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الآية رقم (49) - وَأَنِ احْكُم بَيْنَهُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ اللّهُ وَلاَ تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءهُمْ وَاحْذَرْهُمْ أَن يَفْتِنُوكَ عَن بَعْضِ مَا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ إِلَيْكَ فَإِن تَوَلَّوْاْ فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللّهُ أَن يُصِيبَهُم بِبَعْضِ ذُنُوبِهِمْ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ النَّاسِ لَفَاسِقُونَ

(49) - (And judge, [O Muhammad], between them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their inclinations and beware of them, lest they tempt you away from some of what Allah has revealed to you. And if they turn away - then know that Allah only intends to afflict them with some of their [own] sins. And indeed, many among the people are defiantly disobedient.)

(… وَأَنِ احْكُم بَيْنَهُم بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ ) (And judge, [O Muhammad], between them by what Allah has revealed …): Here is a confirmation of the afore-mentioned. The Jews used to ask the Prophet (saws) to lighten the rules for them, and they were trying to distort and change the meanings of was mentioned in the Torah.

(… وَاحْذَرْهُمْ أَن يَفْتِنُوكَ عَن بَعْضِ مَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ إِلَيْكَ …) (…and beware of them, lest they tempt you away from some of what Allah has revealed to you.…): That is, beware the Jewish enemies lest they mislead you away from the truth, so do not be deceived by them, for they are liars, infidels, and traitors.

(… فَإِن تَوَلَّوْا فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَن يُصِيبَهُم بِبَعْضِ ذُنُوبِهِمْ …) (…And if they turn away – then know that Allah only intends to afflict them with some of their [own] sins…): Meaning, if they turn away from what you judge between them and disobey the commands of Allah (swt), indeed that happens by the will of Allah (swt) and His wisdom to distract them from guidance because of their previous sins which lead them to misguidance and abuse.

(  وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ النَّاسِ لَفَاسِقُونَ… ) (…And indeed, many among the people are defiantly disobedient): Most of the people show bold disobedience, Allah (swt) says:

وَمَا أَكْثَرُ النَّاسِ وَلَوْ حَرَصْتَ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ

(And most of the people, although you strive [for it], are not believers.) (Yusuf: 103)

Reason of Revelation:

It was narrated by Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) he said: Ka’b bin Asad, Ibn Sluba, Abdullah bin Soraya, and Shas bin Qais said to each other: Let’s go to Muhammad, maybe we can convert him from his religion! So they came to him (saws) and said: O Muhammad, you have known that we are rabbis of the Jews and their nobles and masters, and that if we follow you, the Jews will follow us and they will not disagree with us, but there is disagreement between us and our people, so if we ask you to judge between us and accept to judge against them, in this condition we will follow you, and believe in you! The Prophet (saws) refused to do that, so this verse was revealed about them.