Al-Qur'an Surah Ali 'Imran Verse 75

Mufti Taqi Usmani

Among the people of the Book there is one who, if you entrust him with a heap (of gold or silver), will give it back to you; and among them there is one who, if you entrust him with a single dīnār (a coin of gold), he will not give it back to you, unless you keep standing over him. This is because they have said, “There is no way we can be blamed in the matter of the unlettered.”And they tell lies about Allah knowingly.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

There are some among the People of the Book who, if entrusted with a stack of gold, will readily return it. Yet there are others who, if entrusted with a single coin, will not repay it unless you constantly demand it. This is because they say, “We are not accountable for ˹exploiting˺ the Gentiles.”[[ “Gentiles” here refers to the pagans of Arabia.]] And ˹so˺ they attribute lies to Allah knowingly.

Ruwwad Translation Center

And among the People of the Book are some who, if you entrust with a heap of gold, will return it to you; yet there are others who, if you entrust with a single coin of gold, will not return it to you unless you keep standing over them. This is because they say, “We are under no obligation towards the gentiles.” And they tell lies about Allah knowingly.

A. J. Arberry

And of the People of the Book is he who, if thou trust him with a hundredweight, will restore it thee; and of them is he who, if thou trust him with one pound, will not restore it thee, unless ever thou standest over him. That, because they say, 'There is no way over us as to the common people.' They speak falsehood against God and that wittingly.

Abdul Haleem

There are People of the Book who, if you [Prophet] entrust them with a heap of gold, will return it to you intact, but there are others of them who, if you entrust them with a single dinar, will not return it to you unless you keep standing over them, because they say, ‘We are under no obligation towards the gentiles.’ They tell a lie against God and they know it.

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

And of the people of the Book is he whom if thou trustest with a talent, he will restore it unto thee, and among them is he whom if thou trustest with a dinar, he will not restore it unto thee except thou art ever standing over him that is because they say there is in the matter of the illiterates no call on us. And they forge a lie against Allah while they know.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Among the People of the Book are some who, if entrusted with a hoard of gold, will (readily) pay it back; others, who, if entrusted with a single silver coin, will not repay it unless thou constantly stoodest demanding, because, they say, "there is no call on us (to keep faith) with these ignorant (Pagans)." but they tell a lie against Allah, and (well) they know it.

Abul Ala Maududi

And among the People of the Book there are some who would restore you even if you were to entrust a treasure of gold, and of them there are some whom were you to entrust with one gold piece, will not restore it unless you stand over them. That is because they say: 'We will not be taken to task for whatever we may do to non-Jews (ummls). Thus they falsely fix a lie upon Allah, and do so wittingly.

Ahmed Ali

There are some among the people of the Book who return a whole treasure entrusted to them; yet some there are who do not give back a dinar until you demand and insist, because they say: "It is not a sin for us to (usurp) the rights of the Arabs." Yet they lie against God, and they know it.

Ahmed Raza Khan

Among the People given the Book(s) is one who, if you trust him with a heap of treasure, will return it to you; and among them is one who, if you trust him with (just) one coin, will not return it to you unless you constantly stand over him (keep demanding); that is because they say, “We are not obliged in any way, in the case of illiterates”; and they purposely fabricate lies against Allah.

Ali Quli Qarai

Among the People of the Book is he who if you entrust him with a quintal will repay it to you, and among them is he who, if you entrust him with a dinar will not repay it to you unless you stand persistently over him. That is because they say, ‘We have no obligation to the non-Jews.’ But they attribute lies to Allah, and they know [it].

Ali Ünal

Among the People of the Book are some who, if you entrust them with a weight of treasure, restore it to you; and among them are some who, if you entrust them with one gold piece, do not restore it unless you keep standing over them. That is because they claim: "We have no responsibility toward the unlettered (those who do not have a Book like ours and follow our religion)." Thus they speak lies in attribution to God, and do so knowingly.

Amatul Rahman Omar

And among the people of the Scripture there is he if you trust him with a huge treasure he will surrender it to you; yet there is another among them that if you entrust him with a single dinâr he will not surrender it to you unless you keep on pressing him. They do that because they say, `We are not liable to be called to account in the matter of the unlettered (- not of Jewish race),´ and they tell a lie in the name of Allâh deliberately.

English Literal

And from The Book`s people, whom if you entrust him with a (ton) , he discharges/fulfills (pays) it (back) to you, and from them whom, if you entrust him with a dinar , (he) does not discharge/fulfill (pay) it (back) to you, except as long as you continued keeping up (demanding) on him. That is with that they said: "It is not on us in the illiterates/belongers to a nation (a) means (we do not have to be honest when dealing with other nations)." And they say on God the lie/falsehood and they know.

Faridul Haque

Among the People given the Book(s) is one who, if you trust him with a heap of treasure, will return it to you; and among them is one who, if you trust him with (just) one coin, will not return it to you unless you constantly stand over him (keep demanding); that is because they say, “We are not obliged in any way, in the case of illiterates”; and they purposely fabricate lies against Allah.

Hamid S. Aziz

Nay, whoever fulfils his covenant and acts righteously, - verily, Allah loves those who act righteously.

Hilali & Khan

Among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) is he who, if entrusted with a Cantar (a great amount of wealth, etc.), will readily pay it back; and among them there is he who, if entrusted with a single silver coin, will not repay it unless you constantly stand demanding, because they say: "There is no blame on us to betray and take the properties of the illiterates (Arabs)." But they tell a lie against Allah while they know it.

