Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:31
And He taught Adam the names - all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said, "Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful."
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 saying of the Exalted — exalted be His mention —: وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ ("And He taught Adam").
640 – Muḥammad ibn Jarīr related to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar ibn Abī al-Mughīra, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Lord of Majesty sent the Angel of Death, and he took from the surface of the earth, from its sweet and its salty part, and from it He created Adam. He was therefore called "Adam" because he was created from the adīm (surface) of the earth.
641 – And Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us; he said: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us; he said: ʿAmr ibn Thābit related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, on the authority of ʿAlī, who said: Truly, Adam was created from the surface of the earth — within it is the good, the virtuous, and the bad — and all of that you see again in his descendants: the virtuous and the bad.
642 – And Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us; he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us; he said: Misʿar related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥaṣīn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: Adam was created from the surface of the earth, and he was therefore called "Adam".
643 – And Ibn al-Muthannā related to us; he said: Abū Dāwūd related to us; he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥaṣīn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: He was called "Adam" only because he was created from the surface of the earth.
644 – And Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me; he said: ʿAmr related to us; he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī — in a report mentioned by him — on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās; and on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd; and on the authority of people among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: that the Angel of Death, when he was sent to take from the earth the earth [i.e. the dust] of Adam, took from the surface of the earth and mixed it, and did not take from one place, but took from red, white, and black earth. For this reason the sons of Adam came forth differing. And he was therefore called "Adam" because he was taken from the adīm (surface) of the earth.
And there has been transmitted from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ a report that confirms what those whose statements we have rendered concerning the meaning of "Adam" have said. And that is the following —:
645 – Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me; he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf — and Muḥammad ibn Bashshār and ʿUmar ibn Shabba related to us; both of them said: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us; he said: ʿAwf related to us — and Ibn Bashshār related to us; he said: Ibn Abī ʿAdī, Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar and ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Thaqafī related to us; they said: ʿAwf related to us — and Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra al-Asadī related to me; he said: Ismāʿīl ibn Abān related to us; he said: ʿAnbasa related to us — on the authority of ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī, on the authority of Qasāma ibn Zuhayr, on the authority of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Truly, Allah created Adam from a handful that He took from the whole of the earth, and so the sons of Adam came forth according to the constitution of the earth: among them came the red, the black, and the white, and what lies between that, and the gentle and the harsh, and the bad and the good.
According to the explanation of the one who explained "Adam" as having been created from the adīm (surface) of the earth, the origin of "Ādam" must be a verb by which the father of mankind was named, just as "Aḥmad" was named with the verb of al-iḥmād (praising), and "Asʿad" from al-isʿād (making happy); and therefore it was not declined [grammatically] (it took no genitive inflection). Its explanation would then be: "The angel adama (reached the surface of) the earth" — by which is meant: he reached its adama. And its adama is its outer surface that is visible to the eye, just as the skin (jilda) of every being possessing a skin is its adama. And from this the condiment (idām) was called "idām", because it became, as it were, the uppermost skin of that of which it forms a part. Then it was transferred from a verb and made into a proper name for that particular person.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: الأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا ("all the names").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The scholars of exegesis differed concerning the names that He taught Adam and that He then presented to the angels. Ibn ʿAbbās said the following —:
646 – Abū Kurayb related to us; he said: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us; he said: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Allah taught Adam all the names, and these are the names by which people recognize one another: human and animal, earth and plain and sea and mountain and donkey, and what resembles that among the species and other things.
647 – And Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: ʿĪsā related to me, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — and al-Muthannā related to me; he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us; he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allah: "And He taught Adam all the names", he said: He taught him the name of every thing.
648 – And Ibn Wakīʿ related to us; he said: My father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Mujāhid: "And He taught Adam all the names", he said: He taught him the name of every thing.
649 – And ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan related to us; he said: Muslim al-Jarmī related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Muṣʿab, on the authority of Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: He taught him the name of the crow and the dove, and the name of every thing.
650 – And Ibn Wakīʿ related to us; he said: My father related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Sālim al-Afṭas, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: He taught him the name of every thing, even the camel, the cow, and the sheep.
