Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:46
Who are certain that they will meet their Lord and that they will return to Him.
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 words of the Exalted: الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ ("Those who suppose")
Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone says to us: How can Allah — exalted be His praise — report concerning those whom He has described as humbly submissive to Him in obedience, that one "supposes" (yaẓunnu) that he will meet Him, while ẓann means "doubt," and one who doubts about the meeting with Allah is, according to you, an unbeliever (kāfir) in Allah?
He is answered: The Arabs sometimes call certainty "ẓann," and doubt "ẓann," just as they call darkness "sudfa" and light "sudfa," and the helper "ṣārikh" and the one seeking help "ṣārikh," and the like of this among names by which they name a thing and its opposite. Among that which indicates that certainty is denoted thereby is the saying of Durayd ibn al-Ṣimma:
I said to them: be certain (ẓunnū) of two thousand heavily armed horsemen,
their nobles, clad in the Persian coats of mail (120)
He means thereby: be certain that two thousand heavily armed men are coming to you. And the saying of ʿUmayra ibn Ṭāriq:
That you raid my people while I remain sitting with you,
and make my certainty (ẓann) into a hidden, uncertain guessing (121)
He means: and make my certainty into a hidden, uncertain guessing. The testimonies from the poems of the Arabs and their speech that "ẓann" has the meaning of certainty are more numerous than to be counted, and in what we have mentioned there is sufficiency for whoever has been granted the intellect to understand it.
Among that is the saying of Allah — exalted be His praise —: وَرَأَى الْمُجْرِمُونَ النَّارَ فَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ مُوَاقِعُوهَا [Al-Kahf: 53] ("And the criminals see the Fire and are certain (ẓannū) that they will fall into it"). And in agreement with what we have said about it, the explanation of the exegetes has come.
861 — Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Ādam related to us, he said: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning His words: (those who suppose that they will meet their Lord) he said: Indeed, ẓann here means certainty.
862 — And Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: Every ẓann in the Qurʾān means certainty: إِنِّي ظَنَنْتُ ("indeed, I knew with certainty") and وَظَنُّوا ("and they were certain").
863 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Dāwūd al-Ḥafarī related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: Every ẓann in the Qurʾān means knowledge (ʿilm). (122)
864 — And Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, he said: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (those who suppose that they will meet their Lord) — as for "yaẓunnūn": they are certain of it.
865 — And al-Qāsim related to me, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, he said: Ibn Jurayj said: (those who suppose that they will meet their Lord) they knew that they will meet their Lord; it is like His words: إِنِّي ظَنَنْتُ أَنِّي مُلاقٍ حِسَابِيَهْ [Al-Ḥāqqa: 20] ("indeed, I knew with certainty that I would meet my reckoning"), He says: I knew.
866 — And Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words: (those who suppose that they will meet their Lord) he said: Because they did not behold it with their own eyes, their ẓann was certainty, and not a ẓann of doubt. And he recited: إِنِّي ظَنَنْتُ أَنِّي مُلاقٍ حِسَابِيَهْ ("indeed, I knew with certainty that I would meet my reckoning").
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The explanation of the words of the Exalted: أَنَّهُمْ مُلاقُو رَبِّهِمْ ("that they will meet their Lord")
Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone says to us: How is it said that they are "the meeters of their Lord," where "al-mulāqū" (the meeters) is annexed to the Lord — blessed and exalted is He — while you know that its meaning is: those who suppose that they will meet their Lord? When the meaning is thus, then it belongs to the speech of the Arabs to omit the annexation (iḍāfa) and retain the nūn; for one drops the nūn and annexes only with the nouns derived from verbs when they have the meaning of "faʿala" (he did — perfect); but when they have the meaning of "yafʿalu" (he does — imperfect) and "fāʿil" (acting), then their nature is the retention of the nūn and the omission of the annexation.
To this it is answered: There is no disagreement among all the experts in the languages and modes of speech of the Arabs about the permissibility of annexing the noun derived from "faʿala" and "yafʿalu," and dropping the nūn while it has the meaning of "yafʿalu" and "fāʿil" — I mean the meaning of the future, the ongoing action, and what has not yet been completed. There is thus no ground for the questioner's question about it: why is it said? The linguists only differed about the cause for which the annexation was made and the nūn was omitted.
