يا أهل الكتاب لا تغلوا في دينكم ولا تقولوا على الله إلا الحق إنما المسيح عيسى ابن مريم رسول الله وكلمته ألقاها إلى مريم وروح منه … ولا تقولوا ثلاثة انتهوا خيرا لكم … · لن يستنكف المسيح أن يكون عبدا لله ولا الملائكة المقربون · فأما الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات فيوفيهم أجورهم ويزيدهم من فضله
Yā ahla'l-kitābi lā taghlū fī dīnikum wa lā taqūlū ʿala'llāhi illa'l-ḥaqq, innama'l-Masīḥu ʿĪsa'bnu Maryama rasūlu'llāhi wa kalimatuhū alqāhā ilā Maryama wa rūḥun minhu … wa lā taqūlū thalātha, intahū khayran lakum … · Lan yastankifa'l-Masīḥu an yakūna ʿabdan li'llāhi wa la'l-malāʾikatu'l-muqarrabūn · Fa-amma'lladhīna āmanū wa ʿamilu'ṣ-ṣāliḥāti fa-yuwaffīhim ujūrahum wa yazīduhum min faḍlih
"O People of the Book! Do not go beyond the bound in your religion, and say nothing about God but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, is only the messenger of God, and His word which He conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from Him… Do not say 'three'; stop, it is better for you… The Messiah does not disdain to be a servant of God, nor do the angels brought near. As for those who believe and do righteous deeds, He will pay them their rewards in full and give them more of His bounty."
No ruling about a community is established in this block. What is at issue is a claim, and the verse itself frames it so:
| Wording | What it does |
|---|---|
| Lā taqūlū ʿala'llāhi illa'l-ḥaqq | A saying is forbidden |
| Wa lā taqūlū thalātha | An utterance is made the subject |
| Intahū khayran lakum | A call — and its return set beside it |
All three of the three items are tied to an utterance and to an act. And the command intahū (stop) shows that the door is left open.
The concrete sense of the root must be recorded, because it carries the whole weight of the word: ghalā — for a thing to exceed its measure and its worth.
| Word | Sense | The link |
|---|---|---|
| غَلَا (ghalā) | Its price rose, it became dear | The concrete sense |
| غَلَاء (ghalāʾ) | Dearness | — |
| غَلَا بِٱلسَّهْم | To shoot an arrow beyond the target | A usage the lexicographers record |
| غُلُوّ (ghuluww) | To exceed the bound, to cross the limit | — |
| غَالِي (ghālī) | One who goes to excess | — |
And the example of the arrow is worth recording: the word states not a failure to reach the target but an overshooting of it.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the concrete sense of the root: ghuluww is the worth given to a thing exceeding that thing's own measure. The word, that is, points upward in direction — not a diminishing but an over-raising.
And the same address occurs once more at al-Māʾida 5/77: yā ahla'l-kitābi lā taghlū fī dīnikum ghayra'l-ḥaqq. The same command in two sūras, and almost the same wording. This is a countable fact.
| Place | Wording | Added qualification |
|---|---|---|
| al-Nisāʾ 4/171 | Lā taghlū fī dīnikum | Wa lā taqūlū ʿala'llāhi illa'l-ḥaqq |
| al-Māʾida 5/77 | Lā taghlū fī dīnikum | Ghayra'l-ḥaqq |
In both verses the word ḥaqq is set beside the prohibition. The measure, that is, is given by the verse itself: the opposite of exceeding the bound is speaking the truth.
And the same word was treated in two separate places in Maryam. I carry those records over here.
The first, from the discussion of 19/30:
"The first word of the sentence must be recorded: innī ʿabdu'llāh — 'I am the servant of God.' I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the structure of the sūra: in the eighty-eighth verse the sūra will take up the claim wa qālu'ttakhadha'l-Raḥmānu waladā. And the first word out of the mouth of the person who is the subject of that claim is ʿabd."
The second, from the discussion of 19/88-95:
"In the thirtieth verse of the sūra Jesus's first words were innī ʿabdu'llāh. The ninety-third verse applies the same word to everyone without exception.… the answer to the claim is given in the words of the very person the claim is about, and is then generalised."
I rely on both records. And setting the three verses side by side now gives a weave between two sūras that can be verified:
| Place | Wording | Who says it / whom it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Maryam 19/30 | Innī ʿabdu'llāh | Jesus — he says it himself |
| Maryam 19/93 | In kullu man fi's-samāwāti wa'l-arḍi illā āti'l-Raḥmāni ʿabdā | Everyone — without exception |
| al-Nisāʾ 4/172 | Lan yastankifa'l-Masīḥu an yakūna ʿabdan li'llāhi wa la'l-malāʾikatu'l-muqarrabūn | The Messiah and the angels brought near |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the table above: Sūrat Maryam gives the answer in the person's own words and then generalises it; al-Nisāʾ gives the same answer as the rejection of a shrinking back, and sets the angels beside him. The three verses look in the same direction, and in all three the word does not change.
Explanations of the manner of these two expressions are transmitted in the classical commentaries; their details are not entered into in this commentary and no preference is imposed.
What can be said from the text is this: the preposition min here states in Arabic not a part but a source — and this is widely recorded in the classical commentaries. I relate this record as it is transmitted.