Tafseer of Jonas · Yunus · 10:88
And Moses said, "Our Lord, indeed You have given Pharaoh and his establishment splendor and wealth in the worldly life, our Lord, that they may lead [men] astray from Your way. Our Lord, obliterate their wealth and harden their hearts so that they will not believe until they see the painful punishment."
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 words of Allah, the Exalted: وَقَالَ مُوسَى رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ آتَيْتَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلأَهُ زِينَةً وَأَمْوَالا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا رَبَّنَا لِيُضِلُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِكَ رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ وَاشْدُدْ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ فَلا يُؤْمِنُوا حَتَّى يَرَوُا الْعَذَابَ الأَلِيمَ (88) (And Mūsā said: "Our Lord, You have given Firʿawn and his notables adornment and riches in the life of this world, our Lord, so that they cause [the people] to stray from Your path. Our Lord, obliterate their possessions and harden their hearts, so that they do not believe until they see the painful punishment.")
Abū Jaʿfar says: Allah, Whose remembrance is exalted, here says: Mūsā said: "O our Lord, You have given Firʿawn and the chiefs and nobles of his people — and they are the eminent company (al-malaʾ) — adornment, consisting of the goods and possessions of the world, as well as riches consisting of real gold and silver, in the life of this world — our Lord, so that they stray from Your path." Mūsā says to his Lord: "Our Lord, You have given them what You gave them, so that they would stray from Your path."
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The Qurʾān reciters differed over the recitation of this word.
Some recited it as لِيُضِلُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِكَ , with the meaning: so that they cause the people to stray from Your path and turn them away from Your religion.
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Others recited it as لِيَضِلُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِكَ , with the meaning: so that they themselves stray from Your path and deviate from the road of guidance. (34)
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Now suppose someone says: "Did Allah, Whose praise is exalted, bestow upon Firʿawn and his people the adornment and riches of the world so that they would cause the people to stray from His religion, or so that they themselves would stray from it? For if He gave them that for that reason, then the outcome was precisely that for which He gave it to them (35), and consequently there is no blame upon them in this matter." Then it is said: The meaning of this is other than what you suppose. (36)
The Arabists differed over the meaning of the "lām" in the word لِيُضِلُّوا .
Some of the Basran grammarians said: the meaning is: "our Lord, they have strayed from Your path" — just as Allah says: فَالْتَقَطَهُ آلُ فِرْعَوْنَ لِيَكُونَ لَهُمْ عَدُوًّا وَحَزَنًا [Sūra al-Qaṣaṣ: 8], that is to say: and so he became that for them, while they did not take him up to be an enemy and a grief to them, but rather they took him up and he became that for them. They said: the lām occurs in this meaning [of result]. (37)
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Some of the Kūfan grammarians said: this is the lām of purpose (lām kay) (38), and the meaning of the sentence is: "our Lord, You have given them what You gave them, so that they would stray" — and afterwards he invoked a curse against them.
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Another grammarian said: these lāms in لِيُضِلُّوا and لِيَكُونَ لَهُمْ عَدُوًّا and what is comparable to them have the meaning of the genitive-lām: "You have given them what You gave them for their straying" and "they took him up for his being," because the situation issued into that. The Arabs equate the lām of purpose with the genitive-lām, and the genitive-lām with the lām of purpose, on account of the kinship in meaning. Allah, the Exalted, says: سَيَحْلِفُونَ بِاللَّهِ لَكُمْ إِذَا انْقَلَبْتُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ لِتُعْرِضُوا عَنْهُمْ (39) [Sūra al-Tawba: 95], that is to say: for your turning away from them — whereas they did not swear for their own turning away. And a poet said: (40)
سَمَوْتَ وَلَمْ تَكُنْ أَهْلاً لِتَسْمُو وَلَكِنَّ المُضَيِّعَ قَدْ يُصَابُ
(You raised yourself, though you were not worthy to raise yourself, but the squanderer is sometimes struck.)
He said: one commonly says "you were not worthy of the deed," but with the lām in the form "litasmū" one says this only rarely. He said: this belongs to that [category].
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Abū Jaʿfar says: The correct opinion concerning this, in my judgment, is that it is the lām of purpose, and the meaning of the sentence is: "Our Lord, You have given them what You gave them of the adornment of the worldly life and of riches, in order thereby to test them, so that they cause Your servants to stray from Your path — as a punishment from Your side." This is as He, Whose praise is exalted, says: لأَسْقَيْنَاهُمْ مَاءً غَدَقًا * لِنَفْتِنَهُمْ فِيهِ [Sūra al-Jinn: 16-17].
* * *
And as for His word رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ وَاشْدُدْ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ : this is a supplication with which Mūsā called upon Allah against Firʿawn and his notables, that He would change their possessions from their form and convert them into a state other than that which they were in. This is similar to His word: مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ نَطْمِسَ وُجُوهًا فَنَرُدَّهَا عَلَى أَدْبَارِهَا [Sūra al-Nisāʾ: 47], that is to say: before We change them from their form as they were.
* * *
One says of this: "ṭamastu ʿaynahu aṭmisuhā wa-aṭmusuhā ṭamsan wa-ṭumūsan" (I destroyed his eye). The Arabs also use "al-ṭams" for vanishing and collapsing, and for completely perishing and being extinguished (41), as Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr said:
مِنْ كُلِّ نَضَّاحَةِ الذِّفْرَى إِذَا عَرِقَتْ عُرْضَتُهَا طَامِسُ الأَعْلامِ مَجْهُول (42)
(From every mount that sweats abundantly at the neck when it sweated — whose flank is a route whose landmarks are effaced and unknown.)
* * *
The exegetes differed over the explanation of this in this place. A group of them said therein the same as we did.
