al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān, by Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Qurṭubī (d. 671 AH / 1273 CE). The commentary of the Andalusian jurist, which takes each verse through its legal and grammatical questions as well as its narrative.
The complete commentary on God’s favours, the table and the questioning (5:110-120), covering 5:110 to 5:120.
On 5:110
His words, Exalted: When God said: O Jesus son of Mary, remember My favour upon you (5:110). This belongs to the description of the Day of Resurrection, as though He said: Remember the Day when God will gather the messengers, and when God says to Jesus such-and-such; al-Mahdawī said this. Jesus may be in the position of the nominative, on the basis that son of Mary is a second vocative; and it may be in the position of the accusative, because it is a vocative in the accusative, as the poet said:
O Ḥakam son of al-Mundhir son of al-Jārūd,
and the nominative is not permissible in the second element when it is in a construct state, except according to al-Ṭuwāl1. As for His words, Exalted, remember My favour upon you: God, Exalted, reminded Jesus of His favour upon him and upon his mother, although he was mindful of them, for two reasons. The first: so that he might recite to the nations the honour with which He had singled them both out and the loftiness of station by which He had distinguished them. The second: so that He might thereby confirm His argument and refute whoever denies Him. Then He began to enumerate His favours and said: when I strengthened you (ayyadtuka), meaning I fortified you; it is derived from ayd, which is strength, and this has already been discussed. Concerning with the Holy Spirit there are two views. The first: that it is the pure spirit by which God singled him out, as has gone before concerning His words and a spirit from Him (4:171). The second: that it is Gabriel (peace be upon him), and this is the more correct, as has already been said in al-Baqarah.
you spoke to people, meaning: and you spoke to people in the cradle as an infant and in maturity as a prophet. What relates to this has already been discussed in Āl ʿImrān, so there is no point in repeating it. I restrained means I warded off and turned away the Children of Israel from you when they resolved to kill you. when you came to them with the clear proofs, that is, the evidences and the miracles, which are those mentioned in the verse.
and those who disbelieved said, meaning those who did not believe in you and denied your prophethood.
This is nothing, that is, the miracles,
but plain sorcery. Ḥamzah and al-Kisāʾī read la-sāḥirun (but a plain sorcerer), that is: this man is nothing but a sorcerer powerful in sorcery.
On 5:111
His words, Exalted: And when I inspired the disciples: Believe in Me and in My messenger (5:111). The discussion of the meanings of this verse has already been given. Inspiration (waḥy) in the speech of the Arabs means prompting (ilhām), and it is of several kinds: inspiration in the sense of the sending of Gabriel to the messengers (peace be upon them); inspiration in the sense of prompting, as in this verse, that is, I prompted them and cast it into their hearts, and of this kind are His words, Exalted: And your Lord inspired the bee (16:68) and And We inspired the mother of Moses (28:7); and inspiration in the sense of making known, in waking and in dream. Abū ʿUbaydah said: awḥaytu is in the sense of “I commanded”, and ilā is a connective particle. One says waḥā and awḥā with one meaning; God, Exalted, said: because your Lord inspired it (awḥā lahā) (99:5), and al-ʿAjjāj said:
He inspired it (waḥā lahā) to settle, and it settled,
that is, He commanded it (the earth) to be still, and it was still. And it has been said: I inspired here is in the sense of “I commanded them”. And it has been said: “I made plain to them”.
and bear witness that we are Muslims (bi-annanā), in accordance with the original form; and among the Arabs are those who drop one of the two nūns. That is: bear witness, O Lord. And it has been said: O Jesus, that we have submitted to God.