651 – And Ibn Wakīʿ related to us; he said: My father related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Kulayb, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Maʿbad, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: He taught him the name of the bowl, and of the wind (al-faswa) and the little breaking of wind (al-fusayya).
652 – And Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us; he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us; he said: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Kulayb, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "And He taught Adam all the names", he said: even the wind (al-faswa) and the little breaking of wind (al-fusayya).
653 – ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan related to us; he said: Muslim related to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Muṣʿab related to us, on the authority of Qays, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Kulayb, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Maʿbad, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the saying of Allah: "And He taught Adam all the names", he said: He taught him the name of every thing, even the little thing (al-hana) and the tiny little thing (al-hunayya), and the silent wind (al-faswa) and the loud wind (al-ḍarṭa).
654 – And al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: ʿAlī ibn Mushir related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Kulayb, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: He taught him the bowl (al-qaṣʿa) down to the little bowl (al-quṣayʿa), and the wind (al-faswa) down to the little wind (al-fusayya).
655 – And Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us; he said: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying: "And He taught Adam all the names" until he reached: إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ * قَالَ يَا آدَمُ أَنْبِئْهُمْ بِأَسْمَائِهِمْ ("Truly, You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. He said: O Adam, inform them of their names"), and so He informed every group of the creation of its name, and brought it back to its species.
656 – And al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us; he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us; he said: Maʿmar related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his saying: "And He taught Adam all the names", he said: He taught him the name of every thing: this is a mountain, and this is a sea, and this is such-and-such and this is such-and-such, for every thing. Then He presented those things to the angels and said: أَنْبِئُونِي بِأَسْمَاءِ هَؤُلاءِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ ("Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful").
657 – And al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim — and Mubārak, on the authority of al-Ḥasan — and Abū Bakr, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and Qatāda; both of them said: He taught him the name of every thing: these are the horses, and these are the mules and the camels and the jinn and the wild beasts, and he began to call every thing by its name.
658 – And it was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār; he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, who said: the name of every thing.
And others said: He taught Adam all the names — [namely] the names of the angels.
* Mention of who said that:
659 – It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār; he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, his saying: "And He taught Adam all the names", he said: the names of the angels.
And others said: He taught him only the names of all his descendants.
* Mention of who said that:
660 – Muḥammad ibn Jarīr related to me; he said: Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning his saying: "And He taught Adam all the names", he said: the names of all his descendants together.
And the most correct of these statements, and the most in accordance with that whose validity the outward wording of the recitation establishes, is the statement of the one who said concerning His words "And He taught Adam all the names" that it is the names of his descendants and the names of the angels, and not the names of the remaining species of the creation. That is because Allah — exalted be His praise — said: ثُمَّ عَرَضَهُمْ عَلَى الْمَلائِكَةِ ("Then He presented them to the angels"), by which He means the persons who were named with the names that He taught Adam. And the Arabs are accustomed to use the suffix with the hāʾ and the mīm [-hum] almost exclusively for the names of the sons of Adam and the angels. When, however, it concerns the names of cattle and the remaining creation besides those whom we have described, then they refer to them with the hāʾ and the alif [-hā] or with the hāʾ and the nūn [-hunna], and they say "ʿaraḍa-hunna" ("He presented them") or "ʿaraḍa-hā" ("He presented them"). And so they act also when they refer to species of the creation such as cattle and birds and the remaining species of the communities, even though among them are the names of the sons of Adam and the angels: then they refer to them with that which we have described, the hāʾ and the nūn or the hāʾ and the alif. And sometimes they refer to them, when that is the case, with the hāʾ and the mīm, as the Exalted — exalted be His praise — said: وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَ كُلَّ دَابَّةٍ مِنْ مَاءٍ فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَمْشِي عَلَى بَطْنِهِ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَمْشِي عَلَى رِجْلَيْنِ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَمْشِي عَلَى أَرْبَعٍ [Surah al-Nūr: 45] ("And Allah created every crawling creature from water; among them [-hum] is one that walks upon its belly, and among them is one that walks upon two legs, and among them is one that walks upon four"). Here He referred to them with the hāʾ and the mīm [-hum], while it concerns different species, among which are the human being and others. And although that is permissible, the predominant and widespread usage in the speech of the Arabs is what we have described: namely that they express the reference to the names of the species of the communities — when these are mixed — with the hāʾ and the alif or the hāʾ and the nūn. Therefore I said: most fitting to the explanation of the verse is that the names that He taught Adam are the names of the individual sons of Adam and the names of the angels, even though what Ibn ʿAbbās said is permissible, following the example of what has come in the Book of Allah in His saying: وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَ كُلَّ دَابَّةٍ مِنْ مَاءٍ فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَمْشِي عَلَى بَطْنِهِ — the verse. And it has been mentioned that in the reading of Ibn Masʿūd it reads: "ثم عرضهن" ("Then He presented them [-hunna]"), and that in the reading of Ubayy it reads: "ثم عرضها" ("Then He presented them [-hā]").
