is His praise, has assigned to everyone who believes in Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) the ruling of the people of faith, in the matter of inheritance, of the funeral prayer over him, and of the attachment of his young children to his ruling in religion. So if every man of the Book believed in Jesus before his death, it would necessarily follow that the man of the Book who dies in his own religious community should be inherited by none but his young children, or those of them who are of age and Muslims, if he had a young child or an adult Muslim child; and if he had neither a young child nor an adult Muslim child, his inheritance would be disposed of where the property of a Muslim who dies leaving no heir is disposed of, and his ruling would be the ruling of the Muslims with respect to the prayer over him, his washing and his burial. For whoever dies believing in Jesus has died believing in Muḥammad and in all the messengers. That is because Jesus, the blessings of God be upon him, came affirming Muḥammad and all the messengers, the blessings of God be upon them; so he who affirms Jesus and believes in him affirms Muḥammad and all the prophets and messengers of God, just as he who believes in Muḥammad believes in Jesus and in all the prophets and messengers of God. It is therefore not possible that one who denies Muḥammad should be a believer in Jesus.

If anyone supposes that the meaning of the Jew’s belief in Jesus which God mentioned in His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death is merely his acknowledging that he is a prophet sent by God, without his affirming everything he brought from God, he has supposed wrongly.

That is because it is not possible that one who denies part of what a prophet brought of God’s revelation and what He sent down should be credited with acknowledging that prophet’s prophethood. Indeed, it is not possible that he should be credited with acknowledging the prophethood of any one of God’s prophets, because the prophets came to the communities with the affirmation of all of God’s prophets and messengers. So he who denies some of God’s prophets in what they brought their community from God is denying all of God’s prophets in that religion of God to which they called God’s servants. Since that is so, and since all the people of Islam are agreed that every man of the Book who died before acknowledging Muḥammad, the blessings of God be upon him, and what he brought from God, is judged by the ruling of the religious community to which he belonged during the days of his life, none of the rulings concerning his person, his property and his children, young and grown, being transferred by his death from what they were during his lifetime — the proof indicates that the meaning of God’s words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death is only: but will surely believe in Jesus before the death of Jesus; that this concerns a particular group of the People of the Book, the people of one age among them being meant, not the people of all the ages that have come after Jesus; and that this will take place at his descent, as in that which:

(10830) Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to me: Yazīd related to me: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ādam, from Abū Hurayrah: that the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The prophets are brothers by one father and different mothers (ikhwa li-ʿallāt); their mothers are various, but their religion is one. I am the closest of people to Jesus son of Mary, because there was no prophet between me and him. He is going to descend, and when you see him, recognise him: he is a man of medium build, tending towards redness and whiteness, with smooth hair; his head looks as though it drips, though no wetness has touched it; he will be clad in two garments dyed light yellow (mumaṣṣaratayn). He will break the cross, kill the swine, abolish the poll-tax (jizya), and wealth will overflow. He will fight people for Islam until God destroys in his time all the religious communities other than Islam, and God destroys in his time the Messiah of error, the lying Antichrist. Security will prevail on the earth in his time, so that lions will graze with camels, leopards with cattle, and wolves with sheep, and boys — or: children — will play with snakes, none of them harming the other. Then he will remain on the earth as long as God wills — and perhaps he said: forty years — then he will die, and the Muslims will pray over him and bury him.”

As for the one who said that He meant by His words will surely believe in him before his death, “will surely believe in Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) before the death of the man of the Book”, that is something for which no intelligible basis exists. For — besides its being unsound on the ground by which we have shown the unsoundness of the opinion of those who said “He meant by it: will surely believe in Jesus before the death of the man of the Book” — it is made still more unsound by the fact that no mention of Muḥammad (peace be upon him) has occurred in the verses preceding this, such that it would be permissible to refer the pronoun “him” in His words will surely believe in him to a mention of him. Rather, His words will surely believe in him come in the context of the mention of Jesus, his mother and the Jews. So it is not permissible to divert the discourse from what lies in its context to something else, except by an argument to which submission is obligatory, from the indication of the apparent sense of the revelation, or from a report from the Messenger by which a proof is established. As for mere claims, they are not hard for anyone to make.

Abū Jaʿfar said: So the interpretation of the verse — since the matter is as we have described — is: And there is none of the People of the Book but one who will surely believe in Jesus before the death of Jesus. “One who” (man) was omitted after “but” (illā), because the discourse indicates it, and its indication dispenses with expressing it, like the other examples of this kind which have preceded and which we have fully explained.

On the interpretation of His words: and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By that He means, Majestic is His praise: and on the Day of Resurrection Jesus will be a witness against the People of the Book, meaning: one testifying against them to the denial of those among them who denied him and the affirmation of those among them who affirmed him, in what he brought them from God, and to his having conveyed the message of his Lord, as in that which:

(10831) al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me: Ibn Jurayj said: and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them: that he conveyed to them what he was sent with to them.

(10832) Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them: he says: he will be a witness against them on the Day of Resurrection that he conveyed the message of his Lord and acknowledged servanthood of himself.

On 5:116

On the interpretation of His words: And when God said: O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God? He said: Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to. If I had said it, You would have known it (5:116)

Abū Jaʿfar said: He, Exalted be His mention, says: On the day when God will gather the messengers and say: What answer were you given? (5:109), “when God said: O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God?”

It was said: God said these words to Jesus when He raised him up to Himself in this world.

Those who said this

(13028) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: And when God said: O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God?: he said: When God raised Jesus son of Mary up to Himself, the Christians said what they said, and claimed that Jesus had commanded them to do so; so He asked him about his words, and he said: Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to. If I had said it, You would have known it. You know what is in my self, and I do not know what is in Your self. Indeed You are the Knower of the unseen things, up to His words and You are witness over all things (5:116–117).

• Others said: Rather, this is a report from God, Exalted be His mention, that He will say this to Jesus on the Day of Resurrection.

Those who said this

(13029) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj: And when God said: O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God?: he said: while the people were listening; and he answered Him with what you have seen, and acknowledged servanthood for himself before Him, so that whoever used to say about Jesus what he used to say knew that he had only been speaking falsehood.

(13030) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Jarīr related to us, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Maysarah, who said: God said: O Jesus, did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God? And his joints trembled, and he feared that he might have said it, and he said: Glory be to You! If I had said it, You would have known it, the verse.

(13031) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God?: When will that be? He said: On the Day of Resurrection; do you not see that He says, This is the day when the truthful will profit from their truthfulness (5:119)?

On this interpretation which Ibn Jurayj gave, “and when” (wa-idh) must have the meaning of “and when” in the sense of the future (wa-idhā), as He said in another place: And if you could see when they are terrified (34:51), meaning: when they will be terrified; and as Abū al-Najm said:

Then may God reward him on our behalf, when (idh) He rewards,

with Gardens of Eden in the lofty upper chambers.

meaning: when He will reward (idhā jazā); and as al-Aswad²⁵ said:

So now, when (idh) I jest with them, they only

say: Lo, the old man has not gone the right way!

meaning: when I jest with them (idhā hāzaltuhunna).

It is as though those who held Ibn Jurayj’s view on this directed the interpretation of the verse to: “whoever of you disbelieves afterwards, I shall punish him with a punishment with which I punish no one of the worlds” in this world, and I shall punish him also in the Hereafter, “when God says: O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God?”

Abū Jaʿfar said: The more correct of the two views in our opinion on this is the view of those who held the view of al-Suddī, namely that God, Exalted be His mention, said that to Jesus when He raised him up to Himself, and that the report is a report about what has passed, for two reasons:

• One of them is that “idh” accompanies, in the predominant usage of the speech of the Arabs among themselves, the past tense of the verb, even though they do sometimes bring it in in the position of a report about what will happen, when the hearers know its meaning. But that is not widespread, nor eloquent in their speech; and directing the meanings of the speech of God, Exalted is He, to what is better known and more familiar, so long as a way to that is found, is preferable to directing them to what is less known and more obscure.
• The other is that neither Jesus nor any of the prophets was in doubt that God does not forgive a polytheist who dies in his polytheism, such that it could be imagined of Jesus that he would say in the Hereafter, answering his Lord, Exalted be His mention: If You punish those who took me and my mother as two gods besides You, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are the Mighty, the Wise.

If someone says: What was the point of God’s asking Jesus, “did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God?”, when He knew that Jesus had not said that?

It is said: That admits of two aspects of interpretation. One of them: warning Jesus against saying that, and forbidding him, as a speaker says to another, “Did you do such-and-such?” concerning something of which the one addressed knows that the speaker regards the doing of what he said to him “did you do it?” as grave, by way of forbidding him to do it and threatening him over it.

The other: informing him that his people, whom he had left, had violated his covenant and changed their religion after him. He would thereby combine informing him of their state after him with warning him against saying it.

Abū Jaʿfar said: As for the interpretation of the speech, it is: Did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods, that is, two objects of worship whom you worship besides God? Jesus said: I declare You, O Lord, far above, and too exalted, for me to do that or to speak it; “it is not for me to say what I have no right to”, he says: it is not for me to say that, because I am a created servant, and my mother is Your handmaid; and how could a servant and a handmaid lay claim to lordship? “If I had said it, You would have known it”, he says: nothing is hidden from You, and You know that I did not say that nor command them to it.

On the interpretation of His words: You know what is in my self, and I do not know what is in Your self. Indeed You are the Knower of the unseen things (5:116)

Abū Jaʿfar said: He, Exalted be His mention, says, reporting about His prophet Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him): that he declares himself before Him innocent of what the unbelievers among the Christians said about him and about his mother, that he should have called them to it or commanded them to it; so he said: “Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to. If I had said it, You would have known it.” Then he said: “You know what is in my self”, he says: O Lord, what my self has concealed, which I have not uttered nor manifested with my limbs, is not hidden from You; how much less, then, what I have uttered and manifested with my limbs? He says: had I said to the people, “Take me and my mother as two gods besides God”, You would have known it, because You know the secret thoughts of souls which they have not uttered; how much more what has been uttered? “And I do not know what is in Your self”, he says: and I do not know what You have hidden from me and not acquainted me with, because I know of things only what You have made known to me; “indeed You are the Knower of the unseen things”, he says: You are the One who knows the hidden matters on which none but You is informed, and which none other than You knows.

On 5:117

On the interpretation of His words: I said to them nothing except what You commanded me: Worship God, my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them so long as I was among them; but when You took me up, You were the Watcher over them, and You are witness over all things (5:117)

Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a report from God, Exalted be His mention, about the words of Jesus. He says: I said to them nothing except that speech which You commanded me to say to them, namely that I said to them, “Worship God, my Lord and your Lord”; “and I was a witness over them so long as I was among them”, he says: and I was, regarding what they did while I was in their midst, a witness over them and over their deeds and their words; “but when You took me up” (tawaffaytanī), he says: but when You took me to Yourself; “You were the Watcher over them”, he says: You were the Guardian over them, rather than I, because I witnessed of their deeds only what they did while I was in their midst.

In this is a clarification that God, Exalted be His mention, made the deeds of the people and their saying known to him only after He had taken him to Himself and taken him up, by His words, “did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God?”

“And You are witness over all things”, he says: and You witness all things, because nothing is hidden from You; as for me, I witnessed only some things, namely what I saw with my own eyes while I was dwelling in the midst of the people; so I testify only to that which I saw with my own eyes, beheld and witnessed.

Something like what we have said about His words “You were the Watcher over them” was said by the people of interpretation.

Those who said this

(13032) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: You were the Watcher over them: as for “the Watcher” (al-raqīb), it is the Guardian.

(13033) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj: You were the Watcher over them: he said: the Guardian.

A group of the people of knowledge used to say: The answer with which Jesus answered his Lord was from God, Exalted is He, an instruction (tawqīf) from Him to him in it.²⁶

Those who said this

(13034) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: Ibn Yamān related to us, from Sufyān, from Maʿmar, from Ibn Ṭāwūs, from his father: Did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God? He said: Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to: he said: God instructed him in it.

(13035) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: Abū Dāwūd al-Ḥafarī related to us: it was read before Sufyān, from Maʿmar, from Ibn Ṭāwūs, from his father Ṭāwūs, who said: Jesus argued his case, and God instructed him in it: Did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God?, the verse.

(13036) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: Jarīr related to us, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Maysarah, who said: God, Exalted be His mention, said: O Jesus, did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God? He said: And his joints trembled, and he feared that he might have said it, and he said: Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to. If I had said it, You would have known it. You know what is in my self, and I do not know what is in Your self. Indeed You are the Knower of the unseen things.

On 5:118

On the interpretation of His words: If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise (5:118)

Abū Jaʿfar said: He, Exalted be His mention, says: If You punish these people who uttered this saying, by causing them to die upon it, they are Your servants, submissive to You, unable to withhold themselves from what You intend for them, and unable to ward off from themselves any harm or any decree by which You reach them; and if You forgive them, by Your guiding them to repentance from it, so that You cover it over for them, You are indeed the Mighty in His vengeance upon whomever He wishes to take vengeance, none being able to ward Him off from him; the Wise in His guiding of those of His creatures whom He has guided to repentance, and in His granting success to those of them whom He has granted success in finding the path of deliverance from punishment; as in that which:

(13037) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, concerning His words If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them: by bringing them out of Christianity and guiding them to Islam, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise. And this is the saying of Jesus in this world.

(13038) al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise, he said: By God, they were not given to reviling nor to cursing.²⁷

On 5:119

On the interpretation of His words: God said: This is a day when the truthful shall profit from their truthfulness. For them are gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein for ever (5:119)

Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed in the reading of His words This is a day when the truthful shall profit. Some of the people of the Ḥijāz and Medina read it hādhā yawma yanfaʿu al-ṣādiqīn, with “day” (yawm) in the accusative.

Some of the people of the Ḥijāz and some of the people of Medina, and the generality of the reciters of the people of Iraq, read it hādhā yawmu yanfaʿu al-ṣādiqīn, with “day” in the nominative. Whoever put it in the nominative did so by making it the predicate of “this” (hādhā), and treated “day” as a noun, even though its annexation (iḍāfa) is not a pure one, because it has become like a noun that is qualified.

Some of the grammarians used to claim that the Arabs, in the inflection of time-words such as “day” and “night”, treat them as they treat what comes after them. If what comes after them is nominative, they put them in the nominative, as in their saying hādhā yawmu yarkabu al-amīr (this is the day the commander rides out), laylatu yaṣduru al-ḥājj (the night the pilgrims set forth), and yawmu akhūka munṭaliq (the day your brother departs). And if what comes after them is accusative, they put them in the accusative, as in their saying hādhā yawma kharaja al-jaysh wa-sāra al-nās (this is the day the army went out and the people marched), and laylata qutila Zayd (the night Zayd was killed), and the like of that, even though their meaning in both cases is “when” (idh and idhā).

It seems that whoever read it thus, in the nominative, directed the speech to its being among what God will say on the Day of Resurrection.

Likewise al-Suddī used to say regarding that.

(13039) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: God said: This is a day when the truthful shall profit from their truthfulness. This is a break from the speech of Jesus, and this is the Day of Resurrection.

By his saying “this is a break from the speech of Jesus” al-Suddī means that His words Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to up to His words You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise (5:116–118) are part of God’s report, Mighty and Majestic, about Jesus, that he said it in this world after He had raised him to Himself, and that what comes after that is God’s speech to His servants on the Day of Resurrection.

As for the accusative in this, it may be construed in two ways:

• One of them is that the annexation of “day” to anything other than a noun makes it accusative, because the annexation is not pure; the annexation is pure only when it is annexed to a true noun. The counterparts of “day” in this respect are “time” (ḥīn) and “season” (zamān) and the like of them among the words for time, as al-Nābighah²⁸ said:

At the time when I reproached grey hairs for youthful folly,

and said: Have you not yet come to your senses, when hoariness is a restrainer?

• The other way is that what is intended by the speech is: this matter and this affair is on the day the truthful shall profit; so “the day” would then be accusative as an adverb of time and a qualifier, with the meaning: this matter is on a day when the truthful shall profit from their truthfulness.

Abū Jaʿfar said: The more correct of the two readings in this, in my view, is hādhā yawma yanfaʿu al-ṣādiqīn, with “the day” in the accusative, on the basis that it is accusative as an adverb of time and a qualifier. For the meaning of the speech is: God, Majestic and Exalted be His mention, answered Jesus when he said Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to. If I had said it, You would have known it up to His words You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise (5:116–118), and He, Mighty and Majestic, said to him: This beneficial saying, or this beneficial truthfulness, is on the day when the truthful shall profit from their truthfulness. So “the day” is the time of the beneficial saying and truthfulness.

If someone should say: What then is the syntactic position of “this”? It is said: nominative.

If he should say: Then where is that which governs it in the nominative? It is said: it is implied. It is as if He said: God, Mighty and Majestic, said: This; this is a day when the truthful shall profit from their truthfulness; as the poet said:

Do you not see the clouds, how they run?

This, and not your horses, O Ibn Bishr!

He means: this is this, and not your horses.

Abū Jaʿfar said: So the interpretation of the speech, since the matter is as we have described for the reasons we have set out, is: God said to Jesus: This beneficial saying is on a day when those who were truthful in this world shall profit from that truthfulness of theirs, in the Hereafter, with God; for them are gardens beneath which rivers flow, He says: for those who were truthful in this world there are gardens beneath which rivers flow in the Hereafter, as a reward for them from God, Mighty and Majestic, for the truthfulness they showed, in that they were true to God in what they promised Him and fulfilled it for God, so God, Mighty and Majestic, fulfilled for them what He had promised them of His reward; abiding therein for ever, He says: remaining in the gardens which He has given them, for ever: perpetually, having therein a bliss which will not pass from them nor cease.

We have already explained previously that the meaning of “abiding” (khulūd) is perpetuity and permanence.

On the interpretation of His words: God is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him. That is the great triumph (5:119)

Abū Jaʿfar said: He, Exalted be His mention, says: God is well pleased with these truthful ones, who were true in fulfilling for Him what they promised Him, of acting in obedience to Him and avoiding disobedience to Him; and they are well pleased with Him, He says: and they, for their part, are well pleased with God, Exalted be His mention, for His fulfilling for them what He promised them for their obedience to Him in what He commanded them and forbade them, of His abundant reward; that is the great triumph, He says: this which God has given them, of gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein, He being pleased with them and they being pleased with their Lord, is the great attainment of the thing sought, and the achieving of the need which they used to seek in this world and for which they used to labour in it; so they obtained what they sought and achieved what they hoped for.

On 5:120

On the interpretation of His words: To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is in them, and He has power over all things (5:120)

Abū Jaʿfar said: He, Exalted be His mention, says: O Christians, to God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, He says: His is the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and whatever is in them, not Jesus, whom you claim to be your god, nor his mother, nor any of those who are in the heavens and those who are in the earth; for the heavens and the earth and whatever is in them are a creation of His creating, and Jesus and his mother are part of that, by their occupying place and passing from place to place; by their being in the place in which they are, through dwelling in it and moving from it, the two of them give proof that they are two servants, owned by Him to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is in them. He thereby alerts them, and all His creatures, to the point of His proof against them, that they may ponder it and take heed of it, and so understand from Him; and He has power over all things, He, Exalted be His mention, says: and God, to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is in them, is able to bring them to nought and to destroy them, and to destroy Jesus and his mother and all who are on the earth together, just as He originated their creation; that does not render Him incapable, nor does anything He wills, because His power is the power which no power resembles, and His sovereignty is the sovereignty which no sovereignty or kingdom resembles.

End of the commentary on Sūrat al-Māʾidah.

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

On 3:55

When God said, “O Jesus, indeed I shall take you (mutawaffīka) and raise you to Myself” (3:55). They differed about the meaning of “taking” (tawaffī) here. Al-Ḥasan, al-Kalbī and Ibn Jurayj said: “I shall seize you and raise you to Myself in this world without death.” His words, Exalted, indicate this: then when You took me (5:117), that is, “when You seized me up to heaven while I was alive”, because his people became Christians only after he was raised to heaven, not after his death. On this basis, tawaffī has two interpretations. One of them: “I shall raise you to Myself whole (wāfiyan), without their having obtained anything from you”, from their saying “I took such-and-such in full (tawaffaytu) and received it in full (istawfaytuhu)” when you have taken it complete. The other: “I shall receive you”, from their saying “I received (tawaffaytu) such-and-such from him”, that is, I took delivery of it. Al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas said: what is meant by tawaffī is sleep, and every creature with an eye sleeps; Jesus had fallen asleep, and God raised him up to heaven while sleeping. Its meaning is: “I shall cause you to sleep and raise you to Myself”, as God, Exalted, said: And it is He who takes you (yatawaffākum) by night (6:60), that is, causes you to sleep.

Some of them said: what is meant by tawaffī is death. It is related from ʿAlī ibn Ṭalḥa, from Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both), that its meaning is: “I shall cause you to die”; His words, Exalted, indicate this: Say: the angel of death will take you (yatawaffākum) (32:11). On this basis it has two interpretations. One of them is what Wahb said: God caused Jesus to die for three hours of the day, then God raised him up to Himself. Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq said: The Christians claim that God, Exalted, caused him to die for seven hours of the day, then brought him to life and raised him up. The other is what al-Ḍaḥḥāk and a group said: that in this verse there is a putting forward and a putting back, its meaning being: “I shall raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieve, and cause you to die after sending you down from heaven.”

ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Aḥmad al-Malīḥī informed us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Shurayḥ informed us: Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Baghawī informed us: ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd informed us: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Salama al-Mājishūn informed us, from Ibn Shihāb, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, from Abū Hurayra (may God be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “By Him in whose hand is the soul of Muḥammad, the son of Mary is surely about to descend among you as a just judge: he will break the cross, kill the swine and abolish the poll-tax (jizya), and wealth will overflow until no one accepts it.”

It is related from Abū Hurayra (may God be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), concerning the descent of Jesus (peace be upon him), that he said: “In his time all the religious communities will perish except Islam, and the Dajjāl will perish; he will remain on the earth forty years, then he will die, and the Muslims will pray over him.”

It was said to al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faḍl: “Do you find the descent of Jesus in the Qur’an?” He said: “Yes: and in maturity (3:46); he did not reach maturity in this world, so its meaning is only ‘and in maturity after his descent from heaven’.”

His words, Exalted: “and purify you from those who disbelieve,” that is, bring you out from among them and deliver you from them, “and make those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection.” Qatāda, al-Rabīʿ, al-Shaʿbī, Muqātil and al-Kalbī said: they are the people of Islam who confirmed him and followed his religion in the affirmation of God’s oneness, from the community of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him); so they are above those who disbelieve, prevailing and dominant through might, strength and proof. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: meaning the disciples are above those who disbelieve. And it was said: they are the people of Rome (the Byzantines). And it was said: by them He meant the Christians, so they are above the Jews until the Day of Resurrection, for the kingdom of the Jews has passed away, while the kingdom of the Christians endures until near the coming of the Hour; on this basis “following” has the sense of claiming him and loving him, not following his religion.

“Then to Me is your return,” in the Hereafter, “and I shall judge between you concerning that over which you used to differ,” of the matter of religion and the matter of Jesus.

On 3:56-60

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

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

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

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

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

On 4:158-159

Rather, God raised him up to Himself (4:158). And it was said: His word “for certain” refers to what follows it, and His words and they did not kill him are a complete statement, the implicit form being: rather, God raised him up to Himself for certain. The pronoun in “they did not kill him” refers to Jesus (peace be upon him). Al-Farrāʾ (may God have mercy on him) said: its meaning is, they did not kill for certain the one they supposed to be Jesus. It is related from Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both) that its meaning is: they did not kill their conjecture with certainty²⁹. And God is Almighty, unassailable in taking vengeance on the Jews, All-Wise: He decreed the curse and wrath upon them, and set over them Ṭīṭūs son of Isbisyānūs the Roman (Titus son of Vespasian), who wrought great slaughter among them.

