Surah Al Ma'idah Tafseer

سَمَّاعُونَ لِلْكَذِبِ أَكَّالُونَ لِلسُّحْتِ

And whomsoever Allah wants to put in Fitnah, you can do nothing for him against Allah. Those are the ones whose hearts Allah does not want to purify; for them there is a disgrace in this world, and in the Hereafter a great torment. They (like to) listen to falsehood, to devour Suht.

Ibn Mas`ud and others stated that;

`Suht' refers to bribes.

The Ayah states that if one is like this, how can Allah cleanse his heart and accept his supplication.

Allah said to His Prophet,

فَإِن جَأوُوكَ

So if they come to you...,

so that you judge between them,

فَاحْكُم بَيْنَهُم أَوْ أَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ وَإِن تُعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ فَلَن يَضُرُّوكَ شَيْيًا

either judge between them, or turn away from them. If you turn away from them, they cannot hurt you in the least.

meaning, there is no harm if you do not judge between them. This is because when they came to you to judge between them, they did not seek to follow the truth, but only what conformed to their lusts.

We should mention here that Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, `Ikrimah, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, As-Suddi, Zayd bin Aslam, Ata Al-Khurasani, and several others said that;

this part of the Ayah was abrogated by Allah's statement,

وَأَنِ احْكُم بَيْنَهُم بِمَأ أَنزَلَ اللّهُ

And so judge among them by what Allah has revealed. (5:49)

وَإِنْ حَكَمْتَ فَاحْكُم بَيْنَهُمْ بِالْقِسْطِ

And if you judge, judge with justice between them.

and with fairness, even if the Jews were unjust and outcasts from the path of fairness,

إِنَّ اللّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُقْسِطِينَ

Verily, Allah loves those who act justly.

Chastising the Jews for Their Evil Lusts and Desires, While Praising the Tawrah

Allah then chastises the Jews for their false ideas and deviant desires to abandon what they believe is true in their Book, and which they claim is their eternal Law that they are always commanded to adhere to. Yet, they do not adhere to the Tawrah, but they prefer other laws over it, although they believe that these other laws are not correct and do not apply to them.

Allah said,

وَكَيْفَ يُحَكِّمُونَكَ وَعِندَهُمُ التَّوْرَاةُ فِيهَا حُكْمُ اللّهِ ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّوْنَ مِن بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ وَمَا أُوْلَـيِكَ بِالْمُوْمِنِينَ