Surah Ali 'Imran 3:81-91 - Quran Translation Commentary

(3:81) And (recall) when Allah took covenant of the Prophets: '(When)¹³² I have bestowed on you a Book and hikmah¹³³ and then comes to you a Messenger, confirming what is with you, you shall believe in him and strengthen him.’¹³⁴ Then He asked, 'Do you agree and accept this My covenant¹³⁵ as binding on you?’ They replied, 'We do agree.’ He said, 'Then bear witness.¹³⁶ And I am with you among the witnesses.’

(3:82) Then, after that, whosever turns his back, such indeed are the pervert transgressors.

(3:83) Do they, then, seek a religion other than Allah’s,¹³⁷ while to Him has submitted whoso is in the heavens and the earth willingly or unwillingly?¹³⁸ And to Him they shall be returned.¹³⁹

(3:84) Tell (them), 'We have believed in Allah, in that which has been sent unto us, that which was revealed unto Ibrahim, Isma`il, Is-haq, Ya`qub, and the Tribes (of Ya`qub), that which was given to Musa, `Isa and (other) Prophets by their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them. And we have surrendered ourselves unto Him.’

(3:85) And he who desires a religion other than Islam, shall not have it accepted of him.¹⁴⁰ He shall be of the losers in the next world.¹⁴¹

(3:86) How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after they had declared faith and after they had (in private) attested to the truth of the (new) Messenger after receiving veritable proofs?¹⁴² And Allah guides not the transgressors.¹⁴³

(3:87) Their recompense is that there shall rest on them the curse of Allah, that of the angels and of the people, combined.^144,¹⁴⁵

(3:88) They shall dwell in it forever. The chastisement shall not be lightened for them nor shall they be given respite.

(3:89) Save for those who subsequently repented and made amends. Truly, Allah is very Forgiving, very Kind.

(3:90) Indeed, those who reject the message after their belief and then increase in disbelief - never will their [claimed] repentance be accepted, and they are the ones astray.

(3:91) Verily, those who disbelieved and died in the state of disbelief shall not have earthfull of gold accepted of any of them, even if he were to seek ransom thereby.¹⁴⁶ For them will be a painful chastisement. And they shall have no helpers.¹⁴⁷

Commentary

132. The lama of the original has been a challenge to the grammarians (Au.). In fact the whole verse is grammatically quite complicated (Alusi).

133. Hikmah here could signify either knowledge of Divine Law or simply "wisdom."

134. Although the meaning is general, as expressed by Ibn `Abbas, and Hasan that no Messenger or Prophet was sent but was made to take a oath to the effect that he will believe in, and support any other Messenger that follows him, `Ali ibn Abi Talib, Qatadah, and Suddi are of opinion that no Prophet was sent earlier but an oath was taken from him that if Muhammad was sent during his time, he will believe in him and render him help. And, according to a report this happens to be a second opinion of Ibn `Abbas also (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi).

Yusuf `Ali remarks: "The argument is: You (People of the Book) are bound by your own oaths, sworn solemnly in the presence of your own Prophets. In the Old Testament as it now exists, Muhammad is foretold in Deut. xviii. 18: and the rise of the Arab nation in Isaiah. xlii. 11, for Kedar was a son of Isma`il and the name is used for the Arab nation: in the New Testament as it now exists. Muhammad is foretold in the Gospel of St. John. xiv. 16, xv. 26, and xvi. 7: the future Comforter cannot be the Holy Spirit as understood by Christians, because the Holy Spirit was already present, helping and guiding Jesus. The Greek word translated "Comforter" is "Paracletos", which is an easy corruption from "Periclytos", which is almost a literal translation of "Muhammad" or "Ahmad": see Q lxi. 6. Further, there were other Gospels that have perished, but of which traces remain, which were even more specific in their reference to Muhammad; e.g., the Gospel of St. Barnabas, of which an Italian translation is extant in the State Library at Vienna. It was edited in 1907 with an English translation by Lonsdale and Laura Ragg."

135. (Linguistically the Isr of the original means a load or burden). Here it signifies, in the opinion of Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Rabi` b. Anas, Qatadah and Suddi, a covenant (Ibn Kathir).

136. According to `Ali (ra) what the words mean is: "then bear witness against your nations," (i.e. take covenant from your respective followers too: Au)" (Ibn Jarir). The same meaning is reported of Sa`id ibn Jubayr (Qurtubi); as also of Ibn `Abbas (Ibn Kathir).