And perhaps Ibn ʿAbbās gave his explanation — namely: "He taught him the name of every thing, even the wind (al-faswa) and the little wind (al-fusayya)" — on the basis of the reading of Ubayy, for he used, according to what has reached us, to recite according to the reading of Ubayy. And the explanation of Ibn ʿAbbās — in accordance with what has been transmitted of the reading of Ubayy — is not objectionable; on the contrary, it is correct and widespread in the speech of the Arabs, in the manner that I have described above.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: ثُمَّ عَرَضَهُمْ عَلَى الْمَلائِكَةِ ("Then He presented them to the angels").
Abū Jaʿfar said: We have already mentioned the explanation that is most fitting to the verse, in accordance with our reading and the script of our codex (muṣḥaf), and [we have mentioned] that His saying "Then He presented them", referring to the sons of Adam and the angels, is more fitting than that it should refer to all species of the creation — even though it is not invalid that it refers to all species of the communities, for the reasons we have described.
And the Exalted — exalted be His praise — means by His saying "Then He presented them": then He presented the bearers of the names to the angels.
And the exegetes differed concerning the explanation of His saying "Then He presented them to the angels", in a manner that corresponds to their difference concerning His saying وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا ("And He taught Adam all the names"). And I shall mention the statement of whoever a statement concerning that has reached us from.
661 – Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAlāʾ related to us; he said: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us; he said: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Then He presented them to the angels", [means:] then He presented these names — namely the names of all the things that He taught Adam from all the species of the entire creation.
662 – And Mūsā related to me; he said: ʿAmr related to us; he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī — in a report mentioned by him — on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās; and on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd; and on the authority of people among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "Then He presented them", [means:] then He presented the creation to the angels.
663 – And Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said: the names of all his descendants; He took them out of his back. He said: then He presented them to the angels.
664 – And al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us; he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us; he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: "Then He presented them", he said: He taught him the name of every thing, and then He presented those names to the angels.
665 – And al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: "Then He presented them", [means:] He presented the bearers of the names to the angels.
666 – And ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan related to us; he said: Muslim related to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Muṣʿab related to us, on the authority of Qays, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Mujāhid: "Then He presented them to the angels", that is to say: He presented the names — the dove and the crow.
667 – And al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim — and Mubārak, on the authority of al-Ḥasan — and Abū Bakr, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and Qatāda; both of them said: He taught him the name of every thing: these horses, and these mules, and what resembles that. And he began to call every thing by its name, and community after community was presented to him.
The explanation of His saying: فَقَالَ أَنْبِئُونِي بِأَسْمَاءِ هَؤُلاءِ ("Then He said: Inform Me of the names of these").
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the explanation of His saying "Inform Me" is: "Give Me tidings of", as in:—
668 – Abū Kurayb related to us; he said: ʿUthmān related to us; he said: Bishr related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Inform Me", He says: give Me tidings of the names of these.
And to this belongs the saying of Nābigha of the Banū Dhubyān:
And the bearer of tidings informed him that a tribe had encamped, from Ḥarām or from Judhām.
By his saying "informed him" he means: he gave him tidings of it and made it known to him.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted — exalted be His mention —: بِأَسْمَاءِ هَؤُلاءِ ("the names of these").
Abū Jaʿfar said:
669 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: ʿĪsā related to us — and al-Muthannā related to us; he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us; he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allah: "the names of these", he said: the names of these whom I have informed Adam of.
