Tafseer of The Believers · Al-Muminoon · 23:106
They will say, "Our Lord, our wretchedness overcame us, and we were a people astray.
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 Qurʾān reciters (al-qurrāʾ) differed concerning the reading of this. Most of the reciters of Medina and Baṣra and some of the reciters of Kufa read it as: غَلَبَتْ عَلَيْنَا شِقْوَتُنَا — with a kasra under the shīn and without an alef. Most of the reciters of Kufa read it as: "shaqāwatunā" — with a fatḥa on the shīn and an alef.
The most correct opinion concerning this is that they are two well-known readings, each of which has been transmitted by scholars among the reciters with the same meaning. Whichever reading the reader chooses, it is correct. The explanation of the text is: they said: our Lord, that which in Your foreknowledge was decreed for us and was recorded for us in the Mother of the Scriptures (umm al-kitāb) has overwhelmed us.
In accordance with what we have said the exegetes spoke.
Mention of those who said that: Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his word: غَلَبَتْ عَلَيْنَا شِقْوَتُنَا — he said: that which was written against us.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his word غَلَبَتْ عَلَيْنَا شِقْوَتُنَا : that which was written against us.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — similar to that.
Ibn Jurayj said: it has been transmitted to us that the people of the Fire called out to the keepers of Hell (jahannam): ادْعُوا رَبَّكُمْ يُخَفِّفْ عَنَّا يَوْمًا مِنَ الْعَذَابِ — but they did not answer them for as long as Allah pleased. When they answered them after some time they said: فَادْعُوا وَمَا دُعَاءُ الْكَافِرِينَ إِلا فِي ضَلالٍ . He said: then they called out to Mālik: يَا مَالِكُ لِيَقْضِ عَلَيْنَا رَبُّكَ — and Mālik, the keeper of Hell (jahannam), kept silent before them for forty years, then he answered them and said: إِنَّكُمْ مَاكِثُونَ . Then the wretched ones called out to their Lord and said: رَبَّنَا غَلَبَتْ عَلَيْنَا شِقْوَتُنَا وَكُنَّا قَوْمًا ضَالِّينَ * رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْهَا فَإِنْ عُدْنَا فَإِنَّا ظَالِمُونَ — and [Allah] kept silent toward them for an age equal to the world, then He answered them: اخْسَئُوا فِيهَا وَلا تُكَلِّمُونِ .
He said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abī Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said: the people of the Fire call out to the people of the Garden (janna), but they do not answer them for as long as Allah pleases. Then it is said: answer them — and the bond of blood and mercy is then severed. The people of the Garden say: O people of the Fire, upon you is the wrath of Allah; O people of the Fire, upon you is the curse of Allah; O people of the Fire, we do not answer you and are not well-disposed toward you! What do you say? They say: were we not in the world your fathers, your sons, your brothers, and your kinsmen? They say: indeed yes. Then the people of the Fire say: أَفِيضُوا عَلَيْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ أَوْ مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ حَرَّمَهُمَا عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ .
He said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abī Maʿshar, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, who said: ʿAbda al-Marwazī related to me, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Abī Laylā, who said: I heard Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb — and each of the two added something beyond the other's account: Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb said: it has been transmitted to me, or someone related to me, that the people of the Fire cried out for help to the keepers: call upon your Lord to lighten the punishment for us by one day. They gave them back what Allah had said, and when they despaired of that they called out: O Mālik — who stood above them and had a seat in the midst of it, with bridges over which the angels of torment passed, so that he saw the farthest of it as he saw the nearest — they said: O Mālik, let your Lord cause us to die. They asked for death. He delayed and answered them after eighty thousand years of the years of the Hereafter — or something like that — then he descended to them and said: إِنَّكُمْ مَاكِثُونَ . When they heard that they said: then be patient, perhaps patience will benefit us as it benefited the people of the world in obedience to Allah. They were patient and their patience was long, then they called out: سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْنَا أَجَزِعْنَا أَمْ صَبَرْنَا مَا لَنَا مِنْ مَحِيصٍ — that is to say: no escape. Iblīs then stood up and addressed them with a speech, he said: إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَعَدَكُمْ وَعْدَ الْحَقِّ وَوَعَدْتُكُمْ فَأَخْلَفْتُكُمْ وَمَا كَانَ لِي عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ سُلْطَانٍ . When they heard his words, they were filled with loathing for themselves. He said: it was called out to them: لَمَقْتُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ مِنْ مَقْتِكُمْ أَنْفُسَكُمْ إِذْ تُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى الإِيمَانِ فَتَكْفُرُونَ * قَالُوا رَبَّنَا أَمَتَّنَا — the verse. He said: Allah answered them: ذَلِكُمْ بِأَنَّهُ إِذَا دُعِيَ اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ كَفَرْتُمْ وَإِنْ يُشْرَكْ بِهِ تُؤْمِنُوا فَالْحُكْمُ لِلَّهِ الْعَلِيِّ الْكَبِيرِ . He said: they said: we have not yet despaired. He said: then they pleaded again and said: رَبَّنَا أَبْصَرْنَا وَسَمِعْنَا فَارْجِعْنَا نَعْمَلْ صَالِحًا إِنَّا مُوقِنُونَ . He said: the Lord — blessed and exalted is He — says: وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لآتَيْنَا كُلَّ نَفْسٍ هُدَاهَا — the Lord says: had I willed I would have guided all people so that none of them would have strayed. وَلَكِنْ حَقَّ الْقَوْلُ مِنِّي لأَمْلأَنَّ جَهَنَّمَ مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ أَجْمَعِينَ * فَذُوقُوا بِمَا نَسِيتُمْ لِقَاءَ يَوْمِكُمْ هَذَا — He says: because of what you neglected for the day of today. إِنَّا نَسِينَاكُمْ — that is to say: We have abandoned you. وَذُوقُوا عَذَابَ الْخُلْدِ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ . He said: they said: we have not yet despaired. He said: they pleaded again: رَبَّنَا أَخِّرْنَا إِلَى أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ نُجِبْ دَعْوَتَكَ وَنَتَّبِعِ الرُّسُلَ . He said: it was said to them: أَوَلَمْ تَكُونُوا أَقْسَمْتُمْ مِنْ قَبْلُ مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ زَوَالٍ * وَسَكَنْتُمْ فِي مَسَاكِنِ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ … the verse. He said: they said: we have not yet despaired. Then they said again: رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا نَعْمَلْ صَالِحًا غَيْرَ الَّذِي كُنَّا نَعْمَلُ . He said: it is said: أَوَلَمْ نُعَمِّرْكُمْ مَا يَتَذَكَّرُ فِيهِ مَنْ تَذَكَّرَ وَجَاءَكُمُ النَّذِيرُ — up to: نَصِيرٍ . Then [Allah] delayed for as long as He pleased, then He called out to them: أَلَمْ تَكُنْ آيَاتِي تُتْلَى عَلَيْكُمْ فَكُنْتُمْ بِهَا تُكَذِّبُونَ . When they heard that they said: now He will be merciful to us — and then they said: رَبَّنَا غَلَبَتْ عَلَيْنَا شِقْوَتُنَا — that is to say: the writing that was written against us. وَكُنَّا قَوْمًا ضَالِّينَ * رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْهَا — the verse. Then [Allah] said: اخْسَئُوا فِيهَا وَلا تُكَلِّمُونِ . After that they never spoke of it again, and supplication and hope departed from them. They turned toward one another and began to bark in each other's faces, and [the Fire] was closed shut over them. ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak added in his narration: al-Azhar ibn Abī al-Azhar related to me that he said: that is the meaning of: هَذَا يَوْمُ لا يَنْطِقُونَ * وَلا يُؤْذَنُ لَهُمْ فَيَعْتَذِرُونَ .
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abī Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said: by the One who revealed the Qurʾān to Muḥammad, the Torah to Mūsā, and the Gospel to ʿĪsā — the people of the Fire never spoke a word after that, except the sobbing and the screaming in the eternal abode — without end.
He said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abī Maʿshar, who said: we were at a funeral and Abū Jaʿfar al-Qāriʾ was with us. He withdrew apart and wept. It was said to him: why do you weep, O Abū Jaʿfar? He said: Zayd ibn Aslam related to me that the people of the Fire do not breathe.
His word وَكُنَّا قَوْمًا ضَالِّينَ — He says: we were a people who had strayed from the path of right guidance and the goal of the truth.