In fact `Abdullah ibn Mas`ud, followed by Mujahid, was of opinion that the original revelation was not "When Allah took covenant of the Prophets (al nabiy yina)", rather it was "When Allah took covenant of the people of the Book (alla dhina 'utu al kitaba)" (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir, Shawkani and others). But the consensus of the ummah is that the original revelation was "al nabiy yina" and not "alla dhina 'utu al kitaba" (Au.).

Ahmad has reported through `Abdullah b. Thabit that once `Umar appeared before the Prophet and said, "Messenger of Allah, I had asked one of my Jewish brothers of Qurayzah to note down for me some of the beautiful things there are in the Tawrah. Shall I read it out to you?" The Prophet's face reddened with anger. Ibn Thabit says I told `Umar, "Can't you see the Prophet's reaction?" `Umar added hastily, "I am satisfied with Allah as the Lord, Islam as the religion, and Muhammad as the Messenger." This pleased the Prophet. He said, "By Him in Whose Hand is my life, were Musa to appear before you now, this moment, and you were to abandon me and follow him, surely you'd be considered misguided. You are my share of the nations and I am your share of the Prophets" (Ibn Kathir).

137. It is reported that (a Jew) Ka`b b. al Ashraf and his colleagues argued with the (visiting) Christians (of Najran) over the right religion and turned to the Prophet for his opinion about which of the two groups was on the religion of Ibrahim. The Prophet told them, 'Both of you have nothing to do with Ibrahim.' Ka`b responded, 'If you say that, then neither we accept your judgment nor your religion.' Allah then revealed this verse (Qurtubi, Kashshaf, Razi, Alusi).

The appearance of this verse after the "Covenant" implies that today no religion is acceptable to Allah save that of belief in Prophet Muhammad ... and that common sense requires that man submit as all creations have submitted willingly or unwillingly ... in the sense that Allah alone creates and destroys them as He wishes, and they have no choice but to submit themselves to His will (Razi).

In Thanwi's words: Allah's commandments are of two types: those in which His creations have a choice: whether to act upon them or not, for instance Prayers, fasts etc. The second type is that in which the creations have no choice but to submit, such as hunger, sickness, death and so forth. Obedience to the second type of commands is referred to in the statement: "to Him has submitted whoso is in the heavens and the earth willingly or unwillingly."

138. It is reported of Ibn `Abbas that he said: "If your beast behaves tough and gets uncontrollable, recite this verse in its ear: 'Do they ... unwillingly'" (Qurtubi). Shawkani quotes a hadith also from Tabarani's Awsat to this effect, but does not state its strength.

139. Mawdudi writes: "Here people are asked if they would follow a way of life different from Islam though they are part of the universe which is characterized by submission to God (Islam)."

Sayyid Qutb comments: "In its essence human nature has been created in harmony with the laws of nature that govern the rest of the world that itself the living as well as the non living of it is submitted to its Lord. So that, when man abandons his nature, he not only runs into conflict with the rest of the created world, but also with his own self. He is rendered miserable, torn off, bewildered and distressed and lives an exhausted life of the kind people are experiencing today, despite all the advances in science and despite the ease and comfort that the modern world offers. Today humanity is experiencing a bitter emptiness. It is a spiritual emptiness. Man’s inner being feels dissatisfied with the prevalent situation ... It is the emptiness that results from the loss of faith in God and Divine Guidance, which alone are capable of harmonizing and reconciling his activities with those of the wider physical world. Humanity is experiencing a burning estrangement in place of the cooling effects of nature; and a worrisome demoralization that is way off from the straight path and a simple program of life given by God. And hence it experiences miseries, tensions and bewilderment. It feels an emptiness, hunger and loss, and tries to escape from the realities with drugs and intoxicants, in a life characterized by schizophrenic behavior, maddening haste, foolish adventures and imbalances in behavior, crazy dress code and unhealthy eating habits...

"This bitter emptiness attacks humanity from all sides and follows it like a fearful phantom. Humanity tries to flee from it but ends up confronting the same bitter emptiness again and again...

"People, especially in the affluent Western world, cannot come to terms with themselves basically because they are unaware of the ultimate goal of their lives. They miss the real bliss of life because they do not know of a Divine Guidance that can harmonize their activities with the activities of the physical world at large. They are not able to harmonize their system of life with the system governing the world. They do not experience satisfaction because they do not know the Lord to whom they will return."

