Al-Ma'idah: (41) "O Messenger..."
(O Messenger, let not those who hasten into disbelief grieve you.) The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is addressed with the title of "Messenger" as a mark of honor and to signal that which necessitates the absence of grief. "Hastening" into something means falling into it quickly, with desire and preference. The word "in" (fee) is used instead of "to" (ila) to indicate that they are firmly established in disbelief, never departing from it; rather, they merely transition by their haste from some of its forms and rulings to others, such as manifesting loyalty to the polytheists and exposing the traces of plotting against Islam, and the like.
Expressing them with the relative pronoun "those who" (alladheena) is to point, within the context of its subordinate clause, to the cause of the grief. Although this appears ostensibly as a prohibition directed at the disbelievers—forbidding them from causing the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) grief by their hastening into disbelief—it is, in reality, a prohibition directed at the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) against being affected by that or paying it any mind. The purpose is purely to console him in the most eloquent and emphatic manner; for prohibiting the causes and precursors that lead to a thing is, by demonstrative logic, a prohibition of the thing itself and a severance of it at its root.
It is also recited as yuhzin-ka (with a damma on the ya and a kasra on the za), from the verb ahzana, which is a dialect. It is also recited as yusri'una (they hasten), for it is said asra'a feehi al-shayb (gray hair quickly settled into him), meaning: do not grieve and do not pay heed to their falling into disbelief with such haste, out of fear—as is said—of their evil and their loyalty to the polytheists; for Allah—may He be exalted—is your supporter against them. Or [it is because of] compassion for them, as they have not been granted success for guidance, for Allah—may He be exalted—guides whom He wills and leads astray whom He wills.
(From among those who say, "We believe" with their mouths) is a clarification of those "hastening into disbelief." Abu al-Baqa' said: It is connected to a suppressed state [hal] from the subject of "hasten" or from the relative pronoun, meaning: "Existing as those from among..." etc. The ba (in "bi-afwahihim") is connected to "say," not to "believe," due to the obvious corruption [in the latter interpretation], and its connection to [the verb "say"] is in the sense of "by means of their mouths," meaning: they believe only with what they utter, without their hearts being involved—a matter that does not deserve the attention of anyone with the slightest discernment.
(And their hearts have not believed) is a parenthetical state [hal] sentence concerning the pronoun in "say." It is also said that it is a conjunction to "say." His words—glory be to Him—(And from among those who are Jews) is a conjunction to "from among those who say." With this, the classification of the "hasteners" is completed into two groups: hypocrites and Jews.
Therefore, His words—glory be to Him—(Listeners to falsehood) is the predicate of a suppressed subject, meaning: "They are listeners to falsehood." The pronoun refers to both groups, or to "those who hasten." It is permissible that it refers to "those who are Jews." This was objected to on the grounds that it undermines the generality of the impending threat and its precursors for everyone, as you will see, God willing. Likewise, many have made "And from among those..." the predicate, on the basis that "listeners" is an adjective for a suppressed subject, meaning: "And from among them are a people who are listeners," because the mentioned vices and the worldly and otherworldly calamities resulting from them are specific to them. Moreover, it has been recited as samma'eena (in the accusative case) as a censure, which is apparent in the superiority of the conjunction; so that is the correct view. The lam (in "lil-kadhib") is for strengthening, as in His words—the Almighty—"Doing what He wills" (fa'alun lima yureed). It is also said it is for incorporating the meaning of "acceptance" into "listening," meaning: "Accepting of the lies that the rabbis invent against Allah—may He be exalted—and His Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—and [the lies] regarding the distortion of His Book."
Al-Shihab objected that this requires it to be interpreted as "acceptance" just to justify the lam. Al-Zajjaj said: It is said, "Do not listen to so-and-so," meaning "do not accept from him." From this is "Allah hears [accepts] whoever praises Him" (sami'a Allahu liman hamidahu), meaning He accepts his praise. The speech of Al-Jawhari also contradicts it and requires that it is not built upon [the theory of] incorporation. Isam al-Milla said: "Acceptance" is also transitive on its own; in the Qamus, it says: qabilahu (he accepted it) like amilahu (he did it), and taqabbalahu (he accepted it) means he took it. Yes, "listening" in the sense of "acceptance" becomes transitive with the lam in the sense of "from," as in "Allah hears [accepts] from whoever praises Him," meaning Allah—may He be exalted—accepted from whoever praised Him; but this lam enters upon the one from whom it is heard, not the thing heard.
It is also permitted that the lam is for the reason [causality], and the object is suppressed: "Listeners to your speech in order to lie to you about it," by distorting it through addition, omission, substitution, or change; or [listeners to] the speech of people circulating among them in order to lie, by spreading rumors of the killing of the believers and the defeat of their detachments, or the like of what contains harm to them. In any case, the sentence is initial, proceeding—according to what was said—in the manner of explaining the prohibition, or driven purely for censure, as the recitation in the accusative case necessitates.
