Tafseer of The Thunder · Ar-Ra'd · 13:30
Thus have We sent you to a community before which [other] communities have passed on so you might recite to them that which We revealed to you, while they disbelieve in the Most Merciful. Say, "He is my Lord; there is no deity except Him. Upon Him I rely, and to Him is my return."
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.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: Thus have We sent you, O Muḥammad, in the midst of a community of people — that is to say: to a community before which communities had already passed away in the same state as that in which they are, and they have passed by — لِتَتْلُوَ عَلَيْهِمُ الَّذِي أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ (that you may recite to them what We have revealed to you), He says: that you may convey to them that with which I have sent you to them of My revelation which I have revealed to you, وَهُمْ يَكْفُرُونَ بِالرَّحْمَنِ (while they disbelieve in the All-Merciful), He says: while they deny the oneness of Allah and reject it. قُلْ هُوَ رَبِّي (Say: He is my Lord), He says: If these to whom I have sent you, O Muḥammad, disbelieve in the All-Merciful, then say you: Allah is my Lord, لا إِلَهَ إِلا هُوَ عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ وَإِلَيْهِ مَتَابِ (there is no god but He; in Him I have put my trust, and to Him is my repentance/return), He says: and to Him is my return and my turning back in penitence.
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The [word matāb] is a verbal noun (maṣdar) from the saying: "tubtu matāban wa-tawbatan" (I repented, with repentance and with turning back).
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And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes spoke.
Mention of who said that:
20397 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: وَهُمْ يَكْفُرُونَ بِالرَّحْمَنِ (while they disbelieve in the All-Merciful). It was related to us that the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, at the time of al-Ḥudaybiya, when he made peace with Quraysh, wrote: "This is that upon which Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah, has made peace." Then the polytheists (mushrikūn) of Quraysh said: "If you were truly the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and we had then fought you, we would have wronged you! Rather write: This is that upon which Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh has made peace." Then the companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "Let us fight them, O Messenger of Allah!" But he said: "No, rather write as they wish: I am Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh." When the scribe wrote: "In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Most Compassionate (bismi-llāhi al-raḥmāni al-raḥīm)," Quraysh said: "As for 'al-Raḥmān', him we do not know." And the people of the Jāhiliyya used to write: "In Your name, O Allah (bismika allāhumma)." Then his companions said: "O Messenger of Allah, let us fight them!" He said: "No, rather write as they wish."
20398 — 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, who said concerning His saying: كَذَلِكَ أَرْسَلْنَاكَ فِي أُمَّةٍ قَدْ خَلَتْ (Thus have We sent you in the midst of a community before which [communities] have passed away), the verse; he said: This was when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was drawing up a treaty with Quraysh at al-Ḥudaybiya. He wrote: "In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Most Compassionate." They said: "Do not write 'al-Raḥmān', for we do not know what 'al-Raḥmān' is, and write nothing other than: In Your name, O Allah." Allah said: وَهُمْ يَكْفُرُونَ بِالرَّحْمَنِ قُلْ هُوَ رَبِّي لا إِلَهَ إِلا هُوَ (while they disbelieve in the All-Merciful; say: He is my Lord, there is no god but He), the verse.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ أَوْ قُطِّعَتْ بِهِ الأَرْضُ أَوْ كُلِّمَ بِهِ الْمَوْتَى بَلْ لِلَّهِ الأَمْرُ جَمِيعًا (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion, or by which the earth were cleft asunder, or by which the dead were spoken to — nay, to Allah belongs the entire command.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differed concerning the meaning of that.
Some said, the meaning of it is: وَهُمْ يَكْفُرُونَ بِالرَّحْمَنِ (while they disbelieve in the All-Merciful), وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ (and if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion), that is to say: they would disbelieve in Allah, even if by means of this Qurʾān He were to set the mountains in motion for them. And they said: it is of the type that is placed later but whose meaning is foremost. They made the answer to "law" ("if it were") something that precedes it, for the saying has the meaning of their statement: and even if this Qurʾān were there by which the mountains were set in motion or by which the earth were cleft asunder, they would still disbelieve in the All-Merciful.
