Tafsir of Al Imran 3:61

(Then whoever argues with you): That is, disputes and contends with you, from the delegation of the Christians of Najran, as they were the ones who undertook that.

(Concerning him): That is, concerning the affair of Isa, peace be upon him, for he is the one being spoken about and the subject of the story. It is also said that the pronoun refers to the "Truth" (al-Haqq) mentioned previously, due to its proximity and the lack of remoteness in meaning.

(After the knowledge that has come to you): That is, the verses which necessitate knowledge. Calling them "knowledge" is either literal—because they are, as it is said, a type of knowledge—or via a metonymy (majaz mursal). The evidence for this is the mention of the argument (muhajjah), which necessitates proofs. The final prepositional phrase is a state (hal) for the subject of "has come to you," which refers back to the relative pronoun "what" (ma), and the "min" (from) here is partitive (tab'idiyyah). It is also said to be for explaining the genus.

(Say): To those who argue with you, (Come): That is, approach with intent and determination. Its origin is a request to come to a high place, then it was extended in usage to mean a mere request to come.

(We will call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, and ourselves and yourselves): That is, each of us and each of you shall call his sons, his women, and his self for the mubahala (mutual imprecation). The reason the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—placed those he mentioned before his own self in the mubahala, despite these being positions of peril where a man usually risks his own soul first, is to signal his complete sense of security and his perfect certainty regarding the encompassing protection of Allah the Almighty for them. For this reason—and while observing the origin of the grammatical form, since the non-speaker is subordinate to the speaker in the predication—he—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—placed his own side before the side of the addressed party.

(Then we pray earnestly): That is, let us engage in mubahala. The form ifti'al here carries the meaning of mufa'ala (reciprocity); ifta'ala and tafa'ala are synonymous in many places, such as ishtaawara and tashaawara (to consult), or ijtawara and tajawara (to be neighbors). The origin of al-bahla—with a damma or a fatha—is, as it is said, the curse and the supplication for it. Then it became common for any general supplication, as one says: "So-and-so is yabtahilu (praying earnestly) to Allah in his need." Al-Raghib said: "To bahala a thing or a camel means to neglect or abandon it." Then it was used for unreserved supplication, whether it is a curse or otherwise. However, here it is interpreted as a curse, because that is the intended reality, as indicated by His saying: (And place the curse of Allah upon the liars).

(That is, in the affair of Isa, peace be upon him): It is a conjunction to "we pray earnestly," explaining what is intended by it—meaning: "We say, the curse of Allah is upon the liars," or "O Allah, curse the liars."

Al-Bukhari and Muslim recorded that al-'Aqib and al-Sayyid came to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and he wished to invoke the curse upon them. One of them said to his companion: "Do not invoke the curse, for by Allah, if he were a prophet and we invoke the curse, neither we nor our descendants after us will succeed." They said to him: "We will give you what you ask, so send a trustworthy man with us." He said: "Stand up, O Abu Ubaidah." When he stood, he said: "This is the trustworthy man of this nation."

Abu Nu'aym recorded in al-Dala'il, through the path of 'Ata and al-Dahhak from Ibn Abbas, that eight bishops of the people of Najran came to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—among them al-'Aqib and al-Sayyid. Allah revealed: "(Say, 'Come...')"—to the end of the verse. They said: "Give us three days." They went to the Banu Qurayza, al-Nadir, and Banu Qaynuqa' and consulted them. They advised them to make peace with him and not to invoke the curse, saying: "He is the Prophet whom we find in the Torah." So they made peace with the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—on one thousand garments in Safar, one thousand in Rajab, and silver coins. It is narrated that they made peace on paying two thousand garments, thirty-three coats of mail, and thirty-three horses every year.

