Tafseer of Abraham · Ibrahim · 14:47
So never think that Allah will fail in His promise to His messengers. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Owner of Retribution.
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.
He, exalted be His mention, says: These people who wronged themselves, and in whose dwellings you have come to settle after them, devised their scheme. And their scheme consisted of the following:
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: Abū Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abān, who said: I heard ʿAlī recite the following reading: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ" (with the nominative). He said: There was a frivolous (farih) ruler who took young vultures and fed them meat until they became large and strong. Then he and his companion sat in a chest; they tied the chest to the legs of the vultures and hung meat above the chest. Whenever the vultures looked at the meat, they rose up — higher and higher. He asked his companion: "What do you see?" He answered: "I see the mountains like smoke." Again he asked: "What do you see now?" He answered: "I see nothing anymore." He said: "Woe to you, desist, desist." That, then, is His word: وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لِتَزُولَ مِنْهُ الْجِبَالُ .
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Wāṣil, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib — identical to the narration of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd. And he added: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd read this verse as: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ".
Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq — he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Wāṣil related to us that ʿAlī said concerning this verse: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ". He said: The one who disputed with Ibrāhīm concerning his Lord took two young vultures and raised them. When they had grown large and strong, he tied the leg of each of the two with a peg to a chest, and starved them. He and another man sat in the chest, and a stick with meat at its head was thrust into the chest. They flew up; he kept asking his companion: "What do you see?" He kept answering him, until he said: "I see the world like a fly." Whereupon he said: "Lower the stick." He lowered it, and they came down. That, then, is the word of Allah, the Exalted: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ". Abū Isḥāq said: Likewise the reading in the codex of ʿAbd Allāh runs: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ".
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shabl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — concerning "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ": the scheme of Persia. He claimed that Bukhtnaṣṣar set out with vultures, a chest was made for him to enter, and that spears were fixed to the ends with meat on top of them. He mentioned, to my recollection, that they flew toward the meat until his sight could no longer reach the earth and its inhabitants. Then a voice called out: "O tyrant! Where do you wish to go?" He was severely startled. Then he heard the voice above him; he made the spears point downward, whereupon the vultures dove down, and the mountains were so severely startled by their crash that they almost shifted. That is His word: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ".
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said, Mujāhid said — and Mujāhid read it thus: "وَقَدْ مَكَرُوا مَكْرَهُمْ وَعِنْدَ اللهِ مَكْرُهُمْ وَإِنْ كَادَ مَكْرُهُمْ" — thus did Mujāhid read it: "كَادَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ". He said: One of the former tyrants starved vultures, then placed a chest upon them, entered it, fixed to its ends spears with meat, and they flew up whenever they saw the meat, until his field of vision came to an end. A voice called out: "O tyrant, where do you wish to go?" He made the spears point downward, the vultures dove down, the mountains were startled and thought that the Hour had arrived — they were on the point of shifting. That, then, is the word of Allah, the Exalted: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ".
Ibn Jurayj said: ʿAmr ibn Dīnār informed me, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, that he read: "وَإِنْ كَادَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ".
Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related this narration to me, saying: al-Qāsim ibn Salām related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, that he read this in accordance with the reading: "لَتَزُولُ" — with fatḥa on the first lām and rafʿ on the second.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Dāniyāl, who said: I heard ʿAlī say: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ".
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Dāniyāl, who said: I heard ʿAlī say: "وَإِنْ كَادَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ". Then ʿAlī began to narrate and said: It was sent down concerning a tyrant among the tyrants who said: "I will not cease until I know what is in the heaven." He took vultures and kept feeding them meat until they had grown large and strong — and he mentioned it identically to the narration of Shuʿba.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Dāwūd al-Ḥaḍramī related to us, on the authority of Yaʿqūb, on the authority of Ḥafṣ ibn Ḥumayd or Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr — concerning "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ": he said: Nimrūd, the owner of the vultures, gave the order to make a chest; he was placed in it together with another man; then he gave the order to make the vultures ascend. When he had risen high, he asked his companion: "What do you see?" He answered: "I see water and an island" — that is to say: the world. Then he ascended further upward and asked his companion: "What do you see?" He answered: "We only grow further removed from the heaven." Whereupon he said: "Descend" — and another said: a voice called out: "O tyrant, where do you wish to go?" The mountains heard the rushing sound of the vultures and thought that a command had come from the heaven; they almost began to shift — that is His word: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ".