His words, Exalted: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159), that is, there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in Jesus (peace be upon him). This is the view of most of the commentators and the people of knowledge. As for His words before his death, they differed over this pronoun. ʿIkrima, Mujāhid, al-Ḍaḥḥāk and al-Suddī said: it is a pronoun referring to the person of the People of the Book, and its meaning is: there is no one of the People of the Book but will surely believe in Jesus (peace be upon him) before his own death, when he falls into distress, at the time when his faith will not benefit him, whether he burns or drowns or falls into a well or a wall collapses upon him or a wild beast devours him or he dies suddenly. This is a report from Abū Ṭalḥa, from Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them). He said: It was said to Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both): “What if he falls from the top of a house?” He said: “He speaks it in the air.” He said: It was said: “What if the neck of one of them is struck off?” He said: “His tongue stammers it out.”

A group held that the pronoun in “his death” refers to Jesus (peace be upon him), its meaning being: there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in Jesus before the death of Jesus (peace be upon him), and that is at his descent from heaven at the end of time, when no one will remain but will believe in him, until the religious community becomes one, the community of Islam.

We have related from Abū Hurayra (may God be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “The son of Mary is about to descend among you as a just judge: he will break the cross, kill the swine and abolish the poll-tax, and wealth will overflow until no one accepts it; in his time all the religious communities will perish except Islam; and he will kill the Dajjāl, then remain on the earth forty years, then he will die, and the Muslims will pray over him.” Abū Hurayra said: Recite if you wish: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death—before the death of Jesus son of Mary. Then Abū Hurayra would repeat it three times.

It is related from ʿIkrima that the pronoun in His words will surely believe in him refers to Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him); he says: no person of the People of the Book dies until he believes in Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

And it was said: it refers back to God, Mighty and Majestic; He says: there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in God, Mighty and Majestic, before his death, at the moment of seeing with his own eyes, when his faith will not benefit him.

His words, Exalted: And on the Day of Resurrection he will be, meaning Jesus (peace be upon him), a witness against them, that he conveyed to them the message of his Lord and acknowledged servanthood for himself, as He, Exalted, said, informing of him: and I was a witness over them as long as I was among them (5:117). Every prophet is a witness over his community; God, Exalted, said: So how will it be when We bring from every community a witness, and We bring you as a witness against these? (4:41).

On 5:116-117

and such? concerning something he knows he did not do, by way of informing him and expressing how grave it is, not by way of enquiry and seeking information.

Moreover, God, Mighty and Majestic, wished Jesus (peace be upon him) to confess of himself that he is a servant, so that his people should hear it and their lie against him, that he had commanded them to do that, should be exposed. Abū Rawq said: When Jesus (peace be upon him) hears this address, his joints will tremble and from the root of every hair on his body a spring of blood will burst forth; then he will say in answer to God, Mighty and Majestic: He said: Glory be to You!, declaring You far above that and magnifying You; It is not for me to say what I have no right to say. If I had said it, You would have known it. You know what is in my self, and I do not know what is in Your self. Ibn ʿAbbās said: You know what is hidden in me, and I do not know what is hidden in You. It was said that its meaning is: You know my secret and I do not know Your secret. Abū Rawq said: You know what came from me in the abode of this world, and I do not know what will come from You in the Hereafter. Al-Zajjāj said: The “self” (nafs) is an expression for the whole of a thing and its reality; he is saying: You know all that I know of the reality of my affair, and I do not know the reality of Your affair. You are the Knower of the unseen things: what has been and what will be.

I said to them nothing but what You commanded me: Worship God, my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them so long as I remained among them; and when You took me up, You were the Watcher over them, and You are Witness over all things. (117)

I said to them nothing but what You commanded me: Worship God, my Lord and your Lord (5:117): declare Him one and associate nothing with Him; and I was a witness over them so long as I remained, that is, dwelt, among them; and when You took me up, took me and raised me to You, You were the Watcher over them, the Guardian over them, preserving their deeds, and You are Witness over all things.

His words, Exalted: If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are the Mighty, the Wise (5:118). If it is asked: How did he seek forgiveness for them when they were unbelievers, and how did he say: and if You forgive them, You are the Mighty, the Wise, when this is not fitting for a request for forgiveness? It is answered: As for the first, its meaning is: if You punish them for persisting in their unbelief, and if You forgive them after faith; and this holds good on the view of al-Suddī that this question takes place before the Day of Resurrection, because faith is of no avail on the Day of Resurrection.

It was also said: This concerns two groups among them, and its meaning is: if You punish those of them who disbelieved, and if You forgive those of them who believed.

It was also said: This is not by way of a request for forgiveness, for had it been so he would have said: You are the Forgiving, the Merciful; rather, it is by way of surrendering the matter and committing it to His will.

As for the second question: Ibn Masʿūd (may God be pleased with him) used to read “and if You forgive them, You are the Forgiving, the Merciful”, and so it stands in his codex. As for the well-known reading, it was said that there is a transposition in it, its sense being: if You forgive them, they are Your servants; and if You punish them, You are the Mighty, the Wise.

It was also said that its meaning is: if You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are the Mighty in dominion, the Wise in judgement; nothing diminishes Your might, and nothing escapes Your judgement. The unbelievers come within the scope of His wisdom, His forgiveness and the vastness of His mercy and His forgiveness, but He has declared that He will not forgive, and He does not go back on what He has declared.

Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Qāhir informed us: ʿAbd al-Ghāfir ibn Muḥammad al-Fārisī informed us: Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā al-Julūdī related to us: Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Sufyān related to us: Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj related to us: Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me: Ibn Wahb related to us: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed me that Bakr ibn Sawādah related to him, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) recited the words of God, Exalted, concerning Abraham: My Lord, they have led many of mankind astray; so whoever follows me is of me (14:36), to the end of the verse, and the words of Jesus (peace be upon him): If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are the Mighty, the Wise (5:118). Then he raised his hands and said: O God, my community! and wept. God, Mighty and Majestic, said: O Gabriel, go to Muḥammad, and your Lord knows best, and ask him what makes him weep. Gabriel came to him and asked him, and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) told him what he had said. Then God, Exalted, said: O Gabriel, go to Muḥammad and say: We shall satisfy you concerning your community, and We shall not grieve you.

On 5:118-119

God said: This is the day when the truthful shall profit by their truthfulness (5:119). Nāfiʿ read yawma with the mīm in the accusative, meaning: these things shall take place on a day; the “on” is omitted and so it takes the accusative. The others read it in the nominative, as the predicate of “this”; that is, the truthful in this world shall profit by their truthfulness in the Hereafter, whereas had they lied, God would have set a seal upon their mouths and their limbs would have spoken of it, and they would have been disgraced. It was also said that by “the truthful” the prophets are meant.

On 5:120

Al-Kalbī said: The believers shall profit by their faith. Qatādah said: Two speakers will not err on the Day of Resurrection: Jesus (peace be upon him), and that is what God, Mighty and Majestic, has related; and the enemy of God, Iblīs, and that is His words: And Satan said, when the matter had been decided (14:22), to the end of the verse. The enemy of God spoke the truth on that day, having been a liar before that, so his truthfulness did not profit him; whereas Jesus (peace be upon him) was truthful in this world and the Hereafter, so his truthfulness profited him.

ʿAṭāʾ said: This is a day among the days of this world, because the abode of the Hereafter is an abode of recompense, not an abode of works. Then He set out their reward, saying: Theirs are gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein for ever; God is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him; that is the great triumph (5:119). Then He magnified Himself, saying: To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is in them, and He has power over all things (5:120).

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

On 3:55

His words, Exalted: When God said: O Jesus, I am taking you (3:55). The governing word of when is “they schemed”, or else an implied verb. A group of the scholars of meanings, among them al-Ḍaḥḥāk and al-Farrāʾ, said of His words, Exalted, I am taking you and raising you to Myself, that they are by way of anticipation and postponement (taqdīm wa-taʾkhīr), because the conjunction wāw does not impose sequence. The meaning is: I am raising you to Myself and purifying you from those who disbelieve, and taking you after you come down from heaven; as in His words: And had it not been for a word that preceded from your Lord, it would have been binding, and an appointed term (20:129), the sense being: had it not been for a word that preceded from your Lord and an appointed term, it would have been binding. The poet said:

O palm-tree of Dhāt ʿIrq,

upon you be, and the mercy of God, peace,

that is, upon you be peace and the mercy of God. Al-Ḥasan and Ibn Jurayj said: the meaning of taking you (mutawaffīka) is seizing you and raising you to heaven without death, like the expression “I took in full (tawaffaytu) my money from so-and-so”, that is, I received it. Wahb ibn Munabbih said: God caused Jesus (peace be upon him) to die for three hours of the day, then raised him to heaven. There is something far-fetched in this, for it has been authentically established in the reports from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he will descend and kill the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl), as we have set out in the book al-Tadhkirah, and in this book in accordance with what has gone before and what will come. Ibn Zayd said: taking you means seizing you; “taking you” and “raising you” are one and the same, and he has not died yet. Ibn Ṭalḥah related from Ibn ʿAbbās that the meaning of taking you is causing you to die. Al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: it is the taking of sleep; God, Exalted, said: And it is He who takes you by night (6:60), that is, causes you to sleep, because sleep is the brother of death, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said when he was asked: Is there sleep in Paradise? He said: “No; sleep is the brother of death, and there is no death in Paradise.” Al-Dāraquṭnī transmitted it. The correct view is that God, Exalted, raised him to heaven without death and without sleep, as al-Ḥasan and Ibn Zayd said; this is the preference of al-Ṭabarī, it is what is authentically reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, and al-Ḍaḥḥāk said it. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: The story was that when they wanted to kill Jesus, the disciples gathered in an upper room, twelve men, and the Messiah came in to them through the niche of the room. Iblīs informed the host of the Jews, and four thousand men of them rode out and took hold of the door of the room. The Messiah said to the disciples: Which of you will go out and be killed and be with me in Paradise? A man said: I, O Prophet of God. So he threw over him a tunic (midraʿah) of wool and a turban of wool and handed him his staff, and the likeness of Jesus was cast upon him; he went out to the Jews and they killed him and crucified him. As for the Messiah, God clothed him in feathers and dressed him in light and cut off from him the pleasure of food and drink, and he flew off with the angels. Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah mentioned: Abū Muʿāwiyah related to us: al-Aʿmash related to us, from al-Minhāl, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When God, Blessed and Exalted, wished to raise Jesus to heaven, he came out to his companions, who were twelve men, from a spring in the house, his head dripping with water, and said to them: Truly, there is among you one who will disbelieve in me twelve times after having believed in me. Then he said: Which of you will have my likeness cast upon him, and be killed in my place, and be with me in my rank? A young man, one of the youngest of them, stood up and said: I. Jesus said: Sit down. Then he repeated it to them, and the young man stood up and said: I. Jesus said: Sit down. Then he repeated it to them, and the young man stood up and said: I. He said: Yes, you are the one. So God cast upon him the likeness of Jesus (peace be upon him). He said: And God, Exalted, raised Jesus through a skylight (rawzanah) that was in the house up to heaven. He said: And the search party of the Jews came and seized the look-alike and killed him, then crucified him; and some of them disbelieved in him twelve times after having believed in him. They then split into three sects. One sect said: God was among us as long as He willed, then ascended to heaven; these are the Jacobites. Another sect said: The son of God was among us as long as God willed, then God raised him to Himself; these are the Nestorians. And another sect said: The servant of God and His messenger was among us as long as God willed, then He raised him to Himself; these are the Muslims. The two unbelieving sects joined forces against the Muslim one and killed its members, and Islam remained effaced until God sent Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and then they fought³⁰; and God, Exalted, sent down: So a party of the Children of Israel believed and a party disbelieved, and We supported those who believed (61:14), that is, whose fathers had believed in the time of Jesus, against their enemy, by making their religion prevail over the religion of the unbelievers, and they became dominant. In the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “By God, the son of Mary will surely descend as a just judge; he will surely break the cross, kill the swine and abolish the poll-tax; the young she-camels will surely be left so that no one strives after them; rancour, mutual hatred and mutual envy will surely vanish; and he will surely call people to wealth and no one will accept it.” And from him also, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “By Him in whose hand is my soul, the son of Mary will surely raise the pilgrim’s cry (talbiyah) at Fajj al-Rawḥāʾ³¹, as a pilgrim or as one performing the lesser pilgrimage, or combining the two.” He will not descend with a new law by which he abrogates our law; rather he will descend as a renewer of what has fallen into disuse of it, and as a follower of it, as in the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “How will you be when the son of Mary descends among you and your leader (imām) is from among you?” And in one transmission: “and he leads you from among you” (fa-ammakum minkum). Ibn Abī Dhiʾb said: Do you know what “he leads you from among you” means? I said: Tell me. He said: He leads you by the Book of your Lord, Blessed and Exalted, and the practice (sunnah) of your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). We have given this subject fuller exposition in the book al-Tadhkirah, and praise belongs to God. Taking you (mutawaffīka) is originally mutawaffiyuka; the ḍammah was dropped because it was found heavy. It is the predicate of inna. And raising you is conjoined to it, and likewise purifying you, and likewise and placing those who follow you. It is also permissible to read wa-jāʿilu lladhīna (with the participle governing the following noun directly), and that is the original form. And it has been said that the complete pause (waqf tāmm) is at His words and purifying you from those who disbelieve; al-Naḥḥās said: and that is a fine view. and placing those who follow you, O Muḥammad, above those who disbelieve, that is, by the argument and the establishing of proof. And it has been said: by might and victory. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk and Muḥammad ibn Abān said: what is meant is the disciples. And God, Exalted, knows best.

On 3:56-58

His words, Exalted: As for those who disbelieve, I shall punish them with a severe punishment in this world and the Hereafter (3:56), meaning by killing, crucifixion, captivity and the poll-tax (jizyah), and in the Hereafter by the Fire.

This We recite to you (3:58): This is in the position of the nominative as the subject of a nominal sentence, and its predicate is We recite to you. It is also permissible to take it as “the matter is this”, with an implied subject.

On 4:157-158

His words, Exalted: and their saying: We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary (4:157). Inna is given a kasrah because it begins a sentence after the verb of saying; giving it a fatḥah is a dialectal usage. The derivation of the word “Messiah” has already been discussed in Āl ʿImrān.

the Messenger of God: a substitute (badal), or if you wish, in the sense of “I mean”.

And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him: a refutation of their claim.

but it was made to appear so to them, that is, his likeness was cast upon someone else, as has already been discussed in Āl ʿImrān. And it has been said: they did not know him by sight, and they killed the one they killed while in doubt about him, as He, Exalted, said: And truly those who differ concerning him are in doubt about him. The report, it has been said, is about all of them; and it has been said that only their common people differed about him, and that the meaning of their differing is that some of them said he was a god, and some of them that he was the son of God; al-Ḥasan said this. And it has been said that their differing was that their common people said: We have killed Jesus, while those who witnessed his being raised to heaven said: We did not kill him. And it has been said that their differing was that the Nestorians among the Christians said: Jesus was crucified in respect of his humanity, not in respect of his divinity; while the Melkites said: The crucifixion and the killing befell the Messiah in his entirety, his humanity and his divinity. And it has been said that their differing was that they said: If this is our companion, then where is Jesus? And if this is Jesus, then where is our companion? And it has been said that their differing was that the Jews said: We killed him, because Judas, the chief of the Jews, was the one who worked to have him killed; and a party of the Christians said: Rather, it was we who killed him; and another party of them said: Rather, God raised him to heaven while we were looking on at him.

They have no knowledge of it: min is redundant, and the sentence is complete. Then He, Mighty and Majestic, said: except the following of conjecture: a discontinuous exception (istithnāʾ laysa min al-awwal) in the position of the accusative; it may also be in the position of the nominative as a substitute, that is: they have no knowledge of it except the following of conjecture. Sībawayh recited:

Many a land in which there is no companion

except the young gazelles and except the white antelopes.

His words, Exalted: And they did not kill him for certain. Ibn ʿAbbās and al-Suddī said: the meaning is that they did not kill their conjecture with certainty, as when you say “I killed it with knowledge” (qataltuhu ʿilman) when you know a thing completely; so the pronoun refers back to the conjecture. Abū ʿUbayd said: Had the meaning been “they did not kill Jesus for certain”, He would have said only “and they did not kill him”. And it has been said: the meaning is that they did not kill for certain the one who was made to appear to them as Jesus; on this view the pause is at for certain. And it has been said: the meaning is “they did not kill Jesus”, with the pause at and they did not kill him, and for certain is the attribute of an elided verbal noun, and in this there are two construals. One is: that is, they said this as a certain saying; or God said this as a certain saying. The other view is that the meaning be “and they did not know it with certain knowledge”. Al-Naḥḥās: If you construe the meaning as “rather God raised him to Himself for certain”, that is an error, because what comes after bal does not govern what comes before it, owing to its weakness. Ibn al-Anbārī allowed the pause at and they did not kill him on the basis that for certain is in the accusative by an implied verb which is the complement of an oath, its implied sense being: and you have indeed spoken the truth for certain, that is, a certain truth.

Rather, God raised him to Himself (4:158): the beginning of a fresh sentence; that is, to heaven, for God, Exalted, is far exalted above place. The manner of his being raised has already been discussed in Āl ʿImrān.

And God is Mighty, that is, strong in taking vengeance on the Jews, for He gave power over them to Petrus son of Astīsānūs the Roman³², who slew them in a great slaughter.

Wise: He decreed upon them the curse and the wrath.

On 4:159

His words, Exalted: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159). Ibn ʿAbbās, al-Ḥasan, Mujāhid and ʿIkrimah said: the meaning is, he will surely believe in the Messiah before his death, that is, the death of the person of the Book; so the first pronoun refers to Jesus and the second to the person of the Book. This is because there is no one of the People of the Book, the Jews and the Christians, but believes in Jesus (peace be upon him) when he sees the angel with his own eyes; but it is a belief that does not benefit, because it is belief at the moment of despair and when one is already in the state of death. The Jew at that moment acknowledges that he is the Messenger of God, and the Christian acknowledges that he was the Messenger of God. It is related that al-Ḥajjāj asked Shahr ibn Ḥawshab about this verse and said: Captives from among the Jews and the Christians are brought before me and I order that their necks be struck, and I look at such a one at that moment and I see no belief from him. Shahr ibn Ḥawshab said to him: When he sees the affair of the Hereafter with his own eyes, he acknowledges that Jesus is the servant of God and His messenger, and so he believes in him, but it does not benefit him. Al-Ḥajjāj said to him: From where did you take this? He said: I took it from Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah. Al-Ḥajjāj said to him: You have taken it from a pure spring. It is related of Mujāhid that he said: There is no one of the People of the Book but believes in Jesus before his death. It was said to him: If he drowns, or burns, or a wild beast eats him, does he believe in Jesus? He said: Yes! And it has been said that both pronouns refer to Jesus (peace be upon him), and the meaning is: whoever is alive at the time of his descent on the Day of Resurrection³³ will surely believe in him; Qatādah, Ibn Zayd and others said this, and al-Ṭabarī preferred it. Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related, from a man, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words, Exalted, And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death, that he said: before the death of Jesus; by God, he is alive with God now, but when he descends they will all believe in him. The like of this is reported from al-Ḍaḥḥāk and Saʿīd ibn Jubayr. And it has been said: will surely believe in him, that is, in Muḥammad (peace be upon him), even though no mention of him has preceded, because these narratives were sent down to him and the object is belief in him; and belief in Jesus includes belief in Muḥammad (blessings and peace be upon him) as well, since it is not permissible to make a distinction between them. And it has been said: will surely believe in him, that is, in God, Exalted, before he dies, though belief at the moment of seeing with one’s own eyes does not benefit him. The first two interpretations are the more evident. Al-Zuhrī related, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), that he said: “The son of Mary will surely descend as a just judge; he will surely kill the Antichrist, kill the swine and break the cross, and prostration will be one, to God, the Lord of the worlds.” Then Abū Hurayrah said: Recite if you wish: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death. Abū Hurayrah said: before the death of Jesus, repeating it three times. The implied construction of the verse according to Sībawayh is: and there is not anyone of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him. The implied construction of the Kufans is: and there is none of the People of the Book except one who will surely believe in him; but there is an ugliness in this, because it involves the elision of the relative pronoun, while the relative clause is part of the relative pronoun, so it is as if part of the noun has been elided.

His words, Exalted: and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them, that is, to the denial of those who denied him and the affirmation of those who affirmed him.

On 5:116

His words, Exalted: And when God said: O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people, “Take me and my mother as two gods besides God”? (5:116). There is disagreement about the time of this speech. Qatādah, Ibn Jurayj and most of the commentators said: this will be said to him only on the Day of Resurrection. Al-Suddī and Quṭrub said: He said this to him when He raised him to heaven and the Christians said about him what they said; and they argued from His words If You punish them, they are Your servants (5:118), and from the fact that idh (“when”) in the speech of the Arabs refers to what is past. The first is the more correct, as is shown by what precedes it, His words on the Day when God will gather the messengers (5:109) to the end of the verse, and by what follows it, This is the Day when the truthful will profit from their truthfulness (5:119). On this view idh has the sense of idhā (“when”, of the future), as in His words, Exalted, if you could but see when they are terrified (34:51), that is, when (idhā) they will be terrified. Abū al-Najm said:

Then may God reward him on my behalf, when (idh) He rewards,

with Gardens of Eden in the heavens on high,

meaning “when (idhā) He rewards”. Al-Aswad ibn Jaʿfar al-Azdī said:

So now, when (idh) I jest with them, they only

say: “Behold, the old man has not gone the way he should”,

meaning “when (idhā) I jest with them”. So the future is expressed with the wording of the past, because it is a matter whose occurrence is certain and whose proof is manifest, as if it had already taken place. In the Revelation there is And the companions of the Fire will call out to the companions of the Garden (7:50), where the verb is in the past tense; there are many instances like this, and it has been discussed before.

The people of interpretation differed as to the meaning of this question, which is not a true interrogative even though it is cast in the form of an interrogative, holding two views. The first: that He asked him this as a rebuke to those who made this claim about him, so that his denial after the question would be more forceful in giving them the lie and more severe in rebuke and reproach. The second: that He intended by this question to inform him that his people had altered things after him and had attributed to him what he never said.

If it is asked: the Christians did not take Mary as a god, so how could this be said about them? The reply is: since it was part of their doctrine that she did not give birth to a human being but gave birth to a god, it necessarily followed for them to say that she, by reason of her partaking in him, was of the same standing as the one whom she bore; and when that consequence bound them, they became of the same standing as those who say it.

His words, Exalted: He said: Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to. If I had said it, You would have known it. Al-Tirmidhī reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: Jesus received his argument, and God instructed him in it, with regard to His words And when God said: O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people, “Take me and my mother as two gods besides God”? Abū Hurayrah said, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “So God instructed him: Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to“, the whole verse. Abū ʿĪsā said: this is a good, sound ḥadīth (ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ).

He began with glorification before the answer for two reasons. The first: to declare Him transcendent above what had been attributed to Him. The second: in submission to His might and in fear of His power. It is said that when God, Exalted, said to Jesus did you say to the people, “Take me and my mother as two gods besides God”?, trembling seized him at that speech until he heard the sound of his own bones within himself, and he said Glory be to You! Then he said It is not for me to say what I have no right to, that is, to claim for myself what is not my due; meaning: I am one who has a Lord, and am not a lord; a worshipper, and not one worshipped. Then he said If I had said it, You would have known it, thus referring the matter to His knowledge; and God already knew that he had not said it, but He asked him about it as a reproach to those who took Jesus as a god. Then he said You know what is in my self, and I do not know what is in Your Self, that is, You know what is hidden in me, and I do not know what is hidden with You. It was said that the meaning is: You know what I know, and I do not know what You know. It was said: You know what I conceal, and I do not know what You conceal. It was said: You know what I intend, and I do not know what You intend. It was said: You know my secret, and I do not know Your secret, because the seat of the secret is the self (nafs). And it was said: You know what proceeded from me in the abode of this world, and I do not know what will proceed from You in the abode of the Hereafter. I say: the meaning in these sayings is close to one another, namely: You know my secret and what my inner conscience, which You created, enfolds, and I know nothing of what You have reserved to Yourself of Your unseen and Your knowledge.

