Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm, by Abū al-Fidāʾ Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar ibn Kathīr (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE). The most read of the commentaries by ḥadīth, which explains the Qur’an by the Qur’an, then by the Prophet’s words, then by the Companions, and weighs the chains it cites.
The complete commentary on God’s favours, the table and the questioning (5:110-120), covering 5:110-111 to 5:119-120.
On 5:110-111
God Exalted mentions the favours He bestowed upon His servant and messenger Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him), in the miracles and extraordinary wonders He brought about at his hands. So He Exalted said: When God said: O Jesus son of Mary, remember My favour upon you (5:110), that is: in My creating you from a mother without a male, and My making you a sign and a decisive proof of the perfection of My power over all things; and upon your mother, in that I made you a proof for her of her innocence of the indecency which the wrongdoing, ignorant people attributed to her; when I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit, who is Gabriel (peace be upon him), and I made you a prophet calling to God in your childhood and in your maturity. So I made you speak in the cradle as an infant, and you bore witness to your mother’s innocence of every fault, acknowledged to Me your servanthood, and told of My having sent you as a messenger and of your call to My worship. That is why He Exalted said: you speak to people in the cradle and in maturity, that is: you call people to God in your childhood and in your maturity. “You speak” carries within it the sense of “you call”, because his speaking to people in his maturity is not a wondrous matter.
And His words: and when I taught you the Book and the Wisdom, that is: writing and understanding; and the Torah, which is that which was sent down to Moses son of ʿImrān, the one to whom God spoke (al-Kalīm). The word “Torah” sometimes occurs in ḥadīth with a meaning more general than that.
And His words: and when you fashioned from clay the likeness of a bird by My leave, that is: you form it and shape it in the shape of a bird by My leave to you in that, and it becomes a bird by My leave; that is: you breathe into that form which you have shaped, by My leave to you in that, and it becomes a bird possessed of a spirit by God’s leave and His creation.
And His words: and you healed the one born blind and the leper by My leave: the discussion of that has already been given in Sūrat Āl ʿImrān in a manner that dispenses with repeating it.
And His words: and when you brought forth the dead by My leave, that is: you call them and they rise from their graves by God’s leave, His power, His will and His wish.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: my father related to us: Mālik ibn Ismāʿīl related to us: Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥah, meaning Ibn Muṣarrif, related to us, from Abū Bishr, from Abū al-Hudhayl, who said: When Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him) wished to bring the dead to life, he would pray two units of prayer (rakʿahs), reciting in the first Blessed is He in whose hand is the dominion (Sūrat al-Mulk, 67:1) and in the second Alif Lām Mīm. The sending down of the Book (Sūrat al-Sajdah, 32:1-2). When he had finished them both he would praise God and extol Him, then call upon Him by seven names: O Eternal, O Hidden, O Everlasting, O Single, O Odd, O One, O Self-Sufficient1. And when hardship befell him he would call upon Him with seven others: O Living, O Self-Subsisting, O God, O Most Merciful, O Possessor of Majesty and Honour, O Light of the heavens and the earth and what is between them and Lord of the Mighty Throne, O Lord.
This is a very strange report.
And His words: and when I restrained the Children of Israel from you, when you came to them with clear proofs, and those of them who disbelieved said: this is nothing but plain sorcery, that is: and remember My favour upon you in My restraining them from you when you came to them with the proofs and decisive arguments for your prophethood and your messengership from God to them, and they denied you and accused you of being a sorcerer, and strove to kill you and crucify you; then I delivered you from them, raised you up to Myself, purified you from their defilement and sufficed you against their evil. This indicates that this bestowal of favour was from God to him after his being raised to the lowest heaven, or else that this bestowal of favour takes place on the Day of Resurrection and is expressed in the past tense to indicate that it will inevitably occur. This is among the secrets of the unseen which God disclosed to His Messenger Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
And His words: and when I inspired the disciples: believe in Me and in My messenger (5:111): this too is among the favours bestowed upon him (peace be upon him), in that He made for him companions and helpers. Then it was said: what is meant by this inspiration (waḥy) is the inspiration of instilling (ilhām), as He said: And We inspired the mother of Moses: suckle him, to the end of the verse (28:7), and this is the inspiration of instilling, without dispute; and as He Exalted said: And your Lord inspired the bee: take for yourself dwellings in the mountains and in the trees and in what they build. Then eat of all fruits and follow the ways of your Lord made smooth, to the end of the verse (16:68-69). Thus some of the early authorities (salaf) said about this verse: and when I inspired the disciples: believe in Me and in My messenger. They said: We believe, that is, in God and in the Messenger of God, and bear witness that we are Muslims, that is: they were instilled with that, and they complied with what they had been instilled.
Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said: God, Mighty and Majestic, instilled that in them. Al-Suddī said: He cast that into their hearts.
It is also possible that what is meant is: and when I inspired them through your mediation, so that you called them to faith in God and in His Messenger, and they responded to you, submitted and followed you, and said: We believe, and bear witness that we are Muslims.
On 5:112-115
This is the story of the Table, and after it the sūrah is named, so that it is called “Sūrat al-Māʾidah” (the Sūrah of the Table). It is among the favours God bestowed upon His servant and messenger Jesus (peace be upon him), when He answered his supplication by sending it down; so God sent it down as a sign, a dazzling miraculous proof and a decisive argument.
Some of the leading scholars have mentioned that the story of the Table is not mentioned in the Gospel, and that the Christians know of it only from the Muslims; and God knows best.
So His words, Exalted: When the disciples said, and they are the followers of Jesus (peace be upon him): O Jesus son of Mary, can your Lord (5:112). This is the reading of many, while others read hal tastaṭīʿu rabbaka, “can you ask your Lord”2, that is: are you able to ask your Lord to send down to us a table from heaven?
The table (māʾidah) is a tray on which there is food. Some of them mentioned that they asked for that only because of their need and poverty, so they asked that a table be sent down to them every day from which they might feed themselves and strengthen themselves for worship.
He said: Fear God, if you are believers, that is: the Messiah (peace be upon him) answered them, saying to them: Fear God, and do not ask for this, for it may be a trial for you; and rely upon God in seeking provision, if you are believers.
They said: We wish to eat from it (5:113), that is: we are in need of eating from it, and that our hearts be at rest when we witness it coming down as provision for us from heaven, and that we may know that you have told us the truth, that is: and that we may increase in faith in you and in knowledge of your messengership, and that we may be among the witnesses to it, that is: and that we may bear witness that it is a sign from God and a proof and argument for your prophethood and the truth of what you have brought.
Jesus son of Mary said: O God, our Lord, send down to us a table from heaven, that it may be a festival for us, for the first of us and the last of us (5:114). Al-Suddī said: that is, that we may take the day on which it came down as a festival which we and those after us hold in honour. Sufyān al-Thawrī said: meaning a day on which we pray. Qatādah said: they wanted it to be for their posterity after them. And from Salmān al-Fārisī: an admonition for us and for those after us. And it was said: sufficient for the first of us and the last of us.
and a sign from You, that is: a proof which You set up of Your power over all things and of Your answering my supplication, so that they believe me in what I convey from You; and provide for us, that is: from Yourself, a pleasant provision without toil or weariness; and You are the best of providers. God said: I shall send it down to you; but whoever of you disbelieves afterwards (5:115), that is: whoever of your community, O Jesus, denies it and stubbornly rejects it, I shall punish him with a punishment with which I shall not punish anyone among the worlds, that is: among the people of your time, like His words: and on the Day the Hour comes: admit the people of Pharaoh to the severest punishment (40:46), and like His words: Truly the hypocrites will be in the lowest depth of the Fire (4:145).
Ibn Jarīr related, by way of ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī, from Abū al-Mughīrah al-Qawwās, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, who said: The people most severely punished on the Day of Resurrection will be three: the hypocrites, those of the people of the Table who disbelieved, and the people of Pharaoh.
