'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : subsequently, allah mentions the trustworthiness and treachery of the people of the book, saying: (among the people of the scripture) i.e. the jews (there is he who, if you trust him with a weight of treasure, will return it to you) without any problem, hardship or ever thinking to keep it for himself by declaring it lawful for him to take. the reference here is to 'abdullah ibn salam and his companions. (and among them there is he who, if you trust him with a piece of gold, will not return it to you) and will declare it lawful for him to take (unless you keep standing over him) insisting on taking it back and suing him for it. the reference here is to ka'b ibn al-ashraf and his followers. (that) treachery and declaring that it is lawful to take other people's property (is because they say: we have no duty to the gentiles) there is no harm in taking the property of arabs. (they speak a lie concerning allah knowingly) they lie about allah and know that they are lying.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : and of the people of the scripture is he who, if you trust him with a hundredweight, that is, with much money, he will return it to you, on account of his trustworthiness, the like of ‘abd allāh b. salām to whom a man entrusted 1200 plates of gold, which he then returned to him; and of them is he who, if you trust him with one dinar, will not return it to you, on account of his treachery; unless you keep standing over him, not leaving him for one minute, for as soon as you leave him, he will deny it, as was the case with ka‘b b. al-ashraf, to whom a man from quraysh entrusted a dinar and later denied it. that, refusal to return things, is because they say, ‘we have no duty towards, namely, [no possibility of acquiring] sin because of, the gentiles’, the arabs; for they considered it lawful to be unjust towards any person of a different religion, and they attributed [the source of] this conviction to god, exalted be he. god, exalted be he, says, they speak falsehood against god, by attributing such things to him, while they are aware, that they are liars.
