Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:134
Who spend [in the cause of Allah] during ease and hardship and who restrain anger and who pardon the people - and Allah loves the doers of good;
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 Allah: وَسَارِعُوا إِلَى مَغْفِرَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا السَّمَاوَاتُ وَالأَرْضُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ (133) ("And hasten toward forgiveness from your Lord and toward a paradise (janna) whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth, prepared for the God-fearing") (133).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, means by His word "and hasten" — rush forth and compete — "toward forgiveness from your Lord," that is: toward that which covers your sins for you, out of His mercy, and that which conceals them for you through His pardon of the punishment for them — "and toward a paradise (janna) whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth," that is: and hasten likewise toward a paradise whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth.
* * *
It has been transmitted that the meaning of this is: and a paradise whose breadth is equal to the breadth of the seven heavens and the seven earths, when they are joined together.
* Mention of who said that:
7830 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning "and a paradise whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth," he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: The seven heavens and the seven earths are joined together, as the garments are joined together, one to another; that, then, is the breadth of the paradise.
* * *
It was said only "and a paradise whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth," its breadth being described by the heavens and the earths, while the meaning is what we have described: namely the description of its breadth by the breadth of the heavens and the earth, by way of comparing it with them in spaciousness and grandeur. As it is said: مَا خَلْقُكُمْ وَلا بَعْثُكُمْ إِلا كَنَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ [Surah Luqmān: 28] ("Your creation and your resurrection are but as that of a single soul"), which is to say: but as the resurrection of a single soul. And as the poet said:
It is as though their state, in the southern regions of Sillā, were ostriches, shrieking in a desolate land.
That is to say: the state of ostriches. And as another said:
You took the bellowing of my mount for a kid goat! But it is not — woe to one other than you — it is no kid.
He means: the sound of a young kid goat.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: It has been transmitted that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, was asked, and it was said to him: This paradise, whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth — where then is the Fire (al-nār)? He said: This day — when it comes, where then is the night?
* Mention of the reports concerning the Messenger of Allah, may Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, and others:
7831 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Muslim ibn Khālid informed me, on the authority of Ibn Khuthaym, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī Rāshid, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn Murra, who said: I met the Tanūkhī, the envoy of Heraclius to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, in Ḥimