Quran 3:23 — Surah Aal-i-Imraan Ayah 23 | Arabic, Translation & Tafsir

أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَٰلُهُمْ فِى ...

3:23

Aal-i-Imraan

ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَالُوا۟ لَن تَمَسَّنَا ٱلنَّا...

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ نَصِيبًۭا مِّنَ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ يُدْعَوْنَ إِلَىٰ كِتَٰبِ ٱللَّهِ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّىٰ فَرِيقٌۭ مِّنْهُمْ وَهُم مُّعْرِضُونَ

Alam tara ilal lazeena ootoo naseebam minal Kitaabi yud'awna ilaa Kitaabil laahi liyahkuma bainahum summa yatawallaa fareequm minhum wa hum mu'ridoon

Do you not consider, [O Muhammad], those who were given a portion of the Scripture? They are invited to the Scripture of Allah that it should arbitrate between them; then a party of them turns away, and they are refusing.

Related Tafsir

Ibn Kathir

Chastising the People of the Book for Not Referring to the Book of Allah for Judgment

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 إِلاَ أَيَّامًا مَّعْدُودَتٍ

(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 Surat Al-Baqarah.

Allah then said,

وَغَرَّهُمْ فِى 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 جَمَعْنَـهُمْ 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 جَمَعْنَـهُمْ 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 لاَ يُظْلَمُونَ

(And each person will be paid in full what he has earned And they will not be dealt with unjustly.).

View Full Tafsir: Chastising the People of the Book for Not Referring to the Book of Allah for JudgmentAyahs 23–25

Those who have made their Scripture into parts are the people of the Scripture who divided it into portions and believed in a part of it and disbelieved the other.

Sahih al-Bukhari #3781Narrated Ibn `Abbas:

They, the people of the Scriptures, divided this Scripture into parts, believing in some portions of it and disbelieving the others. (See 15:91)

Sunan Ibn Majah #3930‘Amir bin ‘Abdullah bin Zubair narrated that his father told him that there was no more than four years between their becoming Muslim and the revelation of this Verse, by which Allah reprimanded them:

“Lest they become as those who received the Scripture before, and the term was prolonged for them and so their hearts were hardened? And many of them were rebellious.”

Sahih al-Bukhari #7237Narrated 'Ubaidullah bin `Abdullah:

`Abdullah bin `Abbas said, "O the group of Muslims! How can you ask the people of the Scriptures about anything while your Book which Allah has revealed to your Prophet contains the most recent news from Allah and is pure and not distorted? Allah has told you that the people of the Scriptures have changed some of Allah's Books and distorted it and wrote something with their own hands and said, 'This is from Allah, so as to have a minor gain for it. Won't the knowledge that has come to you stop you from asking them? No, by Allah, we have never seen a man from them asking you about that (the Book Al-Qur'an ) which has been revealed to you.