Al-Mizan

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Verses 161–171 ​

Chapter 7: Al-Aʿrāf (Elevations) · Printed edition: Volume 16, pp. 157–178

وَ إِذْ قِيلَ لَهُمُ اسْكُنُوا هذِهِ الْقَرْيَةَ وَ كُلُوا مِنْها حَيْثُ شِئْتُمْ وَ قُولُوا حِطَّةٌ وَ ادْخُلُوا الْبابَ سُجَّداً نَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ خَطِيئاتِكُمْ سَنَزِيدُ الْمُحْسِنِينَ ١٦١ فَبَدَّلَ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنْهُمْ قَوْلاً غَيْرَ الَّذِي قِيلَ لَهُمْ فَأَرْسَلْنا عَلَيْهِمْ رِجْزاً مِنَ السَّماءِ بِما كانُوا يَظْلِمُونَ ١٦٢ وَ سْئَلْهُمْ عَنِ الْقَرْيَةِ الَّتِي كانَتْ حاضِرَةَ الْبَحْرِ إِذْ يَعْدُونَ فِي السَّبْتِ إِذْ تَأْتِيهِمْ حِيتانُهُمْ يَوْمَ سَبْتِهِمْ شُرَّعاً وَ يَوْمَ لا يَسْبِتُونَ لا تَأْتِيهِمْ كَذلِكَ نَبْلُوهُمْ بِما كانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ ١٦٣ وَ إِذْ قالَتْ أُمَّةٌ مِنْهُمْ لِمَ تَعِظُونَ قَوْماً اللَّهُ مُهْلِكُهُمْ أَوْ مُعَذِّبُهُمْ عَذاباً شَدِيداً قالُوا مَعْذِرَةً إِلى‏ رَبِّكُمْ وَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ ١٦٤ فَلَمَّا نَسُوا ما ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ أَنْجَيْنَا الَّذِينَ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ السُّوءِ وَ أَخَذْنَا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا بِعَذابٍ بَئِيسٍ بِما كانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ ١٦٥ فَلَمَّا عَتَوْا عَنْ ما نُهُوا عَنْهُ قُلْنا لَهُمْ كُونُوا قِرَدَةً خاسِئِينَ ١٦٦ وَ إِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكَ لَيَبْعَثَنَّ عَلَيْهِمْ إِلى‏ يَوْمِ الْقِيامَةِ مَنْ يَسُومُهُمْ سُوءَ الْعَذابِ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَسَرِيعُ الْعِقابِ وَ إِنَّهُ لَغَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ١٦٧ وَ قَطَّعْناهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ أُمَماً مِنْهُمُ الصَّالِحُونَ وَ مِنْهُمْ دُونَ ذلِكَ وَ بَلَوْناهُمْ بِالْحَسَناتِ وَ السَّيِّئاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ ١٦٨ فَخَلَفَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ خَلْفٌ وَرِثُوا الْكِتابَ يَأْخُذُونَ عَرَضَ هذَا الْأَدْنى‏ وَ يَقُولُونَ سَيُغْفَرُ لَنا وَ إِنْ يَأْتِهِمْ عَرَضٌ مِثْلُهُ يَأْخُذُوهُ أَ لَمْ يُؤْخَذْ عَلَيْهِمْ مِيثاقُ الْكِتابِ أَنْ لا يَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ إِلاَّ الْحَقَّ وَ دَرَسُوا ما فِيهِ وَ الدَّارُ الْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ أَ فَلا تَعْقِلُونَ ١٦٩ وَ الَّذِينَ يُمَسِّكُونَ بِالْكِتابِ وَ أَقامُوا الصَّلاةَ إِنَّا لا نُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُصْلِحِينَ ١٧٠ وَ إِذْ نَتَقْنَا الْجَبَلَ فَوْقَهُمْ كَأَنَّهُ ظُلَّةٌ وَ ظَنُّوا أَنَّهُ واقِعٌ بِهِمْ خُذُوا ما آتَيْناكُمْ بِقُوَّةٍ وَ اذْكُرُوا ما فِيهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ١٧١

  1. And when they were told, “Settle in this town and eat thereof whence you wish; and say, ‘Relieve [us of the burden of our sins],’ and enter prostrating at the gate, that We may forgive your iniquities, and soon We shall enhance the virtuous.”
  2. But the wrongdoers changed the saying with other than what they had been told. So We sent against them a plague from the sky because of the wrongs they used to commit.
  3. Ask them about the town that was situated on the seaside, when they violated the Sabbath, when their fish would come to them on the Sabbath day, visibly on the shore, but on days when they were not keeping Sabbath they would not come to them. Thus did We test them because of the transgressions they used to commit.
  4. When a group of them said, “Why do you advise a people whom Allah will destroy or punish with a severe punishment?” They said, “As an excuse before your Lord, and [with the hope] that they may restrain [themselves].”
  5. So when they forgot what they had been reminded of We delivered those who forbade evil [conduct] and seized the wrongdoers with a terrible punishment because of the transgressions they used to commit.
  6. When they defied what they were forbidden from, We said to them, “Be you spurned apes.”
  7. And when your Lord proclaimed that He would surely send against them, until the Day of Resurrection, those who would inflict on them a terrible punishment. Indeed your Lord is swift in retribution, and indeed He is All-Forgiving, Ever-Merciful.
  8. We dispersed them into communities around the earth: some of them were righteous, and some of them otherwise, and We tested them with good and bad [times] so that they may come back.
  9. Then they were succeeded by an evil posterity which inherited the Book: they grab the transitory gains of this lower world, and they say, “It will be forgiven us.” And if similar transitory gains were to come their way, they would grab them too. Was not the covenant of the Book taken with them that they shall not attribute anything to Allah except the truth? And they have studied what is in it, and the abode of the Hereafter is better for those who are Godwary. Do you not apply reason?
  10. As for those who hold fast to the Book and maintain the prayer—indeed We do not waste the reward of those who set things right.
  11. When We plucked the mountain [and held it] above them as if it were a canopy and they thought it was about to fall on them: “Hold on with power to what We have given you and remember that which is in it, so that you may be Godwary.”

