2:78 Al-Baqara (The Cow)

{ وَمِنْهُمْ } أي: من أهل الكتاب { أُمِّيُّونَ } أي: عوام, ليسوا من أهل العلم، { لَا يَعْلَمُونَ الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا أَمَانِيَّ } أي: ليس لهم حظ من كتاب الله إلا التلاوة فقط, وليس عندهم خبر بما عند الأولين الذين يعلمون حق المعرفة حالهم, وهؤلاء إنما معهم ظنون وتقاليد لأهل العلم منهم. فذكر في هذه الآيات علماءهم, وعوامهم, ومنافقيهم, ومن لم ينافق منهم, فالعلماء منهم متمسكون بما هم عليه من الضلال، والعوام مقلدون لهم, لا بصيرة عندهم فلا مطمع لكم في الطائفتين.

يقول تعالى "ومنهم أميون" أي ومن أهل الكتاب قاله مجاهد: والأميون جمع أمي وهو الرجل الذي لا يحسن الكتابة. قاله أبو العالية والربيع وقتادة وإبراهيم النخعي وغير واحد وهو ظاهر في قوله تعالى "لا يعلمون الكتاب" أي لا يدرون ما فيه. ولهذا فى صفات النبي - صلى الله عليه وسلم -: أنه الأمي لأنه لم يكن يحسن الكتابة كما قال تعالى "وما كنت تتلوا من قبله من كتاب ولا تخطه بيمينك إذا لارتاب المبطلون" وقال عليه الصلاة والسلام "إنا أمة أمية لا نكتب ولا نحسب الشهر هكذا وهكذا وهكذا" الحديث أي لا نفتقر في عبادتنا ومواقيتها إلى كتاب ولا حساب وقال تبارك وتعالى "هو الذي بعث في الأميين رسولا" منهم وقال ابن جرير: نسبت العرب من لا يكتب ولا يخط من الرجال إلى أمه في جهله بالكتاب دون أبيه. قال وقد روي عن ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما قول خلاف هذا وهو ما حدثنا به أبو كريب حدثنا عثمان بن سعيد عن بشر بن عمارة عن أبي روق عن الضحاك عن ابن عباس في قوله تعالى "ومنهم أميون" قال الأميون قوم لم يصدقوا رسولا أرسله الله ولا كتابا أنزله الله فكتبوا كتابا بأيديهم ثم قالوا لقوم سفلة جهال هذا من عند الله وقال قد أخبر أنهم يكتبون بأيديهم ثم سماهم أميين لجحودهم كتب الله ورسله ثم قال ابن جرير: وهذا التأويل تأويل على خلاف ما يعرف من كلام العرب المستفيض بينهم وذلك أن الأمي عند العرب الذي لا يكتب. قلت ثم في صحة هذا عن ابن عباس بهذا الإسناد نظر والله أعلم. وقوله تعالى "إلا أماني" قال ابن أبي طلحة عن ابن عباس إلا أماني الأحاديث وقال الضحاك عن ابن عباس في قوله تعالى "إلا أماني" يقول إلا قولا يقولون بأفواههم كذبا وقال مجاهد إلا كذبا: وقال سنيد عن حجاج عن ابن جريج عن مجاهد "ومنهم أميون لا يعلمون الكتاب إلا أماني" قال أناس من اليهود لم يكونوا يعلمون من الكتاب شيئا وكانوا يتكلمون بالظن بغير ما في كتاب الله ويقولون هو من الكتاب أماني يتمنونها وعن الحسن البصري نحوه وقال أبو العالية والربيع وقتادة إلا أماني يتمنون على الله ما ليس لهم وقال عبدالرحمن بن زيد بن أسلم إلا أماني قال تمنوا فقالوا نحن من أهل الكتاب وليسوا منهم قال ابن جرير والأشبه بالصواب قول الضحاك عن ابن عباس وقال مجاهد إن الأميين الذين وصفهم الله تعالى أنهم لا يفقهون من الكتب الذي أنزله الله تعالى على موسى شيئا ولكنهم يتخرصون الكذب. يتخرصون الأباطيل كذبا وزورا والتمني في هذا الموضع هو تخلق الكذب وتخرصه ومنه الخبر المروي عن عثمان بن عفان - رضي الله عنه - ما تغنيت ولا تمنيت يعني ما تخرصت الباطل ولا اختلقت الكذب. وقيل المراد بقوله "إلا أماني" بالتشديد والتخفيف أيضا أي إلا تلاوة فعلى هذا يكون استثناء منقطعا واستشهدوا على ذلك بقوله تعالى "إلا إذا تمنى" أي تلا "ألقى الشيطان في أمنيته" الآية وقال كعب بن مالك الشاعر: تمنى كتاب الله أول ليلة وآخره لاقى حمام المقادر وقال آخر: تمنى كتاب الله آخر ليلة تمني داود الكتاب على رسل وقال محمد بن إسحق حدثني محمد بن أبي محمد عن عكرمة أو سعيد بن جبير عن ابن عباس "لا يعلمون الكتاب إلا أماني وإن هم إلا يظنون" أي ولا يدرون ما فيه وهم يجحدون نبوتك بالظن وقال مجاهد "وإن هم إلا يظنون" يكذبون وقال قتادة وأبو العالية والربيع: يظنون بالله الظنون بغير الحق.