670 – al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: "Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful", He says: the names of these whom I have informed Adam of.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted — exalted be His mention —: إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ (31) ("if you are truthful").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The scholars of exegesis differed concerning that.
671 – Abū Kurayb related to us; he said: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us; he said: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "if you are truthful", [means:] if you know why I am appointing a vicegerent (khalīfa) upon the earth.
672 – And Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to us; he said: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us; he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī — in a report mentioned by him — on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās; and on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd; and on the authority of people among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "if you are truthful", [namely] that the sons of Adam will spread corruption upon the earth and shed blood.
673 – And al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim — and Mubārak, on the authority of al-Ḥasan — and Abū Bakr, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and Qatāda; both of them said: "Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful", [namely:] that I have created no creature but that you are more knowledgeable about it than it is; so give Me tidings of the names of these, if you are truthful.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most fitting of these statements to the explanation of the verse is the explanation of Ibn ʿAbbās and whoever shares his statement. And the meaning of that is: Then He said: Inform Me of the names of those whom I have presented to you, O angels, you who said: أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَنْ يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ ("Will You place upon it one who spreads corruption upon it and sheds blood"), of others than us, or of us, while we glorify You with praise and sanctify You? — if you are truthful in your claim that, if I were to appoint My vicegerent upon the earth from others than you, his descendants would disobey Me and spread corruption upon it and shed blood, and that, if I were to appoint you upon it, you would be obedient to Me and follow My command by glorifying and sanctifying Me. For if you do not know the names of these whom I have presented to you from My creation — while they are created and present, you see them and behold them, and another than you knows them because I have taught it to him — then you are still more ignorant of that which is not present of the matters that will come into being but do not yet exist, and of that which is hidden from your eyes of the matters that do exist. So do not ask Me about that of which you have no knowledge, for I am more knowledgeable of what is good for you and good for My creation.
And this conduct of Allah — exalted be His praise — toward His angels, who said to Him: أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَنْ يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا ("Will You place upon it one who spreads corruption upon it"), by way of His rebuke to them — exalted be His mention — is like His saying — exalted be His majesty — to His prophet Nūḥ — may Allah's prayers be upon him — when he said: رَبِّ إِنَّ ابْنِي مِنْ أَهْلِي وَإِنَّ وَعْدَكَ الْحَقُّ وَأَنْتَ أَحْكَمُ الْحَاكِمِينَ [Surah Hūd: 45] ("My Lord, truly my son is of my family, and truly Your promise is the truth, and You are the Wisest of those who judge"): "Do not ask Me about that of which you have no knowledge; I admonish you lest you be among the ignorant." Likewise the angels asked their Lord whether they might be His vicegerents upon the earth, in order to glorify Him thereupon and sanctify Him, since the descendants of the one about whom He had informed them that He would appoint him as vicegerent upon the earth would spread corruption upon it and shed blood. Then He said — exalted be His mention — to them: إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لا تَعْلَمُونَ ("Truly, I know what you do not know"). By that He means: I know that one of you is the initiator and the concluder of acts of disobedience — and that is Iblīs — by which He — exalted be His mention — disapproved of their statement. Then He made known to them the place of their error in their statement — that which they said concerning it — by showing them the limitedness of their knowledge regarding that which they beheld with their own eyes — how much more then regarding that which they have not seen and about which they have not been informed? — by presenting to them that which He presented to them of His creatures who were present on that day, and by saying to them: "Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful" [in your claim] that, if I were to appoint you as vicegerents upon My earth, you would glorify and sanctify Me, and that, if I were to appoint as vicegerent another than you, his descendants would disobey Me and spread corruption and shed blood. And when the place of the error in their statement became clear to them, and the slip of their stumbling became apparent to them, they turned back to Allah in repentance and said: سُبْحَانَكَ لا عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا ("Glory be to You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us"). Thus they hastened to the return from the error and rushed to the repentance from the stumble, just as Nūḥ said — when he was rebuked concerning his question and it was said to him: "Do not ask Me about that of which you have no knowledge" —: رَبِّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ أَنْ أَسْأَلَكَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي بِهِ عِلْمٌ وَإِلا تَغْفِرْ لِي وَتَرْحَمْنِي أَكُنْ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ [Surah Hūd: 47] ("My Lord, truly I seek refuge with You from asking You about that of which I have no knowledge; and if You do not forgive me and have mercy on me, I shall be among the losers"). And so acts everyone who is directed toward the truth and enabled to attain it: swift is his return to the truth, near is his penitent return to it.
