Tafseer of The Night Journey · Al-Israa · 17:16
And when We intend to destroy a city, We command its affluent but they defiantly disobey therein; so the word comes into effect upon it, and We destroy it with [complete] destruction.
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 Qurʾān reciters differed over the reading of أمَرْنَا مُتْرَفِيها (We commanded its affluent ones). The majority of the reciters of the Hijāz and Iraq read أمَرْنا with a short alif and an unstressed, opened mīm. According to this reading, the most prevalent explanation is: "We commanded its affluent ones to obedience, but they sinned therein by disobeying Allah and transgressing His command." Many of the adherents of this reading understood it thus.
* Mention of who said that:
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Husayn related to us, saying: Hajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning أمَرْنا مُتْرَفِيها (We commanded its affluent ones): "To obedience to Allah, but they refused."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Husayn related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Salama or another, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: "We commanded obedience, but they refused." — According to this reading, the meaning "We made them leaders, but they sinned therein" is also possible, for the Arabs say: "he is a commander (amīr) without being obeyed (ghayr maʾmūr)."
Some of the linguists of Basra argued that according to this reading the meaning "We multiplied its affluent ones" is also possible, and they cited as proof for that the report transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ: "The best property is a prolific mare (muhra maʾmūra) or a pollinated palm tree (sikka maʾbūra)" — and they hold that the meaning of "maʾmūra" here is: with abundant offspring. Some of the linguists of Kufa rejected this and did not allow that أمَرْنا has the meaning "We multiplied" unless the alif of أمَرْنا is lengthened. As for "a prolific mare," they say: that was said by phonetic assimilation to "maʾbūra," which follows it, just as one says: "They return bearing loads (maʾzūrāt) without reward (ghayr maʾjūrāt)" — where maʾzūrāt was pronounced with a hamza on account of the hamza in maʾjūrāt, though it derives from wazartu (to bear), as a phonetic imitation.
Abū ʿUthmān read أمَّرْنا with a doubled mīm, in the meaning of leadership (imāra).
Ahmad ibn Yūsuf related to us, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, that he read أمَّرْنا — with doubling — from the meaning of leadership. A group of the exegetes understood this passage in this manner.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī ibn Dāwūd related to us, saying: Abū Sālih related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word أمَّرْنا مُترَفِيها (We made its affluent ones leaders): "We gave power to its wicked ones, but they sinned therein; when they did so, I destroyed them by chastisement — that is His word: وَكَذَلِكَ جَعَلْنَا فِي كُلِّ قَرْيَةٍ أَكَابِرَ مُجْرِمِيهَا لِيَمْكُرُوا فِيهَا (And thus We placed in every town the greatest of its criminals to scheme therein) (6:123)."
Al-Hārith related to me, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: I heard al-Kisāʾī relating, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, that he read it as أمَّرْنا and said: "We gave power."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Husayn related to us, saying: Hajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abū Hafs, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: " أمَّرْنا — with doubling — means: We set over it: its affluent ones — its most arrogant ones."
Muhammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀsim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Hārith related to me, saying: al-Hasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīh, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah أمَّرْنا مُتْرَفِيها (We appointed its affluent ones): "We sent them forth."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Husayn related to us, saying: Hajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: likewise.
It was mentioned of al-Hasan al-Basrī that he read آمَرْنا with a lengthened alif, in the meaning of "We multiplied its corrupt ones." A group of the exegetes understood the import of this word in that manner, but the transmitters who passed this down to us did not make the differences in the readings distinct for us — apart from the rare individual.
Mention of who understood it thus: Muhammad 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 His word وَإِذَا أرَدْنا أنْ نُهْلِكَ قَرْيَةً آمَرْنا مُترَفِيها فَفَسَقُوا فِيها (And when We wished to destroy a settlement, We multiplied its affluent ones, but they sinned therein): "We multiplied their number."
