Selected Exegesis

Following the separate refutation of the false beliefs of each of the Jews and Christians, this verse refers to their common false beliefs, one of which is excess (ghuluww) in religion, which is of two types:

1. Extremism (ifrāṭ):(126) The Jews considered Ezra and the Christians considered the Messiah to be the son of God.(127)

2. Negligence (tafrīṭ): The Jews, due to their enmity toward the Messiah (a.s.), referred to him as the son of an unchaste woman - God forbid!(128)

Thus the People of the Scripture, influenced by the disbelief and atheism of the polytheists, were caught up in wrongful extremism and negligence in religion.

If excess (ghuluww) means transgressing the necessary limit, it will have two divisions: right and wrong; in this case, the qualification “beyond the truth” (ghayr al-ḥaqq) is restrictive and the prohibition of the verse does not include going to excess in truth. However, if it means transgressing the permissible measure - apparently this is what the verse means - it will not have a right division; in this case, the qualification “beyond the truth” is certainly explanatory and emphatic, rather than restrictive.

A person should be independent minded (muḥaqqiq) when accepting beliefs. Even if he is a follower of others (muqallid), he should be independent minded in who he chooses to follow and he should not blindly follow the desires of those who worship their desires and the misguided hedonists (rabbis and monks or disbelievers and polytheists), because following the carnal desires (hawā nafsānī) of others is a cause of misguidance.

The misguidance of the soul (ḍalālat al-nafs) and the misleading of those who worship their desires becomes a cause of their misguidance and separation from the straight path.