Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:7
Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing, and over their vision is a veil. And for them is a great punishment.
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 Him, whose praise is exalted: خَتَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ وَعَلَى سَمْعِهِمْ (Allah has sealed their hearts and their hearing)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The root meaning of *al-khatm* (sealing) is *al-ṭabʿ* (to impress a stamp). The *khātam* is the *ṭābiʿ* (the signet stamp). One says of this: *khatamtu al-kitāba*, when one seals the document (puts a stamp upon it).
If someone were to ask us: How does He seal the hearts, when sealing is, after all, a stamp that one places upon vessels, jars, and casings?¹⁷
Then it is answered: The hearts of the servants are vessels for the knowledge entrusted within them, and jars for the insights concerning matters that have been deposited within them.¹⁸ The meaning of the sealing of them, and of the sealing of the hearing — by which the audible is perceived, and through which one comes to know the realities of the reports about the unseen — is therefore comparable to the meaning of the sealing of other vessels and jars.
If he were to ask: Is there then a description of that which you can give us, so that we may understand it? Is it like the seal that becomes recognizable to that which presents itself to the eyes, or is it other than that?
Then it is answered: The exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have differed concerning the description of that, and we shall convey its description after we have mentioned their statement:
300 — ʿĪsā ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿĪsā al-Ramlī related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, who said: Mujāhid showed us his hand and said: It was held that the heart is something like this — and he meant the palm of the hand — and when the servant commits a sin, a part of it is contracted — and he made a gesture with his little finger like this¹⁹ — and when he sins again, it is contracted — and he made a gesture with another finger — and when he sins again, it is contracted — and he made a gesture with yet another finger like this, until he had contracted all his fingers. He said: Then it is sealed with a seal. Mujāhid said: And it was held that that is *al-rayn* (the rust, the covering).²⁰
301 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: The heart is like the palm of the hand; when it commits a sin, a finger closes, until all its fingers are closed — and our companions were of the opinion that it is *al-rān* (the rust).²¹
302 — Al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn ibn Dāwūd related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj related to us, saying: Mujāhid said: It has been reported to me that the sins encircle the heart from its edges until they meet one another over it; and their meeting over it is *al-ṭabʿ* (the stamping), and *al-ṭabʿ* is *al-khatm* (the sealing). Ibn Jurayj said: The sealing is the sealing of the heart and the hearing.²²
303 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: ʿAbdallāh ibn Kathīr related to me that he heard Mujāhid say: *Al-rān* (the rust) is lighter than *al-ṭabʿ* (the stamping), and *al-ṭabʿ* is lighter than *al-aqfāl* (the locks), and *al-aqfāl* is the heaviest of all.²³
And some said: The meaning of His saying "Allah has sealed their hearts" is merely a report from Allah, whose praise is exalted, about their arrogance and their aversion to listening to the truth to which they were called, just as one says: "So-and-so is truly deaf to these words", when he refuses to hear them and exalts himself out of arrogance above understanding them.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct view in this, in my opinion, is that concerning which a reliable narration from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has been established as a parallel, and that is what:
304 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ṣafwān ibn ʿĪsā related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAjlān related to us, on the authority of al-Qaʿqāʿ, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: When the believer commits a sin, a black spot appears upon his heart; and if he repents, desists from it, and asks for forgiveness, his heart is polished; but if he sins more, it increases until it shuts off his heart. That is *al-rān* (the rust) about which Allah, whose praise is exalted, said: كَلا بَلْ رَانَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ²⁴ (Nay! But what they used to earn has laid rust upon their hearts) [Surah Al-Muṭaffifīn: 14].
Thus he ﷺ reported that the sins, when they pile up upon the hearts, shut them off; and when they envelop them, then at that moment comes the sealing and stamping from Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He;²⁵ then there is no longer any path for faith toward it, nor any way out for unbelief from it. That, then, is the stamping. And the sealing that Allah, blessed and exalted is He, mentioned in His saying (خَتَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ وَعَلَى سَمْعِهِمْ — Allah has sealed their hearts and their hearing) is comparable to the stamping and sealing of that which the eyes perceive of vessels and jars, whose contents one cannot reach except by breaking their seal and then opening them. Likewise faith too does not reach the hearts of those of whom Allah has described that He has sealed their hearts, except after He has broken its seal and loosened its binding of it.
