Surah 4:153
"The People of the Book ask you to bring down on them a Book from the sky. They had already asked Moses for (something) greater than that, for they said, ‘Show us God openly!’ So the thunderbolt took them for their evildoing. Then they took the calf, after the clear signs had come to them. But We pardoned them for that, and We gave Moses clear authority."
4.153 â The People of the Book ask you to bring down on them a Book from the sky
The sÅ«ra returns to the subject of the People of the Book to offer influential diatribes against the Jews (vv. 153â62) and the Christians (vv. 171â73).
This verse indicates a controversy between the messenger and the Jews. They ask the messenger to bring his book down from heaven. This seems to spark a polemical passage against the Jews that lasts up to verse 162. The passage connects the present behavior of the Jews with their behavior at the time of Moses (vv. 153â55) and also at the time of Mary and âĪsÄ (vv. 156â59).
- from The Quran with Christian Commentary: A Guide to Understanding the Scripture of Islam