Introduction ​

These verses narrate some other stories of the Children of Israel. They describe how the Israelites transgressed God’s command and broke His covenant. Thus God seized them with the aftermath of their deeds. He put wrongdoers over them who would inflict on them a terrible punishment. That was the case of their earlier generations. They were then followed by a progeny who sold God’s signs and communications for a paltry gain, and were not serious with religion, except for a few of them who do not overstep the truth.

Commentary ​

وَإِذْ قِيلَ لَهُمُ اسْكُنُوا هَٰذِهِ الْقَرْيَةَ وَكُلُوا مِنْهَا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمْ وَقُولُوا حِطَّةٌ وَادْخُلُوا الْبَابَ سُجَّدًا نَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ خَطِيئَاتِكُمْ ۚ سَنَزِيدُ الْمُحْسِنِينَ ١٦١ فَبَدَّلَ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنْهُمْ قَوْلًا غَيْرَ الَّذِي قِيلَ لَهُمْ فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِجْزًا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ بِمَا كَانُوا يَظْلِمُونَ١٦٢

(7:161-162) And when they were told, “Settle in this town and eat thereof whence you wish; and say, ‘Relieve [us of the burden of our sins],’ and enter prostrating at the gate, that We may forgive your iniquities, and soon We shall enhance the virtuous.” But the wrongdoers changed the saying with other than what they had been told. So We sent against them a plague from the sky because of the wrongs they used to commit.

The “town” was in the Holy Land. They were ordered to enter it, fight the Amalekites living there, and drive them out. But they defied this command and deferred it to Moses himself. Thus they were afflicted with the wilderness. The story is discussed in Sūrah al-Māʾidah, verses .

… and say, ‘Relieve [us of the burden of our sins],’ and enter prostrating at the gate…: Refer to our discussion of a similar expression to this in Sūrah al-Baqarah, verses .

… and soon We shall enhance the virtuous: This sentence is an answer to an implied question (called a prolepsis). After saying, that We may forgive your iniquities (), it is as though one asks, “What else?” So the verse adds: and soon We shall enhance the virtuous.

وَاسْأَلْهُمْ عَنِ الْقَرْيَةِ الَّتِي كَانَتْ حَاضِرَةَ الْبَحْرِ إِذْ يَعْدُونَ فِي السَّبْتِ إِذْ تَأْتِيهِمْ حِيتَانُهُمْ يَوْمَ سَبْتِهِمْ شُرَّعًا وَيَوْمَ لَا يَسْبِتُونَ ۙ لَا تَأْتِيهِمْ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ نَبْلُوهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ ١٦٣

(7:163) Ask them about the town that was situated on (ḥāḍirah, from ḥaḍara) the seaside, when they violated the Sabbath, when their fish would come to them on the Sabbath day, visibly on the shore, but on days when they were not keeping Sabbath they would not come to them. Thus did We test them because of the transgressions they used to commit.

The pronoun “them” in Ask them refers to the Children of Israel [who were living at the time of the Prophet]. Ḥaḍara means “to witness something and preside over it.”

Ask them about the town that was situated on the seaside…: Ask the Children of Israel about the story of the town which was near the sea and on the verge of it.

… when they violated the Sabbath…: They transgressed God’s limits about respecting the Sabbath and not fishing on it.

… when their fish would come to them on the Sabbath day, visibly on the shore (shurraʿan): “Their fish” means the fish in their region. Shurraʿ is the plural of shāriʿ, which means “apparent, visible, clear.”

… but on days when they were not keeping Sabbath they would not come to them: On Saturdays when they were forbidden from fishing, the fish used to be readily and visibly available to them. But once that they passed and it was permissible for them to fish—on days other than Saturday—the fish did not appear [on the surface and near the shore]. It was under these circumstances that they transgressed the limits that God had commanded. This was part of God’s test and trial of them. He tempted them in this way because of rampant sinfulness among them. Their greed stirred them to catch the fish notwithstanding God’s command. They did not have sufficient taqwá (Godwariness, self-restraint) to stop them from this violation. Hence God ends by saying:

… Thus did We test them (nablūhum, from iblāʾ) because of the transgressions they used to commit: We put them through a trial. Iblāʾ here is synonymous with imtiḥān (examination, trial, tribulation).

وَإِذْ قَالَتْ أُمَّةٌ مِنْهُمْ لِمَ تَعِظُونَ قَوْمًا ۙ اللَّهُ مُهْلِكُهُمْ أَوْ مُعَذِّبُهُمْ عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا ۖ قَالُوا مَعْذِرَةً إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمْ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ ١٦٤

(7:164) When a group of them said, “Why do you advise a people whom Allah will destroy or punish with a severe punishment?” They said, “As an excuse before your Lord, and [with the hope] that they may restrain [themselves].”

The audience of this speech is omitted for concision because it is understood from the content of the speech. The implied meaning is: When a group of them said to another group of them which used to admonish the wrongdoers and forbid them from violating God’s law on the Sabbath.

