Tafseer of Jonas · Yunus · 10:34
Say, "Are there of your 'partners' any who begins creation and then repeats it?" Say, "Allah begins creation and then repeats it, so how are you deluded?"
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 meaning of the Words of the Exalted: قُلْ هَلْ مِنْ شُرَكَائِكُمْ مَنْ يَبْدَأُ الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُ قُلِ اللَّهُ يَبْدَأُ الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُ فَأَنَّى تُؤْفَكُونَ (34)
("Say: Is there among your associates anyone who begins creation and then repeats it? Say: Allah begins creation and then repeats it. How then are you turned away?")
Abū Jaʿfar says: The Exalted, Whose praise is exalted, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: "Say" — O Muḥammad — "Is there among your associates" — that is: among the gods and the idols — "anyone who begins creation and then repeats it?" That is: is there anyone who brings a thing into existence without any original prior principle, so that he produces its creation from the very beginning — "and then repeats it?" That is: who then destroys it after having brought it into existence, and thereafter restores it to the same state in which it was before its destruction? For they are indeed unable to claim that for it. And in that lies the decisive proof and the clear indication that they — in their claim that those idols are lords and associates of Allah in worship — are liars and slanderers.
So say to them, O Muḥammad: Allah begins creation and brings it into existence out of nothing, and produces it without any original prior principle; then He destroys it when He wills, and thereafter He restores it when He desires, in the same state in which it was before the destruction. "How then are you turned away?" — that is: in what manner are you turned away and reversed from the straight way and the path of right guidance? As:
17659 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning the words فَأَنَّى تُؤْفَكُونَ: he said: "How are you turned away?"
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And we have already set forth the differences of opinion concerning the explanation of the words أَنَّى تُؤْفَكُونَ, and the correct view concerning it in our opinion, together with its proofs, in "Sūrat al-Anʿām."
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Notes:
(1) See the explanation of "al-ifk" in what preceded: part 10, p. 486 / part 11, p. 554 / part 14, p. 208.
(2) See what preceded: part 11, p. 554. And his claim that he mentioned it in Sūrat al-Anʿām is a mistake on the part of Abū Jaʿfar, for he did not elaborate the explanation of the meaning of "al-ifk" anywhere other than in Sūrat al-Māʾida (part 10, pp. 485, 468). And he never mentioned the differences of opinion concerning its explanation anywhere. I therefore fear that this text indicates that Abū Jaʿfar allowed great distances to exist between the parts of his commentary, so that he sometimes forgot the place where he had elaborated something — indeed, perhaps this also indicates that he had begun the commentary in an expanded form, as is mentioned in his biography, after which he abridged it to this summary. And it also indicates — if what I have said is correct — that he had fully prepared his material and then made great changes when writing down his commentary, so that he did not include in it everything he had prepared beforehand. And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.
