59

The following was revealed when the Jews said to the Prophet "sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam" , 'Whom among the messengers (rusul) do you believe in?', and he replied: in Allahu ta’ālā and in that which has been revealed to us [Q. 2:136], and when he mentioned Jesus they said, 'We know of no religion worse than yours!' Say: 'O People of the Scripture, do you spite, [do] you repudiate, us for any other cause than that we believe in Allahu ta’ālā, and what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed, to the prophets, before, and that most of you are wicked?' (wa-anna aktharakum fāsiqūn is a supplement to an āmannā, 'that we believe'), that is to say, 'What you repudiate, in fact, is our faith and your opposition [to it], in refusing to accept it - [a refusal] which is described as 'wickedness', [this wickedness] itself being the necessary consequence of such [a refusal] - but in fact this [faith of ours] is not something to be repudiated'.

59 ﴿