The Meaning of `Ummi

Allah said,

وَمِنْهُمْ أُمِّيُّونَ

(And there are among them Ummyyun people) meaning, among the People of the Book, as Mujahid stated. Ummyyun, is plural for Ummi, that is, a person who does not write, as Abu Al-`Aliyah, Ar-Rabi`, Qatadah, Ibrahim An-Nakha`i and others said. This meaning is clarified by Allah's statement,

لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ الْكِتَـبَ

(Who know not the Book) meaning, are they not aware of what is in it.

Ummi was one of the descriptions of the Prophet because he was unlettered. For instance, Allah said,

وَمَا كُنتَ تَتْلُو مِن قَبْلِهِ مِن كِتَـبٍ وَلاَ تَخُطُّهُ بِيَمِينِكَ إِذاً لاَّرْتَـبَ الْمُبْطِلُونَ

(Neither did you (O Muhammad ) read any book before it (this Qur'an) nor did you write any book (whatsoever) with your right hand. In that case, indeed, the followers of falsehood might have doubted) (29:48).

Also, the Prophet said,

«إِنَّا أُمَّةٌ أُمِّيَّةٌ لَا نَكْتُبُ وَلَا نَحْسِبُ، الشَّهْرُ هكَذَا وَهكَذَا وَهكَذَا»

(We are an Ummi nation, neither writing nor calculating. The (lunar) month is like this, this and this (i.e. thirty or twenty-nine days.)

This Hadith stated that Muslims do not need to rely on books, or calculations to decide the timings of their acts of worship. Allah also said,

هُوَ الَّذِى بَعَثَ فِى الأُمِّيِّينَ رَسُولاً مِّنْهُمْ

(He it is Who sent among the Ummiyyin ones a Messenger (Muhammad ) from among themselves) (62:2).

The Explanation of Amani

Ad-Dahhak said that Ibn `Abbas said that Allah's statement,

إِلاَّ أَمَانِىَّ

(But they trust upon Amani) means, "It is just a false statement that they utter with their tongues." It was also said that Amani means `wishes and hopes'. Mujahid commented, "Allah described the Ummiyyin as not understanding any of the Book that Allah sent down to Musa, yet they create lies and falsehood." Therefore, the word Amani mentioned here refers to lying and falsehood. Mujahid said that Allah's statement,

وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلاَّ يَظُنُّونَ

(And they but guess) means, "They lie." Qatadah, Abu Al-`Aliyah and Ar-Rabi` said that it means, "They have evil false ideas about Allah."

Woe unto Those Criminals among the Jews

Allah said,

فَوَيْلٌ لِّلَّذِينَ يَكْتُبُونَ الْكِتَـبَ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ ثُمَّ يَقُولُونَ هَـذَا مِنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ لِيَشْتَرُواْ بِهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلاً

(Then Waylun (woe) to those who write the book with their own hands and then say, "This is from Allah," to purchase with it a little price!).

This is another category of people among the Jews who called to misguidance with falsehood and lies about Allah, thriving on unjustly amassing people's property. `Waylun (woe)' carries meanings of destruction and perishing, and it is a well-known word in the Arabic language. Az-Zuhri said that `Ubadydullah bin `Abdullah narrated that Ibn `Abbas said, "O Muslims! How could you ask the People of the Book about anything, while the Book of Allah (Qur'an) that He revealed to His Prophet is the most recent Book from Him and you still read it fresh and young Allah told you that the People of the Book altered the Book of Allah, changed it and wrote another book with their own hands. They then said, `This book is from Allah,' so that they acquired a small profit by it. Hasn't the knowledge that came to you prohibited you from asking them By Allah! We have not seen any of them asking you about what was revealed to you." This Hadith was also collected by Al-Bukhari. Al-Hasan Al-Basri said, "The little amount here means this life and all that it contains."

Allah's statement,

فَوَيْلٌ لَّهُمْ مِّمَّا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَوَيْلٌ لَّهُمْ مِّمَّا يَكْسِبُونَ

(Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for that they earn thereby) means, "Woe to them because of what they have written with their own hands, the lies, falsehood and alterations. Woe to them because of the property that they unjustly acquired." Ad-Dahhak said that Ibn `Abbas commented,

فَوَيْلٌ لَّهُمْ

(Woe to them), "Means the torment will be theirs because of the lies that they wrote with their own hands,

وَوَيْلٌ لَّهُمْ مِّمَّا يَكْسِبُونَ

(And woe to them for that they earn thereby), which they unjustly acquired from people, be they commoners or otherwise."

