Tafseer of The Believers · Al-Muminoon · 23:36
How far, how far, is that which you are promised.
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.
This is an announcement from Allah, the Exalted, concerning the saying of the nobles of Thamūd, that they said: "Hayhāta hayhāta" — that is to say: far off, far off is what you are promised, O people, namely that after your death, and after you have become dust and bones, you will be brought forth alive from your graves. They say: that will not come to pass.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of tafsīr spoke.
Mention of those who said this:
ʿAlī related to me; he said: ʿAbd Allāh related to us; he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the saying: هَيْهَاتَ هَيْهَاتَ — he said: far off, far off.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us; he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us; he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the saying: هَيْهَاتَ هَيْهَاتَ لِمَا تُوعَدُونَ — he said: that is to say the resurrection. The Arabs join the particle "lām" with "hayhāta" to the noun that belongs to it, or omit it; one says: "hayhāta laka hayhāta" and "hayhāta mā tabtaghī hayhāta." When one omits the particle "lām," one raises (in the nominative) the noun with the meaning of "hayhāta," as though one said: far off is what is not destined for you; as the poet Jarīr said:
"Far off, far off is al-ʿAqīq and whoever dwells therein, and far off a beloved at al-ʿAqīq whom we visit."
That is as though he said: al-ʿAqīq and its inhabitants. And the particle "lām" is joined with "hayhāta" to the noun, because they said: "hayhāta" is an expression not derived from a verb; so they joined the particle "lām" to the noun with it, just as they joined it with "halumma laka," because this too is not derived from a verb. But when one says "aqbil" (come near), one does not say "laka," because the verb already incorporates within itself the pronoun of the noun.
The Arabic grammarians differed concerning the manner of pausing on "hayhāta." Al-Kisāʾī preferred, when pausing, the hāʾ, because it is in the accusative (with fatḥa). Al-Farrāʾ, however, preferred, when pausing, the tāʾ, and he said: some of the Arabs inflect the tāʾ, which demonstrates that it is not the tāʾ of the feminine, so that it stands at the level of "darak" and "naḍar." The masculinity of the tāʾ in those two cases is because both are expressions and stand at the level of "khamsa ʿashara" (fifteen). Al-Farrāʾ also said: if one says that each of the two stands on its own, then pausing is permissible; and he explained their being in the accusative as the accusative of the word "thummata jalasT"; and at the level of the saying of the poet:
"Māwī, O how many a devastating onslaught, like a brand-mark, like the touch of a branding iron."
He said: "hayhāta" thus stands in the accusative at the level of that hāʾ which is in "rabbata," because it is joined to an expression, namely to "rabb" and "thamma," which are two expressions; so that they did not change them from their being expressions, and they became accusative.
The reciters also differed concerning its recitation. The reciters of the great cities, except for Abū Jaʿfar, recited: هَيْهَاتَ هَيْهَاتَ with a fatḥa on the tāʾ in both cases. And Abū Jaʿfar recited it: هَيْهَاتِ هَيْهَاتِ with a kasra on the tāʾ in both cases. And the fatḥa in both is, in our view, the correct recitation, on account of the agreement of the authoritative reciters upon it.
