Surah Al-Bayyinah, Ayah 2

Which was revealed in Madina

The Messenger of Allah recited this Surah to Ubayy

Imam Ahmad recorded from Anas bin Malik that the Messenger of Allah said to Ubayy bin Ka`b,

«إِنَّ اللهَ أَمَرَنِي أَنْ أَقْرَأَ عَلَيْكَ»

لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَـبِ

(Verily, Allah has commanded me to recite to you (Those who disbelieve from among the People of the Scripture.)) Ubayy said, "He (Allah) mentioned me by name to you" The Prophet replied,

«نَعَم»

(Yes.) So he (Ubayy) cried. Al-Bukhari, Muslim, At-Tirmidhi and An-Nasa'i all recorded this Hadith from Shu`bah.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Mentioning the Situation of the Disbelievers among the People of the Scripture and the Idolators

As for the People of the Scripture, they are the Jews and the Christians, and the idolators are the worshippers of idols and fire among the Arabs and the non-Arabs. Mujahid said, they are not going

Verses [ 2-3] يَتْلُو صُحُفًا مُّطَهَّرَ‌ةً فِيهَا كُتُبٌ قَيِّمَةٌ (a messenger from Allah who recites the purified scrolls containing [ right and ] straight writings. - 98:2, 3) The verb yatlu is derived from the infinitive tilawah, meaning 'to read out or to recite'. However, not every reading or reciting is tilawah, but only the one that is very closely followed according to the teacher's instruction. Probably, this is the reason why the word tilawah is specifically used, in common idiom, for 'the recitation of the noble Qur'an'. The word suhuf is the plural of sahifah and it refers to 'a leaf or a page of a book or some leaves of paper on which something is written'. The word kutub is the plural of kitab and it may mean: [ 1] a leaf or page of a book or some leaves of paper on which something is written. From this point of view, the words kutub and suhuf are synonyms; or [ 2] now and then the word kitab [ pl. kutub ] is used in the sense of a 'writ ' as in [ 8:68] لَّوْلَا كِتَابٌ مِّنَ اللَّـهِ سَبَقَ "Had there not been a writ from Allah which came earlier..." the word kitab is used in the sense of a 'writ'. In this context, the second sense seems to fit in more appropriately because if it is taken in the first sense, the words kutub and suhuf, being synonyms, the prepositional phrase fiha is rendered meaningless. The pronoun -ha in the phrase refers to suhuf, and the two statements would mean: 'reciting purified written pages in which are true written pages'. This is not in keeping with the lofty rules and principles of Qur'anic eloquence.

The word مُطَھَّرَۃً mutahharatan [ purified ] is an adjective qualifying the noun suhuf [ pages/scrolls ]. According to Ibn ` Abbas ؓ ، the Scriptures are completely free from all possible flaws, forgeries, doubt, hypocrisy and deviations. The word qayyimah is used in the sense of 'straight', and is the adjective of the noun kutub, and it means its laws, ordinances and injunctions are upright, straight, just and balanced. It could also mean 'lasting and permanent'. In this instance, the phrase would signify that the Divine injunctions of the Holy Qur'an will last permanently till the Day of Judgment. The verse thus purports to say that the sending of the Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ [ as the Clear Proof ] was essential to the transformation of the people of earlier revelations and the pagans who had ended up in disbelief and could not have departed from their erring ways without the help of his ﷺ Prophetic mission. His mission was to recite the pure scrolls to them which contained clear Divine injunctions. Initially he did not recite from the Scriptures but from his memory, but the sense here is that he recited to them a discourse that was later written and preserved in scrolls. The Qur'an [ as the Clear Proof ] is the compendium of all that is good, lasting and immutable teachings.