This Surah (Revealed) Meccan, except for verses 163-170 inclusive, which are Medinese: it consists of
205 or 206 verses, and was revealed after [sūrat] Sād.(Al-Aârâf)
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| بِسْم ِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ | Ayah First 1 الأية الأولي |
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Tafseer
Alif Lām Mīm Sād: God knows best what He means by these [letters].
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Tafseer
This is, a Book that is revealed to you â addressing the Prophet (s) â so let
there be no inhibition, [no] constraint, in your breast because of it, to convey it â for fear that you might
be called a liar â that you may warn thereby (li-tundhira, âthat you may warnâ, is semantically connected to
unzila, âis revealedâ, that is to say, â[it is revealed] for [the purposes of] warningâ) and as a reminder for
those who believe, in it.
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Tafseer
Say to them: Follow what has been revealed to you from your Lord, namely, the
Qurâān, and do not follow, [do not] take, beside Him, namely, God, in other words, other than Him, any
patrons, obeying them in disobedience of Him, exalted be He. Little do you remember (read tadhakkarūn or
yadhakkarūn, â[little] are you or they admonishedâ; the original tāâ [of tatadhakkarūn] has been
assimilated with the dhāl; a variant reading has tadhkurūn; the mā [of qalīlan mā, âlittleâ] is extra, merely
emphasising the âlittlenessâ).
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Tafseer
How many (kam is predicative and is the direct object [of the main verb,
ahlaknāhā, âWe have destroyedâ]) a city, meaning its inhabitants, have We destroyed, have We willed its
destruction! So Our might, Our chastisement, came upon it at night or while they slept at noon (qāâilūn:
al-qaylūla is a rest taken halfway during the day, even if it does not involve sleep), in other words, sometimes it
came upon it at night, and sometimes it came during the day.
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Tafseer
And their only plea, their [only] words, when Our might came upon them, was to
say, âWe were evildoers indeedâ.
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Tafseer
Then verily We shall question those to whom the Message was sent, that is, [We
shall question those] communities, about their response to the messengers, and to what extent they
implemented that which was 158 conveyed to them; and We shall question the messengers, about the conveying [of
that Message].
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Tafseer
And We shall narrate to them with knowledge, We shall inform them, with
[previous] knowledge, of what they did; for verily We were not absent, when the messengers were conveying [the
Message], nor [were We absent] during the time of bygone communities and what they did.
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Tafseer
The weighing, of deeds or of the scrolls of these [deeds] shall be â in a
balance that has a tongue and two palms [as scales], as reported in a hadīth â on that day, that is, on the day of
the questioning mentioned, namely, the Day of Resurrection, the true [weighing], the fair [weighing]
(al-haqq, âthe trueâ, is an adjectival qualification of al-wazn, âthe weighingâ). As for those whose scales are heavy,
with good deeds, they are the successful, the triumphant.
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Tafseer
And as for those whose scales are light, because of evil deeds, those are the
ones who have lost their souls, by causing them to travel towards the Fire, because they mistreated, they
[knowingly] denied, Our signs.
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Tafseer
And We have given you power, O Children of Adam, in the earth, and have
appointed for you therein livelihoods (maâāyish is the plural of maâīsha), that is, the means by which you
[are able to] subsist; little (qalīlan mā: mā is to emphasise the âlittlenessâ) thanks you show, for this.
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Tafseer
And We created you, that is, your father Adam, then shaped you, that is, We
shaped him with you [deposited] in his back, then said to the angels: âProstrate yourselves before
Adam!â, a prostration that is a bow of salutation. So they fell prostrate, all save Iblīs, the father of the
jinn, who was among the angels â he was not of those who make prostration.
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Tafseer
He, exalted be He, said, âWhat prevented you from falling prostrate (allā is
[made up of] an-lā, the lā being extra) when I commanded you?â He [Iblīs] said, âI am better than him. You
created me from fire, while him You created from clayâ.
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Tafseer
Said He, âThen go down from it, that is, from the Garden â it is also said, [go
down] from the heavens â it is not, right, for you to show pride here, so go forth, out of it! Surely you
are among the abased!â, the contemptible!
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Tafseer
Said he, âReprieve me, postpone my affair, until the day when they, people, are
resurrectedâ.
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Tafseer
Said He, âLo! You are of those reprievedâ â in another verse, it is said, until
the day of an appointed time [Q. 38:81], that is, [until] the time of the first blast [of the Trumpet].
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Tafseer
159 Said he, âNow, because You have sent me astray (fa-bi-mā aghwaytanī means
bi-ighwāâik, âfor Your sending me astrayâ: the bāâ is for oaths, and the response of the oath is [the
following]) verily I shall sit in ambush for them, that is, for the Children of Adam, on Your straight path, that is, on
the path that leads to You.
