Appearance
Verses 128–135
وَ يَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ جَمِيعاً يا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ قَدِ اسْتَكْثَرْتُمْ مِنَ الْإِنْسِ وَ قالَ أَوْلِياؤُهُمْ مِنَ الْإِنْسِ رَبَّنَا اسْتَمْتَعَ بَعْضُنا بِبَعْضٍ وَ بَلَغْنا أَجَلَنَا الَّذِي أَجَّلْتَ لَنا قالَ النَّارُ مَثْواكُمْ خالِدِينَ فِيها إِلاَّ ما شاءَ اللَّهُ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ حَكِيمٌ عَلِيمٌ ١٢٨ وَ كَذلِكَ نُوَلِّي بَعْضَ الظَّالِمِينَ بَعْضاً بِما كانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ ١٢٩ يا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ وَ الْإِنْسِ أَ لَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِنْكُمْ يَقُصُّونَ عَلَيْكُمْ آياتِي وَ يُنْذِرُونَكُمْ لِقاءَ يَوْمِكُمْ هذا قالُوا شَهِدْنا عَلى أَنْفُسِنا وَ غَرَّتْهُمُ الْحَياةُ الدُّنْيا وَ شَهِدُوا عَلى أَنْفُسِهِمْ أَنَّهُمْ كانُوا كافِرِينَ ١٣٠ ذلِكَ أَنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ رَبُّكَ مُهْلِكَ الْقُرى بِظُلْمٍ وَ أَهْلُها غافِلُونَ ١٣١ وَ لِكُلٍّ دَرَجاتٌ مِمَّا عَمِلُوا وَ ما رَبُّكَ بِغافِلٍ عَمَّا يَعْمَلُونَ ١٣٢ وَ رَبُّكَ الْغَنِيُّ ذُو الرَّحْمَةِ إِنْ يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ وَ يَسْتَخْلِفْ مِنْ بَعْدِكُمْ ما يَشاءُ كَما أَنْشَأَكُمْ مِنْ ذُرِّيَّةِ قَوْمٍ آخَرِينَ ١٣٣ إِنَّ ما تُوعَدُونَ لَآتٍ وَ ما أَنْتُمْ بِمُعْجِزِينَ ١٣٤ قُلْ يا قَوْمِ اعْمَلُوا عَلى مَكانَتِكُمْ إِنِّي عامِلٌ فَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ مَنْ تَكُونُ لَهُ عاقِبَةُ الدَّارِ إِنَّهُ لا يُفْلِحُ الظَّالِمُونَ ١٣٥
- And on the day when He shall gather them all together: O assembly of jinn! You took away a great part of humankind. And their friends from among humankind shall say: Our Lord! Some of us profited by others and we have reached our appointed end which Thou didst appoint for us. He shall say: The fire is your abode, to abide in it, except as Allah wills; surely your Lord is Wise, Knowing.
- And thus do We authorize some of the wrongdoers over others on account of what they earned.
- O assembly of jinn and humankind! Did there not come to you messengers from among you, relating to you My communications and warning you of the meeting of this day of yours? They shall say: We bear witness against ourselves; and this world’s life deceived them, and they shall bear witness against their own souls that they were disbelievers.
- That is because your Lord would not destroy towns unjustly while their people were heedless.
- And all have degrees according to what they do; and your Lord is not heedless of what they do.
- And your Lord is the Self-Sufficient, the Lord of mercy; if He wills, He may take you off, and make what He wills successors after you, even as He raised you up from the seed of another people.
- Surely what you are promised will come to pass and you cannot thwart (God).
- Say: O my people! Act according to your status; I too am acting; so you will soon come to know, for whom (of us) will be the (good) end of the abode; surely the unjust shall not be successful.
Introduction
These verses are connected to the previous set of verses. They explain the meaning of wilāyah (authority, guardianship, friendship) that God has given to some wrongdoers over others, such as giving authority to devils over the disbelievers. This, however, is not an act of injustice [by God], because they will realize on the Day of Resurrection that what they did—such as associating partners with God and committing sins—was only by their own bad choice. They were deceived by the life of this world despite receiving God’s communications and being warned about the Last Day. Thus they fell into injustice, but the unjust are far from salvation [on that day].