On 5:112
His words, Exalted: When the disciples said: O Jesus son of Mary (5:112), with the syntactic analysis already given. Can your Lord (hal yastaṭīʿu rabbuka): the reading of al-Kisāʾī, ʿAlī, Ibn ʿAbbās, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and Mujāhid is hal tastaṭīʿu, with the tāʾ, and rabbaka in the accusative; al-Kisāʾī assimilated the lām of hal into the tāʾ. The rest read with the yāʾ and rabbuka in the nominative, and this reading is more problematic than the first. Al-Suddī said: the meaning is, will your Lord comply with you (yuṭīʿuka) if you ask Him to send down; so yastaṭīʿu is in the sense of yuṭīʿu, just as they said istajāba in the sense of ajāba (he answered), and likewise istaṭāʿa in the sense of aṭāʿa. And it has been said: the meaning is, is your Lord able? This question was at the beginning of their affair, before their knowledge of God, Mighty and Majestic, had become firm; and for this reason Jesus said in reply, at their error and their deeming permissible of God what is not permissible: Fear God, if you are believers, that is, do not doubt the power of God, Exalted. I say: there is room for doubt about this, because the disciples were the sincere intimates of the prophets, their confidants and their helpers, as He said: Who are my helpers towards God? The disciples said: We are the helpers of God (61:14). And he (peace be upon him) said: “Every prophet has a disciple (ḥawārī), and my disciple is al-Zubayr.” It is known that the prophets (God’s blessings and peace be upon them) came with the knowledge of God, Exalted, of what is necessarily His, what is possible and what is impossible for Him, and with the duty to convey that to their nations; so how could that be hidden from those who were their intimates and were singled out by them, such that they would be ignorant of the power of God, Exalted? Unless it be said that this came from those who were with them, just as some of the ignorant Bedouin said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Make for us a Dhāt Anwāṭ as they have a Dhāt Anwāṭ2, and as those of the people of Moses who said it said: Make for us a god as they have gods (7:138), in accordance with the explanation that will come in al-Aʿrāf, if God, Exalted, wills. And it has been said that the people did not doubt the ability of the Maker, Glorified is He, because they were believers, knowers, possessed of knowledge; it is only like your saying to a man, “Can so-and-so come?” when you already know that he can, the meaning being: will he do that, and will he respond to me in that or not? They knew of God’s ability, Exalted, to do that and other things with a knowledge of evidence, report and reflection, and they wanted the knowledge of direct witnessing of it as well, just as Abraham (peace and blessings be upon him) said: My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead (2:260), as has gone before; Abraham already had knowledge of that by report and reflection, but he wanted the direct witnessing into which no uncertainty or doubt can enter, because knowledge by reflection and report may be subject to doubt and objections, whereas knowledge by direct witnessing is subject to none of that. For this reason the disciples said and that our hearts be at rest (5:113), just as Abraham said but so that my heart may be at rest (2:260). I say: this is a fine interpretation, and finer than it is that this was the saying of those who were with the disciples, as will be explained. Ibn al-ʿArabī included “the Able” (al-Mustaṭīʿ) among the names of God, Exalted, saying: Neither the Book nor the Sunnah has transmitted it as a name, but it has been transmitted as a verb; and he cited the saying of the disciples Can your Lord. Ibn al-Ḥaṣṣār refuted him on this in his book Sharḥ al-Sunnah, as did others. Ibn al-Ḥaṣṣār said: His words, Glorified is He, reporting of the disciples’ saying to Jesus Can your Lord, is not a doubt about His ability; it is only gentleness in asking and courtesy towards God, Exalted, since not every possible thing is one whose occurrence has been foreordained in His knowledge, nor is it so for everyone. The disciples were the elect of those who believed in Jesus; how then could ignorance of God’s power, Exalted, over every possible thing be imputed to them? As for the reading with the tāʾ, it has been said that the meaning is: can you ask your Lord? This is the view of ʿĀʾishah and Mujāhid (may God be pleased with them both). ʿĀʾishah (may God be pleased with her) said: The people knew God, Mighty and Majestic, too well to say “Can your Lord?”; she said: but rather “Can you (ask) your Lord?” It is also related of her that she said: The disciples did not doubt that God is able to send down a table, but they said “Can you (ask) your Lord?” And from Muʿādh ibn Jabal, who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us to recite hal tastaṭīʿu rabbaka. Muʿādh said: And I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) many times recite with the tāʾ, hal tasṭīʿu rabbaka. Al-Zajjāj said: the meaning is, can you call forth the compliance of your Lord in what you ask of Him? And it has been said: can you call upon your Lord, or ask Him? The meanings are close, and there must be an elided element, as He said: And ask the town (12:82); on the reading with the yāʾ no elision is needed.