… “Why do you advise a people whom Allah will destroy or punish with a severe punishment?”…: This statement shows that those who said it were apparently pious individuals who abstained from disobeying God’s commands. Nevertheless, they did not forbid others from their evil acts, but freely associated and mingled with them. If the speakers of this statement were themselves sinners and transgressors, then the respondents—who were forbidding the sinners from sin—would have admonished them as well. But they replied to them by saying: “As an excuse before your Lord…”

… “As an excuse before your Lord, and [with the hope] that they may restrain [themselves]”: The verse shows that the transgressors had gone beyond all limits and were sinning openly. Therefore, it was highly unlikely of them to stop their practice. Nevertheless, those who used to admonish the sinners were not completely disappointed yet. They hoped that by persisting with their admonition, the sinners would eventually stop, or at least some of them might reduce their transgression to some extent. Moreover, their continued admonition would be an excuse for them before God, showing that they did not agree with the evil acts of the sinners, and were averse to their defiant transgression.

For this reason, in response to the objection of the other group—“Why do you advise a people whom Allah will destroy or punish with a severe punishment?”—they said: “As an excuse before your Lord, and [with the hope] that they may restrain [themselves].” That is, we advise them for two reasons: (1) so that this may be an excuse before your Lord; and (2) so that they may refrain from this act.

فَلَمَّا نَسُوا مَا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ أَنْجَيْنَا الَّذِينَ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ السُّوءِ وَأَخَذْنَا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا بِعَذَابٍ بَئِيسٍ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ ١٦٥

(7:165) So when they forgot what they had been reminded of We delivered those who forbade evil [conduct] and seized the wrongdoers with a terrible punishment because of the transgressions they used to commit.

What is meant by “forgetting” here is that the reminder failed to have any impact on them, not that they were literally oblivious of the admonitions. God’s punishment is a consequence of someone disparaging His commands and turning away from His remembrance. Otherwise, if one is really forgetful of something, then religious obligations and their subsequent penalties are not applicable to the person.

There is always God’s assistance which circles the person and reminds them of the main commands of God. If the person shows commitment and perseverance, that is good [and they grow]. But if the person fails to be steadfast, and has no inner advisor or reservation to stop them, they will overstep God’s limit disobediently. At first, one feels an inner sense of pain, self-blame and constriction of the heart. If they ignore this and repeat the sin instead of repenting, the reality of that sin grows in strength in their heart, while the impact of God’s initial reminder lessens, and it starts losing significance in the person’s conscience. As the person continues to repeat and insist on that sin, it grows in strength further, while the initial divine reminder becomes weaker and weaker. At some point, the reminder loses its impact completely, such that its presence and absence make no difference. That is when a “reminder” is equivalent to “forgetfulness” in terms of ineffectiveness. This is what is meant in the verse: So when they forgot what they had been reminded of. That is, when the admonition lost its effect, as though it were completely forgotten and wiped off from their souls.

This verse suggests that the delivered individuals were only those who used to forbid evil. God seized the rest with punishment, including those who broke the Sabbath, and those who objected: Why do you advise… (). This means that the objectors [in verse ] counted as partners with the transgressors in their sin and wrongdoing, because they neither admonished them nor migrated away from them.

We can infer a universal divine custom from this verse. One should first try to stop the wrongdoers from their wrongdoing. If that is not possible, the second stage is to advise and admonish them. If that is not possible or fails to have any effect, the third stage is to migrate [or keep away] from them. If one fails to follow any of these stages [of forbidding evil], then the person is considered to be a partner and accomplice of the wrongdoers in their evil. For this reason, just as God’s severe seizure awaits the wrongdoers, it also awaits their partners and confederates.

فَلَمَّا عَتَوْا عَنْ مَا نُهُوا عَنْهُ قُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا قِرَدَةً خَاسِئِينَ ١٦٦

(7:166) When they defied (ʿataw, from ʿutuww) what they were forbidden from, We said to them, “Be you spurned apes (qiradah khāsiʾīn).”

ʿUtuww means “extreme and exaggerated disobedience.” Qiradah is the plural of qird, which is a famous animal (ape, monkey). Khāsiʾ means “an outcast, one who is driven away.” When a dog goes away [with misery and despised] it is said: khasaʾ al-kalb.

When they defied what they were forbidden from…: What is implied here is: “When they defied refraining from what they were forbidden from.” This is because ʿutuww (defiance, rebellion) would apply to abstinence from sins, not to sins themselves. Hence, the word tark (refraining, abstinence) is an implied omission in the verse. The rest of the meaning should be clear.

وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكَ لَيَبْعَثَنَّ عَلَيْهِمْ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ مَنْ يَسُومُهُمْ سُوءَ الْعَذَابِ ۗ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَسَرِيعُ الْعِقَابِ ۖ وَإِنَّهُ لَغَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ١٦٧

(7:167) And when your Lord proclaimed (taʾadhdhana) that He would surely send (la-yabʿathanna) against them, until the Day of Resurrection, those who would inflict on them a terrible punishment. Indeed your Lord is swift in retribution, and indeed He is All-Forgiving, Ever-Merciful.

The letter lām at the beginning of la-yabʿathanna indicates a vow [for emphasis]. Taʾadhdhana and adhdhana are synonymous with aʿlama (to proclaim, to announce, to declare). The meaning is: And remind them that your Lord has proclaimed that He has sworn to raise a group over those wrongdoers as long as this world continues. This group will put those wrongdoers through a terrible punishment and make them taste it.

… Indeed your Lord is swift in retribution…: What is meant here is that some of God’s punishments are quick to seize the perpetrators, such as the retribution of the transgressors for their transgression. The Qur’an says: those who rebelled [against Allah] in their cities… Indeed your Lord is in ambush (). This interpretation [that the verse is about some of God’s retributions] is based on the next part of the verse: and indeed He is All-Forgiving, Ever-Merciful. Apparently this last part is added only to show that God is not always swift in retribution. Otherwise, when the verse is entirely about punishment and requital, it is incongruous to end it with the two names of All-Forgiving and Ever-Merciful.

