Or were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, when he said to his sons, "What will you worship after me?" They said, "We will worship your God and the God of your fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac - one God. And we are Muslims [in submission] to Him."
"Or" (Am): This is the munqati'ah (disjunctive) am, and the meaning of the hamza within it is one of denial (inkār).
"Witnesses" (Shuhadā'): The plural of shahīd, meaning "present." That is: Were you present when death approached Jacob, peace be upon him? The address is to the believers, meaning: You did not witness that; rather, knowledge of it came to you through revelation.
Alternative view: The address is to the Jews, because they used to say, "No prophet died except upon Judaism." Yet, had they witnessed him and heard what he said to his sons and what they said to him, his devotion to the religion of Islam would have been manifest to them, and they would not have attributed Judaism to him.
The contradiction: The verse contradicts their claim, so how can it be said to them, "Or were you witnesses?" The solution is that am is muttasilah (conjunctive), assuming a preceding omitted phrase, as if it were said: "Do you claim Judaism for the prophets?"
"Or were you witnesses when death approached Jacob": This means: Did your ancestors from the Children of Israel witness him when he urged his sons toward monotheism and the religion of Islam? You have known this, so why do you attribute to the prophets that of which they are innocent? It is also read as ḥaḍira (with a kasra on the ḍād), which is a dialectal variant.
"What do you worship?"
* **Meaning:** "Which thing do you worship?"
* **"What" (Mā):** This is general for all things. When one knows the distinction between *mā* (what) and *man* (who), it suffices as evidence, as scholars say: *man* is for rational beings. If it had been said, "Whom (*man*) do you worship?" it would not have been general, but would have referred only to those possessing intellect.
* **Alternative:** It is possible that "What do you worship?" is a question regarding the *attribute* of the Worshipped, just as you say, "What is Zayd?" intending: Is he a jurist, a physician, or some other attribute?
"Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac"
* This is an *‘aṭf bayān* (explanatory apposition) for "your fathers."
* **Ishmael:** He is included among his fathers, even though he was his uncle, because an uncle is a father and an aunt is a mother, as they are joined in the same thread of brotherhood with no difference between them. From this is the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him): *"A man's uncle is the peer of his father,"* meaning there is no difference between them, just as there is no difference between the two branches of a palm tree.
* He (peace be upon him) also said regarding al-Abbas: *"This is the remainder of my fathers,"* and he said: *"Return my father to me, for I fear that Quraysh will do to him what Thaqif did to ‘Urwah ibn Mas‘ūd."*
* **Readings:** It is read as "the God of Abraham" omitting "your fathers," and it is read as "your father" (*abīka*). There are two interpretations for the latter: that it is singular and "Abraham" is an explanatory apposition to it, or that it is plural (using the *wāw* and *nūn*), as in the poet's verse: *"And we ransomed with our fathers..."*
* **"One God":** This is a substitute (*badal*) for "the God of your fathers," like the Almighty's saying: *"By the forelock, a lying, sinful forelock,"* or it is for specification (*ikhtiṣāṣ*), meaning: We intend by the God of your fathers, One God.
* **"And we are Muslims to Him":** This is a state (*ḥāl*) from the subject of "we worship" or from its object, due to the pronoun *hu* (Him) referring back to Him. It is also possible that the sentence is conjoined to "we worship," or that it is a parenthetical, emphatic sentence, meaning: "And it is our state that we are Muslims to Him, sincere in monotheism or submissive."
"That is a nation which has passed on. To it is what it earned, and to you is what you have earned. And you will not be asked about what they used to do." (134)
