'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

'Tafsir of Surah Al-Jumu'ah'

It is a Medinan surah. Al-Naqqash mentioned a saying that it is Meccan, and that is an error by whoever said it. This is because the matter of the Jews was only in Medina. Likewise, the matter of the Friday prayer was never in Mecca, I mean its establishment and its prayer. As for the matter of dispersing, there is no doubt that it is in Medina. Al-Naqqash mentioned from Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, that he only embraced Islam during the days of Khaybar.

The Exalted and Majestic says:

﴿Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth glorifies Allah, the King, the Most Holy, the Exalted in Might, the Wise﴾ ﴿He it is who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from them, reciting to them His verses, and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom, although they were before in clear error﴾ ﴿And others among them who have not yet joined them. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise﴾ ﴿That is the bounty of Allah; He bestows it upon whom He wills. And Allah is the Possessor of great bounty﴾

The saying has been previously mentioned regarding the words of the first verse in its entirety. The readings differ in the grammatical case of the attributes at the end of it. The majority of the people read: 'the King' in the genitive case as an attribute of Allah, and likewise what follows it. Abu Wa'il Shqiq, Muslimah, and Abu al-Dinar read: 'the King' in the nominative case as a standalone. Likewise, what follows it. Abu al-Dinar opened the qaf of 'the Most Holy'.

And 'the unlettered' refers to the Arabs. An unlettered person in the language is one who does not write or read, attributed to 'the Mother of Cities', which is Mecca. This is weak; because the description of 'the unlettered' - in this case - pertains to Quraysh. What is meant is all the Arabs. Among them, the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Indeed, we are an unlettered nation; we do not calculate or write. The month is like this and like that.' This verse enumerates the favor of Allah, the Exalted, upon them in what He has bestowed upon them. And 'the recited verses' refers to the Qur'an, and 'He purifies them' means: He cleanses them from polytheism and instills goodness in them. And 'the Book' is the revealed scripture, and 'the wisdom' is the Sunnah which is upon his tongue, blessings and peace be upon him.

Then He, the Most High, manifested the confirmation of the blessing by mentioning their state which was in opposition to guidance. This is in His saying: "And if they were before in clear error." And "others" is in a state of genitive, in conjunction with "the unlettered ones," and in a state of accusative, in conjunction with the preceding pronouns. The people differed in the meanings of His saying: "And others." Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, and others said: He meant the Persians. It was reported that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was asked: Who are the others? He took the hand of Salman the Persian, may Allah be pleased with him, and said: "If religion were on the Pleiades, men from these would attain it." This was narrated by Muslim. And Sa'id ibn Jubair and Mujahid said: He meant the Romans and the non-Arabs. So His saying: "from them" - according to these two sayings - indeed means in humanity and faith, as if He said: And among others of the people. Mujahid also said, along with Ikrimah and Muqatil: He meant the followers from the children of the Arabs. So His saying: "from them" means lineage and faith. Ibn Zayd, Mujahid, Al-Dahhak, and Ibn Hibban said: By His saying: "And others," He meant all groups of people, and "from them" in humanity and faith according to what we have said. This is because we find that His sending, blessings and peace be upon him, was to all of creation. Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with both of them, said to the people of Yemen: You are they.

And His saying: "They have not yet joined them" is a negation of what is close to the state, and the meaning is that they are determined to join them. "Lam" has been added to "ma" for emphasis. Sibawayh said: "Lam-ma" is a negation of your saying: "He has done it," and "lam" is a negation of your saying: "He did it" without "qad."

And His saying: "That is the favor of Allah" - the verse... is a clarification of the position of the blessing and His specification of it to them.