Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:135

(And they say: "Be Jews or Christians, then you will be guided.") The third-person pronoun refers to the People of the Scripture. The clause is conjoined to the preceding one, joining one narrative to another. The intent behind it is to refute their invitation to their false religion, following the refutation of their claim regarding Abraham’s Judaism. The particle "(or)" is for categorizing the statement, not for offering a choice, evidenced by the fact that each of the two factions declares the other an infidel. That is, the Jews said to the believers: "Be Jews," and the Christians said to them: "Be Christians."

(Then you will be guided) is the response to the imperative; meaning, if you are such, you will be guided. It is narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with both of them) that this was revealed concerning the leaders of the Jews of Medina—Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, Malik ibn al-Sayf, Wahb ibn Yahudha, and Abu Yasir ibn Akhtab—and the Christians of Najran. This is because they disputed with the Muslims regarding the religion, with each faction claiming to have more right to the religion of Allah than the other. The Jews said: "Our prophet, Moses, is the best of prophets, our book, the Torah, is the best of books, and our religion is the best of religions," and they disbelieved in Jesus, the Gospel, Muhammad, and the Quran. The Christians said: "Our prophet, Jesus, is the best of prophets, our book, the Gospel, is the best of books, and our religion is the best of religions," and they disbelieved in Muhammad and the Quran. Each of the two factions said to the believers: "Be upon our religion, for there is no religion except that."

In the narration of Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Jarir, and others from him, it is stated that Abdullah ibn Suriya the One-Eyed said to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): "There is no guidance except that which we are upon, so follow us, O Muhammad, and you will be guided." The Christians said the same. Consequently, Allah the Exalted revealed this verse concerning them.

(Say) is an address to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), meaning: Say to those speakers by way of refuting them and clarifying what is the truth according to them, and guiding them to it: (Nay, rather the religion of Abraham), meaning: We shall not be as you say, but rather we follow the religion of Abraham; that is, the people of his creed. The first interpretation is required by the consideration of the preceding phrase, even if it requires the omission of a genitive (i.e., millat), while the second is required by the inclination toward the meaning, as the former implies "follow the religion of the Jews or Christians" without need for estimation. It is also permissible that the meaning is: "Nay, rather you follow his religion," or "Be of the people of his religion." It has been said: The most apparent is "Nay, rather we follow the religion of Abraham," though the evidence for this is not apparent to me. It has also been recited as (bal millatu) in the nominative case, meaning "Nay, our religion is his religion," or "Our command is his religion," or "We are of his religion," i.e., its people. Others said: "Nay, the guidance, or the religion of Abraham guides," but this is as you see.

(Hanifan) means upright, or deviating from falsehood toward the truth. Both the religious person and the religion itself are described by this term. It is a state (hal), either from the genitive by interpreting it as "the religion," or by likening it to the pattern of fa'il in the sense of maf'ul (passive), as in the words of the Exalted: (Indeed, the mercy of Allah is close to the doers of good). This is based on the accusative reading, where the estimation "we follow" is apparent. If it is based on the estimation "you are upon it," then millat is the subject of the verb implied by the genitive relationship, meaning "a religion that was established for Abraham."

As for the nominative reading, the state is an emphatic one, as it occurs after nominal sentences whose parts are rigid nouns, definite, and affirming their content due to the notoriety of his religion (peace be upon him) for that. Thus, the structure is on the order of "I am Hatim, generous." Alternatively, it may be from the genitive (the mudaf ilayh) based on what they have accepted: that it is permissible for the state to come from the genitive noun in three cases: when the head of the construct is a derivative working word, a part of the noun, or equivalent to a part in the validity of its omission, as it is here, for it is valid to say "follow Abraham" in the sense of "follow the religion of Abraham." It is said that what permits the state to occur from the genitive is its being an object for the sense of the verb implied by the genitive relationship or the "lam." Abu al-Baqa points to this, and it is perhaps more appropriate due to its consistency in the first estimation. It is also said it is in the accusative with the estimation "I mean."

(And he was not of the polytheists) is conjoined to hanifan, similar to the phrase (upright for Allah, not associating partners with Him). It is, therefore, a state from the genitive noun, not the head of the construct, unless one estimates "the religion of the polytheists," which is an affectation. The intent is to allude to the People of the Scripture and the Arabs who claim to follow him and observe specific laws attributed to him, such as pilgrimage to the House, circumcision, and others, for there are polytheists among every one of their groups: the Jews said, "Ezra is the son of Allah," the Christians said, "The Messiah is the son of Allah," and the Arabs worshipped idols and said, "The angels are the daughters of Allah."