al-Māʾida 5:72-77

"Those who said 'God is the Messiah, son of Mary' have fallen into denial. Yet the Messiah had said: 'O Children of Israel! Serve God, my Lord and your Lord.'"

Per the method (Method) this should be recorded: the subject of the sentence is alladhīna qālū — "those who say this". That is, the ruling is tied not to a community but to a particular utterance.

And the verse brings its counter-proof from the Messiah's own words: wa qāla'l-Masīḥu yā banī Isrāʾīla'ʿbudu'llāha rabbī wa rabbakum.

I record this as an observation about the structure: the objection is grounded not in an outside source but in the declaration of the very person the claim is about.

The expression is given as an utterance transmitted, and it is answered with wa mā min ilāhin illā ilāhun wāḥid.

This commentary does not enter into the theological debates and distinctions of terminology internal to the Christian tradition; the proposition the verse rejects is transmitted in the verse's own wording, and it is recorded that the Qurʾān answers it with its own proposition (ilāhun wāḥid). No blanket verdict is issued about anyone — and the textual ground for this is 5/82-83, ten verses later.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the position of the verse: the sentence that comes immediately after the two sharpest rejections is an invitation — and it closes with ghafūrun raḥīm.

The sūra had set up this sequence twice before: 5/33-34 and 5/38-39. Ruling → the door of return → ghafūrun raḥīm. The third repetition is here.

Kānā yaʾkulāni'ṭ-ṭaʿām — "they both used to eat food".

I record this as an observation about the language: the proof is given not by way of an abstract attribute but by way of the body's need — the difference between being in need and being beyond need.

Ṣiddīqa (ص-د-ق): an intensive form — utterly truthful, one who confirms. This description of Mary was treated at al-Taḥrīm 66/12 (wa ṣaddaqat bi-kalimāti rabbihā).

The root غ-ل-و: to overstep the bound, to go beyond the limit; the rising of a price (ghalā) is from this root too.

And it should be recorded: the prohibition comes with the qualification ghayra'l-ḥaqq — that is, not an absolute "do not go far" but a going far that passes outside what is right.

The same command occurs at al-Nisāʾ 4/171 (lā taghlū fī dīnikum) and was treated there.

وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوٓا۟ أَهْوَآءَ قَوْمٍ قَدْ ضَلُّوا۟ مِن قَبْلُ وَأَضَلُّوا۟ كَثِيرًا وَضَلُّوا۟ عَن سَوَآءِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ — the root of ḍalāl (ض-ل-ل) three times in a single verse: they strayed, they led astray, they strayed.

I record this as an observation: of the three verbs the middle one is transitive. The straying itself repeats, and along the way it takes in others as well — and this is given as the ground for the prohibition of ghuluww.