Indeed, You are the Knower of all things unseen: what was, what will be, what has not been, and what is.

On 5:117

His words, Exalted: I said to them nothing except what You commanded me (5:117), meaning in this world, with the profession of God’s oneness (tawḥīd).

that: “Worship God”: an (“that”) has no syntactic position; it is explicative (mufassirah), like and the chiefs among them went off, [saying] that: “Walk on” (38:6). It may also be in the position of an accusative, that is, “I mentioned nothing to them except the worship of God”; and it may be in the position of a genitive, that is, “[commanded me] with: Worship God”. Giving the nūn a ḍammah is preferable, because they find a kasrah followed by a ḍammah burdensome, though the kasrah is permissible on the basic principle governing the meeting of two quiescent letters. His words, Exalted: and I was a witness over them, that is, a guardian over them with regard to what You commanded them.

so long as I remained among them: mā is in the accusative position, that is, “during the time of my remaining among them”.

but when You took me up, You were the Watcher over them: it has been said that this indicates that God, Mighty and Majestic, caused him to die before raising him; but this is nothing, because the reports have come abundantly that he was raised, that he is alive in heaven, and that he will descend and kill the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl), as will be explained later. The meaning is rather: when You raised me to heaven. Al-Ḥasan said: “being taken” (wafāh) in the Book of God, Mighty and Majestic, bears three senses: the taking of death, as in His words, Exalted, God takes the souls at the time of their death (39:42), meaning at the time of the expiry of their term; the taking of sleep, as God, Exalted, said, It is He who takes you by night (6:60), meaning He who causes you to sleep; and the taking of raising up, as God, Exalted, said, O Jesus, I am taking you up (3:55). His words You were (kunta anta): anta here is for emphasis; the Watcher is the predicate of kunta, and its meaning is the Guardian over them, the Knower of them and the Witness to their deeds. Its root is murāqabah, that is, watchful observation, and from it comes marqabah, the watch-tower, because it is the place of the watchman by reason of the height of the position.

and You are Witness over all things, that is, over my speech and their speech; and it was said: over whoever disobeys and whoever obeys. Muslim reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up among us to preach with an exhortation and said: “O people, you will be gathered to God barefoot, naked and uncircumcised: As We began the first creation, We shall repeat it: a promise binding upon Us; truly We shall do it (21:104). Behold, the first of creatures to be clothed on the Day of Resurrection will be Abraham (peace be upon him). Behold, men from my community will be brought and taken off towards the left, and I shall say: ‘My Lord, my companions!’ And it will be said: ‘You do not know what they innovated after you.’ So I shall say as the righteous servant said: and I was a witness over them so long as I remained among them; but when You took me up, You were the Watcher over them, and You are Witness over all things. If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise (5:117–118).” He said: “Then it will be said to me: ‘They never ceased turning back, apostates upon their heels, since you parted from them.’”

On 5:118

His words, Exalted: If You punish them, they are Your servants (5:118): a conditional clause with its apodosis; and and if You forgive them, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise is the same. Al-Nasāʾī related from Abū Dharr, who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood one night in prayer with a single verse until morning came, and the verse was If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise.

There is disagreement about its interpretation. It was said: he said it by way of seeking kindness and compassion for them, as a master is entreated on behalf of his slave; and for this reason he did not say “for they have disobeyed You”. It was said: he said it by way of submission to His command and seeking refuge from His punishment, while knowing that an unbeliever is not forgiven. It was said: the hāʾ and mīm, the pronoun “them”, in If You punish them refer to those of them who died in unbelief, and the hāʾ and mīm in if You forgive them refer to those of them who repented before death; and this is a fine view. As for the view of those who say that Jesus (peace be upon him) did not know that the unbeliever is not forgiven, it is a view that presumes against the Book of God, Mighty and Majestic, because the reports that come from God, Mighty and Majestic, are not abrogated. It was said: Jesus was of the opinion that they had introduced acts of disobedience and had done after him what he had not commanded them, but that they were still upon the pillar of his religion; so he said: and if You forgive them the acts of disobedience that they introduced after me. He said You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise and did not say “You are indeed the Forgiving, the Merciful”, in keeping with what the narrative requires of submission to His command and entrusting the matter to His judgement. Had he said “You are indeed the Forgiving, the Merciful”, it would have suggested a prayer for forgiveness for one who died in his polytheism, and that is impossible. So the implied sense is: if You leave them in their unbelief until they die and punish them, they are Your servants; and if You guide them to Your oneness and obedience to You and so forgive them, You are indeed the Mighty, whom nothing You will can resist, the Wise in what You do: You lead astray whom You will and guide whom You will. A group did read “You are indeed the Forgiving, the Merciful”, but it is not in the written codex (muṣḥaf); al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ mentioned it in his book al-Shifāʾ.

Abū Bakr al-Anbārī said: Those who say that His words You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise do not match His words and if You forgive them, because what matches forgiveness is “You are indeed the Forgiving, the Merciful”, have attacked the Qurʾān. The answer is that it admits of nothing but what God sent down, and whenever it is transferred to the wording to which this person would transfer it, its meaning is weakened; for “the Forgiving, the Merciful” would then stand alone with the second condition and have no connection with the first condition, whereas according to what God, Mighty and Majestic, sent down, and on whose recitation the Muslims are agreed, it is joined to both conditions, the first and the last, since its summary sense is: “If You punish them, You are indeed Mighty, Wise; and if You forgive them, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise”, in both matters, punishment and forgiveness. So “the Mighty, the Wise” was more fitting for this place because of its generality, since it embraces both conditions, and “the Forgiving, the Merciful” was not suitable, since it does not admit of the generality that “the Mighty, the Wise” admits of; and what bears witness to the magnifying of God, Exalted, to His justice and to praise of Him throughout the whole verse and both the conditions mentioned is more fitting, and firmer in meaning within the verse, than what suits one part of the speech and not another.

Muslim reported, by more than one route, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) recited His words, Mighty and Majestic, concerning Abraham, My Lord, they have led astray many of mankind; so whoever follows me is of me, and whoever disobeys me, You are indeed Forgiving, Merciful (14:36), and what Jesus (peace be upon him) said, If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise; then he raised his hands and said: “O God, my community!” and wept. So God, Mighty and Majestic, said: “O Gabriel, go to Muḥammad (and your Lord knows best) and ask him what makes him weep.” Gabriel (peace be upon him) came to him and asked him, and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) told him what he had said, and He knows best. Then God said: “O Gabriel, go to Muḥammad and say to him: We shall satisfy you regarding your community and We shall not grieve you.”

Some said: there is a transposition (taqdīm wa-taʾkhīr) in the verse, and its meaning is: if You punish them, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise; and if You forgive them, they are Your servants. But taking the words in their order is preferable, for the reason we have explained. And with God is success.

On 5:119

His words, Exalted: God said: This is the Day when the truthful will profit from their truthfulness (5:119), that is, their truthfulness in this world; as for the Hereafter, truthfulness there is of no avail. Their truthfulness in this world may mean their sincerity in acting for God, or it may mean their refraining from lying against Him and against His messengers. Truthfulness profits them on that Day, even though it is beneficial on every day, because recompense takes place on it. It was said: what is meant is their truthfulness in the Hereafter, namely in testifying for their prophets that they conveyed the message, and in what they testify against themselves concerning their deeds; and the manner of its profiting them would be that they are spared being called to account, because they did not conceal testimony, so that they are forgiven for their acknowledgement in favour of their prophets and against themselves. And God knows best.

Nāfiʿ and Ibn Muḥayṣin read yawma (“Day”) in the accusative. The rest read it in the nominative, and this is the clear reading, on the basis of subject and predicate: yawmu yanfaʿu (“the Day when … will profit”) is the predicate of “this”, and the sentence is in the accusative position as the object of “said”. As for the reading of Nāfiʿ and Ibn Muḥayṣin, Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥumayd related from Muḥammad ibn Yazīd that this reading is not permissible, because it would be putting the predicate of the subject in the accusative, and indeclinability is not permissible in it. Ibrāhīm ibn al-Sarī said: it is permissible, in the sense “God said this to Jesus son of Mary on the Day when the truthful profit from their truthfulness”, so that “Day” is an adverb of the saying and “this” is the object of the saying, the implied sense being: God said this saying on a Day when the truthful profit. It was said: the implied sense is, God, Mighty and Majestic, said: these things profit on the Day of Resurrection. Al-Kisāʾī and al-Farrāʾ said: yawm is here made indeclinable with a fatḥah because it is annexed to something other than a noun, as you say maḍā yawmaʾidhin (“that day passed”); and al-Kisāʾī recited:

At the time when I reproached grey hair for youthful folly,

and said: “Have I not yet sobered, with grey hair to restrain me?”

Al-Zajjāj said: the Basrans do not allow what these two said when you annex the adverb to an imperfect verb; if it is to a past verb, it is good, as in the preceding verse of poetry. It is permissible to annex a verb to adverbs of time only because the verb has the sense of a verbal noun. It was said: it may be in the accusative as an adverb and still be the predicate of the subject “this”, because the latter points to an event, and adverbs of time serve as predicates of events: you say “the fighting is today” and “the departure is this hour”; and the sentence is in the accusative position as the object of “said”. It was said: it may be that “this” is in the nominative position as subject, and “Day” is the predicate of the subject, with the governing word elided, the implied sense being: God said: this which We have related will take place on the Day when the truthful profit from their truthfulness. There is a third reading, yawmun yanfaʿu with tanwīn, “a Day [on which] the truthful [profit] from their truthfulness”, with an ellipsis in the speech whose implied sense is “on it”, like His words and fear a Day on which no soul shall avail another soul at all (2:48); this is the reading of al-Aʿmash.

His words, Exalted: For them are Gardens: subject and predicate. flowing is in the position of an adjective. beneath which, that is, beneath its chambers and its trees, as has been explained before. Then He, Exalted, made clear their reward and that He is pleased with them, with a pleasure after which He will never be angry; and they are pleased with Him, that is, with the recompense with which He has rewarded them.

That is the triumph, that is, the victory; supreme, that is, that whose good is great and abundant, and whose possessor’s station is raised high and ennobled.

On 5:120

His words, Exalted: To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth (5:120), to the end of the verse. This came after what had passed of the Christians’ claim about Jesus, that he is a god; so He, Exalted, declared that the dominion of the heavens and the earth belongs to Him, to the exclusion of Jesus and of all other created beings. The meaning may also be that He to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth gives the Gardens mentioned above to the obedient among His servants; may God make us among them by His favour and His generosity. The Sūrah of the Table is completed, with praise to God, Exalted.

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

On 3:55-58

The commentators differed concerning His words: I am going to take you and raise you to Myself (3:55). Qatādah and others said: this is a case of inversion of word order (al-muqaddam wa-l-muʾakhkhar), its sense being: I am going to raise you to Myself and take you, that is, after that.

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥah said, from Ibn ʿAbbās: I am going to take you (3:55), that is: I am going to cause you to die.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq said, from one who is not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: God took him for three hours of the day when God raised him to Himself.

Ibn Isḥāq said: The Christians claim that God took him for seven hours and then brought him back to life.

Isḥāq ibn Bishr said, from Idrīs, from Wahb: God caused him to die for three days, then raised him up, then raised him to Himself.

Maṭar al-Warrāq said: “taking you” from this world, and it is not the taking of death. Ibn Jarīr said likewise: his taking is his being raised.

The majority said: what is meant by the taking (wafāh) here is sleep, as He, Exalted, said: It is He who takes you by night, and He knows what you have earned by day (6:60); and He, Exalted, said: God takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that have not died, in their sleep; then He retains those on which He has decreed death and sends the others back until an appointed term. Surely in that are signs for a people who reflect (39:42). And the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say, when he rose from sleep: “Praise be to God, who has given us life after He caused us to die, and to Him is the resurrection.” And God, Exalted, said: and for their disbelief, and their uttering against Mary a tremendous slander, and their saying: We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God, up to His words, Exalted: and they did not kill him for certain. Rather, God raised him to Himself, and God is Mighty, Wise. And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:156-159). The pronoun in His words before his death refers to Jesus (peace be upon him), that is: there is none of the People of the Book but will believe in Jesus before the death of Jesus, and that will be when he descends to the earth before the Day of Resurrection, as will be explained in due course; at that time all the People of the Book will believe in him, because he will abolish the poll-tax (jizyah) and accept nothing but Islam.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: my father related to us: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father: al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas related to us, from al-Ḥasan, that he said concerning His words I am going to take you (3:55): he means the taking of sleep; God raised him in his sleep. Al-Ḥasan said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the Jews: “Jesus has not died, and he is returning to you before the Day of Resurrection.”

And His words, Exalted: and purify you from those who disbelieved (3:55), that is: by My raising you to heaven; and make those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection (3:55). And so it came to pass. For when God raised the Messiah (peace be upon him) to heaven, his companions split into sects after him. Among them were those who believed in that with which God had sent him, namely that he was the servant of God, His messenger and the son of His handmaid; among them were those who went to extremes concerning him and made him the son of God; others said: he is God; and others said: he is the third of three. God has recounted their sayings in the Qur’an and refuted every party. They continued thus for nearly three hundred years; then there arose among them a king of the kings of the Greeks called Constantine, who entered the religion of Christianity—it was said, as a stratagem in order to corrupt it, for he was a philosopher; and it was said, out of ignorance on his part—save that he altered for them the religion of the Messiah and distorted it, adding to it and subtracting from it. The canons were laid down for him, and the Great Trust³⁴—which is in truth the Contemptible Treachery—; in his time the flesh of swine was made lawful, they prayed for him towards the east, they adorned the churches with images for him, and they added ten days to their fast on account of a sin he had committed, as they claim. Thus the religion of the Messiah became the religion of Constantine, except that he built for them churches, temples, cells and monasteries numbering more than twelve thousand places of worship, and he built the city that is named after him, and the Melkite party among them followed him. In all this they were dominant over the Jews; God supported them against them because they were nearer to the truth than they, even though all of them were unbelievers—upon them be the curses of God.

Then when God sent Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), those who believed in him believed in God, His angels, His books and His messengers in the true manner, and so they were the followers of every prophet on the face of the earth, since they had affirmed the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, the Seal of the Messengers and the master of the children of Adam, who called them to affirm the whole of the truth. So they were more entitled to every prophet than his own community, who claim to be upon his creed and his way, despite what they have distorted and altered.

Then, even if none of that were so, God had abrogated by his law the law of all the messengers, through the true religion with which He sent Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), which will not be changed or altered until the coming of the Hour, and which will remain standing, victorious and prevailing over every religion. For this reason God opened for his Companions the eastern parts of the earth and its western parts; they took possession of all the kingdoms, all the states submitted to them, they broke Chosroes and cut Caesar short, and they stripped the two of them of their treasures, which were spent in the way of God, just as their Prophet had informed them of this from their Lord, Mighty and Majestic, in His words: God has promised those of you who believe and do righteous deeds that He will surely make them successors in the earth, as He made those before them successors, and will surely establish for them their religion which He has approved for them, and will surely give them in exchange security after their fear, to the end of the verse (24:55). And for this reason, since they were the true believers in the Messiah, they stripped the Christians of the lands of Syria and drove them out to the land of the Romans, and they took refuge in their city, Constantinople; and Islam and its people will remain above them until the Day of Resurrection. The Truthful One, whose truth is confirmed, informed his community that the last of them will conquer Constantinople, take as spoil the wealth that is in it, and slay the Romans in an exceedingly great slaughter, the like of which people have never seen, nor will they see its equal afterwards. I have compiled a separate monograph on this. And for this reason He, Exalted, said: and make those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection. Then to Me is your return (3:55), that is, on the Day of Resurrection, and I shall judge between you concerning that wherein you used to differ. As for those who disbelieved, I shall punish them with a severe punishment in this world and the Hereafter, and they shall have no helpers (3:55-56). And thus did He, Exalted, do with those of the Jews who disbelieved in the Messiah, and those of the Christians who went to extremes concerning him and lauded him excessively: He punished them in this world with killing, captivity, the seizure of wealth and the removal of their hands from the kingdoms; and in the Abode of the Hereafter their punishment is harsher and more grievous, and they shall have no protector from God (13:34).

And as for those who believed and did righteous deeds, He will pay them their rewards in full (3:57), that is: in this world and the Hereafter—in this world with help and victory, and in the Hereafter with the lofty gardens; and God does not love the wrongdoers (3:57).

Then He, Exalted, said: This We recite to you of the signs and the Wise Reminder (3:58), that is: this which We have related to you, O Muḥammad, concerning the affair of Jesus, the beginning of his birth and the manner of his affair, is of what God, Exalted, has said, revealed to you and sent down to you from the Preserved Tablet; there is no doubt in it and no uncertainty, as He, Exalted, said in Sūrat Maryam: That is Jesus son of Mary—the word of truth concerning which they are in doubt. It is not for God to take a son; glory be to Him! When He decrees a matter, He only says to it “Be”, and it is (19:34-35). And here He, Exalted, said:

On 4:155-159

This is among the sins which they committed, and which brought upon them their being cursed, driven away and removed far from guidance: namely, their breaking of the covenants and pledges that had been taken from them, and their disbelief in the signs of God, that is, His proofs and demonstrations and the miracles which they witnessed at the hands of the prophets (peace be upon them).

His words and their killing of the prophets without right (4:155): that was because of the abundance of their crimes and their audacity against the prophets of God, for they killed a vast multitude of the prophets (peace be upon them) without right.

And their saying, “Our hearts are wrapped” (4:155): Ibn ʿAbbās, Mujāhid, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, ʿIkrimah, al-Suddī, Qatādah and more than one other said: that is, in a covering. This is like the saying of the polytheists: And they said, “Our hearts are in coverings against that to which you call us, and in our ears is a heaviness, and between us and you is a veil; so work, indeed we too are working” (41:5). It was also said that its meaning is that they claimed their hearts were ghulf for knowledge, that is, vessels of knowledge which had already contained it and acquired it. This was related by al-Kalbī, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Ibn ʿAbbās. The like of this has already been discussed in Sūrat al-Baqarah.

God Exalted said: Rather, God has set a seal upon them for their disbelief (4:155). On the first opinion, it is as though they were excusing themselves to him on the ground that their hearts did not retain what he said, because they were in wrappings and coverings; so God Exalted said: rather, they are sealed on account of their disbelief. On the second opinion, He turned back upon them what they claimed from every angle. Discussion of the like of this has already been given in Sūrat al-Baqarah.

So they do not believe except a few (4:155): that is, their hearts became hardened in disbelief, transgression and paucity of faith.

And for their disbelief and their uttering against Mary a tremendous slander (4:156): ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥah said, from Ibn ʿAbbās: “It means that they accused her of fornication.” Likewise said al-Suddī, Juwaybir, Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq and more than one other. This is evident from the verse: that they accused her and her son of enormities, making her out to be a fornicatress who had conceived her child by that means; some of them added, “while she was menstruating”. So upon them be the successive curses of God until the Day of Resurrection.

And their saying, “Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God” (4:157): that is, this man who claims this rank for himself, we have killed him. This on their part is by way of mockery and derision, like the saying of the polytheists: O you upon whom the Reminder has been sent down, indeed you are mad (15:6).

Part of the story of the Jews (upon them be the curses of God, His displeasure, His wrath and His punishment) is that when God sent Jesus son of Mary with the clear proofs and guidance, they envied him for what God had given him of prophethood and dazzling miracles, by which he healed the blind and the leper and raised the dead by God’s leave, and fashioned from clay the form of a bird and then breathed into it, and it became a bird whose flight was witnessed, by the leave of God, Mighty and Majestic, and other miracles besides these with which God honoured him and which He caused to run at his hands. Yet despite this they denied him and opposed him, and strove to harm him by every means in their power, until God’s prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) would no longer dwell among them in any one town, but he and his mother (peace be upon them both) travelled much from place to place. Even that did not satisfy them, until they went to the king of Damascus in that age, who was a polytheist, one of the worshippers of the stars, and the people of his religion were called the Greeks (al-Yūnān), and they reported to him that there was a man in Jerusalem who was seducing the people, leading them astray and corrupting the king’s subjects against him. The king was angered by this and wrote to his deputy in Jerusalem to take precautions against this man who had been mentioned, to crucify him, to place thorns upon his head and to put a stop to his harming of the people. When the letter arrived, the governor of Jerusalem complied with it, and he went with a party of the Jews to the house in which Jesus (peace be upon him) was, he being in a company of his companions, twelve or thirteen, or, as it was said, seventeen persons. That was on Friday after the afternoon prayer, on the eve of the Sabbath, and they besieged him there. When he sensed them, and that there was no escaping either their coming in upon him or his going out to them, he said to his companions: “Which of you will have my likeness cast upon him, and he shall be my companion in Paradise?” A young man among them volunteered for that, but it was as though he considered him too young for it, so he repeated the question a second and a third time, and each time none volunteered but that same young man. So he said: “You are he.” And God cast upon him the likeness of Jesus, until it was as if he were he himself. A skylight was opened in the roof of the house, and a slumber of sleep overtook Jesus (peace be upon him), and he was raised to heaven in that state, as God Exalted said: When God said, “O Jesus, indeed I will take you and raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieve” to the end of the verse (3:55).

When he had been raised, those persons went out, and when the others saw that young man they thought that he was Jesus, so they seized him in the night and crucified him, and they placed the thorns upon his head. The Jews then made it known that they had striven to crucify him, and they boasted of that; and groups of the Christians conceded that to them, out of their ignorance and the smallness of their understanding, except for those who had been in the house with the Messiah, for they witnessed his being raised. As for the rest, they supposed, as the Jews supposed, that the one crucified was the Messiah son of Mary, so much so that they mentioned that Mary sat beneath that crucified man and wept, and it is said that he addressed her; and God knows best.

All of this is part of God’s testing of His servants, for the far-reaching wisdom He has in that. God has made the matter plain, revealed it, clarified it and made it manifest in the Mighty Qurʾān which He sent down upon His noble Messenger, who was supported with miracles, clear proofs and manifest evidences. So He said, Exalted, and He is the most truthful of speakers, the Lord of the worlds, Who is acquainted with secrets and inner thoughts, Who knows the hidden in the heavens and the earth, the Knower of what was and what will be, and of what has not been, how it would be were it to be: and they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it was made to appear so to them (4:157), that is, they saw his likeness and supposed it to be him. For this reason He said: And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of conjecture, and they did not kill him for certain; rather, God raised him to Himself (4:157-158). By this He means those of the Jews who claimed to have killed him and those of the ignorant Christians who conceded it to them: all of them are in doubt about that, and in bewilderment, error and frenzy. For this reason He said: and they did not kill him for certain (4:157), that is, they did not kill him while certain that it was he; rather, they were doubting and imagining. Rather, God raised him to Himself. And God is ever Mighty and Wise (4:158), that is, inaccessible in His majesty, His majesty cannot be assailed, nor is anyone wronged who takes refuge at His door; Wise, that is, in all that He ordains and decrees of the affairs which He creates, and His is the far-reaching wisdom, the crushing proof, the mighty authority and the eternal command.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: Aḥmad ibn Sinān related to us: Abū Muʿāwiyah related to us, from al-Aʿmash, from al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When God wished to raise Jesus to heaven, he came out to his companions, and in the house were twelve men of the disciples; that is, he came out to them from a spring in the house, with his head dripping water, and he said: “Among you is one who will disbelieve in me twelve times after having believed in me.” Then he said: “Which of you will have my likeness cast upon him, so that he is killed in my place and is with me in my rank?” A young man, one of the youngest of them in age, stood up, and he said to him: “Sit down.” Then he repeated it to them, and that young man stood up, and he said: “Sit down.” Then he repeated it to them, and the young man stood up and said: “I.” He said: “You are that one.” So the likeness of Jesus was cast upon him, and Jesus was raised from a skylight in the house to heaven. He said: The search party from the Jews came, and they seized the likeness and killed him, and then crucified him; and some of them disbelieved in him twelve times after having believed in him. They split into three sects. One group said: “God was among us for as long as He willed, then He ascended to heaven”; these are the Jacobites. Another sect said: “The son of God was among us for as long as he willed, then God raised him to Himself”; these are the Nestorians. And another sect said: “The servant of God and His Messenger was among us for as long as he willed, then God raised him to Himself”; these are the Muslims. The two unbelieving sects then joined together against the Muslim one and killed it, and Islam remained obliterated until God sent Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

This is a sound chain of transmission (isnād) to Ibn ʿAbbās. Al-Nasāʾī related it from Abū Kurayb, from Abū Muʿāwiyah, with a similar text. Likewise more than one of the early generations (salaf) mentioned that he said to them: “Which of you will have my likeness cast upon him, so that he is killed in my place, and he shall be my companion in Paradise?”