* Mention of who said that:
20399 — 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 His saying: وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ أَوْ قُطِّعَتْ بِهِ الأَرْضُ أَوْ كُلِّمَ بِهِ الْمَوْتَى (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion, or by which the earth were cleft asunder, or by which the dead were spoken to); he said: They are the polytheists of Quraysh; they said to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: "If you would widen for us the valleys of Mecca, and set its mountains in motion so that we could cultivate them, and bring back to life those of us who have died, and cleave the earth thereby, or have the dead spoken to thereby!" Then Allah, the Exalted, said: وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ أَوْ قُطِّعَتْ بِهِ الأَرْضُ أَوْ كُلِّمَ بِهِ الْمَوْتَى بَلْ لِلَّهِ الأَمْرُ جَمِيعًا (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion, or by which the earth were cleft asunder, or by which the dead were spoken to — nay, to Allah belongs the entire command).
20400 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Shabāba related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ أَوْ قُطِّعَتْ بِهِ الأَرْضُ أَوْ كُلِّمَ بِهِ الْمَوْتَى (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion, or by which the earth were cleft asunder, or by which the dead were spoken to), [this is] the saying of the unbelievers of Quraysh to Muḥammad: "Set our mountains in motion so that our land may become spacious for us, for it is cramped, or bring al-Shām (Syria) nearer to us, for we trade thither, or bring forth our forefathers for us from the graves so that we may speak with them!" Then Allah, the Exalted, said: وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ أَوْ قُطِّعَتْ بِهِ الأَرْضُ أَوْ كُلِّمَ بِهِ الْمَوْتَى (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion, or by which the earth were cleft asunder, or by which the dead were spoken to).
20401 — al-Muthannā 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, with something similar.
20402 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, with something similar. Ibn Jurayj said: And ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr said that they said: "If you would clear away the mountains for us, or make the rivers flow for us, or speak thereby to the dead!" Then that was revealed. Ibn Jurayj said: And Ibn ʿAbbās said that they said: "Set the mountains in motion with the Qurʾān, cleave the earth with the Qurʾān, bring forth our dead with it."
20403 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn Kathīr said that they said: "If you would clear away the mountains for us, or make the rivers flow for us, or speak thereby to the dead!" Then was revealed: أَفَلَمْ يَيْأَسِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا (Have the believers not then realized?).
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Others said: Nay, the meaning of it is: وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion) is a newly begun clause, disjoined from His saying: وَهُمْ يَكْفُرُونَ بِالرَّحْمَنِ (while they disbelieve in the All-Merciful). He said: and the answer to "law" ("if it were") is omitted, contenting oneself with the listeners' knowledge of the intent of the saying instead of mentioning its answer. They said: and the Arabs do that frequently, and among that is the saying of Imruʾ al-Qays:
"Would that she were but a soul that would die in lightness and ease, but she is a soul that parts itself amid agonies."
And this is the last verse in the qaṣīda; he omitted the answer, relying upon his listener's knowledge of his intent. And as another said:
"I swear: had another than you come to us, his messenger — yet we found for you no repelling."
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* Mention of who said something similar in meaning:
20404 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ أَوْ قُطِّعَتْ بِهِ الأَرْضُ أَوْ كُلِّمَ بِهِ الْمَوْتَى (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion, or by which the earth were cleft asunder, or by which the dead were spoken to); it was related to us that Quraysh said: "If it pleases you, O Muḥammad, that we should follow you — or: that we shall follow you — then set in motion for us the mountains of Tihāma, or enlarge for us our sanctuary (ḥaram) so that we may take possession of regions where we may dwell in the autumn, or bring back to life for us so-and-so!" — people who had died in the Jāhiliyya. Then Allah revealed: وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ أَوْ قُطِّعَتْ بِهِ الأَرْضُ أَوْ كُلِّمَ بِهِ الْمَوْتَى (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion, or by which the earth were cleft asunder, or by which the dead were spoken to), He says: if this were done with a Qurʾān before your Qurʾān, then it would be done with your Qurʾān.