Mention of the reports related from the early authorities on the descent of the Table upon the disciples
Abū Jaʿfar ibn Jarīr said: al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Layth, from ʿUqayl, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that he used to relate of Jesus son of Mary that he said to the Children of Israel: Are you willing to fast for God thirty days, then ask Him and He will give you what you ask? For the wage of the worker is owed by the one for whom he works. So they did so, then said: O teacher of goodness, you told us that the wage of the worker is owed by the one for whom he works, and you commanded us to fast thirty days, and we did so; and we never worked thirty days for anyone without his feeding us food when we finished. So can your Lord send down to us a table from heaven? Jesus said: Fear God, if you are believers. They said: We wish to eat from it, and that our hearts be at rest, and that we may know that you have told us the truth, and that we may be among the witnesses to it. Jesus son of Mary said: O God, our Lord, send down to us a table from heaven, that it may be a festival for us, for the first of us and the last of us, and a sign from You; and provide for us, and You are the best of providers. God said: I shall send it down to you; but whoever of you disbelieves afterwards, I shall punish him with a punishment with which I shall not punish anyone among the worlds (5:112-115). He said: Then the angels came flying with a table from heaven, on which were seven fish and seven loaves, until they set it down before them, and the last of the people ate from it as the first of them had eaten.
So Ibn Jarīr related it. Ibn Abī Ḥātim related it from Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā, from Ibn Wahb, from al-Layth, from ʿUqayl, from Ibn Shihāb, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās used to relate, and he mentioned the like of it.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim also said: Saʿd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to us: Abū Zurʿah Wahb Allāh ibn Rāshid related to us: ʿUqayl ibn Khālid related to us that Ibn Shihāb informed him, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that they said to Jesus son of Mary: Pray to God to send down to us a table from heaven. He said: So the angels came down carrying a table, on which were seven fish and seven loaves, and the last of the people ate from it as the first of them had eaten.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: my father related to us: al-Ḥasan ibn Qazaʿah al-Bāhilī related to us: Sufyān ibn Ḥabīb related to us: Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah related to us, from Qatādah, from Khilās, from ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “The Table came down from heaven with bread and meat on it, and they were commanded not to be unfaithful and not to put any aside for the morrow; but they were unfaithful, stored it up and put it aside, and so they were transformed into apes and swine.”
Ibn Jarīr related it likewise from al-Ḥasan ibn Qazaʿah. Then Ibn Jarīr related it from Ibn Bashshār, from Ibn Abī ʿAdī, from Saʿīd, from Qatādah, from Khilās, from ʿAmmār, who said: The Table came down with fruit of the fruits of Paradise on it, and they were commanded not to be unfaithful, not to hide any and not to store any up. He said: But the people were unfaithful, hid some and stored some up, and so God transformed them into apes and swine.
Ibn Jarīr said: Ibn al-Muthannā related to us: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us: Dāwūd related to us, from Simāk ibn Ḥarb, from a man of the Banū ʿIjl, who said: I prayed beside ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, and when he finished he said: Do you know how the affair of the Table of the Children of Israel was? He said: I said: No. He said: They asked Jesus son of Mary for a table on which there would be food from which they could eat and which would not run out. He said: So it was said to them: It will remain with you so long as you do not hide any, or act unfaithfully, or put any aside; but if you do, I shall punish you with a punishment with which I shall not punish anyone among the worlds. He said: And their day had not passed before they hid some, put some aside and acted unfaithfully, and so they were punished with a punishment with which no one among the worlds has been punished. And you, O company of Arabs, used to follow the tails of camels and sheep; then God sent among you a messenger from among yourselves, whose lineage and descent you know, and he informed you that you will prevail over the non-Arabs, and he forbade you to hoard gold and silver. By God, night and day will not pass away before you hoard them both, and God punishes you with a painful punishment.
And he said: al-Qāsim related to us: Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Abū Maʿshar, from Isḥāq ibn ʿAbd Allāh, that the Table came down upon Jesus son of Mary with seven loaves and seven fish on it, and they ate from it as they wished. He said: Then some of them stole from it, saying: “Perhaps it will not come down tomorrow.” So it was taken up.
Al-ʿAwfī said, from Ibn ʿAbbās: There came down upon Jesus son of Mary and the disciples a tray on which were bread and fish, from which they ate wherever they alighted, whenever they wished. Khaṣīf said, from ʿIkrimah and Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās: The Table was a fish and loaves. Mujāhid said: It was food that used to come down upon them wherever they alighted. Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī said: The Table came down as bread and fish. ʿAṭiyyah al-ʿAwfī said: The Table was fish in which was the taste of everything.
