Surah An-Nisaa (4) — Ayah 105

(Ayah 105) ➊ {اِنَّاۤ اَنْزَلْنَاۤ اِلَيْكَ الْكِتٰبَ بِالْحَقِّ … :} The majority of commentators have reported the reason for the revelation of these verses (105 to 114) as an incident of theft, which is mentioned in detail in Tirmidhi, and Shaykh Nasir al-Din al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) has graded it Hasan. Its summary is as follows: Bishr, Bashir, and Mubashir were three brothers, sons of Ubayriq or Tu‘mah bin Abi Yariq. Some have said that among them, Bashir’s kunya was Abu Tu‘mah. These people were from the tribe of Banu Zufar in Madinah. Among them, Bashir was the worst; he was a hypocrite and used to satirize the Muslims and attribute those poems to others. These were poor, destitute people and neighbors of Rifa‘ah bin Zayd. Once, a caravan came from Syria bringing fine flour, so Rifa‘ah bin Zayd bought a sack from it. The people of Madinah used to eat flour, but fine flour was kept aside for the elders of the household. Rifa‘ah stored that fine flour with his weapons in his armory. The sons of Ubayriq broke into the store and stole the fine flour and weapons. In the morning, Rifa‘ah discussed the theft of his weapons and fine flour with his nephew Qatadah bin Nu‘man. He began investigating and found out that the sons of Abi Yariq had lit a fire that night, and perhaps they had prepared food from Rifa‘ah’s fine flour. When the secret of the sons of Abi Yariq was exposed, they threw the stolen weapons, etc., into the house of a Jew, and some people from their tribe, Banu Zufar, came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and complained that Rifa‘ah bin Zayd and his nephew had accused one of our household, who are faithful and righteous people, of theft. Qatadah says, I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said: “You have accused faithful, righteous people of theft without evidence.” These people spread the rumor that the stolen goods were found in the Jew’s house, so these verses were revealed. [ ترمذی، التفسیر، باب ومن سورۃ النساء : ۳۰۳۶ ] Allah Almighty exposed the reality of the matter so that no one could say that the crime was committed by Banu Ubayriq, but the Jew was made the criminal because he was not one of their own. This could have cast a great stain on the justice of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).

➋ {وَ لَا تَكُنْ لِّلْخَآىِٕنِيْنَ خَصِيْمًا: } This refers to the sons of Abi Yariq, that you should not support them. From this, it is understood that you were not the knower of the unseen, otherwise Allah Almighty would not have needed to say, “Do not argue on behalf of those who deceive.”