Tafseer of The Stories · Al-Qasas · 28:85
Indeed, [O Muhammad], He who imposed upon you the Qur'an will take you back to a place of return. Say, "My Lord is most knowing of who brings guidance and who is in clear error."
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement, the Exalted: إِنَّ الَّذِي فَرَضَ عَلَيْكَ الْقُرْآنَ لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ قُلْ رَبِّي أَعْلَمُ مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْهُدَى وَمَنْ هُوَ فِي ضَلالٍ مُبِينٍ (85) (Indeed, He who has imposed the Qurʾān upon you will surely bring you back to a place of return. Say: My Lord knows best who has come with the guidance and who is in manifest error. (85))
The Exalted, whose praise is sublime, says: Indeed, He who has sent down upon you, O Muḥammad, the Qurʾān.
As al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: إِنَّ الَّذِي فَرَضَ عَلَيْكَ الْقُرْآنَ (Indeed, He who has imposed the Qurʾān upon you) he said: He who has given you the Qurʾān.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah: إِنَّ الَّذِي فَرَضَ عَلَيْكَ الْقُرْآنَ (Indeed, He who has imposed the Qurʾān upon you) he said: He who has given it to you.
The scholars of interpretation differed concerning the explanation of His statement: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return). Some of them said: its meaning is: to your final destination in Paradise (janna).
* Mention of who said that:
Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥabīb ibn al-Shahīd related to me, he said: ʿAttāb ibn Bishr related to us, on the authority of Khaṣīf, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: to your place of origin in Paradise.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Ibn Mahdī related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: to Paradise.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥabbān, I heard Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: his place of return is his Hereafter, Paradise.
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik, concerning إِنَّ الَّذِي فَرَضَ عَلَيْكَ الْقُرْآنَ لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (Indeed, He who has imposed the Qurʾān upon you will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: to Paradise, to question you about the Qurʾān.
Abū Kurayb and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them said: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, who said: Paradise.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Ibn Mahdī related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: to Paradise.
Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik, who said: He brings you back to Paradise, and then questions you about the Qurʾān.
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿIkrima and Mujāhid, both of them said: to Paradise.
Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Abū Tumayla related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥamza, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿIkrima and ʿAṭāʾ and Mujāhid and Abū Qazaʿa and al-Ḥasan, they said: the Day of Resurrection.
He said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: He brings you forth on the Day of Resurrection.
He said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and al-Zuhrī, both of them said: his place of return is the Day of Resurrection.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning his statement: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: He brings you forth on the Day of Resurrection.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Hawdha related to us, he said: ʿAwn related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His statement: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: your place of return in the Hereafter.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: al-Ḥasan used to say: Yes, by Allah, he indeed has a place of return; Allah will resurrect him on the Day of Resurrection and admit him into Paradise.
And others said: the meaning of that is: will surely bring you back to death.
* Mention of who said that:
Isḥāq ibn Wahb al-Wāsiṭī related to me, he said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Zubayrī related to us, he said: Sufyān ibn Saʿīd al-Thawrī related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: death.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: to death.
He said: my father related to me, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: to death.
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of someone who heard Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: to death.
Abū Kurayb and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them said: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: to death.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His statement: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: death.
Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: Abū Tumayla related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥamza, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿAdī ibn Thābit, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, they said: to death, or to Mecca.
And others said: no, rather the meaning of that is: will surely bring you back to the place from which you departed, and that is Mecca.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Yaʿlā ibn ʿUbayd related to us, on the authority of Sufyān al-ʿUṣfurī, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: to Mecca.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: He says: will surely bring you back to Mecca, just as He made you depart from it.
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ibn Yamān related to us, he said: Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq informed us, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: his birthplace in Mecca.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq, who said: I heard Mujāhid say: لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: to your birthplace in Mecca.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, he said: Yūnus ibn ʿAmr — that is, Ibn Abī Isḥāq — related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: إِنَّ الَّذِي فَرَضَ عَلَيْكَ الْقُرْآنَ لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (Indeed, He who has imposed the Qurʾān upon you will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: to your birthplace in Mecca.
Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣudāʾī related to me, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of al-Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq, on the authority of Mujāhid Abī al-Ḥajjāj, concerning His statement: إِنَّ الَّذِي فَرَضَ عَلَيْكَ الْقُرْآنَ لَرَادُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ (Indeed, He who has imposed the Qurʾān upon you will surely bring you back to a place of return) he said: to his birthplace in Mecca.
Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: to your birthplace in Mecca.
And the correct statement concerning that, in my view, is: the statement of him who said: will surely bring you back to your custom (ʿāda) of death, or to your custom in the place where you were born. For maʿād in this place means: the mafʿal-form of ʿāda (custom), not of ʿawd (return) — unless one who explains the interpretation directs His statement لَرَادُّكَ (will surely bring you back) toward the meaning of "your final destination," in which case His statement إِلَى مَعَادٍ (to a place of return) then is directed toward the meaning of ʿawd (return), and its interpretation would be: indeed, He who has imposed the Qurʾān upon you will surely cause you to attain that you return to Mecca, opened for you.
Should someone say: these meanings which you have described concerning it we have understood; what then is the import of the interpretation of him who interpreted it in the meaning of: will surely bring you back to Paradise? — then it is answered: the import of that interpretation should also be of that kind, in this last-mentioned manner, namely: your final destination is that you return to Paradise.
Should someone say: had he then been expelled from Paradise, that it should be said to him: We bring you back into it? — then it is answered: concerning that there are two imports. The first: that if his father Ādam — may Allah's peace be upon them both — was expelled from it, then it is as if his descendants, through Allah's expulsion of him from it, were also expelled from it; and whoever then enters it, it is as if he is brought back to it after the expulsion. And the second: that it is said that he — may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him — entered it on the night in which he was carried on the Night Journey, as has been related from him that he said: "I entered Paradise, and I saw therein a palace, and I said: For whom is this? And they said: For ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb," and the like of these reports which have been related from him concerning this; then he was brought back to the earth, and so it is said to him: indeed, He who has imposed the Qurʾān upon you will surely bring you back — your final destination is to the place from which you departed out of Paradise, that you return there. That, if Allah wills, is the statement of him who said that.
And His statement: قُلْ رَبِّي أَعْلَمُ مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْهُدَى (Say: My Lord knows best who has come with the guidance) — the Exalted, whose praise is sublime, says to His Prophet Muḥammad — may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him: Say, O Muḥammad, to these polytheists (mushrikīn): My Lord knows best who has come with the guidance, by which whoever treads it is saved, and who among us and among you has strayed from the straight path. And His statement: مُبِين (manifest) means: that it becomes manifest to the thinking, rational person, when he reflects upon it and considers it, that it is error and a straying from the guidance.
