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Is there an error in the statement "So Gabriel revealed to His servant Muhammad" mentioned in Tafsir al-Tabari regarding the verse, knowing that the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, is the servant of Allah the Almighty alone?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

There is no error in the statement; the pronoun in the verse and Al-Tabari's words refers to Allah Almighty. It is common in the Qur’an and Arab speech for a pronoun to refer to something not explicitly mentioned if it is known to the listener, such as the pronoun in "عليها" (on it) referring to the earth in Allah's verse: "And if Allah were to punish the people for their wrongdoing, He would not leave upon it any creature." [Fatir: 45]. Likewise, the pronoun in "به" (with it) referring to the place in Allah's verses: "And stir up thereby [i.e., with their hooves] dust, Then penetrate thereby [i.e., in the center of the enemy] a mass [of soldiers]." [Al-Adiyat: 4-5]. Al-Alusi, Al-Nasafi, and Al-Shanqiti have mentioned various examples of a pronoun referring to an unmentioned antecedent that is indicated by the context or situation in the Qur’an and Arabic poetry.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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