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Sura 2
Aya 140
140
أَم تَقولونَ إِنَّ إِبراهيمَ وَإِسماعيلَ وَإِسحاقَ وَيَعقوبَ وَالأَسباطَ كانوا هودًا أَو نَصارىٰ ۗ قُل أَأَنتُم أَعلَمُ أَمِ اللَّهُ ۗ وَمَن أَظلَمُ مِمَّن كَتَمَ شَهادَةً عِندَهُ مِنَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغافِلٍ عَمّا تَعمَلونَ

Muhammad Asad

"Do you claim that Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and their descendants were 'Jews' or 'Christians'?"1 Say: "Do you know more than God does? And who could be more wicked than he who suppresses a testimony given to him by God?2 Yet God is not unmindful of what you do.
  • Regarding the term asbat (rendered here as well as in verse 136 as "descendants"), see note I li above. In the above words the Qur'an alludes to the fact that the concept of "Jewry" came into being many centuries after the time of the Patriarchs, and even long after the time of Moses, while the concepts of "Christianity" and "Christians" were unknown in Jesus' time and represent later developments.
  • A reference to the Biblical prediction of the coming of the Prophet Muhammad (see note 33 on verse 42 of this surah), which effectively contradicts the Judaeo-Christian claim that all true prophets, after the Patriarchs, belonged to the children of Israel.