Tafseer of The Criterion · Al-Furqaan · 25:77
Say, "What would my Lord care for you if not for your supplication?" For you [disbelievers] have denied, so your denial is going to be adherent.
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.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word قُلْ مَا يَعْبَأُ بِكُمْ رَبِّي — "what does (My Lord) care, were it not for your supplication."
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, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word قُلْ مَا يَعْبَأُ بِكُمْ رَبِّي — he said: "yaʿbaʾu" means: "cares."
His word لَوْلا دُعَاؤُكُمْ — that is to say: were it not for the worship of those whom you worship and the obedience of those whom you obey.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes also spoke.
— Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word مَا يَعْبَأُ بِكُمْ رَبِّي لَوْلا دُعَاؤُكُمْ — he said: were it not for your faith; and Allah informed the unbelievers that He has no need of them, since He did not create them as believers; for had He any need of them, He would have made faith beloved to them just as He made it beloved to the believers.
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, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word لَوْلا دُعَاؤُكُمْ — he said: were it not for your supplication to Him to worship Him and obey Him.
His word فَقَدْ كَذَّبْتُمْ — Allah the Exalted says to the polytheists of Quraysh, the people of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: you have denied your messenger who was sent to you, and you have opposed the affair of your Lord; had you but held fast to it, your Lord would have taken account of you. Your denial of the Messenger of your Lord and your opposing the command of your Creator will be a punishment that clings to you — a slaying by the swords and a destruction that will strike them one after another — as Abū Dhuʾayb al-Hudhalī said:
"It came upon him with a raging, clinging assault — as a heavily damaged watering-place overflows."
By this he means, by "clinging" (lizām): the great (flood) that follows one upon another; and by "heavily damaged" (laqīf): the collapsing watering-place whose stones have fallen away, which caves in. Allah indeed did this to them, fulfilled His promise to them, slew them on the day of Badr by the hands of His friends, and made them follow one upon another; that was the clinging punishment (al-ʿadhāb al-lizām).
In accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes also spoke.
— Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: the freedman of Shaqīq ibn Thawr informed me that he heard Salmān Abū ʿAbd Allāh saying: I prayed behind Ibn al-Zubayr and heard him recite: "fa-qad kadhaba al-kāfirūna."
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Adham al-Sudūsī related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Majīd, who said: I heard Muslim ibn ʿAmmār say: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās recite this word as: "fa-qad kadhaba al-kāfirūna فَسَوْفَ يَكُونُ لِزَامًا ."
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to us, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: قُلْ مَا يَعْبَأُ بِكُمْ رَبِّي لَوْلا دُعَاؤُكُمْ فَقَدْ كَذَّبْتُمْ فَسَوْفَ يَكُونُ لِزَامًا — he said: the unbelievers, the enemies of Allah, denied.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, who said: "they will be struck by the clinging on the day of Badr."
Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Muslim, on the authority of Masrūq, who said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said: five have already passed: the smoke, the clinging, the calamity, the moon, and the Byzantines.
Al-Ḥasan related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word فَسَوْفَ يَكُونُ لِزَامًا — he said: Ubayy ibn Kaʿb said: that is the slaying on the day of Badr.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: the clinging is the day of Badr.
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: فَسَوْفَ يَكُونُ لِزَامًا — he said: that is the day of Badr.
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, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: فَسَوْفَ يَكُونُ لِزَامًا — he said: the day of Badr.
Al-Qāsim related to me, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — something similar.
He said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, who said: the clinging is the slaying on the day of Badr.
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 فَقَدْ كَذَّبْتُمْ فَسَوْفَ يَكُونُ لِزَامًا — the unbelievers denied the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and what he had brought them from Allah, "and soon the clinging will be there" — and that is the day of Badr.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, who said: the clinging has passed — the clinging was the day of Badr; seventy were taken captive and seventy killed.
Others said: the meaning of the clinging is the battle.
— Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word فَسَوْفَ يَكُونُ لِزَامًا — he said: the clinging will soon be an armed battle; the clinging is the battle.
Others said: the clinging is death.
— Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: فَسَوْفَ يَكُونُ لِزَامًا — he said: death.
Some of the scholars of the Arabic language said: its meaning is: it will soon be a requital that clings to every doer for the good or evil he has performed. We have already set forth the correct statement about this. The accusative in "al-lizāma" also has a reason other than the one mentioned, namely that in يَكُون the subject is elided, after which "al-lizāma" stands in the accusative as the predicate, as was said in the verse:
"When there is lance-thrusting and battle between them."
Some who had no knowledge of the statements of the scholars supposed that its interpretation is: "say: what does your Lord reckon of you, were it not for your supplication to those whom you call upon besides Him of gods and equals?" But this is a statement not worth occupying oneself with, because it lies outside the statements of the scholars among the exegetes.
End of the tafsīr of sūra al-Furqān, all praise be to Allah alone.
