Tafseer of The Criterion · Al-Furqaan · 25:22
The day they see the angels - no good tidings will there be that day for the criminals, and [the angels] will say, "Prevented and inaccessible."
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 mention, says: On the day when those who said لَوْلا أُنْـزِلَ عَلَيْنَا الْمَلائِكَةُ أَوْ نَرَى رَبَّنَا will see the angels confirming the mission of Muḥammad, on that day there will be no good tidings for them of anything good. وَيَقُولُونَ حِجْرًا مَحْجُورًا — that is to say: the angels say to the criminals "ḥijran maḥjūran" — forbidden and barred off from you are the good tidings that would have come to you today from Allah. Hence also the verse of al-Mutallamas:
حَنَّتْ إلَى نَخْلَةَ الْقُصْوَى فَقُلْتُ لَهَا حِجْرٌ حَرَامٌ أَلا تِلْكَ الدَّهَارِيسُ
And hence also the expression: "the judge has placed an interdiction upon so-and-so" and "so-and-so has forbidden his household members (from doing something)"; and hence also "ḥijr al-Kaʿba," because in the circumambulation one does not pass through it but goes around it; and hence the verse of another poet:
فَهَمَمْتُ أَنْ أَلْقَى إِلَيْهَا مَحْجَرًا فَلِمِثْلِهَا يُلْقَى إِلَيْهِ الْمَحْجَرُ
that is to say: for one like her the lawful (al-muḥrim) has been summoned.
The exegetes differed concerning who is indicated by the word "they say" in وَيَقُولُونَ حِجْرًا مَحْجُورًا and who the speakers are. Some said that the speakers are the angels who say this to the criminals — in accordance with what we have said.
* Mention of those who said this:
Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masrūqī related to me, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of al-Ajlaḥ, who said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim, and a man asked him about the word of Allah وَيَقُولُونَ حِجْرًا مَحْجُورًا — he said: the angels say: forbidden and barred off from you are the good tidings.
ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his grandfather, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of Qatāda — وَيَقُولُونَ حِجْرًا مَحْجُورًا — he said: this was a word that the Arabs used; when something harsh befell someone he would say: "ḥijr" — that is to say: forbidden and barred off.
It was related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: لا بُشْرَى يَوْمَئِذٍ لِلْمُجْرِمِينَ وَيَقُولُونَ حِجْرًا مَحْجُورًا — when the convulsions of the Hour came, and among those convulsions was that the heaven split apart — فَهِيَ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَاهِيَةٌ * وَالْمَلَكُ عَلَى أَرْجَائِهَا — upon the edge of everything that split apart from the heaven — that is the word of Allah: يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَ الْمَلائِكَةَ لا بُشْرَى يَوْمَئِذٍ لِلْمُجْرِمِينَ وَيَقُولُونَ — that is to say: the angels say to the criminals: forbidden and barred off from you, O criminals, are the good tidings today, now that you have seen 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, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَ الْمَلائِكَةَ — he said: on the Day of Resurrection. وَيَقُولُونَ حِجْرًا مَحْجُورًا — he said: I take refuge and seek protection.
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 — the same, and he added: the angels say that.
Others said: this is a report from Allah about the words of the polytheists when they behold the angels.
* Mention of those who said this:
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj — يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَ الْمَلائِكَةَ لا بُشْرَى يَوْمَئِذٍ لِلْمُجْرِمِينَ وَيَقُولُونَ حِجْرًا مَحْجُورًا — Ibn Jurayj said: the Arabs would say "ḥijr" when they detested something; so they said this when they beheld the angels. Ibn Jurayj said: Mujāhid said: حِجْرًا — refuge; they seek protection against the angels.
Abū Jaʿfar said: We chose the interpretation we chose concerning the meaning of this, because ḥijr is that which is forbidden; and it is clear that it is the angels who inform the unbelievers that the good tidings are forbidden to them. The istiʿādha (seeking refuge), however, is the invoking of protection and is not a banishment — and it is clear that the unbelievers do not say to the angels: it is forbidden for you — such that the word would receive the interpretation that it is a report about the words of the criminals to the angels.