And some grammarians among the people of Basra have claimed that His saying "Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful" was not because the angels had claimed anything; rather, Allah merely informed about their ignorance concerning the knowledge of the unseen, and about His knowledge of it and His excellence, and He said: "Inform Me, if you are truthful" — as a man says to another man: "Inform me of this, if you know it", while he knows that he does not know it, and he means that he is ignorant.
And this is a statement of which, when an examiner reflects upon it, he knows that a part of it nullifies another part. That is because the one who stated it claimed that Allah — exalted be His praise — said to the angels, when He presented to them the bearers of the names: أَنْبِئُونِي بِأَسْمَاءِ هَؤُلاءِ ("Inform Me of the names of these"), while He knows that they do not know, and without their having claimed the knowledge of anything that would require that they be rebuked with this statement.
And he claimed that His saying "if you are truthful" is like the saying of a man to another man: "Inform me of this, if you know it", while he knows that he does not know it, and he means that he is ignorant.
And there is no doubt that the meaning of His saying "if you are truthful" is only: if you are truthful, whether in your statement or in your action. For truthfulness (al-ṣidq) in the speech of the Arabs is only truthfulness in the report, not in the knowledge. That is because in no language is it intelligible that one says "the man was truthful" in the meaning of "he knew". And since that is so, then Allah — exalted be His praise — must necessarily have said to the angels — according to the explanation of the statement of the one whose statement we have rendered concerning this verse —: "Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful", while He knows that they are not truthful, thereby meaning that they are liars. And that is precisely what he disapproved of, for he claimed that the angels had not claimed anything — how then is it permissible that it be said to them: "if you are truthful, then inform Me of the names of these"? This, in addition to the fact that this statement — which we have rendered from its proponent — deviates from the statements of all the earlier and later among the scholars of exegesis and commentary.
And it has been transmitted from some of the exegetes that he used to explain His saying "if you are truthful" in the meaning of: "since you are truthful".
But if "in" ("if") in this passage were to have the meaning of "idh" ("since"), then it would be necessary that its alif be recited with a fatḥa, because "idh", when a verb in the future tense precedes it, becomes a ground for the verb and a cause of it. That is like the saying of someone: "I stand up, since (idh) you stood up", the meaning of which is: I stand up because you stood up. And the imperative has the meaning of the future tense; the meaning of the words would thus — if "in" had the meaning of "idh" — be: "Inform Me of the names of these because you are truthful". When, then, "in" is put in its place, one would say: "Inform Me of the names of these, an kuntum ṣādiqīn" (with fatḥa on the alif). And in the consensus of all the reciters of the people of Islam upon the kasra of the alif of "in", there lies a clear proof of the incorrectness of the explanation of the one who explains "in" in this passage in the meaning of "idh".
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Footnotes:
(97) Report 640: this is a correct (ṣaḥīḥ) isnād. Ṭabarī also transmitted it in the Tārīkh (1:46), with this isnād, with an addition at the end. There, however, it says: "The Lord of Majesty sent Iblīs" instead of "the Angel of Death", and that is correct, in accordance with the remaining transmissions; perhaps what stands here is an old scribal corruption of the copyists. Thus also transmitted it Ibn Saʿd in the Ṭabaqāt (1/1/6), on the authority of Ḥusayn ibn Ḥasan al-Ashqar, on the authority of Yaʿqūb ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qummī, with this isnād. And thus al-Suyūṭī rendered it at length (1:47), on the authority of Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabarī, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, and Ibn ʿAsākir.
