Tafsir al-Jalalayn

All that is the heavens and all that is in the earth glorifies God all proclaims His transcendence the lām of li’Llāhi is extra; mā is used instead of min in order to indicate the predominance of non-rational beings the King the Holy the One Who transcends what does not befit Him the Mighty the Wise in His kingdom and in His actions.

It is He Who sent to the unlettered folk among the Arabs ummī means ‘one who cannot write or read a book’ a messenger from among them namely Muhammad (s) to recite to them His signs the Qur’ān and to purify them to cleanse them from idolatry and to teach them the Book the Qur’ān and wisdom in the rulings that it contains though indeed wa-in in has been softened from the hardened form with its subject having been omitted that is to say understand it as wa-innahum before that before his coming they had been in manifest error.

And to others wa-ākharīna is a supplement to al-ummiyyīna ‘the unlettered’ that is to say those who are alive from among them and to those of them who will come after them who have not yet joined them with regard to precedence and merit; and He is the Mighty the Wise in His kingdom and in His actions those mentioned as coming afterwards are the Successors al-tābi‘ūna; and it suffices to mention these Successors in order to illustrate the greater merit of the Companions among whom the Prophet s was sent over all those others of humans and jinn to whom he was also sent and who believed and will believe in him up until the Day of Resurrection for every generation is better than the succeeding one.

That is the bounty of God which He gives to whom He will — such as the Prophet and those mentioned with him — and God is dispenser of tremendous bounty.

The likeness of those who were entrusted with the Torah those who were charged with implementing it then failed to uphold it then failed to act in accordance with it in what pertains to the descriptions of the Prophet s and so did not believe in him is as the likeness of an ass carrying books in that it does not benefit from them. Evil is the likeness of the people who deny God’s signs those confirming the truth of the Prophet s — the object of rebuke is omitted but is implied to be hādhā’l-mathalu ‘this likeness’. And God does not guide the evildoing folk the disbelievers.

Say ‘O you of Jewry if you claim that you are the favoured friends of God to the exclusion of other people then long for death if you are truthful’ in kuntum sādiqīna is semantically connected to tamannū ‘long for’; as for the two conditions the first is dependent on the second that is to say if you are truthful in your claim that you are the favoured friends of God and given that such a friend would prefer the Hereafter to this world and that it the Hereafter begins at death then long for it.

But they will never long for it because of what their hands have sent ahead in the way of their disbelief of the Prophet which itself is a necessary consequence of their denial; and God is Knower of the evildoers the disbelievers.

Say ‘Assuredly the death from which you flee fa-innahu the fā’ is extra will indeed encounter you; then you will be returned to the Knower of the Unseen and the visible the Knower of what is kept secret and what is in the open and He will inform you of what you used to do’ whereat He will requite you for it.

O you who believe when the call for prayer is made on Friday hasten set off to the remembrance of God to the prayer and leave aside all commerce suspend all such contracts. That is better for you should you know that it is better for you then do it.

And when the prayer is finished disperse in the land this is an imperative denoting permissibility and seek provision through God’s bounty and remember God with remembrance frequently that perhaps you may be successful that perhaps you may be the winners.

On one occasion the Prophet s was delivering the Friday sermon when a caravan arrived and so as was the custom drums were beaten to announce its arrival whereat the people began to leave the mosque to go to it all except for twelve men. The following verse was then revealed But when they sight some opportunity for business or a diversion they scatter off towards it that is towards the business since it is what they seek more than diversion and leave you during the sermon standing. Say ‘That which is with God in the way of reward is better for those who believe than diversion and commerce. And God is the best of providers’. They say that every person ‘provides for’ yarzuqu his dependants by which they mean that such a person does so by means of the provision given by God min rizqi’Llāhi exalted be He.