| An-Nisa (The Women): (47) O you who have been given...

Issues in the Verse:

After recounting the Jews' various schemes and harm, the Almighty commanded them to believe, coupling this command with a severe warning for its abandonment.

A possible objection: It would have been more appropriate for Him to command them to reflect upon and contemplate the proofs indicating the truthfulness of his prophethood, so that their belief would be based on deduction (istidlālī). By commanding belief directly, it seems as if the Almighty commanded them to follow by mere imitation (taqlīd).

The response: This address is specific to "those who were given the Scripture" (الذين أوتوا الكتاب). This description applies to those who were knowledgeable of the entire Torah. Do you not see that in the first verse, He said: {Or do you wish to ask your Messenger as Moses was asked before? And whoever exchanges faith for disbelief has certainly strayed from the right path} (An-Nisa: 44), and did not say, "Have you not seen those who were given a portion of the Book"? This is because they were not knowledgeable of everything in the Torah.

When He says in this verse: {A little, O you who have been given the Scripture}, we know that this obligation is specific to those who were fully knowledgeable of the Torah. Whoever possesses such knowledge is also aware of the proofs indicating the prophethood of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم), because the Torah contained those proofs. This is why the Almighty said: {confirming what is with you}—meaning, confirming the verses present in the Torah that point to the prophethood of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

Since this knowledge was already present, their disbelief was purely due to obstinacy (عناد). Therefore, it was appropriate for the Almighty to command them definitively to believe in Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and to couple this with a severe warning.

"Tams" (الطمس) means erasure or wiping away. Arabs use it to describe a desert that "obliterates landmarks" (طامسة الأعلام) or a road that is erased. If God "blots out" (طمس) someone's sight, it means He removes and nullifies it. If the wind erases a track, it has "obliterated" it (طمست). If a book is obliterated, it is erased.

Regarding the "Tams" mentioned in this verse, scholars have two main interpretations:

1. Literal Interpretation: The word is taken in its literal sense, meaning the effacement of faces (طمس الوجوه).
2. Metaphorical Interpretation: The word is taken metaphorically.

Regarding the First Opinion (Literal Meaning):

The meaning of "effacing the faces" (طمس الوجوه) is the erasure of the features that define their appearance. A face is distinguished by the sensory organs it contains; when these are removed and wiped away, that constitutes effacement.

The meaning of {then We shall turn them back to their backs} (فنردها على أدبارها) is turning the faces toward the back of the neck. God made this a punishment because it involves distortion of creation, mutilation, and disgrace, which causes immense grief and regret.

We will demonstrate that this warning is specific to the Day of Resurrection. This is supported by the Almighty's saying: {But as for he who is given his record behind his back} (Al-Inshiqaq: 10). If the faces are turned to the back, the record will be given from behind their backs, because the eyes and mouths—through which the record is perceived and read aloud—are located on that side.

Regarding the Second Opinion (Metaphorical Meaning):

The meaning of "effacing the faces" is metaphorical, with several sub-interpretations:

1. Al-Hasan said: It means "We efface them from guidance" (نطمسها عن الهدى), and "turn them back to their backs" (نردها على أدبارها) means returning them to their misguidance (ضلالتها). The intent is to show their relegation to various forms of failure and the darkness of error. This is analogous to His saying: {O you who have believed, respond to Allah and the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. And know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart} (Al-Anfal: 24). The reality is that man, in his initial creation, is accustomed to this sensible world. Through reflection and servitude, he travels from the sensible world to the intelligible world. The intelligible world is before him, and the sensible world is behind him. The one who fails is the one turned from what is in front of him to what is behind him, as He described them: {with their heads bowed low} (As-Sajdah: 12).

2. It is possible that "Tams" refers to the heart and its alteration, and "faces" (الوجوه) refers to their leaders and prominent figures (رؤساؤهم ووجهاؤهم). The meaning is: Before We alter the condition of their leaders, We strip them of acceptance and prominence, and clothe them in humiliation and disgrace.

3. ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd said: This warning has already befallen the Jews and passed. He interpreted this regarding the expulsion of Banu Qurayza and Banu Nadir to the Levant (Sham). God turned their faces to their backs when they returned to Adhri'at and Ariha in the land of Sham, just as they had come from there initially. Interpreting "effacing the faces" this way allows for two meanings:
   • Disfiguring their appearance (it is said: "May God disfigure his face," similar to "May God curse his face").
   • Erasing their traces and status from the lands of Arabia.

If one asks: If we adopt the second opinion (metaphorical), there is no issue. But if we adopt the first opinion (literal), how can we reconcile it?