Wahb ibn Munabbih said: He sent it down from heaven upon the Children of Israel, and every day there used to come down to them on that Table some of the fruits of Paradise, and they ate what they wished of various kinds. Four thousand would sit at it, and when they had eaten God replaced it with the like of it for others like them. They remained in that state for as long as God, Mighty and Majestic, willed.
Wahb ibn Munabbih said: He sent down to them a loaf of barley and fish, and God filled their folds with blessing, so that a group would eat and then go out, and then others would come and eat and then go out, until all of them had eaten and there was still some left over.
Al-Aʿmash said, from Muslim, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: Everything was sent down on it except meat.
Sufyān al-Thawrī said, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, from Zādhān and Maysarah; and Jarīr, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Maysarah, who said: When the Table was set before the Children of Israel, hands reached across it for every kind of food except meat.
And from ʿIkrimah: The bread of the Table was of rice. Ibn Abī Ḥātim related it.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: Jaʿfar ibn ʿAlī informed us in what he wrote to me: Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Uways related to us: Abū ʿAbd Allāh ʿAbd al-Quddūs ibn Ibrāhīm ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mirdās al-ʿAbdarī, the client of the Banū ʿAbd al-Dār, related to me, from Ibrāhīm ibn ʿUmar, from Wahb ibn Munabbih, from Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, from Salmān al-Khayr, that he said: When the disciples asked Jesus son of Mary for the Table, he disliked that intensely and said: Be content with what God has provided you on the earth, and do not ask for the Table from heaven; for if it comes down to you it will be a sign from your Lord, and Thamūd perished only when they asked their prophet for a sign, and were tried by it until their destruction lay in it. But they refused anything but that he should bring it to them, and that is why they said: We wish to eat from it, and that our hearts be at rest, to the end of the verse.
When Jesus saw that they would accept nothing but that he should pray to Him for it on their behalf, he rose, cast off his wool, put on black hair-cloth, a cloak of hair and a mantle of hair, then performed the ablution and the full washing, entered his place of prayer and prayed as long as God willed. When he had completed his prayer he stood upright facing the direction of prayer (qiblah), set his feet in line until they were even, pressed heel to heel and aligned the toes, placed his right hand upon his left over his chest, lowered his gaze and bowed his head in humility; then he let his eyes flow with weeping, and his tears kept streaming down his cheeks and dripping from the ends of his beard until the ground before his face was wet from his humility. When he saw that, he called upon God and said: O God, our Lord, send down to us a table from heaven. So God sent down to them a red cloth between two clouds, one cloud above it and one cloud below it, while they looked at it in the air plunging down from the sphere of heaven and descending towards them, and Jesus wept in fear of the conditions God had laid upon them in it, namely that He would punish whoever of them disbelieved in it after its descent with a punishment with which He had punished no one among the worlds; and he was praying to God from his place, saying: O God, make it a mercy; my God, do not make it a punishment; my God, how many a wonder have I asked of You and You have given me; my God, make us thankful to You; my God, I seek refuge in You lest You should have sent it down in anger and as a requital; my God, make it safety and well-being, and do not make it a trial and an exemplary punishment.
He kept on praying until the cloth settled before Jesus, with the disciples and his companions around him, and they smelt a sweet fragrance the like of which they had never smelt before. Jesus and the disciples fell down prostrate to God in thanks for His having provided for them from where they had not reckoned and shown them in it a mighty sign full of wonder and admonition. The Jews came to look, and saw a wondrous thing which left them with grief and distress; then they went away in intense rage. Jesus, the disciples and his companions came forward until they sat around the cloth, and behold, there was a napkin covering it. Jesus said: Who among us is the boldest to uncover the napkin from this cloth, the most confident of himself, and the best of us in his record with his Lord? Let him uncover this sign so that we may see it, praise our Lord, make mention of His name, and eat of His provision which He has provided us. The disciples said: O Spirit of God and His Word, you are the most entitled of us to that, and the most deserving of us to uncover it. So Jesus (peace be upon him) rose, performed a fresh ablution, then entered his place of prayer and likewise prayed some units of prayer, then wept for a long time and prayed to God to permit him to uncover it and to place in it blessing and provision for him and for his people. Then he went and sat down at the cloth, took hold of the napkin and said: “In the name of God, the best of providers,” and uncovered the cloth, and behold, on it was a huge roasted fish, with no scales on it and no bones inside it, with fat flowing from it in a stream; around it were arranged herbs of every kind except leeks; at its head was vinegar and at its tail salt; and around the herbs were five loaves, on one of which were olives, on another dates, and on another five pomegranates.