In other words, God’s decree (qaḍāʾ) does not take away one’s free will, which is the basis of accountability, retribution, felicity and damnation. Nor does human choice contradict God’s decree. Rather, what God has decreed is that certain humans will certainly follow demonic leaders and guardians by their own choice and volition. God’s decree does not cancel the free will of humankind such that they have no choice but to follow the devils. They are neither forced by God nor by the devils to carry on the path of wretchedness, to choose polytheism, and to commit sins and injustice. Nay, for God is needless of them. He does not have any interest in what they have so that He would wrong them for it. Instead, He has created them by His mercy and has urged them to move toward it, but they wrong [themselves] and thus fail to succeed.
Commentary
وَ يَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ جَمِيعاً يا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ قَدِ اسْتَكْثَرْتُمْ مِنَ الْإِنْسِ وَ قالَ أَوْلِياؤُهُمْ مِنَ الْإِنْسِ رَبَّنَا اسْتَمْتَعَ بَعْضُنا بِبَعْضٍ وَ بَلَغْنا أَجَلَنَا الَّذِي أَجَّلْتَ لَنا قالَ النَّارُ مَثْواكُمْ خالِدِينَ فِيها إِلاَّ ما شاءَ اللَّهُ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ حَكِيمٌ عَلِيمٌ ١٢٨
(6:128) And on the day when He shall gather them all together: O assembly of jinn! You took away a great part (istakthartum, from istikthār) of humankind. And their friends from among humankind shall say: Our Lord! Some of us profited by others and we have reached our appointed end which Thou didst appoint for us. He shall say: The fire is your abode, to abide in it, except as Allah wills; surely your Lord is Wise, Knowing.
Akthara and istakthara mean “to bring much of something” or “to do much of an act.” Saying that the jinn had istikthār of humankind does not mean that the jinn literally “bring” humankind, because God is the One Who brings them all into this world and shall summon them on the Day of Resurrection. Instead, what is meant is that the jinn have gained much of humankind within their jurisdiction and domain of influence, which is their ability to deceive and tempt. Their deception and temptation is through the wilāyah (authority, guardianship, friendship) that the jinn [that is, devils] have over humankind. This, however, is not a kind of wilāyah where one group imposes and forces the other group into something. Rather, it means a two-sided relationship and interaction between them, where the followers choose to go after the leaders in search of their own interest, and the leaders take control of the affairs of the followers because of some benefit that they enjoy for wielding authority over them and managing their affairs. There is some interest for the jinn in deceiving humankind and taking charge of them, and there is some gain for humankind in following their temptations and allurement, for they pave the road to their material pleasures and personal interests.
This idea can be seen in the confession that will be made by the friends of jinn from humankind: Our Lord! Some of us profited by others. It means: “We [humans] profited from the pleasures of this world and its ornaments through the temptations and allurement of the jinn, and they profited from what they desired through us, until we ended where we ended.”
… and we have reached our appointed end (ajalanā) which Thou didst appoint for us…: Given the above explanation, ajal here does not mean the end of their life. Instead, it means “a limit that God set for their being” or “a degree that they reached based on their actions.” In other words, it means the level of existential actualization (fiʿliyyah) that they achieve, not the time line which marks the end of their life. The meaning would be: “Some of us profited by others through their own evil choice and wicked actions. Through this voluntary journey we reached the end that You had decreed for us, which is that we ended up as wrongdoers and disbelievers.”
The verse up to here [which Thou didst appoint for us] means: “And on the day when God shall gather them all to complete His argument against them, He will tell the jinn: ‘O assembly of jinn! Certainly you managed to gain control over much of humankind and deceive them.’ Their friends among humankind will acknowledge the reality of the matter by saying, ‘Our Lord! Some of us profited by others. That is, we humans profited by the jinn as we enjoyed the beauties of this world and the cravings of our lower souls through their enticement. And they profited by us because we followed the temptations that they used to whisper and inspire to us. We persisted with this way until we reached the end of our course, which is this degree that we have according to our actions and this wretched life that we have actualized for ourselves.’”
This confession of humankind reveals that even though this ajal (end, term) is something appointed by God, they reach it through following a path of mutual interest, which is something that they pursue by their free will. Given this point, it is possible to deduce that “jinn” here means specifically devils that whisper in the hearts of both humankind and jinn.
