Tafsīr al-Jalālayn, by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī and Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 864 AH / 1459 CE and 911 AH / 1505 CE). The two Jalāls’ gloss, a sentence or two to a verse, which became the handbook commentary of the Muslim world.
The complete commentary on God’s favours, the table and the questioning (5:110-120), covering 5:110 to 5:120.
On 5:110
Remember when God said: O Jesus son of Mary, remember My favour upon you and upon your mother (5:110), by giving thanks for it, when I strengthened you, fortified you, with the Holy Spirit, Gabriel, so that you spoke to people – a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl) of the pronoun -ka in ayyadtuka – in the cradle, that is, as an infant, and in maturity: this indicates his descent before the Hour, because he was raised up before reaching maturity, as has preceded in Āl ʿImrān (3:55). And when I taught you the Book and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel; and when you created out of clay the likeness, like the form, of a bird – the kāf being a noun with the sense of “like”, standing as the object – by My leave, then breathed into it, and it became a bird by My leave, by My will; and you healed the one born blind and the leper by My leave; and when you brought forth the dead from their graves, alive, by My leave; and when I restrained the Children of Israel from you, when they intended to kill you, when you came to them with the clear proofs, the miracles, and those of them who disbelieved said: Not – in here meaning mā, “not” – is this, which you have brought, anything but manifest sorcery; and in one reading “a sorcerer” (sāḥir), that is, Jesus.
On 5:111
And when I inspired the disciples (5:111), I commanded them through his tongue, that, that is, “to”, believe in Me and in My messenger, Jesus, they said: We believe in You and in Your messenger, and bear witness that we are submitters.
On 5:112
Remember when the disciples said: O Jesus son of Mary, can (5:112), that is, will He do it, your Lord – in one reading with the tāʾ and what follows it in the accusative (hal tastaṭīʿu rabbaka), that is, “are you able to ask Him” – send down to us a table from heaven? He said, Jesus, to them: Fear God in proposing signs, if you are believers.
On 5:113
They said: We wish (5:113) to ask for it in order that we may eat of it and that there may be at rest, be tranquil, our hearts, through an increase of certainty, and that we may know, grow in knowledge, that – the lightened form (an), that is, “that you” – you have told us the truth in claiming prophethood, and that we may be witnesses to it.
On 5:114
Jesus son of Mary said: O God, our Lord, send down to us a table from heaven, that it may be for us (5:114), that is, the day of its descent, a festival, which we shall honour and ennoble, for the first of us – a substitute (badal) for “for us”, with the preposition repeated – and the last of us, those who come after us, and a sign from You of Your power and my prophethood; and provide for us, with it, for You are the best of providers.
On 5:115
God said (5:115), answering him: I am going to send it down – read without doubling (munziluhā) and with doubling (munazziluhā) – to you; but whoever of you disbelieves after, that is, after its descent, I shall punish him with a punishment with which I do not punish anyone of the worlds. So the angels brought it down from heaven, bearing seven loaves and seven fish, and they ate of it until they were satisfied; this was said by Ibn ʿAbbās. And in a ḥadīth: the table was sent down from heaven with bread and meat, and they were commanded not to betray the trust nor to store up for the morrow; but they betrayed it and stored up, and so they were transformed into apes and swine.
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.
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of Tafsīr al-Jalālayn on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=jalalayn). 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