“Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day”: If it is asked, how is the statement, “Whoever believes in Allah,” to be understood when He had already mentioned at the beginning of the verse, “Indeed, those who believe”? The answer is that scholars differed concerning the ruling of this verse. Some said that by His statement, “Indeed, those who believe,” He meant it in its literal sense. They then differed as to who these believers were. Some said: They were those who believed before the sending of the Prophet and who sought the true religion, such as Habib al-Najjar, Quss ibn Sa'idah, Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufayl, Waraqah ibn Nawfal, al-Bara al-Sinni, Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Salman al-Farisi, Bahira the monk, and the delegation of the Negus. Some of them lived to meet the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and pledged allegiance to him (1), while others did not live to meet him.

It was also said: They were the believers from the previous nations. And it was said: They were the believers of this community. “And the Jews” refers to those who followed the religion of Moses, peace be upon him, without altering it; and the Christians were those who followed the religion of Jesus, peace be upon him, without changing it, and died in that state. They said: These two designations applied to them in the time of Moses and Jesus, peace be upon them, when they were upon the truth, just as Islam applies to the community of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace; and likewise the Sabians, when their affair was sound. “Whoever believes” means whoever among them died as a believer, for the reality of faith lies in persevering upon it until death. It is also possible that an implied conjunction is understood: “and whoever believes after you, O Muhammad, until the Day of Resurrection.”

Others said that those described as believers at the beginning of the verse are so described in a figurative sense, rather than in the literal sense. They then differed concerning them. Some said: They were those who believed in the earlier prophets but did not believe in you. It was also said that they were the hypocrites, who professed faith with their tongues but did not believe with their hearts; the Jews and Christians who adopted Judaism and Christianity after they had been altered; and the Sabians, who were among the various classes of unbelievers. Thus, whoever among these groups believes in Allah and the Last Day with heart and tongue, and does righteous deeds, shall have their reward with their Lord. It is expressed in the plural because “whoever” may refer to one person, two people, or a group, and to either males or females. “No fear shall be upon them” in this world, “nor shall they grieve” in the Hereafter.

The statement of the Most High, “And when We took your covenant,” means your covenant, O company of Jews. “And We raised the Mount above you”: according to some, the Mount means “the mountain” in Syriac; this was also the view of Mujahid. It was said: There is no language in the world except that it occurs in the Quran. The majority, however, said: There is no language in the Quran other than Arabic, owing to His statement, “an Arabic Quran.” Rather, this word and others like it merely happen to correspond in the two languages (2).

Ibn Abbas said: Allah Most High commanded one of the mountains of Palestine, and it was uprooted from its foundation until it stood above their heads. This was because Allah Most High revealed the Torah to Moses, peace be upon him, and Moses commanded his people to accept it and act according to its rulings. But they refused to accept it because of the burdens and heavy obligations it contained, for it was an onerous law. So Allah Most High commanded Gabriel, peace be upon him, who uprooted a mountain the size of their army—one parasang by one parasang—and raised it above their heads at the height of a man, like a canopy. He said to them, “If you do not accept the Torah, I shall bring this mountain down upon you.”

Ata related from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both: Allah raised ⦗13/A⦘ the Mount above their heads, sent a fire before their faces, and brought the salt sea upon them from behind them.