20405 — 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: that the unbelievers of Quraysh said to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: "Remove for us the mountains of Tihāma so that we may turn them into farmland and they become for us fields, or bring back to life for us so-and-so so that they may inform us: is it true what you say!" Then Allah said: وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ أَوْ قُطِّعَتْ بِهِ الأَرْضُ أَوْ كُلِّمَ بِهِ الْمَوْتَى بَلْ لِلَّهِ الأَمْرُ جَمِيعًا (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion, or by which the earth were cleft asunder, or by which the dead were spoken to — nay, to Allah belongs the entire command), He says: if that were done with any of the [earlier] Scriptures in the past, then that would come to pass.
20406 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His saying: وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion), the verse; he said: The unbelievers of Quraysh said to Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: "Set the mountains in motion for us as they were made subservient to Dāwūd, or cleave the earth for us as it was cleft for Sulaymān, so that he would set out with it of a morning a month's journey and return with it of an evening a month's journey, or speak for us to the dead as ʿĪsā used to speak to them." He says: With all of this I have sent down no Scripture, but it was something that I gave to My prophets and messengers.
20407 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion), the verse; he said: They said to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: "If you are truthful, then remove for us these mountains and make them into fields like the condition of the land of al-Shām (Syria), Egypt and the [other] lands, or raise our dead so that he may inform them — for they died in that in which we are!" Then Allah said: وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ بِهِ الْجِبَالُ أَوْ قُطِّعَتْ بِهِ الأَرْضُ أَوْ كُلِّمَ بِهِ الْمَوْتَى (And if there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion, or by which the earth were cleft asunder, or by which the dead were spoken to), [but] this was never done with any Qurʾān or Scripture, that it should be done with this Qurʾān.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: أَفَلَمْ يَيْأَسِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنْ لَوْ يَشَاءُ اللَّهُ لَهَدَى النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا (Have the believers not then realized that, if Allah willed, He would surely guide all mankind?)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The experts in the language of the Arabs differed concerning the meaning of His saying أَفَلَمْ يَيْأَسِ (have they not then realized).
Some of the people of Basra claimed that the meaning of it is: "have they not then known and clearly realized," and they adduced in support of that statement the verse of Suḥaym ibn Wathīl al-Riyāḥī:
"I say to them in the mountain pass, while they take me captive: 'Do you not know (a-lam tayʾasū) that I am the son of the rider of Zahdam?'"
It is also read as "yaysirūnanī"; whoever reads it as "yaysirūnanī" means: they divide me among themselves, from "al-maysir" (the game of chance), as the slaughter-camel (al-jazūr) is divided. And whoever reads it as "yaʾsirūnanī" means captivity (al-asr), and he said: he meant by his saying "a-lam tayʾasū": have you not then known. And there was also recited concerning that:
"Do the peoples not know (a-lam yayʾasi al-aqwāmu) that I am his son, even though I am far removed from the land of the tribe?"
And they explained his saying "a-lam yayʾas" as: have they not then known and clearly realized?
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And it is related on the authority of Ibn al-Kalbī that this is an idiom of a tribe of al-Nakhaʿ called Wahbīl; one says: "a-lam tayʾas kadhā" in the sense of: have you not known it?
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And it is related on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Maʿn that it is an idiom of Hawāzin, and that they say: "yaʾistu kadhā" [in the sense of] "I knew it."