And against the adherents of the second statement — who claim that the meaning of His saying, whose praise is exalted, "Allah has sealed their hearts and their hearing", consists in His describing them with arrogance and aversion toward that to which they were called, namely the acknowledgment of the truth, out of arrogance — it is said: Tell us about the arrogance of those whom Allah, whose praise is exalted, has described with this attribute, and about their aversion to acknowledging that to which they were called, namely faith and the other matters connected with it: is that an act of their own, or an act of Allah, whose mention is exalted, toward them?
If they claim that it is an act of their own — and that is their statement — then it is said to them: Allah, blessed and exalted is He, has indeed reported that it is He who has sealed their hearts and their hearing. How then can it be permissible that the unbeliever's (kāfir's) aversion to faith, and his arrogance against acknowledging it — which according to you is his act — should be a sealing by Allah upon his heart and hearing, while His sealing of his heart and hearing is an act of Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, and not of the unbeliever?
If they claim that it is permissible for it to be so — because his arrogance and his aversion arose from Allah's sealing of his heart and hearing, and since the sealing was the cause of that, it is permissible to name the effect by the name of the cause — then they have abandoned their own statement and affirmed that the sealing by Allah of the hearts and hearing of the unbelievers is a meaning other than the unbelief (kufr) of the unbeliever, and other than his arrogance and his aversion to accepting and acknowledging faith. And that is an entering into that which they denied.²⁶
This verse is among the clearest proofs of the falsity of the statement of those who deny that one can be charged with what one cannot bear except with the help of Allah. For Allah, whose praise is exalted, reported that He has sealed the hearts and hearing of a group of His unbelieving servants, and yet He did not lift the obligation (taklīf) from them, nor did He remove from any of them His ordinances, nor did He excuse him in any respect for what he committed in opposition to His obedience, on account of what befell him of the sealing and stamping of his heart and hearing — on the contrary, He reported that for all of them there is a mighty punishment (ʿadhāb) from Him, on account of their neglect of His obedience in that which He commanded and forbade them of His limits (ḥudūd) and ordinances, while He had therein irrevocably fixed the decree concerning them, namely that they would not believe.
The explanation of the saying of Him, whose praise is exalted: وَعَلَى أَبْصَارِهِمْ غِشَاوَةٌ (and over their eyes is a covering)
Abū Jaʿfar said: His saying (وَعَلَى أَبْصَارِهِمْ غِشَاوَةٌ — and over their eyes is a covering) is a newly begun report, after the completion of the report about what Allah, whose praise is exalted, has sealed of the bodily faculties of the unbelievers whose accounts have already been mentioned. That is so because *ghishāwa* (covering) stands in the nominative through His saying "and over their eyes", and that is the proof that it is a newly begun report, and that His saying خَتَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ (Allah has sealed their hearts) has already ended at His saying وَعَلَى سَمْعِهِمْ (and their hearing).
And that, in our opinion, is the correct reading, for two reasons:
The first: the agreement of the authoritative proof of the Qurʾān reciters (qurrāʾ) and the scholars (ʿulamāʾ) on testifying to its correctness, and the standing-alone of whoever contradicts them in that, and his deviation from that which they have unanimously established to be an error. And it is sufficient that the consensus (ijmāʿ) of the authoritative proof on the erroneousness of his reading serves as witness to its falsity.
The second: that the sealing is in no place in the Book of Allah attributed to the eyes, nor is it found in any report from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, nor in the language of any Arab. Allah, blessed and exalted is He, said in another surah: وَخَتَمَ عَلَى سَمْعِهِ وَقَلْبِهِ (and He has sealed his hearing and his heart), and then He said: وَجَعَلَ عَلَى بَصَرِهِ غِشَاوَةً (and placed over his sight a covering) [Surah Al-Jāthiya: 23]; thus He did not include the sight in the meaning of the sealing. And that is what is known in the speech of the Arabs. Therefore it is not permissible for us, nor for any other person, to read *al-ghishāwa* in the accusative, on account of the two grounds that I have described, even though its accusative form has a known grammatical explanation in Arabic.
