Commentary
'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, the Exalted and Majestic: ﴿And confirming what is before me of the Torah, and to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you. And I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear Allah and obey me.﴾ ﴿Indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path.﴾ His saying: "confirming" is a state that is connected to his saying: ﴿Indeed, I have come to you with a sign.﴾ [Al-Imran: 49]. This is because his saying is in the position of a state, and 'Isa (peace be upon him) was confirming the Torah, following it and acting upon what is in it. Wahb ibn Munabbih said: He would pray and face Bayt al-Maqdis. Qatadah said in the interpretation of his saying: ﴿And to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you.﴾ What 'Isa brought was more lenient than what Musa brought. Ibn Jurayj said: He made lawful for them the meat of camels and the fats. Al-Rabi' said: And some things from fish, and what has no [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN:sii'si'a] from birds. And there were prohibitions in the Torah that the law of 'Isa left as they were. Thus, the term 'some' in this context is firmly established. Abu 'Ubaydah said: 'Some' in this verse means 'all', and people have criticized him for this statement. Abu 'Ubaydah quoted a witness for his saying from the poem of Labid:
When the places are abandoned, if it does not please them, or the slaughter of some souls is its doom.
And there is no proof for him in the house, because Labid meant himself, so it is a correct partitive. Some of the interpreters went to say that His saying, the Exalted, ﴿What has been forbidden to you.﴾ refers to what the scholars prohibited after Musa and legislated. So it is as if 'Isa returned the rulings of the Torah to their realities that were revealed from Allah, the Exalted.
Ikrimah read: "What has been forbidden to you" with the opening of the ha and the ra that is emphasized, attributing the action to Allah, the Exalted, or to Musa (peace be upon him). The majority read: "And I have come to you with a sign," and in the Mus'haf of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: "And I have come to you with signs from your Lord." And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿So fear Allah and obey me.﴾ is a warning and a call to Allah, the Exalted.
The majority of people read: ﴿Indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord.﴾ with a kasra on the alif as a new statement. A group read it as "That Allah is my Lord and your Lord" with a fatha on the alif. Al-Tabari said: "Indeed" is a substitute for "a sign" in His saying: ﴿I have come to you with a sign.﴾ [Al-Imran: 49]. And in this there is weakness, and the correct estimation is: obey me, because Allah is my Lord and your Lord, or it could mean: because Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him.
And His saying: ﴿This is a straight path.﴾ is a reference to His saying: ﴿Indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him.﴾, because His words combine faith and obedience. The straight path is the way that has no deviation in it.
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Compare different scholarly perspectives on Surah Ali 'Imran verse 51