﴿وَمَن یَرۡغَبُ عَن مِّلَّةِ إِبۡرَ ٰهِـۧمَ إِلَّا مَن سَفِهَ نَفۡسَهُۥۚ وَلَقَدِ ٱصۡطَفَیۡنَـٰهُ فِی ٱلدُّنۡیَاۖ وَإِنَّهُۥ فِی ٱلۡـَٔاخِرَةِ لَمِنَ ٱلصَّـٰلِحِینَ﴾ [البقرة ١٣٠]
“And who would turn away from the way (millah) of Ibrāhīm except one who has made a fool of himself? And We certainly chose him in this world, and indeed, in the Hereafter he will be among the righteous.” [al-Baqarah 130]
﴿وَمَن یَرۡغَبُ عَن مِّلَّةِ إِبۡرَ ٰهِـۧمَ إِلَّا مَن سَفِهَ نَفۡسَهُۥۚ﴾: Occasion of Revelation
3985. Muqātil ibn Sulaymān said: ﴿ومن يرغب عن ملة إبراهيم﴾ “And who would turn away from the way of Ibrāhīm” — that is because ʿAbdullāh ibn Salām invited his two nephews, Salamah and Muhājir, to Islam. He said to them: “Do you not both know that Allah ʿazza wa jall said to Mūsā: ‘I am going to raise up a prophet from the descendants of Ismāʿīl, called Aḥmad, who will turn his ummah away from the Fire’; and that cursed is whoever denies Aḥmad the Prophet, and cursed is whoever does not follow his religion?” So Salamah accepted Islam, while Muhājir refused and turned away from Islam. So Allah ʿazza wa jall revealed: ﴿ومن يرغب عن ملة إبراهيم﴾ “And who would turn away from the way of Ibrāhīm,” meaning: Islam.(1) (ز)
﴿وَمَن یَرۡغَبُ عَن مِّلَّةِ إِبۡرَ ٰهِـۧمَ﴾: Tafsīr
3986. From Abū al-ʿĀliyah — via ar-Rabīʿ ibn Anas — regarding His statement ﴿ومن يرغب عن ملة إبراهيم﴾ “And who would turn away from the way of Ibrāhīm”: He said: The Jews and the Christians turned away from his way, and took up Judaism and Christianity as an innovation not from Allah, and abandoned the way of Ibrāhīm — Islam. And with that Allah sent His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ with the way of Ibrāhīm.(2) (1/719)
3987. And from Qatādah ibn Diʿāmah, the same.(3)[520] (1/719)
[520] Ibn Kathīr (2/99) commented on the statement of Abū al-ʿĀliyah and Qatādah, saying: «The soundness of this view is attested by the words of Allah the Exalted: ﴿ما كانَ إبْراهِيمُ يَهُودِيًّا ولا نَصْرانِيًّا ولَكِنْ كانَ حَنِيفًا مُسْلِمًا وما كانَ مِنَ المُشْرِكِينَ * إنَّ أوْلى النّاسِ بِإبْراهِيمَ لَلَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ وهَذا النَّبِيُّ والَّذِينَ آمَنُوا واللَّهُ ولِيُّ المُؤْمِنِينَ﴾ “Ibrāhīm was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was upright (ḥanīf), a Muslim, and he was not of the polytheists. Indeed, the people most entitled to Ibrāhīm are those who followed him, and this Prophet, and those who believe; and Allah is the Protector of the believers” [Āl ʿImrān: 67–68].»
3988. From ar-Rabīʿ ibn Anas — via Abū Jaʿfar — regarding His statement ﴿ومن يرغب عن ملة إبراهيم إلا من سفه نفسه﴾ “And who would turn away from the way of Ibrāhīm except one who has made a fool of himself”: He said: The Jews and the Christians turned away from the way of Ibrāhīm, and invented Judaism and Christianity, which are not from Allah, and abandoned the way of Ibrāhīm — Islam.(4) (ز)
3989. Muqātil ibn Sulaymān said: ﴿ومن يرغب عن ملة إبراهيم﴾ “And who would turn away from the way of Ibrāhīm,” meaning: Islam.(5)[521] (ز)
[521] Ibn Taymiyyah (1/365) commented, saying: «This and other things make clear that the Jews and the Christians do not worship Allah, and are not upon the way of Ibrāhīm.»
