Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:258
Have you not considered the one who argued with Abraham about his Lord [merely] because Allah had given him kingship? When Abraham said, "My Lord is the one who gives life and causes death," he said, "I give life and cause death." Abraham said, "Indeed, Allah brings up the sun from the east, so bring it up from the west." So the disbeliever was overwhelmed [by astonishment], and Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.
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 statement: أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِي حَاجَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ فِي رَبِّهِ أَنْ آتَاهُ اللَّهُ الْمُلْكَ (Have you not seen the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord, because Allah had given him the kingship?)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His statement "Have you not seen the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord": Have you not seen, O Muḥammad, with your heart?
="The one who disputed with Ibrāhīm" — that is to say: the one who entered into dispute ="Ibrāhīm" — that is to say: Ibrāhīm, the prophet of Allah, the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him ="about his Lord, because Allah had given him the kingship" — by which is meant: he disputed with him and entered into a quarrel with him about his Lord, because Allah had given him the kingship.
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This is an expression of wonder from Allah, the Exalted, directed to His prophet Muḥammad, the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, concerning the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord. For that reason the preposition "ilā" (to/at) was inserted in His statement "Have you not seen [at] the one who disputed." Thus also do the Arabs act when they wish to express wonder concerning a man with regard to something of his conduct that they reprove; then they say: "What is it that you see in this man?!" And the meaning is: have you ever seen anything of the like, or anything like this?!
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It has been said: that "the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord" was a tyrant in Babel (Bābil), who was called Nimrūd ibn Kanʿān ibn Kūsh ibn Sām ibn Nūḥ. And it has been said: that he was Nimrūd ibn Fālikh ibn ʿĀbir ibn Shālikh ibn Arfakhshadh ibn Sām ibn Nūḥ.
* Mention of who said that:
5861 – 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 Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah: "Have you not seen the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord, because Allah had given him the kingship," he said: It is Nimrūd ibn Kanʿān.
5862 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
5863 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
5864 – Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of al-Naḍr ibn ʿArabī, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
5865 – Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "Have you not seen the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord," he said: We used to relate that he was a king called Nimrūdh, and he was the first king to rule tyrannically upon the earth, and he is the builder of the tower (al-ṣarḥ) in Babel.
5866 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: His name is Nimrūdh, and he was the first king to rule tyrannically upon the earth; he disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord.
5867 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning the statement: "Have you not seen the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord, because Allah had given him the kingship," he said: We have been told that the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord was a king called Nimrūdh, and he was the first tyrant to rule tyrannically upon the earth, and he is the builder of the tower in Babel.
5868 – Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, he said: It is Nimrūdh ibn Kanʿān.
5869 – Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: It is Nimrūdh.
5870 – Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, something similar.
5871 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, saying: Zayd ibn Aslam informed me, something similar.
5872 – Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr informed me that he heard Mujāhid saying: It is Nimrūd. Ibn Jurayj said: It is Nimrūd, and it is said that he was the first king upon the earth.
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The explanation of His statement: إِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّيَ الَّذِي يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ قَالَ أَنَا أُحْيِي وَأُمِيتُ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْتِي بِالشَّمْسِ مِنَ الْمَشْرِقِ فَأْتِ بِهَا مِنَ الْمَغْرِبِ فَبُهِتَ الَّذِي كَفَرَ وَاللَّهُ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ (258) (When Ibrāhīm said: "My Lord is the One Who gives life and causes death," he said: "I give life and cause death." Ibrāhīm said: "Indeed, Allah brings the sun from the east, so bring it from the west." Then the one who disbelieved was struck dumb. And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.) (258)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by that: Have you not seen, O Muḥammad, the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord, when Ibrāhīm said to him: "My Lord is the One Who gives life and causes death," by which he means: my Lord is the One in Whose hand are life and death; He gives life to whom He wills and causes to die whom He wishes after having made him alive. He (the tyrant) said: I do that, I give life and cause death: I keep alive whom I wished to kill and so do not kill him, and that, on my part, is a giving of life to him. And that is called among the Arabs "giving life" (iḥyāʾ), as the Exalted has said: وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا [Surah Al-Māʾidah: 32] (And whoever gives her life, it is as though he has given life to all of mankind). And I kill another, and that, on my part, is a causing of death to him. Ibrāhīm, the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: Indeed, Allah, Who is my Lord, brings the sun from its east, so bring it — if you are truthful that you are a god — from its west! Allah, the Exalted, said: "Then the one who disbelieved was struck dumb," that is to say: his argument was cut off and proved void.
