| An-Nisa (The Women): (171 - 173) O People of the Scripture...

And know that after the Almighty responded to the doubts of the Jews, He then addressed the Christians in this verse. The implication is: O People of the Scripture [Christians], do not commit excess (ghuluw) in your religion. This means do not go to extremes in magnifying the Messiah. This is because the Almighty recounted that the Jews were exaggerating in their criticism of the Messiah, while these Christians exaggerate in his glorification. Both extremes of their pursuit are blameworthy. Therefore, He said to the Christians, "Do not commit excess in your religion."

And His saying, "and say not concerning Allah except the truth," means do not ascribe divinity to Allah by claiming indwelling (hulul) or union (ittihad) in the body or spirit of a human being, but rather, purify Him from such conditions. After forbidding them from the path of exaggeration, He guided them to the path of truth, which is that the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, is the Messenger of Allah and His servant.

And His saying: "and His Word which He bestowed upon Mary and a Spirit proceeding from Him."

Know that We have already explained the meaning of "the Word" in the Almighty's saying: {Indeed, Allah gives you good tidings of a Word from Him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary} [Al 'Imran: 45]. The meaning is that he came into existence by the Word and Command of Allah, without an intermediary or a seminal fluid, just as He said: {Indeed, the example of Jesus to Allah is like that of Adam. He created him from dust; then He said to him, "Be," and he was} [Al 'Imran: 59].

As for His saying, "and a Spirit proceeding from Him" (wa Rūḥun Minhu), there are several interpretations:

1. First: It is customary among the Arabs that when they describe something with the utmost purity and cleanliness, they call it Rūḥ (Spirit). Since Jesus was not formed from the father's semen but from the breath of Gabriel (peace be upon him), he was appropriately described as a Rūḥ. The meaning of "Minhu" (from Him) here is for honor and distinction, just as one says, "This is a grace from Allah," meaning that grace is complete and noble.
2. Second: He was the cause of life for creation in their religions. Whoever is such is described as a Rūḥ. Allah says regarding the Qur'an: {And thus We have revealed to you a Spirit of Our command} [Ash-Shura: 52].
3. Third: Rūḥun Minhu means mercy from Him. It is narrated regarding the interpretation of {and strengthened them with a Spirit from Him} [Al-Mujadilah: 22] that it means "with a mercy from Him." The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Indeed, he is a gift of mercy." Since Jesus was a mercy from Allah upon creation—guiding them to what benefits them in their religion and worldly affairs—he was appropriately named a Rūḥ proceeding from Him.
4. Fourth: Rūḥ in Arabic is related to nafkh (blowing/breath). Rūḥ and Rīḥ (wind) are close in meaning. Thus, Rūḥ refers to the breath of Gabriel, and His saying "Minhu" (from Him) means that this breath from Gabriel was by the command and permission of Allah, so it is from Him. This is like His saying: {then We breathed into it through Our Spirit} [Al-Anbiya: 91].
5. Fifth: His saying "Rūḥ" uses the indefinite form (tanqīr), which implies great veneration. The meaning is: and a Spirit from the noble, holy, exalted Spirits. His saying "Minhu" (from Him) is an attribution of that Spirit to Himself for the purpose of honor and glorification.

Then the Almighty said: "So believe in Allah and His Messengers." This means that Jesus is one of the Messengers of Allah, so believe in him as you believe in the rest of the Messengers, and do not make him a god.

Then He said: "And do not say, 'Three'; desist—it is better for you." In this, there are two issues:

The meaning is: Do not say that Allah, the Exalted, is One in essence but Three in Aqānīm (hypostases/persons).

Know that the doctrine of the Christians is very obscure. What can be gathered from it is the affirmation of three entities described by three attributes. However, even though they call them attributes, they are in reality entities (dhawāt). The proof is that they permit these attributes to indwell in Jesus and in Mary in themselves. Otherwise, they would not permit them to indwell in another and then depart from that other again. Thus, even if they call them attributes, they are in reality affirming multiple distinct entities standing by themselves, which is outright disbelief (kufr). For this reason, the Almighty said: "Do not say, 'Three'; desist."