He said: Fear God, that is, be wary of disobeying Him and of asking too much, for you do not know what may befall you upon demanding signs, since God, Mighty and Majestic, does only what is most beneficial for His servants.
if you are believers, that is, if you are believers in Him and in what I have brought, then there have already come to you signs enough to suffice.
On 5:113
His words, Exalted: They said: We wish to eat of it (5:113), in the subjunctive by an; and that our hearts be at rest, and that we may know that you have spoken the truth to us, and that we may be among the witnesses to it is all conjoined to it. By this they explained the reason for their request when they were forbidden it. Concerning their saying eat of it there are two views. The first: that they wished to eat of it because of a need that called for it. This was because whenever Jesus (peace be upon him) went out, five thousand or more would follow him; some of them were his companions, some of them were seeking that he supplicate for them because of a sickness or ailment they had, being chronically ill or blind, and some of them were watching and mocking. One day he went out to a place and they found themselves in a desert with no provisions, and they grew hungry and said to the disciples: Tell Jesus to pray that a table be sent down upon us from heaven. So Simon (Shamʿūn), the chief of the disciples, came to him and informed him that the people were asking that you pray for a table to be sent down upon them from heaven. Jesus said to Simon: Say to them: Fear God, if you are believers. Simon informed the people of this, and they said to him: Say to him: We wish to eat of it, to the end of the verse. The second: eat of it so that we might obtain its blessing, not because of a need that called them to it. Al-Māwardī said: this is the more likely, because had they been in need they would not have been forbidden to ask. Their saying and that our hearts be at rest admits of three views. The first: that they be at rest in the knowledge that God, Exalted, has sent you to us as a prophet. The second: that they be at rest in the knowledge that God, Exalted, has chosen us for our call. The third: that they be at rest in the knowledge that God, Exalted, has granted us what we asked. Al-Māwardī mentioned these. Al-Mahdawī said: that is, that they be at rest in the knowledge that God has accepted our fasting and our works. Al-Thaʿlabī said: that we may be certain of His power and so our hearts become calm. and that we may know that you have spoken the truth to us, that you are the Messenger of God, and that we may be among the witnesses to it, for God, to His oneness, and for you, to your messengership and prophethood. And it has been said: and that we may be among the witnesses to it for you before those who did not see it, when we return to them.
On 5:114
His words, Exalted: Jesus son of Mary said: O God, our Lord (5:114). The original form, according to Sībawayh, is yā Allāh (“O God”), and the two mīms of Allāhumma stand in place of yā. our Lord is a second vocative; Sībawayh allows nothing else, and it cannot be an adjective qualifying the first, because the first has come to resemble the interjections on account of what has been attached to it.
send down to us a table: the table (māʾidah) is the tray-table (khiwān) on which food is set. Quṭrub said: a māʾidah is not a māʾidah until there is food upon it; if there is none, it is called a khiwān. It is an active participle from māda ʿabdahu, “he fed his servant and gave to him”, so the table “gives” (tamīdu) what is upon it, that is, it bestows. From this is the verse of Ruʾbah which al-Akhfash recited:
The heads of the pampered rivals bring their gifts
to the Commander of the Faithful, the one from whom bounty is sought (al-mumtād),
that is, the one who is asked and from whom gifts are sought. So the table is that which feeds and gives food to those who eat. The food itself is also called a māʾidah by extension, because it is eaten on the table, just as they call rain “sky” (samāʾ). The people of Kufa said: it was called māʾidah because of its moving with what is upon it, from their saying māda al-shayʾ when a thing sways and moves. The poet said:
Perhaps you will weep when a dove sings,
swayed by a leaning bough of the thicket.
