ﱴ ﱵ ﱶ ﱷ ﱸ ﱹ ﱺ ﱻ ﱼ ﱽ ﱾ ﱿ ﲀ ﲁ ﲂ ﲃ ﲄ ﲅ ﲆ ﲇ ﲈ ﲉ ﲊ ﲋ ﲌ ﲍ ﲎ ﲏ ﲐ
O you who were given the Scripture, believe in what We have sent down [to Muhammad], confirming that which is with you, before We obliterate faces and turn them toward their backs or curse them as We cursed the sabbath-breakers. And ever is the decree of Allah accomplished.
Tafsir
Verse range: 4:47
"That We efface faces" Meaning: We erase the features of their forms—the eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth.
"And turn them upon their backs" Meaning: We make them in the likeness of their backs, which are the napes of the neck, effaced just like them. The fa (in fanaruddahā) is for causation. If you interpret it as sequential, it implies they were threatened with two punishments, one following the other: turning them upon their backs after effacing them. The meaning is: We efface faces, then invert them, so the faces become like the napes, and the napes become like the faces.
Another interpretation is that "effacing" means transformation and alteration, just as the wealth of the Copts was effaced when it was turned into stones. By "faces," it means their leaders and prominent figures. The meaning is: "Before We alter the conditions of their leaders, stripping them of their status and prestige, and covering them with humiliation and retreat," or "before We drive them back to where they came from," which is Adhru'at in the Levant, intending the expulsion of the Banu al-Nadir.
If you ask: To whom does the pronoun refer in His saying "or We curse them"? I say: It refers to the "faces" (if "leaders" is intended) or to the "possessors of the faces," because the meaning is "before We efface the faces of a people." Or, it refers back to "those who were given the Scripture" by way of iltifāt (shifting of address).
"Or We curse them" Or We recompense them with transformation (maskh), just as We transformed the people of the Sabbath.
If you ask: Where is the fulfillment of this threat? I say: It is conditional upon their belief. Some of them did believe. It is also said that it is awaited, and there must be an effacement and transformation for the Jews before the Day of Resurrection. Since Allah, the Exalted, threatened them with one of two things—either the effacing of faces among them or cursing them—and since the "effacing" was the changing of the conditions of their leaders or their expulsion to the Levant, one of the two things has occurred. Even if it were something else, the "cursing" has certainly occurred, for they are cursed by every tongue. The apparent meaning is the conventional curse, not transformation. Do you not see the words of the Exalted: "Say, 'Shall I inform you of [what is] worse than that as penalty from Allah? [It is that of] whom Allah has cursed and with whom He became angry and made of them apes and swine'" (Al-Ma'idah: 60).
"And the command of Allah is ever performed" Therefore, one of the two things must occur if they do not believe.
