Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Baqarah Verse 133

Mufti Taqi Usmani

Is it that you were present when death approached Ya‘qūb, when he said to his sons: “What will you worship after me”? They said, “We will worship your God and the God of your fathers, Ibrāhīm, Ismā‘īl (Ishmael) and IsHāq (Isaac), the one God, and to Him we submit ourselves.”

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

Or did you witness when death came to Jacob? He asked his children, “Who will you worship after my passing?” They replied, “We will ˹continue to˺ worship your God, the God of your forefathers—Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac—the One God. And to Him we ˹all˺ submit.”

Ruwwad Translation Center

Or were you present when death approached Jacob, when he said to his children, “What will you worship after me”? They said, “We will worship your God and the God of your fathers – Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac – the One God. And to Him we submit.”

A. J. Arberry

Why, were you witnesses, when death came to Jacob? When he said to his sons, 'What will you serve after me?' They said, 'We will serve thy God and the God of thy fathers Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, One God; to Him we surrender.'

Abdul Haleem

Were you [Jews] there to see when death came upon Jacob? When he said to his sons, ‘What will you worship after I am gone?’ they replied, ‘We shall worship your God and the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac, one single God: we devote ourselves to Him.’

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

Were ye witnesses when death presented itself to Ya'qub, what time he said unto his sons: what will ye worship after me! They said: we shall worship the God the God of thy fathers, Ibrahim and Ismai'l and Ishaq, and unto Him we are submissive.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Were ye witnesses when death appeared before Jacob? Behold, he said to his sons; "What will ye worship after me?" They said; "We shall worship Thy god and the god of thy fathers, of Abraham, Isma'il and Isaac,- the one (True) Allah; To Him we bow (in Islam)."

Abul Ala Maududi

Were you present at the time when Jacob was on the point of death? He asked his children, "Whom will you worship after me?" They all answered, "We will worship the same One Allah Whom you, your forefathers Abraham. Ismail and Isaac acknowledged as their Allah and to Him we all surrender as Muslims."

Ahmed Ali

Were you present at the hour of Jacob's death? "What will you worship after me?" he asked his sons, and they answered: "We shall worship your God and the God of your fathers, of Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac, the one and only God; and to Him we submit."

Ahmed Raza Khan

In fact, some of you yourselves were present when death approached Yaqub and when he said to his sons, “What will you worship after me?” They said, “We shall worship Him Who is your God, and is the God of your fathers, Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq (Isaac) – the One God; and to Him we have submitted ourselves.”

Ali Quli Qarai

Were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, when he said to his children, ‘What will you worship after me?’ They said, ‘We will worship your God and the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac, the One God, and to Him do we submit.’

Ali Ünal

Or were you (O Children of Israel, of Jacob) witnesses when death came to Jacob (so that you might claim that he bequeathed and enjoined a religion otherwise than as Abraham did, to give yourselves an excuse for refusing Islam,) when he said to his sons: "What will you worship after me?" They answered: "We will worship your God and the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac, One God; we are Muslims submitted to Him."

Amatul Rahman Omar

Were you present when death visited Jacob, and when he said to his sons, `What (God) will you worship after me?´ They replied, `We will worship your God, the God of your fathers - Abraham, Ismâîl and Isaac, the only One God, and to Him do we submit ourselves.´

English Literal

Or were you witnesses when the death came to Jacob, when he said to his sons and daughters :"What (do) you worship from after me?" They said: "We worship your God and your fathers/forefathers Abraham`s and Ishmael`s and Issac`s God, one God and we are to Him submitters/surrenderers/Moslems."

Faridul Haque

In fact, some of you yourselves were present when death approached Yaqub and when he said to his sons, "What will you worship after me?" They said, "We shall worship Him Who is your God, and is the God of your fathers, Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq (Isaac) - the One God; and to Him we have submitted ourselves."

Hamid S. Aziz

Were you then witnesses when Jacob was facing death, when he said to his sons, "What will you serve when I am gone?" They said, "We will serve your God, the God of your fathers Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, one God; and unto Him have we surrendered."

Hilali & Khan

Or were you witnesses when death approached Ya'qub (Jacob)? When he said unto his sons, "What will you worship after me?" They said, "We shall worship your Ilah (God - Allah), the Ilah (God) of your fathers, Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma'il (Ishmael), Ishaque (Isaac), One Ilah (God), and to Him we submit (in Islam)."

Maulana Mohammad Ali

Or were you witnesses when death visited Jacob, when he said to his sons: What will you serve after me? They said: We shall serve thy God and the God of thy fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac, one God only, and to Him do we submit.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

Nay! were you witnesses when death visited Yaqoub, when he said to his sons: What will you serve after me? They said: We will serve your God and the God of your fathers, Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq, one God only, and to Him do we submit.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

Or were ye present when death came to Jacob, when he said unto his sons: What will ye worship after me? They said: We shall worship thy god, the god of thy fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac, One Allah, and unto Him we have surrendered.

