Tafseer of The Prophets · Al-Anbiyaa · 21:101
Indeed, those for whom the best [reward] has preceded from Us - they are from it far removed.
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.
Concerning His words إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَى أُولَئِكَ عَنْهَا مُبْعَدُونَ: the scholars of exegesis (ahl al-tafsīr) differed over its intended meaning. Some said: by this is meant everyone for whom from Allah felicity (al-saʿāda) has been pre-decreed among His creation — that he is kept far from the Fire.
Mention of those who said this:
We were told by Muḥammad ibn Bashshār, who said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, who said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Yūsuf ibn Saʿd — not the son of Māhak — on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Ḥāṭib, who said: I heard ʿAlī preaching, and he recited this verse إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَى أُولَئِكَ عَنْهَا مُبْعَدُونَ, and said: "ʿUthmān (may Allah be pleased with him) is among them."
Others said: rather, by this is meant: whoever was worshipped besides Allah while he was obedient to Allah and abhorred the worship of those who worshipped him.
Mention of those who said this:
I was told by Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, who said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, who said: ʿĪsā related to us; and I was told by al-Ḥārith, who said: al-Ḥasan related to us, who said: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His words أُولَئِكَ عَنْهَا مُبْعَدُونَ: he said: "ʿĪsā, ʿUzayr, and the angels."
We were told by al-Qāsim, who said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, who said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
Ibn Jurayj said concerning His words إِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ: "Then an exception was made with the words إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَى."
We were told by Ibn Ḥumayd, who said: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, on the authority of Yazīd, on the authority of ʿIkrima and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, who both said concerning Sūrat al-Anbiyāʾ: إِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ حَصَبُ جَهَنَّمَ أَنْتُمْ لَهَا وَارِدُونَ * لَوْ كَانَ هَؤُلاءِ آلِهَةً مَا وَرَدُوهَا وَكُلٌّ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ * لَهُمْ فِيهَا زَفِيرٌ وَهُمْ فِيهَا لا يَسْمَعُونَ — then an exception was made with the words إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَى أُولَئِكَ عَنْهَا مُبْعَدُونَ: "For the angels were worshipped besides Allah, and ʿUzayr and ʿĪsā were worshipped besides Allah."
We were told by Abū Kurayb, who said: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, concerning أُولَئِكَ عَنْهَا مُبْعَدُونَ: he said: "ʿĪsā."
I was told by Ismāʿīl ibn Sayf, who said: ʿAlī ibn Musahhar related to us, who said: Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid related to us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning His words إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَى: he said: "ʿĪsā, his mother, ʿUzayr, and the angels."
We were told by Ibn Ḥumayd, who said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: the Prophet ﷺ was sitting — as far as has reached me — one day with al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra, when al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith approached and sat down with them. In the assembly there was present more than one man of Quraysh. The Prophet ﷺ spoke, and al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith interrupted him, and the Prophet ﷺ addressed him until he silenced him. Then he recited to him and to them: إِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ حَصَبُ جَهَنَّمَ أَنْتُمْ لَهَا وَارِدُونَ * لَوْ كَانَ هَؤُلاءِ آلِهَةً مَا وَرَدُوهَا وَكُلٌّ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ ... up to His words وَهُمْ فِيهَا لا يَسْمَعُونَ. Then the Prophet ﷺ stood up, and ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zabʿarā ibn Qays ibn ʿAdī al-Sahmī approached and sat down. Al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra said to ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zabʿarā: "By Allah, al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith just now could not stand against the son of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib and could not remain seated. He has indeed claimed that we and what we worship of our gods are fuel (ḥaṣab) of Hell." ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zabʿarā said: "By Allah, had I found him, I would have refuted him — ask Muḥammad: is everyone who is worshipped besides Allah together with whoever worshipped him in Hell? We worship the angels, the Jews worship ʿUzayr, and the Christians worship the Messiah ʿĪsā ibn Maryam." Al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra and the others in the assembly were astonished at the words of ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zabʿarā and regarded him as one who had brought forth an argument and refuted. This was reported to the Prophet ﷺ — what Ibn al-Zabʿarā had said. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Yes, everyone who loved that he be worshipped besides Allah is together with whoever worshipped him — they worship only the devils and those who summoned them to worship him." Then Allah sent down to him إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَى أُولَئِكَ عَنْهَا مُبْعَدُونَ ... up to خَالِدُونَ: that is, ʿĪsā ibn Maryam, ʿUzayr, and those of the ʿulamāʾ and monks who had been worshipped who spent their lives in obedience to Allah, and who after them were taken by the people of error as lords besides Allah. Allah also sent down concerning what they said about worshipping the angels and about them being daughters of Allah: وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ الرَّحْمَنُ وَلَدًا سُبْحَانَهُ بَلْ عِبَادٌ مُكْرَمُونَ ... up to His words نَجْزِي الظَّالِمِينَ.