And in agreement with what we have said about this of statement and explanation, the report of Ibn ʿAbbās has been transmitted:
305 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: My father related to me, saying: My uncle al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Ḥasan related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: خَتَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ وَعَلَى سَمْعِهِمْ (Allah has sealed their hearts and their hearing), and the covering lies over their eyes.²⁷
If someone were to ask: What is the grammatical explanation for the accusative form in it?
Then it is said to him: that you place it in the accusative through implicitly presupposing [the verb] "jaʿala" (He placed),²⁸ as though He said: and He placed over their eyes a covering, and then omits "jaʿala", because at the beginning of the sentence there is something that points to it. And it is also possible that the accusative rests on its joining the [grammatical] position of *al-samʿ* (the hearing), since its position is an accusative, even though it is not elegant to repeat in it the governing word with "ghishāwa", but [it then rests] on the linking together of the parts of the sentence with one another, as He, whose mention is exalted, said: يَطُوفُ عَلَيْهِمْ وِلْدَانٌ مُخَلَّدُونَ * بِأَكْوَابٍ وَأَبَارِيقَ (Eternally young boys go round among them, with cups and ewers), and then He said: وَفَاكِهَةٍ مِمَّا يَتَخَيَّرُونَ * وَلَحْمِ طَيْرٍ مِمَّا يَشْتَهُونَ * وَحُورٌ عِينٌ (and fruit of what they choose, and flesh of fowl for which they long, and wide-eyed houris) [Surah Al-Wāqiʿa: 17-22]; thus He placed *al-laḥm* (the flesh) and *al-ḥūr* (the houris) in the genitive by coupling them to *al-fākiha* (the fruit), as a linking of the end of the sentence with its beginning. And it is known that the flesh is not carried round, nor the wide-eyed houris, but it is as the poet said when he described his mare:
*I fed her with straw and cold water,* *until she wintered with both her eyes streaming with tears.*²⁹
And it is known that water is drunk and does not serve as fodder, but he placed it in the accusative in the manner that I have described before; and as another said:
*And I saw your husband in the thick of battle* *girded with a sword and a spear.*³⁰
And Ibn Jurayj said — concerning the ending of the report about the sealing at His saying وَعَلَى سَمْعِهِمْ (and their hearing), and the beginning of the report after it — the same as what we have said about it, and he explained it by means of the Book of Allah: فَإِنْ يَشَأِ اللَّهُ يَخْتِمْ عَلَى قَلْبِكَ (And if Allah wills, He seals your heart) [Surah Al-Shūrā: 24].
306 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj related to us, saying: The sealing is upon the heart and the hearing, and the covering is upon the sight. Allah, whose mention is exalted, said: فَإِنْ يَشَأِ اللَّهُ يَخْتِمْ عَلَى قَلْبِكَ³¹ (And if Allah wills, He seals your heart), and He said: وَخَتَمَ عَلَى سَمْعِهِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَجَعَلَ عَلَى بَصَرِهِ غِشَاوَةً (and He has sealed his hearing and his heart and placed over his sight a covering) [Surah Al-Jāthiya: 23].
And *al-ghishāwa* means in the speech of the Arabs: the covering; from this is also the saying of al-Ḥārith ibn Khālid ibn al-ʿĀṣ:
*I followed you when my eye was [enveloped] by a covering,* *but when it lifted, I ceased to blame myself.*³²
And from this is also the expression: *taghashshāhu al-hamm* (worry overspread him), when it entirely enveloped him and descended upon him; and from this is the saying of Nābigha of Banū Dhubyān:
*If only you would ask the Banū Dhubyān about my standing,* *when the smoke overspreads the grey-haired miser.*³³
By it he means: enveloped him entirely and mingled with him.
Allah, whose mention is exalted, only informed His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ about those who were unbelievers in him among the scribes of the Jews, that He has sealed and stamped their hearts — so that they understand no admonition from Allah, blessed and exalted is He, with which He admonished them, in that which He gave them of knowledge of what they had with them of His books, and in that which He has established in His Book which He has revealed and sent down to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ — and [He sealed] their hearing, so that they hear from Muḥammad ﷺ, the prophet of Allah, no warning, admonition, or proof that he advanced against them with his prophethood, so that they might reflect and beware of the punishment of Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, on account of their denial of him, despite their knowledge of his truthfulness and the correctness of his cause. And He let him know therein that over their eyes lies a covering, which prevents them from seeing the path of guidance, so that they might perceive the ugliness of the misguidance and corruption in which they dwell.
