Al-Baqara:76 - Connections

Question

I couldn’t understand this ayah,how did they do tahreef and write scripture with their own hands? And claiming to be from Allah

Maani AI

This ayah, Surah Al-Baqara (2:76), unveils a complex layer of hypocrisy and internal conflict among a group of the Children of Israel (specifically, some Jews).

Let's first understand the immediate context:
- **Who is being addressed?** The verse is talking *about* certain Jews, particularly those who were hypocritical.
- **Who is speaking?**
1. The hypocritical Jews are speaking to the believers, falsely claiming faith.
2. Then, within their own group, some Jews (who are not showing hypocrisy to the believers) are speaking to those who *did* reveal information from their scripture to the believers, admonishing them.
- **What is the immediate situation?** The ayah describes their two-faced behavior: outwardly feigning belief to the Muslims, but internally rebuking each other for sharing sensitive information from their own scriptures.

Now, regarding your question about *tahreef* (distortion) and writing scripture by hand, while this specific ayah (2:76) does not directly detail *how* they did *tahreef*, it strongly connects to previous verses in Surah Al-Baqara that condemn this act.

Al-Wasit (Tantawi) highlights that this verse reveals "another type of evil and disgrace of the Jews, which calls for despair of their belief and uncovers what they concealed of deceit." The act described here, of admonishing each other for revealing what Allah "opened" (revealed) to them, is because this information (such as the prophecies about Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in their Torah) could be used by believers as an argument against them before Allah on the Day of Judgment. As Imam Al-Razi (quoted by Tantawi) explains, if a Jew acknowledged the authenticity of the Torah and its testimony to the Prophet's truthfulness, it would be a strong argument against them, hence their efforts to prevent such admissions.

Al-Sabuni, in his commentary on the preceding verses, details that a group of their leaders had indeed "distorted the Torah, and wrote those distorted verses with their own hands" and then falsely claimed, "This is from Allah," to mislead their followers and gain worldly benefits. This act of "writing with their own hands" and claiming it's from Allah is a direct form of *tahreef*, a fabrication attributed to God for personal gain. The term فَتَحَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْكُم (what Allah has opened/revealed to you) in 2:76 refers to the true knowledge in their scripture, which they were concealing or altering.

Therefore, this ayah (2:76) connects to the broader theme of *tahreef* in Surah Al-Baqara by showing *why* they would commit such acts: to maintain their worldly status, prevent strong arguments against them from the believers, and avoid acknowledging the truth of Islam. The internal rebuke among themselves demonstrates their awareness of the implications of what Allah had truly revealed.

Source: al-Sabuni (Safwat al-Tafasir), al-Wasit (Tantawi)

The scholarly commentaries also discuss the rhetorical device of repetition in earlier verses for emphasis. Would you like to explore that?