Ibn Jarīr said: Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us, from Hārūn ibn ʿAntarah, from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: Jesus was come upon while seventeen of the disciples were with him in a house, and they surrounded them. When they came in upon him, God, Mighty and Majestic, fashioned all of them in the form of Jesus, and they said to them: “You have bewitched us! Either Jesus comes out to us, or we shall kill you all.” Jesus said to his companions: “Which of you will sell his soul today for Paradise?” A man among them said: “I.” So he went out to them and said: “I am Jesus”, God having fashioned him in the form of Jesus, and they seized him, killed him and crucified him. Hence it was made to appear so to them, and they supposed that they had killed Jesus, and the Christians likewise supposed that it was Jesus; and God raised Jesus on that very day. This is an exceedingly strange (gharīb) account.

Ibn Jarīr said: Something like this opinion has been related from Wahb, and it is what al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to me that he heard Wahb say: When God informed Jesus son of Mary that he was departing from this world, he was distressed at death and it weighed heavily upon him, so he summoned the disciples and prepared food for them, and said: “Be present with me tonight, for I have a need of you.” When they had gathered to him in the night, he gave them supper and stood serving them. When they had finished the food, he began to wash their hands and perform their ablutions for them with his own hand, and to wipe their hands with his garments. They considered that too great a thing and were averse to it, but he said: “Behold, whoever refuses me anything tonight of what I do, he is not of me and I am not of him.” So they allowed him, until, when he had finished that, he said: “As for what I have done with you tonight, in serving you at the meal and washing your hands with my own hand, let it be an example for you from me; for you see that I am the best of you, so let none of you exalt himself over another, and let each of you give himself up for the others, as I have given myself up for you. As for my need of you tonight, in which I seek your help, it is that you pray to God for me, and that you strive in supplication that my appointed term be deferred.” But when they set themselves to supplication and wished to strive in it, sleep overtook them, so that they were unable to pray. He began to wake them, saying: “Glory be to God! Will you not bear with me a single night in which you help me?” They said: “By God, we do not know what has come over us. We used to stay up conversing at night and would converse at length, yet tonight we cannot manage any conversation, and whenever we wish to pray a barrier is placed between us and it.” He said: “The shepherd is taken away and the sheep are scattered.” And he began to utter words like this, lamenting his own death. Then he said: “Truly, one of you will deny me three times before the cock crows, and one of you will sell me for a few dirhams, and will devour my price.” Then they went out and dispersed. The Jews were seeking him, and they seized Simon (Shamʿūn), one of the disciples, and said: “This is one of his companions.” But he denied it and said: “I am not his companion”, so they let him go. Then others seized him, and he denied it likewise. Then he heard the voice of a cock, and he wept, and it grieved him. When morning came, one of the disciples came to the Jews and said: “What will you give me if I lead you to the Messiah?” They assigned him thirty dirhams, and he took them and led them to him, and it had been made to appear so to them before that. So they seized him and bound him securely, and tied him with the rope, and began to lead him along, saying to him: “You used to raise the dead, rebuke Satan and heal the possessed; can you not save yourself from this rope?” And they spat upon him and cast thorns upon him, until they brought him to the piece of wood upon which they wished to crucify him. Then God raised him to Himself, and they crucified what was made to appear to them, and it remained for seven days.

Then his mother and the woman whom Jesus (peace be upon him) had been treating, and whom God had cured of madness, came weeping to where the crucified man was. Jesus came to them and said: “For what are you weeping?” They said: “For you.” He said: “God has raised me to Himself, and nothing but good has befallen me; and this one was made to appear so to them. So bid the disciples to meet me at such-and-such a place.” So eleven of them met him at that place. They missed the one who had sold him and led the Jews to him, and he asked his companions about him, and one said: “He regretted what he had done, so he hanged himself and killed himself.” He said: “Had he repented, God would have accepted his repentance.” Then he asked them about a lad who used to follow them, called John (Yaḥyā), and said: “He is with you. So go forth, for every one of you shall in the morning speak in the tongue of a people; let him warn them and call them.” An exceedingly strange account.

Then Ibn Jarīr said: Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: The name of the king of the Children of Israel who sent to Jesus in order to kill him was a man among them called David (Dāwūd). When they had resolved upon that against him, no servant among the servants of God was ever, so far as has been mentioned to me, so appalled at death as he was appalled at it, nor so distressed by it as he was distressed, nor did any supplicate God to turn it away from him as he supplicated, so that he said, as they claim: “O God, if You are going to turn this cup away from any one of Your creatures, then turn it away from me”, and so that his skin, from the anguish of that, streamed with blood. Then he entered the place of entry in which they had resolved to come in upon him to kill him, he and his companions, they being thirteen including Jesus (peace be upon him). When he was certain that they were coming in upon him, he said to his companions among the disciples, who were twelve men: Peter (Fuṭrus), James son of Zebedee (Yaʿqūb ibn Zabdī), John (Yuḥannas) the brother of James, Andrew (Andarābīs), Philip (Fīlibs), Bartholomew (Abrathulmā), Matthew (Minnā), Thomas (Tūmās), James son of Alphaeus (Yaʿqūb ibn Ḥalfiyā), Thaddaeus (Tadāwsīs), Simon the Zealot (Qathāniyā) and Judas Iscariot (Yūdis Zakariyyā Yūṭā).

Ibn Ḥumayd said: Salamah said: Ibn Isḥāq said: There was among them, according to what has been mentioned to me, a man whose name was Sergius (Sirjis), so they were thirteen men apart from Jesus (peace be upon him). The Christians have denied him, and that is because he is the one who was made to resemble Jesus (peace be upon him) in the eyes of the Jews, in his place. He said: So I do not know what he was: whether he was one of these twelve, or was a thirteenth. They denied him when they conceded to the Jews the crucifixion of Jesus, and disbelieved in the report of him which Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) brought. If they were thirteen, then they entered the place of entry, when they entered, being fourteen with Jesus; and if they were twelve, then they entered the place of entry, when they entered, being thirteen.

Ibn Isḥāq said: A man who had been a Christian and became a Muslim related to me that when there came to Jesus from God indeed I will take you and raise you to Myself (3:55), he said: “O company of disciples, which of you would like to be my companion in Paradise, on condition that he be made to appear to the people in my form, so that they kill him in my place?” Sergius said: “I, O Spirit of God.” He said: “Then sit in my seat.” So he sat in it, and Jesus (peace be upon him) was raised. Then they came in upon him and seized him and crucified him; so he was the one whom they crucified and who was made to appear to them as him. Their number when they went in with Jesus was known, for they had seen them and counted their number. When they came in upon him to seize him, they found Jesus, as they supposed, and his companions, but they missed one man from the number; and he is the one about whom they differed. They did not know Jesus, so that they assigned to Judas Iscariot thirty dirhams on condition that he lead them to him and point him out to them. He said to them: “When you go in to him, I shall kiss him; and the one I kiss, he is the one, so seize him.” When they went in, Jesus had already been raised, and he saw Sergius in the form of Jesus, and did not doubt that he was Jesus, so he bent over him and kissed him, and they seized him and crucified him.

Then Judas Iscariot regretted what he had done, and hanged himself with a rope until he killed himself. He is accursed among the Christians, though he had been one of those counted among his companions. Some of the Christians claim that Judas Iscariot was the one who was made to appear to them as him, and that they crucified him while he was saying: “I am not your man. I am the one who led you to him.” And God knows best which of these it was.

Ibn Jarīr said, from Mujāhid: They crucified a man whom they took to resemble Jesus, and God, Mighty and Majestic, raised Jesus to heaven alive.

Ibn Jarīr preferred the view that the likeness of Jesus was cast upon all of his companions.

His words, Exalted: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159)

Ibn Jarīr said: The people of interpretation differed concerning the meaning of that.

• Some of them said: the meaning of that is: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him, meaning in Jesus, before his death, meaning before the death of Jesus. He directed that to the sense that all of them will affirm him when he descends to kill the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl), so that all the religions become one, namely the upright (ḥanīfiyyah) religion of Islam, the religion of Abraham (peace be upon him).

Those who said this

Ibn Bashshār related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us: Sufyān related to us, from Abū Ḥuṣayn, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death; he said: before the death of Jesus son of Mary. Al-ʿAwfī said the like of that, from Ibn ʿAbbās.

Abū Mālik said concerning His words but will surely believe in him before his death: That is at the descent of Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him); not one of the People of the Book will remain but will believe in him.

Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said, from Ibn ʿAbbās: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death, meaning the Jews in particular. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said: meaning the Negus (al-Najāshī) and his companions. Both of these were related by Ibn Abī Ḥātim.

Ibn Jarīr said: Yaʿqūb related to me: Ibn ʿUlayyah related to us: Abū Rajāʾ related to us, from al-Ḥasan: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death; he said: before the death of Jesus. By God, he is now alive with God, but when he descends they will all believe in him.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: My father related to us: ʿAlī ibn ʿUthmān al-Lāḥiqī related to us: Juwayriyah ibn Bishr related to us, saying: I heard a man say to al-Ḥasan: “O Abū Saʿīd, the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death?” He said: “Before the death of Jesus. God raised Jesus to Himself, and He will send him forth before the Day of Resurrection in a station in which the righteous and the wicked alike will believe in him.”

Likewise said Qatādah, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd ibn Aslam and more than one other. This opinion is the truth, as we shall make clear hereafter with decisive proof, God willing; in Him is our trust and upon Him our reliance.

Ibn Jarīr said:

• Others said: the meaning of that is: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before the death of the person of the Book. He mentioned those who directed that to the sense that when one sees with his own eyes he knows the truth from falsehood, because everyone upon whom death descends, his soul does not depart until the truth becomes distinct for him from falsehood in his religion.

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥah said, from Ibn ʿAbbās, on His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death; he said: No Jew dies until he believes in Jesus.

Al-Muthannā related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfah related to us: Shibl related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, on His words but will surely believe in him before his death: Every possessor of a Book believes in Jesus before his death, that is, before the death of the possessor of the Book. And Ibn ʿAbbās said: Were you to strike off his neck, his soul would not depart until he believed in Jesus.

Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Abū Numaylah Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us: Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid related to us, from Yazīd al-Naḥwī, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Jew does not die until he bears witness that Jesus is the servant of God and His Messenger, even if he is hastened to death by the sword.

Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥabīb ibn al-Shahīd related to me: ʿAttāb ibn Bashīr related to us, from Khuṣayf, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death; he said: In the reading of Ubayy it is before their death³⁵: there is no Jew who ever dies until he believes in Jesus. It was said to Ibn ʿAbbās: “What if he falls from the top of a house?” He said: “He utters it as he falls.” It was said: “What if the neck of one of them is struck off?” He said: “His tongue stammers it out.”

Likewise Sufyān al-Thawrī related from Khuṣayf, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death; he said: No Jew dies until he believes in Jesus (peace be upon him); if he is struck with the sword he utters it; and he said: if he falls, he utters it as he is falling.

Likewise Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī related from Shuʿbah, from Abū Hārūn al-Ghanawī, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās. All these are sound chains of transmission to Ibn ʿAbbās, and it is likewise soundly transmitted from Mujāhid, ʿIkrimah and Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk, Juwaybir and al-Suddī held this view, and he reported it from Ibn ʿAbbās and transmitted the reading of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb: “before their death”.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq said, from Isrāʾīl, from Furāt al-Qazzāz, from al-Ḥasan, on His words but will surely believe in him before his death; he said: Not one of them dies until he believes in Jesus before he dies.

This may possibly mean that al-Ḥasan intended what was previously cited from him, or it may be that he intended what these others intended.

Ibn Jarīr said:

• Others said: the meaning of that is: and there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) before the death of the person of the Book.

Those who said this

Ibn al-Muthannā related to me: al-Ḥajjāj ibn Minhāl related to us: Ḥammād related to us, from Ḥumayd, who said: ʿIkrimah said: Neither the Christian nor the Jew dies until he believes in Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), concerning His words And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death.

Then Ibn Jarīr said: The most worthy of these opinions to be correct is the first opinion, namely that not one of the People of the Book will remain after the descent of Jesus (peace be upon him) but will believe in him before his death, that is, before the death of Jesus (peace be upon him). There is no doubt that this which Ibn Jarīr (may God have mercy on him) said is the correct view, because it is what is intended by the sequence of the verses in establishing the falsity of what the Jews claimed regarding the killing of Jesus and his crucifixion, and the concession of that to them by those ignorant Christians who conceded it. God informed that the matter was not so; rather, it was made to appear so to them, and they killed the one who resembled him while not discerning that. Then He raised him to Himself, and he remains alive, and he will descend before the Day of Resurrection, as the mass-transmitted (mutawātir) ḥadīths indicate, which we shall cite shortly, God willing, and he will kill the Messiah of misguidance, break the cross, kill the swine and abolish the poll tax (jizyah), meaning he will not accept it from anyone of the people of the various religions, but will accept nothing but Islam or the sword. This noble verse thus informs that all the People of the Book will believe in him at that time, and not one of them will hold back from affirming him. For this reason He said: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death, that is, before the death of Jesus, whom the Jews and those Christians who agreed with them claimed had been killed and crucified.

And on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159): that is, to their deeds which he witnessed from them before his being raised to heaven and after his descent to the earth. As for those who interpreted this verse as meaning that every person of the Book does not die until he believes in Jesus or in Muḥammad (blessings and peace be upon them both), this is indeed what actually happens, for every person at the moment of his dying has revealed to him that of which he was ignorant, and so he believes in it; but that is not a faith which benefits him, since he has already seen the angel, as God Exalted said at the beginning of this sūrah: But repentance is not for those who do evil deeds until, when death comes to one of them, he says, “Indeed, I repent now”, nor for those who die while they are disbelievers to the end of the verse (4:18); and God Exalted said: And when they saw Our punishment, they said, “We believe in God alone, and we disbelieve in that which we used to associate with Him.” But their faith did not benefit them once they saw Our punishment, the two verses (40:84-85). This shows the weakness of what Ibn Jarīr argued in refuting this opinion, where he said: “Were this the meaning of this verse, then everyone who believed in Muḥammad or in the Messiah, among those who had disbelieved in them, would be upon their religion, and in that case his relatives of his own religion would not inherit from him, because the Truthful One has informed that he believes in him before his death.” This is not sound, for it does not follow from his believing in a state in which his faith does not benefit him that he thereby becomes a Muslim. Do you not see the saying of Ibn ʿAbbās: “Even were he to fall from a height, or be struck with a sword, or be torn by a beast of prey, he must inevitably believe in Jesus”? So faith in such states as these is of no benefit, and does not transfer its possessor out of his disbelief, for the reason we have set out; and God knows best.

Whoever considers this well and looks closely into it, it will become clear to him that this, even though it is what actually happens, does not entail that it is what is meant by this verse. Rather, what is meant by it is what we have mentioned: the affirmation of the existence of Jesus (peace be upon him), the continuance of his life in heaven, and that he will descend to the earth before the Day of Resurrection in order to give the lie to both these and those among the Jews and the Christians, whose sayings about him have diverged, opposed one another, contradicted and conflicted with one another, and are devoid of the truth. These Jews fell short and these Christians went to excess: the Jews disparaged him with the enormities of which they accused him and his mother, while the Christians extolled him to the point of claiming for him what is not in him, raising him, in opposition to the former, from the station of prophethood to the station of lordship. Exalted is God far above the saying of both these and those, and sanctified and holy is He; there is no god but He.

The ḥadīths transmitted concerning the descent of Jesus son of Mary from heaven to the earth at the end of time before the Day of Resurrection, and that he will call to the worship of God alone, Who has no partner

Al-Bukhārī (may God have mercy on him) said in the Book of the Mention of the Prophets, in his Ṣaḥīḥ which has been received with acceptance, under “The descent of Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him)”: Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm related to us: Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to us: my father related to us, from Ṣāliḥ, from Ibn Shihāb, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “By Him in Whose hand is my soul, the son of Mary is surely about to descend among you as a just judge. He will break the cross, kill the swine and abolish the poll tax, and wealth will overflow until no one will accept it, until a single prostration will be better than this world and all that is in it.” Then Abū Hurayrah would say: Recite if you wish: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159).

Muslim likewise related it from al-Ḥasan al-Ḥulwānī and ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, both from Yaʿqūb, with this chain. Al-Bukhārī and Muslim also recorded it from the ḥadīth of Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, from al-Zuhrī, with this chain. And they both recorded it by way of al-Layth, from al-Zuhrī, with this chain. Ibn Mardawayh related it by way of Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥafṣah, from al-Zuhrī, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The son of Mary is about to be among you as a just judge. He will kill the Antichrist, kill the swine, break the cross and abolish the poll tax, and wealth will overflow, and prostration will be one, to God, the Lord of the worlds.” Abū Hurayrah said: Recite if you wish: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before the death of Jesus son of Mary. Then Abū Hurayrah would repeat it three times.

Another route from Abū Hurayrah: Imām Aḥmad said: Rawḥ related to us: Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥafṣah related to us, from al-Zuhrī, from Ḥanẓalah ibn ʿAlī al-Aslamī, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Jesus son of Mary will surely raise the cry of talbiyah at the pass of al-Rawḥāʾ³⁶ for the pilgrimage (ḥajj) or the lesser pilgrimage (ʿumrah), or he will surely combine them both together.”

Muslim likewise related it, alone in recording it, from the ḥadīth of Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, al-Layth ibn Saʿd and Yūnus ibn Yazīd, all three from al-Zuhrī, with this chain.

Aḥmad said: Yazīd related to us: Sufyān, that is Ibn Ḥusayn, related to us, from al-Zuhrī, from Ḥanẓalah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Jesus son of Mary will descend and kill the swine, and efface the cross, and the prayer will be gathered for him, and he will give out wealth until it is no longer accepted, and he will abolish the land tax (kharāj), and he will come down to al-Rawḥāʾ and perform the pilgrimage from there, or the lesser pilgrimage, or combine them both.” He said: And Abū Hurayrah recited: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159). Ḥanẓalah claimed that Abū Hurayrah said: “he will believe in him before the death of Jesus”; so I do not know whether all this is the ḥadīth of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or something which Abū Hurayrah said.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim likewise related it from his father, from Abū Mūsā Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā, from Yazīd ibn Hārūn, from Sufyān ibn Ḥusayn, from al-Zuhrī, with this chain.

Another route: al-Bukhārī said: Ibn Bukayr related to us: al-Layth related to us, from Yūnus, from Ibn Shihāb, from Nāfiʿ the client of Abū Qatādah al-Anṣārī, that Abū Hurayrah said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “How will you be when the Messiah son of Mary descends among you, and your leader (imām) is from among you?” ʿUqayl and al-Awzāʿī followed him in it.

Imām Aḥmad related it thus from ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from Maʿmar, and from ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmar, from Ibn Abī Dhiʾb, both from al-Zuhrī, with this chain. Muslim recorded it from the transmission of Yūnus, al-Awzāʿī and Ibn Abī Dhiʾb, with this chain.

Another route: Imām Aḥmad said: ʿAffān related to us: Hammām related to us: Qatādah informed us, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The prophets are brothers from one father with different mothers; their mothers are various but their religion is one. I am the closest of people to Jesus son of Mary, because there was no prophet between me and him. He will descend, and when you see him, recognise him: a man of medium build, tending to redness and whiteness, wearing two garments dyed light yellow, his head as if dripping though no wetness has touched it. He will smash the cross, kill the swine, abolish the poll tax and call the people to Islam. In his time God will destroy all the religions except Islam, and in his time God will destroy the Messiah the Antichrist. Then security will settle upon the earth, so that lions will graze with camels, leopards with cattle and wolves with sheep, and children will play with snakes without their harming them. He will remain forty years, then he will die, and the Muslims will pray over him.”

Abū Dāwūd likewise related it from Hudbah ibn Khālid, from Hammām ibn Yaḥyā. Ibn Jarīr related it, and he cited no other ḥadīth than this at this verse, from Bishr ibn Muʿādh, from Yazīd ibn Hārūn, from Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah, both of them from Qatādah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ādam, who is the client of Umm Burthun, the keeper of the drinking-place, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he mentioned the like of it, and said: “and he will fight the people for the sake of Islam.”

Al-Bukhārī related from Abū al-Yamān, from Shuʿayb, from al-Zuhrī, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “I am the closest of people to Jesus son of Mary; the prophets are children of one father with different mothers, and there is no prophet between me and him.”

Then he related from Muḥammad ibn Sinān, from Fulayḥ ibn Sulaymān, from Hilāl ibn ʿAlī, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmrah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “I am the closest of people to Jesus son of Mary in this world and the Hereafter. The prophets are brothers from one father with different mothers; their mothers are various but their religion is one.” And Ibrāhīm ibn Ṭahmān said, from Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, from Ṣafwān ibn Sulaym, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said, and he mentioned it.

Another ḥadīth: Muslim said in his Ṣaḥīḥ: Zuhayr ibn Ḥarb related to me: Muʿallā ibn Manṣūr related to us: Sulaymān ibn Bilāl related to us: Suhayl related to us, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Hour will not come until the Romans (al-Rūm) encamp at al-Aʿmāq, or at Dābiq³⁷. An army will go out to them from Medina, of the best people of the earth on that day. When they have drawn up in ranks, the Romans will say: ‘Leave us alone with those who took captives from among us, that we may fight them.’ The Muslims will say: ‘No, by God, we will not leave you alone with our brothers.’ So they will fight them, and a third will be routed, whose repentance God will never accept; a third will be killed, the best of martyrs with God, Mighty and Majestic; and a third will conquer, who will never be put to trial, and they will conquer Constantinople. While they are dividing the spoils, having hung their swords upon the olive trees, Satan will cry out among them: ‘The Messiah has taken your place among your families!’ So they will go out, and that is false. When they come to Syria, he will come forth. While they are preparing for battle, straightening the ranks, the prayer will be called, and Jesus son of Mary will descend and lead them. When the enemy of God sees him, he will melt as salt melts in water, and were he to leave him he would melt away until he perished; but God will kill him by his hand, and he will show them his blood upon his spear.”

Another ḥadīth: Imām Aḥmad said: Hushaym related to us, from al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab, from Jabalah ibn Suḥaym, from Muʾaththir ibn ʿAfāzah, from Ibn Masʿūd, from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “On the night on which I was taken on the night journey I met Abraham, Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them), and they discussed together the matter of the Hour. They referred their matter to Abraham, and he said: ‘I have no knowledge of it.’ So they referred their matter to Moses, and he said: ‘I have no knowledge of it.’ So they referred their matter to Jesus, and he said: ‘As for the moment of its coming, no one knows it but God; but among what my Lord, Mighty and Majestic, has entrusted to me is that the Antichrist will come forth.’ He said: ‘And I shall have with me two rods, and when he sees me he will melt as lead melts.’ He said: ‘God will destroy him when he sees me, so that even the stone and the tree will say: “O Muslim, beneath me is an unbeliever, so come and kill him.”‘ He said: ‘So God will destroy them. Then the people will return to their lands and their homelands, and at that point Gog and Magog will come forth, and they, from every elevation, will swarm down. They will trample their lands, and they will not come upon anything without destroying it, nor pass by any water without drinking it.’ He said: ‘Then the people will return to me complaining of them, and I shall pray to God against them, and He will destroy them and cause them to die, until the earth stinks with the stench of their odour. Then God will send down the rain, and it will sweep away their bodies until it casts them into the sea. Among what my Lord, Mighty and Majestic, has entrusted to me is that when that has come to pass, the Hour will be like a woman at full term in her pregnancy, whose household do not know when she will surprise them with her delivery, by night or by day.’”

