Tafsir of At-Tawbah 9:30

{Uzayr is the son of Allah}: This is a nominal sentence (subject and predicate), similar to the saying: "The Messiah is the son of Allah."

Uzayr: It is a non-Arabic name, like ‘Azar, ‘Izar, and ‘Azra’il. Because it is non-Arabic and definite, it is diptote (cannot take tanwin). Whoever adds tanwin to it treats it as an Arabic word. As for those who claim the tanwin is dropped due to the meeting of two vowelless letters (like the reading of "Ahadun Allah"), or because "the son" is an adjective and the predicate is omitted (i.e., "is our worshipped one"), these are forced interpretations and unnecessary.

This statement was made by a group of Jews in Medina, not all of them. According to Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was approached by Salam bin Mishkam, Nu‘man bin Awfa, Shash bin Qays, and Malik bin al-Sayf, who said this. It is also said that Finhas said it.

The reason for this claim: After the Jews killed the prophets following Moses (peace be upon him), Allah removed the Torah from them and erased it from their hearts. Uzayr, then a young man, went out traveling the earth. Gabriel (peace be upon him) came to him and asked, "Where are you going?" He replied, "I am seeking knowledge." So he memorized the Torah and dictated it to them from memory, without missing a single letter. They said, "Allah did not gather the Torah in his heart while he was a youth except because he is His son." The proof that this was their belief is that when this verse was recited to them, they did not deny or refute it, despite their intense desire to reject the truth.

{That is their statement with their mouths}: If you ask, "Every statement is made with the mouth, so what is the meaning of this?" I say: There are two interpretations:

1. It means a statement unsupported by proof; it is merely a sound they utter, devoid of any underlying meaning, like meaningless words that are just bells and tones. A meaningful statement is uttered by the mouth and affects the heart, whereas this has no meaning beyond the mouth.
2. "Statement" here means "doctrine" or "school of thought" (like saying "the statement of Abu Hanifa"). It means this is their doctrine and religion, held only by their mouths, not their hearts, because it lacks any argument or even a semblance of truth to affect the heart—especially since they admit Allah has no consort, which leaves no room for the possibility of a son.

{They imitate}: There must be an omitted genitive construction here, meaning: "Their statement imitates the statement of their predecessors." The genitive noun was omitted, and the pronoun attached to it took its place, becoming nominative. The meaning is that the Jews and Christians in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) imitated the statements of their ancestors; it is an ancient disbelief, not a new one. Or, it means they imitate the saying of the polytheists: "The angels are the daughters of Allah"—exalted is He above that. It is also said the pronoun refers to the Christians, meaning their saying "The Messiah is the son of Allah" imitates the saying of the Jews "Uzayr is the son of Allah," because the Jews preceded them. It is also read as yudah’un (with a hamza), derived from dahya’ (a woman who resembles men in that she does not menstruate), where the hamza is an addition.

{May Allah destroy them}: This means they are deserving of this being said to them, expressing astonishment at the heinousness of their claim, just as one says to people who have committed a terrible act: "May Allah destroy them, how strange is their deed!"

{How are they deluded?}: How are they turned away from the truth?