Tafsir of Ar-Ra'd 13:43

"And those who disbelieve say, 'You are not a messenger.'" It is said that the leaders of the Jews said this. Ibn Marduwayh recorded from Ibn Abbas who said: A bishop from Yemen came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah grant him peace and blessings), and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him, "Do you find me in the Gospel as a Messenger?" He said, "No." Then Allah the Exalted revealed the verse. Thus, the meaning of "those who disbelieve" in this context refers to him and those who agreed with him and were content with his statement. The use of the imperfect tense (the verb yaqūl - say) is to bring to mind the image of their heinous statement, to express astonishment at it, or to indicate that this behavior is renewed and persistent on their part.

"Say, 'Sufficient is Allah as a witness between me and you.'" For He, the Majestic and Exalted, has manifested such proofs and arguments regarding my message that there is no need for the testimony of any other witness. Naming this "testimony," while it is an action, is a metaphor—as it serves the purpose of testimony; indeed, it is stronger than it.

"And whoever has knowledge of the Book." That is, knowledge of the Quran and the miraculous arrangement it possesses. It is said that if "testimony" is intended as the act of bearing it, the matter is clear. If it is intended as the act of delivering it, then the meaning of the relative pronoun (man - whoever) is the one characterized by it, and the title refers to one who abandons obstinacy and believes.

In Al-Kashshaf, it states that the meaning is: "This scholar is sufficient as a witness between me and you." It does not necessarily follow from his sufficiency in witnessing that he must deliver it; whoever delivers it is an honest witness, and whoever does not is a traitor. This contains an eloquent insinuation that if they were just, they would have testified.

It is said that "the Book" refers to the Torah and the Gospel, and the one who has knowledge of it refers to those among the People of the Two Books who accepted Islam, such as Abdullah bin Salam and his peers, for they bear witness to his description (peace and blessings be upon him) in their book. Qatada held this view, as Abd al-Razzaq, Ibn Jarir, and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from him that he said regarding this verse: "There were people among the People of the Book who bore witness to the truth and recognized it; among them were Abdullah bin Salam, al-Jarud, Tamim al-Dari, and Salman al-Farsi."

It has also been reported from Mujahid and others—and it is a narration from Ibn Abbas—that the intent is specifically Abdullah bin Salam, and they mentioned no one else. Ibn Marduwayh recorded via Abd al-Malik bin Umayr from Jundub, who said: Abdullah bin Salam came until he took hold of the doorposts of the mosque, then said: "I adjure you by Allah the Exalted, do you know that I am the one about whom 'And whoever has knowledge of the Book' was revealed?" They said, "By Allah, yes."

Ibn Jubayr denied this. Sa'id bin Mansur and a group recorded from him that he was asked, "Is this one who has knowledge of the Book Abdullah bin Salam?" He said, "How can that be, when this Surah is Meccan?" Al-Sha'bi also denied that anything from the Quran was revealed about him. But this is not to be relied upon, for the one who preserves [a fact] is a proof against the one who does not. A reply to Ibn Jubayr's doubt is that people might say the Surah is Meccan, but some of its verses are Medinan, so this could be one of those. And you know that this requires transmission [of evidence].

In Al-Bahr, it is stated that what was mentioned is not tenable unless this verse is Medinan, whereas the majority hold that it is Meccan. It was replied that this does not contradict the Surah being Meccan, as the statement could be an announcement of what will be testified to later. You could also say: If the meaning is in the style of Al-Kashshaf—that it does not necessarily follow from the sufficiency of the one mentioned in the testimony that he must deliver it—then the fact that the Surah is Meccan, or that Abdullah bin Salam had not yet embraced Islam when it was revealed, or even that he was not present, does no harm. There is no obstacle to the Surah being Meccan while "those who disbelieve" refers to the people of Mecca, and "whoever has knowledge of the Book" refers to the Jews and Christians, as Ibn Jarir recorded via al-Awfi from Ibn Abbas. The conclusion of the response in this case is: "You are not people of the Book, so ask its people, for they are in your neighborhood."

