Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:243
Have you not considered those who left their homes in many thousands, fearing death? Allah said to them, "Die"; then He restored them to life. And Allah is full of bounty to the people, but most of the people do not show gratitude.
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 His word: أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ خَرَجُوا مِنْ دِيَارِهِمْ وَهُمْ أُلُوفٌ حَذَرَ الْمَوْتِ فَقَالَ لَهُمُ اللَّهُ مُوتُوا ثُمَّ أَحْيَاهُمْ
("Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings, while they were in their thousands, in fear of death? Then Allah said to them: 'Die!' Thereafter He brought them back to life.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — Whose praise is sublime — means by "Have you not seen," that is to say: have you not known, O Muḥammad? This belongs to "seeing with the heart," not "seeing with the eye," for our Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ did not live among those whom Allah mentions in this report concerning them. And "seeing with the heart" means: that which he perceived inwardly and of which he had knowledge. Its meaning is therefore: have you not known, O Muḥammad, of those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands?
* * *
The exegetes then differed concerning the explanation of His word: "while they were in their thousands" (wa-hum ulūf).
Some said: it refers to the number, in the sense of the plural of "thousand" (alf).
* Mention of who said this:
5596 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us — and ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us — saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maysara al-Nahdī, on the authority of al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands, in fear of death": they were four thousand and they went out, fleeing from the plague. They said: "Let us go to a land where there is no death!" Until, when they had reached a certain place, Allah said to them: "Die!" Then one of the prophets passed by them, and he implored his Lord to bring them back to life, and He brought them back to life. And he recited this verse: إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لا يَشْكُرُونَ ("Verily, Allah is full of grace toward mankind, but most of mankind are not grateful.")
5597 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maysara al-Nahdī, on the authority of al-Minhāl, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands, in fear of death." He said: they were four thousand and they went out, fleeing from the plague, and Allah caused them to die. Then one of the prophets passed by them and implored his Lord to bring them back to life so that they would worship Him, and He brought them back to life.
5598 — Muḥammad ibn Sahl ibn ʿAskar related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm informed us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to me that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: Some people of the Children of Israel were stricken by tribulation and the hardship of the times, and they complained of what had befallen them and said: "Oh, if only we had died, then we would have had rest from that in which we are!" Then Allah revealed to Ḥizqīl (Ezekiel): Your people have cried out because of the tribulation and claimed that they wished they had died and obtained rest — but what rest would there be for them in death? Do they think that I am not able to raise them up after death? Go to such-and-such a burial ground, for there lie four thousand of them — Wahb said: and they are those of whom Allah said: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands, in fear of death" — then stand among them and call upon them. Their bones had become scattered, dispersed by the birds and the wild beasts. Then Ḥizqīl called upon them and said: "O bones, verily, Allah commands you to gather yourselves together!" Then the bones of each human being among them gathered together. Thereafter Ḥizqīl called a second time and said: "O bones, verily, Allah commands you to clothe yourselves with flesh." Then they clothed themselves with flesh, and after the flesh with a skin, and thus they became bodies. Thereafter Ḥizqīl called a third time and said: "O spirits, verily, Allah commands you to return into your bodies!" Then they rose by Allah's leave, and they pronounced the takbīr once.
5599 — 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 His word: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands," he says: a numerous multitude went out, fleeing from the jihād in the way of Allah, and Allah caused them to die, then He brought them back to life and commanded them to wage war against their enemy. That is His word: وَقَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ ("And fight in the way of Allah, and know that Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.")
5600 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Ashʿath ibn Aslam al-Baṣrī, saying: While ʿUmar was praying with two Jews behind him — and ʿUmar, when he wished to perform the bowing (rukūʿ), would spread apart his back — one of them said to his companion: "Is it he, he?" When ʿUmar turned around after the prayer, he said: "Tell me, what does it mean that one of you said to the other: 'Is it he, he?'" They said: "We find in our Book: 'A horn of iron (a fortress of iron), to whom is given what was given to Ḥizqīl, who brought the dead back to life by Allah's leave.'" Then ʿUmar said: "We find in the Book of Allah no 'Ḥizqīl,' nor 'one who brought the dead back to life by Allah's leave,' except ʿĪsā (Jesus)." They said: "Do you not then find in the Book of Allah: وَرُسُلا لَمْ نَقْصُصْهُمْ عَلَيْكَ ('And messengers whom We have not recounted to you') [Sūrah al-Nisāʾ: 164]?" ʿUmar said: "Yes indeed!" They said: "As for the bringing of the dead back to life, that we shall tell you: verily, the epidemic came upon the Children of Israel, and a people of them went out, until they were at a distance of a mile, and Allah caused them to die. Then they built a wall over them, and when their bones had decayed, Allah sent Ḥizqīl, and he stood among them and said what Allah willed, and Allah raised them up for him. And Allah revealed concerning that: 'Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands,' the verse."