And in agreement with what we have said about this, the report of a group of exegetes has been transmitted:
307 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (خَتَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ وَعَلَى سَمْعِهِمْ وَعَلَى أَبْصَارِهِمْ غِشَاوَةٌ — Allah has sealed their hearts and their hearing, and over their eyes is a covering), that is to say: [sealed] against guidance, so that they will never attain it, on account of that with which they denied you, namely the truth that has come to you from your Lord, until they believe in it, even though they believe in everything that was before you.³⁴
308 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn al-Hamdānī related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, in a report that he mentioned 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 al-Hamdānī, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of a number of people among the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: خَتَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ وَعَلَى سَمْعِهِمْ (Allah has sealed their hearts and their hearing), He says: so that they do not understand and do not hear. And He says: "and He has placed over their eyes a covering", He says: over their eyes, so that they do not see.³⁵
As for others, these explained it as though it were the case that those of whom Allah reported, among the unbelievers, that He did that with them, are the leaders of the confederates (al-aḥzāb) who were killed on the day of Badr.
309 — Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, who said: These two verses, up to وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ (and for them is a mighty punishment), [concern] those who الَّذِينَ بَدَّلُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ كُفْرًا وَأَحَلُّوا قَوْمَهُمْ دَارَ الْبَوَارِ (exchanged the favor of Allah for unbelief and caused their people to alight in the abode of ruin) [Surah Ibrāhīm: 28]. And they are those who were killed on the day of Badr; none of the leaders entered Islam except two men: Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb and al-Ḥakam ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ.³⁶
310 — And 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 al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: As for the leaders, among them there is none who responded [to the call], nor anyone who was saved, nor anyone who was rightly guided.
And we have already shown earlier which of these two interpretations is the most correct, so we deem it undesirable to repeat that.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of Him, whose praise is exalted: وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ (and for them is a mighty punishment) (7)
And the explanation of it, in my opinion, is as Ibn ʿAbbās has phrased and explained it:
311 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: and for them is, on account of their opposition to you, a mighty punishment. He said: This concerns the scribes among the Jews, on account of that with which they denied you, namely the truth that has come to you from your Lord, after their knowledge of it.³⁷
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Footnotes:
(17) *Al-ghulf* is the plural of *ghilāf*: that is the case which encloses what you keep in it.
(18) In the manuscript it reads: "of insights concerning the knowledge".
(19) "He made a gesture with his finger": he pointed with his finger.
(20) Narration 300 — ʿĪsā ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿĪsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, al-Tamīmī al-Nahshalī: al-Nasāʾī said: "sound". He is among the teachers of al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Manda, and others; he died in the year 251, and al-Bukhārī too transmitted from him in *al-Tārīkh al-ṣaghīr*: 224, in the biography of his uncle. His uncle is "Yaḥyā ibn ʿĪsā", declared trustworthy by Aḥmad, al-ʿIjlī, and others; al-Bukhārī gave his biography in *al-Ṣaghīr*, and said: "ʿĪsā ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿĪsā related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn ʿĪsā Abū Zakariyyā al-Tamīmī died in the year 201 or thereabouts. He was originally a Kufan, and they called him 'al-Ramlī' only because he transmitted in al-Ramla and died there." And he also gave his biography in *al-Kabīr* 4/2: 296: "Yaḥyā ibn ʿĪsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ramlī, heard al-Aʿmash; he is al-Tamīmī Abū Zakariyyā al-Kūfī, dwelt in al-Ramla...", and he mentioned no criticism in connection with him. This narration will recur with this isnād in the explanation of the verse of Surah Al-Muṭaffifīn: 14 (30:63 Būlāq). Ibn Kathīr mentioned it 1:82 and al-Suyūṭī 6:326.
(21) Narration 301 — Will also recur (30:63 Būlāq). Ibn Kathīr referred to it 1:83 without mentioning its wording, likewise al-Suyūṭī 6:325.