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Tafseer
Then I shall come upon them from before them and from behind them and from their
right and from their left, that is to say, from every side, and prevent them from following it [that
path]. Ibn âAbbās said, âHowever, he cannot come upon them from above, lest he come between the servant
and the mercy of God, exalted be Heâ. And You will not find most of them thankfulâ, believing.
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Tafseer
Said He, âGo forth from it, degraded (read madhâūman) disgraced or despised, and
banished, removed from mercy. As for those of them, of people, who follow you (la-man, âas for those
whoâ: the lām is for inceptiveness; or it is for introducing the oath, which is [the following]) I
shall assuredly fill Hell with all of youâ, that is, with you, through your seed, and with people â herein [in this
address] those present have predominance over those absent (this [last] sentence [of the verse] expresses
the sense of âthe requitalâ [suggested] in the conditional man, âwhoâ: in other words, âwhoever follows you,
then I shall punish himâ).
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Tafseer
And, He said, âO Adam, dwell, you (anta: this is reiterated in order to
emphasise the subject of the verb uskun, âdwellâ, and to supplement to it [what follows]) and your wife, Eve (read
Hawwāâ), in the Garden, and eat from whence you will, but do not come near this tree, to eat of it â and
this was wheat â lest you become evildoersâ.
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Tafseer
Then Satan, Iblīs, whispered to them that he might manifest, reveal, to them
that which was hidden (wūriya: based on [the verbal form] fūâila and [derives] from [the infinitive]
al-muwārā) to them of their shameful parts. And he said, âYour Lord prohibited you from this tree only, in
aversion, lest you become angels (malakayn may also be read malikayn) or become immortalsâ, in other
words, that is the necessary consequence of eating from it, as [is stated] in another verse: Shall I guide
you to the Tree of Immortality and a kingdom that does not waste away? [Q. 20:120].
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Tafseer
And he swore to both of them, that is, he swore to both of them by God, âTruly,
I am a sincere adviser to youâ, in this matter.
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Tafseer
Thus did he lead them on, [thus] did he debase them in their status, by
delusion, on his part; and when they tasted of the tree, that is, [when] they ate of it, their shameful parts
were manifested to them, that is, the front [private part] of each was revealed to the other, as well as their
behinds â each of these parts is called sawâa, âshamefulâ, because its exposure âshamesâ (yasūâu) that person â
and they began to piece together, they began to stick, onto themselves some of the leaves of the Garden,
to cover themselves up therewith. And their Lord called them: âDid I not prohibit you from this tree,
and say to you, âVerily Satan is a manifest enemy to youâ?â, one whose enmity is evident? (the interrogative is
meant as an affirmative).
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Tafseer
They said, âOur Lord, we have wronged ourselves, by our act of disobedience, and
if You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we shall surely be among the lostâ. 160
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Tafseer
Said He, âGo down, that is, Adam and Eve, with all those you comprise of your
seed, each of you, each seed, an enemy to the other, on account of the wrong each does to the another. There
will be for you on earth an abode, a place of settlement, and enjoyment for a whileâ, [until] your terms [of
life] are fulfilled.
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Tafseer
Said He, âThere, that is, [on] earth, you shall live, and there you shall die,
and from there you shall be brought forthâ, through the Resurrection (read active takhrujūn, âyou shall come
forthâ, or passive tukhrajūn, âyou shall be brought forthâ).
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Tafseer
O Children of Adam! We have sent down on you a garment, that is, We have created
it for you, to conceal, to cover up, your shameful parts, and feathers, meaning all that one adorns
oneself with of garments, and the garment of God-fearing, righteous deeds and virtuous traits (read as
libāsaâl-taqwā, âthe garment of Godfearingâ, as a supplement to the preceding libāsan, âa garmentâ; or read as libāsuâl-tawqā
as the subject, the predicate of which is the [following] sentence) that is best; that is one of
Godâs signs, the proofs of His power; perhaps they will remember, and believe (the address shifts from the
second [to the third] person).
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Tafseer
O Children of Adam! Let not Satan tempt you, lead you astray, that is, do not
follow him, lest you fall into temptation, as he caused your parents to go forth from the Garden, by tempting
them, stripping (yanziâu is a circumstantial qualifier) them of their garments to manifest to them their
shameful parts. Surely he, Satan, sees you, he and his tribe, his army, from where you do not see them â because
of their ethereal bodies or their being colourless. We have made the devils friends, helpers and companions,
of those who do not believe.
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Tafseer
And when they commit any indecency, such as idolatry, or circumambulating the
[Sacred] House naked, saying, âWe cannot perform the circumambulations wearing clothes in which we
were disobedient to Godâ â and so they forbade this [wearing of clothes] â they say, âWe found our fathers
practising it, and so we followed their example, and God has, also, enjoined it on usâ. Say, to them:
âGod does not enjoin indecency. Do you say concerning God that which you do not know?â, that He has said? (the
interrogative is meant as a repudiation).
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