Surah Al-Maaida (5) — Ayah 77

(Ayah 77) ➊ {قُلْ يٰۤاَهْلَ الْكِتٰبِ لَا تَغْلُوْا فِيْ دِيْنِكُمْ ……:} After refuting the Jews and Christians separately, now both are addressed. (Kabir) The Christians exaggerated in the matter of the Messiah (peace be upon him), and a human whom Allah Almighty granted prophethood and made a sign of His perfect power [ديكهيے زخرف : ۵۹۔ مومنون : ۵۰] they placed him at the rank of deity. On the other hand, the Jews declared him a liar, treated him with extreme disrespect, slandered him and his mother, and sought to kill him. In fact, according to the Jews and Christians, the Jews crucified the Messiah (peace be upon him) and shattered his ribs. (Kabir, Ibn Kathir) The reality is that whatever corruption has entered the religion, it is due to this very exaggeration (leaving the path of moderation). That is why the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) repeatedly advised the Muslims: “Do not exaggerate about me as the Christians exaggerated about the son of Mary (peace be upon them). I am only His servant, so call me the servant and Messenger of Allah.” [ بخاری، أحادیث الأنبیاء، باب : {واذكر في الكتاب مريم ……:} ۳۴۴۵ ] But the Muslims also exaggerated to such an extent that they gave their imams the rank of prophets, made it obligatory to act upon their unsupported statements, and declared anyone who did not do so to be irreligious. They adopted the belief that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) possesses divine attributes, that he hears and knows everything, and that his command prevails in the universe. Some even considered Allah and the Messenger to be one and the same entity. If anyone refutes them, they say that such a person does not believe in the saints, the Prophet, or Allah Almighty. Whereas we believe Allah to be our deity, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to be our Messenger, and the saints to be the close servants of Allah, but we do not consider the saints to be prophets, nor the Messenger to be Allah Almighty.

➋ {قَدْ ضَلُّوْا مِنْ قَبْلُ ……:} It was first said: « قَدْ ضَلُّوْا مِنْ قَبْلُ» (They went astray before this), and at the end it was again said: «وَضَلُّوْا عَنْ سَوَآءِ السَّبِيْلِ » (And they strayed from the straight path). Although these two statements appear to be the same, the scholars have written that the first refers to their having gone astray, and the second {’’ ضَلُّوْا ‘‘} refers to their remaining firm upon that misguidance until now. It is also possible that the first misguidance refers to doctrinal misguidance and the second to practical misguidance. That is, do not follow those before you who made any prophet (such as Uzair or Isa, peace be upon them) a deity, accused any prophet (such as Dawud, the Messiah, his mother, and Lut, peace be upon them) of adultery and so on, and killed some. With these actions, they themselves went astray and led others astray, and until the end did not come to the straight path. “Do not follow them” shows that these misguidances came to them due to imitating those before them; you should not do this.