Tafseer of Abraham · Ibrahim · 14:18
The example of those who disbelieve in their Lord is [that] their deeds are like ashes which the wind blows forcefully on a stormy day; they are unable [to keep] from what they earned a [single] thing. That is what is extreme error.
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 Arabic grammarians differed concerning the grammatical subject-position of the word "mathal" (likeness).
Some grammarians of the Basra school said: it is as though He said: "and among that which We recount to you is the likeness of those who disbelieve"; and then He proceeded to explain it — as He said: مَثَلُ الْجَنَّةِ [Sūrah al-Raʿd: 35]. This occurs frequently.
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Some grammarians of the Kūfa school said: the likeness pertains to the deeds, but the Arabs put the proper nouns first because they are better known, and then bring the report they wish to make concerning the relevant matter. The meaning of the statement is: the likeness of the deeds of those who disbelieved toward their Lord is like ashes, just as it is said: وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ تَرَى الَّذِينَ كَذَبُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ وُجُوهُهُم مُّسْوَدَّةٌ [Sūrah al-Zumar: 60] — the meaning of the statement is: and on the Day of Resurrection you will see the faces of those who lied about Allah — blackened. He said: if one were to put "the deeds" in the genitive, that would also be permissible, as is said: يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الشَّهْرِ الْحَرَامِ قِتَالٍ فِيهِ [Sūrah al-Baqara: 217]. And His word: مَثَلُ الْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي وُعِدَ الْمُتَّقُونَ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ [Sūrah al-Raʿd: 35] — he said: "tajrī" (it flows) stands in the position of the report; it is as though He said: "that it flows," and if one were to insert "an" (that) it would be permissible. And he noted that this is like the saying of the poet:
"Leave me be, for your affair will not be obeyed — and you have never found my forbearance doubled."
— he said: "ḥilmī" (my forbearance) is in the accusative governed by "alfaytinī" as a repetition case (al-takrīr); he said: if one had put it in the nominative, it would also be correct. He said: this is a likeness that Allah has set forth for the deeds of the disbelievers. He said: the likeness of the deeds of those who disbelieved toward their Lord on the Day of Resurrection — the deeds they performed in this life by which they supposed they intended Allah — is like ashes over which the wind rages on a stormy day; the wind has scattered it and carried it away. So are the deeds of the people of disbelief toward Him on the Day of Resurrection — they find none of it anything that can profit them with Allah and deliver them from His punishment, because they did not perform them purely for Allah; rather, they let the idols and images share in them.
Allah, the Almighty and Exalted, says: ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ الضَّلَالُ الْبَعِيدُ (That is the far-reaching error) — that is to say: their deeds which they performed in this life, in which they set up others as partners (shurakāʾ) alongside Allah, are deeds performed without guidance and rectitude; rather, upon a wrongness that strays far from guidance and a deviation from rectitude that is grave.
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There stands فِي يَوْمٍ عَاصِفٍ (on a stormy day) — the day is here described with storminess (al-ʿuṣūf), although that is an attribute of the wind; but the wind is in it, just as one says: "a cold day, a hot day" — for the cold and the heat are in it. So too the saying of the poet:
"On two cloudy days and a sunny day."
— he described the two days as cloudy, although the cloudiness is in fact in them. It is also possible that what is meant is: on a day of stormy wind — with "the wind" omitted because it had already been mentioned earlier; this then is like the saying of the poet:
"When there comes a day of darkened, dust-hazed sun."
— he means: of the dust-hazed sun. It has also been said: it is an attribute of "the wind" specifically, but because it stands after "the day," it follows its case — for the Arabs let case-agreement in adjectival qualifiers follow, as the poet said:
"She shows you a cheek not of base blood — smooth, without mole or scar."
— he put "ghayr" (not) in the genitive following the case of "wajh" (cheek), although it is in fact an attribute of "sunna" (the visage), the meaning being: a visage not of base blood. So too the saying: "this is the burrow of a slit-eared lizard."
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In the same sense as what we said concerning this, spoke the scholars of interpretation.
Mention of who said that:
20636. Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His word كَرَمَادٍ اشْتَدَّتْ بِهِ الرِّيحُ — he said: the wind carried it away on a stormy day.
20637. Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ كَرَمَادٍ اشْتَدَّتْ بِهِ الرِّيحُ فِي يَوْمٍ عَاصِفٍ — he says: those who disbelieved toward their Lord and worshipped others alongside Him — their deeds on the Day of Resurrection are like ashes over which the wind rages on a stormy day; they cannot dispose of anything of their deeds that may profit them, just as no one can dispose of ashes when they are let loose on a stormy day.
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His word ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ الضَّلَالُ الْبَعِيدُ — that is to say: the manifest error, which strays far from the path of truth.