And another said:
And the killing of al-Kinānī after him unsettled me,
so that the open earth all but swayed beneath me.
From this is His word, Exalted: and He cast upon the earth firm mountains lest it sway with you (16:15). Abū ʿUbaydah said: māʾidah is an active participle with the sense of a passive one, like a pleasing life (69:21), meaning “a life that is pleased with”, and gushing water (86:6), meaning “water that is gushed forth”.
His words, Exalted: that it may be for us a festival: may be (takūnu) is an adjective qualifying “table”, not the apodosis of the request. Al-Aʿmash read takun, in the jussive, as the apodosis. The meaning is: the day of its descent will be a festival for the first of us, that is, for the first of our community and its last. It was said that the Table came down to them on a Sunday, in the morning and in the evening, and for that reason they made Sunday a festival. ʿĪd (festival) is the singular of aʿyād; it is pluralised with a yāʾ, although its root letter is wāw, because the yāʾ is fixed in the singular; and it is said that this is to distinguish it from aʿwād, pieces of wood. One says ʿayyadū, meaning they attended the festival; so al-Jawharī said. It was said that its root is from ʿāda yaʿūdu, “to return”, so that it is ʿiwd with a wāw, which was changed to a yāʾ because of the kasrah before it, as in mīzān, mīqāt and mīʿād; thus the day of the Fast-breaking and the day of the Sacrifice were called ʿīd because they return every year. Al-Khalīl said: the ʿīd is any day on which people gather, as though they had returned to it. Ibn al-Anbārī said: it was named ʿīd because of the return to merriment and joy; it is the day of gladness for all creatures. Do you not see that on that day prisoners are not pressed for payment nor punished, neither wild beasts nor birds are hunted, and the boys are not sent off to the schools? It was said that it was named ʿīd because every person returns to the measure of his station: do you not see the difference in their clothing, their appearance and their food, so that some of them host and others are hosted, some show mercy and others are shown mercy? And it was said that it was so named because it is a noble day, by comparison with al-ʿĪd, a noble stallion famous among the Arabs, to which they trace lineage, so that one says “ʿĪdiyyah camels”. The poet said:
ʿĪdiyyah camels, for which the dinars were pledged,
and this has already been discussed. Zayd ibn Thābit read li-ūlānā wa-ukhrānā (“for our first ones and our last ones”), in the plural. Ibn ʿAbbās said: the last of the people will eat from it just as the first of them eat from it. and a sign from You means an evidence and a proof.
and provide for us, that is, give to us.
and You are the best of providers, that is, the best of those who give and provide, for You are the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy.
On 5:115
His words, Exalted: God said: I shall send it down to you (5:115). This is a promise from God, Exalted, with which He answered the request of Jesus, just as Jesus’s request had been an answer to the disciples; and this entails that He did send it down, for His promise is true. The people then denied and disbelieved after it had come down, and they were transformed into apes and swine. Ibn ʿUmar said: the people most severely punished on the Day of Resurrection will be the hypocrites, those of the people of the Table who disbelieved, and the house of Pharaoh; God, Exalted, said: but whoever of you disbelieves afterwards, I shall punish him with a punishment with which I punish no one else among all beings.
The scholars differed about the Table, whether it came down or not. The position of the majority, and it is the truth, is that it came down, because of His words, Exalted, I shall send it down to you. Mujāhid said: it did not come down; it is only a parable which God, Exalted, struck for His creatures, forbidding them thereby to ask signs of His prophets. It was said: He promised them an answer, but when He said to them but whoever of you disbelieves afterwards, to the end of the verse, they begged to be excused from it, asked God’s forgiveness and said: “We do not want this”; so said al-Ḥasan. This view and the one before it are erroneous; the correct position is that it came down.
