Title: Surah Ma'idah Verse 67 Question: In Surah Ma'idah verse 67 (5:67) Allah (swt) tells the Prophet (pbuh) to convey a message to the people and if he does not then he has not conveyed the message and Allah (swt) protects the prophet. According to the Shia' school of thought, this verse was revealed towards the end of the message of the Prophet (pbuh) and referred to making Ali (ra) successor of the Prophet (pbuh). The Prophet (pbuh) was concerned about the reaction people will have to this and thus the aya came down telling the prophet (pbuh) that the message would not be completed if he did not convey this particular thing. Can you please elaborate on when this aya was revealed (in life of the prophet pbuh) as well as the exact event it refers to (as it does seem to refer to one particular even that is of great significance). Please do not say that the aya refers to the message of Islam as the aya clearly says convey this thing or else you have not conveyed the message of Islam - implying it is something particular rather than the overall message of Islam. Answer: The verse is (obviously) in the Sura of Al Ma'idah . The Sura is a Madani Sura (that was revealed after the migration of the Prophet) and one that (according to many records) was revealed as the last Sura (but not necessarily last verse) to the Prophet (PBUH). Unless we have strong evidence that this particular verse was not revealed at the same time as the rest of the verses in this Sura , we have no reason to believe otherwise. As far as I know there is no such strong evidence. This is also inline with the opinion of Mufassers like Ibn Kathir and Qurtubi. I am sure if you read the following translation of the verse, along with the verse before and after it, you will easily appreciate what the verse is referring to, here to make it brief I only present you with the verse under question and the verse that follows it: "O Messenger! deliver what bas been revealed to you from your Lord; and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message, and Allah will protect you from the people; surely Allah will not guide the Kuffar . Say: O followers of the Book! you have naught till you keep up the Tawrat and the Injeel and that which is revealed to you from your Lord; and surely that which has been revealed to you from your Lord shall make many of them increase in obstinate rebellion and blasphemy; grieve not therefore for the people who are Kuffar ." - Al Ma'idah 5:67-68 As I said, I really do not think any further clarification is necessary, however to make sure there are no misunderstandings, I will explain this briefly: Verse 67 says: "deliver what bas been revealed to you", and verse 68 is then the content of what was revealed to the Prophet which is now delivered: "Say ..." So what could be the concern of the Prophet about the revealed verse (i.e. verse 68)? The people of the book and in particular the Jews had lots of connections and links with those unbelievers who resisted the message of Islam. These two groups (rejecters among the Ahl Alkitab and rejecters among the unbelievers) were supporting each other in resisting against the message of Islam throughout the lifetime of the Prophet. Near the end of the Prophet's life, although to much extent Ahl Alkitab were defeated, yet they had strong links and connections with unbelievers and even new Muslims, who had converted to Islam at the very late stages of the Prophet life and were not going through tough tests of belief like the earlier companions of the Prophet. Now to people as influential as this (i.e. Ahl Alkitab ) the Prophet (PBUH) is supposed to say: "you have naught." This verse has been revealed after many years advising Ahl Alkitab (through the Qur'an) with softer language, explaining to them why they should believe in the new Prophet, what went wrong about their attitude towards religion and that Islam is really the continuum of their religion. After so much blind resistant and supporting of unbelievers against Muslims, in the later stages of delivering the message of Islam, they are now told very directly, "you have naught," which basically means you are of no importance and significance in terms of guidance. It is not difficult to understand that what a huge resisting and riot attitude this verse could caused among the Ahl Alkitab which would then also affect the unbelievers (and possibly some of the new Muslims). Interestingly enough, God does say that revelation of this verse will increase the hostile attitude of many of Ahl-Alkitab , "... surely that which has been revealed to you from your Lord shall make many of them increase in obstinate rebellion and blasphemy." Also note the common subject at the end of the two verses: "surely Allah will not guide the Kuffar ," "grieve not therefore for the people who are Kuffar ". The way this verse can be understood by looking at it within the context is so obvious that we see the great Shia Mufasser , Al-Allamah al-Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i (for whom I personally hold a very great respect) makes it clear that if we want to understand the verse in context, there will be no other way than what was explained above. In his own words (my translation): "If this verse is revealed in the same order that it has with the verses before and after and all within one context, then by looking at all these verses it will be understood that this strong order to the Prophet - PBUH - was for delivering the message that God had given for Ahl Alkitab . From the perspective of consistency of the subject, it will be understood specifically that this message is the verse after (that is verse 68)." He then makes a long argument to prove that the verse should be understood effectively out of the context in which it is positioned. Precisely, Tabataba'i - may God be pleased with him - concludes that the verse is not related with the verses before and after. Interestingly enough, this is also the way this great scholar and other Shia brothers look at some of the other verses of the Qur'an. I think such a drastic approach to a verse of the Qur'an needs extremely reliable and strong evidences from the Qur'an itself. I am not aware of such evidence and (to my understanding)Tabataba'i has not provided such evidence either. Please also note that all the above is based on an assumption that I have made for the sake of discussion, which is the assumption that the Prophet did appoint Ali (RA) as his successor after the revelation of this verse. Studying the Qur'an, Sunnah , Sira , Ahadith as well as Shia sources, I can say that to the best of my understanding, this assumption has no reliable basis. Abdullah Rahim February 26, 2005