Tafseer of Jonas · Yunus · 10:12
And when affliction touches man, he calls upon Us, whether lying on his side or sitting or standing; but when We remove from him his affliction, he continues [in disobedience] as if he had never called upon Us to [remove] an affliction that touched him. Thus is made pleasing to the transgressors that which they have been doing
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the tafsīr of the word of Allah, the Exalted: وَإِذَا مَسَّ الإِنْسَانَ الضُّرُّ دَعَانَا لِجَنْبِهِ أَوْ قَاعِدًا أَوْ قَائِمًا فَلَمَّا كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُ ضُرَّهُ مَرَّ كَأَنْ لَمْ يَدْعُنَا إِلَى ضُرٍّ مَسَّهُ كَذَلِكَ زُيِّنَ لِلْمُسْرِفِينَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ (12)
(And when affliction touches man, he calls upon Us lying on his side, or sitting, or standing; but when We remove his affliction from him, he passes on as though he had never called upon Us concerning an affliction that touched him. Thus is made fair-seeming to the extravagant what they used to do.)
Abū Jaʿfar says: Allah, whose remembrance is exalted, says: And when man is touched by trial and hardship — "(he calls) upon Us lying on his side" — that is to say: he implores Us to remove that from him, "(on his side)" means: lying on his side. — "or sitting, or standing": in the state in which he finds himself at the moment that trial touches him. — "But when We remove his affliction from him": that is to say, when We relieve from him the hardship and burden that has touched him — "he passes on as though he had never called upon Us concerning an affliction that touched him": that is to say, he continues upon his former way of before the trial touched him, and he forgets — or acts as though he forgets — the hardship and trial in which he was, and he neglects to thank his Lord who delivered him from the calamity that had touched him when he took refuge in Him; and he returns to shirk (the ascribing of partners to Allah) and the invocation of gods and idols as lords besides Him. Allah, whose remembrance is exalted, says: "Thus is made fair-seeming to the extravagant what they used to do": that is to say, just as for this man whose quality we have described, his persistence in his unbelief (kufr) after Allah's deliverance from the trial in which he was, was made fair-seeming, so too for those who were extravagant in lying about Allah and His prophets — by overstepping in their statements about them bounds that Allah had not permitted them — was made fair-seeming what they used to do of disobedience to Allah and shirk (the ascribing of partners to Allah) toward Him.
* * *
And with what we have said concerning this, the people of tafsīr were in agreement.
* Mention of who said that:
17578 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning his word: "(he calls upon Us) lying on his side" — he said: lying down.