Ibn ʿAbbās said: Jesus son of Mary said to the Children of Israel: “Fast thirty days, then ask God for whatever you wish and He will give it to you.” So they fasted thirty days and said: “O Jesus, had we worked for anyone and completed our work, he would have fed us; we have fasted and gone hungry, so pray to God to send down to us a table from heaven.” Then the angels came bearing a table on which were seven loaves and seven fish, and they set it before them, and the last of the people ate from it as the first of them had eaten.
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Tirmidhī al-Ḥakīm mentioned in his Nawādir al-uṣūl: ʿUmar ibn Abī ʿUmar related to us: ʿAmmār ibn Hārūn al-Thaqafī related to us, from Zakariyyāʾ ibn Ḥakīm al-Ḥanẓalī, from ʿAlī ibn Zayd ibn Judʿān, from Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, from Salmān al-Fārisī, who said: When the disciples asked Jesus son of Mary (God’s blessings and peace be upon him) for the Table, he rose, put off his woollen garments and put on garments of haircloth, that is, a shirt of black haircloth and a black wrap; then he stood, pressed foot to foot, heel to heel and big toe to big toe, placed his right hand upon his left, then bowed his head in humility before God, then let his eyes flow with weeping until the tears ran down upon his beard and began to drip upon his chest. Then he said: O God, our Lord, send down to us a table from heaven, that it may be for us a festival 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, to the end of the verse. Then there came down a round red cloth (sufrah) between two clouds, one cloud above it and one cloud beneath it, while the people looked on at it. Jesus said: “O God, make it a mercy and do not make it a trial; my God, I ask You for wonders, and You give.” It alighted before Jesus (peace be upon him), with a napkin covering it, and Jesus fell down prostrate, and the disciples with him, perceiving from it a fragrant scent the like of which they had never perceived before. Jesus said: “Whichever of you is the most devoted in worship of God, the boldest towards God and the most trusting in God, let him uncover this cloth so that we may eat from it, mention the name of God over it and praise God for it.” The disciples said: “O Spirit of God, you have the best right to that.” So Jesus (God’s blessings be upon him) rose, performed a thorough ablution, prayed a fresh prayer and made many supplications, then sat down at the cloth and uncovered it, and behold, upon it was a grilled fish without bones in it, running with fat as fat runs, with every kind of herb arranged around it except the leek, salt and vinegar at its head, and at its tail five loaves: on one of them five pomegranates, on another dates, and on another olives. Al-Thaʿlabī said: on one of them olives, on the second honey, on the third eggs, on the fourth cheese, and on the fifth dried meat.
Word of this reached the Jews, and they came in grief and heartache to look at it, and they saw a marvel. Simon (Shamʿūn), who was the head of the disciples, said: “O Spirit of God, is it of the food of this world or of the food of Paradise?” Jesus (God’s blessings be upon him) said: “Have you not yet parted from these questionings? How I fear for you that you will be punished!” Simon said: “By the God of the Children of Israel, I intended no evil by that.” They said: “O Spirit of God, if only there were another sign along with this sign!” Jesus (peace be upon him) said: “O fish, come to life by God’s leave!” And the fish quivered, fresh, its eyes glistening, and the disciples were terrified. Jesus said: “What is it with you? I see you ask for a thing, and then when you are given it you dislike it. How I fear for you that you will be punished!” And he said: “It has come down from heaven, and what is on it is neither food of this world nor of the food of Paradise; rather it is something God originated by His consummate power: He said to it ‘Be’, and it was.” Then Jesus said: “O fish, return as you were,” and it returned grilled as it had been. The disciples said: “O Spirit of God, be the first to eat from it.” Jesus said: “God forbid! Only those who requested it and asked for it shall eat from it.” But the disciples refused to eat from it, fearing that it might be an exemplary punishment and a trial. When Jesus saw that, he summoned to it the poor, the needy, the sick, the chronically ill, the lepers, the crippled, the blind and those suffering from dropsy, and said: “Eat of the provision of your Lord and the prayer of your prophet, and praise God for it.” And he said: “May the enjoyment be yours and the punishment upon others.” So they ate until seven thousand three hundred of them went away belching; and every sick person who ate from it was healed, and every poor person who ate from it was made rich until death.
