ﲧ ﲨ ﲩ ﲪ ﲫ ﲬ ﲭ ﲮ ﲯ ﲰ ﲱ ﲲ ﲳ ﲴ ﲵ ﲶ ﲷ ﲸ ﲹ ﲺ
Indeed, those who have believed [in Prophet Muhammad] and those [before Him] who were Jews or Sabeans or Christians - those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness - no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.
Tafsir
Verse range: 5:69
"And the Sabians..."
The nominative case (raf') is used here because it is an ibtida' (an initial subject), and its predicate (khabar) is omitted. The intention is that it be placed after the ism (noun) and khabar (predicate) of Inna. It is as if it were said: "Indeed, those who believe, those who are Jews, and the Christians—their ruling is such-and-such, and the Sabians are likewise." Sibawayh cited a verse as evidence for this:
“Otherwise, know that we and you are aggressors, as long as we remain in discord.”
This means: "Know that we are aggressors, and you are likewise."
If you ask: Why not claim that its nominative case is due to it being conjoined to the position (mahall) of Inna and its noun? I say: That is not valid before the predicate is completed. You cannot say: "Inna Zaydan wa 'Amrun muntaliqan" (Indeed Zayd and 'Amr are departing).
If you ask: Why is it not valid, given that the intention is for it to be placed later, as if you said: "Inna Zaydan muntaliq wa 'Amrun"? I say: Because if I were to put it in the nominative case, I would be doing so by conjoining it to the position of Inna and its noun. The agent ('amil) governing their position is the ibtida'. Therefore, it must be the agent governing the predicate, because the ibtida' governs both parts just as Inna governs both parts. If I were to put "the Sabians"—which is intended to be placed later—in the nominative case via ibtida', while having already put the predicate in the nominative case via Inna, I would be employing two different agents for the same thing.
If you ask: Then the phrase "And the Sabians" is a conjunction, and it must have something to which it is conjoined. What is it? I say: It is the entire sentence consisting of the subject and its omitted predicate, which is conjoined to the sentence: "Indeed, those who believe..." It has no grammatical position (mahall), just as the sentence to which it is conjoined has no position.
If you ask: Preposing and postposing are only done for a purpose; what is the purpose of this preposing? I say: Its purpose is to alert [the reader] that the Sabians will be forgiven if their faith and righteous deeds are genuine—so what then of others? The Sabians are the most clearly astray and the most misguided among those mentioned. They were only called "Sabians" because they saba'u (deviated) from all religions, meaning they exited them.
Similarly, the poet preposed "and you" to alert that the addressees are more deeply entrenched in aggression than his own people, by mentioning them before the predicate ("aggressors"), so that his people would not be included in the aggression before them, despite them being more deeply entrenched and firmly established in it.
If you ask: If it were said "And the Sabians and you" (wa-l-Sabi'ina wa-iyyakum), would the preposing not be achieved? I say: If it were said that way, it would not be a case of preposing at all, because there would be no removal from its place. One only says "preposed" and "postposed" for that which is moved, not for that which remains in its place. The flow of this sentence is like a parenthetical remark in speech.
If you ask: How does He say "Those who believe" and then say "Whoever believes"? I say: There are two aspects:
If you ask: What is the grammatical position of "whoever believes"? I say: Either it is in the nominative as an ibtida', and its predicate is "there is no fear upon them"—the fa is included because the subject contains the meaning of a conditional—and the sentence is the predicate of Inna. Or, it is in the accusative as a substitute (badal) for the noun of Inna and what is conjoined to it.
If you ask: Where is the pronoun referring back to the noun of Inna? I say: It is omitted. The estimation is "whoever believes among them," as it appears in another place.
It is recited as al-Sabiyun with a clear ya', which is a form of softening the hamza, like the recitation of those who read yastahzi'un. Al-Sabun is derived from sabawtu (I inclined), because they inclined toward following desires and lusts in their religion and did not follow the proofs of reason and revelation. In the recitation of Ubayy (may Allah be pleased with him), it is al-Sabi'in in the accusative, which is also how Ibn Kathir recited it. 'Abdullah recited: "O you who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Sabians..."
