'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Say, O People of the Scripture, why do you disbelieve in the verses of Allah while Allah is Witness over what you do?" "Say, O People of the Scripture, why do you turn away from the path of Allah those who believe, seeking to make it seem crooked, while you are witnesses? And Allah is not unaware of what you do." These verses are a reprimand to the Jews contemporary to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and 'the Scripture' refers to the Torah. He made them His people according to their claim and lineage, but in reality, His people are the believers. 'The verses of Allah' may refer to the Qur'an, and it may also refer to the evident signs manifested through Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And Allah is Witness over what you do" is a pure warning: that is, He will reward you for it and punish you. Al-Tabari said: These two verses, His saying: "Say, O People of the Scripture, why do you disbelieve?" and what follows them, up to His saying: "And they will have a great punishment" [Aal 'Imran: 105], were revealed because of a man from the Jews who attempted to incite discord between the Aws and Khazraj. Ibn Ishaq reported to me from a trustworthy source about Zayd ibn Aslam, who said: 'Shas ibn Qays, the Jew - who was an elder who had lived in the days of ignorance, was greatly disbelieving and had intense animosity towards the Muslims and envy of them - passed by a group of the companions of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, from the Aws and Khazraj, while they were in a gathering talking. He was angered by what he saw of their unity and the reconciliation among them, after the enmity that had existed between them. He said: 'The leaders of Banu Qaylah have gathered in this land, and by Allah, we have no resolution with them if their leaders gather here.' He commanded a young man from the Jews, saying: 'Go to them, sit with them, and remind them of the Day of Bu'ath and what happened before it in their wars, and recite to them what they said in poetry about that.' The young man did so, and the people began to boast and dispute, until two men from the two tribes clashed: Aws ibn Qayzi and Jabbar ibn Sakhr from the Khazraj. They exchanged words, then one of them said to his companion: 'If you wish, by Allah, we can return to it as it was.' The two groups became angry and said: 'We have done it, arms to arms, your meeting is at the Harrah.' They went out to it, and the people began to converse about their claims that they had in the days of ignorance. This reached the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, so he went out to them with those who were with him from the Emigrants, and said: 'O assembly of Muslims, fear Allah, fear Allah! Will you return to the claims of ignorance while I am among you?' He admonished them, and the people recognized that it was a whisper from Satan, so they dropped their weapons, wept, and embraced one another from the Aws and Khazraj, and they returned with the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, listening and obeying. Then Allah revealed these verses concerning Shas ibn Qays and what he did.' Al-Hasan, Qatadah, and Al-Suddi said: 'These verses were revealed about the scholars of the Jews who were turning the Muslims away from Islam by telling them: 'Indeed, Muhammad is not described in our Book.' The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

There is no doubt about the occurrence of these two causes and what is similar to them from the actions and sayings of the Jews. Thus, the verses were revealed regarding all of that.

The meaning of 'صَدَّ' is to turn away from something and to divert from it. It is an action that stands and extends with one expression. You say: 'صَدَدْتُ عن كَذا' and 'صَدَدْتُ غَيْرِي عنهُ'. What is in this verse is the transitive action. Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan read: 'تُصِدُّونَ', with a damma on the 'ت' and a kasra on the 'ص'. This is the standing action, which was transferred with the hamza, thus it became transitive. And 'سَبِيلِ اللهِ' in this verse refers to Islam, which is the path to the pleasure of Allah and His Paradise. The word 'مَن' is the object of 'تَصُدُّونَ', and the pronoun in 'تَبْغُونَها' refers back to the path. The meaning of 'تَبْغُونَ' according to what Al-Zajjaj, Al-Tabari, and others have explained is: you seek it. The meaning is: you seek for it to be crooked, that is, to be deviated and corrupted. The Arabs say: 'ابْغِنِي كَذا' with a connected alif, meaning ask for it for me. If they want to say help me in seeking it, they say: ask for it with me, cutting the alif open. It is said that 'تَبْغُونَ' here is from 'بَغْي', which is transgression, meaning: you seek to transgress against it. Thus, 'عِوَجًا' - according to this interpretation - is in the accusative case as a description of the pronoun in 'تَبْغُونَ', meaning: a crookedness from you and a lack of uprightness.

'العِوَجُ' with a kasra on the 'ع' refers to what is in matters and arguments that are not physical objects, while 'العَوَجُ' with a fathah on the 'ع' refers to what is in physical objects like a wall or a stick, and so on. Ibn Qutaybah said: and the earth, specifically from the physical objects, is said to have 'عِوَجٌ' with a kasra on the 'ع'. This is from the saying of Allah, the Exalted: 'You will not see therein any crookedness or any elevation' [Ta-Ha: 107]. Some linguists have said that they are two languages with the same meaning. And His saying, the Exalted: 'وَأنْتُمْ شُهَداءُ' refers to the plural of witness, regarding what is in the Torah about the description of Muhammad and his truthfulness. The rest of the verse is a warning.