Al-Baqara 2:136
The Cow · ayah 136 of 286
Qooloo amanna billahiwama onzila ilayna wama onzila ilaibraheema wa-ismaAAeela wa-ishaqawayaAAqooba wal-asbati wama ootiya moosawaAAeesa wama ootiya annabiyyoona minrabbihim la nufarriqu bayna ahadin minhum wanahnulahu muslimoon
Saheeh International translation
Other English translations
Abdel Haleem (Oxford)+
"So [you believers], say, ‘We believe in God and in what was sent down to us and what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and what was given to Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets by their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we devote ourselves to Him.’"
Pickthall (classic)+
"Say (O Muslims): We believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto us and that which was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and that which the prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered."
Yusuf Ali (classic)+
"Say ye: "We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them: And we bow to Allah (in Islam).""
Tafsīr · classical commentary
Ibn Kathir
Abridged English, public domain
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Ibn Kathir
Abridged English, public domain
The Muslim believes in all that Allah `revealed and all the Prophets
Allah directed His believing servants to believe in what He sent down to them through His Messenger Muhammad ﷺ and in what was revealed to the previous Prophets in general. Some Prophets Allah mentioned by name, while He did not mention the names of many others. Allah directed the believers to refrain from differentiating between the Prophets and to believe in them all. They should avoid imitating whomever Allah described as,
وَيُرِيدُونَ أَن يُفَرِّقُواْ بَيْنَ اللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَيقُولُونَ نُؤْمِنُ بِبَعْضٍ وَنَكْفُرُ بِبَعْضٍ وَيُرِيدُونَ أَن يَتَّخِذُواْ بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ سَبِيلاًأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْكَـفِرُونَ حَقّاً
(And wish to make distinction between Allah and His Messengers (by believing in Allah and disbelieving in His Messengers) saying, "We believe in some but reject others," and wish to adopt a way in between. They are in truth disbelievers) (4:150-151).
Al-Bukhari narrated that Abu Hurayrah said, "The People of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and translate it into Arabic for the Muslims. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,
«لَا تُصَدِّقُوا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ وَلَا تُكَذِّبُوهُمْ وقُولُوا: آمَنَّا بِاللهِ وَمَا أُنْزل إِلَيْنَا»
(Do not believe the People of the Book, nor reject what they say. Rather, say, `We believe in Allah and in what was sent down to us.)"
Also, Muslim, Abu Dawud and An-Nasa'i recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, "Mostly, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to recite,
ءَامَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْنَا
(We believe in Allah and that which has been sent down to us) (2: 136), and,
ءَامَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَاشْهَدْ بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ
(We believe in Allah, and bear witness that we are Muslims (i.e. we submit to Allah)) (3:52) during the two (voluntary) Rak`at before Fajr."
Abu Al-`Aliyah, Ar-Rabi` and Qatadah said, "Al-Asbat are the twelve sons of Jacob, and each one of them had an Ummah of people from his descendants. This is why they were called Al-Asbat." Al-Khalil bin Ahmad and others said, "Al-Asbat among the Children of Israel are just like the tribes among the Children of Isma`il." This means that the Asbat are the various tribes of the Children of Israel, among whom Allah sent several Prophets. Moses said to the Children of Israel,
اذْكُرُواْ نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ جَعَلَ فِيكُمْ أَنْبِيَآءَ وَجَعَلَكُمْ مُّلُوكاً
(Remember the favor of Allah to you: when He made Prophets among you, made you kings) (5:20). Also, Allah said,
وَقَطَّعْنَـهُمُ اثْنَتَىْ عَشْرَةَ أَسْبَاطًا
(And We divided them into twelve tribes) (7:160).
Al-Qurtubi said, "Sibt is the group of people or a tribe all belonging to the same ancestors."
Qatadah said, "Allah commanded the believers to believe in Him and in all His Books and Messengers. " Also, Sulayman bin Habib said, "We were commanded to believe in the (original) Torah and Injil, but not to implement them."
Tafsir Saʿdi
English translation, public domain
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Tafsir Saʿdi
English translation, public domain
Maʿārif al-Qur'ān
Mufti Shafi Usmani, English
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Maʿārif al-Qur'ān
Mufti Shafi Usmani, English
The earlier verses have defined the religion (Millat مِلَّت of Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) and established that its present form is Islam. Now, the Jews and the Christians, in spite of their pretension to be his followers, did not in actual fact follow his religion. Each of these two groups, instead of accepting Islam, used to ask the Muslims to accept its own religion in order to find true guidance. No doubt, each of these two religions was, in its own time and for its own time, a genuine religion, but in its present form each had become distorted, and had also been abrogated by Allah. So, in answer to them, Allah asks the Holy Prophet $ to declare on his own behalf and on that of his followers that they are and shall remain steadfast in the religion of Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) who shunned all kinds of association (Shirk شرک), who adored nothing but the One God and obeyed no one but Him, and whose religion, therefore, did not have even a trace of distortion. Then, in the second of these verses Allah asks the Muslims to declare the basic tenets of this religion too, which are as follows:- (1) Muslims believe in Allah and in the guidance which He has sent them through the Holy Prophet ﷺ (2) They also believe in all the prophets sent by Allah from time to time - some of whom have been mentioned in this verse. (3) Some of the prophets may in some ways be superior to others, but it is essential for a Muslim to believe in all the prophets without making any distinction. (4) Muslims believe that the Shari` ah of all the prophets mentioned here were instituted by Allah Himself, but they have now been abrogated. So, Muslims follow the Shari'ah of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، for this alone is now valid. (5) Muslims ultimately obey Allah alone, and submit themselves totally to Him.
In the second of these verses the progeny of Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) (Jacob) has been described as Asbat اسباط or "tribes." The reason is that he had twelve sons, and the offspring of each son came to form a tribe. Allah so blessed his seed that in Egypt, Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) (Joseph) and his brothers made up a group of twelve men, but their lineage flourished, and when the Israelites left Egypt along with Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) (Moses), their number ran into thousands. Another form of this blessing was that the progeny of Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) included a large number of prophets.
Tafsīr sourced from quran.com's open API. These are classical commentaries; for personal rulings consult a qualified scholar.