| Ayah First [Consists of] 165 verses, all Meccan except for 20, 23, 91, 93, 114, 141, 151,
152, 153, which are Medinese and which were revealed after [sūrat] al-Hijr.(Al-Anââm)
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| بِسْم ِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ | | Ayah First 1 الأية الأولي |
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Tafseer
Praise, which means to describe in beautiful terms, be, [ever] established, to
God: is this meant to be informative, so that one believes in it? Or, is it meant as a eulogy, or both?
These are three possibilities, the most likely of which is the last, as the Shaykh [Jalāl al-Dīn al-Mahallī] states
in [his commentary on] sūrat alKahf [Q. 18:1]; Who created the heavens and the earth â He singles out these two for
mention because for the observer they constitute the most awesome [visible] creation; and He
appointed, He created, darknesses and light, that is, every darkness (zulma) and every light: the use of the
plural only in the case of the former is because it [darkness] has many causes; and this is one of the proofs of His
Oneness; then those who disbelieve, despite the existence of this proof, ascribe equals to their Lord,
they worship others equally.
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Tafseer
It is He Who created you from clay, by creating your father Adam from it; then
He decreed a term, for [each of] you, at the conclusion of which you die. A term is stated, fixed, with Him,
for your resurrection; yet thereafter you, O disbelievers, doubt, you are uncertain about the Resurrection,
when you know that it was He Who initiated your creation, and One Who has the power to initiate
[creation], is even more capable of bringing you back [to life after death].
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Tafseer
He is God, the One worthy of being worshipped, in the heavens and in the earth.
He knows your secrets and your utterance, what you keep secret and what you utter openly among yourselves,
and He knows what you 134 earn, what you do of good and evil.
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Tafseer
Not a verse (min āya: min introduces a relative clause) of the verses of their
Lord, in the Qurâān, comes to them, that is, [to] the Meccans, but they turn away from it.
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Tafseer
They denied the truth, the Qurâān, when it came to them, but there shall come to
them the news, the consequences, of what they were mocking.
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Tafseer
Have they not seen, in their travels to Syria and to other places, how many,
(kam is predicative [and not interrogative], meaning âmanyâ) a generation, [how many] a community of past
communities, We destroyed before them; We established them, We assigned them an [established] place, in
the earth, through strength and abundance, as We have not established, [as] We have [not] assigned, you
(there is a shift in the address here from third person [to second]); and how We unleashed the heaven,
the rain, upon them in torrents, one torrent after another, and made the rivers to flow beneath them?,
beneath their dwellings. Then We destroyed them because of their sins, because of their denial of the
prophets; and We raised up after them another generation.
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Tafseer
And had We revealed to you a Scripture, inscribed, on parchment, as they
requested, and had they then touched it with their hands â this is more powerful than saying, âhad they seen
it with their eyesâ, since it [touch] is more effective in eliminating doubt; the disbelievers would have
said, in disobedience and obduracy: âThis is nothing but manifest sorceryâ.
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Tafseer
And they say, âWhy has an angel not been sent down to him?â, to Muhammad (s), to
confirm his truthfulness; yet had We sent down an angel, as they have requested and if they
then did not believe, the matter, that they be destroyed, would have been decreed, and then they would not
be given any respite, they would [not] be given any extra time for repentance or an excuse, as is
Godâs custom [in dealing] with those before them, destroying them when they disbelieve after their request is
granted.
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Tafseer
And had We appointed him, the one who is sent down to them, an angel, We would
assuredly have made him, the angel, a man, that is, [We would have sent him] in the form of a man,
so that they would be able to see him, since no human being is capable of seeing an angel; and, had We sent
him down and made him a man, We would have assuredly confused, obscured, for them what they are
confusing, for themselves, when they say, âThis is but a mere mortal like the rest of youâ.
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Tafseer
And messengers were indeed mocked before you â this is meant as a consolation
for the Prophet, (s) â but those who scoffed at them were encompassed by that which they mocked, namely,
[by the] punishment [sent down on them]: those who mock you will be encompassed likewise.
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Tafseer
Say, to them: âTravel in the land, and see the nature of the consequence for the
deniersâ, of the messengers, how they were destroyed through chastisement; perhaps they will take heed. 135
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Tafseer
Say: âTo whom belongs what is in the heavens and in the earth?â Say: âTo God,
for even if they do not say this, there is no other response. He has prescribed, He has decreed, for Himself
mercy, as a bounty from Him â this is a gentle summoning of them to the faith. He will surely gather you
together on the Day of Resurrection of which there is no doubt, no uncertainty, in order to requite you
for your deeds. Those who have forfeited their own souls (this is the subject) â by exposing them to the
chastisement â they do not believe (this is the predicate).
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Tafseer
And to Him, exalted be He, belongs all that inhabits, resides [in], the night
and the day, that is to say, everything â He is its Lord, its Creator and its Possessor; and He is the
Hearer, of what is said, the Knowerâ, of what is done.
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Tafseer
Say, to them: âShall I take as a protector, to worship, other than God, the
Originator of the heavens and the earth, the One Who has created them without any precedent, He Who feeds, Who
gives sustenance, and is not fed?â, and is not given sustenance. Say: âI have been commanded to be the
first to submit, to God, from among this community, and, it was said to me: âDo not be among those who
associate othersâ â, with Him.