Ibn Mājah related it from Muḥammad ibn Bashshār, from Yazīd ibn Hārūn, from al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab, with this chain, with a similar text.

Another ḥadīth: Imām Aḥmad said: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us: Ḥammād ibn Salamah informed us, from ʿAlī ibn Zayd, from Abū Naḍrah, who said: We came to ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ on a Friday, in order to compare a copy of the Qurʾān (muṣḥaf) of ours with his copy. When the time of the Friday prayer came, he ordered us and we performed the major ablution; then we were brought perfume and we perfumed ourselves; then we came to the mosque and sat with a man, who spoke to us about the Antichrist. Then ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ came, and we rose for him, and then we sat, and he said: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “The Muslims will have three garrison towns: a town at the meeting-place of the two seas, a town at al-Ḥīrah and a town in Syria. The people will be struck with three panics, and the Antichrist will come forth among the fringes of the people, and he will be routed from the direction of the east. The first town he comes to will be the town at the meeting-place of the two seas, and its people will become three parties: a party that stays, saying, ‘We will test him and see what he is’; a party that joins the Bedouin; and a party that joins the town next to them. With the Antichrist will be seventy thousand wearing green cloaks (sījān), and most of those with him will be the Jews and women. Then he will come to the town next to it, and its people will become three parties: a party that says, ‘We will test him and see what he is’; a party that joins the Bedouin; and a party that joins the town next to them in the west of Syria. The Muslims will withdraw to the pass of Afīq³⁸, and they will send out their grazing animals, and their animals will be seized, and that will weigh heavily upon them, and severe famine and severe hardship will afflict them, so that one of them will burn the string of his bow and eat it. While they are in that state, a caller will call out at dawn: ‘O people, relief has come to you!’ three times. They will say to one another: ‘This is surely the voice of a well-fed man.’ And Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him) will descend at the time of the dawn prayer. Their commander will say to him: ‘O Spirit of God, step forward and lead the prayer.’ But he will say: ‘This community are commanders, one over another.’ So their commander will step forward and lead the prayer, and when he has finished his prayer, Jesus will take his spear and go towards the Antichrist. When the Antichrist sees him he will melt as lead melts, and he will set his spear between his breasts and kill him, and his companions will be routed. On that day there will be nothing to conceal anyone, so that even the tree will say: ‘O believer, here is an unbeliever’, and the stone will say: ‘O believer, here is an unbeliever.’” Aḥmad alone related it by this route.

Another ḥadīth: Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Yazīd ibn Mājah said in his well-known Sunan: ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Muḥāribī related to us, from Ismāʿīl ibn Rāfiʿ Abū Rāfiʿ, from Abū Zurʿah al-Shaybānī Yaḥyā ibn Abī ʿAmr, from Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) addressed us, and the greater part of his address was a discourse he gave us about the Antichrist, warning us against him. Among what he said was:

“There has been no tribulation on the earth, since God scattered abroad the progeny of Adam (peace be upon him), greater than the tribulation of the Antichrist. God has not sent a prophet but that he warned his community against the Antichrist. I am the last of the prophets, and you are the last of the communities, and he will without doubt come forth among you. If he comes forth while I am among you, then I am the advocate of every Muslim; and if he comes forth after me, then every man is his own advocate, and God is my deputy over every Muslim. He will come forth from a gap between Syria and Iraq, and he will wreak havoc to the right and wreak havoc to the left.

“O servants of God, O people, stand firm! I shall describe him to you with a description with which no prophet before me has described him. He will begin by saying, ‘I am a prophet’, but there is no prophet after me. Then he will say a second time, ‘I am your Lord’, but you will not see your Lord until you die. He is one-eyed, and your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, is not one-eyed. Between his eyes is written ‘unbeliever’ (kāfir), which every believer will read, whether literate or illiterate. Part of his tribulation is that he will have with him a garden and a fire; but his fire is a garden and his garden is a fire. Whoever is tried with his fire, let him seek help from God and recite the opening verses of al-Kahf, and it will be coolness and peace for him, as the fire was for Abraham (peace be upon him). Part of his tribulation is that he will say to a Bedouin: ‘Tell me, if I raise your father and your mother for you, will you bear witness that I am your Lord?’ He will say: ‘Yes.’ Then two devils will appear to him in the form of his father and his mother, and they will say: ‘My son, follow him, for he is your Lord.’ Part of his tribulation is that he will be given power over a single soul, and he will kill it and saw it in two with a saw, until it is cast down in two halves; then he will say: ‘Look at this servant of mine, for I shall now raise him, and then he will claim that he has a Lord other than me.’ God will raise him, and the foul one will say to him: ‘Who is your Lord?’ He will say: ‘My Lord is God, and you are the enemy of God, the Antichrist. By God, I was never more clear-sighted about you than I am today.’” Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ṭanāfisī said: al-Muḥāribī related to us: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Walīd al-Waṣṣāfī related to us, from ʿAṭiyyah, from Abū Saʿīd, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “That man will be the highest of my community in rank in Paradise.”

He said: Abū Saʿīd said: By God, we did not think that man to be anyone other than ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, until he passed on his way.

Al-Muḥāribī said: Then we return to the ḥadīth of Abū Rāfiʿ. He said: “Part of his tribulation is that he will command the sky to rain, and it will rain, and command the earth to bring forth vegetation, and it will bring it forth. Part of his tribulation is that he will pass by a tribe and they will disbelieve him, and not one of their grazing animals will remain but will perish. And part of his tribulation is that he will pass by a tribe and they will believe him, and he will command the sky to rain, and it will rain, and command the earth to bring forth vegetation, and it will bring it forth, so that their livestock will return in the evening of that very day fatter than they ever were and larger, with their flanks fuller and their udders more flowing with milk. There will remain nothing of the earth but that he will tread upon it and prevail over it, except Mecca and Medina, for he will not approach them by any one of their mountain passes but that the angels will meet him with drawn swords, until he comes to a halt at the Red Hillock, where the salt marsh ends. Then Medina will quake with its people three quakings, and no hypocrite, man or woman, will remain but will go out to him, and so it will cast out its dross as the bellows cast out the dross of iron, and that day will be called the Day of Deliverance.”

Umm Sharīk bint Abī al-ʿAkar said: “O Messenger of God, where will the Arabs be on that day?” He said: “They will be few, and most of them will be in Jerusalem, and their leader will be a righteous man. While their leader has stepped forward to lead them in the dawn prayer, Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him) will descend upon them at dawn. That leader will draw back, retreating and walking backwards, so that Jesus may step forward to lead the people in prayer; but Jesus (peace be upon him) will place his hand between his shoulders and then say: ‘Step forward and pray, for it was called for you.’ So their leader will lead them in prayer, and when he has finished, Jesus (peace be upon him) will say: ‘Open the gate.’ It will be opened, and behind it will be the Antichrist, with him seventy thousand Jews, each of them bearing an ornamented sword and wearing a green cloak. When the Antichrist looks at him, he will melt as salt melts in water, and will set off in flight, and Jesus (peace be upon him) will say: ‘I have a blow in store for you which you shall not escape.’ He will overtake him at the eastern gate of Ludd³⁹ and kill him, and God will rout the Jews, and nothing will remain of what God Exalted has created behind which a Jew hides but that God will make that thing speak, neither stone nor tree nor wall nor beast, except the gharqad tree, for it is one of their trees and will not speak, saying: ‘O servant of God, O Muslim, here is a Jew, so come and kill him.’”

The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “His days will be forty years: a year like half a year, a year like a month, a month like a week, and the last of his days like a spark; one of you will rise in the morning at one gate of the city and will not reach its other gate before evening falls.” It was said to him: “O Prophet of God, how shall we pray in those short days?” He said: “You will estimate the prayer in them as you estimate it in these long days, and then pray.”

The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Then Jesus son of Mary will be in my community a just judge and an equitable leader. He will smash the cross, kill the swine, abolish the poll tax and leave off the alms tax, so that no collector will be sent out after sheep or camel. Rancour and mutual hatred will be lifted, and the venom of every venomous creature will be drawn out, so that the infant will put his hand into the mouth of the snake and it will not harm him, and the little girl will chase away the lion and it will not harm her, and the wolf will be among the sheep as though it were their dog. The earth will be filled with peace as a vessel is filled with water, and the word will be one, so that none will be worshipped but God, and war will lay down its burdens, and Quraysh will be stripped of their kingship. The earth will be like a platter of silver, bringing forth its vegetation as in the days of Adam, so that a group of people will gather around a single bunch of grapes and it will satisfy them, and a group will gather around a single pomegranate and it will satisfy them. An ox will be worth such-and-such an amount of money, and a horse will be worth a few paltry dirhams.”

It was said: “O Messenger of God, what will make the horse so cheap?” He said: “It will never again be ridden for war.” It was said to him: “Then what will make the ox so dear?” He said: “The whole earth will be ploughed.”

“Before the coming forth of the Antichrist there will be three hard years, in which severe hunger will afflict the people. In the first year God will command the sky to withhold a third of its rain, and He will command the earth and it will withhold a third of its vegetation. Then in the second year He will command the sky and it will withhold two thirds of its rain, and He will command the earth and it will withhold two thirds of its vegetation. Then in the third year God will command the sky and it will withhold all its rain, so that not a drop falls, and He will command the earth to withhold all its vegetation, so that nothing green grows, and no cloven-hoofed animal will remain but will perish, except what God wills.”

It was said: “Then what will keep the people alive in that time?” He said: “Declaring God’s oneness, magnifying Him, glorifying Him and praising Him; and that will serve them in place of food.”

Ibn Mājah said: I heard Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ṭanāfisī say: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Muḥāribī say: This ḥadīth ought to be handed over to the schoolmaster, so that he may teach it to the boys in the school.

This is an exceedingly strange ḥadīth by this route, though parts of it have corroborating witnesses in other ḥadīths. Let us mention here the ḥadīth of al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān, because of its resemblance in its narrative to this ḥadīth. Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj said in his Ṣaḥīḥ:

Abū Khaythamah Zuhayr ibn Ḥarb related to us: al-Walīd ibn Muslim related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd ibn Jābir related to me: Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Ṭāʾī, the judge of Ḥimṣ, related to me: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr related to me, from his father Jubayr ibn Nufayr al-Ḥaḍramī, that he heard al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān al-Kilābī; and (by another chain) Muḥammad ibn Mihrān al-Rāzī related to us: al-Walīd ibn Muslim related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd ibn Jābir related to us, from Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Ṭāʾī, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr, from his father Jubayr ibn Nufayr, from al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the Antichrist one morning, and he lowered his voice and raised it in speaking of him, until we thought him to be in the cluster of palm trees. When we went to him, he perceived that in us, and said: “What is the matter with you?” We said: “O Messenger of God, you mentioned the Antichrist this morning, and you lowered your voice and raised it in speaking of him, until we thought him to be in the cluster of palm trees.” He said: “It is other than the Antichrist that I fear most for you. If he comes forth while I am among you, I shall be his adversary on your behalf; and if he comes forth while I am not among you, then each man is his own advocate, and God is my deputy over every Muslim. He is a young man with tightly curled hair, his eye protruding; it is as though I liken him to ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā ibn Qaṭan. Whoever of you reaches him, let him recite against him the opening verses of Sūrat al-Kahf. He will come forth from a gap between Syria and Iraq, and he will wreak havoc to the right and wreak havoc to the left. O servants of God, stand firm!” We said: “O Messenger of God, and how long will he remain on the earth?” He said: “Forty days: a day like a year, a day like a month, a day like a week, and the rest of his days like your days.”

We said: “O Messenger of God, that day which is like a year, will the prayer of a single day suffice us in it?” He said: “No; estimate for it its due measure.” We said: “O Messenger of God, and how swift will he be upon the earth?” He said: “Like rain driven on by the wind. He will come to a people and call them, and they will believe in him and respond to him, and he will command the sky and it will rain, and the earth and it will bring forth vegetation, and their grazing animals will return to them in the evening with their humps taller than ever they were, their udders fullest and their flanks most distended. Then he will come to a people and call them, and they will reject his word, and he will turn away from them, and in the morning they will be stricken with drought, with nothing of their wealth left in their hands. He will pass by a ruin and say to it: ‘Bring forth your treasures’, and its treasures will follow him like swarms of bees. Then he will summon a man in the fullness of youth and strike him with the sword, cutting him into two pieces the distance of a target’s throw; then he will call him, and he will come forward with his face beaming and laughing. While he is thus, God will send the Messiah son of Mary (peace be upon him), and he will descend at the white minaret in the east of Damascus, between two garments dyed with saffron, placing his palms upon the wings of two angels. When he lowers his head it drips, and when he raises it there fall from it beads like pearls. No unbeliever who catches the scent of his breath but will die, and his breath will reach as far as his sight reaches. He will pursue him until he overtakes him at the gate of Ludd and kills him.

“Then Jesus (peace be upon him) will come to a people whom God has protected from him, and he will wipe their faces and tell them of their ranks in Paradise. While he is thus, God, Mighty and Majestic, will reveal to Jesus: ‘I have brought forth servants of Mine against whom no one has the power to fight; so take My servants to safety at the Mount (al-Ṭūr).’

“God will send Gog and Magog, and they, from every elevation, will swarm down. The first of them will pass by the lake of Tiberias and drink what is in it, and the last of them will pass by and say: ‘There was once water in this.’ God’s prophet Jesus and his companions will be besieged, until the head of an ox will be better for one of them than a hundred dinars for one of you today. Then God’s prophet Jesus and his companions will beseech God, and God will send upon them worms in their necks, and in the morning they will be dead, perished like the death of a single soul.

“Then God’s prophet Jesus and his companions will come down to the earth, and they will not find on the earth the space of a hand’s breadth but that it is filled with their grease and their stench. Then God’s prophet Jesus and his companions will beseech God, and God will send birds with necks like those of Bactrian camels, which will carry them off and cast them wherever God wills.

“Then God will send rain from which no house of clay or of hair will be sheltered, and it will wash the earth until it leaves it like a mirror. Then it will be said to the earth: ‘Bring forth your fruit and restore your blessing.’ On that day a company of people will eat from a single pomegranate and shelter in the shade of its rind, and God will bless the milk, so that a single milch camel will suffice a large group of people, a milch cow will suffice a tribe of people and a milch ewe will suffice a clan of people. While they are thus, God will send a pleasant wind, which will take them beneath their armpits, and God will take the soul of every believer and every Muslim, and the worst of people will remain, copulating openly in it like the copulating of asses; and upon them the Hour will come.”

Imām Aḥmad and the authors of the Sunan related it from the ḥadīth of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd ibn Jābir, with this chain. We shall also cite it by way of Aḥmad at His words, Exalted, in Sūrat al-Anbiyāʾ: Until, when Gog and Magog are let loose, and they, from every elevation, swarm down (21:96).

Another ḥadīth: Muslim also said in his Ṣaḥīḥ: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Muʿādh ibn Muʿādh al-ʿAnbarī related to us: my father related to us: Shuʿbah related to us, from al-Nuʿmān ibn Sālim, who said: I heard Yaʿqūb ibn ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd al-Thaqafī say: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, when a man came to him and said: “What is this ḥadīth which you relate, saying that the Hour will come at such-and-such a time?” He said: “Glory be to God!” or “There is no god but God”, or some such expression. “I had resolved never to relate anything to anyone ever again. I only said: you will shortly see a tremendous matter: the House will be burned, and such-and-such will happen.” Then he said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Antichrist will come forth in my community and will remain forty; I do not know whether forty days, or forty months, or forty years. Then God Exalted will send Jesus son of Mary, as though he were ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd, and he will seek him out and destroy him. Then the people will remain seven years with no enmity between any two. Then God will send a cold wind from the direction of Syria, and no one will remain on the face of the earth with the weight of an atom of good, or of faith, in his heart but it will take him, so that even if one of you were to enter into the heart of a mountain it would enter in upon him until it took him.” He said: I heard it from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). He said: “Then the worst of people will remain, with the lightness of birds and the instincts of beasts of prey, knowing no good and disapproving of no evil. Satan will appear to them and say: ‘Will you not respond?’ They will say: ‘What do you command us?’ He will command them to worship idols, and in that state their provision will be flowing and their livelihood will be good. Then the Trumpet will be blown, and no one will hear it but will bend his neck to one side and raise it to the other.” He said: “The first to hear it will be a man plastering the water-trough of his camels.” He said: “He will fall down senseless, and the people will fall down senseless. Then God will send, or he said: God will send down, rain like dew, or he said: like shade (al-Nuʿmān was the one in doubt), and from it the bodies of people will grow. Then it will be blown a second time, and behold, they will be standing, looking on. Then it will be said: ‘O people, come to your Lord’, and stop them, for they are to be questioned (37:24).” He said: “Then it will be said: ‘Bring out the contingent of the Fire.’ It will be said: ‘Out of how many?’ It will be said: ‘Out of every thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine.’” He said: “That is the day that will make the children grey-haired (73:17), and that is the Day when the shin will be uncovered (68:42).”

Then Muslim and al-Nasāʾī, in his Tafsīr, both related it from Muḥammad ibn Bashshār, from Ghundar, from Shuʿbah, from al-Nuʿmān ibn Sālim, with this chain.

Another ḥadīth: Imām Aḥmad said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us: Maʿmar informed us, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Thaʿlabah al-Anṣārī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd al-Anṣārī, from Mujammiʿ ibn Jāriyah, who said: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “The son of Mary will kill the Messiah the Antichrist at the gate of Ludd”, or “beside Ludd”.

Aḥmad also related it from Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, and from the ḥadīth of al-Layth and al-Awzāʿī, all three from al-Zuhrī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Thaʿlabah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd, from his paternal uncle Mujammiʿ ibn Jāriyah, from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “The son of Mary will kill the Antichrist at the gate of Ludd.”

Al-Tirmidhī likewise related it from Qutaybah, from al-Layth, with this chain, and he said: This is a sound ḥadīth. He said: On this subject there are reports from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, Nāfiʿ ibn ʿUtbah, Abū Barzah, Ḥudhayfah ibn Usayd, Abū Hurayrah, Kaysān, ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ, Jābir, Abū Umāmah, Ibn Masʿūd, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, Samurah ibn Jundub, al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān, ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf and Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān (may God be pleased with them).

What he means by the transmission of these is what contains mention of the Antichrist and the killing of him by Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him). As for the ḥadīths which mention the Antichrist alone, they are exceedingly numerous, and more than can be encompassed, because of their wide diffusion and the great number of their transmitters in the sound collections, the good collections, the musnad works and elsewhere.

Another ḥadīth: Imām Aḥmad said: Sufyān related to us, from Furāt, from Abū al-Ṭufayl, from Ḥudhayfah ibn Usayd al-Ghifārī, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) looked down upon us from an upper room while we were discussing the Hour, and he said: “The Hour will not come until you see ten signs: the rising of the sun from its place of setting, the smoke, the beast, the coming forth of Gog and Magog, the descent of Jesus son of Mary, the Antichrist, three sinkings of the earth, a sinking in the east, a sinking in the west and a sinking in the Arabian peninsula, and a fire that will come forth from the depths of Aden, driving, or gathering, the people, passing the night with them wherever they pass the night, and resting at midday with them wherever they rest at midday.”

Muslim and the authors of the Sunan related it thus from the ḥadīth of Furāt al-Qazzāz, with this chain. Muslim also related it from the transmission of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Rufayʿ, from Abū al-Ṭufayl, from Abū Sarīḥah Ḥudhayfah ibn Usayd al-Ghifārī, as a halted report (mawqūf); and God knows best.

These, then, are mass-transmitted ḥadīths from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), from the transmission of Abū Hurayrah, Ibn Masʿūd, ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ, Abū Umāmah, al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, Mujammiʿ ibn Jāriyah, and Abū Sarīḥah Ḥudhayfah ibn Usayd (may God be pleased with them).

In them is an indication of the manner of his descent and its place: that it will be in Syria, indeed in Damascus, at the eastern minaret, and that it will be at the time when the call to commence the dawn prayer is given. In these present times, in the year seven hundred and forty-one, a white minaret was built for the Umayyad Mosque, of hewn stone, in place of the minaret which was demolished on account of the fire attributed to the doing of the Christians, upon them be the successive curses of God until the Day of Resurrection; and the greater part of its construction was paid for from their wealth. Conjectures have grown strong that this is the one upon which the Messiah Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him) will descend, and he will kill the swine, break the cross and abolish the poll tax, accepting nothing but Islam, as has been set out above from the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections. This is a report from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) of that, and an affirmation, a legislation and an authorisation for him to do that in that time, when their pretexts will be dispelled and their doubts removed from their own souls. For this reason all of them will enter the religion of Islam in following Jesus (peace be upon him) and at his hands. For this reason He said, Exalted: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159).

This verse is like His words, Exalted: And indeed, he is a sign of knowledge of the Hour (43:61), and it has been read ʿalam⁴⁰, with the vowel on the middle letter, that is, an indication and a proof of the nearness of the Hour. That is because he will descend after the coming forth of the Messiah the Antichrist, and God will kill him at his hands, as is established in the Ṣaḥīḥ: “God has not created any disease without sending down a cure for it.” In his days God will send forth Gog and Magog, and God will destroy them through him, by the blessing of his supplication; and God Exalted has said: Until, when Gog and Magog are let loose, and they, from every elevation, swarm down, and the true promise draws near to the end of the verse (21:96-97).

The description of Jesus (peace be upon him)

There has already been cited, in the ḥadīth of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ādam, from Abū Hurayrah (may God be pleased with him): “When you see him, recognise him: a man of medium build, tending to redness and whiteness, wearing two garments dyed light yellow, his head as if dripping though no wetness has touched it.” And in the ḥadīth of al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān: “He will descend at the white minaret in the east of Damascus, between two garments dyed with saffron, placing his palms upon the wings of two angels. When he lowers his head it drips, and when he raises it there fall from it the like of beads of pearl. No unbeliever who catches the scent of his breath but will die, and his breath will reach as far as his sight reaches.”

Al-Bukhārī and Muslim related, by way of al-Zuhrī, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “On the night on which I was taken on the night journey I met Moses.” He said: And he described him: “And behold, he was a man”, I think he said, “lean, with wavy hair, as though he were one of the men of Shanūʾah.” He said: “And I met Jesus”, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) described him, saying: “Of medium height, ruddy, as though he had just come out of a dīmās“, meaning a bath-house. “And I saw Abraham, and I am the one of his descendants who most resembles him”, to the end of the ḥadīth.

Al-Bukhārī related, from the ḥadīth of Mujāhid, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “I saw Moses, Jesus and Abraham. As for Jesus, he was ruddy, with curly hair and a broad chest; and as for Moses, he was dark-skinned, large-bodied, with lank hair, as though he were one of the men of the Zuṭṭ.”⁴¹

He and Muslim have, by way of Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, from Nāfiʿ, who said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar said: One day the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the Messiah the Antichrist in the midst of the people, and said: “God is not one-eyed. Behold, the Messiah the Antichrist is blind in the right eye, his eye as though it were a floating grape. And God showed me, in a dream, near the Kaʿbah, a dark-skinned man, the finest of dark-skinned men you could see, his locks falling between his shoulders, with wavy hair, his head dripping water, placing his hands upon the shoulders of two men while he circumambulated the House. I said: ‘Who is this?’ They said: ‘The Messiah son of Mary.’ Then I saw behind him a man with tightly curled hair, blind in the right eye, the one I have seen who most resembles Ibn Qaṭan, placing his hands upon the shoulders of a man while he circumambulated the House. I said: ‘Who is this?’ They said: ‘The Messiah the Antichrist.’” ʿUbayd Allāh followed him in it, from Nāfiʿ.

