3. Sūrat Āli ʿImrān

٣۔ سُورَةُ آل عِمرَان

Qurʾān > Chapter 3 > Section 24
القرآن > كتاب ٣ > باب ٢٤

3.24 Jesus never said to worship him instead of God.

٣۔٢٤ مقطع في سُورَةُ آل عِمرَان

quran:3:79 –

It is not for a human ˹prophet˺ that Allah should give him the Scripture and authority and prophethood and then he would say to the people, "Be servants to me rather than Allah," but ˹instead, he would say˺, "Be pious scholars of the Lord because of what you have taught of the Scripture and because of what you have studied."  

When the Christians of Najrān claimed that Jesus had commanded them to take him as a Divinity, and some Muslims asked that they should be permitted to prostrate themselves before him, the Prophet (s), the following was revealed: It belongs not to any mortal that God should give him the Book, the Judgement, the understanding of the Divine Law, prophethood, then that he should say to men, ‘Be servants to me instead of God.’ Rather, he should say, ‘Be masters, scholars, labouring (rabbāniyyūn, ‘those of the Lord’, is derived from rabb, ‘lord’, with the extra alif and nūn, as a superlative ˹of rabbiyyūn˺), by virtue of what you know (ta‘lamūn, also read as tu‘allimūn, ‘you teach’) of the Book and in what you study’, that is, on account of the fact that you used to do this, for its benefit is that you engage in action.
القرآن:٣:٧٩ –

مَا كَانَ لِبَشَرٍ أَنْ يُؤْتِيَهُ اللَّهُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحُكْمَ وَالنُّبُوَّةَ ثُمَّ يَقُولَ لِلنَّاسِ كُونُوا عِبَادًا لِي مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَلَٰكِنْ كُونُوا رَبَّانِيِّينَ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تُعَلِّمُونَ الْكِتَابَ وَبِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَدْرُسُونَ  

ونزل لما قال نصارى نجران إن عيسى أمرهم أن يتخذوه ربا ولما طلب بعض المسلمين السجود له ﷺ {ما كان} ينبغي {لبشر أن يؤتيه الله الكتاب والحكم} أي الفهم للشريعة {والنبوة ثم يقول للناس كونوا عبادا لي من دون الله ولكن} يقول {كونوا ربانيين} علماء عاملين منسوبين إلى الرب بزيادة ألف ونون تفخيما {بما كنتم تَعْلمُونَ} بالتخفيف والتشديد {الكتاب وبما كنتم تدرسون} أي بسبب ذلك فإن فائدته أن تعملوا.
quran:3:80 –

Nor could he order you to take the angels and prophets as lords. Would he order you to disbelief after you had been Muslims?  

He would never order you (read lā ya’murukum, to denote a new clause, meaning ‘God ˹would not order you˺’; or if read lā ya’murakum, it would be a supplement to yaqūla, ‘he should say’, meaning ‘˹it belongs not that…˺ a mortal ˹should order you˺’); to take the angels and the prophets as lords, in the way that the Sabaeans have taken the angels, the Jews, Ezra, and the Christians, Jesus. Would He order you to disbelieve, after you have submitted? He would not do this.
القرآن:٣:٨٠ –

وَلَا يَأْمُرَكُمْ أَنْ تَتَّخِذُوا الْمَلَائِكَةَ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ أَرْبَابًا ۗ أَيَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالْكُفْرِ بَعْدَ إِذْ أَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ  

{وَلا يأمُرُكُمْ} بالرفع استئنافا أي الله والنصب عطفا على يقول أي البشر {أن تتخذوا الملائكة والنبيين أربابا} كما اتخذت الصابئة الملائكة واليهود عُزيرا والنصارى عيسى {أيأمُرُكم بالكفر بعد إذ أنتم مسلمون} لا ينبغي له هذا.