“They eagerly listen to lies and greedily consume illicit gain. If they come to you, either judge between them or turn away from them. If you turn away from them, they will never harm you in any way. But if you judge, then judge between them with justice. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly. * Yet how is it that they seek your judgment when they have the Torah, which contains Allah’s judgment, and then turn away afterward? Such people are not believers. * Indeed, We sent down the Torah, containing guidance and light. By it the prophets who submitted to Allah judged the Jews, as did the devout scholars and rabbis, because they had been entrusted with preserving Allah’s Book and were witnesses to it. So do not fear people; fear Me. And do not sell My revelations for a paltry price. Those who do not judge by what Allah has sent down—it is they who are the disbelievers.”
“They eagerly listen to lies.” Here, listening means listening with acceptance. In other words, their lack of religion and reason led them to respond to those who called them to utter lies.
“And greedily consume illicit gain”—that is, unlawful wealth, consisting of the prescribed payments and regular stipends they wrongfully take from those beneath them and from the common people. Thus, they combine following lies with consuming what is unlawful.
“If they come to you, either judge between them or turn away from them.” You are given the choice in this matter. This ruling has not been abrogated. When people of this kind seek his judgment, he is given the choice either to judge between them or to decline to do so, because their only purpose in seeking a judgment under the Sacred Law is to obtain a ruling that accords with their desires. Accordingly, whenever someone seeking a fatwa or adjudication comes to a scholar, and the scholar knows that the person will not be satisfied if judgment goes against him, the scholar is not obliged to judge or issue a fatwa for him. If he does judge between them, however, he must judge justly. Hence Allah said: “If you turn away from them, they will never harm you in any way. But if you judge, then judge between them with justice. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.” Even if they are wrongdoers and enemies, that must not prevent you from judging them fairly.
This demonstrates the excellence of justice and fairness when judging between people, and that Allah Most High loves it.
Then, expressing amazement at them, (1) He said: “Yet how is it that they seek your judgment when they have the Torah, which contains Allah’s judgment, and then turn away afterward? Such people are not believers.” Had they truly believed and acted as faith requires and demands, they would not have turned away from Allah’s judgment in the Torah before them in the hope of finding with you something that accorded with their desires.
Then, when you judged between them according to Allah’s judgment—which also agreed with what they already possessed—they were still dissatisfied and turned away from it, refusing to accept it as well.
Allah Most High said: “Such people”—those whose conduct is like this—“are not believers.” That is, this is not the conduct of believers, nor are they deserving of the name. They have made their desires into their gods and made the dictates of faith subordinate to those desires.
“Indeed, We sent down the Torah” to Moses son of Imran, peace be upon him. It contained “guidance” leading to faith and truth and protecting against misguidance, and “light” by which illumination is sought amid the darkness of ignorance, bewilderment, doubts, specious arguments, and desires. As Allah Most High said: “We certainly gave Moses and Aaron the criterion, a light, and a reminder for the God-fearing.”
“By it the prophets who submitted to Allah judged” among the Jews in their legal cases and fatwas. They submitted to Allah and yielded to His commands. Their submission was greater than that of anyone else, and they were Allah’s chosen servants. If those noble prophets and leaders of humankind took the Torah as their guide and followed its path, what prevented these ignoble Jews from following it? What led them to cast aside its noblest teaching—faith in Muhammad, may Allah bless and grant him peace—without which no outward or inward deed is accepted? Do they have leaders in this? Yes, they have leaders whose constant practice is distortion, preserving their authority and positions among people, and profiting by concealing the truth and displaying falsehood. Those are the leaders of misguidance who summon others to the Fire.
“And the devout scholars and rabbis”—that is, the Jews were likewise judged by the Torah by their religious leaders. The devout scholars were learned men who acted upon their knowledge and taught others, nurturing people in the best manner and treating them with the compassionate care of the prophets.
The rabbis were the senior scholars whose words were followed, whose conduct was attentively observed, and who enjoyed honorable renown among their nations.
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Their judgments, which accorded with the truth, were issued “because they had been entrusted with preserving Allah’s Book and were witnesses to it.” That is, Allah had charged them with preserving His Book and made them its custodians. It was a trust in their hands, obliging them to protect it from additions, omissions, and concealment, and to teach it to those who did not know it.
They were witnesses to it in the sense that people referred back to them concerning it and anything in it that they found unclear. Allah Most High has therefore placed upon the people of knowledge responsibilities that He has not placed upon the ignorant, so they must shoulder the burdens with which they have been charged.
They must not imitate the ignorant by surrendering themselves to idleness and laziness, nor may they confine themselves merely to personal acts of worship, such as the various forms of remembrance, prayer, almsgiving, pilgrimage, fasting, and similar deeds—acts by which those who are not people of knowledge remain safe and attain salvation when they perform them.
As for the people of knowledge, just as they are required to fulfill their own personal obligations, they are also required to teach people and alert them to what they need in matters of their religion, especially fundamental matters and those that frequently arise. They must not fear people but must fear their Lord. Hence He said: “So do not fear people; fear Me. And do not sell My revelations for a paltry price”—thus concealing the truth and displaying falsehood for the sake of some meager worldly gain.
A scholar’s being spared these afflictions is a sign of divine aid and happiness: his chief concern should be striving in the pursuit and teaching of knowledge; he should know that Allah has entrusted to his keeping what (2) He has placed within him of knowledge and has called him to bear witness to it; he should fear his Lord and not allow fear or dread of people to prevent him from fulfilling his duties; and he should not prefer the worldly life to religion.
Conversely, a sign of a scholar’s wretchedness is that he remains sunk in idleness, fails to perform what he has been commanded, and is unconcerned about what he was entrusted to preserve, having neglected and squandered it. He has sold religion for worldly gain, accepted bribes in his judgments, taken money for his fatwas, and taught Allah’s servants only in return for wages or a promised fee.
Such a person has been granted a tremendous blessing by Allah, yet he has shown ingratitude for it and rejected a tremendous share from which others have been deprived. O Allah, we ask You for beneficial knowledge and accepted deeds, and we ask You to grant us pardon and well-being from every affliction, O Most Generous.
“Those who do not judge by what Allah has sent down”—the manifest truth—but knowingly judge by falsehood for some corrupt purpose of their own, “it is they who are the disbelievers.” Judging by something other than what Allah has sent down is among the deeds of the people of disbelief. It may constitute disbelief that expels a person from the religion when he believes such judgment to be lawful and permissible. Alternatively, it may be one of the major sins and an act of disbelief for which its perpetrator deserves severe punishment.