Surah An Nisa Tafseer

أَمْ يَحْسُدُونَ النَّاسَ عَلَى مَا اتَاهُمُ اللّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ

Or do they envy men for what Allah has given them of His Bounty!

referring to their envy of the Prophet for the great Prophethood that Allah entrusted him with. Their envy made them reject him, because he was an Arab and not from the Children of Israel.

At-Tabarani recorded that Ibn Abbas said that,

أَمْ يَحْسُدُونَ النَّاسَ

(Or do they envy men) means,

"We are the worthy people, rather than the rest of the people."

Allah said,

فَقَدْ اتَيْنَأ الَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَاتَيْنَاهُم مُّلْكًا عَظِيمًا

Then, We have already given the family of Ibrahim the Book and Al-Hikmah, and conferred upon them a great kingdom.

meaning, We gave the Prophethood to the tribes of the Children of Israel, who are among the offspring of Ibrahim and sent down the Books to them. These Prophets ruled the Jews with the prophetic tradition, and We made kings among them.

Yet