… Indeed your Lord is swift in retribution, and indeed He is All-Forgiving, Ever-Merciful: Given the above explanations, this part can be elaborated as follows: God is certainly Compassionate to His servants, and forgives their sins. Nonetheless, there are some forms of transgression and defiance which make punishment definite for their committers. Thus God ordains punishment for those servants. In such cases, His retribution will quickly chase and seize them, since there is no obstacle or barrier to hinder it.

… Indeed your Lord is swift in retribution…: According to some exegetes, this means that God is swift in retribution for those whom He wills to punish in this world. Perhaps what they mean is what we said above. Meanwhile, it is better to offer this as an interpretation for the entire phrase: Indeed your Lord is swift in retribution, and indeed He is All-Forgiving, Ever-Merciful. This way, one would not be mistakenly led to think that “if God is tolerant and does not rush to seize His servants with punishment, then how could He be swift in retribution?”

وَقَطَّعْنَاهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ أُمَمًا ۖ مِنْهُمُ الصَّالِحُونَ وَمِنْهُمْ دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ ۖ وَبَلَوْنَاهُمْ بِالْحَسَنَاتِ وَالسَّيِّئَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ ١٦٨

(7:168) We dispersed them into communities around the earth: some of them were righteous, and some of them otherwise (dūna dhālika), and We tested them with good and bad [times] so that they may come back.

“Good” (ḥasanāt) and “bad” (sayyiʾāt) mean fortune and misfortune in this world, respectively. Majmaʿ al-bayān says:

The preposition dūna (other, beside, below) is grammatically marfūʿ in terms of inflection because it is in the place of the subject (fāʿil) of the sentence. However, it is recorded as manṣūb because it is most commonly used to indicate the receptacle of something (ẓarf). According to Abū al-Ḥasan, two other similar examples are: Certainly all links between you (baynakum) have been cut () and: On the Day of Resurrection: He will separate you [from one another] (baynakum) (), where the preposition bayna (between) is recorded as manṣūb instead of marfūʿ for the same reason. Another possibility is to say that there is an implied omission here: “and some of them are a community (jamāʿatun) otherwise” (), where dūna dhālika (otherwise) is an adjective that is taking the place of its omitted noun (jamāʿah).

The rest of the verse should be clear.

فَخَلَفَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ خَلْفٌ وَرِثُوا الْكِتَابَ يَأْخُذُونَ عَرَضَ هَٰذَا الْأَدْنَىٰ وَيَقُولُونَ سَيُغْفَرُ لَنَا وَإِنْ يَأْتِهِمْ عَرَضٌ مِثْلُهُ يَأْخُذُوهُ ۚ أَلَمْ يُؤْخَذْ عَلَيْهِمْ مِيثَاقُ الْكِتَابِ أَنْ لَا يَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْحَقَّ وَدَرَسُوا مَا فِيهِ ۗ وَالدَّارُ الْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ ۗ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ ١٦٩

(7:169) Then they were succeeded by an evil posterity which inherited the Book: they grab the transitory gains (ʿaraḍ) of this lower world (al-adná), and they say, “It will be forgiven us.” And if similar transitory gains were to come their way, they would grab them too. Was not the covenant of the Book taken with them that they shall not attribute anything to Allah except the truth? And they have studied what is in it, and the abode of the Hereafter is better for those who are Godwary. Do you not apply reason?

ʿAraḍ means “something unstable and passing.” Elsewhere God says: the transitory wares (ʿaraḍ) of the life of this world (), meaning worldly affairs that have no stability or persistence. Adná is a masculine comparative adjective, meaning “lower, more inferior, baser.” Its feminine counterpart is dunyā, which is used as a noun for the present world [as opposed to the hereafter]. What is meant by the “ʿaraḍ of adná” is the immediate pleasures of this world. The uncommon use of the masculine (adná) in this verse instead of the feminine (dunyā) indicates that this world is not even worthy of notice. When one does not know the characteristics of something, they refer to it with the masculine, as the generic default form. Likewise, God refers to this world with the default masculine, pretending not to know anything about it. This is itself a derogatory reference. It shows that there is nothing special with worldly gains to be interested in. We saw a similar usage to this in the verse where Abraham refers to the sun [which is feminine] with a masculine pronoun (hādhā): This (hādhā) is my Lord! This (hādhā) is bigger! ().

… and they say, “It will be forgiven us”…: This is a rather meaningless statement that they said. They had no basis to support this claim. They said it out of pride in their lineage, which they considered to be God’s tribe, just as they called themselves God’s children and His beloved ones (). They were not planning to repent in the future, because there is no evidence in the verse to support this qualification. Neither was it an expression of their hope in God’s extensive forgiveness, because genuine hope has certain signs which are not compatible with what is mentioned in this verse. Hoping for some good is inseparable from the fear of its opposite evil. They are two sides of the same coin. Just as hope gives security and comfort to the soul, fear causes worry and discomfort in the soul. Therefore, if one is genuinely hopeful of something, they would stand somewhere in the middle of security and insecurity, attraction and aversion, joy and sorrow.

The descriptions in this verse, however, correspond to those who engross themselves in worldly pleasures and go to the extremes of their base desires, without any regard for the consequences of what they commit and acquire. Then, when they are admonished—by their conscience from inside, or by some external source—about the punishments that God has prepared for the wrongdoers, and are reminded of the evil end of the sinners, they simply shrug their shoulders and say: “Indeed God is All-Forgiving, Ever-Merciful.” But this is only a way of exonerating themselves from the blame, so that they can continue to indulge in their pleasures without any sense of guilt. What they put on is not true hope (rajāʾ), but a false selfish dream and a fatal temptation from the Devil. Otherwise, whoever expects to encounter his Lord—let him act righteously, and not associate anyone with the service of his Lord ().

