Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:6
Then perhaps you would kill yourself through grief over them, [O Muhammad], if they do not believe in this message, [and] out of sorrow.
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 explanation of the meaning of the words of Allah the Exalted: فَلَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَفْسَكَ عَلَى آثَارِهِمْ إِنْ لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَسَفًا (verse 6)
Allah the Exalted means by this: Perhaps you, O Muḥammad, will kill yourself and destroy yourself in the tracks of your people — those who said to you: لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى تَفْجُرَ لَنَا مِنَ الأَرْضِ يَنْبُوعًا ("We will never believe you until you cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth"), out of rebelliousness against their Lord — if they do not believe in this Book which He has sent down upon you, so that they would confirm that it is from Allah; and all of this out of sorrow, grief, and anguish, because they turn away from you and turn their heads aside from that which you have brought them, and they have abandoned belief in you. One says in this connection: baḵaʿa fulān nafsahu yabḵaʿuhā baḵʿan wa-buḵūʿan ("so-and-so destroyed himself"), and to this belongs the saying of Dhū l-Rumma:
"Alas, you who through remorse destroy your soul / for the sake of something that fate has taken from your hands"
— he means "that it has pruned away," and he softened the ending.
In accordance with what we have said concerning the explanation of baḵiʿ, the exegetes have also said.
Account of those who said this: Bishr related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said concerning فَلَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَفْسَكَ: "It means: you who kill yourself."
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda — with the same import.
As for His word أَسَفًا: the exegetes differed concerning its explanation. Some said: the meaning is: "perhaps you will destroy yourself, if they do not believe in this word, out of anger (ghaḍab)."
Account of those who said this: Bishr related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said concerning إِنْ لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَسَفًا: "Out of anger."
Others said: "Out of despair (jazaʿ)."
Account of those who said this: Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us — and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najiḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said concerning Allah's word أَسَفًا: "Out of despair (jazaʿan)."
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 import.
Yet others said: the meaning is "out of grief over them (ḥuznan)."
Account of those who said this: Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said concerning أَسَفًا: "Out of grief over them."
The meaning of al-asaf we have already expounded in an earlier part of this work in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat it here.
This is a rebuke from Allah the Exalted to His Prophet ﷺ for his grief over his people's turning away from that to which he had called them — belief in Allah and the renunciation of idols and rivals. For he was merciful to them.
In accordance with what we have said concerning this verse, the exegetes have also said.
Account of those who said this: Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, concerning فَلَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَفْسَكَ عَلَى آثَارِهِمْ إِنْ لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَسَفًا: he rebuked him for his grief over them, when that which he had hoped from them escaped him — that is to say: do not do that.
