Tafseer of The Believers · Al-Muminoon · 23:64
Until when We seize their affluent ones with punishment, at once they are crying [to Allah] for help.
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.
Allah, exalted be His remembrance, says: For these unbelievers of Quraysh there are deeds other than that — deeds that they will perform — until the affluent and dissolute among them are struck by the punishment. As in:
Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: إِذَا أَخَذْنَا مُتْرَفِيهِمْ بِالْعَذَابِ (When We seize the affluent among them with the punishment): he said: "The affluent ones (mutrafūn) are the great ones." إِذَا هُمْ يَجْأَرُونَ (then suddenly they cry out): that is to say, when We seize them with it, they cry out — he said: they wail and call for help on account of what has struck them of Our punishment. The crying out (juʾār) is the raising of the voice, as the bull bellows; hence the saying of al-Aʿshā:
"He alternates in the prayers of the Master — now in bowing low, now in wailing."
In the spirit of what we have said, the exegetes also spoke.
Mention of those who said this:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbdullāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: إِذَا هُمْ يَجْأَرُونَ (then suddenly they cry out) — he said: "They call for help."
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, they said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAlqama ibn Qardad, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the words: حَتَّى إِذَا أَخَذْنَا مُتْرَفِيهِمْ بِالْعَذَابِ إِذَا هُمْ يَجْأَرُونَ — he said: "With the swords on the day of Badr."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, concerning the words: إِذَا هُمْ يَجْأَرُونَ — he said: "They are in despair."
He said: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: حَتَّى إِذَا أَخَذْنَا مُتْرَفِيهِمْ بِالْعَذَابِ — he said: "The punishment on the day of Badr." إِذَا هُمْ يَجْأَرُونَ — he said: "Those who are in Mecca."
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning the words: حَتَّى إِذَا أَخَذْنَا مُتْرَفِيهِمْ بِالْعَذَابِ — he means the people of Badr; Allah seized them with the punishment on the day of Badr.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: I heard Ibn Zayd say concerning the words: إِذَا هُمْ يَجْأَرُونَ — he said: "They are in despair."