Verse. 542

٤ - ٱلنِّسَاء

4 - An-Nisa

اَلَمْ تَرَ اِلَى الَّذِيْنَ يُزَكُّوْنَ اَنْفُسَھُمْ۝۰ۭ بَلِ اللہُ يُزَكِّيْ مَنْ يَّشَاۗءُ وَلَا يُظْلَمُوْنَ فَتِيْلًا۝۴۹
Alam tara ila allatheena yuzakkoona anfusahum bali Allahu yuzakkee man yashao wala yuthlamoona fateelan

English

Ahmed Ali

Have you not seen the people who call themselves pure? Yet God purifies whom He pleases, and none shall be wronged even the breadth of a thread.

49

Tafseer

'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī

تفسير : (hast thou not seen) have you not been informed in the scripture about (those who praise themselves for purity?) those who absolve themselves from transgression. the reference here is to buhayr ibn 'amr and marhab ibn zayd. (nay, allah purifieth) absolves from sins (whom he will) whoever is fit for it, (and they will not be wronged even the hair upon a date stone) their sins will not be diminished even by the hair upon a date stone.

Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī

تفسير : have you not seen those who praise themselves for purity? namely, the jews, when they say, ‘we are god’s children and his beloved’, in other words, it is not a matter of their purifying themselves. nay, god purifies whom he will, through faith, and they shall not be wronged, they shall not be diminished of their deeds, a single date-thread, as much as the peel on a date-stone.

Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi

تفسير : (hast thou not seen those who praise themselves for purity?) [4:49]. said al-kalbi: “this was revealed about a group of jewish men who went to the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, and said: ‘o muhammad! do these children of ours incur any sins?’ ‘no!’ he replied. they said: ‘by him by means of whom we swear, we are just like them; there is no sin that we commit during the day except that it is expiated comes the night, and there is no sin that we commit at night except that it is expiated comes the day’. this is how they praised themselves for purity”.