The grammarians of Baṣra said: The nūn was omitted from (mulāqū rabbihim) and the like of it among verbs that are in the form of nouns but have the meaning of "yafʿalu" and the meaning of what has not yet been completed — because of finding it heavy — while it is nonetheless intended, as He — exalted be His praise — said: كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ [Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: 185; Al-Anbiyāʾ: 35; Al-ʿAnkabūt: 57] ("Every soul shall taste death"), and as He said: إِنَّا مُرْسِلُو النَّاقَةِ فِتْنَةً لَهُمْ [Al-Qamar: 27] ("Indeed, We will send the she-camel as a trial for them") — while He had not yet sent her (123); and as the poet said:
Will you dispatch Dīnār for our need,
or ʿAbd Rabb, the brother of ʿAwn ibn Mikhrāq? (124)
He annexed "bāʿith" (dispatching) to "Dīnār," while he had not yet dispatched him, and he placed "ʿAbd Rabb" in the accusative, following the position (of case) of Dīnār, for it stood in the position of the accusative, even though it was put in the genitive. And as another said: (125)
The guardians of the vulnerable flank of the tribe — there comes not
to them from behind any blemish (126)
with "al-ʿawra" both in the accusative and in the genitive; the genitive on the basis of the annexation (iḍāfa), and the accusative on the basis of the omission of the nūn because of finding it heavy, while it is nonetheless intended. This is the saying of the grammarians of Baṣra. (127)
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As for the grammarians of Kūfa, they said: The annexation (iḍāfa) is permitted in (mulāqū), while it has the meaning of "yalqawna" (they meet), as is the dropping of the nūn from it, because it has the form of nouns; it thus has, in annexation to nouns, the share of nouns. And so the ruling applies to every noun that is comparable to it. They said: And when in any of it the nūn is retained and the annexation is omitted, then one does that with it only because it has the meaning of "yafʿalu," which has not yet been and has not yet become necessary. They said: The annexation in it is thus for the sake of the form, and the omission of the annexation for the sake of the meaning.
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The explanation of the verse is then: Seek help, in fulfilling My covenant, through patience with it and through the ritual prayer (ṣalāh), and indeed the prayer is truly heavy, except for those who fear My punishment, who humbly submit to My command, who believe with certainty in the meeting with Me and the return to Me after their death.
Allah — exalted be His praise — only reported that the prayer is heavy, except for whoever has this description; because for whoever has no certainty about a return, nor believes in a returning, nor in reward, nor in punishment, the prayer is only toil and error, for by performing it he does not hope to attain any benefit, nor to ward off any harm. And it is fitting that for whoever has this description as his description, the prayer is heavy, and the performance of it weighty for him, and burdensome for him.
It is only light for the believers who hold the meeting with Allah to be true, who hope thereby for His abundant reward, who fear by neglecting it His painful punishment — because of what they hope to attain by performing it in their return, namely the attainment of what Allah has promised its performers for it, and because of that against which they are on their guard by neglecting it, namely what He has threatened the neglecter of it. Allah — exalted be His praise — thus commanded the scholars of the Children of Israel, whom He addressed with these verses, that they ought to be among the performers of it, who hope for His reward, when they were people of certainty that they would return to Allah and meet Him on the Day of Resurrection.
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The explanation of the words of the Exalted: وَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ (46) ("and that they will return to Him")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The "hāʾ and the mīm" in His words (wa-annahum — "and that they") refer to the humble ones, and the "hāʾ" in "ilayhi" (to Him) refers to the Lord — exalted be His mention — in His words مُلاقُو رَبِّهِمْ ("the meeters of their Lord"). The explanation of the sentence is thus: and indeed, it is truly heavy, except for the humble ones who know with certainty that they will return to their Lord.
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Then they differed about the explanation of "the return" (al-rujūʿ) in His words: (and that they will return to Him). Some of them said, as in:
867 — What al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Ādam related to us, he said: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning His words: (and that they will return to Him) he said: They are certain that they will return to Him on the Day of Resurrection.
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And others said: The meaning of it is that they return to Him through their death.
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And the more fitting of the two explanations for the verse is the saying that Abū al-ʿĀliya made; because Allah — exalted be His mention — said in the verse before it: كَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَكُنْتُمْ أَمْوَاتًا فَأَحْيَاكُمْ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُحْيِيكُمْ ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ ("How can you disbelieve in Allah, while you were dead and He brought you to life, then He causes you to die, then He brings you to life, then to Him you are returned?"). He — exalted be His praise — thus reported that their return to Him is after their resurrection and their being raised from their death, and that is undoubtedly on the Day of Resurrection. Such, then, is the explanation of His words: (and that they will return to Him).