He also recorded in al-Dala'il, through the path of al-Kalbi from Abu Salih from Ibn Abbas, that a delegation of Najran's Christians came to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—consisting of fourteen men of their nobility. Among them were al-Sayyid (who was their leader) and al-'Aqib (who was the one after him and the keeper of their counsel). The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: "Submit (become Muslims)." They said: "We have already submitted." He said: "You have not submitted." They said: "Yes, we submitted before you." He said: "You lie. Three things prevent you from Islam: your worship of the cross, your eating of swine, and your claim that Allah has a child." Then "Indeed, the example of Isa..." (to the end of the verse) was revealed. When he recited it to them, they said: "We do not know of this." Then "Then whoever argues with you..." (to the end of the verse) was revealed. The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said to them: "Allah the Almighty has commanded me, if you do not accept this, to invoke the curse with you." They said: "O Abu al-Qasim, rather, we will return and consider our affair, then we will come to you." Some of them withdrew with others and spoke truthfully among themselves. Al-Sayyid said to al-'Aqib: "By Allah, you have known that the man is a sent prophet. If you invoke the curse upon him, it will surely exterminate you. No people have ever invoked the curse against a prophet and their elders remained or their young survived. If you do not intend to follow him and you insist on your religion, then bid him farewell and return to your lands." The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—had gone out accompanied by Ali, al-Hasan, al-Husayn, and Fatimah. The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: "If I call, then you say 'Amen'." They refused to invoke the curse and settled on the jizya.

From al-Sha'bi: The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: "The bringer of glad tidings of the ruin of the people of Najran came to me, even the birds on the trees, had they gone through with the imprecation." From Jabir: "By the One who sent me with the Truth, had they done so, the valley would have rained fire upon them."

It is narrated that the Bishop of Najran, when he saw the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—approaching with Ali, Fatimah, and the two sons of Hasan and Husayn—may Allah be pleased with them—said: "O company of Christians, I see faces that, if they were to ask Allah the Almighty to remove a mountain from its place, He would remove it. So do not invoke the curse, lest you perish."

This is so; and the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—included his sons and women with his own self—despite the fact that the intent of the mubahala is to distinguish the truthful from the liar, which concerns him and the one he invokes the curse against—because that is the most complete indication of his confidence in his state and his certainty of his truthfulness, the most damaging to the enemy, and the most harmful to them had the mubahala been completed. In this story is the clearest evidence of his Prophethood—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—otherwise they would not have refrained from invoking the curse with him. Its indication of the virtue of the family of Allah and His Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—is something no believer disputes, and opposition is a rejection of faith.

The Shia have used this as proof of Ali's—may Allah honor his face—primacy for the caliphate after the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—based on the report of Ali's presence with the Messenger. The logic is that the intent behind "our sons" is al-Hasan and al-Husayn, "our women" is Fatimah, and "ourselves" is the Amir (Ali). Since he became the "self" of the Messenger, and it is apparent that the literal meaning (of being the exact same person) is impossible, it is determined that the intended meaning is equality. Whoever is equal to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—is superior and more entitled to authority than anyone else, and there is no meaning to the Caliphate other than that.

The response to this is, firstly: we do not concede that the intent of "ourselves" is the Amir, but rather his own noble self—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and that the Amir is included among the "sons." In custom, a son-in-law is considered a son without doubt. If we say that the application of the term "son" to a daughter's son is literal, we must commit to the generality of the metaphor. If we say it is a metaphor, then there is no need to claim its generality, and its application to the Amir and the two sons—may Allah be pleased with them—would be equal in metaphoricity.

The statement by al-Tabarsi and others of their scholars—that intending his noble self by "ourselves" is impermissible because of the verb "we call" (nd'u), and a person does not call upon himself—is delusional speech. It is common and widespread in ancient and modern usage: "his soul called him to such and such," "I called upon myself to do so," "his soul tempted him," "my soul commanded me," "I consulted it," and other correct usages occurring in the speech of the eloquent. Thus, the result of "we call our selves" is "we bring our selves." What obstacle is there in that? If we determine the Amir from the side of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—as the recipient of "ourselves," then whom do we determine from the side of the disbelievers? For they are joined in the form "we call," since there is no meaning to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—calling them, their sons, and their women after his statement: "Come," as is not hidden.

