آلِ عِمْرَان : ٧٩

  • مَا Not
  • كَانَ is
  • لِبَشَرٍ for a human
  • أَن that
  • يُؤۡتِيَهُ gives him
  • ٱللَّهُ Allah
  • ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ the Book
  • وَٱلۡحُكۡمَ and the wisdom
  • وَٱلنُّبُوَّةَ and the Prophethood
  • ثُمَّ then
  • يَقُولَ he says
  • لِلنَّاسِ to the people
  • كُونُواْ Be
  • عِبَادٗا worshippers
  • لِّي of me
  • مِن from
  • دُونِ besides
  • ٱللَّهِ Allah
  • وَلَٰكِن but (would say)
  • كُونُواْ Be
  • رَبَّـٰنِيِّـۧنَ worshippers of the Lord
  • بِمَا because
  • كُنتُمۡ you have been
  • تُعَلِّمُونَ teaching
  • ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ the Book
  • وَبِمَا and because
  • كُنتُمۡ you have been
  • تَدۡرُسُونَ studying (it)
It is not for a human [prophet]1 that Allāh should give him the Scripture2 and authority and prophethood and then he would say to the people, "Be servants to me rather than Allāh," but [instead, he would say], "Be pious scholars of the Lord because of what you have taught of the Scripture and because of what you have studied."
Footnotes
1 Or any believer.
2 Or in the case of Prophet Muḥammad (ﷺ), "the Book" (i.e., the Qur’ān) .
When the Christians of Najraan claimed that Jesus had commanded them to take him as a Divinity, and some Muslims asked that they should be permitted to prostrate themselves before him, the Prophet may peace and salutation be upon him, the following was revealed: It belongs not to any mortal that God should give him the Book, the Judgement, the understanding of the Divine Law, prophethood, then that he should say to men, 'Be servants to me instead of God.' Rather, he should say, 'Be masters, scholars, labouring (rabbaaniyyoon, 'those of the Lord', is derived from rabb, 'lord', with the extra alif and noon, as a superlative [of rabbiyyoon]), by virtue of what you know (ta'lamoon, also read as tu'allimoon, 'you teach') of the Book and in what you study', that is, on account of the fact that you used to do this, for its benefit is that you engage in action.