Surah Al-Maaida (5) — Ayah 41

(Ayah 41) ➊ {يٰۤاَيُّهَا الرَّسُوْلُ لَا يَحْزُنْكَ …… :} When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was in Makkah, he only had to deal with the polytheists; when he came to Madinah, the conspiracies of the hypocrites and the Jews were also added. To console him regarding this, it was said that you should not be grieved because of those who hasten into disbelief, meaning whenever they get an opportunity, they immediately turn back to disbelief and join the disbelievers. This relates to the hypocrites. (Razi)
➋ {وَ مِنَ الَّذِيْنَ هَادُوْا ……:} That is, the Jews who hasten into disbelief should also not grieve you. { ”سَمّٰعُوْنَ لِلْكَذِبِ“ } Those who listen to falsehood a lot. That is, whatever their religious leaders say to them by altering the Torah and as a taunt against the Prophethood of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), they listen to it well and accept it, {”سَمّٰعُوْنَ لِقَوْمٍ اٰخَرِيْنَ“} meaning then they become spies for those people and go to the gatherings of the Muslims and the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and listen attentively, those who, due to arrogance, do not like to participate in these gatherings. (Kabir)
➌ {يُحَرِّفُوْنَ الْكَلِمَ مِنْۢ بَعْدِ مَوَاضِعِهٖ:} It is written in the books of Tafsir and Hadith that a man and a woman from among the Jews committed adultery; their scholars consulted among themselves and decided to have the case judged by Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), because he has brought a lenient law. If he commands flogging, our purpose will be fulfilled, and if he commands stoning, we will reject his decision. Thus, regarding this, this verse was revealed. [مسلم، الحدود، باب رجم الیہود أہل الذمۃ فی الزنٰی : ۱۶۹۹ ] For the detailed incident, see the footnote (1) of verse (15) of this Surah.

41. 1. Allah Almighty is instructing His Prophet not to grieve excessively over the disbelievers and polytheists not believing and not adopting the path of guidance, so that in this regard you may be comforted that there will be no questioning of you about such people before Allah.

41. 2. In the context of the revelation of verses 41 to 44, two incidents are mentioned. One is about two married Jewish adulterers (a man and a woman). They had altered their book, the Torah, and in addition, did not act upon many of its teachings. Among these was the ruling of stoning (rajm), which was in their book for married adulterers and is still present, but since they wanted to avoid this punishment, they decided among themselves to go to Muhammad. If he gives the verdict of flogging and blackening the face according to their invented method, they would accept it, but if he gives the verdict of stoning, they would not accept it. Thus, Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Jews came to the service of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ asked them, "What is there in the Torah regarding stoning?" They replied, "The punishment for adultery in the Torah is flogging and disgrace." Abdullah bin Salam (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "You are lying; the command of stoning is present in the Torah. Go and bring the Torah." When they brought the Torah and began to read it, they placed their hand over the verse of stoning and read before and after it. Abdullah bin Salam said, "Remove your hand from here," and the verse was present there. Eventually, they had to admit it. Thus, both adulterers were stoned (Ibn Kathir).

Another incident is narrated as follows: A tribe among the Jews considered itself more honorable and respected than another Jewish tribe, and accordingly, they had set the blood money (diyah) for a murdered person from their tribe at one hundred wasq, and for a murdered person from the other tribe at fifty wasq. When the Prophet ﷺ arrived in Madinah, the other Jewish tribe, whose blood money was half, gained some courage and refused to pay one hundred wasq as blood money. It was close to causing a fight between them over this issue, but their wise men agreed to have the Prophet ﷺ decide. On this occasion, these verses were revealed, among which one verse commands equality in retribution (qisas). Imam Ibn Kathir says it is possible that both reasons occurred at the same time and these verses were revealed for all of them. (Ibn Kathir)

O Messenger! Do not be grieved by those who hasten into disbelief [74]—among them are those who say with their mouths, "We believe," but their hearts do not believe. And among them are some Jews who listen eagerly to lies, listening for another people who have not come to you [75]. They distort the words after they have been properly placed, saying, "If you are given this, accept it, but if you are not given it, then beware." And whomever Allah intends to put to trial [76], you can do nothing for him against Allah. Allah does not intend to purify their hearts. For them is disgrace in this world, and in the Hereafter they will have a great punishment.

[74]
Your Distress Due to the Hostile Activities of the Disbelievers and Hypocrites:

In Makkah, the only ones who caused pain and distress to the Muslims and the Prophet of Islam were the Quraysh of Makkah, but after coming to Madinah, you were hurt by four types of people: first, the hypocrites; second, the Jews; third, the polytheist tribes of Arabia; and fourth, the polytheists of Makkah, who, until the conquest of Makkah, left no stone unturned in their hostile activities. However, in this verse, only two types of people are mentioned: the hypocrites and the Jews. Their hostile activities were also of various kinds: creating all sorts of doubts in the hearts of the Muslims, kindling the fire of discord among the Muslims themselves, preventing people from embracing Islam, defaming and insulting the Muslims and the Prophet of Islam, conspiring against the Muslims at the time of war, and supporting the disbelievers during battle. You were greatly distressed by the fact that people did not accept Islam, and on top of that, these hostile activities added to your distress. Thus, you would become extremely worried and grieved, and this was a natural matter. Keeping your state in view, Allah Almighty gave you this guidance for your consolation: that you need not be distressed by these circumstances. All these people are within Allah’s knowledge, and they will surely meet their end. You should always keep your focus on Allah alone.

[75]
The Punishment for the Adulterous Couple:

In this verse, there is a reference to an incident. What happened was that a married Jewish man and woman from a noble family in Khaybar committed adultery, and they wanted to escape the punishment of stoning, because in the Torah their punishment was stoning. They thought that in the Shariah of the Last Prophet, the punishment for such adultery was flogging, not stoning. Therefore, they presented the case of this Jewish man and woman in your ﷺ court. Here, it is worth mentioning that according to the treaty you had with the Jews of Madinah, the Jews were free to decide their cases and disputes according to the Torah, and if they wished, they could bring their cases to the court of the Last Prophet, in which case your decision would be binding upon them. The Jews brought this case to you with the intention that this noble adulterous couple would escape the punishment of stoning, and they agreed among themselves that if the Prophet decreed the punishment of flogging, they would accept his decision, but if he decreed stoning, they would not accept it. The narration of Muslim, which is reported from Bara’ bin Azib ؓ and is mentioned ahead, is as follows: the Jews had given this noble adulterous Jew the punishment of flogging, blackened his face, and paraded him on a donkey, so you yourself called them to you. In this way, this case came to your court.

[76]
The Jews Were Neither Followers of the Torah Nor of the Prophet:

The meaning of “fitnah” is that in reality, they were neither prepared to follow the Torah nor to accept the decision of the Prophet; rather, they were following the desires of their own souls. They were deniers of the Book of Allah, i.e., the Torah, because the command of stoning was present in the Torah, and they knew this very well. They were deniers of the Prophet ﷺ because they wanted to accept his decision conditionally—that is, if it was according to their desire (i.e., the punishment of flogging), they would accept it, and if it was contrary to their desire (i.e., the punishment of stoning), they would not accept it. Therefore, this was neither following the Torah nor the Prophet, but rather following their own desires. And whoever wishes to remain in fitnah himself, Allah opens the path of fitnah for him, and due to rebellion against Allah’s command, He does not purify their hearts from such evil diseases. He only purifies the heart of the one who himself wishes to be purified.