However, if we interpret "Three" as affirming three attributes, this cannot be denied. How could we deny it when we say: He is Allah, there is no god but He, the Sovereign, the Holy, the Source of Peace, the All-Knowing, the Living, the All-Powerful, the Willer. We understand something different from each of these terms than what we understand from the others. There is no meaning to the multiplicity of attributes other than that. If affirming multiple attributes were disbelief, then the entire Qur'an would have to be rejected, and reason itself would have to be rejected, as we necessarily know that the concept of Him being All-Knowing is different from the concept of Him being All-Powerful or Living.

The saying "Three" is the predicate of an omitted subject. Scholars differed regarding the identification of that subject:

1. The First: What we mentioned: Do not say the hypostases are three.
2. The Second: Al-Zajjaj said: Do not say "Our gods are three." This is because the Qur'an indicates that Christians say Allah, the Messiah, and Mary are three gods. The proof is His saying: {Did you instruct the people to take you and your mother as two gods besides Allah?} [Al-Ma'idah: 116].
3. The Third: Al-Farra' said: Do not say "They are three," as in His saying: {They will say, "Three"} [Al-Kahf: 22]. This is because the expression of Jesus, son of Mary, being with Allah suggests they are two gods.

In summary, we do not see any doctrine in the world more flimsy and further removed from reason than the doctrine of the Christians.

Then the Almighty said: "Desist—it is better for you." We have already explained the reason for its accusative case (naṣb) when discussing His saying: {So believing is better for you} [An-Nisa: 170].

Then He affirmed monotheism by His saying: "Indeed, Allah is but one God." Then He purified Himself from having offspring by His saying: "Exalted is He above the notion that He should have a son." We have already mentioned the proofs for purifying Allah from having offspring exhaustively in Surah Al 'Imran and Surah Maryam. Al-Hasan recited: In yakūna (with a kasra on the hamza of an and a raf' on the nūn of yakūnu), meaning: Exalted is He, how He could have a son! Under this reading, the statement consists of two sentences.

Then the Almighty said: "To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and on earth."

Know that in every place where the Almighty purified Himself from having a son, He mentioned His being the King and Owner of whatever is in the heavens and on earth. He said in Maryam: {Everyone in the heavens and on earth is but a servant to the Most Merciful} [Maryam: 93]. The meaning is: Whoever is the Owner of all the heavens and the earth and everything in them must be the Owner of Jesus and Mary, because they were in the heavens and on earth, and they were not greater than anything else in essence or attributes. If He is the Owner of what is greater than them, then He is certainly more deserving of being their Owner. If they are His property, how, despite this, could one imagine them to be His son or wife?

Then He said: "And sufficient is Allah as Disposer of affairs (Wakīl)." This means that Allah, the Exalted, is sufficient for managing creatures and preserving created things, so there is no need for affirming another god. This points to what the theologians mention: that since He is All-Knowing of all knowables and All-Powerful over all that is possible, He is sufficient for divinity. If we supposed another god existed alongside Him, that god would be idle and useless, which is a defect, and the deficient cannot be a god.

Then the Almighty said: "The Messiah will never disdain to be a servant of Allah, nor will the close angels [disdain]." In this, there are several issues:

Al-Zajjaj said: Lan yastan-kifa means will not feel aversion (ya'naf). Its linguistic root comes from nakaftu ad-dam', meaning I removed the tear from my cheek with my finger. Thus, the interpretation of lan yastan-kifa is that he will not be bothered nor will he refuse. Al-Azhari said: I heard Al-Mundhiri say he heard Abu Al-Abbas being asked about al-istinkāf (disdain), and he said: It comes from an-nakf. It is said, "He has no nakf nor wakf in this matter." An-Nakf is when bad things are said about someone. Istankafa means he repelled that bad thing from himself.

