Surah Al-Bayyina (98) — Ayah 4

(Ayah 4) ➊ {وَ مَا تَفَرَّقَ الَّذِيْنَ اُوْتُوا الْكِتٰبَ … :} In this verse, the crime of the People of the Book is mentioned; the name of the polytheists is not taken, because when this is the condition of the learned, then one can estimate the stubbornness and obstinacy of the ignorant polytheists themselves. The crime of the People of the Book was their mutual division, and they committed this crime even before the advent of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and also upon his arrival. Before his advent, they had already split into seventy-two (72) sects. In this verse, it is clarified that the reason for their becoming seventy-two (72) separate sects was not that they were unaware of Allah’s command—no! Rather, {’’ الْبَيِّنَةُ ‘‘ } (clear proof and explicit command) was present, but due to mutual stubbornness and enmity, some among the rabbis and monks accepted the statements of one as authoritative and formed a sect in his name, and others did so in the name of another. The same happened to the Muslims. Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: [ تَفَرَّقَتِ الْيَهُوْدُ عَلٰی إِحْدٰی وَسَبْعِيْنَ فِرْقَةً، أَوِ اثْنَتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِيْنَ فِرْقَةً، وَالنَّصَارٰی مِثْلَ ذٰلِكَ، وَتَفْتَرِقُ أُمَّتِيْ عَلٰی ثَلاَثٍ وَّسَبْعِيْنَ فِرْقَةً ] [ترمذي، الإیمان، باب ما جاء في افتراق ھٰذہ الأمۃ : ۲۶۴۰، وقال ترمذي و الألباني حسن صحیح ] “The Jews split into seventy-one (71) or seventy-two (72) sects, the Christians did the same, and my Ummah will split into seventy-three (73) sects.” The solution to this division was the same before and is the same now: that the entire Ummah should unite upon the commands revealed by Allah, seek help from the statements of scholars to understand the Book and Sunnah, but not make the statement of any one of them a sect by considering it as Shariah; rather, wherever his statement is against divine revelation, no matter how great a person he may be, it should be completely abandoned.

➋ After the advent of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), the reason the People of the Book did not believe in him was by no means that they had any doubt about his truthfulness; rather, because of the clear glad tidings and signs of him (peace be upon him) present in the previous books, they recognized him like their own sons, even more than that. But merely due to jealousy and enmity, they became divided regarding him—some believed and some remained firm upon disbelief. One aspect of this jealousy and enmity was that he was from the descendants of Ismail instead of the descendants of Israel, and another was that they were not willing to give up their religious leadership.

4. 1. That is, the People of the Book were united before the coming of the Noble Prophet ﷺ, until his ﷺ prophethood occurred; after that, they became divided. Some among them became believers, but the majority remained deprived of faith. The point in describing the Prophet’s ﷺ prophethood and messengership as a proof is that his ﷺ truthfulness was evident, leaving no room for denial. But these people denied him ﷺ merely out of jealousy and enmity. This is why, among those who committed division, only the People of the Book are mentioned here, even though others also committed it, because they were, after all, people of knowledge. And the mention of his ﷺ coming and attributes was present in their books.

4. And those who were given the Book did not differ except after clear evidence had come to them [6].

[6]
The Real Cause of Sectarianism:

This verse also has two meanings. One is that after the coming of a great Prophet like Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and a clear Book like the Quran to the People of the Book, division arose among them. A few people embraced faith, but the rest remained disbelievers, even though clear proofs had come to them. The second meaning is that when the communities of the Prophets begin to split into sects after them, the reason is not that they lack clear proofs or that the truth remains ambiguous to them. Rather, they continue to divide into sects due to their own desires, interests, and the lust for status and power.