3:79 Aal-i-Imraan (The Family of Imraan)

وهذه الآية نزلت ردا لمن قال من أهل الكتاب للنبي صلى الله عليه وسلم لما أمرهم بالإيمان به ودعاهم إلى طاعته: أتريد يا محمد أن نعبدك مع الله، فقوله { ما كان لبشر } أي: يمتنع ويستحيل على بشر من الله عليه بإنزال الكتاب وتعليمه ما لم يكن يعلم وإرساله للخلق { أن يقول للناس كونوا عبادا لي من دون الله } فهذا من أمحل المحال صدوره من أحد من الأنبياء عليهم أفضل الصلاة والسلام، لأن هذا أقبح الأوامر على الإطلاق، والأنبياء أكمل الخلق على الإطلاق، فأوامرهم تكون مناسبة لأحوالهم، فلا يأمرون إلا بمعالي الأمور وهم أعظم الناس نهيا عن الأمور القبيحة، فلهذا قال { ولكن كونوا ربانيين بما كنتم تعلمون الكتاب وبما كنتم تدرسون } أي: ولكن يأمرهم بأن يكونوا ربانيين، أي: علماء حكماء حلماء معلمين للناس ومربيهم، بصغار العلم قبل كباره، عاملين بذلك، فهم يأمرون بالعلم والعمل والتعليم التي هي مدار السعادة، وبفوات شيء منها يحصل النقص والخلل، والباء في قوله { بما كنتم تعلمون } إلخ، باء السببية، أي: بسبب تعليمكم لغيركم المتضمن لعلمكم ودرسكم لكتاب الله وسنة نبيه، التي بدرسها يرسخ العلم ويبقى، تكونون ربانيين.

قال محمد بن إسحاق حدثنا محمد بن أبي محمد عن عكرمة أو سعيد بن جبير عن ابن عباس قال: قال أبو رافع القرظي حين اجتمعت الأحبار من اليهود والنصارى من أهل نجران عند رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ودعاهم إلى الإسلام: أتريد يا محمد أن نعبدك كما تعبد النصارى عيسى ابن مريم؟ فقال رجل من أهل نجران نصراني يقال له الرئيس:أو ذاك تريد منا يا محمد وإليه تدعونا؟ أو كما قال: فقال رسول الله صلى الله علليه وسلم "معاذ الله أن نعبد غير الله أو أن نأمر بعبادة غير الله ما بذلك بعثني ولا بذلك أمرنى" أو كما قال صلى الله عليه وسلم فأنزل الله في ذلك من قولهما "ما كان لبشر أن يؤتيه الله الكتاب والحكم والنبوة - إلى قوله - بعد إذ أنتم مسلمون" فقوله "ما كان لبشر أن يؤتيه الله الكتاب والحكم والنبوة ثم يقول للناس كونوا عبادا لي من دون الله" أي ما ينبغي لبشر آتاه الله الكتاب والحكمة والنبوة أن يقول للناس اعبدوني من دون الله أي مع الله فإذا كان هذا لا يصلح لنبي ولا لمرسل فلأن لا يصلح لأحد من الناس غيرهم بطريق الأولى والأحرى ولهذا قال الحسن البصري: لا ينبغي هذا لمؤمن أن يأمر الناس بعبادته قال: ذلك أن القوم كان يعبد بعضهم بعضا يعني أهل الكتاب كانوا يعبدون أحبارهم ورهبانهم كما قال الله تعالى "اتخذوا أحبارهم ورهبانهم أربابا من دون الله" الآية. وفي المسند والترمذي كما سيأتي أن عدي بن حاتم قال: يا رسول الله ما عبدوهم قال " بلى إنهم أحلوا لهم الحرام وحرموا عليهم الحلال فاتبعوهم فذلك عبادتهم إياهم " فالجهلة من الأحبار والرهبان ومشايخ الضلال يدخلون في هذا الذم والتوبيخ بخلاف الرسل وأتباعهم من العلماء العاملين فإنهم إنما يأمرون بما يأمر الله به وبلغتهم إياه رسله الكرام وإنما ينهونهم عما نهاهم الله عنه وبلغتهم إياه رسله الكرام. فالرسل صلوات الله وسلامه عليهم أجمعين هم السفراء بين الله وبين خلقه في أداء ما حملوه من الرسالة وإبلاغ الأمانة فقاموا بذلك أتم القيام ونصحوا الخلق وبلغوهم الحق وقوله "ولكن كونوا ربانيين بما كنتم تعلمون الكتاب وبما كنتم تدرسون" أي ولكن يقول الرسول للناس كونوا ربانيين قال ابن عباس وأبو رزين وغير واحد أي حكماء علماء حلماء وقال الحسن وغير واحد: فقهاء وكذا روى عن ابن عباس وسعيد بن جبير وقتادة وعطاء الخراساني وعطية العوفي والربيع بن أنس. وعن الحسن أيضا يعني أهل عبادة وأهل تقوى. وقال الضحاك في قوله "بما كنتم تعلمون الكتاب وبما كنتم تدرسون" حق على من تعلم القرآن أن يكون فقيها تعلمون أي تفهمون معناه وقرئ تعلمون بالتشديد من التعليم "وبما كنتم تدرسون" تحفظون ألفاظه.

No Prophet Ever Called People to Worship him or to Worship Other Than Allah

This Ayah 3:79 means, it is not for a person whom Allah has given the Book, knowledge in the Law and prophethood to proclaim to the people, "Worship me instead of Allah," meaning, along with Allah. If this is not the right of a Prophet or a Messenger, then indeed, it is not the right of anyone else to issue such a claim.

This criticism refers to the ignorant rabbis, priests and teachers of misguidance, unlike the Messengers and their sincere knowledgeable followers who implement their knowledge; for they only command what Allah commands them, as their honorable Messengers conveyed to them. They also forbid what Allah forbade for them, by the words of His honorable Messengers. The Messengers, may Allah's peace and blessings be on all of them, are the emissaries between Allah and His creation, conveying Allah's Message and Trust. The messengers indeed fulfilled their mission, gave sincere advice to creation and conveyed the truth to them. Allah's statement,

وَلَـكِن كُونُواْ رَبَّـنِيِّينَ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تُعَلِّمُونَ الْكِتَـبَ وَبِمَا كُنتُمْ تَدْرُسُونَ

(On the contrary (he would say), "Be you Rabbaniyyun, because you are teaching the Book, and you are studying it.") means, the Messenger recommends the people to be Rabbaniyyun. Ibn `Abbas, Abu Razin and several others said that Rabbaniyyun means, "Wise, learned, and forbearing." Ad-Dahhak commented concerning Allah's statement,

بِمَا كُنتُمْ تُعَلِّمُونَ الْكِتَـبَ وَبِمَا كُنتُمْ تَدْرُسُونَ

(because you are teaching the Book, and you are studying it.) "Whoever learns the Qur'an deserves to become a Faqih (learned)."

وَبِمَا كُنتُمْ تَدْرُسُونَ

(and you are studying it), preserving its words.

Allah then said,

وَلاَ يَأْمُرَكُمْ أَن تَتَّخِذُواْ الْمَلَـئِكَةَ وَالنَّبِيِّيْنَ أَرْبَابًا

(Nor would he order you to take angels and Prophets for lords.) The Prophet does not command worshipping other than Allah, whether a sent Messenger or an angel.

أَيَأْمُرُكُم بِالْكُفْرِ بَعْدَ إِذْ أَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ

(Would he order you to disbelieve after you have submitted to Allah's will) meaning, he would not do that, for whoever calls to worshipping other than Allah, will have called to Kufr. The Prophets only call to Iman which commands worshipping Allah Alone without partners. Allah said in other Ayat,

وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلاَّ نُوحِى إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ لا إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ أَنَاْ فَاعْبُدُونِ

(And We did not send any Messenger before you (O Muhammad ) but We revealed to him (saying): "None has the right to be worshipped but I, so worship Me".) 21:25,

وَلَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِى كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولاً أَنِ اعْبُدُواْ اللَّهَ وَاجْتَنِبُواْ الْطَّـغُوتَ

(And verily, We have sent among every Ummah a Messenger (proclaiming): "Worship Allah (Alone), and avoid Taghut (all false deities).") 16:36, and,

وَاسْئلْ مَنْ أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رُّسُلِنَآ أَجَعَلْنَا مِن دُونِ الرَّحْمَـنِ ءَالِهَةً يُعْبَدُونَ

(And ask those of Our Messengers whom We sent before you: "Did We ever appoint gods to be worshipped besides the Most Gracious (Allah)") 43:45

Allah said concerning the angels,

وَمَن يَقُلْ مِنْهُمْ إِنِّى إِلَـهٌ مِّن دُونِهِ فَذلِكَ نَجْزِيهِ جَهَنَّمَ كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِى الظَّـلِمِينَ

(And if any of them should say: "Verily, I am a god besides Him (Allah)," such a one We should recompense with Hell. Thus We recompense the wrongdoers.) 21:29.

When the Christians of Najrān claimed that Jesus had commanded them to take him as a Divinity and some Muslims asked that they should be permitted to prostrate themselves before him the Prophet s the following was revealed It belongs not to any mortal that God should give him the Book the Judgement the understanding of the Divine Law prophethood then that he should say to men ‘Be servants to me instead of God.’ Rather he should say ‘Be masters scholars labouring rabbāniyyūn ‘those of the Lord’ is derived from rabb ‘lord’ with the extra alif and nūn as a superlative of rabbiyyūn by virtue of what you know ta‘lamūn also read as tu‘allimūn ‘you teach’ of the Book and in what you study’ that is on account of the fact that you used to do this for its benefit is that you engage in action.

The infallibility of the Prophets

The verse implies that a person whom Allah invests with the Book, the Wisdom and the power of making decisions, and places him on the great station of prophethood is always faithful to his mission when he communicates the Divine message to people and calls on them to be-come His faithful servants. That he starts moving people away from the worship of only one God and starts asking them to become his own worshippers or the worshippers of some other creatures is something he can never do. If so, this would mean that the one whom Allah had sent as his messenger did not, in fact, deserve this designation. Any government of this world, when appointing someone to an office of responsibility, always takes two factors into consideration:

1. Does the incumbent have the ability to comprehend and execute government policy?

2. How far can he be expected to execute government directives, and to hold its subjects in a stable stance of loyalty? No king or parliament would ever appoint someone as its representative or ambassador about whom there exists the least doubt of indulging in anti-government activity, or deviation from its policy or directives. However, it is possible that the government may have failed to make a correct assessment of a person's ability or loyalty. But with Allah even that element of doubt does not exist. If He knows about a man that he would not over-step the bounds of loyalty and obedience to Him, even in the slightest degree, then it is impossible that he could, later on, prove to be contrary to that assessment. Otherwise, it would mean that Divine knowledge is defective (we seek refuge with Allah! ) Right from here, the question of the ` ismah1 (infallibility) of the prophets, (علیہم السلام) becomes clear. Now that the blessed prophets are free of minor sins, how can the probability of doing shirk (the major sin of associating others with Allah) or making revolt against Allah remain valid?

1.` Ismah' means a special protection given to someone by Allah which makes him refrain from sins. For the purpose of brevity we may translate it as 'infallibility' – editor

In this, there is the necessary refutation of the Christians who claimed that it was Masih (علیہ السلام) who asked them to have belief in his sonship and godhead. Also chastised were the Muslims who had gone to the Holy Prophet . ﷺ trying to find out if it was all right for them to prostrate before him rather than greet him with the usual سلام salam. Also admonished were the people of the Book who had invested their rabbis and monks with the station of God. Refuge with Allah! (Tafsir ` Usmani)

It belongs to no mortal man that God should give him the Book, the judgment, and prophet- hood, and then he should say to the people, “Be servants of me instead of God!” But, “Be you lordly ones from having taught the Book and from having studied!” Before giving existence to the universe and creating Adam, the majestic compeller, the great God, the renowned enactor, knew in His eternal knowledge who among the children of Adam would be worthy of prophethood and friendship and who would be qualified for love and suited for messen- gerhood. God knows better where to place His message [6:124]. How can he upon whom He has placed the brand of deprivation and the inscription of unawareness be sinless and truthful on the road today? And how can he to whom He has given good fortune gratis and whom He has placed on the road of truthfulness and sinlessness be roadless and bad in state today? So, what will take form and how can it enter into imagination? It could never happen that the chosen MuṣṬafā and the caressed Jesus, after the honor of prophethood, the confirmation of sinlessness, and the strength of messengerhood, take a step out of line and say to the people, “Be servants of me instead of God!” By virtue of the beginningless choice and eternal solicitude, the Lord of the Worlds answered on their behalf as their deputy: “They do not say this. Rather they say, 'Be you lordly ones!'” In other words: Be among those singled out for God, those who are described by His words, “When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears and his eyesight with which he sees.” In keeping with the tasting of the folk of recognition, the lordly ones are those who become one for God with disengaged intention, sound trust, and intimacy's breeze. They step beyond the two worlds and seize hold of the gentleness of the Patron's love. They say the prayer of the dead for their own attributes. When someone steps into the field of passion for the beautiful, night and day will recite for him the prayer of the dead. [DS 210] They have souls undergoing annihilation and hearts full of thirst. They have burnt souls, secret cores lit by passion, and spirits hanging in hope.