Tafseer of Jonas · Yunus · 10:23
But when He saves them, at once they commit injustice upon the earth without right. O mankind, your injustice is only against yourselves, [being merely] the enjoyment of worldly life. Then to Us is your return, and We will inform you of what you used to do.
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 interpretation of the word of Allah the Exalted: فَلَمَّا أَنْجَاهُمْ إِذَا هُمْ يَبْغُونَ فِي الأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّمَا بَغْيُكُمْ عَلَى أَنْفُسِكُمْ مَتَاعَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ثُمَّ إِلَيْنَا مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَنُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ (23) (But when He delivered them, immediately they began to commit wrongdoing on the earth without any right. O people, your wrongdoing affects only yourselves — an enjoyment of the worldly life. Then to Us is your return, and We will inform you of what you used to do.)
Abū Jaʿfar says: Allah the Exalted says by this: When Allah delivered those who at sea supposed that they were encompassed, from the distress in which they were, they violated what they had promised Allah and committed wrongdoing on the earth — they went beyond what Allah had permitted them, by denying Him and committing acts of disobedience upon its surface.
Allah says: O people, your transgression which you commit affects only yourselves, and against yourselves you do wrong. And that in which you find yourselves — مَتَاعَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا (an enjoyment of the worldly life) — that is to say: it is only a sufficient means by which you are provided in your perishable world.
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In accordance with this interpretation, "the wrongdoing" (al-baghy) is put in the nominative by that which refers to it in His word: عَلَى أَنْفُسِكُمْ ("upon yourselves"). And His word مَتَاعَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ("an enjoyment of the worldly life") stands in the nominative with the meaning: "this is the enjoyment of the worldly life," as He said: لَمْ يَلْبَثُوا إِلا سَاعَةً مِنْ نَهَارٍ بَلاغٌ [Surah Al-Aḥqāf (46:35)], with the meaning: this is a sufficient means.
It is also possible that the meaning of this is: your wrongdoing in the worldly life affects only yourselves, because through your disbelief (kufr) you thereby earn the wrath of Allah. مَتَاعَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا — it is as if it is being said: your wrongdoing is only an enjoyment of the worldly life. Then "the wrongdoing" (al-baghy) would stand in the nominative by means of "the enjoyment" (al-matāʿ), and عَلَى أَنْفُسِكُمْ ("upon yourselves") would belong to the qualification of "the wrongdoing" (al-baghy).
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With "al-matāʿ" in the nominative read the Qurʾān reciters, except for ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Isḥāq, who read it in the accusative — with the meaning: your wrongdoing against yourselves is only an enjoyment in the worldly life — and thus he put "the wrongdoing" (al-baghy) in the nominative by means of عَلَى أَنْفُسِكُمْ , and "the enjoyment" (al-matāʿ) in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl).
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His word ثُمَّ إِلَيْنَا مَرْجِعُكُمْ ("then to Us is your return") means: thereafter your return and your final destination is to Us — and that is after death. He says: Then We will inform you on the Day of Resurrection of what you used to do in the world of disobedience toward Allah, and We will requite you for the deeds you performed in the world.
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Footnotes:
See the tafsīr of "al-baghy" in what was mentioned earlier (12:403), footnote 2, and the references therein.
See the tafsīr of "al-matāʿ" in what was mentioned earlier (14:340), footnote 3, and the references therein.
Our reading in our contemporary printing of the Qurʾān, in Egypt and elsewhere, is with "matāʿ" in the accusative — and that is the other reading which Abū Jaʿfar will mention; he has, however, in the foregoing followed the tafsīr of the reading with the nominative.
See Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ (1:461), on the interpretation of the two readings.
See the tafsīr of "al-marjiʿ" in what was mentioned earlier (p. 20), footnote 1, and the references therein.
See the tafsīr of "al-nabaʾ" in what was mentioned earlier (p. 46), footnote 3, and the references therein.
