Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:52
And [warn of] the Day when He will say, "Call 'My partners' whom you claimed," and they will invoke them, but they will not respond to them. And We will put between them [a valley of] 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 exposition of the explanation of the words of the Exalted: وَيَوْمَ يَقُولُ نَادُوا شُرَكَائِيَ الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُمْ فَدَعَوْهُمْ فَلَمْ يَسْتَجِيبُوا لَهُمْ وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَوْبِقًا (18:52)
Allah, exalted is His admonition, says: وَيَوْمَ يَقُولُ — the day on which Allah, exalted is His admonition, will say to the polytheists (mushrikūn) who ascribed partners to Him: نَادُوا شُرَكَائِيَ الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُمْ — He says to them: "Call upon those whom you claimed to be My partners in worship, that they may help you and protect you against Me." فَدَعَوْهُمْ فَلَمْ يَسْتَجِيبُوا لَهُمْ — He says: They called upon them for help but they did not help them. وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَوْبِقًا —
The exegetes differed over the meaning of this. Some said: The meaning is: And on that Day We placed enmity between these polytheists and that which they called upon apart from Allah as partners in the world.
Mention of those who said this:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bazīʿ related to me, saying: Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning the words of Allah: وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَوْبِقًا : "He placed enmity between them on the Day of Resurrection," he said.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmar related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَوْبِقًا : "Enmity," he said.
Others said: Its meaning is: And We made their deed therein a ruin for them.
Mention of those who said this:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his words: وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَوْبِقًا : "A place of destruction (mahlik)," he said.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning مَوْبِقًا : "Destruction (halāk)," he said.
Yunus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَوْبِقًا : "Al-mawbiq is destruction — that a part of them destroyed another at the hand of the other; some destroyed others" — and he recited: وَجَعَلْنَا لِمَهْلِكِهِمْ مَوْعِدًا .
It was related to me on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Yazīd, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: مَوْبِقًا : "Destruction," he said.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of ʿArfaja, concerning وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَوْبِقًا : "A ruin," he said.
Others said: It is the name of a valley in Hell (jahannam).
Mention of those who said this:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Abū Ayyūb, on the authority of ʿAmr al-Bikālī: وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَوْبِقًا : "A deep valley which on the Day of Resurrection was a dividing line between the people of misguidance and the people of guidance, and the people of Paradise (janna) and the people of the Fire," he said.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَوْبِقًا : It was related to us that ʿUmar al-Bikālī related on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr: "It is a deep valley by which, on the Day of Resurrection, a distinction is made between the people of guidance and the people of misguidance."
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUmar ibn ʿUbayd related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāʾa, saying: Mujāhid said concerning وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَوْبِقًا : "A valley in the Fire," he said.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us — "ḥ" —; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his words وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَوْبِقًا : "A valley in Hell (jahannam)," he said.
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 — with the same.
Muḥammad ibn Sinān al-Qazzāz related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Dirham related to us, saying: I heard Anas ibn Mālik say concerning the words of Allah, Exalted and Mighty: وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَوْبِقًا : "A valley in Hell (jahannam) of pus and blood," he said.
The most correct opinion concerning this — in the sense which we have mentioned on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās and those who followed him therein in explaining al-mawbiq as "destruction" — is the most acceptable. For the Arabs say in their language: "qad awbaqa fulānan" when he has destroyed him. From this derives the word of Allah, Exalted and Mighty: أَوْ يُوبِقْهُنَّ بِمَا كَسَبُوا — in the meaning: He destroys them. And one says of the destroyed one himself: "qad wabaqa fulān fa-huwa yabiq wabaqan." The dialectal form of the Banū ʿĀmir is: yābiq without hamza. It has also been related that the Tamīm say: yībiq. It has also been related: wabaqa yabiq wabūqan — al-Kisāʾī mentioned this. Some philologists of the school of Basra said: al-mawbiq is the promise (al-waʿd), and as proof they cited the word of the poet:
"وَحَادَّ شَرَوْرَى فَالسَّتَّارَ فَلَمْ يَدَعْ / تِعَارًا لَهُ وَالوَادِيَيْنِ بِمَوْبِقِ"
— and he explains it as a promised meeting place (mawʿid). It is permissible that this destruction which Allah, exalted is His praise, placed between these polytheists is the valley which was related from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr; and it is also permissible that it is the enmity of which al-Ḥasan spoke.