(98) Report 641: Ṭabarī transmitted it in the Tārīkh (1:46), with this isnād. Al-Suyūṭī mentioned it (1:47), attributed exclusively to Ṭabarī, and I have not found it with anyone else. Its isnād is very weak (ḍaʿīf jiddan). ʿAmr ibn Thābit: he is Ibn Abī al-Miqdām al-Ḥaddād, very weak; Ibn Maʿīn said: "He is not reliable and not to be trusted." As for his father "Thābit ibn Hurmuz Abū al-Miqdām": he is trustworthy (thiqa). And what gives this isnād extra weakness and confusion is the statement therein "on the authority of his grandfather"! For in the biography of Thābit in all the sources it is not stated that he transmitted from his father "Hurmuz". Moreover, of this Hurmuz we find neither mention nor biography, so I do not know where this comes from.
(99) The two transmissions 642 and 643: Ṭabarī transmitted them both also in the Tārīkh (1:46), with these two isnāds. Al-Suyūṭī mentioned it in similar wording (1:49), as did al-Shawkānī (1:52). And "Abū Ḥaṣīn" is in both [cases] with fatḥa on the ḥāʾ and kasra on the ṣād (both undotted), and he is: ʿUthmān ibn ʿĀṣim ibn Ḥuṣayn al-Asadī, trustworthy, firmly established (thiqa thabt), an adherent of the sunna.
(100) Report 644: it has already passed within a lengthy report, with this isnād: no. 607.
(101) Ḥadīth 645: it is a correct (ṣaḥīḥ) ḥadīth. Aḥmad transmitted it in the Musnad (4:400, 406, Ḥalabī edition), as did Ibn Saʿd in the Ṭabaqāt (1/1/5-6), Abū Dāwūd (no. 4693), al-Tirmidhī (4:67-68), and al-Ḥākim (2:261-262), all via ʿAwf ibn Abī Jamīla al-Aʿrābī, on the authority of Qasāma ibn Zuhayr, with it. Al-Tirmidhī said: "Ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ." And al-Ḥākim said: "Correct of isnād, but the two of them [al-Bukhārī and Muslim] did not bring it out", and al-Dhahabī concurred with him. Al-Suyūṭī mentioned it (1:46) and attributed it to these, as well as to ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Mardawayh, and others. And Ṭabarī also transmitted it in the Tārīkh (1:46), with these isnāds that stand here, with an addition at the end.
(102) Report 646: it stands in Ibn Kathīr (1:132), in al-Durr al-Manthūr (1:49), and with al-Shawkānī (1:52), and it has already passed at length under no. 606.
(103) The two transmissions 647 and 648: in al-Durr al-Manthūr (1:49); it appears as if they are an abridgment of what follows.
(104) Transmission 649: I have not found it verbatim, and perhaps it is the extended version of what precedes it; see what comes hereafter under no. 666. And "Muslim al-Jarmī": in the source texts it stands with the ḥāʾ fixed (al-Ḥarmī). And it has already passed at no. 154 that we gave preference to the jīm (al-Jarmī).
(105) Transmission 650: in al-Durr al-Manthūr (1:49).
(106) Report 651: Saʿīd ibn Maʿbad: a tābiʿī who transmits on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās; I have not found a biography for him except in the Tārīkh al-Kabīr of al-Bukhārī (2/1/468) and the Jarḥ of Ibn Abī Ḥātim (2/1/63). Both mentioned that he transmits on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās and that al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza transmits on his authority. Ṭabarī thus brought us an additional datum, in this isnād and in the isnād no. 653: namely that ʿĀṣim ibn Kulayb also transmits on his authority. And this report Ibn Kathīr (1:132) and al-Suyūṭī (1:49) mentioned in similar wording, and they also attributed it to Ibn Abī Ḥātim. And this report and the three after it, which are close to one another in meaning, are transmissions of a single report.
(107) Report 654: ʿĀṣim ibn Kulayb al-Jarmī: trustworthy, he is used as proof. But he transmits only on the authority of the tābiʿūn, so his transmission here on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās is interrupted (munqaṭiʿ). And the three preceding isnāds have shown us that he transmitted this meaning only on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Maʿbad, and on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās.
(108) Transmission 655: in al-Durr al-Manthūr (1:49), with other wording. See no. 697.