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Some of the Kūfans, on the other hand, rejected that, and claimed that he had not heard anyone among the Arabs say "yaʾistu" in the sense of "ʿalimtu" (I knew). And he says — as for the meaning, even though it is not [thus] heard — that "yaʾistu" in the sense of "ʿalimtu" can be directed to that, since He had let the believers know that, if He willed, He would guide all mankind. So He said: "a-fa-lam yayʾasū ʿilman," whereby he says: knowledge brings them to despair/certainty, as though knowledge is implicit therein, as one says: "qad yaʾistu minka an lā tufliḥa ʿilman" (I have realized with certainty of you that you will not succeed), as though it were said: "I knew it with certain knowledge." He said: and the saying of the poet:
"Until, when the archers gave up (yaʾisa) and they released the slack, trained [hounds], whose collars were dry"
its meaning is: until they, when they had given up all possibilities except that which had become clear to them, released [the hounds]; it thus has the meaning of: until they knew that there was no other way than the one they saw, and their knowledge reached to that, so that what lay beyond it was despair (yaʾs).
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As for the exegetes, they explained that in the sense of: have they not then known and clearly realized.
* Mention of who said that:
20408 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq al-Kūfī, on the authority of [a freedman of a freedman of Buḥayr], that ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, used to read: "a-fa-lam yatabayyani alladhīna āmanū" (have the believers not then clearly realized).
20409 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, on the authority of Hārūn, on the authority of Ḥanẓala, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: أَفَلَمْ يَيْأَسِ (have they not then realized), he says: have they not then clearly realized.
20410 — Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related to us, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim, on the authority of al-Zubayr ibn al-Khirrīt or Yaʿlā ibn Ḥakīm, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he used to read it: "a-fa-lam yatabayyani alladhīna āmanū" (have the believers not then clearly realized); he said: The scribe wrote the other [word] while he was drowsy.
20411 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said concerning the first reading: Ibn Kathīr and others claimed: "a-fa-lam yatabayyan" (have they not then clearly realized).
20412 — 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: أَفَلَمْ يَيْأَسِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا (have the believers not then realized), he says: have they not then clearly realized.
20413 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: أَفَلَمْ يَيْأَسِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا (have the believers not then realized), he says: do they know.
20414 — ʿImrān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wārith related to us, saying: Layth related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: أَفَلَمْ يَيْأَسِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا (have the believers not then realized), he said: have they not then clearly realized.
20415 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: أَفَلَمْ يَيْأَسِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا (have the believers not then realized), he said: have the believers not then clearly realized.
20416 — 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: أَفَلَمْ يَيْأَسِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا (have the believers not then realized), he said: have the believers not then known.
20417 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: أَفَلَمْ يَيْأَسِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا (have the believers not then realized), he said: have the believers not then known.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct judgement concerning this is what the exegetes have said: that the explanation of it is "have they not then clearly realized and known," because of the consensus of the exegetes upon that, and [because of] the verses which we have recited concerning it.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The explanation of the saying is then this: and if there were a Qurʾān other than this Qurʾān by which the mountains were set in motion, then they would have been set in motion by this Qurʾān; or [a Qurʾān] by which the earth were cleft asunder, then it would have been cleft by this [Qurʾān]; or [a Qurʾān] by which the dead were spoken to, then through this [Qurʾān] they would have been spoken to; but that was done with no Qurʾān before this Qurʾān, that it should be done with this one. بَلْ لِلَّهِ الأَمْرُ جَمِيعًا (Nay, to Allah belongs the entire command), He says thereby: all of that belongs to Him and is in His hand; He guides whom He wills to faith and grants it to him, and He leads astray whom He wills and forsakes him. Have the believers in Allah and His Messenger not then clearly realized, when they hoped for My granting the request of him whose Prophet asked Him what he asked Him concerning the setting in motion of the mountains away from them, the bringing nearer of the land of al-Shām for them, and the raising to life of their dead, that Allah, if He willed, would guide all mankind to faith in Him, without bringing forth any sign or accomplishing anything of what they asked? The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: what then is the meaning of their longing for that, while they know that guidance and ruin belong to Me and are in My hand, whether I send down a sign or do not send it down? I guide whom I will without the sending down of a sign, and I lead astray whom I will, even though I send it down.