When the people saw that, they crowded upon it, and there remained no young or old, no elder or youth, no rich or poor, but they came to eat from it, and they pressed one another. When Jesus saw that, he made it come in turns among them: it would come down one day and not come down the next, like the she-camel of Thamūd, which grazed one day and drank the next. So it came down for forty days, descending in the forenoon and remaining until the shade returned to its place. Al-Thaʿlabī said: it would remain set out and eaten from until, when the shade returned, it flew upwards; the people would eat from it, then it would go back to heaven while the people watched its shadow until it disappeared from them. When forty days were complete, God, Exalted, revealed to Jesus (peace be upon him): “O Jesus, make this Table of Mine for the poor, to the exclusion of the rich.” The rich disputed about that, showed enmity to the poor, doubted and made the people doubt. So God said: “O Jesus, I hold to My condition.” Thirty-three of them awoke as swine eating excrement, seeking it in the rubbish heaps (akbāʾ), and akbāʾ are refuse heaps, the singular being kibā; this after they had been eating fine food and sleeping on soft beds. When the people saw that, they gathered around Jesus weeping, and the swine came and knelt on their knees before Jesus and began to weep, their tears dripping. Jesus recognised them and began to say: “Are you not so-and-so?” and each would nod his head, unable to speak. They remained thus for seven days, and some say four days; then Jesus prayed God to take their souls, and in the morning no one knew where they had gone: had the earth swallowed them, or what had become of them? I say: there is criticism of this ḥadīth, and it is not sound on account of its chain of transmission.
From Ibn ʿAbbās and Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī: the food of the Table was bread and fish. Ibn ʿAṭiyyah said: they found in the fish the taste of every food; and al-Thaʿlabī mentioned it. ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir and Qatādah said: it was a table that came down from heaven with fruits of the fruits of Paradise upon it. Wahb ibn Munabbih said: God, Exalted, sent it down as barley cakes and fish. Al-Tirmidhī reported in the chapters on exegesis from ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Table was sent down from heaven as bread and meat, and they were commanded not to be unfaithful and not to store up for the morrow; but they were unfaithful and stored up and put aside for the morrow, and so they were transformed into apes and swine.” Abū ʿĪsā said: this ḥadīth has been related by Abū ʿĀṣim and more than one other from Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah, from Qatādah, from Khilās, from ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, as a halted report (mawqūf), and we know it as a raised report (marfūʿ) only from the ḥadīth of al-Ḥasan ibn Qazaʿah. Ḥumayd ibn Masʿadah related to us: Sufyān ibn Ḥabīb related to us, from Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah, the like of it, and he did not raise it; this is more sound than the ḥadīth of al-Ḥasan ibn Qazaʿah, and we know of no basis for the raised ḥadīth.
Saʿīd ibn Jubayr said: everything was sent down upon the Table except bread and meat. ʿAṭāʾ said: everything came down upon it except fish and meat. Kaʿb said: the Table came down from heaven inverted, the angels flying with it between heaven and earth, with every food upon it except meat. I say: these three views contradict the ḥadīth of al-Tirmidhī, which is preferable to them, because even if it is not sound as a raised report, it is sound as a halted report from a senior Companion; and God knows best. What is certain is that it came down and that there was food upon it that was eaten; and God knows best what precisely it was.