﴿إِلَّا مَن سَفِهَ نَفۡسَهُۥۚ﴾: Tafsīr
3990. From ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās: (That is,) whoever has lost his own self.(6) (ز)
3991. From Abū Rawq ʿAṭiyyah ibn al-Ḥārith al-Hamdānī: He rendered his judgment incapable concerning himself.(7) (ز)
3992. And al-Kalbī said: He went astray on his own account.(8) (ز)
3993. Muqātil ibn Sulaymān said: Then He made an exception: ﴿إلا من سفه نفسه﴾ “except one who has made a fool of himself,” meaning: except whoever of the People of the Book has lost his own self.(9) (ز)
3994. From ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn Zayd ibn Aslam — via Ibn Wahb — regarding His statement ﴿إلا من سفه نفسه﴾ “except one who has made a fool of himself”: He said: Except one who has missed his portion.(10) (1/719)
3995. From Ibn Kaysān: He was ignorant of himself.(11)[522] (ز)
[522] Ibn Taymiyyah (1/364) criticized this view on the basis of the language of the Arabs, saying: «What they said is weak. For even if it is said that the meaning is correct, He only said: ﴿سَفِهَ﴾, and «safiha» (سَفِهَ) is an intransitive verb, not transitive, whereas «jahila» (جَهِلَ) is a transitive verb. And it is not at all from the speech of the Arabs to say «safihtu such-and-such» (سفهت كذا) in the sense of “I was ignorant of it.” Rather, they said: safuha (سفُهَ) — with ḍammah — safāhah, meaning he became foolish; and safiha (سفِهَ) — with kasrah — meaning foolishness occurred from him; just as they said of faquha (فقُهَ): faqiha (فقِهَ).» [as in source: the inner quotation marks in this quotation are garbled and reversed in the source (»سَفِهَ«فعل …), with no spacing between words; they have been rearranged here according to the sense, without changing any word.]
﴿وَلَقَدِ ٱصۡطَفَیۡنَـٰهُ فِی ٱلدُّنۡیَاۖ﴾: Tafsīr
3996. From Abū Mālik Ghazwān al-Ghifārī — via as-Suddī — regarding His statement ﴿ولقد اصطفيناه﴾ “And We certainly chose him”: He said: We selected him.(12) (1/719)
﴿وَإِنَّهُۥ فِی ٱلۡـَٔاخِرَةِ لَمِنَ ٱلصَّـٰلِحِینَ ١٣٠﴾: Tafsīr
3997. From ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās — via ʿIkrimah — ﴿وإنَّهُ فِي الآخِرَةِ لَمِنَ الصّالِحِينَ﴾ “and indeed, in the Hereafter he will be among the righteous”: He said: He will be recompensed for his deeds in the Hereafter.(13) (ز)
3998. From ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Meaning: with his forefathers, the prophets, in Paradise.(14) (ز)
3999. Muqātil ibn Sulaymān said: ﴿وإنه﴾ “and indeed he,” meaning: Ibrāhīm; meaning: We chose him for prophethood and messengership in this world; ﴿وإنَّهُ فِي الآخِرَةِ لَمِنَ الصّالِحِينَ﴾ “and indeed, in the Hereafter he will be among the righteous.”(15) [Translator’s note: The gloss “We chose him for …” belongs in meaning to ﴿اصطفيناه﴾, but in the source it comes after ﴿وإنه﴾; the order has been kept as in the source.] (ز)
﴿وَإِنَّهُۥ فِی ٱلۡـَٔاخِرَةِ لَمِنَ ٱلصَّـٰلِحِینَ ١٣٠﴾: Narrations Related to the Verse
4000. From ʿAmr ibn Thābit, from his father, who said: When it was the morning (after the wedding night) of Fāṭimah, she was struck by ḥaṣr(16) and trembling. So the Prophet ﷺ said: «I have married you to a master (sayyid), and indeed, in the Hereafter he will be among the righteous.»(17) [Translator’s note: “after the wedding night” has been added to bring out the contextual sense of صبيحة.] (ز)
Footnotes
(1) Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān 1/139. It also appears in Tafsīr ath-Thaʿlabī 1/278 and Tafsīr al-Baghawī 1/152 without an isnād or a named narrator.
(2) Narrated by Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/238.
(3) Cited muʿallaq by Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/238. As-Suyūṭī attributed it to ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd.
(4) Narrated by Ibn Jarīr 2/579.
(5) Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān 1/139.
(6) Tafsīr ath-Thaʿlabī 1/278, Tafsīr al-Baghawī 1/152.
(7) Tafsīr ath-Thaʿlabī 1/278.
(8) Tafsīr ath-Thaʿlabī 1/278 and Tafsīr al-Baghawī 1/152.
(9) Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān 1/140.
(10) Narrated by Ibn Jarīr 2/579.
(11) Tafsīr ath-Thaʿlabī 1/278.
(12) Narrated by Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/238, with the wording: «iṣṭafā» (اصطفى) means «ikhtāra» (اختار), he chose.
(13) Narrated by Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/238 (1273).
(14) Tafsīr ath-Thaʿlabī 1/278.
(15) Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān 1/140.
(16) Ḥaṣr (حصر): tightness of the chest, or retention in the belly, and the like. See: Lisān al-ʿArab (ḥ-ṣ-r).
(17) Narrated by Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/238 (1272) via ʿAmr ibn Thābit, from his father, as mursal. Its isnād contains ʿAmr ibn Thābit, who is Ibn Abī al-Miqdām ibn Hurmuz. Adh-Dhahabī said in al-Mughnī 2/482: «Matrūk (abandoned).» See also: Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl 5/302.