And His words—glory be to His Majesty—(Listeners to other people who have not come to you) is a second predicate for the suppressed subject, and a clarification of what is meant by "falsehood" given the interpretation of strengthening and incorporation. The lam here is like that in "Allah hears [accepts] from whoever praises Him," and the meaning is: "Exaggerating in accepting the speech of other people." This was chosen by Sheikh al-Islam. It is also permissible for it to be the lam of causality, meaning: "Listeners to his [peace be upon him] speech issued from him, in order to lie about him for the sake of other people." The intent is that they are spies for that group. This was narrated from Al-Hasan and Al-Zajjaj, and chosen by Abu Ali al-Jubba'i, and there is nothing in the arrangement [of the verse] that rejects it, nor is there anything far-fetched about it. Yes, what was said—that it is permissible to connect the lam to "falsehood," and that the second "listeners" is a repetition for emphasis, meaning: "Listeners in order to lie for other people"—is far-fetched. "Others" is an adjective for "people," and the sentence "have not come to you" is another adjective. The meaning: they have not been present before you. It is said it is a metonymy for the fact that they could not look at you, and in this is an indication of the intensity of their hatred for him—peace and blessings be upon him—and their excessive hostility. The possibility of it being an adjective [meaning]: "Listeners who did not intend to come to you, but rather intended to listen in order to convey to other people," is not something that should be paid attention to.
His words—glory be to Him—(They distort words after their [proper] places) is another adjective for the people described first by their difference from the "listeners," alerting to their independence and originality in opinion, then by their absence from the gathering of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), signaling the completeness of their tyranny in misguidance—or by their inability to look at him (peace and blessings be upon him), signaling what preceded—then by their persistence in distortion, as a declaration of their excessive arrogance, stubbornness, and audacity toward Allah—may He be exalted—and a specification of the "falsehood" that the listeners heard according to some perspectives, as is apparent. It is said: The sentence is initial, having no place in inflection, mourning their indecencies. It is also said: It is a predicate of a suppressed subject referring to the people, or to both groups. The meaning: They deviate and displace the Torah or the speech of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)—or both, or words in general—from the places in which they were placed, either in wording, by neglecting it or changing its position, or in meaning, by carrying it to other than the intended [sense] and executing it in other than its proper place. From this, one knows the direction of His words—glory be to Him—"after their places" instead of "from their places." Isam al-Milla said: The insertion of the word "after" is to alert to the demotion of the word to a place lower than that in which it was placed, because this is nullifying the beneficial with the harmful—not with the beneficial or the more beneficial—so it is as if the distorter is standing in a place lower than the place of the word, distorting it to his place; and its far-fetched nature is not hidden. Some said: "From" is for the beginning [of the action], and the word "after" is to indicate that the distortion is from what is after to a place further away, and in this is a rhetorical hyperbole whose beauty is not hidden. Ibrahim recited: "They distort words from their places."
His words—glory be to Him—(They say) is like the previous sentence in the aspects [of interpretation]. It is permissible for it to be a state [hal] from the pronoun in "distort." It is also permitted that it be, like the one before it, an adjective for "listeners" or a state from the pronoun in it. Sheikh al-Islam followed this by saying that it is something there is absolutely no path to. How can it be, if the content of the statement speaks of the fact that its utterer is one who does not attend the gathering of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and the one addressed is one who does attend it? So how could the "listeners" who frequent him (peace and blessings be upon him) say it to those who never revolve around his presence at all? Claiming that the "listeners" say it to their followers who mix with the Muslims is a manifest coercion that harms the eloquence of the Noble Order.
The truth from which there is no escaping—and upon which most commentators have proceeded—is that the "distorters" and the "sayers" are the "other people," meaning: They say to their followers who are listeners to them: "If you are given [something] from the side of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)—as is apparent—this, then take it, and act according to its requirement, for it is in accordance with the truth. But if you are not given it from his side, but rather you are given something else, then beware of accepting it, and avoid it." Or: "Beware of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)." And in the ordering of the command to beware upon the mere fact of not being given what is distorted, there is a hyperbole and a warning that is not hidden.
