Tafseer of The Stories · Al-Qasas · 28:82
And those who had wished for his position the previous day began to say, "Oh, how Allah extends provision to whom He wills of His servants and restricts it! If not that Allah had conferred favor on us, He would have caused it to swallow us. Oh, how the disbelievers do not succeed!"
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 the saying of the Exalted: وَأَصْبَحَ الَّذِينَ تَمَنَّوْا مَكَانَهُ بِالأَمْسِ يَقُولُونَ وَيْكَأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَقْدِرُ لَوْلا أَنْ مَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَيْنَا لَخَسَفَ بِنَا وَيْكَأَنَّهُ لا يُفْلِحُ الْكَافِرُونَ ("And those who had wished for his place the day before began to say: Do you not see that Allah extends provision for whom He wills of His servants, and restricts [it as well]? Had Allah not been gracious to us, He would have caused us [likewise] to be swallowed up. Do you not see that the disbelievers do not succeed?") (28:82).
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: And those who the day before had wished for his place in the world — his wealth, the abundance of his possessions and what had been given to him of that the day before, that is, before there came down upon him what came down of wrath and punishment from Allah — began to say: "wayka'anna" (do you not see that) Allah ...
People differed over the meaning of وَيْكَأَنَّ اللَّهَ ("wayka'anna llāha"). As for Qatāda, two statements are related from him concerning this; the first of them is what:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Khālid ibn ʿAthma related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Bashīr related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said concerning His word وَيْكَأَنَّهُ ("wayka'annahu"): he said: it means "do you not see that he."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَيْكَأَنَّهُ — "do you then not see that he."
And Ismāʿīl ibn al-Mutawakkil al-Ashjaʿī related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Kathīr related to us, saying: Maʿmar related to me, on the authority of Qatāda: وَيْكَأَنَّهُ — he said: "do you not see that he."
And the other statement is what al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word وَيْكَأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ ("wayka'anna llāha extends the provision"): he said: "does he then not know that Allah," and وَيْكَأَنَّهُ ("wayka'annahu"): "does he then not know that he."
This explanation which we have mentioned from Qatāda was also explained thus by some of the experts in the language of the Arabs among the people of Basra, and to confirm the correctness of his explanation he cited as a witness the word of the poet:
The two of them asked me for separation when they both saw that my wealth had become small — verily, you two have come with something objectionable!
Do you not see that whoever has wealth is loved, and whoever becomes poor leads a life of misery?
And some grammarians of Kufa said: "wayka'anna" in the language of the Arabs is an affirmation (taqrīr), like the word of a man: "do you not see the deed of Allah and His benevolence?" And he mentioned that someone who heard it from her informed him that he heard a bedouin woman say to her husband: "Where is our son?" To which he said: "wayka'annahu behind the house." The meaning is: do you then not see him behind the house? He said: and some grammarians reduce it to the view that it is two words, by which one means: "wayka annahu," as if one meant "waylak" (woe to you) and dropped the lām, after which one places "anna" with the fatḥa on account of an elided verb, as if one said: "waylak, know that he is behind the house," eliding "know."
He said: But we have not found that the Arabs cause the verb "ẓann" (to suppose) to govern in elided form, nor "ʿilm" (to know) and the like, upon "anna"; and that is because it becomes invalid when it stands between the two words or at the end of the word. So when it was elided, it proceeded like that which is postposed. Do you not see that at the beginning of a sentence it is not permissible to say: "O you, annaka qāʾimun" (that you are standing), or "O you, an qumta" (that you stood), while one means: "I knew," or "I know," or "I supposed," or "I suppose"? As for the dropping of the lām from your word "waylak" until it becomes "wayk": that the Arabs do indeed say, on account of its frequency in speech. ʿAntara said:
And verily my soul found healing and its malady was driven off by the word of the horsemen: "wayka, ʿAntara, forward, charge!"
He said: And others said: the meaning of His word وَيْكَأَنَّ ("wayka'anna") is: "way" is separate from "ka'anna," like your word to a man: "way, do you not see what is before you?" One thus says "way" and then begins anew: "ka'anna llāha (as if Allah) extends the provision." And it is an expression of wonder, and "ka'anna" here has the meaning of supposing and knowing. This is therefore a plausible view. He said: But the Arabs did not write it separately; had it been so, they would have written it separately. It is indeed possible that speech became frequent with it, so that it was joined with something that does not belong to it.
And another of them said: "way" is an exclamation of attention (tanbīh), and "ka'anna" is another particle alongside it, with the meaning: "perhaps the matter is so," and "I suppose that the matter is so," because "ka'anna" takes the place of "I suppose," "I deem," and "I know."
And the correct of the views concerning this is the view which we have mentioned from Qatāda, namely that the meaning is: "do you not see," "do you not know," on account of the witness which we have mentioned with it from the word of the poet and the transmission of the Arabs; and because "wayka'anna" in the script of the muṣḥaf is a single word. When, however, one explains it otherwise than the explanation which we have mentioned from Qatāda, then it becomes two words. For if one explains it according to the view of him who explains it with the meaning: "waylak, know that Allah," then one would have to separate "wayk" from "anna," and that contradicts the script of all the copies of the muṣḥaf, besides the fact that it is grammatically unsound for what we have mentioned. And if one explains it according to the view of him who says: "way" with the meaning of attention, and then begins the sentence anew with "ka'anna," then one would have to separate "way" from "ka'anna," and that too contradicts the scripts of all the copies of the muṣḥaf.
When, then, it is a single word, then the correct explanation is what Qatāda has said. And since that is the correct one, the explanation of the saying is: And those who the day before had wished for the place and the position of Qārūn in the world said, when they saw what Allah had caused to come down upon him of vengeance: Do you two not see this, that Allah extends provision for whom He wills of His servants, and makes it ample for him — not on account of the excellence of his rank with Him, nor on account of his honor with Him, as He had extended it for Qārūn, not on account of his excellence nor his honor with Him? وَيَقْدِرُ ("and restricts [it as well]") — he says: and He makes it narrow for whom He wills of His creatures, and restricts it for him, not on account of that one's lowliness, nor on account of His wrath at his deed.
And His word: لَوْلا أَنْ مَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَيْنَا ("Had Allah not been gracious to us") — he says: Had He not been gracious to us and turned away from us what we wished for the day before, لَخَسَفَ بِنَا ("He would have caused us to be swallowed up").
The Qurʾān reciters differed over its reading. The general reciters of the cities, with the exception of Shayba, read it: "la-khusifa binā" with ḍamma on the khāʾ and kasra on the sīn (in the passive form). And from Shayba and al-Ḥasan it was reported: لَخَسَفَ بِنَا ("la-khasafa binā") with fatḥa on the khāʾ and the sīn (in the active form), with the meaning: Allah would have caused us to be swallowed up.
And His word: وَيْكَأَنَّهُ لا يُفْلِحُ الْكَافِرُونَ ("Do you not see that the disbelievers do not succeed") — he says: do you not know that the disbelievers (al-kāfirūn) do not succeed, so that their requests would be granted?
