Tafseer of The Rock · Al-Hijr · 15:99
And worship your Lord until there comes to you the certainty (death).
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.
Allah, the Exalted, says to His Prophet ﷺ: Worship your Lord until death comes to you — which, for him (mankind), is a certainty. It is said: al-yaqīn (certainty) is that of which one is certain, just as one says: khamr ʿatīq (old wine) because it has "aged." In accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) also spoke.
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ṭāriq ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh — concerning وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ : he said: Death.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, on the authority of several, all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — similarly.
Al-Muthannā related to me, on the authority of Abū Ḥudhayfa, on the authority of Shibl; and al-Muthannā related to me, on the authority of Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of Warqāʾ — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — similarly.
ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad related to me, on the authority of Ḥajjāj: Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn Kathīr informed me that he heard Mujāhid say — حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ : he said: Death.
Bishr related to us, on the authority of Yazīd, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda — concerning وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ : he said: That is to say: death.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Thawr, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda — حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ : he said: Al-yaqīn is death.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda — similarly.
Al-Muthannā related to me, on the authority of Suwayd ibn Naṣr, on the authority of Ibn al-Mubārak, on the authority of Mubārak ibn Faḍāla, on the authority of al-Ḥasan — concerning حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ : he said: Death.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ṭāriq, on the authority of Sālim — similarly.
Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said concerning وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ : Death — when death comes to him, there comes to him the confirmation of what Allah told him and informed him about regarding the matter of the Hereafter.
Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, on the authority of Yūnus ibn Yazīd, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb: "That Khārija ibn Zayd ibn Thābit related to him on the authority of Umm al-ʿAlāʾ — a woman of the Anṣār who had given the oath of allegiance to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — that she related to him: They distributed the Emigrants (Muhājirūn) by lot. She said: ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn fell to us, and we took him into our house. He fell ill with the illness from which he died; when he had died and had been washed and wrapped in his garments, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered. I said: O ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn, may Allah have mercy on you, O father of al-Sāʾib — I bear witness concerning you that Allah has honored you. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: As for him — certainty (al-yaqīn) has come to him, and by Allah, I hope for good for him."
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Mālik ibn Ismāʿīl related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl related to us, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd related to us, saying: Ibn Shihāb related to us, on the authority of Khārija ibn Zayd, on the authority of Umm al-ʿAlāʾ — a woman of theirs — on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ — similarly.
Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masrūqī related to me, saying: Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn related to us, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn Ismāʿīl informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Shihāb, that Khārija ibn Zayd related to him on the authority of Umm al-ʿAlāʾ — a woman of theirs — on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ — similarly, except that in his narration he said: The Prophet ﷺ said: "As for him — he has beheld certainty."