Simon (Shamʿūn), the chief of the disciples, said to Jesus: O Spirit of God and His Word, is this of the food of this world or of the food of Paradise? He said: Is it not time for you to take warning from the signs you see and desist from prying into questions? How I fear for you that you will be punished on account of the sending down of this sign! Simon said: By the God of Israel, I did not intend by it a questioning, O son of the truthful woman. Jesus (peace be upon him) said: Nothing of what you see is of the food of Paradise or of the food of this world; it is only something God originated in the air by the supreme, overpowering power, saying to it: Be, and it was, quicker than the twinkling of an eye. So eat of what you asked for, in the name of God, and praise your Lord for it, and He will supply you more of it and increase you, for He is the Originator, the Powerful, the Appreciative.
They said: O Spirit of God and His Word, we would like you to show us a sign within this sign. Jesus said: Glory be to God! Were you not satisfied with what you have seen in this sign, that you should ask for another sign within it? Then Jesus (peace be upon him) turned to the fish and said: O fish, return by God’s leave to life as you were. So God brought it to life by His power, and it quivered and returned by God’s leave to being alive and fresh, licking its lips as a lion licks its lips, its eyes rolling and gleaming, and its scales came back upon it. The people were terrified of it and drew back. When Jesus saw that from them he said: What is the matter with you, that you ask for a sign, and when your Lord shows it to you, you dislike it? How I fear for you that you will be punished for what you do! O fish, return by God’s leave to what you were. And it returned by God’s leave to being roasted, as it had been in its first created state.
They said to Jesus: Be you the one, O Spirit of God, who begins eating from it, and then we after you. Jesus said: God forbid that! Let him begin eating who asked for it. When the disciples and their companions saw their prophet’s refusal of it, they feared that its descent might be a mark of wrath and that in eating of it there might be exemplary punishment, so they kept away from it. When Jesus saw that, he summoned to it the poor and the chronically ill, and said: Eat of the provision of your Lord and the prayer of your prophet, and praise God who has sent it down for you; its wholesomeness will be yours, and its punishment upon others than you. Begin your eating in the name of God, and end it with praise of God. So they did, and one thousand three hundred persons, men and women, ate from it, each one of them turning away from it full and belching. Jesus and the disciples looked, and behold, what was on it was just as it had been when it was sent down from heaven, with nothing of it diminished. Then it was raised up to heaven while they looked on, and every poor person who had eaten from it became rich, and every chronically ill person who had eaten from it was healed, and they remained rich and healthy until they departed from this world.
The disciples and their companions who had refused to eat from it repented with such regret that their eyelashes ran with tears, and the grief of it remained in their hearts until the day of their death. He said: After that, whenever the Table came down, the Children of Israel came hurrying to it from every place, jostling one another, the rich and the poor, the young and the old, the healthy and the sick, climbing over one another. When He saw that, He made it come by turns, descending one day and not descending the next. They remained in that state for forty days, with it descending to them every other day when the forenoon had risen high, and it would remain set out and eaten from until, when they rose, it was lifted away from them by God’s leave into the air of the sky, while they watched its shadow on the ground until it disappeared from them.
He said: Then God revealed to His prophet Jesus (peace be upon him): Make My provision, the Table, for the orphans, the poor and the chronically ill, to the exclusion of the rich among the people. When he did that, the rich among the people grew suspicious of it and resented that, until they doubted it within themselves and made the people doubt it, and spread abroad foul and evil talk about it. Satan gained from them what he wanted and cast his whispering into the hearts of the doubters, until they said to Jesus: Tell us about the Table and its descent from heaven, is it true? For many people among us have come to doubt it. Jesus (peace be upon him) said: You are ruined, by the God of the Messiah! You asked your prophet for the Table, that he should ask your Lord for it on your behalf, and when he did so, and He sent it down to you as a mercy and a provision and showed you in it signs and lessons, you denied it and doubted it. So receive the tidings of punishment, for it is coming down upon you unless God has mercy on you.