Then al-Bukhārī related it from Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Makkī, from Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd, from al-Zuhrī, from Sālim, from his father, who said: No, by God, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say of Jesus (peace be upon him) “ruddy”; rather, he said: “While I was asleep, circumambulating the Kaʿbah, behold, there was a dark-skinned man with lank hair, walking supported between two men, his head dripping water, or his head streaming with water. I said: ‘Who is this?’ They said: ‘The son of Mary.’ Then I went to turn round, and behold, there was a ruddy, large-bodied man, with curly hair, blind in his right eye, his eye as though it were a floating grape. I said: ‘Who is this?’ They said: ‘The Antichrist.’ And the person who most resembles him is Ibn Qaṭan.” Al-Zuhrī said: a man of Khuzāʿah who perished in the time of pagan ignorance (al-jāhiliyyah).

All these are the wordings of al-Bukhārī (may God have mercy on him). There has already been cited, in the ḥadīth of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ādam from Abū Hurayrah, that Jesus (peace be upon him) will remain on the earth after his descent for forty years, then he will die and the Muslims will pray over him.

In the ḥadīth of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr in Muslim it is that he will remain seven years. It is possible, and God knows best, that what is meant by his remaining on the earth forty years is the sum of his residence in it before his being raised and after his descent, for according to the sound view he was raised at the age of thirty-three years. That has come in a ḥadīth on the description of the people of Paradise: that they will be in the form of Adam and at the age of Jesus, thirty-three years. As for what Ibn ʿAsākir reported from some of them, that he was raised at the age of one hundred and fifty years, it is anomalous, strange and far-fetched. The ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Qāsim ibn ʿAsākir mentioned, in the biographical notice of Jesus son of Mary in his History, from some of the early generations, that he will be buried with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in his chamber; and God knows best.

His words, Exalted: and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159): Qatādah said: He will bear witness against them that he conveyed to them the message from God and acknowledged his servanthood to God, Mighty and Majestic. This is like His words, Exalted, at the end of Sūrat al-Māʾidah: And when God will say, “O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people, ‘Take me and my mother as two gods besides God’?” He will say, “Glory be to You! It was not for me to say that to which I had no right. If I had said it, You would have known it. You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself. Indeed, it is You Who are the Knower of the unseen. I said to them nothing except what You commanded me: to worship God, my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them as long as I was among them; but when You took me up, You were the Observer over them, and You are, over all things, Witness. If You punish them, they are Your servants; but if You forgive them, indeed it is You Who are the Mighty, the Wise” (5:116-118).

On 5:116-118

This too is among what God Exalted will address to His servant and messenger Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him), saying to him on the Day of Resurrection, in the presence of those who took him and his mother as two gods besides God: And when God said: O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to people: take me and my mother as two gods besides God? (5:116). This is a threat to the Christians, and a rebuke and reproach of them before the assembled witnesses. So said Qatādah and others, and Qatādah adduced as evidence for that His words, Exalted: This is the Day when the truthful will profit from their truthfulness (5:119).

Al-Suddī said: this address and the reply took place in this world.

Ibn Jarīr said: this is the correct view, and that was when God raised him to the lowest heaven. Ibn Jarīr argued for that on two grounds:

• The first: that the speech is in the past tense.
• The second: His words if You punish them and if You forgive them (5:118).

These two proofs are open to question, because many of the affairs of the Day of Resurrection are mentioned in the past tense, to indicate their occurrence and certainty. And the meaning of His words if You punish them, they are Your servants, to the end of the verse, is disavowal of them and referral of the will concerning them to God, and making that dependent on a condition does not require that it occur, as in the parallel cases among the verses.

What Qatādah and others said is the more evident view, and God knows best: that this will take place on the Day of Resurrection, to indicate the threatening of the Christians and the reproaching and rebuking of them before the assembled witnesses on the Day of Resurrection. A ḥadīth traced back to the Prophet (marfūʿ) has been related to this effect, related by the ḥadīth master (ḥāfiẓ) Ibn ʿAsākir in the biographical entry on Abū ʿAbd Allāh, the client of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, who was reliable, who said: I heard Abū Burdah relate to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz from his father Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “When the Day of Resurrection comes, the prophets and their communities will be summoned; then Jesus will be summoned, and God will remind him of His favour upon him, and he will acknowledge it, and He will say: O Jesus son of Mary, remember My favour upon you and upon your mother, to the end of the verse (5:110). Then He will say: Did you say to people: take me and my mother as two gods besides God? And he will deny having said that. Then the Christians will be brought and questioned, and they will say: Yes, he commanded us to do that. He said: Then the hair of Jesus (peace be upon him) will be made long, and every angel among the angels will take hold of a hair of the hair of his head and his body, and he will make them kneel before God, Mighty and Majestic, for the span of a thousand years, until the proof is established against them, the cross is raised up for them, and they are led off to the Fire.” This is a strange and rare ḥadīth.

And His words: Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to: this is a granting of success in observing proper courtesy in the perfect reply, as Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: my father related to us: Ibn Abī ʿUmar related to us: Sufyān related to us, from ʿAmr, from Ṭāwūs, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: Jesus will be taught his argument, and God taught it to him, in His words: And when God said: O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to people: take me and my mother as two gods besides God? Abū Hurayrah said, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): So God taught him: Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to, to the end of the verse.

Al-Thawrī related it, from Maʿmar, from Ibn Ṭāwūs, from Ṭāwūs, in similar words.

And His words: If I had said it, You would have known it, that is: had this issued from me, You would have known it, O my Lord, for nothing is hidden from You of what I have said or intended within myself or harboured. That is why he said: You know what is in my self, and I do not know what is in Your Self; truly You are the Knower of the unseen things. I did not say to them anything except what You commanded me to convey: worship God, my Lord and your Lord (5:117), that is: I called them only to that with which You sent me and commanded me to convey: worship God, my Lord and your Lord, that is: this is what I said to them; and I was a witness over them as long as I was among them, that is: I used to witness their deeds while I was in their midst; but when You took me up, You were the Watcher over them, and You are Witness over all things.

Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī said: Shuʿbah related to us, saying: Sufyān al-Thawrī and I went to al-Mughīrah ibn al-Nuʿmān, and he dictated it to Sufyān while I was with him, and when he rose I copied it from Sufyān. So he related to us, saying: I heard Saʿīd ibn Jubayr relate from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) stood among us with an admonition and said: “O people, you will be gathered to God, Mighty and Majestic, barefoot, naked and uncircumcised: as We began the first creation, We shall repeat it (21:104). The first of creatures to be clothed will be Abraham. Behold, men of my community will be brought and taken off to the left, and I shall say: My companions! And it will be said: You do not know what they innovated after you. So I shall say as the righteous servant said: and I was a witness over them as long as I was among them; but when You took me up, You were the Watcher over them, and You are Witness over all things. If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, truly You are the Mighty, the Wise (5:117-118). And it will be said: These never ceased turning back on their heels since you parted from them.”

Al-Bukhārī related it at this verse from al-Walīd, from Abū Shuʿbah, and from Muḥammad ibn Kathīr, from Sufyān al-Thawrī, both of them from al-Mughīrah ibn al-Nuʿmān, with it.

And His words: If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, truly You are the Mighty, the Wise (5:118): this speech contains the referral of the will to God, Mighty and Majestic, for He is the Doer of what He wills, who is not questioned about what He does while they are questioned. And it contains disavowal of the Christians who lied against God and against His messenger and assigned to God a rival, a consort and a child; exalted is God far above what they say. This verse has a great importance and a wondrous import, and it has come in the ḥadīth that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) stood in prayer with it one night until morning, repeating it.

Imām Aḥmad said: Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl related to us: Fulayt al-ʿĀmirī related to me, from Jasrah al-ʿĀmiriyyah, from Abū Dharr (may God be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed one night and recited a single verse until morning came, bowing with it and prostrating with it: If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, truly You are the Mighty, the Wise. When morning came I said: O Messenger of God, you kept on reciting this verse until morning, bowing with it and prostrating with it? He said: “I asked my Lord, Mighty and Majestic, for intercession for my community, and He granted it to me; and it will be attained, God willing, by whoever does not associate anything with God.”

Another route and another wording: Aḥmad said: Yaḥyā related to us: Qudāmah ibn ʿAbd Allāh related to us: Jasrah bint Dajājah related to me that she set out to perform the lesser pilgrimage (ʿumrah) and came to al-Rabadhah, where she heard Abū Dharr say: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) stood one night for the evening prayer and led the people in prayer; then some of his companions stayed behind praying. When he saw them standing and staying behind, he went off to his quarters, and when he saw that the people had left the place empty he returned to his place and prayed. I came and stood behind him, and he motioned to me with his right hand, so I stood on his right. Then Ibn Masʿūd came and stood behind me and behind him, and he motioned to him with his left hand, so he stood on his left. So the three of us stood, each of us praying by himself and reciting of the Qurʾān whatever God willed that he recite. And he stood with one verse of the Qurʾān, repeating it until he prayed the dawn prayer. When morning came I motioned to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd: ask him what he intended by what he did last night. Ibn Masʿūd said with his hand: I shall not ask him about anything until he speaks to me. So I said: May my father and mother be your ransom, you stood with a single verse of the Qurʾān when you have the whole Qurʾān; had one of us done this we would have found fault with him. He said: “I prayed for my community.” I said: And what answer were you given? Or: what reply was returned to you? He said: “I was answered with that which, if many of them were to catch a glimpse of it, they would abandon the prayer.” I said: Shall I not give the people the good news? He said: “Yes.” So I set off at a brisk pace, and had gone about a stone’s throw, when ʿUmar said: O Messenger of God, if you send this to the people they will shrink from worship. So he called to him to come back, and he came back. And that verse was: If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, truly You are the Mighty, the Wise.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us: Ibn Wahb related to us: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed me that Bakr ibn Sawādah related to him, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) recited the words of Jesus: If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, truly You are the Mighty, the Wise, then raised his hands and said: “O God, my community!” and wept. So God said: O Gabriel, go to Muḥammad, though your Lord knows best, and ask him what makes him weep. Gabriel came to him and asked him, and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) told him what he had said. So God said: O Gabriel, go to Muḥammad and say: We shall please you concerning your community and shall not grieve you.

Imām Aḥmad said: Ḥasan related to us: Ibn Lahīʿah related to us: Ibn Hubayrah related to us that he heard Abū Tamīm al-Jayshānī say: Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab related to me: I heard Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān say: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was absent from us one day and did not come out, until we thought he would never come out. When he came out he prostrated with a prostration so long that we thought his soul had been taken in it. When he raised his head he said: “My Lord, Mighty and Majestic, consulted me about my community: what shall I do with them? I said: Whatever You will, O my Lord; they are Your creation and Your servants. He consulted me a second time, and I said the same to Him. Then He said: I shall not disgrace you in your community, O Muḥammad. And He gave me the good news that the first of my community to enter Paradise with me will be seventy thousand, with every thousand another seventy thousand, upon whom there is no reckoning. Then He sent to me, saying: Supplicate and you will be answered; ask and you will be given.” So I said to His messenger: Will my Lord grant me my request? He said: He has not sent me to you except to grant you. “My Lord has indeed given me, and there is no boasting in it: He has forgiven me my past sins and those to come while I walk about alive and well; He has granted me that my community will not starve and will not be overcome; He has given me al-Kawthar, which is a river in Paradise that flows into my Basin; He has given me might, victory, and terror running a month’s journey ahead of my community; He has granted me that I shall be the first of the prophets to enter Paradise; He has made the spoils of war lawful and wholesome for me and my community; He has made lawful for us much of what was made severe upon those before us; and He has not placed upon us any hardship in religion.”

On 5:119-120

God Exalted says, in answer to His servant and messenger Jesus son of Mary, regarding what he had conveyed to Him of his disavowal of the heretical Christians who lie against God and against His messenger, and of his referring the will concerning them to his Lord, Mighty and Majestic; at that point He Exalted says: This is the Day when the truthful will profit from their truthfulness (5:119).

Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who says: the Day when those who affirm God’s oneness will profit from their affirmation of His oneness.

For them are gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein forever, that is: dwelling in them, neither changing nor passing away; God is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him, as He Exalted said: and good pleasure from God is greater (9:72).

What relates to that verse in the way of ḥadīth will come later.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim related here a ḥadīth, saying: Abū Saʿīd al-Ashajj related to us: al-Muḥāribī related to us, from Layth, from ʿUthmān, meaning Ibn ʿUmayr Abū al-Yaqẓān, from Anas, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Then the Lord Exalted will manifest Himself to them and say: Ask of Me, ask of Me, and I shall give you.” He said: “So they will ask Him for His good pleasure, and He will say: My good pleasure is that I settle you in My abode and grant you My honour; so ask of Me and I shall give you. So they will ask Him for His good pleasure.” He said: “Then He will make them witness that He is pleased with them.”

And His words: That is the great triumph, that is: this is the great success, than which there is nothing greater, as He Exalted said: For the like of this let the workers work (37:61), and as He said: and for this let the competitors compete (83:26).

And His words: To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is in them, and He has power over all things (5:120), that is: He is the Creator of all things, their Owner, the One who disposes of them and has power over them; all of them are His possession, under His subjugation and His power and within His will. So He has no peer, no vizier, no equal, no father, no child and no consort; there is no god other than Him and no lord besides Him.

Ibn Wahb said: I heard Ḥuyayy ibn ʿAbd Allāh relate, from Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ḥubulī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, who said: The last sūrah to be sent down was Sūrat al-Māʾidah.

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

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 Qaṭyānūs⁴²; and God is the best of schemers: the strongest of those who intend; and it is said, the most excellent of those who contrive.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On 4:155-159

4:155. So for their breaking: so because of their breaking; of their covenant: We did to them what We did; and their disbelief in the signs of God: and for their disbelief in Muḥammad and the Qur’an, the poll-tax (jizya) was imposed upon them; and their killing: and for their killing; of the prophets without right: without any crime, We destroyed them; and their saying: and for their saying; Our hearts are wrapped: receptacles for every knowledge, yet they do not take in your speech and your knowledge; rather, God has set a seal upon them: rather, it is not as they said, but God has sealed their hearts; for their disbelief: in Muḥammad and the Qur’an; so they do not believe: in Muḥammad and the Qur’an; except a few: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām and his companions.

4:156. And for their disbelief: in Jesus and the Gospel; and their saying: and for their saying; against Mary a tremendous calumny: and that is the false accusation; We made them swine.

4:157. And their saying: and for their saying; Indeed we killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God: God destroyed their companion Ṭaṭyānūs⁴³; and they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it was made to appear so to them: the likeness of Jesus was cast upon Ṭaṭyānūs, and they killed him in place of Jesus; and indeed those who differ concerning him: concerning his killing; are in doubt about it: about his killing; they have no: concerning his killing; knowledge of it, except the following of conjecture: and not even conjecture; and they did not kill him for certain: that is, for certain they did not kill him.

4:158. Rather, God raised him up to Himself: to heaven; and God is Mighty: in vengeance upon His enemies; Wise: in granting victory to His friends: He saved His prophet and destroyed their companion.

4:159. And there is none of: and there is not of; the People of the Book: the Jews and the Christians, anyone; but will surely believe in him: in Jesus, that he was not a sorcerer, nor God, nor His son, nor His partner; before his death: before his soul departs, after the descent of Jesus; then he dies after every Jew who is alive in their time; and on the Day of Resurrection he will be: Jesus; a witness against them: to the conveying of the message.

On 5:110-120

5:110. When God said: God has said; O Jesus son of Mary, remember My favour: keep in mind My grace; upon you: with prophethood; and upon your mother: with Islam and worship; when I strengthened you: aided you; with the Holy Spirit: with Gabriel, the purified; he instructed you and aided you in speaking to people; you speak to people in the cradle: in the lap and on the bed: “I am the servant of God and His Messiah”; and in maturity: and He aided you after thirty years: “I am the Messenger of God to you”; and when I taught you the Book: the books of the prophets; and it is said, script with the pen; and the Wisdom: the wisdom of the wise; and it is said, the lawful and the unlawful; and the Torah: and I taught you the Torah in your mother’s womb; and the Gospel: after your coming forth; and when you create: fashion; from clay the likeness of a bird: the semblance of a bird, and it is the bat; by My leave: by My command; then you 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 My leave: by My command and My will; and you heal: make sound; the blind from birth: he who is born blind; and the leper by My leave: by My command, My will and My power; and when you bring forth: give life to; the dead by My leave: by My will and My giving of life; and when I restrained: held back; the Children of Israel from you: when they intended to kill you; when you came to them: at the time you came to them; with clear proofs: with command and prohibition and the wonders which you showed them; and those who disbelieved among them said: among the Children of Israel; This is nothing: this which Jesus shows us is nothing; but manifest sorcery: evident. And if you read it “a manifest sorcerer” (sāḥir mubīn), they meant Jesus by it.

5:111. And when I inspired the disciples: I inspired the disciples, the fullers (al-qaṣṣārūn), and they were twelve men; to believe in Me and in My Messenger: Jesus; they said: We believe: in You and in Your Messenger Jesus; and bear witness: you, O Jesus; and they bore witness one for another; that we are Muslims: sincere in worship and in the profession of God’s oneness.

5:112. When the disciples said: the chosen ones, meaning Simon the Chosen (Shamʿūn al-Ṣafī); O Jesus son of Mary: your people say to you; can your Lord: will your Lord do it; and if you read it with tāʾ and the accusative on the yāʾ⁴⁴, you say: can you ask your Lord; send down to us a table: food; from heaven? He said: Jesus, to Simon: Say to them, Fear God: be in awe of God; if you are: since you are; believers: certain in faith; for perhaps you will abandon gratitude for it and He will punish you. So Simon said that to them.

5:113. They said: We wish to eat of it and that our hearts be reassured: by what you show us of wonders; and that we may know: and be certain; that you have told us the truth: in what you say; and that we may be witnesses to it: when we return to our people.

5:114. Jesus son of Mary said: O God, our Lord, send down to us a table from heaven: food from heaven; and it is said, a blessing upon the food, for they had with them some food; that it may be a festival for us, for the first of us: for the people of our time; and the last of us: for those who come after us, so that we may worship You on it; and it was a Sunday; and a sign from You: for him who believes, and a proof against him who disbelieves; and provide for us: give us what we have asked of You; and You are the best of providers: the most excellent of those who give food.

5:115. God said: to Jesus: Say to them; I shall send it down to you: what you have asked; but whoever disbelieves afterwards: after its descent and the eating; among you, I shall punish him with a punishment with which I shall punish no one among the worlds: the people of their time: I shall transform him into a swine. They said, after its descent and the eating: This is manifest sorcery, an evident lie. Jesus said: If You punish them for this saying, by which they have deserved destruction, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, relent towards them and pardon them, then You are the Mighty, in vengeance upon him who does not repent, the Wise, in forgiveness for him who repents. This is an advancing and a postponing in the order of the words.

5:116. And when God said: God will say on the Day of Resurrection; O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to people: in this world; Take me and my mother as two gods besides God? He said: Jesus will say; Glory be to You: he declared his Lord transcendent; it is not: he says, it was not fitting nor permissible; for me to say: to them; what I have no right to: what is not permissible; if I had said it: to them; You would have known it. You know what is in my soul: what command and prohibition came from me to them; and I do not know what is in Your Soul: what forsaking and granting of success came from You to them; indeed You are the Knower of the unseen things: of what is hidden from the servants.

5:117. I said nothing to them: in this world; except what You commanded me: Worship God: declare God One and obey Him; my Lord and your Lord: He is my Lord and your Lord; and I was a witness over them: to the conveying of the message; as long as I was among them: while I was among them; but when You took me: raised him from among them; You were the Watcher over them: the Guardian and Witness over them; and You are over all things: of my speech and their speech; a Witness: Knowing. Jesus said:

5:118. If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are the Mighty, the Wise: I have explained it already in what preceded.

5:119. God said: God will say; This is the Day when the truthful will profit from their truthfulness: and the believers from their faith, and those who conveyed the message from their conveying, and those who fulfilled from their fulfilment; for them are gardens: orchards; beneath which flow: beneath their trees and their couches; rivers: rivers of water, milk, wine and honey; abiding therein: dwelling in the Garden, neither dying therein nor departing from it; for ever. God is pleased with them: for their faith and their deeds; and they are pleased with Him: with the reward and the honour; that: which I have mentioned of everlasting abiding and good pleasure; is the great triumph: the abundant deliverance; they have triumphed with the Garden and been delivered from the punishment of the Fire.

5:120. To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: the treasuries of the heavens and the earth; the treasuries of the heavens are rain, and of the earth, plants and fruits and other things; and whatever is in them: of creatures and wonders; and He is over all things: of the creation of the heavens and the earth, and of reward and punishment; Powerful: so praise Him who created the heavens and the earth.

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

On 3:55

Remember when God said: O Jesus, I am taking you (3:55), seizing you, and raising you to Me from this world without death, and purifying you, removing you far, from those who disbelieve, and placing those who follow you, who affirm your prophethood, of the Muslims and the Christians, above those who disbelieve, namely the Jews, prevailing over them by argument and by the sword, until the Day of Resurrection. Then to Me is your return, and I shall judge between you concerning that over which you used to differ in the matter of religion.

On 3:56

As for those who disbelieve, I shall punish them with a severe punishment in this world (3:56), through killing, captivity and the poll-tax (jizya), and the Hereafter, through the Fire; and they shall have no helpers to protect them from it.

On 3:57

And as for those who believe and do righteous deeds, He will pay them in full (3:57) – read with yāʾ (yuwaffīhim) and with nūn (nuwaffīhim, “We will pay them in full”) – their rewards; and God does not love the wrongdoers, that is, He will punish them. It is related that God, Exalted, sent to him a cloud which raised him up, and his mother clung to him and wept, and he said to her: Truly the Resurrection will bring us together. That was on the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr) at the Holy House (Bayt al-Maqdis), when he was thirty-three years old; and his mother lived six years after him. The two Shaykhs⁴⁵ related the ḥadīth that he will descend near the Hour and will judge by the law of our Prophet, and will kill the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl) and the swine, break the cross and abolish the poll-tax (jizya). In the ḥadīth of Muslim, he will remain seven years; and in a ḥadīth from Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī, forty years; and he will die and the funeral prayer will be offered over him. So it may be that what is meant is the sum of his sojourn on earth before the raising and after it.

On 3:58

That (3:58), what has been mentioned of the affair of Jesus, We recite it, We relate it, to you, O Muḥammad, of the signs – a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl) of the pronoun -hu in natlūhu, its governing element being the demonstrative sense contained in dhālika – and the wise Remembrance, the firmly composed (muḥkam), that is, the Qurʾān.

On 4:158

Nay, God raised him up to Himself; and God is Mighty (4:158) in His dominion, Wise in His handiwork.

On 4:159

And there is not (4:159) – in meaning “not” – of the People of the Book anyone but will surely believe in him, in Jesus, before his death, that is, the death of the person of the Book, when he sees the angels of death, so that his belief does not benefit him; or before the death of Jesus, when he descends near the Hour, as has come in a ḥadīth. And on the Day of Resurrection he, Jesus, shall be a witness against them regarding what they did when he was sent to them.

On 5:116

And (5:116) remember when God said, that is, will say, to Jesus on the Day of Resurrection, in rebuke of his people: O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God? He said, Jesus – and he had been made to tremble – Glory be to You, declaring You far above what does not befit You, such as a partner or otherwise; it is not, it is not fitting, for me to say what I have no right to – [bi-ḥaqq] is the predicate of laysa, and lī is for clarification – had I said it, You would have known it. You know what I hide within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself, that is, what You keep hidden of the things You know. Truly You are the Knower of the unseen things.

On 5:117

I said to them nothing except what You commanded me (5:117), which is: Worship God, my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them, a watcher, restraining them from what they say, as long as I remained among them; but when You took me, seized me by raising me to heaven, You were the Watcher over them, the Keeper of their deeds; and You are over all things – of my speech to them and their speech after me and other than that – a Witness, aware of it and knowing it.

On 5:118

If You punish them (5:118), that is, those of them who persisted in disbelief, they are Your servants, and You are their Owner, disposing of them as You will, with no objection to be raised against You; and if You forgive them, that is, those of them who believed, then truly You are the Mighty, the One who prevails in His affair, the Wise in His handiwork.

