Tafsir of Surah Al-Ma'idah - Verse 82

The Reason Behind Revealing these Ayat

Sa`id bin Jubayr, As-Suddi and others said that these Ayat were revealed concerning a delegation that An-Najashi (King of Ethiopia) sent to the Prophet in order to hear his words and observe his qualities. When the delegation met with the Prophet and he recited the Qur'an to them, they embraced Islam, cried and were humbled. Then they returned to An-Najashi and told him what happened. `Ata' bin Abi Rabah commented, "They were Ethiopians who embraced Islam when the Muslims who migrated to Ethiopia resided among them." Qatadah said, "They were some followers of the religion of `Isa, son of Maryam, who when they saw Muslims and heard the Qur'an, they became Muslims without hesitation." Ibn Jarir said that these Ayat were revealed concerning some people who fit this description, whether they were from Ethiopia or otherwise. Allah said,

لَتَجِدَنَّ أَشَدَّ النَّاسِ عَدَاوَةً لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ الْيَهُودَ وَالَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُواْ

(Verily, you will find the strongest among men in enmity to the believers the Jews and those who commit Shirk,) This describes the Jews, since their disbelief is that of rebellion, defiance, opposing the truth, belittling other, people and degrading the scholars. This is why the Jews - may Allah's continued curses descend on them until the Day of Resurrection - killed many of their Prophets and tried to kill the Messenger of Allah ﷺ several times, as well as, performing magic spells against him and poisoning him. They also incited their likes among the polytheists against the Prophet . Allah's statement,

وَلَتَجِدَنَّ أَقْرَبَهُمْ مَّوَدَّةً لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ الَّذِينَ قَالُواْ إِنَّا نَصَارَى

(and you will find the nearest in love to the believers those who say: "We are Christians.") refers to those who call themselves Christians, who follow the religion of the Messiah and the teachings of his Injil. These people are generally more tolerant of Islam and its people, because of the mercy and kindness that their hearts acquired through part of the Messiah's religion. In another Ayah, Allah said;

وَجَعَلْنَا فِى قُلُوبِ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ رَأْفَةً وَرَحْمَةً وَرَهْبَانِيَّةً

(And We ordained in the hearts of those who followed him, compassion, mercy, and monasticism...) 57:27. In their book is the saying; "He who strikes you on the right cheek, then turn the left cheek for him." And fighting was prohibited in their creed, and this is why Allah said,

ذلِكَ بِأَنَّ مِنْهُمْ قِسِّيسِينَ وَرُهْبَاناً وَأَنَّهُمْ لاَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ

(That is because among them are Qissisin (priests) and Ruhban (monks), and they are not proud.) This means that among them are Qissisin (priests). The word Ruhban refers to one dedicated to worship. Allah said,

ذلِكَ بِأَنَّ مِنْهُمْ قِسِّيسِينَ وَرُهْبَاناً وَأَنَّهُمْ لاَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ

(That is because among them are priests and monks, and they are not proud.) This describes them with knowledge, worship and humbleness, along with following the truth and fairness.

وَإِذَا سَمِعُواْ مَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ تَرَى أَعْيُنَهُمْ تَفِيضُ مِنَ الدَّمْعِ مِمَّا عَرَفُواْ مِنَ الْحَقِّ

(And when they listen to what has been sent down to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of the truth they have recognized.) This refers to the good news that they have about the advent of Muhammad ,

يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَآ ءَامَنَّا فَاكْتُبْنَا مَعَ الشَّـهِدِينَ

(They say: "Our Lord! We believe; so write us down among the witnesses.") who testify to the truth and believe in it.

