Surah Al-An'aam (6) — Ayah 91

(Ayah 91) {وَ مَا قَدَرُوا اللّٰهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهٖۤ … :} This address is to the Jews, who, due to enmity and hatred towards the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), denied a reality that they themselves acknowledged. They used to say that Allah Almighty has not revealed any book to any human. In this verse, their objection is answered in two ways: first, that they did not recognize Allah Almighty as He deserved to be recognized, nor did they give Him His due estimation, because Allah neither speaks directly to people nor sends an angel for this task. The only possible way is that Allah reveals His word to the Prophet through angels. The second answer is that you yourselves admit that Musa (peace be upon him) was a human, a descendant of Adam (peace be upon him), and had parents, so who revealed the book that was sent to him? If this book was not revealed by Allah Almighty, then why do you preserve it so carefully? And the guidance and light of knowledge found in this book—can anyone other than Allah tell such things? The guidance present in this book was neither known to you nor to your forefathers, so your act of disclosing some parts of the book to people and hiding some parts according to your desires—all this indicates that this book was revealed from Allah and is a proof against you. Otherwise, if it were authored by a human, you would not need to do such things. After this, Allah Almighty said that you should say that the Torah was revealed to Musa (peace be upon him) by Allah Almighty, and the knowledge and wisdom given to Muhammad (peace be upon him) was also from Allah Almighty through revelation. When this is established, then how can you deny the revelation to the messengers in general and to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in particular? This entire address can also be to the disbelievers of Makkah, because they too acknowledged the prophethood of Musa (peace be upon him). {’’ قَرَاطِيْسَ ‘‘} This is the plural of {’’ قِرْطَاسٌ‘‘}, meaning page, paper, that is, the Jews used to keep the Torah not as a compiled book but in the form of separate pages, and would take out and show whichever page suited their purpose.

91. 1 Qadar means estimation, and it is used in the sense of knowing the true reality of something and attaining its recognition. The meaning is that these polytheists of Makkah deny the messengers and the revelation of books, which clearly means that they do not have the correct recognition of Allah, otherwise they would not deny these things. Moreover, due to this very lack of recognition of Allah, they also remained incapable of recognizing prophethood and messengership, that how can the word of Allah be revealed to a human? As Allah has said in another place (اَكَان للنَّاسِ عَجَبًا اَنْ اَوْحَيْنَآ اِلٰى رَجُلٍ مِّنْھُمْ اَنْ اَنْذِرِ النَّاسَ) (10:2): Is it a matter of wonder for people that We revealed to a man from among them, appointing him to warn the people? In another place, He said (وَمَا مَنَعَ النَّاسَ اَنْ يُّؤْمِنُوْٓا اِذْ جَاۗءَهُمُ الْهُدٰٓى اِلَّآ اَنْ قَالُوْٓا اَبَعَثَ اللّٰهُ بَشَرًا رَّسُوْلًا) (17:94): After guidance came to them, people refrained from accepting it because they said, "Has Allah sent a human as a messenger?" Some details of this have already passed in the footnote of verse number 8. In the verse under explanation, they also denied, on the basis of this very idea, that Allah has revealed any book to a human. Allah said, if this is the case, then ask them! Who revealed the Torah to Musa (which they accept)?

91. 2 According to the aforementioned explanation of the verse, now the address is to the Jews, saying that you keep this book in scattered pages, from which you reveal whatever you wish and conceal whatever you wish, such as the issue of stoning or the matter of the attributes of the Prophet ﷺ. Hafiz Ibn Kathir and Imam Ibn Jarir Tabari, etc., have argued that this is a Makki verse, so how can it be addressed to the Jews? And some commentators have considered the entire verse to be related to the Jews, and the outright denial of prophethood and messengership in it is considered to be based on the stubbornness, obstinacy, and enmity of the Jews. Thus, there are three opinions among the commentators regarding the explanation of this verse: one, that the whole verse is about the Jews; second, that the whole verse is about the polytheists; and third, that the initial part of the verse is about the polytheists and the rest about the Jews. And Allah knows best.

91. 3 In the case of accepting it as related to the Jews, its explanation would be that you were informed through the Torah; otherwise, through the Quran.

91. 4 This is the answer to مَنْ أَنْزَلَ (Who sent down).

91. They did not value Allah as He should be valued, when they said: "Allah has not sent down anything to any human being." Ask them: Who then sent down the Book which Moses brought [93], a light and guidance for the people? You made it into separate sheets, some of which you show, but you hide much [93.1]. And you were taught through this Book what neither you nor your forefathers knew. Say: "Allah alone sent it down." Then leave them to play in their vain discussions.

[93]
The Revelation of the Quran Upon a Human?

This address is to the Jews, who, due to enmity towards the Messenger and out of malice and stubbornness, denied a reality that was accepted even among themselves. They used to say that Allah has not revealed any book to a human being. Allah Almighty answered this objection in two ways: first, that they do not have complete knowledge of Allah, because neither does Allah Himself speak directly to people, nor does He send an angel to humans for this task. The only possible way is that Allah reveals His word to the Prophet through angels. The second answer is that you yourselves accept that Musa (Moses) ؑ was a human, from the descendants of Adam ؑ, and his parents were also present, so who revealed the book that was sent down to him? If this book was not revealed by Allah, then why do you preserve it so carefully? And the guidance and light of knowledge that is in this book—can anyone other than Allah tell such things? The guidance present in this book was neither known to you nor to your forefathers. Then, could anyone other than Allah have sent down such a book? Your act of disclosing some parts of this book to people and hiding some parts according to your desires—all this indicates that this book is from Allah and is a proof against you. Otherwise, if it were authored by a human, you would not need to do such things. The debates about human and messenger are futile! These were questions for which the Jews considered it safer not to answer, because the answer would go against them. Therefore, Allah Himself gave the answer: say to them that it is Allah who sent down the Torah, and He revealed it to a human. Those same pointless debates, such as: since so-and-so is a human, he cannot be a prophet, or since so-and-so is a prophet, he cannot be a human. So let them remain entangled in such debates. Such people are not seekers of guidance.
[93۔ 1]

The Form of the Torah in the Prophetic Era:

From this phrase of the verse, it is understood that in your (the Prophet’s) time, the Torah that the Jews possessed was not in the form of a bound book, but rather in separate sheets. In such a form, it was relatively easy for the Jews to act dishonestly; the verses they wanted to hide, they would simply make the sheet disappear. And if they wanted to alter something in the book or interpret or explain it according to their desires, they would write a new sheet and include it. The verse of stoning or the verses related to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, they would hide in this way by removing such sheets from among them and making them disappear. The fact that the Torah was written on separate sheets is supported by the hadith that once Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) found a few such sheets and began to read them before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, upon which signs of displeasure appeared on his face. This hadith has already been mentioned at its appropriate place. The second thing that is understood from this verse is that there were many verses of the Torah whose correct meaning became known to the Jewish scholars only when the teachings of the Quran became widespread. Before this, neither the Jewish scholars nor their forefathers knew the meaning of these verses.