Abū Nuʿaym mentioned from Kaʿb that it came down a second time for certain devout worshippers of the Children of Israel. Kaʿb said: three men from among the devout worshippers of the Children of Israel met together, gathering in a desert land, each man of them possessing one of the names of God, Exalted. One of them said: “Ask of me, and I shall pray to God for you for whatever you wish.” They said: “We ask you to pray to God to bring forth for us in this place a gushing spring, green meadows and fine carpets (ʿabqarī).” He said: so he prayed to God, and behold, a gushing spring, green meadows and fine carpets. Then another of them said: “Ask of me, and I shall pray to God for you for whatever you wish.” They said: “We ask you to pray to God to feed us something of the fruits of Paradise.” So he prayed to God, and there came down to them a ripening date (busrah), and they ate from it; it was not turned over without their eating from it a different kind; then it was taken up. Then another of them said: “Ask of me, and I shall pray to God for you for whatever you wish.” They said: “We ask you to pray to God to send down to us the Table which He sent down to Jesus.” He said: so he prayed, and it came down, and they satisfied their need from it; then it was taken up. And he mentioned the rest of the report.
A question
In the ḥadīth of Salmān mentioned above there is a description of the Table: that it was a cloth (sufrah), not a table with legs. The cloth was the table of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the tables of the Arabs. Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Tirmidhī al-Ḥakīm reported: Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us: Muʿādh ibn Hishām related to us: my father related to me, from Yūnus, from Qatādah, from Anas, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) never ate at a tray-table (khiwān), nor from a small dish (sukurrujah), nor was thin bread ever baked for him. He said: I said to Anas: “On what, then, did they eat?” He said: “On the cloths (sufar).” Muḥammad ibn Bashshār said: this Yūnus is Abū al-Furāt al-Iskāf. I say: this is a sound, well-established ḥadīth, on whose transmitters al-Bukhārī and Muslim agree; al-Tirmidhī reported it, saying: Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us: Muʿādh ibn Hishām related to us, and he mentioned it, saying of it: good and rare (ḥasan gharīb).
Al-Tirmidhī Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: the tray-table is an innovated thing which the non-Arabs made, and the Arabs were not ones to make use of it; they used to eat on cloths (sufar), the singular being sufrah, which is what is made from skins and has loops that draw together and open out. It was named sufrah from its opening out, because when its loops are loosened it opens out and discloses (asfarat) what is in it; hence it was called sufrah. A journey (safar) is called safar only because the man thereby comes out (isfār) from the houses. As for his words “nor from a small dish (sukurrujah)”, it is because these are vessels for condiments, and condiments are for a variety of dishes, and a variety of dishes was not among their characteristics; their food was rather tharīd, bread sopped in broth, with pieces of meat on it. And he used to say: “Tear the meat with your teeth, for it is more appetising and more wholesome.”
If it is said: mention of the table (māʾidah) does occur in the ḥadīths, among them the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “Had the lizard (ḍabb) been forbidden, it would not have been eaten at the table of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)”, reported by Muslim and others; and from ʿĀʾishah (may God be pleased with her), who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The angels invoke blessings upon a man so long as his table remains laid out”, reported by the trustworthy authorities. The reply is that it has been said that the māʾidah is anything that is stretched out and spread, such as the napkin and the cloth. Properly, the dāl of its root ought to be doubled, but they made one of the two dāls a yāʾ, and so it was said māʾidah. The action falls upon it, so it ought properly to have been “stretched out” (mamdūdah), in the passive, but it was given in the language the form of the active participle, just as they said “a concealing secret” (sirr kātim) when it is in fact concealed (maktūm), and “a pleasing life” (ʿīshah rāḍiyah) when it is in fact pleased with (marḍiyyah); and likewise in the language what is active was given the form of the passive, as they said “an ill-omened man” (rajul mashʾūm) when he is in fact one who brings ill omen (shāʾim), and “a veiled screen” (ḥijāb mastūr) when it is in fact one that veils (sātir). He said: so the khiwān is what is raised from the ground on its legs; the māʾidah is what is stretched out and spread; and the sufrah is what discloses what is inside it, because it is drawn together by its loops. From al-Ḥasan, who said: eating at a tray-table is the practice of kings, on a napkin the practice of the non-Arabs, and on a cloth the practice of the Arabs, and it is the Sunnah. And God knows best.
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.
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=qurtubi). 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