Commentary on Surah Āl Imrān, a Medinan surah
(1–6) “In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Alif, Lām, Mīm. * Allah—there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Self-Sustaining Sustainer of all. * He has sent down to you the Book in truth, confirming what came before it, and He sent down the Torah and the Gospel * previously, as guidance for humankind, and He sent down the Criterion. Indeed, those who disbelieve in Allah’s signs will suffer a severe punishment. Allah is Almighty, the Lord of Retribution. * Indeed, nothing on earth or in heaven is hidden from Allah. * He is the One who fashions you in the wombs as He wills. There is no deity except Him, the Almighty, the All-Wise.” “Alif, Lām, Mīm” consists of disjointed letters whose meaning is known only to Allah.
(2–3) The Most High informs us that He is “the Ever-Living,” perfect in life, and “the Self-Sustaining Sustainer of all,” self-subsisting and sustaining the affairs of His creation. He has set aright their religious affairs, their worldly affairs, and all that He decrees for them. Thus, He sent down to His Messenger Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—the Book in truth, in which there is no doubt and which contains the truth, “confirming what came before it” of the revealed Books. That is, it bears witness to the same truths to which they bore witness, accords with them, and confirms the messengers who brought them.
Likewise, “He sent down the Torah and the Gospel”
(4) “previously,” before this Book, “as guidance for humankind.”
He then completed and sealed the divine message with Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and with the magnificent Book revealed to him. Through it, Allah guided creation away from error, rescued them from ignorance, and distinguished truth from falsehood, happiness from misery, and the straight path from the paths leading to Hell. Those who believed in it and followed its guidance attained abundant good and reward both in this life and the Hereafter.
And “those who disbelieve in Allah’s signs,” which He has made clear in His Book and through His Messenger, “will suffer a severe punishment. Allah is Almighty, the Lord of Retribution” against those who disobey Him.
(5) Another aspect of His perfect self-subsistence and sustaining power is that His knowledge encompasses all creatures: “Nothing on earth or in heaven is hidden from Him,” even what is carried in wombs.
(6) For He is the One “who fashions you in the wombs as He wills,” as male or female and as complete or incomplete in form, while you pass through the successive stages of His creation in accordance with His wondrous wisdom. Since this is how He deals with His servants and since He exercises such immense care over all their affairs, from the moment He brings them into being until their final end—and no one shares any of this with Him—it necessarily follows that none deserves worship except Him.
“There is no deity except Him, the Almighty,” who has subdued creation by His power and is far above being described with any deficiency or characterized by any blame, “the All-Wise” in His creation and His law.
(7–8) “He is the One who has sent down to you the Book. In it are clear and definitive verses, which are the foundation of the Book, while others are ambiguous. Those in whose hearts is deviation follow what is ambiguous in it, seeking discord and seeking its interpretation. Yet no one knows its interpretation except Allah. Those firmly grounded in knowledge say, ‘We believe in it; it is all from our Lord.’ But none take heed except people of reason. * Our Lord, do not cause our hearts to deviate after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from Yourself. Surely You alone are the Bestower.”
The Most High informs us, as a manifestation of His greatness and the perfection of His sustaining power, that He alone sent down this magnificent Book. Nothing equal or even comparable to it has ever existed or ever will, whether in its guidance, eloquence, miraculous nature, or reformation of creation. This Book contains clear and definitive verses whose meanings are plain and cannot be confused with anything else. It also contains ambiguous verses that may bear certain meanings, but neither of two possible meanings can be determined from such a verse alone until it is considered together with the definitive verses.
Those whose hearts contain sickness, deviation, and departure from the truth because of their evil intentions follow its ambiguous passages. They use them as evidence for their false doctrines and invalid opinions, seeking to sow discord, distort His Book, and interpret it according to their own inclinations and doctrines, so that they may go astray and lead others astray.
As for those firmly grounded in knowledge, whose knowledge and certainty have reached their hearts and borne fruit in deeds and sound understanding, they know that the entire Quran is from Allah and that all of it is true—both its definitive and its ambiguous passages—and that truth neither contradicts nor conflicts with itself.
Because they know that the meanings of the definitive verses are utterly explicit and clear, they refer back to them whatever is ambiguous and causes perplexity to those deficient in knowledge and understanding.
They thus refer the ambiguous passages back to the definitive ones, so that all of it becomes clear and definitive. They say, “We believe in it; it is all from our Lord.” The words “None take heed” regarding beneficial matters and sound knowledge “except people of reason” mean people endowed with sound judgment.
This proves that such an approach is a hallmark of people of reason, whereas following ambiguous passages is a trait of those with unsound opinions, feeble minds, and evil intentions.
As for His statement, “Yet no one knows its interpretation except Allah,” if “interpretation” means knowing the final outcomes of matters and what they will ultimately become, one must pause at “except Allah,” for He alone knows interpretation in this sense. If, however, “interpretation” means explanation and understanding the meaning of the words, it is preferable to read “and those firmly grounded in knowledge” as conjoined to what precedes it. This would constitute praise of those firmly grounded in knowledge, for they know how the definitive and ambiguous texts of the Book and Sunnah are to be understood in their proper place. Since the passage contrasts those who deviate with those who remain upright, the latter beseech Allah Most High to keep them steadfast in faith, saying, “Our Lord, do not cause our hearts to deviate,” meaning: Do not incline them away from truth toward falsehood.
“After You have guided us, and grant us mercy from Yourself” by which our affairs may be set aright. “Surely You alone are the Bestower,” meaning the One abundant in grace and gifts.
This is because Allah Most High relates that those firmly grounded in knowledge ask Him not to cause their hearts to deviate after He has guided them. In other verses, He explains the causes by which the hearts of the deviant stray and that this is due to what they themselves have earned. He says, “So when they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate”; “Then they turned away, so Allah turned their hearts away”; and “We turn their hearts and their eyes away, just as they refused to believe in it the first time.”
Thus, when a servant turns away from his Lord, takes the enemy as an ally, sees the truth but shuns it, and sees falsehood but chooses it, Allah entrusts him to what he has chosen for himself and causes his heart to deviate as punishment for his deviation. Allah has not wronged him; rather, he has wronged himself. Let him therefore blame none but his own soul, which persistently incites to evil. Allah knows best.
(9) “Our Lord, You will surely gather humanity for a Day about which there is no doubt. Indeed, Allah never breaks His promise.” This is