وَمَا لَنَا لاَ نُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَمَا جَآءَنَا مِنَ الْحَقِّ وَنَطْمَعُ أَن يُدْخِلَنَا رَبُّنَا مَعَ الْقَوْمِ الصَّـلِحِينَ

("And why should we not believe in Allah and in that which has come to us of the truth And We wish that our Lord will admit us (in Paradise) along with the righteous people.") Such sect of Christians are those mentioned in Allah's statement,

وَإِنَّ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَـبِ لَمَن يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكُمْ وَمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ خَـشِعِينَ للَّهِ

(And there are, certainly, among the People of the Scripture, those who believe in Allah and in that which has been revealed to you, and in that which has been revealed to them, humbling themselves before Allah.)3:199 and,

الَّذِينَ ءَاتَيْنَـهُمُ الْكِتَـبَ مِن قَبْلِهِ هُم بِهِ يُؤْمِنُونَ - وَإِذَا يُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ قَالُواْ ءَامَنَّا بِهِ إِنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّنَآ إنَّا كُنَّا مِن قَبْلِهِ مُسْلِمِينَ

(Those to whom We gave the Scripture before it, they believe in it (the Qur'an). And when it is recited to them, they say, "We believe in it. Verily, it is the truth from our Lord. Indeed even before it we were Muslims")28:52-53, until,

لاَ نَبْتَغِى الْجَـهِلِينَ

("We seek not the ignorant.")28:55 This is why Allah said here,

فَأَثَابَهُمُ اللَّهُ بِمَا قَالُواْ

(So because of what they said, Allah awarded them...) rewarding them for embracing the faith and recognizing and believing in the truth,

جَنَّـتٌ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا الاٌّنْهَـرُ خَـلِدِينَ فِيهَا

(Gardens under which rivers flow (in Paradise), they will abide therein forever.) and they will never be removed from it, for they will dwell and remain in it forever and ever,

وَذَلِكَ جَزَآءُ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

(Such is the reward of good-doers) who follow the truth and obey it wherever, whenever and with whomever they find it. Allah then describes the condition of the miserable.

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ وَكَذَّبُواْ بِآيَـتِنَآ

(But those who disbelieved and belied Our Ayat,) defied and opposed them,

أُوْلَـئِكَ أَصْحَـبُ الْجَحِيمِ

(they shall be the dwellers of the (Hell) Fire.) For they are the people of the Fire who will enter and reside in it (eternally).

Sequence of Verses

Mentioned earlier was the friendliness of Jews with disbelievers. Mentioned now is their hostility towards Muslims in tandem with the disbelievers - which was the real cause of that friendship (the enemy of my enemy is my friend! ). And since the Qur'an upholds justice universally, it has not counted everyone even among Jews and Christians as being in the same lot. Whoever among them had some good quality, that was acknowledged openly - for example, the presence of a particular group among the Christians which did not have the kind of prejudice the Jews were known for, and the statement about the Christians who had responded heartily to the call of truth and for which they were considered worthy of the best of praise and reward. This particular group was that of the Christians of Ethiopia who did nothing which could cause problems for Muslims who had migrated to Ethiopia from their home in Makkah, before the Hijrah to Madinah. Any Christian, other than them, who is like them, shall also be legally counted as one of them. As for those who had accepted the truth, they are the King of Ethiopia, Najashi (Negus) and his courtiers who wept on hearing the Qur'an in their own country and embraced Islam. After that, a deputation of thirty men from there came to the Holy Prophet ﷺ who recited the Qur'an to them which they heard in tears and took their Shahadah as Muslims. This is the Cause or Back-ground of the revelation of this verse.

Commentary

Some Votaries of the Truth among the People of the Book

Mentioned in these verses are those among the people of the Book who, had no feelings of malice or enmity for Muslims because of their godliness and tilt towards truth. But, people of such quality - like Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn Salam - were very rare, rather almost nonexistent among the Jews. Speaking comparatively, there were more such people among the Christians. Specially so, during the blessed period of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، there was a large number of such people in Ethiopia which included King Najashi and his civil servants. For this reason, when the Muslims of Makkah al-Mukarramah were fed up with being continually oppressed by the Quraysh, the Holy Prophet ﷺ advised them to migrate to Ethiopia saying that he had heard that the King of Ethiopia himself was no oppressor of people, nor did he allow anyone to oppress others, therefore, Muslims should go there for some time.

