Maʿālim al-tanzīl, by Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn ibn Masʿūd al-Baghawī (d. 516 AH / 1122 CE). A commentary of the school of ḥadīth, valued for its restraint; it keeps the early reports and little else.
The complete commentary on Compassion, mercy and monasticism (57:27), covering 57:27.
On 57:27
And We sent Noah and Abraham, and We placed prophethood and the Book among their descendants; and among them are some who are guided, but many of them are rebellious. (26) Then We sent in their footsteps Our messengers, and We sent after them Jesus son of Mary and gave him the Gospel, and We placed in the hearts of those who followed him (57:27), in his religion, compassion, which is the most intense tenderness, and mercy: they were affectionate towards one another, as God, Exalted, said in describing the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), merciful among themselves (48:29). And monasticism which they innovated, of their own accord. This is not in apposition to what precedes it; it takes the accusative by an implied verb, as though He said: and they innovated monasticism, that is, they brought it of their own accord. We did not prescribe it, that is, We did not make it obligatory, for them, only seeking the good pleasure of God, meaning: but they sought the good pleasure of God by that monasticism. That monasticism was the hardships they imposed upon themselves in abstaining from food, drink, clothing and marriage, and in devoting themselves to worship in the mountains. But they did not observe it with its due observance, that is, they did not observe monasticism with its due observance; rather, they neglected it, disbelieved in the religion of Jesus, became Jews and Christians, entered into the religion of their kings and abandoned the monastic life. Some of them remained upon the religion of Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him) until they met Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and believed in him, and that is His words, Exalted: So We gave those of them who believed their reward, and they are those who remained steadfast in it, the people of compassion and mercy; but many of them are rebellious, and they are those who abandoned monasticism and disbelieved in the religion of Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him).
Abū Saʿīd al-Shurayḥī informed us: Abū Isḥāq al-Thaʿlabī informed us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥāmid informed me: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Muzanī informed us: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sulaymān related to us: Shaybān ibn Farrūkh related to us: al-Ṣaʿq ibn Ḥazn related to us, from ʿAqīl al-Jaʿdī, from Abū Isḥāq, from Suwayd ibn Ghafalah, from Ibn Masʿūd (may God, Exalted, be pleased with him), who said: I went in to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and he said: “O Ibn Masʿūd, those before you split into seventy-two sects, of which three were saved and the rest perished. One sect stood up against the kings and fought them for the religion of Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him), and they seized them and killed them. Another sect had no strength to stand against the kings, nor to remain among them calling them to the religion of God and the religion of Jesus (peace be upon him), so they wandered through the lands and took up the monastic life, and they are those of whom God, Mighty and Majestic, said: And monasticism which they innovated; We did not prescribe it for them.” Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever believes in me, affirms me and follows me has observed it with its due observance, and whoever does not believe in me, those are the ones who perish.”
It is related from Ibn Masʿūd (may God be pleased with him) that he said: I was riding behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) on a donkey, and he said to me: “O Ibn Umm ʿAbd, do you know from where the Children of Israel took monasticism?” I said: God and His Messenger know best. He said: “Tyrants prevailed over them after Jesus (peace be upon him), committing acts of disobedience, and the people of faith were angered and fought them, and the people of faith were defeated three times, until only a few of them remained. They said: If we show ourselves to these people they will annihilate us, and no one will remain to call to the religion. So they said: Come, let us scatter through the earth until God sends the prophet whom Jesus (peace be upon him) promised us,” meaning Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him). “So they scattered into the caves of the mountains and instituted monasticism; some of them held fast to their religion and some of them disbelieved.” Then he recited this verse: And monasticism which they innovated, to the end of the verse. So We gave those of them who believed, meaning those who remained steadfast in it, their reward. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “O Ibn Umm ʿAbd, do you know what the monasticism of my community is?” I said: God and His Messenger know best. He said: “Emigration, striving in God’s cause, prayer, fasting, the pilgrimage, the lesser pilgrimage, and proclaiming God’s greatness upon the hills.”
It is related from Anas, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), that he said: “Every community has a monasticism, and the monasticism of this community is striving in the cause of God.”
Saʿīd ibn Jubayr related from Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both) that he said: After Jesus (peace be upon him) there were kings who altered the Torah and the Gospel, and among them were believers who read the Torah and the Gospel and called them to the religion of God. It was said to their kings: If only you would gather these people who are making trouble for you, and either kill them or have them enter into what we are in. So their kings gathered them and offered them death, or else that they abandon the reading of the Torah and the Gospel except what they had altered of them. They said: We will spare you the trouble of dealing with us. One party said: Build us a pillar, then raise us up onto it, then give us something by which we can draw up our food and drink, and we shall not come back to you. Another party said: Leave us to wander through the earth and roam, and drink as the wild beasts drink; and if you find us in any land, kill us. Another party said: Build us dwellings in the wildernesses; we shall dig wells and cultivate herbs, and we shall not come back to you nor pass by you. So they did this for them, and those people went on in the way of Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him). After them there came a generation of those who had altered the Book, and a man would say: We shall be in the place of so-and-so and worship as so-and-so worshipped, and wander as so-and-so wandered, and take dwellings as so-and-so took dwellings; yet they were in their polytheism, with no knowledge of the faith of those whom they imitated. That is His words, Mighty and Majestic: “And monasticism which they innovated”, that is, these righteous people innovated it; but they did not observe it with its due observance, meaning the later ones who came after them; so We gave those of them who believed their reward, meaning those who innovated it seeking the good pleasure of God; “but many of them are rebellious”, and they are those who came after them. He said: When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent, and only a few of them remained, a man came down from his hermitage, a wanderer came from his wandering, and the keeper of a monastery came from his monastery, and they believed in him.
Then God, Mighty and Majestic, said: O you who believe, fear God (57:28).
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of Maʿālim al-tanzīl on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=baghawi). Nothing is abridged: every opinion, every report with its chain of transmission, every verse of poetry and every grammatical note is translated. Qur’anic quotations are in bold; the translator’s own notes are confined to the numbered footnotes and identify names, terms and variant readings only. A second translator has not checked the rendering, and the Arabic is linked so that any passage can be compared. The modern editors’ apparatus is not part of the classical text and is not translated.
Compassion, mercy and monasticism (57:27): all commentaries · The classical commentaries