(22) Narration 302 — This is from the narration of Ibn Jurayj on the authority of Mujāhid, and it is evidently interrupted (munqaṭiʿ), because Ibn Jurayj transmits from Mujāhid through an intermediary, as will appear in the following narration. This narration Ibn Kathīr mentioned 1:83, but it has been corrupted therein by the copyist or the printer.
(23) Narration 303 — ʿAbdallāh ibn Kathīr: he is al-Dārī al-Makkī, one of the seven famous Qurʾān reciters, and he is trustworthy. He recited the Qurʾān under the guidance of Mujāhid. Ibn Abī Ḥātim, in *al-Jarḥ wa-l-taʿdīl* 2/2:144, confused him with "ʿAbdallāh ibn Kathīr ibn al-Muṭṭalib ibn Abī Wadāʿa al-Sahmī". From the words of al-Ḥāfiẓ in *al-Tahdhīb* 5:368 it appears that this error originated with al-Bukhārī himself, and perhaps Ibn Abī Ḥātim followed him in his error without his own investigation. This narration Ibn Kathīr mentioned 1:83, likewise al-Suyūṭī 6:326, who added its attribution to al-Bayhaqī.
(24) Ḥadīth 304 — Will recur in al-Ṭabarī with this isnād 30:62 Būlāq. He transmitted it there with another isnād before it, and with two other isnāds after it: all by way of Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān on the authority of al-Qaʿqāʿ. Muḥammad ibn Bashshār: he is the Basran ḥadīth scholar, known by the nickname "Bundār" (with *ḍamma* on the *bāʾ* and *sukūn* on the *nūn*). From him transmitted the compilers of the six [canonical] works and other imams. In the printed edition it reads here "Muḥammad ibn Yasār", which is an error. Ibn ʿAjlān (with *fatḥa* on the *ʿayn* and *sukūn* on the *jīm*): he is Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān al-Madanī, one of the practicing, trustworthy scholars. Al-Qaʿqāʿ ibn Ḥakīm al-Kinānī al-Madanī: a trustworthy Successor (tābiʿī). Abū Ṣāliḥ: he is al-Sammān, whose name is "Dhakwān", a trustworthy Successor; Aḥmad said: "trustworthy, trustworthy, one of the most excellent and most trustworthy of people". The ḥadīth was transmitted by Aḥmad in *al-Musnad* 7939 (2:297 Ḥalabī) on the authority of Ṣafwān ibn ʿĪsā, with this isnād. Al-Ḥākim transmitted it 2:517 by way of Bakkār ibn Qutayba the judge, on the authority of Ṣafwān, and said: "This is an authentic ḥadīth according to the standard of Muslim, but they did not include it", and al-Dhahabī agreed with him. Al-Tirmidhī transmitted it 4:210, and Ibn Māja 2:291, by way of Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān. Al-Tirmidhī said: "This is a good, authentic ḥadīth (ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ)". Ibn Kathīr mentioned it 1:84 from this narration of al-Ṭabarī, and then said: This ḥadīth by this route has been transmitted by al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī on the authority of Qutayba on the authority of al-Layth ibn Saʿd, and by Ibn Māja on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿAmmār on the authority of Ḥātim ibn Ismāʿīl and al-Walīd ibn Muslim — all three on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān, with it. Al-Tirmidhī said: "ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ", and subsequently he mentioned it again 9:143 from the narration of these and from the narration of Aḥmad in *al-Musnad*. Al-Suyūṭī mentioned it 6:325, and added the attribution to ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Ḥibbān, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Bayhaqī in *Shuʿab al-īmān*. In the text (matn) of the ḥadīth it reads here, in the printed edition: "kāna nukta... ṣaqala qalbahu... ḥattā yughallifa qalbahu". And in the forthcoming narration of al-Ṭabarī it reads, as in the manuscript, the same, except for his saying "ḥattā tughliqa qalbahu", which reads there "ḥattā taʿlū qalbahu".
(25) In the printed edition it reads "aghlafathā" in both places; the correction is according to the manuscript and Ibn Kathīr.
(26) In the printed edition it reads: "wa-dhālika dukhūl fīmā ankarūhu".
