ٱلَّذِينَ ءَاتَيْنَٰهُمُ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ يَعْرِفُونَهُۥ كَمَا يَعْرِفُونَ أَبْنَآءَهُمْ وَإِنَّ فَرِيقًا مِّنْهُمْ لَيَكْتُمُونَ ٱلْحَقَّ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ
“Those unto whom We gave the Scripture recognise (this revelation) as they recognise their sons. But lo! a party of them knowingly conceal the truth.” — M. M. Pickthall
Zemahşerî12. c.✓ Citation verified
According to Zemahşerî, the recognition (ma'rifet) mentioned in this verse expresses that the People of the Scripture recognized the Prophet by his characteristics and qualities in the same way one recognizes one's own sons, such that he would not be confused with others. This situation is presented as evidence against the people of Mecca that the People of the Scripture knew him and the truth of his prophethood.
وهذا استشهاد لأهل مكة بمعرفة أهل الكتاب به وبصحة نبوته
Kurtubî13. c.✓ Citation verified
According to Kurtubî, the pronoun in the expression 'yà'rifûnehû' refers to Hz. Muhammad (peace be upon him); those meant recognize his prophethood and the truth of his message with greater certainty than they recognize their sons. Furthermore, according to another view, this recognition means that they know the change of the qiblah from Jerusalem to the Ka'bah is right. The mentioning of sons and the non-mentioning of selves is explained by the fact that while a person might sometimes not recognize himself, there is never a time when he does not recognize his son.
ويعرفون في موضع الحال أي يعرفون نبوته وصدق رسالته والضمير عائد على محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم قاله مجاهد وقتادة وغيرهما وقيل يعرفون تحويل القبلة عن بيت المقدس إلى الكعبة أنه حق قاله بن عباس وبن جريج والربيع وقتادة أيضا
İbn Kesîr14. c.✓ Citation verified
In this text, Ibn Kesîr states that the People of the Scripture's recognition of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is with a certain and solid knowledge to the degree that a person undoubtedly recognizes his own son among people; however, despite this, they hid the description of the prophet in their scriptures from people.
لا يشك أحد ولا يمتري في معرفة ابنه إذ رآه من أبناء الناس كلهم ثم أخبر تعالى أنهم مع هذا التحقق والإتقان العلمي أي ليكتمون الناس ما في كتبهم من صفة النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم
Beydâvî13. c.✓ Citation verified
According to Beydâvî, the pronoun in the expression 'ya'rifûnahu' refers to the Prophet (peace be upon him), and the scholars of the People of the Scripture recognize the Prophet by his characteristics in the way one recognizes one's offspring, so much so that they do not confuse him with anyone else. A group among them, despite knowing this reality, deliberately conceals it; this expression is a special ruling for those who stubbornly resist, and an exception for those who believe. The sentence 'al-haqq min rabbik' expresses that the truth can only be measured by what is established from Allah (what the Prophet possesses), whereas the path followed by the People of the Scripture does not have such establishment; the prohibition at the end of the verse is not a real prohibition of doubt directed at the Prophet, but rather carries the purpose of affirming the certainty of the matter or commanding knowledge that will remove doubt from the community.
الذين آتيناهم الكتاب يعني علماءهم يعرفونه الضمير لرسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، وإن لم يسبق ذكره لدلالة الكلام عليه. وقيل للعلم، أو القرآن، أو التحويل كما يعرفون أبناءهم يشهد للأول: أي يعرفونه بأوصافه كمعرفتهم أبناءهم لا يلتبسون عليهم بغيرهم.
Taberî9-10. c.✓ Citation verified
According to Taberî, the People of the Scripture knew the prophethood of Hz. Muhammad and the Ka'bah being the qiblah through the characteristics and qualities in the Torah and Gospel with the same certainty with which they recognized their own children; nevertheless, they stubbornly denied and concealed this knowledge. This denial is the clearest evidence of knowing the truth yet resisting it. Those from Jews and Christians who entered Islam also attested that they knew him better than their own children because of the description in their scriptures.
أوضح الدليل على أنه قد كان فيهم العناد في جحود نبوته صلى الله عليه وسلم، مع علم منهم به وصحة نبوته
Fahreddin er-Râzî12-13. c.✓ Citation verified
According to this exegete, those accused of 'kitman' (concealing the truth) in the verse are not the entire People of the Scripture but specifically their scholars; for it is rationally impossible that the vast majority of the People of the Scripture would conceal what they believed. Furthermore, Allah's description of them as those stubbornly persisting in falsehood shows that this is the state of stubborn rebels, not the confused. If the verse is taken in a general sense, it would be false because many of the People of the Scripture believed in Hz. Muhammad and followed his qiblah.
ويجب أن يكون في عددهم قلة لأن الجمع العظيم لا يجوز عليهم كتمان ما يعتقدون
Comparison
Common ground
The majority of the exegetes agree that the pronoun in the verb 'yà'rifûnehû' refers to the Prophet, and that the People of the Scripture recognized him with the same degree of certainty with which they recognized their own children (from the characteristics in the Torah and Gospel). Additionally, the emphasis that some of them deliberately concealed this knowledge despite possessing it is common among Zemahşerî, Ibn Kesîr, Taberî, and Beydâvî.
Differences
Kurtubî also conveys an alternative interpretation by Kurtubî regarding the qiblah in the reference of the pronoun and explains the son-self distinction from a linguistic/rhetorical perspective; Beydâvî extends the pronoun discussion to differences in recitations and interprets the prohibition at the end of the verse as directed toward the community rather than the Prophet. Râzî differs in approach: he restricts the accusation of concealment not to all People of the Scripture but only to their scholars, presenting a rational/theological argument, thereby separating himself from the general expression of the others. Taberî and Zemahşerî read the verse more in the context of presenting evidence against the polytheists of Mecca.
Historical context
Early-period exegetes (Taberî, Zemahşerî) use a transmission-focused, contextual reading and place the verse within the context of proclamation/evidence, while later-period exegetes (Kurtubî, Râzî, Beydâvî) more prominently employ linguistic, rhetorical, and theological argumentation tools, deepening the interpretation with subtle distinctions (pronoun reference, scope of address, identity of those concealing). The core meaning—that the People of the Scripture recognize the Prophet with certain knowledge—remains constant across all periods.