… He shall say: The fire is your abode (mathwākum), to abide in it, except as Allah wills; surely your Lord is Wise, Knowing: This is God’s response to the wrongdoers and His judgment about them. His verdict is: The fire is your abode…
Mathwá is ism makān (noun of place, locative noun) derived from the verb thawá yathwī thawāʾ, which means “to stay in a fixed and stable manner.” Therefore, saying that “the fire is your mathwá” means that “it is a place where you shall stay and not leave.” This sense is then emphasized by saying: to abide in it.
… except as Allah wills…: This exception shows that God does not lose His power because of this decree, but He continues to have it as before. Hence, He can take them out of the fire even though He does not.
… surely your Lord is Wise, Knowing: The address here is to the Prophet. The verse’s ending serves to explain and justify the content of the verse.
وَ كَذلِكَ نُوَلِّي بَعْضَ الظَّالِمِينَ بَعْضاً بِما كانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ ١٢٩
() And thus do We authorize (nuwallī, from wilāyah) some of the wrongdoers over others on account of what they earned.
This verse extends and applies the idea mentioned in the last verse to the case of giving authority and control to some wrongdoers over others. It follows the same principle: the followers benefit from the leaders because of their temptations and allurement which leads them to commit sins and injustice, to the point that God gives authority to the leaders over the followers, and places the latter under the wilāyah (authority, guardianship, friendship) of the former.
… on account of what (bi-mā) they earned: The letter bāʾ (by, for, because) in bi-mā indicates either causality or exchange. It means that this authorization is retribution for the wrongdoers in exchange for the wrong that they committed. It is not an unprecedented initiative taken by God, but it is a consequence of their sin. This idea is also seen in the verse: He causes many to err by it [His parable], and many He leads aright by it! But He does not cause to err by it (any) except the transgressors ().
The verse is expressed in the first person, where God is the speaker and the Prophet is the audience. This means a shift of address from the last verse [which was not in the first person]. It indicates that the polytheists are not worthy of receiving this address. It is stated in the first person because it resembles conferring a secret. There are also other shifts of address in these verses. Their rhetorical purpose should be clear for those who contemplate them.
يا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ وَ الْإِنْسِ أَ لَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِنْكُمْ يَقُصُّونَ عَلَيْكُمْ آياتِي وَ يُنْذِرُونَكُمْ لِقاءَ يَوْمِكُمْ هذا قالُوا شَهِدْنا عَلى أَنْفُسِنا وَ غَرَّتْهُمُ الْحَياةُ الدُّنْيا وَ شَهِدُوا عَلى أَنْفُسِهِمْ أَنَّهُمْ كانُوا كافِرِينَ ١٣٠
(6:130) O assembly of jinn and humankind! Did there not come to you messengers from among you, relating to you My communications and warning you of the meeting of this day of yours? They shall say: We bear witness against ourselves; and this world’s life deceived them, and they shall bear witness against their own souls that they were disbelievers.
This verse is a response to refute a possible implicit objection. The argument in the last two verses was based on the confession of the wrongdoers that they put themselves under the authority of devils by their own evil choice.
One may raise the following objection against this argument: It is true that they had free will in what they did, but perhaps they did not know that their sins and enjoyment would lead them to perdition, would establish the authority of wrongdoers and devils over them, would result in their eternal damnation, and would rule out their chance of salvation forever. This means that they were heedless of this consequence even though they had overall knowledge about the evilness and enormity of their deeds. If so, then punishing a heedless person is wrong.
God refutes this possibility in this verse. He asks them whether or not His messengers came to them to remind them of God’s signs and communications, and to warn them of the Day of Gathering and Reckoning. Once they confess that they rejected what the messengers brought to them, God’s argument becomes complete and His proof becomes binding against them.
The meaning is: “We shall address them all and say, ‘O assembly of jinn and humankind! Is not true that messengers of your kind—which We sent—came to you? Did they not relate to you My communications which show the truth of religion? Did they not warn you of the meeting of this day, which is the Day of Resurrection? Did they not tell you that surely God shall make you stand in a position of accountability, shall reckon your deeds, and shall repay you for what you did: good for good, and evil for evil?’ When We ask them about these, they will admit and say, ‘We bear witness against ourselves that the messengers came to us, related to us Your communications, and warned us of the meeting on this day.’ They will bear witness against themselves that they were disbelievers in what the messengers brought, meaning that they rejected their message despite having knowledge, not out of heedlessness.”