(27) Report 305 — This isnād is one of the most frequently occurring isnāds in the tafsīr of al-Ṭabarī; it first occurred at [narration] 118, and I had not at that time come to its explanation. It is an isnād that consists entirely of weak transmitters from a single family, if this expression be correct! It is known among the scholars as "Tafsīr al-ʿAwfī", because the Successor — at the top of the chain — who transmits it on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, is "ʿAṭiyya al-ʿAwfī", as we shall mention. Al-Suyūṭī said in *al-Itqān* 2:224: "And the route of al-ʿAwfī on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: from this Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim drew much. And al-ʿAwfī is weak, but not hopelessly rejected, and sometimes al-Tirmidhī judged him to be ḥasan." And we shall here elaborate upon him in detail, if Allah wills: Muḥammad ibn Saʿd, from whom al-Ṭabarī transmits: he is Muḥammad ibn Saʿd ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAṭiyya ibn Saʿd ibn Junāda al-ʿAwfī, of "Banū ʿAwf ibn Saʿd", a branch of "Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿiyādh ibn Yashkur ibn Bakr ibn Wāʾil". He is weak (layyin) in ḥadīth, as al-Khaṭīb said. Al-Dāraquṭnī said: "There is nothing wrong with him". He died at the end of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir in the year 276. Al-Khaṭīb gave his biography in *Tārīkh Baghdād* 5:322-323, and al-Ḥāfiẓ in *Lisān al-Mīzān* 5:174. He is not the same as "Muḥammad ibn Saʿd ibn Manīʿ", the secretary of al-Wāqidī and author of the book *al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kabīr*, for that one is among the great, trustworthy, meticulous ḥadīth scholars, who died early, in Jumādā al-Ākhira of the year 230. His father "Saʿd ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-ʿAwfī": very weak; imam Aḥmad was asked about him, and he said: "That one is a Jahmite", and then he deemed him unsuitable for transmission, and said: "Even were he not that, still he would not belong among those who deserve that one should write down from him, nor would he be fit for that." His biography is found with al-Khaṭīb 9:136-127, and *Lisān al-Mīzān* 3:18-19. "On the authority of his uncle": that is to say the uncle of Saʿd, namely "al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAṭiyya al-ʿAwfī". He was a judge of Baghdad. Ibn Maʿīn said: "He was weak in the judgeship, weak in ḥadīth." Ibn Saʿd said in *al-Ṭabaqāt*: "He heard many narrations, and was weak in ḥadīth." Him too Abū Ḥātim and al-Nasāʾī declared weak. Ibn Ḥibbān said in *al-Majrūḥīn*: "Rejected in ḥadīth... and it is not permissible to use his report as proof." He had a very long beard; al-Khaṭīb transmitted amusing stories about that. He died in the year 201. His biography is in *al-Ṭabaqāt* 7/2/74, *al-Jarḥ wa-l-taʿdīl* 1/2/48, the book *al-Majrūḥīn* of Ibn Ḥibbān, no. 228 p. 167, *Tārīkh Baghdād* 8:29-32, and *Lisān al-Mīzān* 2:278. "On the authority of his father": and that is "al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAṭiyya ibn Saʿd al-ʿAwfī", he too is weak. Al-Bukhārī said in *al-Kabīr*: "He is not worth much." Abū Ḥātim said: "Weak in ḥadīth." Ibn Ḥibbān said: "He transmits on the authority of his father, and his son Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan transmits from him; rejected in ḥadīth. I do not know whether the defect in his narrations comes from himself, or from his father, or from both together, for his father is worth nothing in ḥadīth, and most of his transmission is on the authority of his father; hence his case became unclear and it became obligatory to abandon him." His biography is in *al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr* 1/2/299, Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/2/26, *al-Majrūḥīn* of Ibn Ḥibbān, no. 210 p. 158, and *al-Tahdhīb*. "On the authority of his grandfather": and that is "ʿAṭiyya ibn Saʿd ibn Junāda al-ʿAwfī", he too is weak, but concerning him there is disagreement. Ibn Saʿd said: "He was trustworthy, if Allah wills, and he has sound narrations, but there are people who do not accept him as proof." Aḥmad said: "He is weak in ḥadīth. A report has reached me that ʿAṭiyya came to al-Kalbī and drew the tafsīr from him. And al-Thawrī and Hushaym declared the ḥadīth of ʿAṭiyya weak." He said: "sound." We have established his weakness as the prevailing [judgment] in the commentary on the ḥadīth in *al-Musnad*: 3010, and the commentary on the ḥadīth of al-Tirmidhī: 551; al-Tirmidhī judged that ḥadīth as ḥasan only on account of supporting narrations, not on account of ʿAṭiyya. Al-Nasāʾī too declared him weak in *al-Ḍuʿafāʾ*: 24. And Ibn Ḥibbān declared him very weak in the book *al-Majrūḥīn*, and said: "...it is not permissible to write down his ḥadīth except by way of astonishment", folio: 178. See also: Ibn Saʿd 6:212-213, *al-Kabīr* of al-Bukhārī 4/1/8-9, *al-Ṣaghīr* 126, Ibn Abī Ḥātim 3/1/382-383, and *al-Tahdhīb*. The report was taken by Ibn Kathīr 1:85 and al-Suyūṭī in *al-Durr al-Manthūr* 1:29, and the latter added the attribution to Ibn Abī Ḥātim; likewise did al-Shawkānī 1:28.