… And if similar transitory gains were to come their way, they would grab them too…: They were never content with any share of worldly gains that they had. If they would refrain at some point and abstain from committing unlawful acts, that itself could count as a form of repentance by them. In that case, their claim, “It will be forgiven us” could be something that a true repenter says. Instead, whenever they came across some worldly gain, they would snatch it without having any regard for God. Based on this meaning, what is said here—And if similar transitory gains were to come their way, they would grab them too—amounts to another description of them elsewhere in the Qur’an: They would not refrain from the wrongs that they committed ().

… And they have studied what is in it…: Apparently the conjunction “and” (the letter wāw) at the beginning of this sentence indicates the condition of the subject (called al-wāw al-ḥāliyyah). The sentence functions as a ḥāl (circumstantial qualifier, participial phrase) for the pronoun ʿalayhim (“with them” in Was not the covenant of the Book taken with them). Some have suggested that the conjunction “and” joins this sentence to which inherited the Book at the beginning of the verse. However, this is unlikely.

… and the abode of the Hereafter is better…: The conjunction “and” (the letter wāw) at the beginning of this sentence also functions as a ḥāl (circumstantial qualifier, participial phrase).

The meaning is: Then they: the former generations of Israel, whose state of piety and abstinence from sins was discussed above; were succeeded by an evil posterity which inherited the Book: they received the teachings, laws, admonitions and lessons in the scripture. This entailed that they should refrain from sins, aim for the next abode, and leave the transitory gains of this precarious world which disorient them from God’s eternal rewards. They grab the transitory gains of this lower world: they dived into the immediate gratification of transient pleasures, and did not mind if it were sin, whether little or much. And they say, “It will be forgiven us”: but this was not true, because they never repented. What they did was not only once or twice, but they consistently fell for it whenever there was an opportunity to repeat it. And if similar transitory gains were to come their way, they would grab them too: they never refrained from the disobedience that they committed.

Was not the covenant of the Book taken with them: they made this covenant when they inherited the Book; that they shall not attribute anything to Allah except the truth? And they have studied what is in it: this is while they had studied what is in the Book, and thus knew that their statement, “It will be forgiven us” was an unwarranted claim and they had no right to say it. This only provoked them to continue disobeying God and destroying the foundations of His religion. And the abode of the Hereafter is better for those who are Godwary: because its pleasures are everlasting and it is secure from every evil. Do you not apply reason?

وَالَّذِينَ يُمَسِّكُونَ بِالْكِتَابِ وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ إِنَّا لَا نُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُصْلِحِينَ ١٧٠

(7:170) As for those who hold fast (yumassikūna, from massaka) to the Book and maintain the prayer—indeed We do not waste the reward of those who set things right (al-muṣliḥīn, from iṣlāḥ).

Majmaʿ al-bayān says: “Amsaka, masaka, tamassaka and istamsaka are all synonymous. They are used when one clings to something.”

Out of all components of religion, the verse mentions the prayer in particular. This shows the lofty position of the prayer. It is one of the pillars of religion which maintains the remembrance of God and humility before the divine—and that is the spirit of life in all religious laws and rituals.

The verse equates those who hold fast to the Book with those who set things right. The latter is the contrary of those who make mischief and cause corruption either in the earth or in human societies living on the earth. The corruption of the earth and human societies is a result of deviating from the path of our divine intuition (fiṭrah), with which God originated us. The divine religions in history—which were conveyed through scriptures—were exactly based on this path of divine intuition, in accordance to the capacities and conditions of the people of the time. God says in the Qur’an that His upright religion—meaning a religion which serves the needs of human life—is the same as the pristine nature and original makeup of human creation, which defines their essence and reality: So set your heart on the religion as a people of pure faith, the origination of Allah according to which He originated humankind. There is no altering Allah’s creation; that is the upright religion, but most people do not know (). Elsewhere He says: Indeed, with Allah religion is Islam (). What is meant by islām [in the Qur’an, or in this verse] is taslīm (submission). That means submitting to His customs in the world of creation (takwīn), which are the basis for His laws in the world of legislation (tashrīʿ).

As one can see, these two verses [ and ] proclaim that following God’s religion means synchronizing one’s life with the world of existence and the laws that are entailed by it. This will bring one to what the human species calls for by its very nature. Then one will become a “natural human,” meaning that they will grow and develop according to what their very human nature and essence requires. Among the things that the pristine makeup of a natural human calls for are: (1) humility before the supernatural Origin Who is the source of one’s existence, subsistence and success; (2) matching all aspects of one’s life with the laws that govern the world of existence. Living up to these requirements [of our most pristine nature and intuition (fiṭrah)] is called islām (submission), which is the message of the Qur’an and all other divine books which God revealed to His prophets and messengers.

This shows that iṣlāḥ (setting things right) is part and parcel of the religion of islām (submission). Iṣlāḥ means straightening the various aspects of human life, purifying it from all extraneous superstitions, and removing the weights and shackles that were laid upon the people as a result of illusions and desires. This is exactly what defines the religion of submission, not an outcome, spin-off or add-on which accrues to it afterwards. Hence, there is no room for difference of opinion at this level [about iṣlāḥ being an essential element of islām]. It is not something that one would accept and one would reject, so that then a seeker of truth would have to investigate all sides and then follow what seems most plausible to them.

In other words, people are called to a set of laws and principles which incorporate their interests in this life and the hereafter. It is not that religious laws and teachings are first set up [conventionally], and then it is claimed that they map onto the people’s interests. The reader should reflect on this.

