Tafseer of The Rock · Al-Hijr · 15:88
Do not extend your eyes toward that by which We have given enjoyment to [certain] categories of the disbelievers, and do not grieve over them. And lower your wing to the believers
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 to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: Do not yearn, O Muḥammad, for that which We have given as an adornment of this worldly life to the wealthy of your people as a temporary enjoyment — those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day; they take their enjoyment in it. For behind them awaits a severe punishment. وَلا تَحْزَنْ عَلَيْهِمْ — He says: Do not grieve over that which they were given to enjoy and which was hastened for them. For yours in the Hereafter is something better than that — alongside that which We have already hastened for you in the worldly life of honor, through Our giving you the Seven Mathānī and the Mighty Qurʾān. Of this verb one says: "So-and-so stretched out his eyes toward the wealth of so-and-so" — when he desired it, longed for it, and wanted it.
It was related concerning Ibn ʿUyayna that he used to explain this verse by means of the saying of the Prophet ﷺ: "Whoever does not sing (yataghannā) with the Qurʾān is not of us" — that is: whoever does not content himself with it — and he said: Do you not then see that He says: وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَاكَ سَبْعًا مِنَ الْمَثَانِي وَالْقُرْآنَ الْعَظِيمَ * لا تَمُدَّنَّ عَيْنَيْكَ إِلَى مَا مَتَّعْنَا بِهِ أَزْوَاجًا مِنْهُمْ — He commanded him to be satisfied with the Qurʾān instead of wealth. He said: Hence also the saying of the other poet: Whoever has been given the Qurʾān and reckons that someone else has been given something better, has made the small great and the great small.
In agreement with what we said concerning أَزْوَاجًا , the exegetes also spoke.
Mention of who said that:
Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us; and al-Muthanná 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 — لا تَمُدَّنَّ عَيْنَيْكَ إِلَى مَا مَتَّعْنَا بِهِ أَزْوَاجًا مِنْهُمْ : the wealthy, the equals, the like ones.
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 — in accordance with the foregoing.
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 لا تَمُدَّنَّ عَيْنَيْكَ إِلَى مَا مَتَّعْنَا بِهِ أَزْوَاجًا مِنْهُمْ — he said: a man was forbidden to desire the wealth of another.
His word وَاخْفِضْ جَنَاحَكَ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ — the Exalted says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: Be gentle toward those who believed in you, followed you, and followed your word; draw them toward you and do not treat them harshly; do not be rough with them. He commanded him, the Exalted, kindness toward the believers. The two wings (janāḥān) of the son of man are his two sides. The two wings are the two flanks. Hence the word of Allah the Exalted: وَاضْمُمْ يَدَكَ إِلَى جَنَاحِكَ — it was said: the meaning is: toward your flank and your side.