Tafsir of Al Imran 3:4

(From before) relates to "He revealed," meaning He revealed them before the revelation of the Book. It is said: [it means] before you. The explicit mention of this, despite the matter being apparent, is for the sake of hyperbole in clarification—this is what they all stated. As for me, I say the explicit mention is to hint that their revelation contains a precursor (irhas) for his mission, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, since the revelation—restricted to "before"—was qualified by His saying, the Exalted: (as guidance for mankind), meaning He revealed them as such for the sake of guiding the people to whom they were revealed toward the Truth, among which is the belief in him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and following him when he is sent, due to what they contained of glad tidings of him and the exhortation to obey him, upon him be blessings and peace. The guidance through them after the abrogation of their laws by the Qur'an is only from this aspect, and nothing else. The statement that one is also guided by them in matters other than the abrogated laws—those things which the Qur'an confirms—is of no substance, because the guidance in that case is by the confirming Qur'an, not by them, as is not hidden from the fair-minded. It is permissible for "guidance" (hudan) to be an accusative state (hal) from them (the Torah and Gospel), and its singular form—being an infinitive—is used as if the essence of guidance itself, for the sake of hyperbole, or a noun has been omitted, meaning "possessors of guidance." To make it a state from "the Book" is not something that should be adopted.

(And He revealed the Criterion [al-Furqan]) Abd ibn Humayd narrated from Qatadah that it is the Qur'an, by which truth is distinguished from falsehood; He made lawful therein its permitted acts, prohibited its forbidden acts, legislated its laws, set its bounds and obligations, explained its clarifications, commanded obedience to it, prohibited disobedience to it, and mentioned it by this title after mentioning it by its generic name to exalt its affair and elevate its status. Ibn Jarir narrated from Muhammad ibn Ja’far ibn al-Zubayr that it is the separator between truth and falsehood regarding what the parties differed upon concerning the affair of Jesus, peace be upon him, and others. This is supported by the fact that the beginning of the Surah, as we previously mentioned, was revealed regarding the arguments of the Christians with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, concerning his brother Jesus, peace be upon him. Based on this, the meaning of "the Criterion" would be a portion of the Qur'an; he did not suffice with its inclusion within the whole out of concern for it. Similar to this is what is narrated from Abu Abdullah, may Allah grant him peace, that it means every decisive verse (muhkam).

It is said: It means the genus of divine books; it is expressed with a descriptive term that encompasses what was mentioned of them and what was not, by way of completion through generalization after the specification of some of their prominent ones by mention.

It is said: It is the aforementioned books themselves, mentioned again with a specific description not mentioned previously, by way of conjunction, repeating the word "revealing," treating the descriptive difference as equivalent to an essential difference.

It is said: It means the Psalms (Zabur). Mentioning the Gospel before it, despite the Gospel being revealed after it, is due to the strength of its suitability with the Torah in containing legal rulings and the frequency of their being mentioned together. This was objected to on the grounds that the Psalms are admonitions, and thus contain no rulings to distinguish between truth and falsehood. It was answered that since admonitions contain warnings and encouragements, they also distinguish it, and because the distinction therein is subtle, it was singled out by this description. It was further objected that mentioning the description without the described implies it is so famous for it that it dispenses with the mention of the described, whereas subtlety only requires proving the description, not expressing it through it.

It is said: It means the miracles that accompanied the revelation of the aforementioned books, which distinguish between the righteous and the falsifier. In any case, it is originally an infinitive, like "forgiveness" (ghufran), used for the active agent by way of hyperbole.

(Indeed, those who disbelieve in the verses of Allah) The addition (genitive construction) likely refers to the covenant, pointing to what preceded regarding the verses of the revealed books. It is also possible that it is for the genus, so the "verses" apply to what is realized within the aforementioned and other things, such as miracles. He added them to the Majestic Name to specify the nature of their disbelief, to express the magnitude of their affair, and to emphasize their deserving of punishment. The relative pronoun [those] refers either to those mentioned previously in the reason for revelation, or the People of the Two Books, or the genus of disbelievers. In both cases, those [mentioned] enter into it primarily.

(For them is a severe punishment) A subject and predicate in the position of the predicate of "indeed" (inna). It is permissible for "punishment" to be in the nominative by the prepositional phrase. The indefiniteness is for aggrandizement, hinting that its measure cannot be estimated. This is the pivot of the exclusivity inferred from the precedence of the prepositional phrase. Linking it to the relative pronoun, which is the rule of a derivative, suggests causality—this is the meaning contained in the conditional [implication], and the "fa" (so) was omitted therein because it is obvious, which makes it more eloquent if the context requires it.

(And Allah is Exalted in Might) Meaning: Overpowering in His command, doing what He wills, and judging what He desires. (Owner of Retribution) An ifti'al (verbal noun form) derived from niqmah (vengeance), which is power and dominance. It is said: "He took retribution from him" when he punishes him for his crime. Its root is naqama, with both fathah and kasrah. Some made it mean "to hate" only. The tanwin is for aggrandizement. He chose this construction over "the Retributor" (muntaqim)—despite the latter's brevity—because it is more eloquent than it; for one does not say "possessor of a sword" except to one who kills often, not to one who merely possesses a sword absolutely. The sentence is an interjected appendage, confirming the threat and emphasizing it.