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Footnotes:
(120) Al-Aṣmaʿiyyāt: 23, and Sharḥ al-Ḥamāsa 2: 156, and Majāz al-Qurʾān of Abū ʿUbayda: 40. It will occur unattributed in 25: 83, and unattributed in 13: 58 with a different transmission: "fa-ẓannū bi-alfay fārisin mutalabbib" ("so they were certain of two thousand equipped horsemen"). And before the verse there stands, in the transmission of al-Aṣmaʿī:
And I said to ʿĀriḍ, and the companions of ʿĀriḍ,
and the group of the Banū al-Sawdāʾ, while the people beheld me:
openly, be certain . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
And the transmission of Abū Tammām is: "naṣaḥtu li-ʿĀriḍ" ("I gave counsel to ʿĀriḍ") . . "fa-qultu lahum ẓunnū" ("so I said to them: be certain"). This poem he said in an elegy over his brother ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ṣimma, and that is ʿĀriḍ, who is mentioned in his poem. Al-mudajjaj: the horseman who has clad himself in his armor, that is, who has entered into his weapons, as if he has covered himself with them. And al-sarāt is the plural of sarī: they are the best of the people among their horsemen. And "al-fārisī al-musarrad": he means the Persian coats of mail. ʿAmr ibn Imruʾ al-Qays al-Khazrajī said:
When we advance in the Persian (armor), as
the heavy pack-camels advance with slow tread
Al-sard: the fitting together of the rings of the coat of mail, one into another. And al-musarrad: that which is firmly woven with interlocking rings. He warns his brother and his people that they will soon meet an enemy of military force who has completed his weapons of war.
(121) Naqāʾiḍ Jarīr wa-al-Farazdaq: 53, 785, and al-Aḍdād of Ibn al-Anbārī: 12. He is ʿUmayra ibn Ṭāriq ibn Daysaq al-Yarbūʿī, who said it in a story of his with al-Ḥawfazān. The transmission of the Naqāʾiḍ is: "wa-ajlisu fīkum . . . " ("and I remain sitting with you") and "ajʿalu ʿilmī ẓanna ghaybin marjamā" ("I make my knowledge into the guessing of an uncertain hidden thing"). And before the verse there stands:
Do not command me, O son of Asmāʾ, that
which leads the man of honor to speak rashly
"Dhū al-ṭuʿm": the man of inviolability. And "tajurru," derived from al-ijrār: that is the notching of the tongue of the camel calf when one wishes to wean it, so that it does not suckle; he means: it hinders him in speaking.
And "ghazā al-amra wa-aghtazāhu": he strove for it; from it is derived al-ghazw: that is the marching out to fight and plunder the enemy. And al-marjam: he of whose true nature one has no certainty, because he is spoken of without certainty, derived from al-rajm: that is the casting (of conjectures).
This, however: the verse, as it is transmitted in the Naqāʾiḍ, is no proof that ẓann is certainty. It is the transmission of al-Ṭabarī that is suitable as proof for this meaning.
(122) The transmission 863 — Isḥāq: he is Ibn Rāhawayh, the imam, the ḥāfiẓ. Abū Dāwūd al-Ḥafarī — with the unpointed ḥāʾ and the fāʾ, both with fatḥa — is: ʿUmar ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbayd. And in the Tafsīr of Ibn Kathīr 1: 159 there stands "Abū Dāwūd al-Jabrī," and that is a scribal error. And Sufyān: he is al-Thawrī.
(123) In the printed edition: "wa-lammā yursilhā baʿd" ("while He had not yet sent her").
(124) Sībawayh 1: 87, and al-Khizāna 3: 476, and al-ʿAynī 3: 563. The author of al-Khizāna said: "The verse belongs to the verses of Sībawayh whose poet is not known. And Ibn Khalaf said: It is said that it is by Jābir ibn Raʾlān al-Sinbisī, and Sinbis is the forefather of a clan of Ṭayyiʾ. And others than the servants of Sībawayh attributed it to Jarīr, and to Taʾabbaṭa Sharran, and to the possibility that it is fabricated — and Allah knows best how it stands!" Dīnār and ʿAbd Rabb are two men. The proof in it is the accusative of "ʿAbd Rabb" in the position of "Dīnār," because the meaning is: will you dispatch Dīnār or ʿAbd Rabb.
(125) He is ʿAmr ibn Imruʾ al-Qays, of the Banū al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khazraj, and that is ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥa — may Allah be pleased with him — an ancient pre-Islamic (poet).
(126) Jamharat ashʿār al-ʿArab: 127, Sībawayh 1: 95, and al-Lisān (w-k-f) and al-Khizāna 2: 188, 337, 483 / 3: 400, 473. It belongs to a poem that he addresses to Mālik ibn al-ʿAjlān al-Najjārī in a mentioned story. Al-ʿawra: the place from which one fears the enemy comes. And al-naṭaf: the blemish and the suspicion; one says: they are people of suspicion and blemish. This is the transmission of Sībawayh and al-Ṭabarī, but the transmission of others is: "min warāʾinā wakaf" ("from behind us a defect"), and al-wakaf is the defect and the deficiency.
(127) Sībawayh said 1: 95: "The nūn was not omitted because of the annexation, nor so that the noun would replace the nūn, but they omitted it as they omitted it from 'al-ladhayni' and 'al-ladhīna,' when the sentence became long, and the first noun found its terminus in the last noun."