On 5:119

God said: This (5:119), that is, the Day of Resurrection, is the day when there shall benefit the truthful in this world, such as Jesus, their truthfulness, because it is the Day of Recompense; and those who were liars in this world will not be benefited by their truthfulness on it, such as the disbelievers, when they believe upon seeing the punishment. They shall have gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein forever. God is well pleased with them for their obedience to Him, and they are well pleased with Him for His reward. That is the great triumph. And those who were liars in this world will not be benefited by their truthfulness on it, such as the disbelievers, when they believe upon seeing the punishment.

On 5:120

To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth (5:120) – the storehouses of rain, vegetation, provision and other things – and whatever is in them: He used mā, giving predominance to the non-rational; and He has power over all things, among which is the rewarding of the truthful and the punishing of the liar.

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

On 3:55-57

His words, Exalted: When God said: O Jesus (3:55), the verse.

Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, by way of ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words I am taking you (3:55) (mutawaffīka): He says: I am causing you to die.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from al-Ḥasan, who said: taking you (3:55): from the earth.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, by another route, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words I am taking you (3:55): meaning the taking of sleep; God raised him in his sleep. Al-Ḥasan said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the Jews: “Jesus has not died, and he is returning to you before the Day of Resurrection.”

Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from Qatādah: I am taking you and raising you to Myself (3:55). He said: This is of the kind in which what comes first is put later and what comes later is put first (al-muqaddam wa-l-muʾakhkhar), that is: raising you to Myself and taking you.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from Maṭar al-Warrāq, concerning the verse: He said: Taking you from this world, and it is not the taking of death.

Ibn Jarīr recorded, with a sound chain, from Kaʿb, who said: When Jesus saw the fewness of those who followed him and the multitude of those who denied him, he complained of that to God, and God revealed to him: I am taking you and raising you to Myself (3:55), and one whom I have raised to Myself is not dead; and I shall send you against the one-eyed Dajjāl⁴⁶ and you will kill him; then after that you will live twenty-four years; then I shall cause you to die the death of the living. Kaʿb said: And that is the confirmation of the ḥadīth of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) where he said: “How can a community perish of which I am at the beginning and Jesus at the end?”

Isḥāq ibn Bishr and Ibn ʿAsākir recorded, from al-Ḥasan, who said: There was no prophet in whose time wonders were more numerous than Jesus, until God raised him. Among the causes of his being raised was that a tyrannical king called Dāwūd ibn Nūdhā, who was the king of the Children of Israel, was the one who sent in search of him to kill him. God had sent down the Gospel to him when he was thirteen years old, and he was raised when he was thirty-four years from his birth. So God revealed to him: I am taking you and raising you to Myself and purifying you from those who disbelieve (3:55), meaning: and delivering you from the Jews, so that they shall not be able to kill you.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, by another route, from al-Ḥasan, concerning the verse: He said: God raised him to Himself, and he is with Him in heaven.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from Wahb, who said: God made Jesus son of Mary die for three hours of the day, until He raised him to Himself.

Ibn ʿAsākir recorded, from Wahb, who said: God made him die for three days, then raised him up and lifted him.

Al-Ḥākim recorded, from Wahb, that God made Jesus die for seven hours, then brought him to life; and that Mary conceived him when she was thirteen years old; and that he was raised at the age of thirty-three; and that his mother remained six years after he was raised.

Isḥāq ibn Bishr and Ibn ʿAsākir recorded, by way of Juwaybir, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words I am taking you and raising you (3:55): meaning raising you, then taking you at the end of time.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from Ibn Jurayj, concerning the verse: He said: His raising him is His taking him.

Al-Ḥākim recorded, from al-Ḥurayth ibn Makhashsh, that ʿAlī was killed on the morning of the twenty-first of Ramaḍān, “and I heard al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī saying: He was killed on the night the Qurʾān was sent down, the night Jesus was taken up by night, and the night Moses was taken.”

Ibn Saʿd, Aḥmad in al-Zuhd and al-Ḥākim recorded, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, who said: Jesus was raised at the age of thirty-three years, and Muʿādh died at that same age.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words and purifying you from those who disbelieve (3:55): He said: He purified him from the Jews, the Christians and the Magians, and from the unbelievers of his people.

Ibn Jarīr recorded, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: and purifying you from those who disbelieve (3:55). He said: When they intended against you what they intended.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded, from Qatādah, concerning His words and placing those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection (3:55): He said: They are the people of Islam, who followed him upon his natural disposition (fiṭrah), his religion and his way; they shall not cease to prevail over those who oppose them until the Day of Resurrection.

Ibn Jarīr recorded, from Ibn Jurayj, concerning the verse: He said: Giving victory to those who follow you in Islam over those who disbelieve, until the Day of Resurrection.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “A party of my community shall not cease to prevail, not caring who opposes them, until the command of God comes.” Al-Nuʿmān said: So whoever says that I am attributing to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) what he did not say, the confirmation of this is in the Book of God, Exalted; God, Exalted, said: and placing those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection (3:55), the verse.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from al-Ḥasan: and placing those who follow you (3:55). He said: They are the Muslims, and we are of them, and we are above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection.

Ibn ʿAsākir recorded, from Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, who said: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “A band of my community shall never cease to fight for the truth, prevailing over the people, until the command of God comes while they are upon that.” Then he drew upon this verse: O Jesus, I am taking you and raising you to Myself and purifying you from those who disbelieve and placing those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection (3:55).

Ibn Jarīr recorded, from Ibn Zayd, concerning the verse: He said: The Christians are above the Jews until the Day of Resurrection; there is no land in which there is any of the Christians but that they are above the Jews, in east or west; the Jews are humbled in all lands.

Ibn al-Mundhir recorded, from al-Ḥasan, concerning the verse: He said: Jesus is raised up with God, then he will descend before the Day of Resurrection; and whoever believes in Jesus and in Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and is upon their religion, they shall not cease to prevail over those who part from them until the Day of Resurrection.

Ibn Jarīr recorded, by way of ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words But as for those who believe and do righteous deeds (3:57): He says: who perform My obligations; He will pay them their rewards in full (3:57): He says: He will give them the recompense of their righteous deeds complete, nothing of it being withheld from them, nor will they diminish it.

On 3:58

His words, Exalted: This We recite to you (3:58), the verse.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from al-Ḥasan, who said: The two monks of Najrān came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and one of them said: “Who is the father of Jesus?” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) would not hasten until he had consulted his Lord, and there came down to him: This We recite to you of the signs and the wise Remembrance (3:58), up to His words: of the doubters (3:60).

Ibn Jarīr recorded, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His words and the wise Remembrance (3:58): He said: The Qurʾān.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, from ʿAlī: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “There will be trials (fitan).” I said: “What is the way out of them?” He said: “The Book of God; it is the wise Remembrance and the straight path.”

On 4:158

His words, Exalted: And God is ever Mighty, Wise (4:158).

Ibn Jarīr recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: And God is ever Mighty, Wise (4:158). He said: the meaning of that is that He is so.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās that a Jew said to him: “You claim that God was Mighty, Wise; so how is He today?” Ibn ʿAbbās said: “He was Mighty, Wise in Himself.”⁴⁷

On 4:159

His words, Exalted: And there is none of the People of the Book (4:159), the verse.

al-Firyābī, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—reported from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: the coming forth of Jesus son of Mary.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim reported through several routes from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: before the death of Jesus.

Ibn Jarīr reported from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning the verse: he said: It means that some people of the People of the Book will live to see the time when Jesus is sent, and they will believe in him.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim reported from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book (4:159): he said: the Jews in particular; but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: before the death of the Jew.

al-Ṭayālisī, Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: In the reading of Ubayy it is “before their death” (qabla mawtihim). He said: There is never a Jew but that he believes in Jesus. It was said to Ibn ʿAbbās: What do you say if he falls from the top of a house? He said: He utters it as he falls. It was said: What do you say if the neck of one of them is struck off? He said: His tongue stammers it out.

Ibn Jarīr reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Were his neck struck off, his soul would not depart until he believed in Jesus.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: No Jew dies until he testifies that Jesus is the servant of God and His Messenger, even if he is dispatched in haste with a weapon.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Ibn ʿAbbās: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: Were a Jew thrown from the top of a palace, he would not reach the ground until he believed that Jesus is the servant of God and His Messenger.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr reported from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning the verse: he said: No Jew dies until he believes in Jesus. It was said: Even if he is struck with the sword? He said: He utters it. It was said: And if he falls? He said: He utters it while he is falling.

Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Abū Hāshim and ʿUrwah, who both said: In the codex (muṣḥaf) of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb it is: “And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before their death.”

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159), from Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—he is Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah—who said: There is none of the People of the Book but that the angels come to him, striking his face and his back, and then it is said: O enemy of God, Jesus is the Spirit of God and His Word; you lied against God and claimed that he was God. Jesus has not died; he was raised up to heaven, and he will descend before the Hour comes, and then no Jew or Christian will remain but will believe in him.

Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, who said: al-Ḥajjāj said to me: O Shahr, there is a verse of the Book of God which I never recite without something about it troubling my mind. God said: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159); yet captives are brought to me and I strike off their necks, and I do not hear them say anything! I said: It has been presented to you otherwise than as it truly is. When the soul of the Christian departs, the angels strike him from before him and from behind him and say: O wicked one, the Messiah whom you claimed to be God, or the son of God, or the third of three, is the servant of God, and His Spirit and His Word. So he believes at a time when his belief does not benefit him. And when the soul of the Jew departs, the angels strike him from before him and from behind him and say: O wicked one, the Messiah whom you claimed to have killed is the servant of God and His Spirit. So he believes in him at a time when belief does not benefit him. And when the time of the descent of Jesus comes, the living among them will believe in him just as their dead have believed in him. He said: From where did you take this? I said: From Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. He said: You have taken it from its very source. Shahr said: By God, none related it to me but Umm Salamah; but I wished to vex him.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir reported from Qatādah concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: When he descends, all the religions will believe in him; and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159): that he conveyed the message of his Lord and acknowledged servanthood for himself.

Ibn Jarīr reported from Ibn Zayd concerning His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: When Jesus descends and kills the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl), there will remain no Jew on earth but will believe in him; and that is at a time when belief will not benefit them.

Ibn Jarīr reported from Abū Mālik: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: That is at the descent of Jesus son of Mary; there will remain none of the People of the Book but will believe in him.

Ibn Jarīr reported from al-Ḥasan: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): he said: before the death of Jesus. By God, he is now alive with God; but when he descends they will all believe in him.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim reported from al-Ḥasan that a man asked him about His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159); he said: before the death of Jesus. God raised Jesus up to Himself, and He will send him before the Day of Resurrection in a station in which the righteous and the wicked alike will believe in him.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, al-Bukhārī and Muslim reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “By Him in whose hand is my soul, the son of Mary is surely about to descend among you as a just judge; he will break the cross, kill the swine and abolish the poll-tax (jizyah), and wealth will overflow until no one accepts it, until a single prostration will be better than the world and all that is in it.” Then Abū Hurayrah would say: Recite if you wish: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159).

Ibn Mardawayh reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The son of Mary is about to descend among you as a just judge; he will kill the Antichrist, kill the swine, break the cross and abolish the poll-tax, and wealth will overflow, and prostration will be one alone, to God, Lord of the Worlds.” Abū Hurayrah said: Recite if you wish: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death (4:159): before the death of Jesus son of Mary. Then Abū Hurayrah would repeat it three times.

Aḥmad, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Jesus son of Mary will descend; he will kill the swine, efface the cross, the prayer will be gathered in congregation for him, he will give away wealth until it is no longer accepted, he will abolish the land-tax (kharāj), and he will alight at al-Rawḥāʾ and from there perform the pilgrimage (ḥajj), or the lesser pilgrimage (ʿumrah), or combine the two.” He said: And Abū Hurayrah recited: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them (4:159). Abū Hurayrah said: he believes in him before his death—the death of Jesus.

Aḥmad, Ibn Abī Shaybah and Muslim reported from Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Jesus son of Mary will surely raise the cry of talbiyah in the pass of al-Rawḥāʾ for the pilgrimage or for the lesser pilgrimage, or he will surely combine the two together.”

Aḥmad, al-Bukhārī, Muslim and al-Bayhaqī in al-Asmāʾ wa-l-ṣifāt reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “How will you be when the son of Mary descends among you, and your leader (imām) is from among you?”

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Ḥibbān reported from Abū Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The prophets are brothers of one father by different mothers: their mothers are various, but their religion is one. I am the closest of people to Jesus son of Mary, because there was no prophet between me and him. He is my deputy over my community, and he will descend; so when you see him, recognise him: a man of medium build, between ruddy and fair, wearing two garments dyed a light yellow, his head seeming to drip though no moisture has touched it. He will smash the cross, kill the swine, abolish the poll-tax and call people to Islam; in his time God will destroy all religious communities except Islam, and in his time God will destroy the Messiah the Antichrist. Then security will settle upon the earth, so that lions will graze with camels, leopards with cattle and wolves with sheep, and children will play with snakes and they will not harm them. He will remain forty years; then he will die, and the Muslims will pray over him and bury him.”

Aḥmad reported from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “I hope, if my life is prolonged, to meet Jesus son of Mary; and if death hastens upon me, then whoever of you meets him, let him convey to him my greeting of peace.”

al-Ṭabarānī reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Behold, between me and Jesus son of Mary there is no prophet and no messenger. Behold, he is my deputy in my community after me. Behold, he will kill the Antichrist, break the cross and abolish the poll-tax, and war will lay down its burdens. Behold, whoever of you lives to see him, let him recite to him my greeting of peace.”

al-Ṭabarānī and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Jesus son of Mary will descend and remain among the people forty years.”

Aḥmad and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The son of Mary will descend as a just leader and an equitable judge; he will break the cross, kill the swine, restore peace, and turn swords into sickles; the venom of every venomous creature will be gone; the sky will send down its provision and the earth will bring forth its blessing, until a child will play with a serpent and it will not harm him, the wolf will pasture the sheep and not harm them, and the lion will pasture the cattle and not harm them.”

Aḥmad, al-Ṭabarānī and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from Samurah ibn Jundub that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Antichrist will come forth; he is blind in the left eye, over which is a thick film. He will heal the one born blind and the leper, and raise the dead, and he will say: I am your Lord. Whoever says: You are my Lord, has fallen into trial; and whoever says: My Lord is God, the Living who does not die, has been protected from his trial, and there is no trial upon him and no punishment. He will tarry on the earth as long as God wills; then Jesus son of Mary will come from the west”—and al-Ṭabarānī’s wording is: from the east—”affirming Muḥammad and upon his religion, and he will kill the Antichrist; and then there is nothing but the rising of the Hour.”

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Aḥmad, Abū Yaʿlā and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from ʿĀʾishah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) came in to me while I was weeping and said: “What makes you weep?” I said: O Messenger of God, I remembered the Antichrist and wept. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “If the Antichrist comes forth while I am alive, I shall suffice you against him; and if he comes forth after me, then your Lord is not one-eyed. He will come forth among the Jews of Iṣbahān, until he comes to Medina and encamps on its outskirts—and on that day it will have seven gates, with two angels at every opening of it—and the worst of its people will go out to him, until he comes to Syria, to a city in Palestine, at the gate of Ludd; then Jesus son of Mary will descend and kill him. Then Jesus will remain on the earth forty years, a just leader and an equitable judge.”

Aḥmad reported from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Antichrist will come forth at a time of slackness in religion and retreat of knowledge. He will have forty nights in which he roams the earth: one day of them like a year, one day of them like a month, one day of them like a week, and the rest of his days like these days of yours. He will have a donkey which he rides, the breadth between whose ears is forty cubits. He will say to the people: I am your Lord—yet he is one-eyed, and your Lord is not one-eyed. Between his eyes is written k-f-r, spelt out letter by letter, which every believer will read, literate or illiterate. He will come to every water and watering-place except Medina and Mecca, which God has forbidden to him, and the angels will stand at their gates. With him are mountains of bread, while the people are in hardship, except those who follow him. With him are two rivers—I know them better than he does: a river which he says is the Garden, and a river which he says is the Fire. Whoever enters the one he calls the Garden, it is the Fire; and whoever enters the one he calls the Fire, it is the Garden. Devils will be sent with him who speak to the people, and with him is a great trial. He will command the sky and it will rain, as the people see it; and he will kill a soul and then bring it back to life—he will not be given power over any other person—as the people see it. He will say to the people: O people, does anyone but the Lord do the like of this? Then the Muslims will flee to the Mountain of Smoke (Jabal al-Dukhān) in Syria; he will come to them and besiege them, and the siege will press hard upon them and distress them with severe distress. Then Jesus will descend and call out in the time before dawn, saying: O people, what prevents you from going out against the wicked liar? They will say: This is a man of the jinn. Then they will set out, and behold, it is Jesus. The prayer will be established, and it will be said to him: Step forward, O Spirit of God. He will say: Let your leader step forward and lead you in prayer. When they have prayed the dawn prayer they will go out to him, and when the liar sees him he will dissolve as salt dissolves in water. He will walk towards him and kill him, until even the tree will call out: O Spirit of God, here is a Jew! And none of those who followed him will be left but he will kill him.”

Maʿmar in his Jāmiʿ reported from al-Zuhrī: ʿAmr ibn Abī Sufyān al-Thaqafī informed me: a man of the Anṣār informed me, from one of the Companions of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the Antichrist and said: “He will come to the salt-flats of Medina, though it is forbidden to him to enter it; and it will shake with its people one shaking or two—that is the earthquake—and every hypocrite, man and woman, will go out from it to him. Then the Antichrist will go towards Syria, until he comes to one of the mountains of Syria and besieges them; the remnant of the Muslims on that day will be holding fast to the summit of a mountain, and he will besiege them, encamped at its foot. When the siege has gone on long against them, a man will say: How long will you remain thus, with your enemy encamped at the foot of your mountain? Are you not between one of the two good outcomes: either that you be martyred, or that He grant you victory? So they will pledge themselves to fight, with a pledge which God knows to be sincere from their souls. Then a darkness will seize them in which none of them can see his own palm, and the son of Mary will descend and lift it from their eyes, and in their midst will be a man wearing a coat of mail. They will say: Who are you? He will say: I am the servant of God, and His Spirit and His Word, Jesus. Choose one of three: either that God send upon the Antichrist and his hosts a mighty punishment, or that He cause the earth to swallow them, or that He loose your weapons upon them and hold back their weapons. They will say: This last, O Messenger of God, is more healing to our breasts. On that day you will see the great, tall Jew, the mighty eater and drinker, whose hand cannot lift his sword for terror. They will go down to them and be given power over them, and the Antichrist will melt when Jesus overtakes him, and he will kill him.”

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Aḥmad, al-Ṭabarānī and al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—reported from ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “The Muslims will have three garrison-cities: a city at the meeting of the two seas, a city in the Jazīrah and a city in Syria. The people will be struck by three panics, and the Antichrist will come forth among the flanks of an army, and he will be routed from the direction of the east. The first city he comes to will be the city at the meeting of the two seas, and its people will become three parties: a party that stays and says: We shall sniff him out and see what he is; a party that joins the Bedouin; and a party that joins the city next to them. With the Antichrist are seventy thousand wearing green cloaks (sījān), and most of those with him are Jews and women. Then he will come to the city next to them, and its people will become three parties: a party that says: We shall sniff him out and see what he is; a party that joins the Bedouin; and a party that joins the city next to them. Then he will come to Syria, and the Muslims will withdraw to the pass of Afīq. They will send out their grazing herds and their herds will be seized, and that will bear hard upon them, and a severe famine and severe hardship will strike them, so that one of them will burn his bowstring and eat it. While they are thus, a crier will call out to them in the time before dawn: Help has come to you, O people!—three times. They will say to one another: This is surely the voice of a well-fed man. Then Jesus will descend at the dawn prayer, and the commander of the people will say to him: Step forward, O Spirit of God, and lead us in prayer. He will say: You, the company of this community, are commanders one over another; you step forward and lead us in prayer. So he will step forward and lead them in prayer, and when he has finished Jesus will take his spear towards the Antichrist, and when he sees him he will melt as lead melts, and his spear will land in his breast and he will kill him. Then his companions will be routed, and nothing on that day will hide any of them, so that even the stone will say: O believer, here is a disbeliever, kill him! and the tree will say: O believer, here is a disbeliever, kill him!”

al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—reported from Abū al-Ṭufayl, who said: I was in Kūfah when it was said: The Antichrist has come forth! So we went to Ḥudhayfah ibn Asīd and I said: This Antichrist has come forth. He said: Sit down. So I sat, and then it was proclaimed: It is a dyer’s lie. Then Ḥudhayfah said: If the Antichrist came forth in your time, children would pelt him with potsherds; but he will come forth at a time of dwindling of people, lightness of religion and badness of relations between people. He will come to every watering-place, and the earth will be folded up for him like the folding of a ram’s fleece, until he comes to Medina and prevails over its outskirts but is barred from its interior; then to the mountain of Īliyāʾ,⁴⁸ where he will besiege a band of Muslims. Their commander will say to them: What are you waiting for with this tyrant, that you do not fight him until you join God or victory is opened to you? So they will resolve to fight him when morning comes; and in the morning Jesus son of Mary will be with them, and he will kill the Antichrist and rout his companions.

Muslim and al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—reported from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Antichrist will come forth and tarry in my community as long as God wills; he will tarry forty—I do not know whether nights, or months, or years.” He said: “Then God will send Jesus son of Mary, as though he were ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd al-Thaqafī, and he will seek him out until he destroys him. Then the people will remain seven years with no enmity between any two. Then God will send a cold wind which comes from the direction of Syria, and it will leave no one with an atom’s weight of faith in his heart but it will take his soul, so that even if one of you entered into the heart of a mountain it would enter upon him until it took him”—I heard this from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him): “the heart of a mountain”—”then the worst of people will remain, who know no good and forbid no evil, with the lightness of birds and the dispositions of beasts of prey. Satan will come to them and say: Will you not respond? They will say: What do you command us? He will command them to worship idols, and they will worship them, while in that state their provision flows abundantly and their life is good. Then the Trumpet will be blown.”

Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Mājah reported from Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) delivered a sermon to us, and most of his sermon was an account which he related to us about the Antichrist, warning us against him. Among what he said was: “There has been no trial on the earth, since God scattered the progeny of Adam, greater than the trial of the Antichrist. God has not sent a prophet but he warned against the Antichrist; and I am the last of the prophets and you are the last of the communities, and he will without doubt come forth among you. If he comes forth while I am among you, I shall be the advocate for every Muslim; and if he comes forth after me, then each is his own advocate, and God is my deputy over every Muslim. He will come forth from a gap between Syria and Iraq, and will wreak havoc to the right and wreak havoc to the left. O servants of God, stand firm! I shall describe him to you with a description which no prophet before me has given of him. He will begin by saying: I am a prophet—and there is no prophet after me. Then he will say a second time: I am your Lord—and you will not see your Lord until you die. He is one-eyed, and your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, is not one-eyed. Between his eyes is written: disbeliever, which every believer will read, literate or illiterate. Among his trials is that he has with him a garden and a fire; his fire is a garden and his garden is a fire. Whoever is tried with his fire, let him seek help in God and recite the opening verses of al-Kahf, and it will be coolness and safety for him, as the fire was for Abraham. Among his trials is that he will say to a Bedouin: Tell me, if I raise your father and your mother for you, will you testify that I am your Lord? He will say to him: Yes. Then two devils will take on for him the forms of his father and his mother and say: My son, follow him, for he is your Lord. Among his trials is that he will be given power over a single soul and will kill it, sawing it with a saw until it is thrown down in two halves; then he will say: Look at this servant of mine, for I shall now raise him, and then he will claim that he has a Lord other than me. Then God will raise him, and the wicked one will say to him: Who is your Lord? He will say: My Lord is God, and you are the enemy of God, the Antichrist; by God, I was never clearer-sighted about you than I am today. Among his trials is that he will command the sky to rain and it will rain, and command the earth to bring forth and it will bring forth. Among his trials is that he will pass by a tribe who disbelieve him, and no grazing animal of theirs will remain but it will perish. Among his trials is that he will pass by a tribe who believe him, and he will command the sky to rain and it will rain, and command the earth to bring forth and it will bring forth, until their cattle return that very day fatter than they ever were, and larger, with fuller flanks and udders more flowing with milk. And no part of the earth will remain but he will tread it and prevail over it, except Mecca and Medina; for he will not come to them by any of their mountain openings but the angels will meet him with swords drawn, until he encamps at al-Ẓurayb al-Aḥmar, where the salt-flat ends. Then Medina will quake with its people three quakes, and no hypocrite, man or woman, will remain but will go out to him; and it will cast out the dross from itself as the bellows casts out the dross of iron, and that day will be called the Day of Deliverance.” Umm Sharīk bint Abī al-ʿAkar said: O Messenger of God, where will the Arabs be on that day? He said: “They will be few, and most of them will be in Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis), and their leader will be a righteous man. While their leader has stepped forward to lead them in the dawn prayer, Jesus son of Mary will descend upon them at dawn. That leader will walk backwards so that Jesus may step forward and lead the prayer, but Jesus will place his hand between his shoulders and say to him: Step forward and pray, for it was established for you. So their leader will lead them in prayer, and when he has finished, Jesus will say: Open the gate. It will be opened, and behind it is the Antichrist with seventy thousand Jews, every one of them with an ornamented sword and a green cloak. When the Antichrist looks at him he will dissolve as salt dissolves in water, and will set off fleeing. Jesus will say: I have a blow to deal you which you shall not escape. He will overtake him at the eastern gate of Ludd and kill him, and God will rout the Jews. Nothing which God created will remain behind which a Jew might hide but God will make that thing speak—no stone, no tree, no beast, no wall—except the gharqadah (boxthorn), for it is one of their trees and does not speak—saying: O servant of God, O Muslim, here is a Jew, come and kill him!” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “His days will be forty years: a year like half a year, a year like a month, a month like a week, and the last of his days like a spark: one of you will be at the gate of the city in the morning and will not reach its other gate before evening.” It was said to him: O Messenger of God, how shall we pray in those short days? He said: “You will reckon the prayer in them as you reckon it in these long days, and then pray.” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Jesus son of Mary will surely be in my community a just judge and an equitable leader; he will smash the cross, slaughter the swine, abolish the poll-tax and leave off the alms-tax, so that no collector will go out after sheep or camel; rancour and mutual hatred will be lifted, and the venom of every venomous creature will be drawn out, so that an infant will put his hand into the mouth of a snake and it will not harm him, and an infant will chase off a lion and it will not harm him, and the wolf will be among the sheep as though it were their dog; and the earth will be filled with peace as a vessel is filled with water. The word will be one, so that none but God is worshipped, and war will lay down its burdens; Quraysh will be stripped of their kingship; and the earth will be like a platter of silver, bringing forth its plants as in the time of Adam, so that a group will gather round a single bunch of grapes and it will satisfy them, and a group will gather round a single pomegranate and it will satisfy them; an ox will fetch such-and-such a sum of money, while a horse will go for a few dirhams.” It was said: O Messenger of God, what will make horses so cheap? He said: “They will never be ridden for war.” It was said to him: And what will make oxen so dear? He said: “The ploughing of the whole earth. And before the coming forth of the Antichrist there will be three hard years, in which the people will be struck by severe hunger: God will command the sky to withhold a third of its rain, and command the earth to withhold a third of its produce; then in the second year He will command the sky and it will withhold two thirds of its rain, and command the earth and it will withhold two thirds of its produce; then in the third year He will command the sky and it will withhold all its rain, so that not a drop falls, and command the earth and it will withhold all its produce, so that nothing green grows; and no cloven-hoofed animal will remain but it will perish, save what God wills.” It was said: Then what will keep the people alive in that time? He said: “The declaration that there is no god but God, the proclamation of His greatness, His glorification and His praise; and that will serve them in place of food.”

Aḥmad and Muslim reported from Jābir, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “A party of my community will not cease fighting for the truth, prevailing, until the Day of Resurrection.” He said: “Then Jesus son of Mary will descend, and their commander will say: Come, lead us in prayer. He will say: No; some of you are commanders over others, as God’s honouring of this community.”

al-Ṭabarānī reported from Aws ibn Aws, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “Jesus son of Mary will descend at the white minaret in Damascus.”

al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī in Nawādir al-uṣūl reported from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samurah, who said: Khālid ibn al-Walīd sent me as a bearer of good tidings to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) on the day of Muʾtah. When I came in to him I said: O Messenger of God—and he said: “Gently, O ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Zayd ibn Ḥārithah took the standard and fought until he was killed—may God have mercy on Zayd. Then Jaʿfar took the standard and fought and was killed—may God have mercy on Jaʿfar. Then ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah took the standard and fought and was killed—may God have mercy on ʿAbd Allāh. Then Khālid took the standard, and God granted victory to Khālid; so Khālid is a sword among the swords of God.” The Companions of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), who were around him, wept, and he said: “What makes you weep?” They said: And why should we not weep, when the best of us and our nobles and the people of merit among us have been killed? He said: “Do not weep. The likeness of my community is only the likeness of a garden whose owner tended it: he uprooted its stunted shoots, prepared its beds and trimmed its palm-fronds, so that it fed one year a company, then another year a company, then another year a company; and perhaps the last of them to taste of it will find it the finest of them in clusters and the longest of them in fruit-stalks. By Him who sent me with the truth, the son of Mary will surely find in my community a successor to his disciples.”

Ibn Abī Shaybah, al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī and al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—reported from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr al-Ḥaḍramī, from his father, who said: When the grief of the Companions of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) over those killed on the day of Muʾtah grew severe, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Antichrist will surely find in this community a people like you, or better than you”—three times—”and God will never disgrace a community of which I am the first and Jesus son of Mary the last.” Al-Dhahabī said: It is mursal,⁴⁹ and it is a rejected (munkar) report.

al-Ḥākim reported from Anas, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Men of my community will live to see Jesus son of Mary, and will witness the fighting against the Antichrist.”

al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The son of Mary will surely come down as a just judge and an equitable leader; he will surely travel a mountain pass as a pilgrim or as a performer of the lesser pilgrimage; and he will surely come to my grave until he greets me, and I shall surely return his greeting.” Abū Hurayrah would say: O sons of my brother, if you see him, say: Abū Hurayrah conveys to you his greeting of peace.

al-Ḥākim reported from Anas, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever of you lives to see Jesus son of Mary, let him convey to him my greeting of peace.”

Aḥmad in al-Zuhd reported from Abū Hurayrah, who said: Jesus son of Mary will remain on the earth forty years; were he to say to the valley-bed (al-Baṭḥāʾ): Flow with honey, it would flow.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Aḥmad and al-Tirmidhī—who declared it sound—reported from Mujammiʿ ibn Jāriyah: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “The son of Mary will surely kill the Antichrist at the gate of Ludd.”

Aḥmad reported from Thawbān, from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “Two bands of my community God has secured from the Fire: a band that will raid India, and a band that will be with Jesus son of Mary.”

al-Tirmidhī—who graded it fair (ḥasan)—and Ibn ʿAsākir reported from Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām, from his father, from his grandfather, who said: Written in the Torah is the description of Muḥammad, and that Jesus son of Mary will be buried with him.

al-Bukhārī in his Tārīkh and al-Ṭabarānī reported from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām, who said: Jesus son of Mary will be buried with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and his two companions, and his grave will be the fourth.

On 5:116-117

His words, Exalted: And when God said, “O Jesus” (5:116) — the verse.

Al-Tirmidhī — who declared it sound — al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, Abū al-Shaykh, Ibn Mardawayh and al-Daylamī transmitted from Abū Hurayrah, who said: Jesus will put forward his argument, and it is God who will have put it into his mouth, in His words: And when God said, “O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people, ‘Take me and my mother as two gods besides God’?” (5:116). Abū Hurayrah said, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “So God put into his mouth: Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to (5:116) — the whole verse.”

Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Abū al-Shaykh transmitted from Maysarah, who said: When God said, And when God said, “O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people, ‘Take me and my mother as two gods besides God’?”, every joint in him trembled until he fell down.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ, who said: When He said, Did you say to the people, ‘Take me and my mother as two gods besides God’?, every joint of his shifted from its place out of fear.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Qatādah concerning His words Did you say to the people, ‘Take me and my mother as two gods besides God’?: when will that be? He said: On the Day of Resurrection. Do you not see that He says: This is the Day when the truthful will profit from their truthfulness (5:119)?

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from al-Suddī concerning His words And when God said, “O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people, ‘Take me and my mother as two gods besides God’?”: he said: When God raised Jesus son of Mary to Himself, the Christians said what they said, and claimed that Jesus had commanded them to do so. So He questioned him about his saying, and he said: Glory be to You! It is not for me to say — up to His words — and You are witness over all things (5:116–117).

ʿAbd al-Razzāq, al-Firyābī, Ibn Abī Shaybah, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Ṭāwūs concerning this verse: he said: Jesus and his Lord disputed in argument, and God granted him success, and so he said: Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to.

Abū al-Shaykh transmitted, by way of Ṭāwūs, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “Jesus’s Lord argued with him, so Jesus argued with his Lord, and God put his argument into his mouth with His words: Did you say to the people — the verse.”

Ibn Mardawayh transmitted from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “When the Day of Resurrection comes, the nations will be gathered, and every people will be called with their leader (imām).” He said: “And Jesus will be called, and He will say to Jesus: ‘O Jesus, did you say to the people, “Take me and my mother as two gods besides God”?‘ And he will say: Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to — up to His words — the Day when the truthful will profit from their truthfulness (5:116–119).”

Abū al-Shaykh transmitted from Ibn Jurayj: And when God said, “O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people, ‘Take me and my mother as two gods besides God’?” — while the people were listening; and he answered Him with what you have seen, and acknowledged against himself his servanthood to Him, so that whoever used to say about Jesus what he used to say came to know that he had been speaking only falsehood.

Abū al-Shaykh transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words that you should worship God, my Lord and your Lord (5:117): he said: my Master and your Master.

Al-Ṭabarānī transmitted from Ibn Masʿūd, who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “And I was a witness over them as long as I was among them (5:117) — as long as I was among them.”

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Aḥmad, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, al-Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, Ibn Ḥibbān, Abū al-Shaykh, Ibn Mardawayh and al-Bayhaqī in al-Asmāʾ wa-l-ṣifāt transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) delivered a sermon and said: “O people, you will be gathered to God barefoot, naked and uncircumcised.” Then he recited: As We began the first creation, We shall repeat it — a promise binding upon Us; truly We shall do it (21:104). Then he said: “Truly, the first of created beings to be clothed on the Day of Resurrection will be Abraham. And truly, men of my community will be brought and taken off to the left side, and I shall say: ‘O Lord, my companions, my companions!’ And it will be said: ‘You do not know what they innovated after you.’ Then I shall say as the righteous servant said: And I was a witness over them as long as I was among them; but when You took me, You were the Watcher over them (5:117). And it will be said: ‘As for these, they never ceased to turn back on their heels from the time you parted from them.’”

Ibn al-Mundhir transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words You were the Watcher over them (5:117): he said: the Guardian.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Qatādah concerning His words You were the Watcher: he said: the Guardian.

On 5:118

His words, Exalted: If You punish them (5:118) — the verse.

Ibn Abī Shaybah in al-Muṣannaf, Aḥmad, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Mardawayh and al-Bayhaqī in his Sunan transmitted from Abū Dharr, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed one night and recited a single verse until morning came, bowing with it and prostrating with it: If You punish them, they are Your servants (5:118) — the verse. When morning came I said: “O Messenger of God, you kept reciting this verse until morning came.” He said: “I asked my Lord for intercession for my community, and He granted it to me; and it will reach, God willing, whoever does not associate anything with God.”

Ibn Mājah transmitted from Abū Dharr, who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood in prayer with a single verse until morning came, repeating it: If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, truly You are the Mighty, the Wise (5:118).

Muslim, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Abī al-Dunyā in Ḥusn al-ẓann, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Ṭabarānī and al-Bayhaqī in al-Asmāʾ wa-l-ṣifāt transmitted from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) recited the words of God concerning Abraham: My Lord, they have led astray many of the people; so whoever follows me is of me (14:36) — the verse; and the words of Jesus son of Mary: If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, truly You are the Mighty, the Wise (5:118). Then he raised his hands and said: “O God, my community, my community!” and wept. So God said: “O Gabriel, go to Muḥammad and say: We shall satisfy you concerning your community, and We shall not grieve you.”

Ibn Mardawayh transmitted from Abū Dharr, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) spent a night interceding for his community, and he kept praying with this verse: If You punish them, they are Your servants — to the end of the verse; with it he prostrated and with it he bowed, with it he stood and with it he sat, until morning came.

Ibn Mardawayh transmitted from Abū Dharr, who said: I said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “May my father and mother be your ransom, O Messenger of God! You stood tonight with a single verse of the Qurʾān, when you have the whole Qurʾān with you; had one of us done this, we would have held it against him.” He said: “I prayed for my community.” He said: “And what answer were you given?” He said: “I was given an answer such that, if many of them came to know of it, they would abandon the prayer.” He said: “Shall I not give the people the good news?” He said: “Yes.” Then ʿUmar said: “O Messenger of God, if you send this out to the people, they will slacken in worship.” So he called out to him: “Come back!” and he came back; and he recited the verse that he had been reciting: If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, truly You are the Mighty, the Wise (5:118).

Abū al-Shaykh transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās: If You punish them, they are Your servants — he says: Your slaves, who have deserved punishment by their saying; and if You forgive them — that is, those of them whom You have left and whose lives have been prolonged until I am sent down from heaven to the earth to kill the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl), and they have withdrawn from their saying, declared You one, and acknowledged that we are servants; and if You forgive them, in that they have turned back from their saying, truly You are the Mighty, the Wise.

Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Abū al-Shaykh transmitted from al-Suddī concerning His words If You punish them, they are Your servants: he says: If You punish them — You make them die in their Christianity, so that the punishment becomes their due — they are Your servants; and if You forgive them — bringing them out of Christianity and guiding them to Islam — truly You are the Mighty, the Wise. This was the saying of Jesus (peace be upon him) in this world.

On 5:119

His words, Exalted: God said (5:119) — the verse.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Abū al-Shaykh transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words This is the Day when the truthful will profit from their truthfulness (5:119): he said: He says: This is the Day when those who affirm God’s oneness will profit from their affirmation of His oneness.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from al-Suddī concerning His words God said, “This is the Day when the truthful will profit from their truthfulness”: he said: This is a separate section from the speech of Jesus, and this is on the Day of Resurrection.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn al-Mundhir and Abū al-Shaykh transmitted from Qatādah, who said: Two speakers will speak on the Day of Resurrection: the prophet of God, Jesus, and Iblīs, the enemy of God. As for Iblīs, he will say: Truly God promised you a true promise — up to His words — except that I called you and you answered me (14:22); and the enemy of God will speak truly on that day, though in this world he was a liar. As for Jesus, it is what God has recounted to you in His words: And when God said, “O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people, ‘Take me and my mother as two gods besides God’?” (5:116) — to the end of the verse. Then God said: This is the Day when the truthful will profit from their truthfulness; and he was truthful in the life of this world and after death.

On 5:120

His words, Exalted: To God belongs the dominion of the heavens (5:120) — the verse.

Abū ʿUbayd in his Faḍāʾil transmitted from Abū al-Zāhiriyyah that ʿUthmān wrote at the end of al-Māʾidah: “To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and God is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.”⁵⁰

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On 3:55

And God said to Jesus: I am going to take you and raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieve. So God raised him to Himself and purified him from those who disbelieved, and they crucified the one they killed, supposing that he was Jesus, and they incurred a mighty sin.

Jesus son of Mary will descend at the end of this community as a just ruler: he will kill the swine, break the cross and follow what Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) brought, and the liars will know their delusion and their deceit, and that they are deluded and deceived. As for His words: and I am going to make those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection, what is meant by those who followed him is the party that believed in him, and God gave them victory over those who deviated from his religion. Then, when the community of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) came, they were his true followers, and God supported them and gave them victory over all the disbelievers and made them prevail through the religion that Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) brought them: God has promised those among you who believe and do righteous deeds that He will surely make them successors in the earth (24:55), to the end of the verse. But God’s wisdom is just, for it requires that whoever holds fast to the religion, God gives him manifest victory, and that whoever abandons His command and His prohibition, casts aside His law and ventures boldly upon disobedience to Him, He punishes him and gives his enemies power over him. And God is Mighty, Wise.

His words: Then to Me is your return, and I shall judge between you concerning that over which you used to differ (3:55).

On 3:56

I say: then He made clear what He would do with them, and said: As for those who disbelieve, I shall punish them with a severe punishment in this world and the Hereafter, and they shall have no helpers (3:56).

On 3:57

And as for those who believe and do righteous deeds, He will pay them their rewards in full; and God does not love the wrongdoers (3:57). This recompense is general for everyone who is characterised by these attributes from among all the people of the earlier religions. Then, when the master of the messengers and seal of the prophets was sent, and his message abrogated all the messages and his religion abrogated all the religions, whoever holds to any religion other than this one became one of those who perish.

On 3:58

And His words, Exalted:

That is: this mighty Qur’an, which contains the tidings of the first and the last, of the prophets and the messengers, is the clear signs of God; it is that which reminds the servants of everything they need, and it is the wise, the firmly established, truthful in its reports and good in its rulings.

On 4:155-158

When He had mentioned their corrupt objection, He informed that it was nothing strange in their conduct; rather there had gone before from them ugly precedents greater than the course they took with the Messenger in whom they claim to believe: their asking him to see God openly with their eyes; their taking the calf as a god to worship after they had seen with their own eyes signs that no one else had seen; their refusal to accept the rulings of their scripture, the Torah, until the Mount was raised above their heads and they were threatened that if they did not believe it would be dropped upon them, whereupon they accepted it with reluctance and with a faith resembling forced faith; their refusal to enter the gates of the town which they were commanded to enter prostrating and seeking forgiveness, so that they went against it in word and deed; the transgression of those among them who transgressed on the Sabbath, for which God punished them with that hideous punishment; the taking of the firm covenant from them, which they cast behind their backs, disbelieving in the signs of God and killing His messengers without right; their saying that they killed the Messiah, Jesus, and crucified him, when in fact they neither killed him nor crucified him, but another was made to appear to them in his likeness, so that they killed and crucified someone else; their claim that their hearts are wrapped and do not grasp or understand what you say to them; their turning people away from the path of God, so that they turned them away from the truth and called them to the error and misguidance they themselves were upon; and their taking of unlawful gain and usury despite God’s prohibition of it to them and His severity concerning it. Those who did these deeds, then, cannot be thought strange for asking the Messenger Muḥammad to bring down upon them a book from heaven.

This method is one of the best methods for disputing with an opponent who is in the wrong: when a false objection issues from him which he makes into a doubt for himself and for others in rejecting the truth, there is laid bare of his vile condition and his hideous deeds what is among the ugliest things that have issued from him, so that everyone may know that this objection is from that same base valley, and that it has precedents alongside which this one is to be placed. Likewise every objection they raise against the prophethood of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) can be met with its like, or with something stronger than it, concerning the prophethood of the one in whom they claim to believe, so that by this their evil is held in check and their falsehood is suppressed; and every argument they follow in establishing the prophethood of the one in whom they believe, it and its counterpart and what is stronger than it indicate and establish the prophethood of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

Since the purpose of enumerating those of their abominations which God enumerated was this confrontation, He did not expound them at length in this place, but alluded to them and referred to the places where they occur; He has expounded them elsewhere, in the place fitting for their exposition.

On 4:159

And His words: And there is none of the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death. It is possible that the pronoun here in His words before his death refers back to the People of the Book, in which case every person of the Book whom death attends and who witnesses the matter in reality will believe in Jesus (peace be upon him), but with a faith that does not benefit, a faith of compulsion. The purport of this would then be a threat and a warning to them not to persist in this condition which they will regret before their deaths; so how will their condition be on the day of their gathering and their rising?! And it is possible that the pronoun in His words before his death refers to Jesus (peace be upon him), in which case the meaning is: there is no one of the People of the Book but will surely believe in the Messiah (peace be upon him) before the death of the Messiah; and that will be when the Hour draws near and its great signs appear, for the sound ḥadīths have multiplied concerning his descent (peace be upon him) at the end of this community: he will kill the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl), abolish the poll-tax, and the People of the Book will believe in him together with the believers. And on the Day of Resurrection Jesus will be a witness against them, testifying against them concerning their deeds, whether they were in accordance with God’s law or not. At that time he will testify to nothing but the falsity of everything they were upon that contradicts the law of the Qur’an and what Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) called them to. We know this because of our knowledge of the perfect justice of the Messiah (peace be upon him) and his truthfulness, and that he testifies only to the truth; and the truth is none other than that what Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) brought is the truth, and whatever is besides it is error and falsehood.

On 5:116

And when God said: O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides God? This is a rebuke to the Christians who said that God is the third of three! God says these words to Jesus, and Jesus disavows it and says: Glory be to You, far above these ugly words and above what does not befit You; it is not for me to say what I have no right to, that is, it is not proper or fitting for me to say anything that is not among my attributes or my rights. For no created being, neither the angels brought near, nor the prophets sent as messengers, nor anyone else, has any right or entitlement to the station of divinity; rather all are servants who are governed, creatures who are subjected, needy and powerless. If I had said it, You would have known it; You know what is in my self, and I do not know what is in Your Self. You know best what has issued from me, for You are the Knower of the unseen. This is part of the perfect courtesy of the Messiah (upon him be blessings and peace) in addressing his Lord: he (peace be upon him) did not say, I did not say anything of that; rather he spoke words that deny of himself the saying of any statement contrary to his noble station, and that this is among impossible things, and he declared his Lord utterly far above that, and referred knowledge back to the Knower of the unseen and the seen.

On 5:117

Then he stated explicitly what he had commanded the Children of Israel, and said: I said to them nothing except what You commanded me: for I am a servant who follows Your command, not one who ventures boldly against Your majesty; Worship God, my Lord and your Lord, that is, I commanded them nothing but the worship of God alone and the devoting of religion sincerely to Him, which includes the prohibition of taking me and my mother as two gods besides God and the declaration that I am a servant who has a Lord: just as He is your Lord, so He is my Lord. And I was a witness over them as long as I remained among them: I bear witness as to who carried out this command and who did not carry it out. Then when You took me up, You were the Watcher over them, that is, the One acquainted with their secrets and their inner thoughts; and You are Witness over all things (5:117), in knowledge, hearing and sight: Your knowledge has encompassed all things known, Your hearing all things heard, and Your sight all things seen; so You are the One who recompenses Your servants for what You know in them of good and evil.

On 5:118

If You punish them, they are Your servants: and You are more merciful to them than they are to themselves, and more knowing of their states; so were it not that they are rebellious servants, You would not punish them. And if You forgive them, You are the Mighty, that is, Your forgiveness issues from complete might and power, not like one who forgives and pardons out of incapacity and lack of power; the Wise (5:118), in that it is among the requirements of Your wisdom that You forgive whoever brings the means of forgiveness.

On 5:119

God said, making plain the condition of His servants on the Day of Resurrection, which of them is the successful and which the ruined, which the wretched and which the blessed: This is the Day when the truthful will benefit from their truthfulness. The truthful are those whose deeds, words and intentions were upright upon the straight path and the right guidance; on the Day of Resurrection they find the fruit of that truthfulness when God settles them in a seat of truth with a Sovereign Omnipotent. For this reason He said: For them are Gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein forever; God is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him. That is the great success (5:119). The liars are their opposite: they will find the harm of their lying and their fabrication and the fruit of their corrupt deeds.

On 5:120

To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is in them, because He is the Creator of them both and the Governor of all that, by His decree of destiny, His decree of law and His decree of recompense. For this reason He said: and He has power over all things (5:120): nothing is beyond Him; rather all things are submissive to His will and subjected to His command.

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