**[An-Nisāʾ: 46]**
"From among those who are Jews..."
This is an explanation of "those who were given a portion of the Book," because they are the Jews and the Christians.
"And Allah is sufficient..."
"And Allah is sufficient as a Protector..."
These sentences are inserted between the explanation and the thing being explained by way of parenthetical remark, or they are an explanation of "your enemies." The connection to "Protector" means: He will protect you from those who are Jews, just as in His saying: "And We saved him from the people who denied Our signs" (Al-Anbiyāʾ: 77). It is also possible that it is a new sentence, assuming that "they distort" is an adjective for a deleted noun, the estimation being: "Among those who are Jews are a people who distort," similar to the verse:
“Life is but two days: in one I die, and in the other I seek a living, struggling.”
Meaning: "In one of them is a time in which I die."
"They distort words from their places"
They tilt them away and remove them. For when they replace them and put other words in their stead, they have tilted them from the places where Allah placed them and removed them from them. This is like their distortion of "a dark-skinned, medium-statured man" in the Torah by replacing it with "a tall, Adam-like man," and their distortion of "stoning" by replacing it with "flogging."
If you ask: "How is it said here 'from their places' (ʿan mawāḍiʿihā), while in Al-Māʾidah it says 'after their places' (min baʿdi mawāḍiʿihā)?"
I say: As for "from their places," it is according to what we explained: removing them from the places where Allah’s wisdom required them to be, by substituting others in their place to satisfy their desires.
As for "after their places," the meaning is that they had places where they were meant to be; when they distorted them, they left them like a stranger who has no place after their original positions and stations. The two meanings are close.
It has been recited as yuḥarrifūna al-kalām (distorting speech). Al-kilam (with a kasra on the kāf and a sukkūn on the lām) is the plural of kalimah (word), a simplification of kalimah.
"Hear, without being heard"
This is a state (ḥāl) of the one being addressed. It means: "Hear, while you are not heard." This is a statement with two sides:
- It may imply condemnation: "Hear from us, while you are not heard," as if to say: "May you not be heard." If their prayer against him were answered, he would not be heard; he would be deaf, not heard. They said this relying on the idea that their saying "May you not be heard" is an answered prayer, or "Hear, while you are not answered in what you call to."
- It means: "Hear without being heard a response that pleases you, so it is as if you heard nothing."
- Or: "Hear, without being heard words that you approve of," so your hearing recoils from them.
It is also possible that "without being heard" (ghayra musmaʿin) is the object of "Hear" (ismaʿ), meaning: "Hear words that are not heard by you, because your ear does not grasp them, recoiling from them."
- It may imply praise: "Hear, without being heard anything hateful," from the expression "He made him hear" (asmʿa) when one insults another.
"And 'Rāʿinā' (Observe us)"
It may mean: "Observe us so we may speak to you," i.e., wait for us.
It may also be a Hebrew or Syriac word they used to insult one another, which is rāʿīnā (our shepherd). They were mocking the religion and ridiculing the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), speaking to him with ambiguous words, intending insult and degradation while outwardly showing reverence and honor.
"Twisting their tongues"
They twist the truth into falsehood with their tongues, placing "Rāʿinā" in the place of "Unẓurnā" (Look at us), and "Ghayra musmaʿin" in the place of "May you not hear anything hateful." Or, they twist with their tongues what they conceal of insults into what they show of reverence, out of hypocrisy.
If you ask: "How did they bring this ambiguous, two-sided speech after they had been explicit, saying 'We hear and we disobey'?"
I say: All the disbelievers would confront him with disbelief and disobedience, but they would not confront him with insults and evil prayers. It is possible they said this among themselves, or they may not have uttered it at all, but because they did not believe, it was as if they had uttered it. Ubayy recited it as wa-unẓurnā (and look at us), from inẓār (delay/respite).
If you ask: "To what does the pronoun in 'it would have been better for them' return?"
I say: To "that they said," for the meaning is: "If their saying 'We hear and we obey' had been firm, that statement of theirs would have been better for them."
"And more upright"
More just and more correct.
"But Allah has cursed them for their disbelief"
Meaning: He has forsaken them because of their disbelief and distanced them from His grace.
"So they do not believe, except..."
A belief that is...
"A little"
Meaning: weak, flimsy, and of no account. This is their belief in the One who created them, alongside their disbelief in others. Or, he intended by "little" the meaning of "none," as in the verse:
“Little is the complaining for the calamity that befalls him.”
Meaning: He does not complain at all, or only a very few of them have believed.
