Tafseer of The Poets · Ash-Shu'araa · 26:137
This is not but the custom of the former peoples,
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.
And His saying: إِنْ هَذَا إِلا خُلُقُ الأوَّلِينَ (This is nothing but the custom of the ancients) — the reciters differed over the recitation of this. Most of the reciters of Medina, with the exception of Abū Jaʿfar, and most of the later Kūfan reciters read: إِنْ هَذَا إِلا خُلُقُ الأوَّلِينَ with ḍamma on the khāʾ and the lām — that is to say: this is nothing but the religion and custom of those who were before us. Abū Jaʿfar and Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ read: "in hādhā illā khalqu al-awwalīna" with a fatḥa on the khāʾ and a sukūn on the lām — with the meaning: this which you have brought us is nothing but the deceit and fabrications of the ancients.
The exegetes differed over its interpretation, in accordance with the difference of the reciters in their recitation. Some of them said: the meaning is "this is nothing but the religion, custom, and characters of the ancients."
— Mention of who said this:
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 saying: إِنْ هَذَا إِلا خُلُقُ الأوَّلِينَ — he said: "The religion of the ancients."
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: إِنْ هَذَا إِلا خُلُقُ الأوَّلِينَ — he said: "Such was the creation of the ancients; thus they lived and thus they died."
And others said: rather the meaning is "this is nothing but the deceit and fabrications of the ancients."
— Mention of who said this:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, 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, concerning إِنْ هَذَا إِلا خُلُقُ الأوَّلِينَ : he said: "The fabrications of the ancients."
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 saying إِلا خُلُقُ الأوَّلِينَ : he said: "Their deceit."
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 same effect.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying إِنْ هَذَا إِلا خُلُقُ الأوَّلِينَ : he said: "This is nothing but the affair of the ancients and their fabrications, which he has written down and which is whispered to him morning and evening."
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 ʿAlqama, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd: إِنْ هَذَا إِلا خُلُقُ الأوَّلِينَ — he said: "This is nothing but the fabrication of the ancients."
He said: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: Dāwūd informed us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of ʿAlqama, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, that he read إِنْ هَذَا إِلا خُلُقُ الأوَّلِينَ and said: "Something that they fabricated."
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, who said: ʿAlqama said concerning إِنْ هَذَا إِلا خُلُقُ الأوَّلِينَ : "The fabrication of the ancients."
The more correct of the two recitations in this matter is the recitation of those who read إِنْ هَذَا إِلا خُلُقُ الأوَّلِينَ with ḍamma on the khāʾ and the lām — with the meaning: this is nothing but the custom and the religion of the ancients, as Ibn ʿAbbās said — for they were indeed rebuked on account of the structures they erected, their striking out violently at people in the manner of tyrants, and their scant gratitude toward their Lord for the blessings He had bestowed upon them. They answered their prophet with the claim that they did what they did by following the custom of the nations before them and treading in their footsteps. They said: "What we do is nothing but khulq al-awwalīn" — by which, with "khulq," they meant: the custom of the ancients. This is further clarified and confirmed by the preference we give to the recitation and its interpretation, by their saying: وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمُعَذَّبِينَ (and we shall not be punished) — for if they did not acknowledge that there was a Lord over them Who had the power to punish them...