5601 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of al-Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāʾ, saying: they were four thousand.
5602 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands," up to His word: "Thereafter He brought them back to life." He said: there was a village called Dāwardān, before Wāsiṭ; the plague broke out there, and the greater part of its inhabitants fled and settled in a region outside of it, while whoever remained in the village perished and the others were preserved; of them none of consequence died. When the plague had passed, they returned safe, and those who had remained behind said: "Those companions of ours were more cautious than we; had we done as they did, we would have stayed alive! And if the plague breaks out a second time, we shall certainly go out with them!" Then it broke out the following year, and they fled — they were some thirty thousand — until they settled at that place, a broad valley. Then an angel called upon them from the lower part of the valley and another from the upper part: "Die!" Then they died, until they had perished and their bodies had decayed. Then there passed by them a prophet, named Ḥizqīl; when he saw them, he stopped among them and began to ponder over them, twisting the corner of his mouth and his fingers. Then Allah revealed to him: O Ḥizqīl, do you wish that I show you, among them, how I bring them back to life? — He said: his pondering was only that he was marveling at Allah's power over them — And he said: Yes! Then it was said to him: Call out! Then he called out: "O bones, verily, Allah commands you to gather yourselves together!" Then the bones began to fly toward one another, until they became bodies of bones. Thereafter Allah revealed to him that he should call out: "O bones, verily, Allah commands you to clothe yourselves with flesh." Then they clothed themselves with flesh and blood, and with their garments in which they had died, and these they wore. Thereafter it was said to him: Call out! Then he called out: "O bodies, verily, Allah commands you to rise!" Then they rose.
5603 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, saying: Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir asserted, on the authority of Mujāhid, that when they were brought back to life they said: "Glory be to You, our Lord, and praise be to You; there is no god but You." Thereafter they returned alive to their people, while it could be recognized that they had been dead — the color of death was upon their faces, and they could not wear a garment without it becoming greasy like a burial shroud — until they died at their appointed times that had been written down for them.
5604 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwsaja related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands," he said: they were three thousand or more.
5605 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās said: they were forty-eight thousand; fences were drawn around them, while their bodies had already become corrupted and stank. Verily, in that tribe of the Jews one still finds that odor to this day. They were in their thousands, fleeing from the jihād in the way of Allah. Then Allah caused them to die and thereafter brought them back to life, and He commanded them to the jihād. That is His word: وَقَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ("And fight in the way of Allah"), the verse.
5606 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, that when Allah took to Himself Kālib ibn Yūqannā after Yūshaʿ (Joshua), he left behind among them — that is, among the Children of Israel — Ḥizqīl ibn Būzī as successor; and he is the son of the old woman. He was called "son of the old woman" because she had asked Allah for a child while she had already become old and barren, and Allah granted her that; therefore he was called "son of the old woman." And he is the one who prayed for the people whom Allah mentioned in the Book to Muḥammad ﷺ, as has reached us: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands, in fear of death? Then Allah said to them: 'Die!' Thereafter He brought them back to life. Verily, Allah is full of grace toward mankind, but most of mankind are not grateful."
5607 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to me, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, saying: it has reached me that it was part of their story that they went out, fleeing from some epidemic — from the plague, or from a disease that struck the people — in fear of death, while they were in their thousands, until they settled upon a plateau of the land. Then Allah said to them: "Die!" and they all died. Then the inhabitants of that land went out to them and drew a fence around them, away from the wild beasts, and left them within it, for they were too numerous to bury. Then the times and the ages passed over them, until they became crumbled bones. Then Ḥizqīl ibn Būzī passed by them, and he stopped among them, and he marveled at their condition, and compassion for them came over him. Then it was said to him: Would you like Allah to bring them back to life? He said: Yes! Then it was said to him: Call upon them and say: "O crumbled bones that have already crumbled and decayed, let each bone return to its owner!" Then he called upon them with that, and he saw the bones leaping up, each one seizing the other. Thereafter it was said to him: Say: "O flesh, sinews, and skin, clothe the bones by the leave of your Lord!" He said: Then he saw how the sinews seized the bones, then the flesh and the skin and the hair, until they became perfect as creatures, without there being spirits in them. Thereafter he prayed for them for life, and something from heaven covered him that oppressed him, until he swooned because of it. Thereafter he came to again, and the people were already sitting and saying: "Glory be to Allah, glory be to Allah" — Allah had already brought them back to life.