Muhammad Sarwar

Were you (believers) there when death approached Jacob? When he asked his sons, "Whom will you worship after my death?" They replied, "We will worship your Lord, the Lord of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac. He is the only Lord, and to Him we have submitted ourselves."

Qaribullah & Darwish

Or, were you witnesses when death came to Jacob! He said to his children: 'What will you worship after me' They replied: 'We will worship your God and the God of your forefathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac, the One God. To Him, we are submissive'

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

Or were you witnesses when death approached Ya`qub (Jacob) When he said unto his sons, "What will you worship after me" They said, "We shall worship your AIlah (God ـ Allah) the Ilah of your fathers, Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma`il (Ishmael), Ishaq (Isaac), One Ilah, and to Him we submit (in Islam)."

Wahiduddin Khan

Were you present when Jacob faced the hour of death and he asked his sons, "Who will you worship after me?" They answered, "We will worship your God and the God of your fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac: the one God; we have submitted ourselves to Him."

Talal Itani

Or were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, and he said to his sons, “What will you worship after Me?” They said, “We will worship your God, and the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac; One God; and to Him we submit.”

Tafsir jalalayn

When the Jews said to the Prophet (s), `Do you not know that on the day of his death Jacob charged his sons with Judaism?', the following was revealed; Or, were you witnesses, present, when death came to Jacob? When (idh, `when', substitutes for the preceding idh) he said to his sons, `What will you worship after me?', after I die?; They said, `We will worship your God and the God of your fathers Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac (in recognition of the predominant [mention of the father figures] Ishmael is also counted as a father, and also because the status of an uncle is akin to that of a father), One God (ilhan whidan, `One God', substitutes for ilhaka, `your God'), to Him we submit' (the initial am [of the phrase am kuntum, `Or, were you ...'] is similar to the hamza of denial [sc. a-kuntum], the sense being, `You were not present at his death, so how do you ascribe to him what does not befit him?').

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

Yaqub's Will and Testament to His Children upon His Death

Allah tells;

أَمْ كُنتُمْ شُهَدَاء إِذْ حَضَرَ يَعْقُوبَ الْمَوْتُ إِذْ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ

Or were you witnesses when death approached Yaqub (Jacob) When he said unto his sons, "What will you worship after me?"

This Ayah contains Allah's criticism of the Arab pagans among the offspring of Ismail as well as the disbelievers among the Children of Israel Jacob the son of Isaac, the son of Ibrahim.

When death came to Jacob, he advised his children to worship Allah alone without partners.

He said to them,

مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِن بَعْدِي قَالُواْ نَعْبُدُ إِلَـهَكَ وَإِلَـهَ ابَايِكَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَقَ

"What will you worship after me"

They said, "We shall worship your Ilah (God ـ Allah) the Ilah of your fathers, Ibrahim, Ismail, Ishaq,"

Mentioning Ismail here is a figure of speech, because Ismail is Jacob's uncle.

An-Nahas said that the Arabs call the uncle a father, as Al-Qurtubi mentioned.

This Ayah is used as evidence that;

the grandfather is called a father and inherits, rather than the brothers (i.e. when his son dies), as Abu Bakr asserted, according to Al-Bukhari who narrated Abu Bakr's statement from Ibn Abbas and Ibn Az-Zubayr.

Al-Bukhari then commented that there are no opposing opinions regarding this subject.

This is also the opinion of Aishah the Mother of the believers, Al-Hasan Al-Basri, Tawus and Ata, Malik, Ash-Shafii and Ahmad said that the inheritance is divided between the grandfather and the brothers.

It was reported that this was also the opinion of Umar, Uthman, Ali, bin Mas`ud, Zayd bin Thabit and several scholars among the Salaf and later generations.

The statement,

إِلَـهًا وَاحِدًا

One Ilah (God),

means, "We single Him out in divinity and do not associate anything or anyone with Him."

وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ



And to Him we submit,

in obedience meaning, obedient and submissiveness.

Similarly, Allah said,

وَلَهُ أَسْلَمَ مَن فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا وَإِلَيْهِ يُرْجَعُونَ

While to Him submitted all creatures in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly. And to Him shall they all be returned. (3;83)

Indeed, Islam is the religion of all the Prophets, even if their respective laws differed.

Allah said,

وَمَأ أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلاَّ نُوحِى إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ لا إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ أَنَاْ فَاعْبُدُونِ

And We did not send any Messenger before you (O Muhammad) ﴿but We revealed to him (saying);La ilaha illa Ana (none has the right to be worshipped but I (Allah)), so worship Me (alone and none else). (21;25)

There are many other Ayat - and Hadiths - on this subject. For instance, the Prophet said,

نَحْنُ مَعْشَرَ الاَْنْبِيَاءِ أَوْلَادُ عَلَّتٍ دِينُنا وَاحِد

We, the Prophets, are brothers with different mothers, but the same religion.

Allah said