Maulana Mohammad Ali

He specially chooses for His mercy whom He pleases. And Allah is the Lord of mighty grace.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

And among the followers of the Book there are some such that if you entrust one (of them) with a heap of wealth, he shall pay it back to you; and among them there are some such that if you entrust one (of them) with a dinar he shall not pay it back to you except so long as you remain firm in demanding it; this is because they say: There is not upon us in the matter of the unlearned people any way (to reproach); and they tell a lie against Allah while they know.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

Among the People of the Scripture there is he who, if thou trust him with a weight of treasure, will return it to thee. And among them there is he who, if thou trust him with a piece of gold, will not return it to thee unless thou keep standing over him. That is because they say: We have no duty to the Gentiles. They speak a lie concerning Allah knowingly.

Muhammad Sarwar

If you entrust some of the People of the Book, with a large quantity of gold, they will return it to you while if you entrust others among them with a small quantity of gold, they will not give it back to you unless you keep insisting on its return. For they say, "We are not bound to keep our words with the illiterate people," and they themselves knowingly ascribe false statements to God.

Qaribullah & Darwish

Among the People of the Book there are some, who, if you trust him with a Qintar (98, 841. 6 lbs.), will return it to you, and there are others, who, if you trust him with a dinar will not hand it back unless you stand over him, for they say: 'As for the common people, they have no recourse to us' They say lies against Allah while they know.

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

Among the People of the Scripture is he who, if entrusted with a Qintar (a great amount of wealth), will readily pay it back; and among them there is he who, if entrusted with a single silver coin, will not repay it unless you constantly stand demanding, because they say: "There is no blame on us to betray and take the properties of the illiterates (Arabs)." But they tell a lie against Allah while they know it.

Wahiduddin Khan

Among the people of the Book there are some who, if you entrust them with a heap of gold, will return it to you. But there are others of them who, if you entrust them with a single dinar, will not return it to you, unless you keep demanding it from them. That is because they say, "We are under no obligation towards the gentiles." They deliberately tell lies about God.

Talal Itani

Among the People of the Book is he, who, if you entrust him with a heap of gold, he will give it back to you. And among them is he, who, if you entrust him with a single coin, he will not give it back to you, unless you keep after him. That is because they say, “We are under no obligation towards the gentiles.” They tell lies about God, and they know it.

Tafsir jalalayn

And of the People of the Scripture is he who, if you trust him with a hundredweight, that is, with much money, he will return it to you, on account of his trustworthiness, the like of `Abd Allh b. Salm to whom a man entrusted 1200 plates of gold, which he then returned to him; and of them is he who, if you trust him with one dinar, will not return it to you, on account of his treachery; unless you keep standing over him, not leaving him for one minute, for as soon as you leave him, he will deny it, as was the case with Ka`b b. al- Ashraf, to whom a man from Quraysh entrusted a dinar and later denied it. That, refusal to return things, is because they say, `We have no duty towards, namely, [no possibility of acquiring] sin because of, the Gentiles', the Arabs; for they considered it lawful to be unjust towards any person of a different religion, and they attributed [the source of] this conviction to God, exalted be He. God, exalted be He, says, They speak falsehood against God, by attributing such things to Him, while they are aware, that they are liars.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

How Trustworthy Are the Jews

Allah says;

وَمِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ



Among the People of the Scripture is he who,

Allah states that there are deceitful people among the Jews. He also warns the faithful against being deceived by them, because some of them,

مَنْ إِن تَأْمَنْهُ بِقِنطَارٍ

if entrusted with a Qintar (a great amount) of money,

يُوَدِّهِ إِلَيْكَ

will readily pay it back;

This Ayah indicates that this type would likewise give what is less than a Qintar, as is obvious.

However,

وَمِنْهُم مَّنْ إِن تَأْمَنْهُ بِدِينَارٍ لاَّ يُوَدِّهِ إِلَيْكَ إِلاَّ مَا دُمْتَ عَلَيْهِ قَأيِمًا

and among them there is he who, if entrusted with a single silver coin, will not repay it unless you constantly stand demanding,

and insisting on acquiring your rightful property. If this is what he would do with one Dinar, then what about what is more than a Dinar!

We mentioned the meaning of Qintar in the beginning of this Surah, while the value of Dinar is well known.

Allah's statement,

ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَالُواْ لَيْسَ عَلَيْنَا فِي الاُمِّيِّينَ سَبِيلٌ

because they say;"There is no blame on us to betray and take the properties of the illiterates (Arabs)."

means, what made them reject the truth (or what they owed) is that they said, "There is no harm in our religion if we eat up the property of the unlettered ones, the Arabs, for Allah has allowed it for us."

Allah replied,

وَيَقُولُونَ عَلَى اللّهِ الْكَذِبَ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ



But they tell a lie against Allah while they know it.

for they invented this lie and word of misguidance. Rather, Allah would not allow this money for them unless they had a right to it.

Abdur-Razzaq recorded that Sa`sa`ah bin Yazid said that;

a man asked Ibn Abbas, "During battle, we capture some property belonging to Ahl Adh-Dhimmah, such as chickens and sheep."

Ibn Abbas said, "What do you do in this case?"

The man said, "We say that there is no sin (if we confiscate them) in this case."

He said, "That is what the People of the Book said,
لَيْسَ عَلَيْنَا فِي الاُمِّيِّينَ سَبِيلٌ
(There is no blame on us to betray and take the properties of the illiterates (Arabs)).

Verily, if they pay the Jizyah, then you are not allowed their property, except when they willingly give it up."

Allah then said