The above interpretation should clarify three points:
(1) From among you shows that overall the messengers were of the same kind as the audience, which include both jinn and humankind. It means that the messengers were not other creatures—like angels—such that the audience [as a whole] would find them unfamiliar, would be unable to relate to them, and would not understand what they say. However, there is no indication in the verse that each of jinn and humankind had messengers of their own kind.
(2) “Bearing witness” is repeated because there are two testimonies mentioned in the verse. The first is their confession that the messengers came to them, related God’s communications to them, and warned them of the Day of Resurrection. The second testimony is their confession to being disbelievers in what the messengers brought, as opposed to being heedless of them. Some exegetes have said that the first “bearing witness” means that they were present and witnessed when they committed disbelief and disobedience in this world [called ḥaml al-shahādah]. Then the second “bearing witness” means their confession and testimony in the hereafter about their disbelief in this world [called adāʾ al-shahādah]. However, both of these reduce to witnessing to their disbelief in this world. Therefore, their suggested interpretation is not a sufficient explanation of the repetition in the verse.
(3) And this world’s life deceived them: This is a side note or parenthetical remark that is stated to clarify a potential question that may spring to the mind. It was said above that these disbelievers profited from one another [indicating their free will], and received God’s messengers who recited His communications to them and warned them of the Last Day [indicating their knowledge]. Hence, one may ask: How come they pursued the path of damnation and caused their own destruction despite having knowledge and choice? This sentence answers that by saying that the life of this world deceived them, such that whenever a light of truth shined in their hearts and they had a glimpse of good, their base desires and vices rushed to them and thereby covered them in layers of darkness. That is what veiled them from the truth and blinded their sight from seeing and observing it.
ذلِكَ أَنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ رَبُّكَ مُهْلِكَ الْقُرى بِظُلْمٍ وَ أَهْلُها غافِلُونَ ١٣١
(6:131) That is because (dhālika an) your Lord would not destroy towns unjustly (bi-ẓulm) while their people were heedless.
Given the theme and context of the verse, the demonstrative pronoun “that” (dhālika) refers to the content of the previous verses. What is implied by the Arabic particle an (lit. “that”) is li-an (because, for that), where the omitted letter lām shows taʿlīl (justification, explanation). The meaning is: “That which We said above—about sending messengers to awaken them by Our communications and to warn them of the Day of Resurrection—was because it is not God’s custom to destroy the people of towns and mete out His wrath and punishment to them as long as they are unaware of two things: (1) what He wants from them, which is to obey Him; and (2) what He shall do to them if they do not comply. That is an injustice that is far from Him.
It is true that they end up in damnation as decreed and appointed by God, and it is He Who gives authority to some of them over others, but He does not take away their power to obey Him and does not cancel their free will. They chose to associate partners with God and disobey Him. Then He sent messengers to them to relate His communications to them and warn them of the meeting of the Day of Reckoning []. Yet, they rejected the messengers and insisted on their transgression and defiance []. As a result, God penalized them by giving authority to some of them over others [] and decreeing that the Fire shall be their abode []. Therefore, they asked for their own destruction with knowledge and out of their own choice. It is not that God destroyed them in a state of heedlessness so that it may count as injustice, for indeed He is a Just Ruler.
The above explanation should clarify three points:
(1) The expression your Lord would not shows a consistent custom of God. All of God’s actions are according to an ongoing custom and a straight path, as He says: Surely my Lord is on the straight path (). Saying “would not” (lam yakun) implies this sense [of a continual custom].
(2) “Destroying the towns” means decreeing that they shall be wretched in this world and punished in the hereafter, as the context suggests. It does not mean sending an exterminating punishment in this world.
(3) Bi-ẓulm (unjustly, by injustice) refers to injustice by God, not by the people of the towns. It would be unjust of Him if He were to destroy them while they are heedless.
وَ لِكُلٍّ دَرَجاتٌ مِمَّا عَمِلُوا وَ ما رَبُّكَ بِغافِلٍ عَمَّا يَعْمَلُونَ ١٣٢
(6:132) And all have (li-kull) degrees according to what they do; and your Lord is not heedless of what they do.
