Tafsir of Al-Ma'idah 5:105

(O you who have believed, upon you are your selves) means: keep to your selves and protect them from engaging in sins and persisting in errors. "Upon you" (‘alaykum) is a verbal noun (ism fi’l) denoting an imperative; it is transferred to this meaning as the combination of the preposition and the pronoun, not the preposition alone as some have said. It is transitive to the object following it, and it can also be intransitive. The intent here is a command to adhere, as in his saying (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): "Hold fast to the one possessed of religious devotion." Abu al-Baqa’ mentioned that the kaf and mim are in the genitive position because the verbal noun is the combination itself, and ‘ala alone has not been used as a verbal noun—unlike ruwaydaka, for the kaf and mim there are only for address and have no syntactic place, because ruwayda has been used as a verbal noun for the command to the one addressed without the kaf of address. Sibawayh adopted this, and it is the correct view. Al-Tabarsi reported that the usage of ‘ala with the pronoun is a specific verbal noun only when the pronoun is for address; if you were to say "‘alayhi zaydan," it would not be permissible, though there is disagreement regarding this.

Nafi' read in the irregular readings (shawah) "your selves" (anfusukum) in the nominative case. The speech in that case is a nominal sentence (subject and predicate); meaning: keeping to your selves is incumbent upon you, or protecting your selves is necessary for you, by estimating a genitive construction in the subject.

His saying (Exalted is He): (He who has strayed will not harm you when you are guided) allows for the nominative case on the grounds that it is an independent statement, in the position of providing a cause for the preceding clause, and it is supported by the reading of Abu Haywah "will not harm you" (la yadurrukum). It is also possible that it is jussive (majzum) as a response to the command, and the meaning is: if you keep to your selves, he will not harm you. The ra was given a damma (vowel point) in following the damma of the dad which was transferred to it from the assimilated ra—the original being la yadrurkum. It is also possible that it is a prohibition serving as an emphasis for the preceding command, and the speech is similar to the expression "Do not let me see you here." The possibility of it being jussive is supported by the reading of those who read "will not harm you" (la yadurrukum) with a fatha on the ra and "will not harm you" (wa la yadurrukum) with the kasra and damma of the dad—derived from darrahu (to harm him), meaning he harmed him, similar to dhamm and dhamm.

Those who imagined that the outer meaning of the verse grants a license to abandon enjoining good and forbidding evil have been answered with several points:

First: Guidance is not complete except through enjoining good and forbidding evil, for abandoning this while having the ability to perform it is misguidance. Ibn Jarir extracted from Qays ibn Abi Hazim who said: Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) ascended the pulpit of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), praised Allah, and lauded Him, then said: "O people, you recite a verse from the Book of Allah (Sublime is He) and consider it a license. By Allah, Allah has not revealed in His Book any verse more severe than: (O you who have believed, upon you are your selves). By Allah, you will certainly enjoin good and forbid evil, or Allah will encompass you with a punishment from Him." In another narration: "O people, you read this verse and you place it in the wrong context, and I heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) say: 'Indeed, when people see the evil and do not change it, it is imminent that Allah will encompass them with a punishment.'"

In a narration by Ibn Marduyah from Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad, he said: Abu Bakr al-Siddiq addressed the people, and in his sermon, he said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "O people, do not rely on this verse (O you who have believed, upon you are your selves), etc. Indeed, a corrupt person might be in a community, and they do not prevent him, so Allah encompasses them with a punishment." Some people interpreted "guidance" here as enjoining good and forbidding evil, and this has been narrated from Hudhayfah and Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib.

Second: The verse is a consolation for those who enjoin good and forbid evil when the prevalence of immorality and the distance from the era of revelation do not permit their efforts to be accepted. 'Abd al-Razzaq, Abu al-Shaykh, al-Tabarani, and others extracted from al-Hasan that a man asked Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) about this verse, and he said: "O people, it is not its time now, but it is imminent that a time will come when you will enjoin good and such and such will be done to you—or he said: it will not be accepted from you—then at that time: (Upon you are your selves, he who has strayed will not harm you when you are guided)."

Ibn Jarir extracted from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) that it was said to him: "If you were to sit these days and neither enjoin nor forbid, for Allah (Exalted is He) says: (Upon you are your selves)," he replied: "It is not for me nor for my companions, because the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: 'Let the witness inform the absent,' and we were the witnesses and you are the absent. But this verse is for a people who will come after us; if they speak, it will not be accepted from them."

Ibn Marduyah extracted from Mu'adh ibn Jabal that he said: "O Messenger of Allah, tell me about the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic is He): (O you who have believed, upon you are your selves, he who has strayed will not harm you when you are guided)." He (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "O Mu'adh, enjoin the good and forbid the evil; but when you see avarice being obeyed, whims being followed, and every person admiring his own opinion, then upon you are your selves, the misguidance of others will not harm you. For behind you are days of patience; the one who holds fast to his religion then is like one holding onto live coals. For the doer among them on that day is the reward of fifty of you." I said: "O Messenger of Allah, fifty of them?" He said: "No, fifty of you."

Third: It is for preventing the destruction of one's own soul through regret and sorrow over the misguidance in which the disbelievers and the immoral dwell; for the believers used to grieve over the disbelievers and wish for their faith, so this was revealed.

Fourth: It is a license to leave off enjoining and forbidding when there is harm in doing so.

Fifth: It is a command to remain steadfast in faith without caring about the attribution of fathers to foolishness. It is said: when a man accepted Islam, they would say to him, "You have mocked your father," so this was revealed.

It is also said: The meaning of the verse is: O you who have believed, adhere to the people of your religion, protect them, and support them; the one who strays from the disbelievers will not harm you if you do that. The expression for "the people of religion" as "selves" is in the manner of His saying (Exalted is He): (Do not kill yourselves), and the like. The expression for that act as "guidance" is to encourage it—and what that contains is not hidden.

(To Allah) and not to anyone else besides Him (is your return) your returning on the Day of Resurrection (all together) such that no one among the guided and the misguided will remain behind (then He will inform you) of the reward and punishment (of what you used to do) in the world, regarding the deeds of guidance and misguidance. Thus, the speech is a promise and a threat to both groups. It contains—as has been said—evidence that no one is held accountable for the deeds of another, and likewise, it indicates that no one is rewarded for them. The verification of this will come, if Allah (Exalted is He) wills.