Tafseer of The Stories · Al-Qasas · 28:79
So he came out before his people in his adornment. Those who desired the worldly life said, "Oh, would that we had like what was given to Qarun. Indeed, he is one of great fortune."
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 explanation of His word, the Exalted: فَخَرَجَ عَلَى قَوْمِهِ فِي زِينَتِهِ قَالَ الَّذِينَ يُرِيدُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا يَا لَيْتَ لَنَا مِثْلَ مَا أُوتِيَ قَارُونُ إِنَّهُ لَذُو حَظٍّ عَظِيمٍ (79) ("So he went forth before his people in his splendor. Those who desired the life of this world said: 'Would that we had the like of what has been given to Qārūn; truly, he possesses a tremendous fortune.'") (28:79)
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Then Qārūn went forth before his people in his splendor, and that was — according to what has been transmitted — garments of purple (arjuwān).
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Abū l-Zubayr, on the authority of Jābir: "So he went forth before his people in his splendor," he said: in crimson (qirmiz).
He said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn al-Aswad, on the authority of Mujāhid: "So he went forth before his people in his splendor," he said: in red garments.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn al-Aswad, on the authority of Mujāhid: "So he went forth before his people in his splendor," he said: upon white pack-horses, upon which lay purple saddles, and they wore clothing dyed with safflower [yellow].
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: "So he went forth before his people in his splendor," he said: he had on two garments dyed with safflower.
And Ibn Jurayj said: upon a grey-white mule upon which lay purple, with three hundred slave-girls (jāriya) upon the grey-white mules, who wore red garments.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father and Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to me, on the authority of Mubārak, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: "So he went forth before his people in his splendor," he said: in red and yellow garments.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk, that he heard Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī saying concerning this verse: "So he went forth before his people in his splendor," he said: in red garments.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī, with the same import.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ghundar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, with the same import.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī al-Muqaddamī related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥakīm related to us, saying: We went in one evening to Mālik ibn Dīnār, and behold, he was engaged in remembering Qārūn. He said: And behold, a man of his neighbors had on garments dyed with safflower. He said: Then Mālik said: "So he went forth before his people in his splendor," he said: in garments like the garments of this man.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "So he went forth before his people in his splendor" — we were told that they went forth upon four thousand mounts, while they themselves and their mounts wore purple.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "So he went forth before his people in his splendor," he said: he went forth in the midst of seventy thousand men, who wore clothing dyed with safflower — according to what my father used to relate to us.
"Those who desired the life of this world said: 'Would that we had the like of what has been given to Qārūn.'" The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: those among Qārūn's people who desired the splendor of the life of this world said: would that we had been given the like of its splendor which has been given to Qārūn; "truly, he possesses a tremendous fortune." He says: truly, Qārūn possesses a tremendous share of the worldly.
