Tafseer of Abraham · Ibrahim · 14:3
The ones who prefer the worldly life over the Hereafter and avert [people] from the way of Allah, seeking to make it (seem) deviant. Those are in 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: Allah the Exalted means by His words the people who prefer the life of this world above the Hereafter (al-ladhīna yastaḥibbūna al-ḥayāta al-dunyā ʿalā al-ākhira): those who prefer the life of this world and its pleasures, as well as disobedience to Allah therein, above obedience to Allah and the deeds that bring them closer to His good pleasure — the righteous deeds that bear fruit in the Hereafter. Wa-yaṣuddūna ʿan sabīli Allāh — He says: they turn away those who wished to believe in Allah and to follow His messenger, in accordance with what he had brought from Allah, from this belief and from this following. Wa-yabghūnahā ʿiwajan — He says: they seek to make the path of Allah — that is, His religion, with which He has sent His messenger — crooked: by falsification and alteration through lying and falsehood.
The term "al-ʿiwaj" (عِوَج), with kasra on the ʿayn and fatḥa on the wāw, is used with respect to religion, land, and everything that is not upright. But that which is upright — such as a wall, a spear, or a tooth — of that one says, with fatḥa on both the ʿayn and the wāw: "ʿawaj" (عَوَج).
Allah the Honored says: Ulāʾika fī ḍalālin baʿīd — He means these unbelievers who prefer the life of this world above the Hereafter. He says: they are in a remoteness from the truth that reaches far; they follow a path without guidance and deviate from the straight road.
The scholars of Arabic differed concerning the reason for the use of "ʿalā" in the expression ʿalā al-ākhira . Some of the Baṣran grammarians said: the verb is connected with "ʿalā" just as one also says "ḍarabūhu fī al-sayf" (they struck him with the sword), where "fī" has the meaning of "bi" (with) — for these prepositions are mutually interchangeable and can be omitted, as the Arabs say: "nazaltu Zaydan" (I alighted at Zayd's) and "marartu Zaydan" (I passed by Zayd), by which they mean: "marartu bihi" (I passed by him) and "nazaltu ʿalayhi" (I alighted at his place).
Others said: the preposition "ʿalā" is used here because the verb carries the meaning of another verb. For in the expression yastaḥibbūna al-ḥayāta al-dunyā there lies the meaning of "yuʾthirūna al-ḥayāta al-dunyā ʿalā al-ākhira" (they give preference to the life of this world above the Hereafter) — and on account of that meaning "ʿalā" was inserted. This and similar cases I have already explained in several places in this book, so that repetition is superfluous.