What is meant by “all” (kull) is “both groups mentioned above.” The meaning is: “And all of the jinn and humankind have degrees of actions, meaning that they have different actions which result in their difference of degrees. And your Lord is not heedless of their actions.”
وَ رَبُّكَ الْغَنِيُّ ذُو الرَّحْمَةِ إِنْ يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ وَ يَسْتَخْلِفْ مِنْ بَعْدِكُمْ ما يَشاءُ كَما أَنْشَأَكُمْ مِنْ ذُرِّيَّةِ قَوْمٍ آخَرِينَ ١٣٣
(6:133) And your Lord is the Self-Sufficient, the Lord of mercy; if He wills, He may take you off, and make what He wills successors after you, even as He raised you up from the seed of another people.
This is a general statement that negates God’s injustice against His creatures. Ẓulm (injustice, oppression, wrong) means “placing something where it does not belong.” It can takes place in the form of either acting or refraining [while one should do otherwise]. There can be two causes for any violation of a right:
(1) To make a gain or avoid a loss either for oneself or for someone that one likes. This reduces to a need on the part of the subject, in one way or another.
(2) Not because of any need, but because of an inner wickedness and hard-heartedness, which makes the subject indifferent to the pain and suffering that afflicts the other side. This does not emanate from some need in the subject, but it is a result of some moral vice.
However, God is clear and free from both of these evil qualities. He is: (1) a Rich and Self-Sufficient Lord that is never touched by any form of need or lack; and (2) a possessor of unconditional mercy which He pours upon everything according to its condition and capacity. Thus, He does not wrong anyone. This is what can be deduced from His words: And your Lord is the Self-Sufficient, the Lord of mercy….
The verse means: “And your Lord is the One Who is absolutely ghanī (self-sufficient, opulent, rich), without any poverty or need whatsoever. He also has an absolute mercy which encompasses all things.” The implication of this is that He can take you away according to His self-sufficiency, and replace you thereafter with other creatures that He brings through His mercy. The proof for this is that He brought you forth by His mercy from the seed of another people whom He took away as He was needless of them.
Here God has used the particle mā (what, that) instead of the particle man (who, whom): the verse says what He wills as opposed to “whom He wills.” This suggests a sense of vagueness which points to the vastness of His power.
إِنَّ ما تُوعَدُونَ لَآتٍ وَ ما أَنْتُمْ بِمُعْجِزِينَ ١٣٤
(6:134) Surely what you are promised will come to pass and you cannot thwart (God).
This verse refers to the divine ordainment of the resurrection and retribution. That is what you are threatened with by means of revelation. These promises shall surely come to pass, and you cannot thwart God and render Him helpless in the sense that you cannot avoid or prevent the occurrence of any of His promises and ordainments. This verse emphasizes the promise of reward and the threat of punishment that were mentioned previously.
قُلْ يا قَوْمِ اعْمَلُوا عَلى مَكانَتِكُمْ إِنِّي عامِلٌ فَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ مَنْ تَكُونُ لَهُ عاقِبَةُ الدَّارِ إِنَّهُ لا يُفْلِحُ الظَّالِمُونَ ١٣٥
(6:135) Say: O my people! Act according to your status (makānatikum); I too am acting; so you will soon come to know, for whom (of us) will be the (good) end of the abode (ʿāqibat al-dār); surely the unjust shall not be successful.
Makānah means “the position where something rests and its current condition or status.” ʿĀqibah means “the end of something.” It is said that ʿāqibah is originally a maṣdar (gerund, verbal noun) like ʿuqbá. Saying that “so-and-so had ʿāqibat al-dār (the end of the abode)” is a way of saying that “he succeeded in his effort and achieved his goal.” This verse refers back to an earlier verse which started the current discussion: Follow what is revealed to you from your Lord; there is no god but He; and withdraw from the polytheists ().
The meaning is: Say to the polytheists, “O my people! Act according to your current position and state of polytheism and disbelief”—which is a threat expressed in the form of an imperative. “Continue the wrong and injustice that you are doing, for indeed I too shall act: I shall adhere to the belief which I have been blessed with, and shall call others to monotheism. Soon you will know who will accomplish and succeed in what he is doing. You will come to know that I am the one who will succeed, not you, because you are unjust due to your polytheism and iniquity, and the unjust shall not be successful.”