And God revealed to Jesus: I shall take the deniers according to My condition, for I shall punish whoever of them disbelieves in the Table after its descent with a punishment with which I shall not punish anyone among the worlds. He said: When evening came upon those who doubted it, and they took to their beds in the finest of forms with their wives, feeling secure, then in the last part of the night God transformed them into swine, and in the morning they were following after filth in the rubbish heaps.
This is a very strange report. Ibn Abī Ḥātim split it up in several places in this story, and I have gathered it together for him so that its narrative may be fuller and more complete; and God, Glorified and Exalted, knows best.
All these reports indicate that the Table came down upon the Children of Israel in the days of Jesus son of Mary, as an answer from God to his supplication, and as is indicated by the apparent sense of this passage of the Mighty Qurʾān: God said: I shall send it down to you, to the end of the verse.
Some have said that it did not come down. Layth ibn Abī Sulaym related, from Mujāhid, concerning His words send down to us a table from heaven, that he said: It is a parable that was set forth, and nothing came down.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Ibn Jarīr related it. Then Ibn Jarīr said: al-Ḥārith related to me: al-Qāsim, that is, Ibn Sallām, related to us: Ḥajjāj related to us, from Ibn Jurayj, from Mujāhid, who said: A table on which was food; they refused it when the punishment was presented to them should they disbelieve, so they refused that it should come down upon them.
He also said: 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 of the Table: It did not come down.
And Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, who said: al-Ḥasan used to say: When it was said to them, but whoever of you disbelieves afterwards, I shall punish him with a punishment with which I shall not punish anyone among the worlds, they said: We have no need of it; so it did not come down.
These are sound chains of transmission (asānīd) to Mujāhid and al-Ḥasan, and that may be strengthened by the fact that the Christians do not know the report of the Table and it is not in their book; had it come down, that would have been among the things there are abundant motives to transmit, and it would have been found in their book by mass transmission (mutawātir), or at the very least by single reports (āḥād); and God knows best. But the view held by the majority is that it did come down, and that is what Ibn Jarīr chose. He said: because He Exalted informed of its descent in His words, Exalted: I shall send it down to you; but whoever of you disbelieves afterwards, I shall punish him with a punishment with which I shall not punish anyone among the worlds. He said: and God’s promise and His threat are true and truthful.
This view is, and God knows best, the correct one, as the reports and traditions from the early authorities and others indicate. The historians have mentioned that Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr, the deputy of the Umayyads in the conquests of the lands of the Maghrib, found the Table there, studded with pearls and various kinds of jewels, and sent it to the Commander of the Faithful al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, the builder of the congregational mosque of Damascus; but he died while it was on the way, and it was carried to his brother Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, the caliph after him, and the people saw it and marvelled at it greatly because of the precious rubies and peerless jewels in it. It is said that this table belonged to Solomon son of David (peace be upon them both); and God knows best.
Imām Aḥmad said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us: Sufyān related to us, from Salamah ibn Kuhayl, from ʿImrān ibn al-Ḥakam, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Quraysh said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Pray to your Lord for us to make al-Ṣafā gold for us, and we shall believe in you. He said: “And will you do so?” They said: Yes. He said: So he prayed, and Gabriel came to him and said: Your Lord sends you greetings of peace and says to you: If you wish, al-Ṣafā will become gold for them, but whoever of them disbelieves after that, I shall punish him with a punishment with which I shall not punish anyone among the worlds; and if you wish, I shall open for them the door of repentance and mercy. He said: “Rather, the door of repentance and mercy.”
Then Aḥmad, Ibn Mardawayh and al-Ḥākim in his Mustadrak related it from the ḥadīth of Sufyān al-Thawrī, with it.
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.
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=ibn-katheer). 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.
God’s favours, the table and the questioning (5:110-120): all commentaries · The classical commentaries