Appearance
Is 5:67 About the People of the Book?
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
Is the command “Communicate that which has been sent down to you from your Lord” tied to the verses around it, which rebuke the Jews and the Christians, or does the verse stand apart from them?
Views answered: Some Sunni exegetes (al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān) · Fakhr al-Rāzī
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī holds that the verse’s own context comes before the context of the verses around it. Within the verse, the command comes with a severe threat and a promise of protection “from the people”, so what is to be communicated is a weighty matter that put the Prophet in danger. The People of the Book could not have been that danger: at the end of his life, when al-Māʾidah came down, the Jews were weak and powerless; the Prophet had already told them, without fear, far harsher things; and Quraysh, a greater danger, were given no such promise. So the verse has no connection with what comes before and after it, and the narrations and historical reports show that it came down about the wilāyah of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.
Views compared
The views are given as al-Tasnim reports them. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
The verses around it Read →
Some Sunni exegetes
The verse is connected with the verses before it, which forbid taking the Jews and the Christians as allies; the Muslims must keep away from them.Jawādī Āmulī
The external indicator counts only after the verse’s own indicator. The threat and the promise of protection show that this verse has no connection with the verses before and after it.Rāzī’s ten aspects Read →
Fakhr al-Rāzī
Of ten possible occasions of revelation, the tenth is the ḥadīth of Ghadīr and the wilāyah of ʿAlī; yet the verse is connected with what precedes it, about the Jews.Jawādī Āmulī
The external indicators, the narrations and the historical reports, support the view that the verse came down about the wilāyah of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.Fear of the Jews? Read →
On this reading
The Prophet would in effect be told: “Do not fear the Jews.”Jawādī Āmulī
When the verse came down, the Jews of Banū al-Naḍīr, Banū Qaynuqāʿ, Banū Qurayẓah and Khaybar were weak and powerless; danger from them would have fitted the early years in Medina, not the end of his life.Harsher words already said Read →
On this reading
Something about the People of the Book made the Prophet hesitate.Jawādī Āmulī
He had already told them, without fear, far more dangerous things: “Be you spurned apes”, “as We cursed the People of the Sabbath”, “they earned Allah’s wrath”. And the verse lays no arduous duty on them.Quraysh had no such promise Read →
On this reading
The promise of protection is about the People of the Book.Jawādī Āmulī
At the start of the mission he told Quraysh, a greater danger, of tawḥīd and the abandoning of idols, and God gave no promise of protection then; so this verse’s subject is the most dangerous he was newly charged with.What was sent down? Read →
A further view
What was sent down is some matter concerning the People of the Book.Jawādī Āmulī
Many matters about them came down before this verse and were communicated without fear, so this view too is rejected.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.