Tafseer of The Criterion · Al-Furqaan · 25:5
And they say, "Legends of the former peoples which he has written down, and they are dictated to him morning and afternoon."
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.
It is related that this verse came down concerning al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith, and that he is the one intended by His words وَقَالُوا أَسَاطِيرُ الأوَّلِينَ.
Mention of who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: A shaykh from Egypt — who had arrived more than forty years ago — related to us, from ʿIkrima, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "Al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Kalda ibn ʿAlqama ibn ʿAbd Manāf ibn ʿAbd al-Dār ibn Quṣayy was among the devils of Quraysh. He insulted the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and harbored enmity toward him. He had traveled to al-Ḥīra and there had learned the tales of the Persian kings, as well as the tales of Rustam and Isfandiyār. Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sat in a gathering and reminded his people of Allah, and told them of what had befallen the preceding peoples of the vengeance of Allah, al-Naḍr would take his place in that gathering as soon as he had risen; then he would say: By Allah, O people of Quraysh, I tell finer tales than he. Come, I will tell you finer than his tales. Then he would tell them about the Persian kings and Rustam and Isfandiyār, and then say: Muḥammad does not tell finer tales than I. Thereupon Allah — exalted and blessed is He — sent down eight verses of the Qurʾān concerning al-Naḍr: His words إِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِ آيَاتُنَا قَالَ أَسَاطِيرُ الأَوَّلِينَ, and all the rest in which the asāṭīr are mentioned in the Qurʾān."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad related to me, from Saʿīd or ʿIkrima, from Ibn ʿAbbās — a similar narration, but he placed the words "Allah sent down concerning al-Naḍr eight verses" with Ibn Isḥāq, from al-Kalbī, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Ibn ʿAbbās.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj — concerning أَسَاطِيرُ الأوَّلِينَ: "Their poems and their soothsaying; and al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith said it."
The meaning of the statement is therefore: And these polytheists toward Allah, who said concerning this Qurʾān إِنْ هَذَا إِلا إِفْكٌ افْتَرَاهُ — that Muḥammad ﷺ fabricated it — said: This which Muḥammad has brought us is the asāṭīr of the ancients — that is to say: the tales which they wrote down in their books, which Muḥammad ﷺ has copied from the Jews. فَهِيَ تُمْلَى عَلَيْهِ — by which they mean: these asāṭīr are read out to him, from the usage: I dictated to you the book and I set it out before you. بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلا — He says: And it is dictated to him in the morning and in the evening.