Yes, the Shaykh al-Islam said: "The verse is Medinan by consensus," as if he did not come across the disagreement. It is also said that "the Book" refers to the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawh), and "whoever" refers to Him, the Exalted. This is reported from Mujahid and al-Zajjaj. From al-Hasan: "No, by Allah, it means none other than Allah the Exalted." The meaning, as in Al-Kashshaf, is: "He who is worthy of worship and He whom none but He knows the knowledge of what is in the Tablet is sufficient as a witness between me and you." Through this interpretation, the conjunction becomes similar to that in the saying: "To the King, the Generous, the Son of the Noble, and the Lion of the Army in the throng." Thus, there is no harm in the conjunction. The exclusivity is either from outside [the text], because such knowledge is specific to Allah the Exalted, or by considering the prepositional phrase to be a fronted predicate, thereby implying exclusivity. Al-Hasan's oath is for emphasis in refuting what they claimed. In Al-Kashshaf, it is noted that al-Hasan emphasized this because of what we previously established regarding the Surah being built upon what it is built upon, and making the beginning like the ending, and the rhetorical point in the conjunction. That is why al-Zamakhshari interpreted it by saying: "Sufficient is the One who, etc." Its conjunction is the conjunction of an entity with an entity, pointing to the independence of the testimony from each of the two descriptions without regard to the other. So, "He who is worthy of worship" has testified through what the Book is filled with—the invitation to His worship and the various supports He granted His servant from Himself. And "He who does not know the knowledge of what is in the Tablet—that is, the knowledge of everything—except Him" has testified through the knowledge the Book contains and by revealing it in a style superior to the customary. This opinion is supported by the fact that Ali (may Allah exalt his face), Ubayy, Ibn Abbas, Ikrimah, Ibn Jubayr, Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Bakra, al-Dahhak, Salim bin Abdullah bin Umar, Ibn Abi Ishaq, Mujahid, al-Hakam, and al-A'mash read it as: "And whoever has knowledge of the Book," making min (who) a preposition, the prepositional phrase a fronted predicate, and "knowledge" a delayed subject.

Ali (may Allah exalt his face), Ibn al-Sumayqa, and al-Hasan—with a variation from him—also read it: "And whoever has knowledge of the Book," with "knowledge" as a passive verb and "the Book" as the deputy subject. The pronoun in "has" ('indahu), according to both readings, refers to Allah the Exalted, as in the previous reading based on that interpretation; the origin is that the readings support one another.

It is said that "the Book" refers to the Tablet, and "whoever" refers to Gabriel (peace be upon him). Ibn Abi Hatim recorded this interpretation of "whoever" from Ibn Jubayr, and it is as you see [i.e., weak].

Muhammad bin al-Hanafiyyah and al-Baqir said, as in Al-Bahr: The intent of "whoever" is Ali (may Allah exalt his face). The apparent meaning is that "the Book" in that case is the Quran. By my life, he (may Allah be pleased with him) possessed the knowledge of the Book completely, but the apparent meaning is that Ali (may Allah exalt his face) is not intended. The apparent meaning is that "whoever" in the reading of the majority is in the genitive case, coupled with the Majesty of the Divine Name. This is supported by the fact that it was read in irregular recitations with the repetition of the letter Ba. It is said it is in the nominative case by being coupled with the implied case of the Name, because the Ba is extra. Ibn Atiyyah said: It is possible it is in the nominative case as an initial, with the predicate being omitted—estimated as "the most just" or "the most decisive in speech," or something similar indicated by the word "witness." This would mean Allah the Exalted. It contains a remoteness that is not hidden.

The subject "knowledge," in the reading where "has" ('indahu) acts as a connective, is in the nominative case through the implied [verb] in the prepositional phrase, thus acting as the subject. For when the prepositional phrase acts as a connective or enters into the likeness of a verb due to its reliance on the relative pronoun, it acts as a verb. Like your saying: "I passed by the one who has his brother in the house," where "brother" is the subject, just as you say: "by the one who has settled in the house, his brother." Al-Zamakhshari said this, but it is not mandatory. For if a prepositional phrase or its likeness acts as a connective, an adjective, a state, or a predicate, or is preceded by a negation or interrogative particle, it is permitted for the following noun to be in the nominative case as the subject, and this is better. It is also permitted for it to be a subject, while the prepositional phrase or its likeness is in the position of the predicate, and the sentence of subject and predicate is the connective, adjective, state, or predicate. This is built upon the active participle; just as that is permitted, even if making it act upon the explicit noun is better, so too is it permitted for what replaces it of a prepositional phrase. Sibawayh explicitly stated the permissibility of this in examples like "I passed by a man handsome [is] his face," allowing the nominative case for "handsome" as a fronted predicate. Some mistakenly thought that if the active participle relies on one of the aforementioned things, it must act upon the explicit noun, but this is not so. Al-Hufi parsed "knowledge of the Book" as a subject and predicate in the connective of "whoever," which is an inclination toward the weaker view.

In the verse, according to both readings with the prepositional Ba, there is an indication that honoring a servant with the sciences of the Quran is from the grace and success granted to him by Allah the Exalted. We ask Allah the Exalted to honor us with those sciences, grant us success to grasp the secrets of what it contains—of the explicit and the implicit—and make us among those who hold fast to His Firmest Handhold, and are guided by His guidance, so that we may not stray nor be afflicted, through the blessing of the Prophet (may Allah grant him peace and blessings).