Following this advice, the first group of eleven persons started their journey towards Ethiopia. Included in the group were Sayyidna ` Uthman ibn ` Affan and Sayyidah Ruqaiyyah, his respected wife and the daughter of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . After that, a large caravan of Muslims comprising of eighty two men in addition to women, led by Sayyidna Ja'far ibn Abi Talib ؓ reached Ethiopia. Received there nicely and gently by the King and his people, they started living there in peace.

But, the wrath of the Quraysh of Makkah knew no bounds. They could not bear by the idea that Muslims persecuted by them could live in peace in some other country. This they did not wish to allow. They sent a deputation of their men, with gifts as customary, to the King of Ethiopia with the request that he should expel Muslims from his country. But, the King of Ethiopia decided to first investigate into the matter. He talked to Sayyidna Ja'far ibn Abi Talib and his companions about Islam and its Prophet. When he heard about the life of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and the teachings of Islam, he found these true to the prophecy of Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) and Injil which contained the glad tidings of the coming of the Last of the Prophets, Sayyidna Muhammad al-Mustafa ﷺ a brief outline of his teachings, and his physical features as well as those of his Companions (for ready identification). Impressed with and convinced by what he found out, he returned the gifts brought by the Quraysh deputation telling them plainly that he could never order such people to leave his country.

The Effect of Sayyidna Ja` far's Presentation on Najashi

Sayyidna Ja'far ؓ had succeeded in presenting a brief but very comprehensive portrayal of Islam and its teachings in the court of Najashi, the King of Ethiopia. Then, there was their very stay (as Muslim role models) in Ethiopia which had generated not only in his heart but in the hearts of his officials and common people genuine feelings for Islam and its Prophet. Consequently, when the Holy Prophet ﷺ migrated to Madinah al-Tayyibah and the news that they were comfortable and at peace there reached Ethiopia the immigrating guests of the country decided to go to Madinah. Then, Najashi, the King of Ethiopia sent with them a deputation of leading scholars and missionaries from among his co-religionists to present his compliments before the Holy Prophet ﷺ . This group was comprised of seventy persons, out of which, there were sixty from Ethiopia itself, and eight from Syria.

The Visit of Ethiopian Delegation

Attired in the coarse robes of monks, this deputation presented itself before the Holy Prophet ﷺ . He recited Surah Yasin before them. As they heard it, tears kept flowing from their eyes. They all said how similar that was to what was revealed to Sayyidna 'Isa (علیہ السلام) . All of them embraced Islam.

After their return to Ethiopia, King Najashi also embraced Islam. He sent his son as the leader of another deputation to the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، with a letter from him. Unfortunately, the boat carrying them was drowned in the sea. In short, the King of Ethiopia, its officials and citizens did not only treat Islam and Muslims gently, fairly and justly, but they themselves embraced Islam finally.

According to the majority of commentators, the verses cited above were revealed about these blessed souls:

وَلَتَجِدَنَّ أَقْرَ‌بَهُم مَّوَدَّةً لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّا نَصَارَ‌ىٰ

And you will certainly find that the closest of them in friend-ship with the believers are those who say, "We are Christians."

And about the verses which follow, and in which their weeping in fear of Allah and their acceptance of the truth has been described, the majority of commentators also agree that - though these verses have been revealed about Najashi and the deputation sent by him - yet, its words are general. Therefore, its legal force covers and includes all such Christians who are devoted to truth and justice similar to the people of Ethiopia. That is, they were followers of the Injil before Is-lam, and after the coming of Islam, they became followers of Islam.

Though, there were some people of this class even among Jews who adhered to the Torah since the period of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) ، but when came Islam, they entered the fold of Islam. However, the number of such people was so small that it cannot be considered significant in the context of communities and nations. As for the rest of the Jews, they were the foremost in their hostility towards Muslims. Therefore, their attitude was identified at the very beginning of the verse by saying:

لَتَجِدَنَّ أَشَدَّ النَّاسِ عَدَاوَةً لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الْيَهُودَ

You will certainly find that the most hostile people against the believers are the Jews ...

