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Ayah
Word by Word
أَلَمۡ
Have not
تَرَ
you seen
إِلَى
[to]
ٱلَّذِينَ
those who
أُوتُواْ
were given
نَصِيبٗا
a portion
مِّنَ
of
ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ
the Scripture
يُدۡعَوۡنَ
They are invited
إِلَىٰ
to
كِتَٰبِ
(the) Book
ٱللَّهِ
(of) Allah
لِيَحۡكُمَ
that (it should) arbitrate
بَيۡنَهُمۡ
between them
ثُمَّ
then
يَتَوَلَّىٰ
turns away
فَرِيقٞ
a party
مِّنۡهُمۡ
of them
وَهُم
and they (are)
مُّعۡرِضُونَ
those who are averse
أَلَمۡ
Have not
تَرَ
you seen
إِلَى
[to]
ٱلَّذِينَ
those who
أُوتُواْ
were given
نَصِيبٗا
a portion
مِّنَ
of
ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ
the Scripture
يُدۡعَوۡنَ
They are invited
إِلَىٰ
to
كِتَٰبِ
(the) Book
ٱللَّهِ
(of) Allah
لِيَحۡكُمَ
that (it should) arbitrate
بَيۡنَهُمۡ
between them
ثُمَّ
then
يَتَوَلَّىٰ
turns away
فَرِيقٞ
a party
مِّنۡهُمۡ
of them
وَهُم
and they (are)
مُّعۡرِضُونَ
those who are averse
Translation
Do you not consider, [O Muḥammad], those who were given a portion of the Scripture? They are invited to the Scripture of Allāh that it should arbitrate between them;1 then a party of them turns away, and they are refusing.
Footnotes
1 - Referring to the Jews of Madīnah who refused to implement the rulings given by Allāh in the Torah or to acknowledge the Prophet (ﷺ), whose coming was mentioned therein.
Tafsir
Have you not seen those who were given a portion, a share, of the Book, the Torah, being called to the Book of God (yud'awna, 'being called', is a circumstantial qualifier), that it might decide between them, and then a party of them turned away, opposed? to the acceptance of its rulings. This was revealed concerning the Jews: two of them fornicated and they [the Jews] asked the Prophet may peace and salutation be upon him to adjudicate the case. He ruled that they be stoned, but they [the Jews] refused to do so. When the Torah was brought and consulted, the same verdict was found, and so the two were stoned, but they [the Jews] became wrathful.
"Chastising the People of the Book for Not Referring to the Book of Allah for Judgment
Allah says;
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ أُوْتُواْ نَصِيبًا مِّنَ الْكِتَابِ يُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى كِتَابِ اللّهِ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّى فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمْ وَهُم مُّعْرِضُونَ
Have you not seen those who have been given a portion of the Scripture! They are being invited to the Book of Allah to settle their dispute, then a party of them turned away, and they are averse.
Allah criticizes the Jews and Christians who claim to follow their Books, the Tawrah and the Injil, because when they are called to refer to these Books where Allah commanded them to follow Muhammad, they turn away with aversion.
This censure and criticism from Allah was all because of their defiance and rejection.
Allah said next
ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَالُواْ لَن تَمَسَّنَا النَّارُ إِلاَّ أَيَّامًا مَّعْدُودَاتٍ
This is because they say:""The Fire shall not touch us but for a number of days.""
meaning, what made them dare to challenge and defy the truth is their false claim that Allah will only punish them for seven days in the Fire, a day for every one thousand years in this life.
We mentioned this subject in the Tafsir of Surah Al-Baqarah.
Allah then said,
وَغَرَّهُمْ فِي دِينِهِم مَّا كَانُواْ يَفْتَرُونَ
And that which they used to invent regarding their religion has deceived them.
meaning, what caused them to remain on their false creed is that they deceived themselves, believing that the Fire will only touch them for a few days for their errors. However, it is they who have invented this notion, and Allah did not grant them authority to support this claim.
Allah said, while threatening and warning them
فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جَمَعْنَاهُمْ لِيَوْمٍ لاَّ رَيْبَ فِيهِ
How (will it be) when We gather them together on the Day about which there is no doubt (i. e. the Day of Resurrection).
meaning, what will their condition be like after they have uttered this lie about Allah, rejected His Messengers and killed His Prophets and their scholars who enjoined righteousness and forbade evil Allah will ask them about all this and punish them for what they have done.
This is why Allah said,
فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جَمَعْنَاهُمْ لِيَوْمٍ لاَّ رَيْبَ فِيهِ
(How (will it be) when We gather them together on the Day about which there is no doubt.) meaning, there is no doubt that this Day will come,
وَوُفِّيَتْ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَّا كَسَبَتْ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ
And each person will be paid in full what he has earned And they will not be dealt with unjustly."
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