“Indeed, We sent Noah and Abraham, and placed prophethood and Scripture among their descendants. Some of them were guided, but many of them were defiantly disobedient. (26) Then We sent, following in their footsteps, Our messengers; and We followed them with Jesus, son of Mary. We gave him the Gospel, and placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him. As for monasticism, they invented it themselves; We did not prescribe it for them, except that they sought thereby Allah’s good pleasure. Yet they did not observe it as it should have been observed. So We gave those among them who believed their reward, but many of them were defiantly disobedient. (27)”
His saying: “Indeed, We sent Noah and Abraham, and placed prophethood and Scripture among their descendants. Some of them were guided, but many of them were defiantly disobedient. Then We sent, following in their footsteps, Our messengers; and We followed them with Jesus, son of Mary. We gave him the Gospel, and placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him”—that is, those who followed him in his religion (1). “Compassion” is the most intense form of tenderness, “and mercy”: they showed mutual affection to one another, just as Allah, exalted is He, said in describing the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: “merciful among themselves” (al-Fath 48:29).
“And monasticism, they invented it”: they introduced it of their own accord. This is not coordinated with what precedes it; rather, its accusative construction is governed by an implied verb, as though He had said: “And they invented monasticism”—that is, they brought it about of their own accord. “We did not prescribe it for them”: that is, We did not make it obligatory upon them. “Except that they sought thereby Allah’s good pleasure”: that is, rather, they sought Allah’s good pleasure through that monasticism. This monasticism consisted of the hardships they imposed upon themselves: abstaining from food, drink, clothing, and marriage, and devoting themselves to worship in the mountains.
“Yet they did not observe it as it should have been observed”: that is, they did not duly observe monasticism; rather, they neglected it, disbelieved in the religion of Jesus, peace be upon him, became Jews and Christians, adopted the religion of their kings, and abandoned monasticism. Yet some among them remained upon the religion of Jesus, peace be upon him, until they encountered Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and believed in him. This is the meaning of His saying, exalted is He: “So We gave those among them who believed their reward.” They were those who remained steadfast upon it, the people of compassion and mercy. “But many of them were defiantly disobedient”: they were those who abandoned monasticism and disbelieved in the religion of Jesus, peace be upon him.
Abu Sa‘id al-Shurayhi informed us; Abu Ishaq al-Tha‘labi informed us; Abdullah ibn Hamid informed me; Ahmad ibn Abdullah al-Muzani informed us; Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Sulayman related to us; Shayban ibn Farrukh related to us; al-Sa‘q ibn Hazn related to us, from ‘Aqil al-Ja‘di, from Abu Ishaq, from Suwayd ibn Ghafalah, from Ibn Mas‘ud, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: I entered upon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and he said: “O Ibn Mas‘ud, those before you split into seventy-two sects. Three of them were saved, while the rest perished. One group confronted the kings and fought them for the religion of Jesus, peace be upon him, so the kings captured and killed them. Another group lacked the strength to confront the kings, nor could they remain among them, calling them