Tafseer of The Ant · An-Naml · 27:14
And they rejected them, while their [inner] selves were convinced thereof, out of injustice and haughtiness. So see how was the end of the corrupters.
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.
The discussion of the interpretation of the word of Allah, the Exalted: وَجَحَدُوا بِهَا وَاسْتَيْقَنَتْهَا أَنْفُسُهُمْ ظُلْمًا وَعُلُوًّا فَانْظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُفْسِدِينَ (27:14)
And His word: وَجَحَدُوا بِهَا — He says: they denied the nine signs and declared that they were not from Allah.
As al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: وَجَحَدُوا بِهَا — he said: the denial (juḥūd) is the giving the lie to them. And His word: وَاسْتَيْقَنَتْهَا أَنْفُسُهُمْ — He says: and their hearts were convinced of them, and they knew with certainty that they were from Allah, but they thereafter resisted the Truth after it had become clear to them and they had acknowledged it.
As 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 ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَاسْتَيْقَنَتْهَا أَنْفُسُهُمْ — he said: their certainty in their hearts.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word of Allah: وَاسْتَيْقَنَتْهَا أَنْفُسُهُمْ ظُلْمًا وَعُلُوًّا — he said: they were certain that the signs of Allah were true — but why then did they deny them? He said: out of injustice and haughtiness.
And His word: ظُلْمًا وَعُلُوًّا — by "ẓulm" (injustice) He means: presumption; and "ʿuluww" (haughtiness): arrogance — it is as though it were said: out of presumption and arrogance.
And in the same sense as what we have said about this, the people of interpretation spoke.
Mention of those 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, concerning His word: ظُلْمًا وَعُلُوًّا — he said: arrogance and presumption; and its meaning is: they denied the nine signs out of injustice and haughtiness, while their hearts were convinced that they were from Allah — they thereafter resisted the Truth after it was clear to them, and that belongs to the inverted [construction] whose meaning is the foremost.
And His word: فَانْظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُفْسِدِينَ .
Allah, exalted be His mention, says to His Prophet Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: Behold then, O Muḥammad, with the eye of your heart, how was the end of the giving the lie by those who denied Our signs when they came as clarifying proofs, and what befell them on account of their corruption upon the earth and their disobedience toward their Lord therein, and what their deeds brought them — for that drove them out of gardens and springs and crops and an honorable abode, to ruin in the present life through the drowning, and in the life to come to an eternal punishment that is never lightened for them and in which they remain despairing. He says: and thus, O Muḥammad, is My way with those who give the lie to what I brought to them of signs for the reality to which you call them from the Truth, of your people.
