Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:111

"And they said, 'None shall enter...'"

The pronoun in "And they said": It refers to the People of the Book, the Jews and the Christians. The meaning is: The Jews said, "None shall enter Paradise except one who is a Jew," and the Christians said, "None shall enter Paradise except one who is a Christian." He combined the two statements, confident that the listener would attribute each statement to its respective group, and secure from confusion due to the well-known enmity between the two parties and the fact that each declares the other to be in error.

Similar to this is: "And they said, 'Be Jews or Christians, [so] you will be guided'" (Al-Baqarah: 135). Al-Hūd is the plural of Hā'id, like ‘Ā'idh and ‘Udh, or Bāzil and Buzl.

If you ask: How is it said kāna Hūdan (singular noun) while the predicate is plural? I say: The noun is treated according to the wording of man (whoever), and the predicate is treated according to its meaning, similar to the recitation of Al-Hasan: "Except he who is the burner of Hell" (referring to the plural), and His saying: "For him is the fire of Hell, abiding therein" (Al-Jinn: 23). Ubayy ibn Ka‘b recited: "Except he who was a Jew or a Christian."

If you ask: Why is it said, "Those are their wishes," when their statement "None shall enter Paradise" is but a single wish? I say: It refers to the aforementioned wishes: their wish that no good be sent down to the believers from their Lord, their wish to turn them back into disbelievers, and their wish that no one enter Paradise but themselves. That is, those false wishes are their wishes.

*His saying, "Say, 'Bring your proof'":* It is connected to their statement: "None shall enter Paradise except one who is a Jew or a Christian." The phrase "Those are their wishes" is an interpolation, or it means "wishes like this wish of theirs," by omitting the genitive (idafa) and replacing it with the genitive noun. He means that all their wishes are, in their falsehood, like this specific wish. Umniyyah (wish) is a noun form (af‘ūlah) derived from tamannī (wishing), like udḥūkah (laughingstock) and u‘jūbah (marvel).

"Bring your proof": Come forth with your evidence for your exclusive right to enter Paradise.

"If you are truthful": In your claim. This is the most destructive thing to the doctrine of the blind followers, for every statement that lacks evidence is false and invalid. Hāt (bring) is a sound like hā', meaning "produce."

"Yes": An affirmation of what they denied regarding the entry of others into Paradise.

"Whoever submits his face to Allah": Whoever devotes his self to Him, associating no one else with Him.

"And is a doer of good": In his deeds.

If you ask: What is the grammatical position of "Whoever submits his face"? I say: It is permissible for "Yes" to be a rebuttal to their statement, and then "Whoever submits" begins a new sentence, with man (whoever) containing the meaning of a conditional and its response ("for him is his reward"). It is also possible that "Whoever submits" is the subject of an omitted verb—meaning, "Yes, he who submits his face shall enter it"—and the phrase "for him is his reward" is a sentence conjoined to "he who submits shall enter it."