Tafsir of Al Imran 3:23-25

"Those who were given a portion of the Book" He means the rabbis of the Jews, and that they obtained an abundant portion of the Torah. The "min" (from) is either for partitive purposes, for clarification, or it means they obtained a portion from the genus of revealed books or from the Preserved Tablet—the Torah—which is a great portion.

"They are invited to the Book of Allah" Meaning the Torah.

"That it may judge between them" It is narrated that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) entered their schools and invited them. Na‘im ibn ‘Amr and al-Harith ibn Zayd said to him, "What religion are you upon?" He replied, "The creed of Abraham." They said, "Abraham was a Jew." He said to them, "The Torah is between us and you, so bring it forth." They refused. It is also said this was revealed regarding the [ruling of] stoning, concerning which they differed.

Al-Hasan and Qatadah said: "The Book of Allah" refers to the Quran, for they knew it was the Book of Allah and did not doubt it.

"Then a party of them turns away" This expresses astonishment at their turning away after they knew that returning to the Book of Allah is obligatory.

"While they are averse" They are a people whose habit is constant aversion. It has been recited as li-yuhkama (passive voice: "that it may be judged"). The most sound interpretation is that it refers to the disagreement and hostility that occurred between those of their rabbis who accepted Islam and those who did not. They were invited to the Book of Allah—the Torah—in whose authenticity they all agreed, so that it might judge between the truthful and the false among them. Then a party of them—those who did not accept Islam—turned away.

This is because the phrase "that it may judge between them" implies a dispute occurring among themselves, not between them and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).

"That is because they said, 'The Fire will not touch us except for a numbered number of days'" Their turning away and aversion were caused by their making the matter of punishment easy for themselves and their greed for exiting the Fire after a few days, just as the Mujbira and the Hashwiyya sects have hoped.

"And they were deluded in their religion by what they used to invent" Such as the belief that their forefathers were prophets who would intercede for them, just as those [later sects] were deluded by the intercession of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) for their major sins.

"How then [will it be] when We gather them" How will they fare? What will their state be? This is an expression of the gravity of what is prepared for them and a terrifying of them, indicating that they will fall into a situation they have no means to repel or escape. What they told themselves and made easy for themselves was merely false rationalization and hope for what will not be.

It is narrated that the first banner raised for the people of the Gathering from the banners of the disbelievers will be the banner of the Jews; Allah will disgrace them before all witnesses, then command them to the Fire.

"And they will not be wronged" This refers back to "every soul" in terms of meaning, for it carries the sense of "all people," just as you say "three souls" (anfus) meaning three human beings (anasi).