(28) In the printed edition it reads: "in naṣabahā...".
(29) Its speaker is unknown; al-Farrāʾ recited it in *Maʿānī al-Qurʾān* 1:14 and said: "A man of Banū Asad recited it to me, while he was describing his mare." And in *al-Khizāna* 1:499 [it states]: "I saw in a reliable marginal note on *al-Ṣiḥāḥ* that it is by Dhū al-Rumma, so I searched through his dīwān but did not find it." It will recur in the explanation of the verse of Surah Al-Māʾida: 109 (7:81 Būlāq). And his word "shatat" comes from *shatā bi-l-makān*: he stayed there during the winter, which is the time of drought/scarcity; and *hammāla* [means]: she pours out her tears, that is to say she pours and lets them stream forth on account of the severity of the cold.
(30) The documentation of this verse has already passed on p. 140.
(31) Narration 306 — Ibn Kathīr cited it in his tafsīr 1:85, and al-Shawkānī 1:28.
(32) The poet is al-Ḥārith ibn Khālid al-Makhzūmī, and the verse will recur in the explanation of the verse of Surah Al-Aʿrāf: 18 (8:103 Būlāq), and the version there reads: "ṣaḥibtuka idh ʿaynī... adhīmuhā", as a witness for "al-dhām", which is stronger in blaming than *al-dhamm*; subsequently Abū Jaʿfar said: "And most of the transmitters recite it with: alūmuhā". And the story of the verse is: that ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān, when he assumed the caliphate, made a pilgrimage to the House; and when he departed, al-Ḥārith traveled with him to Damascus, but he experienced coldness from him, and stayed a month at his gate without being able to gain access to him, so he turned away from him and recited the witness-verse and then:
*And it is not out of submissiveness, if you repel me,* *nor does my soul have need of another who wrongs it.*
(see *al-Aghānī* 3:317). And his verse reached ʿAbd al-Malik, so he sent someone to him who brought him back.
(33) His dīwān: 52. And *al-ashmaṭ*: the one whose head has turned grey through old age; and *al-baram*: the one who does not join the people in the game of chance (al-maysir). Ibn Qutayba said in *al-Maʿānī al-Kabīr* 410, 1238: "He chose *al-ashmaṭ* precisely, because he has grown old and weak, and therefore seeks out the places where the meat is."
(34) Report 307 — Al-Suyūṭī mentioned it 1:29, connected with what preceded: 295, 299, and with what follows: 311. He cited them in one continuous passage.
(35) Report 308 — Ibn Kathīr cited it 1:85. And al-Suyūṭī mentioned it 1:29, and al-Shawkānī 1:28, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd alone.
(36) Narration 309 — It is the continuation of the preceding narration: 298, as al-Suyūṭī cited it 1:29, and al-Shawkānī 1:28. We have already referred to it there.
(37) Report 311 — It is the continuation of the reports: 295, 299, 307, which al-Suyūṭī cited in one continuous passage 1:29, as we have indicated earlier. But he omitted at the end of it what comes after his saying "This concerns the scribes among the Jews". Perhaps he supposed that it belongs to the words of al-Ṭabarī. The continuity makes it clear that it belongs to the continuation of the report.