Here is a common misconception that the reader should be aware of: It is sometimes presumed that God’s religion is a set of crude doctrines and practices which one simply has to follow. There is no spirit to them other than the spirit of force and arbitrary assignment; and the language of religious discourse is that of rough authority and tough control. Their standard is only to be found after death: the eternal pleasures that God has prepared for those who obey, and the everlasting punishment that He has decreed for those to disobey. That is why God has made it obligatory to follow these teachings and be subservient to them. Otherwise, there is no connection between religious ordinances and the laws of creation in this world, which govern the lives of people, sustain their existence here, and define their well-being.

This effectively reduces religious acts to shackles that tie the hands of the people in this life. Even with respect to the hereafter, it is only God’s decree which results in their salvation [otherwise there is no essential connection between an action and its results in the hereafter]. This means that a religious person does not taste the pleasure of true human life in this world. Their pleasure [of their religious life and acts] will rather be like those who are addicted to opium or poison, to the point that they enjoy what is painful to a wholesome and natural state, and suffer from what a healthy person enjoys.

The above notion is a result of ignorance about religious teachings, and implies a false accusation against the Holy Prescriber of religion. This is against the Qur’an. There are numerous verses which prove contrary to this either explicitly or implicitly, with either direct or indirect reference. Religion’s message does not consist of two separate entities: first calling the people to follow certain laws, and then claiming that this will bring about their good and felicity. If that were the case, then one could doubt and question the link between the two.

Rather, God’s book is book that comprises the interests of God’s servants. It includes teachings that will set human societies straight. In fact, that is exactly how we define, identify and evaluate a book as a divine one: a divine religion is a set of laws which serve the interest of the individual and the society, and vice versa. Religion calls the people to set their actions right and straighten every aspect of their society. This is called religious submission (islām) to God, which is no different than acting in accordance to the requirements and implications of God’s creation (takwīn). That is when one follows the path of a natural human, which is a path that is defined by the world of creation and existence. Following this path and being submissive to God’s creation is tantamount to submission to what God wants from us.

As for those who hold fast to the Book…: Taken alone, this verse has a complete and independent message of its own [which would apply to the followers of any divine religion and scripture]. However, given the context, it would primarily pertain to the Children of Israel and their story. In this light, the Book would refer to the Torah, or both the Torah and the Gospel.

وَإِذْ نَتَقْنَا الْجَبَلَ فَوْقَهُمْ كَأَنَّهُ ظُلَّةٌ وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُ وَاقِعٌ بِهِمْ خُذُوا مَا آتَيْنَاكُمْ بِقُوَّةٍ وَاذْكُرُوا مَا فِيهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ١٧١

(7:171) When We plucked (nataqnā) the mountain [and held it] above them as if it were a canopy (ẓullah) and they thought it was about to fall on them: “Hold on with power to what We have given you and remember that which is in it, so that you may be Godwary.”

Natq means “pulling something out by the roots.” Ẓullah means “cloud” or anything that one uses as a shade, such as a roof. The rest of the terms should be clear. This verse narrates the story of Mount Ṭūr being raised above the heads of the Children of Israel. We already read and discussed this story more than once, in Sūrah al-Baqarah [verses and ] and Sūrah al-Nisāʾ [verse ].

Examining Narrations ​

  1. Imam al-Bāqir said: We found it written in the book of ʿAlī: There were some people in Aylah from the descendants of the tribe Thamūd. The fish used to swim through the rivers to their doorsteps and markets on Saturdays, and would appear to them visibly. This was so that God could test their obedience. But they started catching the fish and eating them. They continued this for as long as God wanted, while neither their priests nor their scholars admonished or stopped them against fishing. Then Satan inspired to some of them, “You have been forbidden to eat it on Saturday, not to catch it.” Thus they fished on Saturdays, and ate it on other days.

A group of them justified their act by saying, “Now [on Saturday] we catch it [only].” But another group—who were the People of the Right—said, “We warn you against God’s punishment for violating His command.” A third group—who were the People of the Left—withdrew, remained silent, and did not admonish the wrongdoers. They said to the admonishing group: Why do you advise a people whom Allah will destroy or punish with a severe punishment? (). They replied: As an excuse before your Lord, and [with the hope] that they may restrain [themselves] ().

God says: So when they forgot what they had been reminded of (): that is, when they neglected the admonition and persisted with the sin. Then the admonishers said, “Nay, by God! We shall not associate with you, nor stay a single night with you in this city where you have disobeyed God, for we fear that a disaster may come and take us with you.”

They left the city, being afraid of a disaster that may strike them. They settled somewhere close to the city and spent the night under the sky. Next day, the God’s friends who were obedient to His commands went to see the condition of the sinners. They found the gates of the city to be shut. They knocked, but no one opened, nor did they hear the sound of anyone. They set up a ladder and one of them climbed up the wall of the city. When he looked at the city from above, he saw a group of apes with tails, growling at one another. They broke the gate open and entered. The sinners recognized their human relatives, but not vice versa. The humans said to the apes, “Didn’t we warn you?”

Then Imam ʿAlī said, “By the One Who has split the seed and has created the people, I certainly know their descendants among this nation. They do not mind evil and have no religious zeal against it. They have neglected what they were commanded, and have thus deviated [from one another, or from the right path]. God says: So away with the wrongdoing lot ().” God says: We delivered those who forbade evil [conduct] and seized the wrongdoers with a terrible punishment because of the transgressions they used to commit ().

Author’s comment: The same notion is narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās, with the difference that the people there were a branch of the Israelites living in Aylah. Based on the Qur’an, they were apparently the Children of Israel, while Imam al-Bāqir’s hadith explicitly says that they were from the tribe Thamūd. It is possible that they were some Arabs of Thamūd who converted to Judaism given their geographical proximity. As it is said, Aylah was a city between Egypt and Medina, harboring the Red Sea.

Some other suggested places for the town [in verse ] are: (i) Madyan. (ii) Ṭabariyyah. (iii) A town called Maqnā, located between Madyan and ʿAynūnā.