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, that Anas read: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ".
Others said: Their scheme consisted in their associating partners with Allah (shirk) and their lies about Him.
* Mention of who said this:
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — concerning "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ": he said: their shirk, like His word: تَكَادُ السَّمَاوَاتُ يَتَفَطَّرْنَ مِنْهُ .
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk — concerning "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ": he said: It is like His word: وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ الرَّحْمَنُ وَلَدًا * لَقَدْ جِئْتُمْ شَيْئًا إِدًّا * تَكَادُ السَّمَاوَاتُ يَتَفَطَّرْنَ مِنْهُ وَتَنْشَقُّ الأَرْضُ وَتَخِرُّ الْجِبَالُ هَدًّا .
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us, saying: Hushaym informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ — and then he mentioned it identically.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, that al-Ḥasan used to say: It was too trifling and too insignificant for Allah that the mountains should shift on account of it — by this he was describing them. Qatāda said: In the codex of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd it stands: "وَإِنْ كَادَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ". And Qatāda used to recite alongside it: تَكَادُ السَّمَاوَاتُ يَتَفَطَّرْنَ مِنْهُ وَتَنْشَقُّ الأَرْضُ وَتَخِرُّ الْجِبَالُ هَدًّا — that is to say: because of their words.
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 His word: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ" — he said: That is because of their claim that Allah has a child. In another verse it stands: تَكَادُ السَّمَاوَاتُ يَتَفَطَّرْنَ مِنْهُ وَتَنْشَقُّ الأَرْضُ وَتَخِرُّ الْجِبَالُ هَدًّا * أَنْ دَعَوْا لِلرَّحْمَنِ وَلَدًا .
It has been related to me from al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لِتَزُولَ مِنْهُ الْجِبَالُ — in the codex of Ibn Masʿūd: "وَإِنْ كَادَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ" — it is equivalent to His word: تَكَادُ السَّمَاوَاتُ يَتَفَطَّرْنَ مِنْهُ وَتَنْشَقُّ الأَرْضُ وَتَخِرُّ الْجِبَالُ هَدًّا .
The Qurʾān reciters differed concerning the reading of His word لِتَزُولَ مِنْهُ الْجِبَالُ . The overwhelming majority of the reciters in the Ḥijāz, Medina and Iraq — with the exception of al-Kisāʾī — read: وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لِتَزُولَ مِنْهُ الْجِبَالُ with kasra on the first lām and fatḥa on the second — with the meaning: their scheme was by no means directed at shifting the mountains. Al-Kisāʾī read: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ" — with fatḥa on the first lām and rafʿ on the second — in accordance with the tenor of the reading of those of the former scholars whose statements I have mentioned, who read: "وَإِنْ كَادَ مَكْرُهُمْ" — with dāl — with the meaning: their scheme was so severe that the mountains shifted on account of it, or almost shifted. Al-Kisāʾī related from Ḥamza, on the authority of Shabl, on the authority of Mujāhid, that he read it likewise according to his reading: "وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لَتَزُولُ مِنْهُ الجِبَالُ" — with rafʿ at tazūlu.
Al-Ḥārith related this to me, from al-Qāsim, from him.
The correct reading, in our view, is the reading of the one who read it thus: وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لِتَزُولَ مِنْهُ الْجِبَالُ — with kasra on the first lām and fatḥa on the second — with the meaning: their scheme was by no means directed at shifting the mountains.