And there are some of them the Jews that are illiterate unlettered not knowing the Scripture the Torah but only desires lies which were handed down to them by their leaders and which they relied upon; and in their rejection of the prophethood of the Prophet and fabrications of other matters they have mere conjectures and no firm knowledge.

Allah reminds the Jews that He is omniscient, and knows what they try to keep concealed as well as what they say or do openly. So, it would make no difference at all, if the hypocrites tried to conceal their infidelity from the Muslims, or the other group, not to disclose the verses of the Torah which speak of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . For, Allah Himself has, on different occasions, informed the Muslims in the Holy Qur'an as to the hypocrisy of certain Jews and as to the testimony of the Torah also.

Verse 77 deals with the educated ones among the Jews, while Verse 78 speaks of those who were unlettered. These men had no knowledge of the Torah, and were even deficient in their understanding. Then, the Jewish scholars did not give them correct or proper information about their religion. No wonder, their minds were stuffed only with baseless superstitions which they found very pleasant and flattering.

Since the dishonesty of their scholars was the real cause of their superstitiousness, the crime of the former was greater than that of the latter. So, Verse 79 turns to the Jewish scholars. They were greedy and self-seeking, and in order to please the people for receiving money and respect from them, they used to misrepresent divine injunctions, going so far as to change the words of the Torah or distort the sense, pretending all the while that this was just what Allah had said or meant. The Verse 79 announces a grievous punishment for these two sins - distorting the Word of Allah and earning money by doing so.

A doctrinal point

Verse 78 says that the illiterate Jews follow their Zann ظن ، that is to say, their fancies or conjectures. Some people do not pay any attention to the context in which the word has been used here, and come to the erroneous conclusion that it is not legitimate to accept or follow any view or injunction based on Zann ظن ، which they always translate as "a fanciful supposition." This, no doubt, is one of the lexical meanings of the word, but only one. Let us explain that the Holy Qur'an uses the word Zann ظن in three ways:

(1) To signify perfect certitude -"Those who are certain that they are going to meet their Lord" (2:46). (2) To signify the greatest likelihood - "And he said to him whom he thought was the more likely of the two to be released from the prison" (12:42). (3) To signify a mere fanciful supposition - as in the present verse. The Zann ظن which the Holy Qur'an prohibits us to follow is that of the third kind. This verse condemns the Jews for having followed this kind of Zann ظن which consists in a fanciful opinion that is not supported by a respectable argument or goes against a valid one. On the contrary, it is necessary to follow the Zann ظن of the first two kinds. When certain ahadith or certain arguments and conclusions in the Shari` ah are described as resting on Zann ظن ، it is done according to the second signification of the word. One cannot avoid this kind of Zann ظن in any sphere of life, and the Shari` ah requires us to accept and follow it. Certain verses of the Holy Qur'an, of course, condemn those who follow their Zann ظن ، but to apply this condemnation to all the possible cases, and to use such verses for rejecting all the legitimate arguments and injunctions of the Shariah based on Zann ظن is to betray one's ignorance of the Holy Qur'an.

And among them are the unlettered. In this verse the attribute of unletteredness is a censure of the estranged and a mark of their short- coming. In the verse where He says, “Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet” [7:157], it is a praise of MuṣṬafā and a mark of his perfection. This alludes to the fact that having the same name does not mean being of the same kind. The congruence of names does not require the congruence of meanings. The position of the Folk of the Sunnah in affirming the attributes of the Real was established according to this rule: the agreement of one name with another does not bring about the agreement of meanings. God has attributes and descriptions fitting for Godhood, and creatures are far from that. Created things have created attributes, and God is pure of that. Do you not see that “exalted” is a name of God, and He called Joseph exalted [12:78]? God's exalted- ness is worthy of Him and the created thing's exaltedness is worthy of it. By the agreement of the Muslims and the attestation of most of the unbelievers, God is existent and the creatures are existent. But, the creatures exist by God's existence-giving, and God exists by His own abidance and His own being and subsistence. The Muslims agree that God is alive, and there are many living things among the created. The created thing is alive through breath and through appropriate and timely nourishment, but God is alive through His life and subsistence and through His firstness and lastness-without when, how many, or how. All the opponents of the Folk of the Sunnah say that God is maker and the created thing maker. But the created thing is maker through artifice, instrument, striving, and measure, and God is maker through power and wisdom-whatever He wants, as He wants, and whenever He wants. There are many similar things in the Qur'an. In short, God knows how He is, and He is just as He said He is, but the servant is incapable of knowing His howness. What God said about Himself should be accepted from the eyeteeth and assented to from the depth of the spirit. When someone fancies that having the same meaning is to be of the same kind, that is to go by the road of the road- less, and it is nothing but rebellion. Hoping to grasp God by imagination and seeking is absurd, and everything gained in this way will be faulty. Safety in the religion lies in accepting the mes- sage, approving of him who conveyed it, bowing the head, and putting aside seeking. Anyone who has this as his belief has gone on the right path, and his outcome will be as the Exalted Lord says: