Appearance
A Meccan Verse in a Medinan Sūrah?
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلرَّسُولُ بَلِّغْ مَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّبِّكَ ۖ وَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلْ فَمَا بَلَّغْتَ رِسَالَتَهُۥ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِى ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ
O Apostle! Communicate that which has been sent down to you from your Lord, and if you do not, you will not have communicated His message, and Allah shall protect you from the people. Indeed Allah does not guide the faithless lot. (5:67)
The question
Was 5:67 about communicating the religion as a whole, sent down in Mecca at the start of Islam and later placed in al-Māʾidah, as some exegetes reported by al-Manār held?
Views answered: Exegetes reported in Tafsīr al-Manār · Tafsīr al-Manār on Sūrat al-Maʿārij
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī rejects the reading that “that which has been sent down to you” is the whole of the religion: it would put the verse at the start of the mission, not the end of the Prophet’s life, and it would make the condition and its consequence the same, which is meaningless. A Meccan verse in a Medinan sūrah is possible, but it is against the default and needs a strong proof, and there is none. He holds that these exegetes set aside the evidence because of their theology, as they did in rejecting that “An asker asked for a punishment” came down about ʿAlī; and there they contradict themselves, since by their own reasoning a Medinan verse in a Meccan sūrah would be no objection, and some hold that Sūrat al-Maʿārij is Medinan.
Views compared
The views are given as al-Tasnim reports them. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
The whole of the religion? Read →
Some exegetes, as al-Manār relates
The verse is about communicating the very principle of the religion.Jawādī Āmulī
Then the verse would belong to the start of the mission; and it would say, “If you do not communicate the whole religion, you will not have communicated the whole religion”, which is meaningless.Sent down in Mecca Read →
Some exegetes, as al-Manār relates
It came down in Mecca at the start of Islam and was placed in al-Māʾidah, a Medinan sūrah of the last years.Jawādī Āmulī
Possible in principle, but against the default, so it needs a strong proof; here there is none, and many indications show it cannot have come down at the start of Islam.The asker of al-Maʿārij Read →
Tafsīr al-Manār
The story of al-Ḥārith ibn al-Nuʿmān cannot belong to a Meccan sūrah, so “An asker asked” has no connection with Ghadīr, and the narration is fabricated.Jawādī Āmulī
They reject this evidence because it conflicts with their theology. Some hold that al-Maʿārij is Medinan (al-Taḥrīr wa-l-Tanwīr), so it cannot be judged definitely Meccan.Their own reasoning Read →
Tafsīr al-Manār and those who followed it
A Meccan verse could be placed in a Medinan sūrah.Jawādī Āmulī
Then a Medinan verse about al-Ḥārith ibn al-Nuʿmān placed in a Meccan sūrah is no objection either.Revealed alone, placed later Read →
A further possibility
The verse came down on its own before the Hijrah, in no sūrah, and was later placed in al-Māʾidah.Jawādī Āmulī
This is utterly far-fetched.Punishment while he is among them Read →
A possible objection
God would not punish them while the Prophet was among them (8:33).Jawādī Āmulī
Once the chain is sound, and al-Maʿārij is accepted as Medinan or a Medinan verse as placed in it, 8:33 concerns extermination and general punishment, which does not conflict with a particular punishment.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.