As for the second (response): even if we concede that the intent of "ourselves" is the Amir, we do not concede that the intent of "the self" (nafs) is the essence of the person. The word "nafs" has come to mean relative, partner in religion, and community. Among these are His saying: "They drive their own selves out of their homes," "Do not insult your own selves," "Why, when you heard it, did the believing men and women not think well of their own selves?" Perhaps, because the Amir had a connection to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in lineage, marriage, and unity in religion, he expressed it as "the self." In that case, equality is not required, which is the pillar of their argument. If the intent were equality in all attributes, it would necessitate participation in Prophethood, the seal of prophets, and being sent to all of creation—and that is null by consensus, for the follower is less than the followed. If the intent were equality in some attributes, the purpose is not achieved, because equality in some attributes of the superior and most entitled to authority does not necessarily make the one who possesses them superior and more entitled to authority.

As for the third (response): if this were to indicate the caliphate of the Amir as they claim, it would necessitate that the Amir was an Imam during the time of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—which is false by agreement. If it were restricted to a time and not another, then since such restriction has no evidence in the wording, it would not be beneficial to the claimant, as it is not in dispute—for the people of Sunnah establish his imamate at some times and not others. Thus, this evidence would not stand in the place of the dispute. Due to the weakness of the argument in this matter—or rather its lack of validity—the argument for the superiority of the Amir Ali—may Allah honor his face—over the Prophets and Messengers—peace be upon them—based on the claim of his equality to the most superior of them, was not established by the expert scholars of the Shia beyond the claim that the Amir, the Virgin (Fatimah), and al-Hasan were the most beloved to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—as Abdullah al-Mashhadi did in his book Izhar al-Haqq.

Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, and others recorded from Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas: "When this verse was revealed (Say: 'Come, let us call...'), the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—called Ali, Fatimah, Hasan, and Husayn and said: 'O Allah, these are my family.'" This is what we have mentioned regarding his supplication for these four related ones—may Allah be pleased with them—which is the famous and relied-upon account among the Hadith scholars. Ibn Asakir recorded from Ja'far ibn Muhammad from his father—may Allah be pleased with them—that when this verse was revealed, he brought Abu Bakr and his children, Umar and his children, Uthman and his children, and Ali and his children. This is contrary to what the majority narrated.

Ibn Abi 'Allan from the Mu'tazilah also used this story as proof that the two sons of Hasan and Husayn were legally accountable (mukallaf) at that time, because mubahala is not permissible except with adults. The Imamiyyah hold that it requires perfection of reason and discernment, and the realization of this does not depend on puberty. Perfection of reason may occur before it, perhaps even exceeding the perfection of adults. So it is not impossible that the two sons were not yet adults, but were at an age where it is not impossible for them to be possessed of perfect reason. Furthermore, it is permissible for Allah the Almighty to break habits for those masters and distinguish them with what no one else shares. If it were correct that perfection of reason is not customary at that age, it is permissible for them, as a distinction from others and an indication of their station with Allah the Almighty and His exclusivity toward them; they are the people whose characteristics cannot be counted.

The Nasibis hold that mubahala is permissible to manifest the truth until today, but they forbid the presence of children and women in it. They claim—may Allah raise their status and not lower them, and may He forgive them—that what occurred from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was merely to compel and shame the opponent, and that it does not indicate the superiority of those noble ones over our Prophet and over them be the best of prayers and the most complete of peace. You know that this claim is a type of delirium and a trace of the touch of Satan. Nothing is valid in the minds if the daylight requires proof. Whoever held the view of the permissibility of mubahala today in the manner the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—did, used as evidence what was recorded by 'Abd ibn Qays ibn Sa'd that Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with them both—had a matter between him and another, so he invited him to mubahala and recited the verse, raised his hands, and faced the Corner (of the Ka'bah). It is as if he—may Allah be pleased with him—was indicating the manner of ibtihal (earnest prayer), that the hands are raised in it. In what al-Hakim recorded, there is a clear statement of that, and that they are raised up to the shoulders.