* * *
And others said: the meaning of His word "while they were in their thousands" (wa-hum ulūf) is: while they were joined in concord (muʾtalifūn).
* Mention of who said this:
5608 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word of Allah: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands, in fear of death? Then Allah said to them: 'Die!' Thereafter He brought them back to life." He said: there was a village upon which the plague descended; then a portion of them went out and a portion remained behind. The plague persisted among the portion that remained behind, while the portion that had gone out was struck by nothing. Thereafter it passed, and then it descended again the following year. Then a larger portion than the first went out, and the plague raged severely among the portion that remained behind. When the third year arrived, it descended, and they all went out together and left their dwellings. Then Allah — Whose praise is sublime — said: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands." It was not discord that made them go out, as one goes out for war and battle, while their hearts were joined in concord; they went out only in flight. And when they were at the place to which they had gone, seeking life, Allah said to them: "Die!" — at the place to which they had gone to seek life. Then they died, and thereafter Allah brought them back to life: إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لا يَشْكُرُونَ ("Verily, Allah is full of grace toward mankind, but most of mankind are not grateful.") He said: and a man passed by the village, while it was bones that gleamed, and he stood looking and said: "How would Allah bring this back to life after its death?" Then Allah caused him to die for a hundred years.
* * *
* Mention of the reports of those who said: the going out of this people from their dwellings was in flight from the plague.
5609 — ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of al-Ashʿath, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands, in fear of death," he said: they went out in flight from the plague, and He caused them to die before their appointed times, then He brought them back to life until their appointed times.
5610 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands, in fear of death," he said: they fled from the plague, and Allah said to them: "Die!", then He brought them back to life so that they would complete the remainder of their appointed times.
5611 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, concerning the word of Allah — Whose praise is sublime —: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands, in fear of death," he said: the plague broke out in their village, and a number of people went out and a number remained behind. Then those who remained behind in the village perished and the others stayed alive. Thereafter the plague broke out in their second village, and a number of people went out and a number remained behind, and those who went out were more numerous than those who remained behind. Then Allah saved those who went out and those who remained behind perished. When it was the third time, they all went out together, except for a few, and Allah caused them and their mounts to die; thereafter He brought them back to life, and they returned to their land [and they no longer recognized their village, nor those whom they had left behind]. And they became numerous there, until one would say to the other: "Who are you?"
5612 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, saying: I heard ʿAmr ibn Dīnār say: the plague broke out in their village — then he mentioned something similar to the tradition of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Abū ʿĀṣim.
5613 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands," the verse: Allah loathed them for their flight from death, and Allah caused them to die as a punishment, then He raised them up until the remainder of their appointed times so that they would complete them. And had the appointed times of the people arrived, they would not have been raised up after their death.
5614 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Hilāl ibn Yasāf, concerning His word — the Exalted —: "Have you not seen those who went out," the verse, he said: this people belonged to the Children of Israel; whenever the plague broke out among them, their wealthy and their notables went out, and their poor and their lowly remained behind. He said: then death raged severely among those of them who remained behind, and whoever of them had gone out was saved. Then those who had gone out said: "Had we stayed as these stayed, we would have perished as they perished!" And those who remained behind said: "Had we departed as these departed, we would have been saved as they were saved!" Then they all departed in one year, their wealthy and their notables and their poor and their lowly. Then Allah sent death upon them and they became gleaming bones. He said: then the inhabitants of the villages came to them and gathered them in one place. Then a prophet passed by them and said: "O Lord, if You willed, You would bring these back to life, then they would populate Your land and worship You!" He said: Or is it more pleasing to you that I do that? He said: Yes! He said: Then say: such-and-such. Then he pronounced it, and he looked at the bones, and one bone came from the place of a bone that did not belong to it toward the bone that did belong to it. Thereafter he pronounced what he had been commanded, and behold, the bones were clothed with flesh. Thereafter He commanded him something and he pronounced it, and behold, there they sat, ascribing glory and greatness to Allah. Thereafter it was said to them: وَقَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ ("And fight in the way of Allah, and know that Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.")
5615 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Abī Ayyūb informed me, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn ʿUthmān, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, that concerning those whom Allah caused to die and thereafter brought back to life he said: they were a people who fled from the plague, and Allah caused them to die as a punishment and out of aversion, then He brought them back to life until their appointed times.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The sounder of the two positions in the explanation of His word "while they were in their thousands" is the position of those who said: "by ulūf the greatness of the number is meant" — and not the position of those who said: "by it concord is meant," in the sense of the joining of their hearts, and that they went out from their dwellings without there being among them division or mutual aversion, but rather in flight — whether from the jihād or from the plague. This is because of the agreement of the authoritative proof (al-ḥujja) that this is the explanation of the verse, and that which is widely transmitted from the ṣaḥāba and the tābiʿūn may not be contradicted by the divergent position.
