Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:87-89

"And We certainly gave Moses the Book..." The Torah; He gave it to him all at once.

"...and We followed him up with messengers..." To "follow up" (qaffā) means to send someone after another, like the tail (dhanab) follows the body. It means: We sent many messengers in his wake, as in His saying: "Then We sent Our messengers in succession" (Al-Mu'minun: 44). They are Joshua, Samuel, Simeon, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, Ezekiel, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Zechariah, John, and others.

"And We gave Jesus, son of Mary, clear proofs..."

• Jesus (ʿĪsā): In Syriac, it is Yeshuʿ.
• Mary (Maryam): Meaning "the servant." It is also said that maryam in Arabic refers to women, just as zayyir refers to men. This is how the verse of Ru'bah is interpreted: "I said to a zayyir whose maryam did not reach him." Grammatically, Maryam is on the pattern of mafʿal, because the pattern faʿīl (with a fatha on the first letter) is not established in the language as a noun structure.
• Clear proofs (al-bayyināt): The manifest miracles and arguments, such as reviving the dead, healing the blind and the leper, and informing of the unseen.

"...and supported him with the Holy Spirit."

• Supported (ayyadnāhu): Some read it as āyadnāhu (with an alif), from ājada (with a jīm), meaning to strengthen. One says: "Praise be to God who strengthened (ājadanī) me after weakness."
• Holy Spirit (rūḥ al-qudus): Meaning the Holy Spirit, just as one says "Hatim of generosity" or "a man of truth." It is described with holiness as in "a spirit from Him" (An-Nisa: 171), describing it with exclusivity and proximity for the sake of honor. It is also said to be Gabriel, or the Gospel (as He said regarding the Quran: "a spirit from Our command," Ash-Shura: 52), or the Greatest Name of God by which he revived the dead.

"Is it that whenever there came to you a messenger..." The meaning is: We gave your prophets, O Children of Israel, what We gave them. Then, whenever a messenger came to you with the truth, you grew arrogant. The interrogative particle (the hamza of rebuke and astonishment) is placed between the fa and the verb it relates to.

"And a party [of messengers] you killed." If you ask: "Why was it not said 'and a party you killed'?" I say: It is interpreted in two ways:

1. Referring to the past, because the act was heinous, so it is intended to be brought to mind and visualized in the heart.
2. Meaning "you are killing them," because you were hovering around killing Muhammad (ﷺ), had I not protected him from you. That is why you bewitched him and poisoned the sheep for him. The Prophet (ﷺ) said at his death: "The morsel of Khaybar continues to affect me; this is the time my aorta is being severed."

"And they said, 'Our hearts are wrapped.'"

• Wrapped (ghulf): The plural of aghlaf, meaning they are created and naturally covered with sheaths, so that what Muhammad (ﷺ) brought cannot reach them nor be understood by them. It is a metaphor taken from the uncircumcised (aghlaf), as in: "Our hearts are within coverings from that to which you invite us" (Fussilat: 5).
• God refutes that their hearts were created that way, for they were created upon the fitra (natural disposition) and the capacity to accept the truth. Rather, God cursed them and abandoned them because of their disbelief. They are the ones who wrapped their hearts with the disbelief they innovated, which deviated from the fitra, thereby causing the deprivation of the divine graces that are granted to those expected to believe.
• "And little do they believe": They believe only a little, and the "ma" is an intensifier. It refers to their belief in only part of the Book.
• It is also said that ghulf is the plural of ghilāf (sheath), meaning: "Our hearts are vessels for knowledge, so we are self-sufficient with what we have and do not need anything else."

"A Book from God, confirming what is with them." This is the Quran. It confirms their Book and does not contradict it. It is read as muṣaddiqan (as a state/hal). If you ask how it is permissible to make it a state of an indefinite noun, I say: when an indefinite noun is described, it becomes specific, making the state valid. Here, "Book" is described by "from God." The answer to "when there came to them..." is omitted, implying: "they denied it, treated its arrival with contempt," and the like.

"They used to pray for victory against those who disbelieved." They sought victory over the polytheists when they fought them, saying: "O God, grant us victory through the Prophet sent in the end times, whose description we find in the Torah." They would say to their enemies: "The time of a Prophet has arrived who will emerge to confirm what we say, so we will kill you alongside him as 'Ad and Iram were killed."

• It is also said that yastaftiḥūn means they would open the subject to them, informing them that a Prophet was about to be sent from among them. The sīn is for emphasis, meaning they ask for victory for themselves, or they ask one another to open the subject.

"But when there came to them that which they recognized..." Of the truth, they disbelieved in it out of insolence, envy, and greed for leadership.

"...upon the disbelievers." Meaning "upon them." The noun is used in place of the pronoun to indicate that the curse befell them because of their disbelief. The "al" (in al-kāfirīn) is for reference, though it may be generic, and they are the primary ones included in it.