Ahmad, Abu Dawood, Ibn Jarir, and others extracted from Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with both—that he said: Two tribes of the Jews had conquered each other in the Pre-Islamic period until they agreed and reconciled that for every person killed by the "stronger" from the "weaker," the blood-money is fifty wasaq, and for every person killed by the "weaker" from the "stronger," the blood-money is one hundred wasaq. They were upon that until the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Medina, and both tribes were humbled by his arrival. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had not yet gained supremacy over them at that time. The "weaker" killed a person from the "stronger," and the "stronger" sent to the "weaker," saying: "Send us one hundred wasaq." The "weaker" said: "Has this ever happened in two clans whose religion is one, their lineage is one, and their land is one, that the blood-money of some of them is half the blood-money of others? We only gave you that out of oppression from you toward us and strength from you; but now that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has come, we will not give you that." War almost broke out between them, then they agreed to make the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) the arbiter between them. The "stronger" thought and said: "By Allah, Muhammad will not give you double of what he gives them from you, and they were truthful, they did not give us this except out of oppression and coercion." So they sent to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) those who would test his opinion: "If he gives you what you want, you shall make him the judge; but if he does not give it to you, then beware of him and do not make him the judge." They sent to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) a group of hypocrites to test the Messenger’s (peace and blessings be upon him) opinion. When they came to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), Allah—may He be exalted—informed His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) of their whole affair and what they intended, so He revealed: "O Messenger," [until the end of] the verse. According to this, the matter of "distortion" is not clearly entering into the story.
Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Jarir, Ibn al-Mundhir, and Al-Bayhaqi in his Sunan extracted from Abu Hurayrah—may Allah be pleased with him—that the rabbis of the Jews gathered in the Bayt al-Midras (Study House) when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Medina. A man had committed adultery after being married [previously] with a woman from the Jews who was also married. They said: "Send this man and this woman to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and ask him how the judgment is regarding them, and make him the judge over them. If he does what you do—the tajbiya, which is lashing with a rope of palm fiber coated with tar, then blackening their faces and carrying them on two donkeys with their faces facing the donkeys' tails—then follow him, for he is a king, a master of his people. But if he judges them with other than that, then he is a prophet; so beware of him regarding what is in your hands, lest he strip you of it." They came to him and said: "O Muhammad, this is a man who has committed adultery after marriage with a woman who was married, so judge them, for we have made you the judge over them." The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) walked until he came to their rabbis in the Bayt al-Midras and said: "O community of Jews, bring out to me your scholars." They brought out to him Abdullah bin Suriya, Abu Yasir bin Akhtab, and Wahb bin Yahudha. They said: "These are our scholars." The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) asked them, then their affair settled until they said to Abdullah bin Suriya: "This is the most knowledgeable of who remains of the Torah." The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) secluded himself with him—he was a young boy, the youngest of them—and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) pressed him with the question, saying: "O son of Suriya, I adjure you by Allah—may He be exalted—and I remind you of His days among the Children of Israel, do you know that Allah—may He be exalted—decreed stoning in the Torah for one who commits adultery after marriage?" He said: "By Allah, yes. But by Allah, O Abu al-Qasim, they know that you are a sent prophet, but they envy you." The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) came out and ordered them [to be stoned], and they were stoned at the door of his mosque. Then, after that, Ibn Suriya disbelieved and denied the prophethood of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So Allah—may He be exalted—revealed: "O Messenger," etc.
Al-Humaydi in his Musnad, Abu Dawood, and Ibn Majah extracted from Jabir bin Abdullah that he said: A man from the people of Fadak committed adultery. They wrote to people of the Jews in Medina: "Ask Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) about that; if he commands you to lash, accept it from him, but if he commands you to stone, do not accept it from him." They asked him about that, and he said: "Send to me the two most knowledgeable men among you." They brought a one-eyed man called Ibn Suriya and another. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them: "Do you not have the Torah, in which is the judgment of Allah—may He be exalted?" They said: "Yes." He said: "I adjure you by the One who parted the sea for the Children of Israel, and shaded you with the clouds, and saved you from the family of Pharaoh, and sent down the Torah to Moses—peace be upon him—and sent down the manna and salwa (quail) to the Children of Israel: what do you find in the Torah regarding the matter of stoning?" One of them said to the other: "I have never been adjured by anything like this." They said: "We find that repeated looking is suspicion, embracing is suspicion, and kissing is suspicion; so if four [witnesses] testify that they saw him go in and out as the stylus enters the kohl container, then stoning becomes mandatory." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is as such," and ordered him [to be stoned], and he was stoned.
Regarding the occurrence of legal ihsan (being married) necessitating stoning in the disbeliever, it is what is mentioned in the [books of] Jurisprudence. Perhaps this—with those who stipulate Islam, like Imam Abu Hanifah—was based on the consideration of the Sharia of Moses—peace and blessings be upon him—or it was before the descent of the Jizya. Let it be pondered.