  1. Ibn ʿAbbās used to weep and say: Those who forbid [others from sins] were saved. Those who committed [sins] perished. I do not know what was the fate of those who stayed silent.
  2. ʿIkrimah says: I told Ibn ʿAbbās, “May God make me your ransom! Don’t you see that the silent ones resented their practice [of violating the Sabbath], did not comply with them, but said: Why do you advise a people whom Allah will destroy ()?” Upon hearing this, Ibn ʿAbbās ordered that I be given two thick [and valuable] garments. By doing this, he showed his approval of my view—that the silent ones must have been saved because they resented the practice of the sinners and believed that they will certainly be punished. He presented me with the two garments and adopted my view.

Author’s comment: ʿIkrimah made a mistake here. Here are a few points in this regard:

(i) It is true that the silent ones did not approve of the sin and did not participate in unlawful fishing, but they committed an even greater sin: neglecting to forbid others of evil. The admonishers reminded them of this by saying: As an excuse before your Lord, and [with the hope] that they may restrain [themselves] (). This statement shows that there was still some hope that admonition may prove effective, which means that the duty of forbidding evil was still applicable.

(ii) Once all hopes of their guidance were exhausted, the admonishers deserted them and departed from them, while the other group did not migrate away from their community, as per the narrations.

(iii) The Qur’an says: We delivered those who forbade evil [conduct] and seized the wrongdoers with a terrible punishment because of the transgressions they used to commit (). The verse identifies those who were delivered only as those who forbade evil. As with the ones who were punished, it mentions the wrongdoers, which is a general title that could include those who failed to forbid evil.

(iv) There are two possibilities with respect to the following verse: When they defied what they were forbidden from, We said to them, “Be you spurned apes” (). (1) The word tark (refraining) is an implied omission here, as we narrated from the exegetes [in our exposition of the verse]. If so, then the punishment mentioned in this verse would specifically pertain to those who fished on the Sabbath. Nevertheless, the last verse would still include both the fishers and the silent ones because the general title wrongdoers applies to both groups. (2) There is no omission in the verse, which means that the verse is about turning away from forbidding others against evil. Then the verse would specifically pertain to the silent ones. In that case, the punishment of the fishers should be sought in the last verse: So when they forgot what they had been reminded of… (). Some narrations quoted below seem to suggest this view.

  1. Imam al-Ṣādiq said: The group that forbade was saved; the other two groups were destroyed (halakat).

Author’s comment: The verse explicitly says that the violators were transfigured. This, however, is not contrary to the above narration, because halāk (being destroyed, dying) has a general meaning which can also include transfiguration (maskh). Moreover, there are abundant narrations saying that those who are transfigured only live a few days after their transfiguration, and then they die.

  1. Concerning So when they forgot what they had been reminded of We delivered those who forbade evil [conduct] () Imam al-Ṣādiq said: They were three groups: (1) One group obeyed and commanded others [to obey]. They were saved. (2) One group obeyed but did not command others [to obey]. They were transfigured. (3) One group neither obeyed nor commanded others [to obey]. They died.

Author’s comment: As one can see, this narration implies that the verse, When they defied what they were forbidden from, We said to them, “Be you spurned apes” () is about the punishment of the silent ones, not those who fished unlawfully. Based on this interpretation, the verb ʿataw (to defy, to disobey) in the verse means kuffū (to avoid, to abstain from). The meaning would be: “When they refrained from the forbidden fishing.” This way, we do not need to assume some implied omission in the verse, such as the word tark (refraining, abstinence) or another similar term. Then the punishment of the violators should be sought in the previous verse [].

There are a few problems with this interpretation: (i) The verse is meant to justify the reason for their punishment. The reason was their failure to admonish others, not the fact that they refrained from the sin. (ii) Interpreting ʿutuww (defiance, rebellion) as abstinence and refraining is not quite plausible. That is not a common usage of ʿutuww. (iii) The narration is weak in terms of transmission.

  1. A different version of this, with the same chain of narration, is reported from Imam al-Bāqir as follows: They were three groups: (1) One group obeyed and commanded others [to obey]. (2) One group obeyed but did not command others [to obey]. (3) One group neither obeyed nor commanded others [to obey]. They died.
  2. In another version, Imam al-Ṣādiq narrates from Imam al-Bāqir: “They divided into three groups: (1) One group abstained [from sin] and retreated [from the community of sinners]. (2) One group stayed among them but did not commit sins. (3) One group committed sins. Only the first group was delivered from the punishment.”
  3. Then Imam al-Ṣādiq adds: I asked my father, “What happened to those who stayed among them but did not commit sins?” Imam al-Bāqir replied, “I heard that they turned into ants.”

Author’s comment: Apparently the last three numbers are all different versions of the same narration. Their contents differ from one another, and their chains of narration are weak.

  1. Imam al-Ṣādiq said: God has distinguished His servants with two verses in His Book, to not affirm something unless they know it, and to not reject something that they do not know. The Almighty God says: Was not the covenant of the Book taken with them that they shall not attribute anything to Allah except the truth? (); Rather, they deny that whose knowledge they do not comprehend, and whose explanation has not yet come to them ().
  2. Concerning verse (When We plucked the mountain…) Imam al-Ṣādiq said: When God revealed the Torah to the Children of Israel, they did not accept it. So God raised Mount Sinai over them, and Moses said to them, “If you do not accept [the Torah], the mountain will tumble over you.” Thus they accepted it and lowered their heads [in submission].
  3. A similar account to this is narrated in Sunni sources from Thābit b. al-Ḥajjāj: The Torah was given to the Children of Israel all at once. This was too much for them, so they refused to accept it. Then God made the mountain overshadow them, at which point they accepted it.
  4. Once Imam al-Bāqir was sitting in the ḥaram [in Mecca] and a group of his friends were gathered around him. Then Ṭāwūs al-Yamānī came in with a retinue of his companions. He told Imam al-Bāqir, “Would you permit me to ask you questions?”

