Tafsir of Al-Ma'idah 5:75

Al-Ma'idah (The Table Spread): 75

{The Messiah, son of Mary, was not but a messenger. Messengers have passed away before him. And his mother was a truthful woman.}

This means that he was only a messenger, of the same kind as the messengers who preceded him. He came with signs from God, just as they came with similar signs. If God enabled him to heal the blind and the leper and raise the dead by his hand, then He also made the staff into a living serpent and split the sea by the hand of Moses. And if he was created without a father, then God created Adam without a father or a mother.

{And his mother was a truthful woman (Siddiqah).}

There are several interpretations regarding this description:

1. First: That she believed in the signs of her Lord and everything her son informed her about. God states concerning her description: {And she believed in the words of her Lord and His Books} (At-Tahrim: 12).
2. Second: That God said: {So We sent to her Our spirit, and it assumed the form of a well-made human being before her} (Maryam: 17). When Gabriel spoke to her and she believed him, the title Siddiqah (Truthful Woman) was applied to her.
3. Third: That her being a Siddiqah refers to the extreme distance she maintained from sins and the intensity of her diligence and striving in observing the rites of servitude. The one perfect in this quality is called a Siddiq (Truthful one), as God says: {And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger - those will be with the ones upon whom Allah has bestowed favor - of the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous} (An-Nisa: 69).

{They both used to eat food.}

The purpose of this statement is to refute the claims of the Christians. This is evident in several ways:

1. The First Point: Whoever has a mother must have come into existence after not having existed. Whoever is created in this manner is a creature, not a God.
2. The Second Point: They were both needy, as they were in dire need of food. God is the One who is self-sufficient, needing nothing from anything. How can it be conceived that such a being is a God?
3. The Third Point: Some scholars have suggested that the phrase {They both used to eat food} is a metaphor for bodily excretion (i.e., needing to relieve oneself). I find this weak for several reasons:
   • First: Not everyone who eats excretes; the inhabitants of Paradise eat but do not excrete.
   • Second: Eating signifies the need for sustenance. This need is one of the strongest proofs that one is not a God. Why would we need to interpret it as a metaphor for something else?
   • Third: God is the One capable of creating and bringing into existence. If He were a God, He would be capable of warding off the pain of hunger from Himself without food or drink. If He cannot repel harm from Himself, how can He be conceived as the God of the worlds? In summary, the falsehood of the Christians' claim is too apparent to require further proof.

{See how We make clear to them the signs, then see how they are turned away.}

The word afaka (to turn away/divert) means to divert. Ifk (falsehood) is so named because it is a diversion from the truth. Everything diverted from something is ma'fuk from it. The earth is said to be afakat when rain is diverted from it.

The meaning of {how they are turned away} is: How are they diverted from the truth? Our scholars state that this verse indicates that they are diverted from contemplating the truth. A person cannot divert himself from the truth and reality toward falsehood, ignorance, and lies, because a rational person would not choose that for himself. Therefore, we know that God, the Exalted, is the One who has diverted them from this.

Then God Almighty said:

{Say, "Do you worship besides Allah that which possesses for you neither harm nor benefit? But Allah is the Hearing, the Knowing."}