140. Majid quotes: "Islam is among the simplest of all the revealed religions, its simplicity is attractive and appealing alike to the man in the street and to the philosopher in the closet. Goethe fell into raptures over the Kuran and Gibbon found in it a glorious testimony to the unity of God. Belief in One God and belief in Mohammed as the prophet of God such is the quintessence of the Islamic faith.' (BK. IV. p. 2282)

141. Hence a hadith of the Prophet which says:

مَنْ عَمِلَ عَمَلًا لَيْسَ عَلَيْهِ أَمْرُنَا فَهُوَ رَدٌّ

"Whoever did a thing about which we have not issued a command, will have it rejected." (Ibn Kathir)

142. The immediate cause of revelation, according to Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid and Suddi, was that a person called Al Haris b. Suwayd. He declared his Islam but subsequently apostatized. However, when verse 89 was revealed he repented, was accepted back and became a good Muslim. According to Mujahid he had run away and taken refuge with the Romans from where he wrote to ask if there was room for repentance. (The report is in Nasa'i: Qurtubi. And also in Ibn Hibban and Hakim, the latter marking it as Sahih: Ibn Kathir; also in Bayhaqi: Shawkani). `Ikrimah has added that there were no less than a dozen men who had apostatized at different times, took refuge with the Quraysh and then requested to be accepted back (Ibn Jarir, Razi).

Ibn `Abbas and Hasan are of the opinion that (whatever the other causes of revelation: Au.) it is the Jews and Christians who are alluded to in this verse. They believed in a previous Prophet and then, despite the conviction in their hearts that Muhammad bore the signs of belonging to the same series, rejected him out of envy (Ibn Jarir).

143. It is said that when His slaves intend a deed Allah "creates" it so that they can perform it; so what the words, "How shall Allah guide a people who ..." mean is how can Allah create the deed (of belief) if they have not intended to perform it, rather intend to do the opposite of it? i.e., disbelieve (Razi).

144. Even those who do not curse them now will do it when they will see their fate in the Hereafter and look at them as the cause of that fate. Allah said (7: 38):

كُلَّمَا دَخَلَتْ أُمَّةٌ لَعَنَتْ أُخْتَهَا [الأعراف : 38]

"Whenever a nation enters into it (Hell) it will curse its sister (nation)."

Allah also said (28: 25):

ثُمَّ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يَكْفُرُ بَعْضُكُمْ بِبَعْضٍ وَيَلْعَنُ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا [العنكبوت : 25]

"And then, on the Day of Judgment, some of you will deny others, and will curse each other" (Razi).

145. The English rendering is based on the commentary of Hasan, Qatadah and Abu al `Aliyyah, as in Ibn Jarir, and Ata' al Khurasani as in Qurtubi and Shawkani. This is also one of the opinions of Razi (Au.).

The statement "their repentance shall not be accepted" could also be referring to the repentance that every soul makes at the time of death. But the repentance of that moment is of no worth (Hasan, Qatadah and Jiba'i: Alusi).

146. Anas b. Malik reports the Prophet:

يُجَاءُ بِالْكَافِرِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَيُقَالُ لَهُ أَرَأَيْتَ لَوْ كَانَ لَكَ مِلْءُ الْأَرْضِ ذَهَبًا أَكُنْتَ تَفْتَدِي بِهِ فَيَقُولُ نَعَمْ فَيُقَالُ لَهُ قَدْ كُنْتَ سُئِلْتَ مَا هُوَ أَيْسَرُ مِنْ ذَلِكَ

"An unbeliever will be brought forth on the Day of Judgment and asked: 'Do you think you would like to ransom yourself with an earth full of gold, were you to possess it?' He will reply, 'Yes, for sure.' It will be said, 'You were asked for something much simpler' (Ibn Jarir).

The report is in Bukhari and Muslim (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

147. Sabuni writes: Thus the Qur'an divided the unbelievers into three types. First, those who repented and whose repentance bore fruit; they were spoken of in verse 89. Second, those who repented but with an insincere repentance; they were hinted at in verse 90. And third, those who did not repent at all and died on unbelief; they are spoken of in verse 91.

The Connection: Verse 91 spoke of how a man's desire to spend an earth full of gold on the Day of Judgment will be of no avail. In these verses it is being said that now it is the time for man to spend in the way of Allah. Further, the best spending is that which is out of what is dear to man.