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One says of this: "bahita, yabhatu, bahtan." And it has been transmitted from some of the Arabs that they say, in this meaning: "buhita." And one says: "buhita al-rajul" — when a lie is fabricated about a man — "bahtan, buhtānan, and bahātatan."
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And it has been transmitted from some of the reciters that he read: "fa-bahata alladhī kafara," with the meaning: then Ibrāhīm struck the one who disbelieved dumb.
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And in accordance with what we have said about that, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
5873 – Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the statement: "When Ibrāhīm said: My Lord is the One Who gives life and causes death, he said: I give life and cause death," and we have been told that he had two men brought, and he killed the one and kept the other alive, and he said: I have given this one life! I keep alive whom I will and kill whom I will! Thereupon Ibrāhīm said: فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْتِي بِالشَّمْسِ مِنَ الْمَشْرِقِ فَأْتِ بِهَا مِنَ الْمَغْرِبِ (Indeed, Allah brings the sun from the east, so bring it from the west), فَبُهِتَ الَّذِي كَفَرَ وَاللَّهُ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ (Then the one who disbelieved was struck dumb. And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people).
5874 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: "I give life and cause death": I kill whom I will and I keep alive whom I will, I keep him alive and do not kill him. And he said: The earth — its east and its west — was ruled by four persons: two believers and two disbelievers. The two believers were: Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd and Dhū al-Qarnayn; and the two disbelievers were: Bukhtnaṣṣar (Nebuchadnezzar) and Nimrūd ibn Kanʿān. None other than they ruled it.
5875 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam: The first tyrant who was upon the earth was Nimrūdh. The people used to go out and procure food from him. Ibrāhīm went out to procure food, together with those who were procuring food. When people passed by him, he said: Who is your Lord? They said: You! Until Ibrāhīm passed by; he said: Who is your Lord? He said: The One Who gives life and causes death. He said: I give life and cause death! Ibrāhīm said: Indeed, Allah brings the sun from the east, so bring it from the west! Then the one who disbelieved was struck dumb. He said: And he sent him back without food. He said: Ibrāhīm returned to his family.
He passed by a reddish sandhill and said: Why should I not take some of this sand and bring it to my family, so that they may be reassured when I arrive among them! He took some of it and came to his family. He said: He set down his load and then slept. His wife arose and went to his load and opened it, and behold, there was the finest food that anyone had ever seen. She prepared some of it for him and brought it near to him. He knew that his family had no food, and he said: Where did this come from? She said: From the food that you brought! Then he knew that Allah had provided for him, and he praised Allah. After that, Allah sent to the tyrant an angel with the message: Believe in Me and I will let you keep your kingship! He said: Is there then another lord besides me?! The angel came to him a second time and said that to him, but he refused him. After that he came to him a third time, and he refused him, whereupon the angel said to him: Gather your armies within three days! The tyrant gathered his armies, and Allah commanded the angel, who opened for them a gate of gnats. The sun rose, but they could not see it because of the multitude of the gnats. Allah sent them against them, and they ate their flesh and drank their blood, until nothing remained but the bones, while the king remained as he was and nothing of that afflicted him. Then Allah sent against him a single gnat, which entered his nostril, and he kept striking his head with hammers for four hundred years, and the most merciful of people toward him was the one who brought his two hands together and struck his head with them. He had been a tyrant for four hundred years, so Allah punished him for four hundred years, equal to his kingship, and Allah caused him to die. He is the one who built a tower up to the heaven, but Allah caused his structure to collapse from the foundations, and he is the one about whom Allah said: فَأَتَى اللَّهُ بُنْيَانَهُمْ مِنَ الْقَوَاعِدِ [al-Naḥl: 26] (Then Allah struck down their structure from the foundations).