“It is granted. Ask!”

Ṭāwūs started asking, and the Imam replied. Among his questions was: “Inform me of something that flew only once, but never before nor after that, which God has mentioned in the Qur’an.”

The Imam replied, “That was Mount Sinai. The Almighty God made it fly over the Children of Israel. It overshadowed them with one side of it, in which there were many kinds of punishment, until they accepted the Torah. That is what God says: When We plucked the mountain [and held it] above them as if it were a canopy and they thought it was about to fall on them… ().”

  1. A similar account to this is narrated in Sunni sources from Ibn ʿAbbās. It is narrated that the Roman Emperor Heracles wrote a letter with a set of questions to Muʿāwiyah, who was told [by his advisors], “This is not your job. Should you make any mistake in your reply, he will censure you for it. Instead, write a letter to Ibn ʿAbbās [to answer these].” Thus he did, and then forwarded the answers of Ibn ʿAbbās to the Emperor. When the Emperor read the answers he said, “No one would know these except a prophet or his household.”

Author’s comment: There are some other narrations relating to these verses, which we presented under their counterparts in Sūrah al-Baqarah. Interested readers should refer to them.

  1. See volume 10 (1st ed.), pp. 108ff of the English translation. (Trans.) ↩︎

  2. The author has not discussed the story behind the two commands in this part of the verse anywhere in al-Mīzān. The cited verses are skipped over in volume 1 (1st ed.), pp. 315ff of the English translation. (Trans.) ↩︎

  3. This could be interpreted as either physically leaving their community, or otherwise not associating with them and cutting off their ties with them. The author’s subsequent explanations favor the first possibility, although the second one still remains. (Trans.) ↩︎

  4. The author has adopted this from al-Rāzī, and he will refer to it in his examination of the narrations below. (Trans.) ↩︎

  5. In Arabic, the subject of a sentence has a u phonetic at the end, which is called marfūʿ. A ẓarf (container, receptacle, circumstance) ends with the a sound, called manṣūb. The paragraph is meant to explain why these grammatical rules are not observed in certain cases. (Trans.) ↩︎

  6. The meaning would be: “The covenant of the Book was taken with them while they studied what is in it;” or: “The covenant of the Book was taken with them through their study of it.” (Trans.) ↩︎

  7. That is: “They inherited the Book and studied what is in it, yet they immersed in materialism.” (Trans.) ↩︎

  8. The meaning is: “They plunged in worldly pleasures even though the abode of the Hereafter is better for those who are Godwary.” (Trans.) ↩︎

  9. That is, divine injunctions—of dos and don’ts—are derived from some fact in existence. (Trans.) ↩︎

  10. As the reader should have noticed by now, islām is used in its general sense in the current discussion, which includes all divine religions. (Trans.) ↩︎

  11. Because it is a matter of definition, through analysis. (Trans.) ↩︎

  12. This is based on the idea that religious laws and teachings are not arbitrary or conventional, but they stem from existential realities. There is a necessary causal link between the two. (Trans.) ↩︎

  13. See volume 2 (1st ed.), pp. 332-333, and volume 9 (1st ed.), p. 180 of the English translation. (Trans.) ↩︎

  14. It is not clear whether the rest is part of Imam ʿAlī’s speech, Imam al-Bāqir’s, or al-Qummī’s. (Trans.) ↩︎

  15. Tafsīr al-Qummī, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Ḥasan b. Maḥbūb, on the authority of Ibn Abī ʿUmayr, on the authority of Abū ʿUbaydah. It is also narrated by al-ʿAyyāshī in his Tafsīr, on the authority of Abū ʿUbaydah, from Imam al-Bāqir. ↩︎

  16. Al-Durr al-manthūr, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī Ḥātim and al-Bayhaqī’s al-Sunan, on the authority of ʿIkrimah. ↩︎

  17. Al-Durr al-manthūr. This is part of the above mentioned narration from him, as well as other accounts. ↩︎

  18. Al-Durr al-manthūr. ↩︎

  19. Verse is an interpretative and elaborative continuation of verse . Therefore, the unity of context and the connection between the verses would require the pronouns in verse to also refer to the fishers only. It should also be noted that this entire story () is centered around those who broke the Sabbath, which was an integral part of God’s covenant with the Children of Israel. Forbidding evil, albeit very important otherwise, is not the primary theme of these verses. Therefore, it is most consistent to say that the verses are silent about the fate of the third group. (Trans.) ↩︎

  20. Majmaʿ al-bayān. ↩︎

  21. Al-Kāfī, on the authority of Sahl b. Ziyād, on the authority of ʿAmr b. ʿUthmān, on the authority of ʿAbd-Allāh b. al-Mughīrah, on the authority of Ṭalḥah b. Yazīd. ↩︎

  22. Al-Khiṣāl. ↩︎

  23. Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, also narrated on the authority of Ṭalḥah. ↩︎

  24. Al-Kāfī, via its chain of narration, on the authority Isḥāq b. ʿAbd-Allāh. Al-ʿAyyāshī has also narrated this from Imam al-Ṣādiq, on the authority of Isḥāq, and a similar narration from Imam al-Kāẓim, on the authority of Isḥāq b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. ↩︎

  25. Tafsīr al-Qummī. ↩︎

  26. Al-Durr al-manthūr. ↩︎

  27. Al-Durr al-manthūr. ↩︎

  28. See the author’s discussion of traditions under verses and ; volume 1 (1st ed.), pp. 320 and 341-342 of the English translation. (Trans.) ↩︎