Tafsir for verse: 5:73
لَّقَدۡ كَفَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓاْ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ ثَالِثُ ثَلَٰثَةٖۘ وَمَا مِنۡ إِلَٰهٍ إِلَّآ إِلَٰهٞ وَٰحِدٞۚ وَإِن لَّمۡ يَنتَهُواْ عَمَّا يَقُولُونَ لَيَمَسَّنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ مِنۡهُمۡ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ٧٣ ﴿73
73Surely, disbelievers are those who say, “Allah is the third of the three” while there is no god but One God. If they do not desist from what they say, a painful punishment shall certainly befall such disbelievers.
AI-Assisted Translation: This translation was produced by AI agents carefully trained over several months and thoroughly reviewed. It does NOT replace the scholarship of traditional scholars and is intended as a step in the right direction to make classical tafsir more accessible. There may still be inaccuracies—please report them promptly so we can improve the translation quality.

Commentary

And when this refutation was completed; and he presented it because it is - as has passed - more severe; he followed it with the invalidation of the claim of trinity; by his saying - replacing from that result another result -: "Certainly, those who said..."; with boldness; upon the contradictory words; and a lack of shame; "Indeed, Allah"; meaning: regarding what He has of greatness; from which is absolute richness; "third"; meaning: one of "three"; meaning: all of them are deities; and as for the one who says that He is third in knowledge; he does not disbelieve.

And when He made known their disbelief; He indicated to its nullification; as He indicated to the nullification of the first; as has been mentioned; with that which is not hidden from anyone; confirming their entanglement in the meaning of disbelief; which is concealing what is apparent; so He said: ﴿And there is﴾; and He immersed in negation; as is the truth; and the situation necessitated it; so He said: ﴿There is no god except one God﴾; meaning: they said that while the case is that it is not valid; and it cannot be conceived in the mind that there could be multiple gods; neither in reality; nor in estimation; in any way whatsoever; there can only be one in every regard; and that is Allah (Exalted is He); and no one else; and indeed, Jesus - blessings and peace be upon him - clarified in the Gospel which is among them that it is not valid for there to be a god except one - based on the established evidence of that among the scholars of the principles; and it is the proof of contradiction referred to in our book by His saying (Exalted is He): ﴿If there had been in them gods other than Allah, they would have both been corrupted﴾ [Al-Anbiya: 22]; so their translator in the Gospel of Matthew said: (At that time, he was brought to him - meaning: Jesus - blessings and peace be upon him - a blind man; mute; possessed by a devil; and he healed him; so that he spoke; and saw; and all the crowd was astonished; and they said: Perhaps this is the son of David; and the Pharisees heard it; and they said: This man does not cast out devils except by Beelzebub, the prince of devils; so when He knew their cunning, He said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself will not stand; and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided; how then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out devils by Beelzebub, by whom do your children cast them out?! For this reason, they will be your judges; and if I cast out devils by the Spirit of Allah, then I have come upon you with the kingdom of Allah; and how can anyone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man; then he will plunder his house; and Mark said: And as for the scribes who came from Jerusalem, they said: Indeed, Beelzebub is with him; and by the ruler of the devils, he casts out devils; so He called them; and said to them: How can Satan cast out Satan?! And every kingdom divided will not stand; if the house is divided, that house will not stand; and if Satan who opposes is divided; he will not be able to stand; but he has an end; no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his house unless he first binds him; and then he will plunder his goods; truly I say to you; that every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven to the sons of men; and the blasphemy they blaspheme will be forgiven them; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven forever; but the eternal punishment will be upon them; because they say: Indeed, he has an unclean spirit; Matthew said: Whoever is not with me is against me; and whoever does not gather with me scatters; for this reason, I say to you: Every sin and blasphemy will be left for people; and the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be left for him; and whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be left for him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be left for him in this age; nor in the age to come; either you become a good tree; and its fruit is good; or you become a bad tree; and its fruit is bad; for by the fruit, the tree is known; O brood of vipers; how can you speak good things when you are evil?! For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks; the good man out of the good treasure brings forth good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil; I say to you: That every idle word that men speak, they will give account for in the Day of Judgment; for by your words you will be justified; and by your words, you will be condemned.

And in the Gospel of Luke: While He was speaking, a woman from the crowd raised her voice and said: Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nursed You. He said to her: Hold on! Blessed are those who hear the words of Allah and keep them. Then, a group of scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying: We want, O Teacher, for You to show us a sign. He answered them and said: The wicked and corrupt generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Luke said: Just as there was a sign in Jonah for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a sign for this generation. The men of Nineveh will rise in judgment and will condemn this generation because they repented at the preaching of Jonah - and Luke said: at the warning of Jonah - and here is One greater than Jonah. The queen of the south will rise in judgment with this generation and will condemn it because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here is One greater than Solomon. When an unclean spirit goes out from a person, it comes to places where there is no water; it seeks rest but does not find it. Then it says: I will return to my house from which I came out. It comes and finds the place empty, swept, and adorned. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that person becomes worse than the first. So it will be with this wicked generation. Blasphemy is disbelief in the blessings. And Jonah: (p-253) Yunus - peace be upon him -; and the warning: Luke explained that it is the warning; and the south: Yemen; and the Arkoun: with the hamza being pronounced; and the kaf; between them a silent ra: the great; and Yerushalayim: with the opening of the lower letter and the hamza being pronounced; then a sheen with a dot: the house of the sanctuary; and Baal Zebul: does not hold true at all. As for the evidence of the non-partnership of both Jesus and His mother - peace be upon them - specifically, it will come in His statement (the Most High): They both used to eat food. [Al-Ma'idah: 75]; and the meaning of all this is that whenever partnership enters, deficiency comes either in action or possibility; and whoever is affected by a trace of deficiency cannot be considered a god. When He informed that they disbelieved, and pointed to the refutation of their saying, the most appropriate thing afterward was to admonish them, then encourage them. So He said (the Most High): And if they do not cease; meaning: the disbelievers of all their types; from what they say; meaning: from these two statements and what is similar to them; they will certainly be touched; meaning: directly; without any barrier; those who disbelieved; meaning: they persist in disbelief; and He gave glad tidings - glorified is He - that He will forgive some of them, saying: Among them is a painful punishment.

Explore Other Scholars on This Verse

Compare different scholarly perspectives on Surah Al-Ma'idah verse 73

Al-Biqa'iBurhān ad-Dīn Ibrāhīm al-Biqāʿī
Learn more about Al-Biqa'i
731 / 6181