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Tafseer
Say: âIndeed I fear, if I should rebel against my Lord, by worshipping other
than Him, the chastisement of a dreadful dayâ, namely, the Day of Resurrection.
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Tafseer
He from whom it is averted (read passive yusraf, âit is avertedâ, namely, âthe
chastisementâ; or read active yasrif, âHe avertsâ, namely, âGodâ [as the subject]; the referential noun has
been omitted) on that day, He, the Exalted One, will have had mercy on him, He will have desired good for him;
that is the manifest triumph, evident salvation.
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Tafseer
And if God touches you with an affliction, a trial, such as an illness or
impoverishment, then none can remove it, [none can] lift it, except Him; and if He touches you with good, such
as health and affluence, then He has power over all things, including His touching you with this, and
none other than Him has the power to remove it from you.
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Tafseer
He is the Vanquisher, the Omnipotent, for Whom nothing is impossible, Superior
[is He], over His servants, and He is the Wise, in His creation, the Aware, of their innermost [thoughts] as
well as their outward [actions].
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Tafseer
When they said to the Prophet (s), âBring us someone to testify to the truth of
your prophethood, for the People of the Scripture have denied youâ, the following was revealed: Say, to
them: âWhat thing is greatest in testimony?â (shahādatan: this is for specification, and is derived from the
[implied] subject of the sentence). Say: âGod â even if they do not say this, there is no other response
â He, is Witness between me and you, to my truthfulness; and this Qurâān has been revealed to me that I
may warn you, [that I may] make you fear, O people of Mecca, thereby, and whomever it may reach (wa-man
balagha: this is a 136 supplement to the [suffixed] pronoun [âyouâ] of undhira-kum, âI may warn youâ),
that is to say, whomever among men and jinn the Qurâān may reach. Do you indeed bear witness that there
are other gods with God?â (this interrogative is meant as a disavowal). Say, to them: âI do not bear
witnessâ, to this. Say: âHe is only One God, and I am innocent of what you associateâ, with Him of idols.
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Tafseer
Those to whom We have given the Scripture recognise him, that is, Muhammad (s),
by the descriptions of him in their Scripture, as they recognise their sons; those, of them, who have
forfeited their own souls do not believe, in him.
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Tafseer
And who, that is, none, does greater evil than he who invents a lie against God,
by ascribing to Him an associate, or denies His signs?, the Qurâān; it is verily the case that, they
the evildoers shall not prosper, on account of this.
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Tafseer
And, mention, on the day We shall gather them all together, then We shall say,
in rebuke, to those who associated other gods with God, âWhere are those associates of yours whom you
were claiming?â, to be associates of God?
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Tafseer
Then their dissension (read accusative fitnatahum or nominative fitnatuhum)
their apology, was (read lam takun or lam yakun) only to say, in other words, [was only] their saying, âBy
God, our Lord (read rabbinā as an adjective of [waâLlāhi, âby Godâ], or rabbanā as a vocative) we were never
idolatersâ.
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Tafseer
God, exalted be He, says: See, O Muhammad (s), how they lie against themselves,
by denying that their idolatry, and how that which they were forging, against God, in the way of
associates, has failed, is absent [before], them!
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Tafseer
And there are some of them who listen to you, when you recite, and We have
placed veils, covers, upon their hearts so that they do not understand it, [so that] they [do not]
comprehend the Qurâān; and in their ears a heaviness, a deafness, so that they do not hear it with a willingness to
accept it. And if they were to see every sign, they would not believe in it, so that when they come to you to
argue with you, the disbelievers say, âThis, Qurâān, is nothing but the fables, the lies, of the
ancientsâ, similar to [their] jokes and strange tales (asātīr, âfablesâ, is the plural of ustūra).
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Tafseer
And, to people, they forbid it, the following of the Prophet (s), and keep away
from it, and so they do not believe in him: it is said that this was revealed regarding Abū Tālib, who used
to forbid [people from] hurting him, but did not [himself] believe in him; and it is only themselves they
destroy, when they keep away from him, because the harm thereof will befall them, but they do not perceive, this.
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Tafseer
If you, O Muhammad (s), could see when they are made to stand, [when] they are
exposed, before the Fire, and they say, âOh (yā is for exclamation) would that we might be returned, to
the world; then we would not deny the signs of our Lord, but we would be among the believers!â (read
nukadhdhibu and nakūnu as a new 137 [independent] sentence; or read nukadhdhiba and nakūna as the [subjunctive]
response to the optative [clause]; or read nukadhdhibu and nakūna). The response to the clause âif [you
could see]â would be âyou would be seeing a terrible thing indeedâ.
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Tafseer
God, exalted be He, says: Nay â [here used] in order to reject the desire to
believe implied by the optative [exclamation] â that which they used to conceal, to hide, before, by their
saying, By God, our Lord, we were never idolaters! [Q. 6:23]) has now become evident to them, as their limbs
have borne witness [against them], and so they [now] wish for that [mentioned in the previous
verse]; and even if, hypothetically, they were returned, to the world, they would return to that
which they are forbidden, of idolatry; they are truly liars, when they promise that they would believe [if
they were to be returned].
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Tafseer
And they, those who deny the Resurrection, say, âThere is no other, life, than
our present life; we shall not be resurrectedâ.
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