An attempt to unravel aya 4:59

4:59

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي ٱلۡأَمۡرِ مِنكُمۡۖ فَإِن تَنَٰزَعۡتُمۡ فِي شَيۡءٖ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَٱلرَّسُولِ إِن كُنتُمۡ تُؤۡمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلۡيَوۡمِ ٱلۡأٓخِرِۚ ذَٰلِكَ خَيۡرٞ وَأَحۡسَنُ تَأۡوِيلًا

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran:

O believers! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. Should you disagree on anything, then refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if you ˹truly˺ believe in Allah and the Last Day. This is the best and fairest resolution.

Salaamun aleykum: This aya has played a critical role for the institution of scholars! And one brother has also recently enquired about this aya.

Aya 4:59 is the primary basis for those who self-appointed themselves as the spoke person on behalf of Allahh. The traditionalists abused this aya in order to justify why we must listen and obey their own man made jurisdictions of halal and haram (outside the Qur’an).

This aya 4:59 has traditionally been (mostly) interpreted as … Those in position of authority… meaning (Ulemas, muftis, imams, sheicks etc… THIS IS WRONG AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH US (FOLLOWERS OF THE QURAN.. MUSLIMS so to speak).

For the cohorts (competent) of “zikr” do check me on AL terms if I do get something wrong. After all this is the way I understood it in line with the 3ilm disclosed on this channel.

Before I translate, I need to set a context and explain what I saw:

This is an instruction for prior communities of faith (i.e.: Bani’isra’il) during their phase of transition from the Torah system to the Qur’anic system… On how they are supposed to understand the ayat of the Qur’an.

“Al-Amr’ ٱلْأَمْرِ means the “matter or established arrangement” of the deen. Ex: Zul-Qarnayn said: …We shall reveal to him about our MATTER (the deeper understanding of this deen) in accordance with his cognitive readiness (YT: Zul-qarnayn series). Or … Iblis refused to submit to adam in accordance with his Lord’s ESTABLISHED ARRANGEMENT… (YT: series on adam).

So: al-amr’ in 4:59 is about the MATTER of transitioning from the Torah system to the Qur’anic system and those who have some competency about such matter. (YT: Muhammad a prophet for them series).

My inclination at this point as to who exactly these people are: if you recall the segment about “who was Zaid” Our Tayr explained that it (Zaid) means (roughly): Such and such or so and so. A (small) chain of people (from Bani israil) Muhammad the Nabi was talking to… teaching them… bring them to the Qur’anic system.

So will (for now) roughly translate 4:59 as:

O you who believed (before), obey Allah and the Messenger and the “competent* “of the matter (of transitioning**) among you. If you ever disagree on anything (on the ayat of the Qur’an), then refer it (directly) to Allah and His Messenger (1), if you truly believe in Allah and the Last Era***. Such (instruction about the transition) is a better understanding (along) with an insightful comprehension/interpretation.

*Chain of people between Muhammad and the rest of Bani isra’il.

**From Torah to Qur’an.

***With the coming of As-saa’a: Which means the end of the Torah as source of guidance.

(1)    For a better understanding of the linguistic discernment of those ayat.

If you read on the prior aya to 4:59 and the ones after it, knowing the context about Bani israil with some of them wanting to follow our beloved Messenger (Muhammad) and other wanting to stick to their rabae and Corrupted Torah then this aya 4:59 above makes a lot of sense for those transitioning from Torah to Qur’an.

I hope this helps, and please fact check me in case I drift.