Tafseer of The Rock · Al-Hijr · 15:85
And We have not created the heavens and earth and that between them except in truth. And indeed, the Hour is coming; so forgive with gracious forgiveness.
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 Exalted says: We created all that is created — the heaven and the earth and what is in them and what is between them — by His word وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا (and what is between the two): that is, the totality of the layers in between them — إِلا بِالْحَقِّ — only with the truth (al-ḥaqq): that is, with justice and equity, not with injustice and arbitrariness. By this the Exalted means: He has not wronged any of the nations whose stories He has narrated in this sūra — neither in the account of their destruction by the hastening of the punishment for their unbelief and their disdain of the messenger — for He did not create the heavens and the earth and what is between them with injustice and arbitrariness, but with truth and justice.
His word وَإِنَّ السَّاعَةَ لآتِيَةٌ فَاصْفَحِ الصَّفْحَ الْجَمِيلَ — the Exalted says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: The Hour — that is, the Hour at which the Resurrection takes place — will surely come. So be content with that regarding the polytheists (mushrikīn) of your people who denied you and have rejected the truth you brought them. فَاصْفَحِ الصَّفْحَ الْجَمِيلَ — He says: Turn away from them with a beautiful turning-away, and pardon them with a fair pardon. His word إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ الْخَلاقُ الْعَلِيمُ — the Exalted says: Your Lord is the One Who created them and created everything, and He is the All-Knowing concerning them, their governance, and what deeds they perform. A group of exegetes said that this verse is abrogated (mansūkh).
Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda — concerning His word فَاصْفَحِ الصَّفْحَ الْجَمِيلَ : Then that was abrogated; Allah commanded him to fight them (qitāl) until they bore witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muḥammad is His servant and messenger — nothing else is accepted from them.
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk — concerning His word فَاصْفَحِ الصَّفْحَ الْجَمِيلَ , and فَاصْفَحْ عَنْهُمْ وَقُلْ سَلامٌ فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ , and وَأَعْرِضْ عَنِ الْمُشْرِكِينَ , and قُلْ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يَغْفِرُوا لِلَّذِينَ لا يَرْجُونَ أَيَّامَ اللَّهِ — all these and similar verses in the Qurʾān, in which Allah commanded His Prophet ﷺ to act in that manner, are abrogated after He charged him with armed fighting (qitāl), whereby all of this was annulled. He said: وَخُذُوهُمْ وَاحْصُرُوهُمْ وَاقْعُدُوا لَهُمْ كُلَّ مَرْصَدٍ .
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Mujāhid — فَاصْفَحِ الصَّفْحَ الْجَمِيلَ — he said: this is before the armed fighting (qitāl).
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Isḥāq informed us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Zubayr related to us, on the authority of Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna — concerning His word فَاصْفَحِ الصَّفْحَ الْجَمِيلَ and وَأَعْرِضْ عَنِ الْمُشْرِكِينَ — he said: This was before the jihād had been sent down. When he was charged with the jihād he fought them, and he said: "I am the Prophet of mercy and the Prophet of slaughter; I have been sent with the harvest and not with the sowing."