It is narrated that the delegation of Najran said to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): "Why do you criticize our companion?" He asked, "Who is your companion?" They said, "Jesus." He asked, "And what bad thing did I say?" They said, "You say he is the servant of Allah and His Messenger." He replied, "It is no shame for him to be the servant of Allah." Then this verse was revealed.

I say: After the Almighty established the conclusive proof that Jesus is the servant of Allah and it is not permissible for him to be His son, He then addressed the core of their suspicion and refuted it. The suspicion they rely upon to affirm that he is the son of God is that he informed about the unseen, as they are privy to the Preserved Tablet, and that he was higher in status regarding power, as eight of them carried the Throne in its greatness. Since the angels, despite their perfection in knowledge and power, do not disdain servitude to Allah, how could the Messiah disdain His servitude because of this small amount of knowledge and power he possessed? If we interpret the verse this way, these verses become coherent, sequential, and a noble, complete discourse. Therefore, interpreting the verse in this manner is preferable.

The Mu'tazila use this verse as evidence that angels are superior to humans. We have already mentioned their argumentation in the exegesis of {And when We said to the angels, "Prostrate to Adam"} [Al-Baqarah: 34] and answered it with many arguments. What we state here is: We concede that the angels' access to the unseen is greater than that of humans, and we concede that the angels' power to act in this world is stronger than that of humans—indeed, it is said that Gabriel uprooted the cities of Lot with a single sweep of his wing. The dispute is only over whether the reward for the obedience of angels is greater or the reward for the obedience of humans. This verse does not indicate that at all. This is because the Christians only affirmed the divinity of Jesus due to his informing about the unseen and performing miracles. Citing the angels to invalidate this suspicion is only sound if the angels are stronger in this knowledge and power than humans, which we affirm. However, to claim that the verse means preferring angels over the Messiah in the abundance of reward for obedience is inappropriate for this context and does not suit it. Thus, it appears this argumentation is only strong in the minds of those who have not summarized the point of contention. And Allah knows best.

There is a question regarding the verse: The angels are conjoined (via wa-) to the Messiah, so the implication is: Nor will the close angels [disdain] to be servants of Allah, which is impermissible.

There are two answers to this:

1. The meaning is: Nor will any one of the close ones disdain.
2. The meaning is: Nor will the close angels disdain to be servants, and the phrase "to be servants of Allah" is omitted due to the indication provided by the preceding phrase, as a form of conciseness (ījāz).

Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) recited 'Ubīd Allāh (plural, diminutive form) instead of 'abdun.

His saying "nor will the close angels [disdain]" indicates that the ranks of angels differ in degree and virtue. Their greatest ones include Gabriel, Michael, Israfil, Azrael, and the bearers of the Throne. We explained their ranks in Surah Al-Baqarah in the exegesis of {And when your Lord said to the angels...} [Al-Baqarah: 30].

Then the Almighty said: "And whoever disdains His worship and is arrogant, He will summon them all to Him." The meaning is that whoever disdains and is arrogant toward the worship of Allah, Allah will gather them to Him on the Day of Resurrection, where they will possess no power over themselves.

Know that after mentioning that He will gather these disdainful and arrogant ones, the Almighty did not mention what He will do to them first. Instead, He first mentioned the reward of the believing, obedient ones.

He said: "But as for those who believed and did righteous deeds, He will give them in full their rewards and will give them of His bounty." Then, He mentioned last the punishment of the disdainful and arrogant: "And as for those who disdained and were arrogant, He will punish them with a painful punishment, and they will not find for themselves besides Allah any protector or helper." The meaning is clear, with no ambiguity. The reason the reward of the believers was mentioned before the punishment of the disdainful is that if they first see the reward of the obedient, and then witness their own punishment afterward, that will cause them greater regret.