Tafseer of The Poets · Ash-Shu'araa · 26:3
Perhaps, [O Muhammad], you would kill yourself with grief that they will not be believers.
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 word: لَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَفْسَكَ أَلَّا يَكُونُوا مُؤْمِنِينَ (Perhaps you are destroying yourself because they are not believers) — the Exalted, in His remembrance, says: perhaps you, O Muḥammad, are destroying and ruining yourself because your people do not believe in you and do not affirm you in what you have brought them. Al-bakhʿ means: to kill and to ruin, in the speech of the Arabs. From this is derived the word in the poem of Dhū al-Rumma:
"Ah, he who out of grief destroys his soul over something that fate has taken away from his hands."
And what we have said about this is the same as what the people of interpretation said.
Mention of who said that:
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning بَاخِعٌ نَفْسَكَ: he is destroying himself.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word لَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَفْسَكَ أَلَّا يَكُونُوا مُؤْمِنِينَ — he said: perhaps you, out of longing for their belief, are driving your soul out of your body; that is al-bakhʿ.
It was related to us 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 لَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَفْسَكَ: out of passion for them.
And the word "an" in His word أَلَّا يَكُونُوا مُؤْمِنِينَ is in the accusative position, connected with bākhiʿ, as one says: I visited ʿAbd Allāh because he visited me — and that is a conditional construction. If the verb after "an" were future, the correct form of "an" would be an "an" with kasra, as one says: I visit ʿAbd Allāh if he visits me.
