Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:211

"Ask the Children of Israel..."

"Ask" A command to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), or to everyone. This questioning is a form of rebuke, just as the disbelievers will be asked on the Day of Resurrection.

"How many clear signs We gave them" At the hands of their prophets—meaning their miracles—or signs in the scriptures testifying to the truth of the religion of Islam.

"And whoever alters the favor of Allah" The "favor" refers to His signs, which are the greatest of Allah’s favors because they are the means of guidance and salvation from misguidance. Their "altering" of them means that Allah revealed them to be causes of their guidance, but they turned them into causes of their misguidance, as in His saying: "It only added wickedness to their wickedness" (At-Tawbah: 125). Or, it means they distorted the verses of the scriptures that pointed to the religion of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

If you ask: Is "how many" (kam) interrogative or declarative? I say: It admits both possibilities. The interrogative meaning here is for the purpose of affirmation (taqrir).

If you ask: What is the meaning of "after it has come to them"? I say: It means after they were able to know it or had already known it, as in His saying: "Then they would distort it after they had understood it" (Al-Baqarah: 75). For if one is not able to know it, or does not know it, it is as if it were absent from them.

It is also recited as "And whoever alters" (wa-man yubaddil) with a light dal (takhfif).

"Beautified for those who disbelieve is the life of this world, and they mock those who believe. But those who feared Allah are above them on the Day of Resurrection. And Allah gives provision to whom He wills without account." (212)