When the Jews said to the Prophet s ‘Do you not know that on the day of his death Jacob charged his sons with Judaism?’ the following was revealed Or were you witnesses present when death came to Jacob? When idh ‘when’ substitutes for the preceding idh he said to his sons ‘What will you worship after me?’ after I die?; They said ‘We will worship your God and the God of your fathers Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac in recognition of the predominant mention of the father figures Ishmael is also counted as a father and also because the status of an uncle is akin to that of a father One God ilāhan wāhidan ‘One God’ substitutes for ilāhaka ‘your God’ to Him we submit’ the initial am of the phrase am kuntum ‘Or were you …’ is similar to the hamza of denial sc. a-kuntum the sense being ‘You were not present at his death so how do you ascribe to him what does not befit him?’.