5876 – Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd ibn Aslam informed me, concerning the statement of Allah: أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِي حَاجَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ فِي رَبِّهِ (Have you not seen the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord), he said: It is Nimrūdh; he was at Mosul (al-Mawṣil), and the people came to him. When they entered upon him, he said: Who is your Lord? They said: You! Then he said: Give them food (amīrūhum). When Ibrāhīm entered — and he had a camel with him with which he had gone out to procure food for his children — he offered them all, and he said: Who is your Lord? They said: You! Then he said: Give them food! Until Ibrāhīm was offered twice, and he said: Who is your Lord?! He said: My Lord is the One Who gives life and causes death! He said: I give life and cause death; if I will, I kill you and cause you to die, and if I will, I keep you alive. Ibrāhīm said: Indeed, Allah brings the sun from the east, so bring it from the west!! فَبُهِتَ الَّذِي كَفَرَ وَاللَّهُ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ (Then the one who disbelieved was struck dumb. And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people). He said: Take this man away from me and give him no food! The whole people departed after they had procured food, while the two sacks of Ibrāhīm flapped against each other. Until, when he saw the dark mountains of his family, he said: My children Ismāʿīl and Isḥāq will be grieved! If only I were now to fill these two sacks with this sand of the plain and take them along, then the eyes of my children would be comforted, until I could scatter it away at night! He said: He filled them, sewed them shut, and then brought them along. The children threw themselves upon the sacks out of joy, and he laid his head for a while in the lap of Sāra. Then she said: What has kept me sitting here! Ibrāhīm has come exhausted and worn out; I ought to rise and prepare food for him by the time he rises! He said: She took a pillow, placed it in her spot, and crept away very slowly so as not to wake him. He said: She went to one of the two sacks and opened it, and behold, there was fine white flour of the purest wheat, such as no one had ever seen with anyone! She took some of it, kneaded it, and baked it. When she came to wake Ibrāhīm, she came and set it before him. He said: What is this, O Sāra? She said: From your sack; you came while we had neither little nor much! He said: He went to look at the other sack, and behold, it was just the same, and he knew then whence that had come.
5877 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, he said: When Ibrāhīm said to him: My Lord is the One Who gives life and causes death, he said — that is to say Nimrūdh: Then I give life and cause death! He had two men brought, kept the one alive and killed the other, and said: I give life and cause death — he said: that is to say, I keep alive whom I will. Then Ibrāhīm said: Indeed, Allah brings the sun from the east, so bring it from the west! فَبُهِتَ الَّذِي كَفَرَ وَاللَّهُ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ (Then the one who disbelieved was struck dumb. And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people).
5878 – Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, he said: When Ibrāhīm came out of the fire, they brought him to the king, and he had not entered upon him before that. He spoke with him and said to him: Who is your Lord? He said: My Lord is the One Who gives life and causes death. Nimrūdh said: I give life and cause death! I will have four persons enter a house; they will be given neither food nor drink, until, when they are dying of hunger, I give two of them food and drink, so that they live, and I leave two, so that they die. Ibrāhīm understood that with his power and kingship he had the capacity to do that, and Ibrāhīm said to him: Indeed, my Lord is the One Who brings the sun from the east, so bring it from the west! Then the one who disbelieved was struck dumb, and he said: This man is mad! Take him away. Do you not see that out of his madness he dared against your gods and broke them, and that the fire did not consume him! And he feared — I mean Nimrūdh — being put to shame before his people, and this is the statement of Allah, the Exalted: وَتِلْكَ حُجَّتُنَا آتَيْنَاهَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَلَى قَوْمِهِ [Surah Al-Anʿām: 83] (And that was Our argument, which We gave to Ibrāhīm against his people), and he persisted in claiming that he was a lord. And he gave a command concerning Ibrāhīm, and he was taken away.
5879 – Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr informed me that he heard Mujāhid saying: He said: I give life and cause death, I give life by not killing, and I cause to die whom I kill. Ibn Jurayj said: He was confronted with two men, and he killed the one and left the other, and he said: I give life and cause death — he said: I kill and cause to die whom I kill, and I give life — he said: I keep alive — and do not kill him.
5880 – Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, saying: We have been told — and Allah knows best — that Nimrūdh said to Ibrāhīm in what he said: Tell me about this god of yours whom you worship and to whose worship you call, and of whose power you boast, by which you exalt him above others — what is he? Ibrāhīm said to him: My Lord is the One Who gives life and causes death. Nimrūd said: Then I give life and cause death! Ibrāhīm said to him: How do you give life and cause death? He said: I take two men who, according to my sentence, have deserved the death penalty; I kill the one, so that I have caused him to die, and I pardon the other and let him go, so that I have given him life! Thereupon Ibrāhīm said to him: Indeed, Allah brings the sun from the east, so bring it from the west, then I will know that it is as you say! Then Nimrūdh was struck dumb, and he gave him no answer, and he knew that he was not capable of that. The Exalted says: "Then the one who disbelieved was struck dumb," that is to say: the argument struck him — namely Nimrūdh.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And His statement "And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people," he says: And Allah does not guide the people of disbelief (kufr) to an argument by which they could refute the argument of the people of truth in disputing and debating, because the arguments of the people of falsehood are void.
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And we have explained that the meaning of "wrongdoing" (al-ẓulm) is: the placing of a thing in a place that does not befit it, and the disbeliever has placed his denial of what he denied in a place that does not befit it, and he is therefore, by his deed, a wrongdoer against himself.
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And in accordance with what we have said about that, Ibn Isḥāq has spoken.
5881 – Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me: "And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people," that is to say: He does not guide them in the argument when debating, because of the error in which they are.