I was told via al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, who said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say: "Some people say concerning إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَى أُولَئِكَ عَنْهَا مُبْعَدُونَ: all people are meant — but that is not so; only those are meant who are offered as gods while being obedient to Allah, such as ʿĪsā, his mother, ʿUzayr, and the angels. Allah has exempted these worshipped gods from those who are together with whoever worshipped them in the Fire."
We were told by Ibn Sinān al-Qazzāz, who said: al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Ashqar related to us, who said: Abū Kudayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When there was sent down إِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ حَصَبُ جَهَنَّمَ أَنْتُمْ لَهَا وَارِدُونَ, the polytheists (mushrikīn) said: "But ʿĪsā is worshipped, and ʿUzayr, and the sun and the moon are worshipped." So Allah sent down إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَى أُولَئِكَ عَنْهَا مُبْعَدُونَ — for ʿĪsā and others.
The most correct view in the exegesis of this is, according to me, the opinion of the one who says: by His words إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَى أُولَئِكَ عَنْهَا مُبْعَدُونَ is meant: every object of worship that was worshipped by the polytheists, while it itself was obedient to Allah, and its worshippers by their worship of it were disbelievers (kuffār) in Allah. For His words, exalted is He, إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَى are the commencement of a discourse establishing a matter which some had denied, in the manner we described in the report about Ibn ʿAbbās. It thus appears that the polytheists (mushrikīn) said to the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, when he said to them إِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ حَصَبُ جَهَنَّمَ: "It is not as you say, for we worship the angels, and others worship the Messiah and ʿUzayr." Whereupon Allah, the Mighty and Great, said in refutation of their statement: "No, it is indeed so; but those for whom the good (al-ḥusnā) has been pre-decreed from Us — they are kept removed from it, for they are not intended by Our words إِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ حَصَبُ جَهَنَّمَ." As for the view of those who said that this is an exception to إِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ حَصَبُ جَهَنَّمَ: that is a view that does not hold, for an exception is the excepting of the excepted thing from that to which the exception pertains; and there is no doubt that those for whom the good has been pre-decreed from Us are either angels, or human beings, or jinn. And all these categories, when the Arabs speak of them, are customarily designated by "man" (who), not by "mā" (what). But Allah, the exalted, designated the worshipped gods which He described as fuel of Hell with "mā," saying إِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ حَصَبُ جَهَنَّمَ — thereby meaning only what they worshipped of idols and gods of stone and wood, not who among the angels and human beings was. Since this is so — as we have described — His words إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَى are an independent answer from Allah to the polytheists who made the statement we described, and not an exception. As for al-ḥusnā: it is the feminine form of the superlative (al-fuʿlā) of ḥasan, and by it is meant the felicity preceding for them with Allah.
As I was told by Yūnus, who said: Ibn Wahb informed us, who said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَى: "Al-ḥusnā is felicity; felicity is for those to whom it was due, preceding from Allah, and wretchedness is for those to whom it was due, preceding from Allah."