Some have said that “I too am acting” is the speech of God, where He declares that He shall act according to His promise of resurrection and retribution. However, this is not true because: (1) it does not match the context and flow of the verse [which suggest that the speaker is the Prophet]; and (2) it does not match the following part of the verse: So you will soon come to know, for whom (of us) will be the (good) end of the abode.
Examining Narrations
- Concerning And thus do We authorize some of the wrongdoers over others () Tafsīr al-Qummī says: [It means] We will bring everyone under the authority of the guardians that they accepted [in this world], such that they will be together on the Day of Resurrection.
- Imam al-Bāqir said: God does not avenge a wrongdoer except by means of another wrongdoer. This is the meaning of what He says: And thus do We authorize some of the wrongdoers over others ().
Author’s comment: It is not clear how the verse implies the sense of exclusivity found in this narration.
- Usāmah b. Zayd purchased a slave girl for one hundred dinars on credit, payable in one month. When the Prophet heard about it he said: Are you not astonished by Usāmah purchasing something on a one-month loan? Indeed Usāmah has prolonged hopes. By the One in Whose hand is my life, I have never shut my eyes except that I thought I will be seized by death before I open my eyelids; I have never opened my eyes except that I thought I will be seized by death before I shut them; and I never took a morsel [of food] except that I thought I will choke on it to death before I swallow it down my throat. O children of Adam! If you are intelligent, count yourselves among the dead. By the One in Whose hand is my life: Surely what you are promised will come to pass and you cannot thwart (God) ().
Therefore “jinn” here does not include righteous jinn which are mentioned in verse . The evil whisperers of jinn are mentioned in Chapter 114. (Trans.) ↩︎
As the reader can see, it is difficult—if not impossible—to translate the word wilāyah. Many English translators have translated wilāyah in these verses as “friendship,” and awliyāʾ (plural of walī) as “friends.” This word choice matches the sense of mutual interest that the author has inferred from some of us profited by others (). However, the verses clearly denote a sense of authority, guardianship and control that the jinn exercise over humankind. Some of us profited by others is an indefinite proposition (qaḍiyyah muhmalah) which does not necessarily imply that both sides benefited from one another, although that can be true in its place and can be explained by the author’s interpretation. Instead, given the context of the verse, it is more apparent that “some of us” refers specifically to the jinn (or devils) and “others” refers specifically to the humankind. The verse primarily indicates a one-sided istimtāʾ (enjoyment, profit, benefit), referring to the authority that the devils enjoyed over their human followers. Similarly, verse is not about mere friendship between the wrongdoers, but is about giving authority to some over others. This verse can be closely matched with the verse: Surely We have made the devils to be the guardians (awliyāʾ) of those who do not believe (). Overall, wilāyah and its derivatives are rarely ever used in the Qur’an for mere friendship between two sides at the same level, but almost always they involve a sense of authority, hierarchy and hegemony. Walī and mawlá are used for both sides of a relationship of authority: for both the master and the servant, or the superior and the inferior. However, when the Qur’an uses tawliyah (giving wilāyah) and tawallī (assuming wilāyah), it is primarily concerned with only one direction of this relationship. Therefore, nuwallī (from tawliyah) in verse does not mean making two groups friends with each other, where the two groups profit by one another, but it means giving authority to one group over the other, where the superiors profit by their subordinates. (Trans.) ↩︎
In other words, verse is a report of what shall happen on the Day of Judgment. Then in verse , it is as if God is stepping back and whispering a secret to His Prophet. (Trans.) ↩︎
The difference between them is that the particle mā (what, that) is commonly used for unintelligent beings, while the particle man (who, whom) is commonly used for intelligent beings. There are, however, Qur’anic examples of opposite usages for both terms. The author’s point is based on their primary meaning and common usage. (Trans.) ↩︎
Therefore the original meaning of ʿāqibah and ʿuqbá is “ending,” but they are used as the condition or place where something ends. (Trans.) ↩︎
Al-Kāfī, via its chain of narration, on the authority of Abū Baṣīr. ↩︎
Al-Durr al-manthūr, on the authority of Ibn Abī al-Dunyā’s al-Amal, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, al-Bayhaqī’s al-Shuʿab, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī. ↩︎