أَمْ كُنْتُمْ شُهَدَاءَ إِذْ حَضَرَ يَعْقُوبَ الْمَوْتُ إِذْ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ بَعْدِي قَالُوا نَعْبُدُ إِلَهَكَ وَإِلَهَ آبَائِكَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ إِلَهًا وَاحِدًا وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ ﴿۱۳۳﴾ تِلْكَ أُمَّةٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَلَكُمْ مَا كَسَبْتُمْ وَلَا تُسْأَلُونَ عَمَّا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ ﴿۱۳۴﴾ وَقَالُوا كُونُوا هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى تَهْتَدُوا قُلْ بَلْ مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ﴿۱۳۵﴾ قُولُوا آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْنَا وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَالْأَسْبَاطِ وَمَا أُوتِيَ مُوسَى وَعِيسَى وَمَا أُوتِيَ النَّبِيُّونَ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِنْهُمْ وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ ﴿۱۳۶﴾
﴾133﴿ Am kuntum shuhadaaa'a iz hadara Ya'qoobal mawtu iz qaala libaneehi maa ta'budoona mim ba'dee qaaloo na'budu ilaahaka wa ilaaha aabaaa'ika Ibraaheema wa Ismaa'eela wa Ishaaqa Ilaahanw waahidanw wa nahnu lahoo muslimoon
﴾134﴿ Tilka ummatun qad khalat lahaa maa kasabat wa lakum maa kasabtum wa laa tus'aloona 'ammaa kaanoo ya'maloon
﴾135﴿ Wa qaaloo koonoo Hoodan aw Nasaaraa tahtadoo; qul bal Millata Ibraaheema Haneefanw wa maa kaana minal mushrikeen
﴾136﴿ Qoolooo aamannaa billaahi wa maaa unzila ilainaa wa maaa unzila ilaaa Ibraaheema wa Ismaa'eela wa Ishaaqa wa Ya'qooba wal Asbaati wa maaootiya Moosa wa 'Eesaa wa maaa ootiyan Nabiyyoona mir Rabbihim laa nufarriqoo baina ahadim minhum wa nahnu lahoo muslimoon
﴾133﴿ Were you present when death came to Yaqub (peace be upon him), when he said to his sons, “Whom will you worship after me?”
They said, “We will worship your God and the God of your fathers, Ibrahim (peace be upon him), Ismail (peace be upon him), and Ishaq (peace be upon him)—the One God, and we are truly sincere to Allah alone.”
﴾134﴿ That is a group who have already passed.
They will have what they earned, and you will have what you earned, and you will not be questioned about what they did.
﴾135﴿ And they said, “Become Jews or Christians so that you may be guided.” Say, “Rather, we follow the religion of Abraham (peace be upon him), who was a true monotheist and was not among the polytheists.”
﴾136﴿ Say, “We believe in Allah and in what has been revealed to us, and in what was revealed to Abraham (peace be upon him), to Ishmael (peace be upon him), to Isaac (peace be upon him), to Jacob (peace be upon him), and to their descendants, and in what was given to Moses (peace be upon him) and Jesus (peace be upon him), and in what was given to the other prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them (in accepting faith), and we are devoted only to Allah.”
[133] In this verse is the first warning and the answer to their question, as they claimed that Yaqub (peace be upon him) had advised Judaism.
The answer is that you were not present at that time, so why do you say what is not true?
“Death” here means his approaching end, or it may refer to the signs of death, for when death truly comes upon a person, he can no longer speak.
“When he said to his sons” is the detail of the will of Yaqub (peace be upon him).
“After me” means after my death.
“Your fathers”—Ishaq (peace be upon him) was the father of Yaqub (peace be upon him), Ismail (peace be upon him) was his uncle, and Ibrahim (peace be upon him) was his grandfather, so this shows that one can refer to an uncle and grandfather as “father.”
[134] In this verse, it is the second warning. They used to say that our fathers and ancestors were prophets, so it would be a sin for us to speak badly about them. The answer given is that you cannot be saved by their deeds.
(Laha ma kasabat) here means that every person will benefit from their own good deeds; no one can be saved by the deeds of others.
(Wa la tus'aloon) indicates that everyone is responsible for their own bad deeds; no one will be held accountable for the bad actions of others.
This is a refutation of those who take pride in the good deeds of their elders in this age but do not actually follow them.
[135] In this verse, it is the third warning, showing that they call others to a false religion, which is Judaism and Christianity, and they do not repent from their false ways.
(Bal millata Ibraheem) points out that Judaism and Christianity have completely turned away from the faith of Abraham and the pure monotheistic religion.
(Haneefan) means one who is upright upon the true religion and leaves all false religions.
(Ma kana min al-mushrikeen) indicates that Jews and Christians had become polytheists, and even though they are described as "People of the Book," they are still called polytheists.
[136] In this, it is the fourth warning. They objected, saying that you do not accept the prophets, like Jesus (peace be upon him). The answer was given: make your belief clear—that we do accept all the prophets, and in faith we do not differentiate among them, but we do not worship them as you do.
Whenever someone calls to Judaism or Christianity, the first answer is: “Rather, the faith of Abraham,” and the second answer is: “We believe in Allah.”
(Al-Asbaat) refers to descendants, both sons and daughters. Here, it means the children of Jacob (peace be upon him), who formed twelve tribes among whom many prophets were sent.
(Moses and Jesus) are mentioned specifically here because both were legislative prophets.
(La nufarriqu) here refers to differentiation in faith—that is, they accepted some messengers and rejected others. Any distinction in their ranks is affirmed in verse 253 of this Surah.