Tafseer of Hud · Hud · 11:102
And thus is the seizure of your Lord when He seizes the cities while they are committing wrong. Indeed, His seizure is painful and severe.
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: وَكَذَلِكَ أَخْذُ رَبِّكَ إِذَا أَخَذَ الْقُرَى وَهِيَ ظَالِمَةٌ إِنَّ أَخْذَهُ أَلِيمٌ شَدِيدٌ (And such is the seizure of your Lord when He seizes the towns while they are doing wrong; indeed, His seizure is painful and severe.) (102)
Abū Jaʿfar says: Allah the Exalted speaks here: Just as I, O people, seized the inhabitants of those towns whose story I have told you, with the punishment (ʿadhāb) that I sent down upon them — because of their opposition to My command, their accusing My messengers of lying, and their rejection of My signs — so too is My seizing of the towns and their inhabitants when I strike them with My punishment, while they are wrongdoers against themselves through their disbelief in Allah, their ascribing of partners (shirk) to Him, and their accusing His messengers of lying. إِنَّ أَخْذَهُ أَلِيمٌ — that is to say: the seizure of your Lord with the punishment of whomever He seizes is أَلِيمٌ — that is to say: painful — شَدِيدٌ — that is to say: severely painful.
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This is from Allah a warning to this community (umma) that they not tread the path of the corrupt peoples who came before them in disobedience to Him, lest there come down upon them what came down upon those others of punitive exemplary chastisements (muthulāt), as in:
18559 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of Burayda ibn Abī Burda, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū Mūsā, who said: the Prophet ﷺ said: "Allah grants respite to — and sometimes he said: gives reprieve to — the wrongdoer, until, when He seizes him, He does not let him escape." Then he recited: وَكَذَلِكَ أَخْذُ رَبِّكَ إِذَا أَخَذَ الْقُرَى وَهِيَ ظَالِمَةٌ (And such is the seizure of your Lord when He seizes the towns while they are doing wrong).
18560 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: "Allah has warned this community against His violent assault with His words: وَكَذَلِكَ أَخْذُ رَبِّكَ إِذَا أَخَذَ الْقُرَى وَهِيَ ظَالِمَةٌ إِنَّ أَخْذَهُ أَلِيمٌ شَدِيدٌ (And such is the seizure of your Lord when He seizes the towns while they are doing wrong; indeed, His seizure is painful and severe)."
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ʿĀṣim al-Jaḥdarī used to read this as: وَكَذَلِكَ أَخْذُ رَبِّكَ إِذَا أَخَذَ الْقُرَى وَهِيَ ظَالِمَةٌ — and that is a reading which I do not consider permissible to use, because it contradicts the codices (maṣāḥif) of the Muslims and the reading upon which the Qurʾān reciters of the great cities have agreed.