(And whoever Allah intends his trial), meaning his torment, as narrated by Al-Hasan and Qatadah—and it was chosen by Al-Jubba'i and Abu Muslim—or his destruction, as narrated from Al-Suddi and Al-Dahhak, or his disgrace and exposure by showing what he conceals, as narrated from Al-Zajjaj, or his choice through what He tests him with of upholding His limits, so he rejects that and distorts it, as it is said—and this is nothing. The intent is generality, and those mentioned are included in it primarily. The lack of explicit mention that they are such is to signal its obviousness and lack of need for mention. (you will not possess for him from Allah anything), you will not be able to [help him] in repelling that trial. The fa (in "fa-lan") is responsive, and "from Allah" is connected to "possess" or to a suppressed word that acts as a state from "anything," because it is its adjective originally, meaning: "Anything existing from the grace of Allah." Or "Allah" is a substitute for the [suppressed] word; "anything" is the direct object of "possess." Some grammarians permitted it to be an absolute object. The sentence is initial, confirming what is before it or clarifying the impossibility of those people ever separating from the mentioned indecencies.
(Those), i.e., those mentioned from the hypocrites and the Jews—the "far" [demonstrative] is used for the distance [in state/nature], as has been indicated repeatedly—is the subject, and its predicate is His words—glory be to Him—(those whose hearts Allah does not intend to purify) from the filth of disbelief and the stench of misguidance. The sentence is initial and [explanatory]—since His intent—glory be to Him—for their trial is tied to their own evil choice that necessitates it, not occurring from Him—glory be to Him—initially. In it, as in the one before it according to one of the interpretations, is evidence for the corruption of the claim of the Mu'tazilah: that evils are not from the will of Allah—may He be exalted—but are from the servants. And the claim of some of them: that the intent is that He did not intend to purify their hearts from grief through censure, disdain, and punishment, or He did not intend to purify them from disbelief by judging them to be innocent of it and praised by faith, as Al-Balkhi said—this is not approached by anyone with the slightest taste for the styles of speech.
It is strange that when Al-Zamakhshari saw what contradicted his school of thought, he said: "The meaning of 'Whoever Allah intends his trial' is whoever He intends to leave in trial and abandon; 'you will not possess for him from Allah anything' means you will not be able for him from the grace of Allah and His success for anything. And the meaning of 'Allah does not intend to purify their hearts' is He does not intend to grant them His graces with which He would purify their hearts because they are not among its people, for He knows that it would not be effective in them or beneficial." Ended.
Ibn al-Munir followed him by saying: "How he stammers, while the truth is manifest! This verse, as you see, is in accordance with the creed of the People of the Sunnah—that Allah—may He be exalted—intended the trial for the tempted and did not intend to purify their hearts from the filth of temptation and the grime of disbelief, not as the Mu'tazilah claim: that Allah—may He be exalted—did not intend temptation for anyone and intended faith and purity of heart for everyone, and that the temptations that occur are contrary to His will—glory be to Him—and that the non-occurring [matters] of the purity of the hearts of the disbelievers are intended, but just did not occur. This verse and its likes are sufficient for them. If Allah—may He be exalted—had intended to purify their hearts from the grime of innovations, would they not ponder the Quran? Or are there locks upon their hearts? How heinous is Al-Zamakhshari’s turning of this verse away from its apparent meaning by saying: 'Allah—may He be exalted—did not intend to grant them His graces for He knows His graces would not be effective!' Far exalted is Allah—glory be to Him—from what the wrongdoers say. And if the graces of Allah—may He be exalted—are not effective and do not benefit, then whose grace is effective, and whose intent is effective? There is no desire for the servant beyond Allah." Ended. And their escape from this is difficult.
(For them in the world is disgrace); as for the hypocrites, their disgrace is their exposure and the tearing of their veil by the appearance of their hypocrisy among the Muslims, and the increase of their grief with the further spread of Islam, the strength of its power, and the loftiness of its word. As for the disgrace of the Jews, it is humiliation, the Jizya, the exposure by the appearance of their lying in concealing the text of the Torah, and the expulsion of the Banu Nadir from their homes. "Disgrace" is indefinite for magnification, and it is the subject, and "for them" is the predicate, and "in the world" is connected to what the predicate is connected to [the concept of] "establishment." The sentence is initial, built upon a question arising from their conditions that necessitate punishment, as if it were said: "So what punishment do they have for that?" It was said: "For them in the world is disgrace." And the case is the same in His words—glory be to Him—(And for them in the Hereafter), i.e., along with the worldly disgrace, (is a great torment).
(It cannot be measured [in its] magnitude); it is the eternity in the Fire along with what is prepared for them therein. The pronoun "them" in both sentences refers to those from the hypocrites and the Jews, all of them. It is said: [the pronoun refers] to them if you start with His words—glory be to Him—"And from among those who are Jews," and if not, then [it refers] to both groups.
