Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 58 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:58

ذَٰلِكَ نَتْلُوهُ عَلَيْكَ مِنَ ٱلْـَٔايَـٰتِ وَٱلذِّكْرِ ٱلْحَكِيمِ

“This is what We recite to you, [O Muḥammad], of [Our] verses and the precise [and wise] message [i.e., the Qur’ān].”

Saheeh International

Essence

This account of ʿĪsā and his family is what Allah recites to His Prophet: signs, and a wise reminder.

A reflection

The account that does not need revising

A news site's live feed adds thousands of articles every hour. By evening, the morning's confident 'definitive take' on a story has been overtaken, corrected and forgotten. Tomorrow there will be another.

'That is what We recite to you of the signs and the wise reminder'. That: everything the surah has just told, from ʿImrān's wife to the disciples and the plot. A major early commentator lists it: the news of ʿĪsā and his mother Maryam, her mother, Zakariyyā and his son Yaḥyā, the disciples. And We recite: Allah attributes the recitation to Himself. A classical commentator notes that the angel's recitation is counted as Allah's own.

An early authority, quoted by a major early commentator, describes this account in strong words. It is the decisive truth about ʿĪsā and what they differed over, unmixed with falsehood; so accept no other report in its place.

Here the ego of human commentary is quietly humbled. We produce endless words about everything, including about God and His prophets. Much of it is sincere, and some of it is wise. All of it is provisional. This ayah sets a different kind of speech beside ours: an account that does not need a correction tomorrow.

Does Allah need to point out that He is the speaker? He needs nothing (35:15). We need to know whose words we are hearing. It changes how we listen. It also changes how we speak about others' beliefs: with the confidence of having been told, and with the humility of not being the teller.

The live feed will refresh again in a minute. This account has been recited, unchanged, every day since it came down.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.