Hannād related to us, saying: Abū al-Ahwas related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His word آمَرْنا مُتْرَفِيها (We multiplied its affluent ones): "We multiplied them."
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of al-Hasan, concerning His word أمَرْنا مُتْرَفِيها (We commanded its affluent ones): "We multiplied them."
It was related to me on the authority of al-Husayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿAbd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Dahhāk say concerning أَمَرْنَا مُتْرَفِيها (We commanded its affluent ones): "We multiplied its affluent ones, that is, its leading men."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَإِذَا أَرَدْنَا أَنْ نُهْلكَ قَرْيَةً آمَرْنَا مُتْرَفِيها فَفَسَقُوا فيها فَحَقَّ عَلَيْها القَوْلُ (And when We wished to destroy a settlement, We multiplied its affluent ones, but they sinned therein and the word was fulfilled against it): "We multiplied its affluent ones — its tyrants — but they sinned therein and acted in disobedience to Allah. فَدَمَّرْنَاهَا تَدْمِيرًا (and We destroyed it utterly)." And it was said: when Allah wills good for a people, He sends over them a reformer; when He wills evil for them, He sends over them a corrupter; and when He wills to annihilate it, He multiplies its affluent ones.
Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muhammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: " آمَرْنَا مُتْرَفِيها (We multiplied its affluent ones): We multiplied them."
Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muhammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, who said: "The Prophet ﷺ entered one day the dwelling of Zaynab, saying: 'There is no god but Allah. Woe to the Arabs for an evil that has drawn near! Today there has been opened from the barrier of Yājūj and Mājūj a gap like this' — and he made a circle with his thumb and the finger next to it. She said: 'O Messenger of Allah, shall we be destroyed while there are righteous ones among us?' He said: 'Yes, when wickedness becomes abundant.'"
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word وَإِذَا أَرَدْنَا أَنْ نُهْلِكَ قَرْيَةً أَمَرْنَا مُتْرَفِيهَا فَفَسَقُوا فِيهَا (And when We wished to destroy a settlement, We commanded its affluent ones, but they sinned therein): "Some of the scholars mentioned that 'amarnā' means to multiply. The Arabs call a large number something that has grown (amira) on account of its abundance. When one describes a people as numerous, one says: banū fulān amira and al-qawm yamirūna amran — when they became numerous and their affair became great, as Labīd said: 'When they are envied, they die; and when they have grown, they will one day come down to that which is paltry and the camel-saddles' — the root being al-amr (the base form) and the noun-form al-imr, as Allah says: لَقَدْ جِئْتَ شَيْئًا إِمْرًا (You have done a dreadful thing) (18:71) — that is, something tremendous."
The most preferable reading in this matter, according to my judgment, is the reading of those who read أَمَرْنا مُتْرَفِيها with a short alif and an unstressed mīm, on account of the unanimity of the Qurʾān reciters concerning its correctness over the others. And if that is the most preferable reading, then the most preferable explanation is that of the one who understood it as "We commanded its inhabitants to obedience, but they refused and sinned therein, so that the Word was fulfilled against them" — for the most prevalent meaning of "amarnā" (We commanded) is the command, which is the opposite of prohibition, and not something else. And bringing the import of the words of Allah back to their most well-known and prevalent meaning is preferable, so long as there is a way to it.
The meaning of فَفَسَقُوا فِيهَا (but they sinned therein) is: they deviated from Allah's command therein and departed from His obedience. فَحَقَّ عَلَيْها القَوْلُ (and the word was fulfilled against it): through their disobedience to Allah and their sins therein, Allah's threat became due, which He had warned against to whoever denied Him and contradicted His messengers, namely destruction after the presentation of excuse and warning through the messengers and the proofs. فَدَمَّرْناها تَدْميرًا (and We destroyed it utterly): We laid it waste at that moment with a complete devastation and destroyed those who dwelt in it with a complete annihilation, as al-Farazdaq said: "And it was for them like the young of Thamūd when it brayed in the late afternoon — so that He annihilated them utterly."