We say that this is the correct reading, because when the first lām is read with fatḥa, the meaning of the sentence becomes: their scheme was of such a kind that the mountains shifted on account of it — but had they truly shifted, they would not have remained in their place. Their continued presence, however, shows that they did not shift. Moreover, the consensus of the authoritative reciters (ḥujja) concerning this constitutes conclusive proof, so that no other testimony is needed for the correctness of this and the incorrectness of the other.
Should anyone hold that this is not a consensus of the authoritative reciters — because among the Companions (ṣaḥāba) and the Successors (tābiʿūn) there were those who read it otherwise — then that opinion is incorrect. For those who read the first lām with fatḥa and the second with rafʿ also read: "وَإِنْ كَادَ مَكْرُهُمْ" — with dāl. When it is read in that way, the correct reading thereby has fatḥa on the first lām and rafʿ on the second — as they read it. In our view it is not permissible to read it in this manner, because our codices contain something else. Our codices, after all, write it with nūn, not with dāl. Since this is so, it is not permissible for anyone to alter the text of the codices of the Muslims. And since that is not permissible, no reading is correct other than the one which the reciters of the various cities follow, and not that of the one who holds a reading divergent from it.
In accordance with what we have said concerning the meaning of وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ spoke also a group of the exegetes.
* Mention of who said this:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my paternal uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — concerning His word وَقَدْ مَكَرُوا مَكْرَهُمْ وَعِنْدَ اللَّهِ مَكْرُهُمْ وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لِتَزُولَ مِنْهُ الْجِبَالُ : he said: their scheme was by no means directed at shifting the mountains.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, saying: al-Ḥasan said concerning His word وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لِتَزُولَ مِنْهُ الْجِبَالُ : their scheme was by no means directed at shifting the mountains.
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us, saying: Hushaym informed us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: their scheme was by no means directed at shifting the mountains.
Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Hārūn, on the authority of Yūnus and ʿAmr, on the authority of al-Ḥasan — concerning وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لِتَزُولَ مِنْهُ الْجِبَالُ . Those two said: Al-Ḥasan used to say: their scheme was too inconsiderable and too weak to shift the mountains.
He said: Hārūn said: Yūnus informed me, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: There are four places in the Qurʾān: وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لِتَزُولَ مِنْهُ الْجِبَالُ — their scheme was by no means directed at shifting the mountains; and His word: لاتَّخَذْنَاهُ مِنْ لَدُنَّا إِنْ كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ — we would by no means have done it; and His word: إِنْ كَانَ لِلرَّحْمَنِ وَلَدٌ فَأَنَا أَوَّلُ الْعَابِدِينَ — the Merciful has by no means a child; and His word: وَلَقَدْ مَكَّنَّاهُمْ فِيمَا إِنْ مَكَّنَّاكُمْ — we have by no means established you therein.
Hārūn said: ʿAmr ibn Asbāṭ also related this to me from al-Ḥasan, and added one more: فَإِنْ كُنْتَ فِي شَكٍّ — you (the Prophet ﷺ) are by no means in doubt مِمَّا أَنْـزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ .
The most correct explanation of the verse — given that the reading I have mentioned is the correct one, as we have demonstrated — is as follows: His word وَقَدْ مَكَرُوا مَكْرَهُمْ وَعِنْدَ اللَّهِ مَكْرُهُمْ وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لِتَزُولَ مِنْهُ الْجِبَالُ : the people who wronged themselves committed the associating of partners with their Lord (shirk) and devised a lie about Him — and with Allah rests the knowledge of their shirk and their lie about Him. He will punish them for that with the punishment which they deserve. Their shirk and their lie about Allah were by no means directed at shifting the mountains — by it they harmed only themselves, and the harm of their endeavor returned only upon themselves.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāḥ related to us, saying: al-Aʿmash related to us, on the authority of Shimr, on the authority of ʿAlī, who said: Treachery (al-ghadr) is a scheme, and scheming is unbelief (kufr).
