Tafseer of The Criterion · Al-Furqaan · 25:17
And [mention] the Day He will gather them and that which they worship besides Allah and will say, "Did you mislead these, My servants, or did they [themselves] stray from the way?"
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 praise — says: And the Day on which We gather these slanderers concerning the Hour — the worshippers of idols — and that which they worshipped apart from Allah, of the angels, men, and jinn.
As Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, 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 the word of Allah: وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ (And the Day on which He gathers them and that which they worshipped apart from Allah) — then He says: أَأَنْتُمْ أَضْلَلْتُمْ عِبَادِي هَؤُلاءِ (Was it you who led these My servants astray?) — he said: ʿĪsā, ʿUzayr, and the angels.
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, to the like effect.
The Qurʾān-reciters differ among themselves over the reading of this. Abū Jaʿfar al-Qāriʾ and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr read: وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ فَيَقُولُ (And the Day on which He gathers them ... then He says) — both with the yāʾ (third person), with the meaning of: And the Day on which your Lord gathers them, and gathers those whom they worshipped apart from Him, then He says. Most of the Kufan reciters read: نَحْشُرُهُمْ (We gather them) with the nūn (first person plural) — then We say. So too read Nāfiʿ.
The most correct view concerning this is to say that they are two well-known readings with nearly the same meaning — with whichever of the two the reader recites, he has hit upon what is correct.
His word: فَيَقُولُ أَأَنْتُمْ أَضْلَلْتُمْ عِبَادِي هَؤُلاءِ — He says: Then Allah says to those who were worshipped by these polytheists apart from Allah: Was it you who led these My servants astray — He says: Did you turn them away from the path of guidance, calling them to error and ruin, until they went astray and perished? أَمْ هُمْ ضَلُّوا السَّبِيلَ (or did they themselves forsake the way?) — He says: Or were My servants themselves the ones who forsook the path of right guidance and the Truth and steered toward ruin?