Limits of Interpretation

To recapitulate, it can be said that a particular group of the Christians has been praised in this verse, a group which was God-fearing and upright in matters of truth. It includes King Najashi, his officials and citizens - as well as other Christians who had these qualities, or would have in times to come. But, it does not mean - neither based on what the text says, nor could it possibly be - that the Christians have to be taken as friends of Muslims, no matter how astray they go and how aggressive in their anti Islam hostility they become, and yet Muslims will have to extend their hand of friendship towards them. This interpretation, as obvious, is false and is absolutely against facts. Therefore, Imam Abu Bakr Al-Jassas (رح) has said in his Ahkam al-Qur'an: that the thinking of some people who take the praise of Christians in this verse in an absolute sense and consider them better than the Jews, again in an absolute sense, is open ignorance - because a comparison of the religious beliefs of the two groups will show that the Christians are more pronounced in being Mushriks (as ascribers of partners in the divinity of Allah); and as for their dealings with Muslims are concerned, common modern-day Christians have not been any less than Jews in their anti-Islam activities. However, it is correct that there have been a good many God-fearing and truth-loving. people among them. That is why they had the Taufiq to accept Islam and be-come Muslims. It must be kept in mind that these verses were revealed to show this particular difference between the two groups. The Qur'an has itself pointed out to this fact at the end of this very verse (82) in the following words: ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ مِنْهُمْ قِسِّيسِينَ وَرُ‌هْبَانًا وَأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُ‌ونَ "That is because among them there are priests and monks and because they are not arrogant (which could make them unwilling to listen and think)." Comparison makes it clear that this was not the condition of Jews. They were not God-fearing and truth-loving. Their scholars and rabbis were far removed from renouncing the material pleasures of mortal life for the sake of knowledge and religion, instead of which, they had harnessed their knowledge and learning as a source of accumulating material benefits. This lust for the mundane had gripped them to the extent that they did not care to make a distinction between the true and the false or the lawful and the unlawful.

Those who side with Truth are the moving

spirit of a community

The statement given in the verse also tells us something crucial about the life of a community or nation (of true believers) - , that its `.Ulama' and Mashaikh are its real movers and makers, the very spirit of the system. Until such time that there are present in the society (genuine) ` Ulama' and Mashaikh, who would not follow their worldly desires (in matters of Din and public good of Believers) motivated by nothing but the fear of Allah and answerability before Him, then, the community or nation in which they are shall never be deprived of real good and real blessing.

The Children of Israel faced this downfall, but that did not stop them from making self-righteous utterances and the elect among them went on making fine speeches. But they were not serious about rushing to intervene when they saw somebody indulging in tyranny and evil, or about trying to prevent such actions. David (Dawud) said of the Children of Israel of his period that not one of them was righteous, and from his discourses it is clear that the Jews used to talk peace with their neighbours, describing the law of God and reaffirming their pledge to God, when their hearts were actually full of ill intent. Jesus likewise castigated the Jews of his time, calling them hypocritical scholars who had usurped the dwellings of widows, while at the same time prolonging their prayers. He lamented the fact that they paid the tithes of mint leaves, anise and cummin seeds, while ignoring the weighty provisions of the shariat, i.e. justice, mercy and faith. He called them ‘blind guides’ who ‘strain at a gnat and swallow a camel’. He scorned them for being apparently righteous, while from within they were entirely hypocritical and faithless. (Matthew 23). The Jews did as Jesus said—they used to describe the law of God, offer prolonged prayers and paid their tithes from their crops. But all that was purely lip service. They used to carry out harmless commands with a show of piety, but when the question arose of treating others with justice, or when they were required to have mercy on a down-trodden person, or when there was the need to crush self-interest in order to carry out God’s command, then they used to be guilty of backsliding. And if anyone pointed out their mistakes, they became his enemies. It was such behaviour which caused them to incur God’s wrath and curses.