(109) Transmission 656: in Ibn Kathīr (1:133) abridged, and in al-Durr al-Manthūr (1:49) at length. And in Ibn Kathīr it says: "then He presented those names".
(110) Transmission 657: in Ibn Kathīr (1:133) abridged, with other wording, and in al-Durr al-Manthūr (1:49); and it will pass as it stands in both under no. 667.
(111) Transmission 658: I have not found it.
(112) Transmission 659: in Ibn Kathīr (1:132), in al-Durr al-Manthūr (1:49), and with al-Shawkānī (1:52).
(113) Transmission 660: in Ibn Kathīr (1:132), in al-Durr al-Manthūr (1:49), and with al-Shawkānī (1:52).
(114) In the printed edition: "idh kāna…", and that is an error.
(115) See the tafsīr of Ibn Kathīr (1:132) at the commentary on the words of Ṭabarī.
(116) Report 661: it is a supplement to the transmissions that have just passed.
(117) Report 662: an abridgment of the long report that has just passed, and in Ibn Kathīr (1:132).
(118) Transmission 663: in al-Durr al-Manthūr (1:49).
(119) Transmission 664: an abridgment of a transmission that has passed with this isnād, and in Ibn Kathīr (1:133).
(120) Transmission 665: in Ibn Kathīr (1:133), in al-Durr al-Manthūr (1:49), and with al-Shawkānī (1:52).
(121) Transmission 666: in Ibn Kathīr (1:134); see what has just passed with its isnād.
(122) Transmission 667: see what has passed under no. 657, and Ibn Kathīr (1:133), and al-Durr al-Manthūr (1:49).
(123) Report 668: an abridgment of report no. 606.
(124) In his Dīwān (87), from a poem of his about ʿAmr ibn Hind, who waged war on Syria after the death of his father al-Mundhir. Abū ʿUbayda said: this poem is by ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith al-Ghassānī about the campaign to Iraq. The reading of the Dīwān is: "anna ḥayyan ḥulūlan" with naṣb, as an attributive qualifier to "ḥayyan", and that is the good reading. The predicate of "anna" is omitted, as if he says: they have gathered and lain in wait for you. He omitted it to [emphasize] the gravity of their gathering and their siege. And the following verse-line points to that, namely his saying:
And that the aid of the people is gathered, hosts joined to hosts.
And the reading with rafʿ is not objectionable, even though I do not approve of it. And his saying "Ḥarām": it appears as if he means the Banū Ḥarām ibn Ḍinna ibn ʿAbd ibn Kabīr ibn ʿUdhra ibn Saʿd Hudhaym, or it appears as if he means the Banū Ḥarām ibn Judhām ibn ʿAdī ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Murra ibn Udad ibn Zayd. And the territory of Judhām is the mountains of Ḥismā, and their land lies between Ayla and the side of the Tīh of the Banū Isrāʾīl that borders Ayla, and between the land of the Banū ʿUdhra from behind the Ḥarra of Nahīl (Muʿjam al-Buldān: Ḥismā). And because the dwelling places of these Banū ʿUdhra lie close to Judhām, I was in doubt about whom Nābigha meant by the Banū Ḥarām in this verse-line.
(125) The two transmissions 669 and 670: I have not found them anywhere.
(126) Report 671: an abridgment of the preceding report no. 606; see there the note at this passage. And see al-Shawkānī (1:52).
(127) Report 672: an abridgment of the preceding report no. 607, and Ibn Kathīr (1:133), and al-Durr al-Manthūr (1:50), and al-Shawkānī (1:52).
(128) Transmission 673: an abridgment of the preceding transmission no. 611, and Ibn Kathīr (1:133).
(129) In the printed edition: "and You are the Wisest of those who judge, so do not ask Me", and that is a gross error, for the verse that follows His saying "and You are the Wisest of those who judge" is: "He said: O Nūḥ, truly he is not of your family; truly it is an unrighteous deed; so do not ask Me about that of which you have no knowledge…" Ṭabarī did not wish to string the two verses together, but adduced the saying of Allah — praised be He — to His prophet, when he said what he said. And the correct reading is what stands in the manuscript, as we have established it.
(130) In the printed edition there stands here too: "so do not ask Me".
