Tafsir of Al-Ma'idah 5:73-75

"And there is no god except one God" The "min" (in min ilāh) is for istighrāq (comprehensiveness), functioning with the "lā" used for the negation of the genus, as in your saying "Lā ilāha illā Allāh." The meaning is: There is no god at all in existence except a God described by oneness, having no second. He is Allah alone, with no partner.

"Layamassanna alladhīna kafarū minhum" (A painful punishment will surely touch those who disbelieved among them) The "min" here is for bayān (clarification/specification), like the one in the Almighty’s saying: "So avoid the impurity of idols" (Al-Hajj: 30).

If you ask: "Why was it not said, 'And for the disbelievers is a painful punishment'?" I say: There is a benefit in placing the explicit noun in the place of the pronoun, which is the repetition of the testimony against them of disbelief, as stated in: "They have certainly disbelieved who say..."

There is another benefit in this clarification: it informs us, in the interpretation of "those who disbelieved among them," that they are in a state of profound disbelief. The meaning is: "A painful punishment will surely touch those who disbelieved among the Christians specifically."

"Adhābun alīm" (A painful punishment) Meaning a type of punishment that is severe in pain. It is like saying, "Give me twenty of the garments," meaning from the garments specifically, not from other categories that twenty might encompass. It is also possible that it is for tab'īḍ (partitive), meaning: "It will touch those who remained in disbelief among them," because many of them repented from Christianity.

"Afalā yatūbūna" (Will they not then repent?) Will they not repent after this repeated testimony against them of disbelief? This severe threat is regarding their current state, and it expresses astonishment at their persistence.

"Wallāhu Ghafūrun Rahīm" (And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful) He forgives these people if they repent, and He forgives others.

"Qad khalat min qablihi ar-rusul" (Messengers have passed on before him) This is a description of the Messenger. He is nothing but a messenger of the same kind as the messengers who passed before him. He came with signs from Allah just as they came with similar ones. If Allah healed the leper and raised the dead at his (Jesus') hand, He also turned the staff into a living, moving snake and split the sea at the hand of Moses. And if He created him without a male, He created Adam without a male or a female.

"Wa ummuhu ṣiddīqah" (And his mother was a truthful woman) Meaning: His mother was nothing but a ṣiddīqah (truthful/righteous woman), like some of the women who believed in the prophets and affirmed them. Their status is only that of two human beings: one a prophet and the other a companion. From where, then, did the matter of their status become confused for you, such that you described them with attributes that no other prophets or their companions were described with, despite there being no distinction or difference between them and others in any way?

Then, He clarifies their distance from what was attributed to them in His saying:

"Kānā ya'kulāni aṭ-ṭa'ām" (They both used to eat food) Because whoever needs to nourish themselves with food—and what follows it in terms of digestion and excretion—is nothing but a body composed of bone, flesh, veins, nerves, humors, and temperaments, along with desire and appetite. All of this indicates that he is a created, composed, and managed being, just like other bodies.

"Unẓur kayfa nubayyinu lahum al-āyāt" (Look how We make the signs clear to them) Meaning: The indicators and clear proofs of the falsehood of their claims.

"Thumma unẓur annā yu'fakūn" (Then look how they are deluded) Meaning: How they are turned away from listening to the truth and contemplating it.

If you ask: "What is the meaning of the delay (tarākhī) in the word 'then' (thumma) in 'then look'?" I say: Its meaning is the interval between the two wonders. It means that He has made the signs clear to them in a wondrous way, and their turning away from them is even more wondrous.