قُلْ إِن كَانَتْ لَكُمُ ٱلدَّارُ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةُ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ خَالِصَةً مِّن دُونِ ٱلنَّاسِ فَتَمَنَّوُا۟ ٱلْمَوْتَ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ
“Say (unto them): If the abode of the Hereafter in the providence of Allah is indeed for you alone and not for others of mankind (as ye pretend), then long for death (for ye must long for death) if ye are truthful.” — M. M. Pickthall
Zemahşerî12. c.✓ Citation verified
This text conveys the merits related to Friday, the fact that Friday was given to Muslims in correspondence to the Sabbath day of the Jews, and the hadith reports concerning the superiority of this day. It also explains the conditions of Friday prayer (congregational mosque, imam's permission, number of congregation) according to different schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and transmits the view that the word 'fas'au' means 'to go/hasten' rather than 'to run', along with a report from Umar regarding this reading.
وقيل : المراد بالسعي القصد دون العدو ، والسعي : التصرف في كل عمل
Kurtubî13. c.✓ Citation verified
According to Kurtubî, this expression refers to a guidance for a person to reach the same conclusion/rank that Allah's close servants have reached. The text points to an objective aiming for the final outcome reached to be the same as the final outcome reached by the friends of Allah.
لتصيروا إلى ما يصير إليه أولياء الله
Beydâvî13. c.✓ Citation verified
According to Beydâvî, the verse proposes to the Jews to wish for death in order to refute their claim that the afterlife realm is exclusively theirs; for a person who is certain of paradise desires to reach it. Their never being able to wish for this is because of the sins they have committed with their own hands, such as denying the Prophet Muhammad, denying the Qur'an, and distorting the Torah. This verse is news of the unseen and has come to pass as it was, because if they had wished for it, this would have been reported and spread.
لأن من أيقن أنه من أهل الجنة اشتاقها، وأحب التخلص إليها من الدار ذات الشوائب، كما قال علي رضي الله تعالى عنه: (لا أبالي سقطت على الموت، أو سقط الموت علي)
Taberî9-10. c.✓ Citation verified
According to Taberî, this verse is one in which Allah commands His Prophet to call upon the Jews to wish for death; if the Jews were truthful in their claim (that they are beloved and chosen before Allah, that the afterlife realm belongs to them), they would not hesitate to wish for death. Their avoidance of this is evidence that they are liars in their claim and that the Prophet's argument is superior.
لو تمنى اليهود الموت لماتوا
Fahreddin er-Râzî12-13. c.✓ Citation verified
According to this exegete, the command to 'wish for death' in the verse is conditional upon the truth of the Jews' claim that the afterlife realm belongs only to them; if they were truthful in this claim, they would desire death because death is the only way to transition from the few and troublesome blessings of this world to the great blessings of the afterlife. However, Allah has informed that they will never wish for death, which reveals that their claims are false. The text also notes that what is meant by this wishing is paradise, because what is sought from the afterlife realm is paradise and not hell.
ثم إن الله تعالى أخبر أنهم ما تمنوا الموت بل لن يتمنوه أبدا
İbn Kesîr14. c.✓ Citation verified
According to Ibn Kesîr, the verse describes that the Jews are not being called to actually wish for death, but rather they are being addressed with a kind of mubâhala (mutual invocation of curse) for those who falsely claim to be upright and Allah's chosen servants to be destroyed. According to Ibn Abbas's view, if they did this, they would truly die, but they abstained from it because they knew their falsehood. The author also partly criticizes an approach in ibn Jerir's commentary and states that Ibn Abbas's exegesis is more accurate.
لو تمنى يهود الموت لماتوا
Comparison
Common ground
Taberî, Beydâvî, Fahreddin er-Râzî, and Ibn Kesîr agree that the verse is a challenge to the Jews' claim that 'the afterlife realm is ours', and that if this claim were true, they should wish for death, but they are unable to do so because of their sins and falsehoods. A reading based on transmission (names of predecessors such as Ibn Abbas, Ikrimah, Katâdah) is a common ground.
Differences
While Taberî and Ibn Kesîr follow a transmission-based method, Beydâvî and Râzî deepen the subject through linguistic/logical reasoning and theological argumentation (the relationship between condition and command, the nature of wishing). Ibn Kesîr interprets the call not as a wish for actual death but as a kind of mubâhala/mutual invocation of curse, and partly criticizes Taberî's approach, which creates a different nuance. Zemahşerî appears in the given text to be completely focused on a different verse (Friday prayer, juridical conditions, reading variants), so it diverges from the coherence of the subject from the others. Kurtubî's transmitted view also contextually refers to a different verse (the rank of Allah's friends).
Historical context
A methodological development is seen between Taberî (early period, transmission-based exegesis) and Râzî and Beydâvî (later period, language and theology-focused exegesis); while in the early period reports from the Companions and the Successors were determinative, in later periods logical inference and rhetorical analysis came to the fore. Ibn Kesîr shows a synthesis effort by making choices among reports. The core message (the relationship between claim and wishing for death) remained fixed over time, while the tools of interpretation diversified.
Modern connection
This comparison can draw attention to the importance of consistency between claiming something verbally and living according to that claim; it reminds us of the value of establishing a solid bond between knowledge and faith, of supporting words with deeds. Furthermore, the fact that different exegetes approached the same matter with different methods can be considered as an example of approaching various perspectives with respect and in a spirit of dialogue in our time.
AI analysis — not a fatwa or ruling, not yet reviewed by a scholar