The response is multi-faceted:

1. God did not make the punishment solely "Tams" itself, but rather "Tams" OR "Cursing" (أو نلعنهم). He said: {then We shall turn them back to their backs, or We shall curse them as We cursed the companions of the Sabbath}. One of these has already occurred, which is the Cursing (أو نلعنهم), and its apparent meaning is not physical transformation (مسخ).

2. The command {O you who have believed} (يأيها الذين ءامنوا) is an obligation upon them throughout their lives. Therefore, {before We efface faces} must occur after death. The implication is: Believe before the time comes when We efface your faces, which is after death.

3. We have already established that the address {A little, O you who have been given the Scripture} is directed at all their scholars. Thus, the threat of this effacement was conditional upon none of them believing. This condition was not met because 'Abdullah ibn Salam and many of his companions believed. Thus, the conditioned event failed because the condition failed. When this verse was revealed, 'Abdullah ibn Salam came to the Messenger of God (صلى الله عليه وسلم) before going to his family, embraced Islam, and said: "O Messenger of God, I thought I would not reach you until my face was turned to my back."

4. God did not say: "before We efface your faces" (وجوهكم), but rather "before We efface faces" (وجوها). We maintain that there must be an effacement or transformation among the Jews before the Hour. What indicates that the intended meaning is not the effacement of their specific faces due to their sins, but the effacement of faces belonging to others of their kind, is His saying: {or We shall curse them}. He mentioned them in the third person (absence, مغايبة). If the intended meaning were those addressed, He would have used the second person (direct address, خطاب). While switching modes of address (التفات) is permissible, the former interpretation is more apparent.

Then the Almighty said: {or We shall curse them as We cursed the companions of the Sabbath} (أو نلعنهم كما لعنا أصحاب السبت).

Muqatil and others said: We transform them into apes, just as We did to their predecessors.

Most verifiers said: The apparent meaning is to take the verse as referring to the customary curse (اللعن المتعارف). Do you not see His saying: {Say, "Shall I inform you of [what is] worse than that as recompense from Allah? He whom Allah has cursed and with whom He has been angry and made of them apes and swine} (Al-Ma'idah: 60)? Here, the Almighty separated the Cursing from their transformation into apes and swine.

There are several questions regarding this:

Question 1: To whom does the pronoun in {or We shall curse them} (أو نلعنهم) refer?

Answer: It refers to the faces (الوجوه) if "prominent figures" (الوجهاء) is intended, or to the owners of the faces (أصحاب الوجوه), because the meaning is: before We efface the faces of a people. Alternatively, it refers back to "those who were given the Scripture" through a shift in address (التفات).

Question 2: Since the cursing and effacement had already occurred before this warning, must they be identical?

Answer: The cursing by God after this warning will have a greater impact in terms of disgrace, so this sequence is valid.

Question 3: The address in {A little, O you who have been given the Scripture} is direct address (مشافهة), while {or We shall curse them} is in the third person (مغايبة). How is this consistent?

Answer: Some interpret this as a shift in address (التفات), as in: {until, when you were in the ships and they sailed with them} (Yunus: 22). Others say this serves as a reminder that the threat applies to others among their kind who deny the truth.

I have another possibility: Cursing (اللعن) means expulsion and removal. Mentioning someone distant (removed) is only done using the third person. Therefore, when He cursed them, He mentioned them using the language of absence.

Then the Almighty said: {And it was the decree of Allah to be done} (وكان أمر الله مفعولا). This contains two issues:

Ibn Abbas said: It means there is no turning back His judgment, nor invalidating His command. It means nothing is impossible for Him to do, just as one says about something certain to happen, "This matter will be done," even if it hasn't happened yet.

The use of "Was" (كان) is to inform them that it has been God's established custom with previous prophets that whenever He announced the descent of punishment upon a people, He inevitably carried it out. It is as if He is saying: You know that God's threat to past nations was inevitably fulfilled; therefore, take heed now and be cautious of this warning. And Allah knows best.

Al-Jubba'i used this verse to argue that the Word of God is created (محدث). He argued: His saying {And it was the decree of Allah to be done} implies that His command (أمر) is something done (مفعول). What is created (مخلوق), manufactured (مصنوع), and done (مفعول) are synonyms. Thus, this proves that the command of God is created and manufactured.

This argument is utterly flawed because the word "Amr" (أمر) in Arabic often means state, manner, or action (as in: {And the command of Pharaoh was not rightly guided} [Hud: 97]), and this is the intended meaning here.

< { Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that of whom He wills. And whoever associates others with Allah has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin. } >