Statement of who said that:
17820 — Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā ibn Zāʾidah related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ibn Jurayj related to me, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr, who said: It has reached us, by way of al-Quraẓī, concerning His word رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ , that he said: "Make their sugar into stones." (43)
17821 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, who said: "Make their sweets into stones."
17822 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ : he said: "Make them into stones."
17823 — Al-Muthnā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿd related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, concerning His word اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ , that he said: "They became stones."
17824 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ : he said: "It has reached us that their crops turned into stones."
17825 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ : he said: "It has reached us that a field of theirs became stones." (44)
17826 — Al-Muthnā related to me, saying: Qabīṣa ibn ʿUqba related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, concerning رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ : he said: "It is said: they became stones."
17827 — Al-Muthnā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Yaḥyā al-Ḥammānī related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning His word رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ : he said: "They became stones."
17828 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ : he said: "It has reached us that fields of theirs became stones."
17829 — It was related to me by way of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying, he said: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ : he said: "Allah made them into engraved stones in the form that they had."
17830 — Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ , he said: "This Allah did, and this befell them: He obliterated their possessions, so that they became stones — their gold, their dirhams, their lentils, and everything."
* * *
Others said: the meaning of this is rather: "destroy them."
Statement of who said that:
17831 — Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā ibn Abī Zāʾidah related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ : he said: "Destroy them."
17832 — Al-Muthnā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — likewise.
17833 — Al-Muthnā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — likewise.
17834 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ : he said: "Devastate and destroy their possessions."
* * *
As for His word وَاشْدُدْ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ : this means: seal them, so that they do not become soft and are not opened to faith (īmān) — as:
17835 — Al-Muthnā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Mūsā said — before he went to Firʿawn —: 'Our Lord, harden their hearts, so that they do not believe until they see the painful punishment'; and Allah answered his supplication and placed a barrier between Firʿawn and faith (īmān), until the drowning reached him — and then faith availed him nothing."
17836 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning وَاشْدُدْ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ : he said: "Seal their hearts — حَتَّى يَرَوُا الْعَذَابَ الأَلِيمَ — and that is the drowning."
17837 — Al-Muthnā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَاشْدُدْ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ : he said: "with straying."
17838 — [Al-Muthnā related to me,] he said: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَاشْدُدْ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ : he said: "with straying."
17839 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — likewise.
17840 — It was related to me by way of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying, he said: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word وَاشْدُدْ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ : he said: "Let them perish as disbelievers (kuffār)."
* * *
As for His word فَلا يُؤْمِنُوا حَتَّى يَرَوُا الْعَذَابَ الأَلِيمَ : the meaning of this is: so that they do not acknowledge and profess the oneness of Allah, until they see the painfully tormenting punishment (45) — as:
17841 — Al-Muthnā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning فَلا يُؤْمِنُوا : he said: "they do not believe in Allah on account of the signs that they see — حَتَّى يَرَوُا الْعَذَابَ الأَلِيمَ ."
17842 — Al-Muthnā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — likewise.
17843 — [Al-Muthnā related to me,] he said: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — likewise.
17844 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — likewise.
17845 — Al-Muthnā related to us, saying: Isḥāq related to us. He said: I heard al-Minqarī saying: فَلا يُؤْمِنُوا — he said: "he invoked a curse against them." (46)
* * *
The Arabists differed over the grammatical position of يُؤْمِنُوا .
Some of the Basran grammarians said: it is in the accusative (naṣb), because it is the answer attached to an imperative by the fāʾ, or because it is a curse pronounced against them after they were disobedient. It is reported of the one who voiced this opinion that he also said: it is in the accusative as an apposition to His word لِيُضِلُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِكَ .
* * *
Another grammarian among them (47) — and this is also the position of the Kūfan grammarians — said: its position is the jussive (jazm), as a curse from Mūsā against them, with the meaning: "may they then not believe" — as the poet said: (48)
فَلا يَنبَسِطْ مِنْ بَيْن عَيْنَيْكَ مَا انْزَوَى وَلا تَلْقَنِي إِلا وَأَنْفُكَ رَاغِمُ (49)
(May that which is drawn together between your eyes not relax, and may you meet me only while your nose is pressed in the dust.)
with the meaning: "may that which is drawn together between your eyes not relax" and "may you not meet me" — as a curse.
* * *
One of the Kūfan grammarians said: it is a curse, as though he said: "O Allah, may they not believe." He said: if you wish, you may also regard it as the answer to his request to Him, because the request had the form of a command — and then فَلا يُؤْمِنُوا would be in a position of accusative as the answer, but that is not easy to defend. He said: it is then equivalent to the word of the poet: (50)
يَا نَاقُ سِيرِي عَنَقًا فَسِيحَا إِلَى سُلَيْمَانَ فَنَسْتَرِيحَا (51)
(O she-camel, journey on at a wide, ample pace, to Sulaymān, so that we may rest.)
He said: the answer does not easily fall into a curse, because it does not involve a condition. (52)
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Abū Jaʿfar says: The correct opinion concerning this is that it is in the position of a jussive as a curse, with the meaning: "may they then not believe." I choose this because what precedes it is a curse, namely His word رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ وَاشْدُدْ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ — and to connect the word فَلا يُؤْمِنُوا with it in its meaning, because it is embedded therein, is more fitting and more appropriate.
* * *
As for His word حَتَّى يَرَوُا الْعَذَابَ الأَلِيمَ : Ibn ʿAbbās said that its meaning is: "until they see the drowning." We have already mentioned earlier the narration from him concerning this by way of some of his channels of transmission. (53)
17846 — Al-Qāsim related to me, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning فَلا يُؤْمِنُوا حَتَّى يَرَوُا الْعَذَابَ الأَلِيمَ : he said: "the drowning."