* * *
And the sounder of the positions — concerning the magnitude of the number of the people whose going out from their dwellings Allah described — is the position of those who fixed their number at more than ten thousand, and not of those who fixed it at four thousand, three thousand, or eight thousand. That is because Allah — Whose praise is sublime — reported concerning them that they were ulūf, and of what is less than ten thousand one does not say "ulūf." One says only "they are ālāf" when they are three thousand or more, up to ten thousand. And it is not permissible to say "they are five ulūf" or "ten ulūf."
Its lesser plural was formed only on the pattern "afʿāl" and not on "afʿul" — like all lesser plurals whose second letter of the singular form is quiescent (sākin), because of the alif that stands at its beginning. The custom of the Arabs, with every word whose first letter is a yāʾ, a wāw, or an alif, is to form the lesser plural preferably on "afʿāl," as they made "al-waqt" (the time) into "awqāt," and "al-yawm" (the day) into "ayyām," and "al-yusr" into "aysār," because of the wāw and the yāʾ that stand at their beginning. Sometimes such a thing is also formed on "afʿul," but the most eloquent in their usage is what we have mentioned. To that belongs the word of the poet:
They were three thousand, and a host of two thousand barbarously-speaking ones of the Banū al-Fidām.
* * *
As for His word "in fear of death" (ḥadhara al-mawt), by it He means: that they went out in fear of death, in flight from it. As:
5616 — 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 His word: "in fear of death": in flight from their enemy, until they tasted the death from which they fled. Then He commanded them, and they returned, and He commanded them to wage war in the way of Allah. And they are those who said to their prophet: ابْعَثْ لَنَا مَلِكًا نُقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ("Appoint for us a king, then we shall wage war in the way of Allah") [Sūrah al-Baqarah: 246].
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah — Whose praise is sublime — has, by this verse, only exhorted His servants to perseverance in the jihād in His way and to patience in the battle against the enemies of His religion. And He has encouraged them by instructing them and reminding them that the causing to die and the bringing back to life lie in His two hands and belong to Him, and not to His creatures — and that the flight from battle, the fleeing away from the jihād and from the encounter with the enemies, in order to entrench oneself in fortresses and to hide oneself in dwellings and houses, saves no one from His decree when it descends upon his courtyard, nor wards off the causes of his death from him when it alights upon his forecourt — just as it did not avail the fugitives from the plague, whose characteristic Allah — Whose praise is sublime — described in His word: "Have you not seen those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands, in fear of death" — that they fled from their dwelling-places and moved from their abodes to the place to which they hoped to come for safety and which they took as a refuge for deliverance from death, until the command of Allah came to them and laid them all low, extinguished and struck down, and perished upon the earth, while those very ones who had undergone the torment of the epidemic and who had themselves experienced the great tribulation were saved from what befell them.
* * *
The explanation of His word: إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لا يَشْكُرُونَ (243)
("Verily, Allah is full of grace toward mankind, but most of mankind are not grateful.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — Whose praise is sublime — means by it: verily, Allah is full of grace and beneficence toward His creatures, in that He gives them to perceive the path of guidance and warns them against the paths of perdition, and through others of His favors that He bestows upon them in their worldly life and their religion, and in themselves and their possessions — just as He brought back to life those who went out from their dwellings while they were in their thousands, in fear of death, after He had caused them to die, and made them for His creatures an example and an admonition by which they take heed, a lesson from which they draw instruction, and so that they would know that all affairs lie in His hand, that they may submit to His decree and direct all their longing and all their fear to Him.
Thereupon the Exalted — Whose praise is sublime — reported that the most of His servants upon whom He bestows His sublime favors and to whom He grants His tremendous benefactions are ungrateful to Him and direct their longing and their fear to other than Him, and take besides Him a god, out of ingratitude toward His favors — the least of which already imposes upon him, in the way of gratitude, what burdens him, and in the way of praise, what weighs heavily upon him. Thus the Exalted — Whose praise is sublime — said: "but most of mankind are not grateful." He says: they are not grateful for My favor that I have bestowed upon them, and for My mercy that I have shown them, in that they worship other than Me and direct their longing and their fear to other than Me, to one who possesses for them neither harm nor benefit, and possesses neither death, nor life, nor resurrection.
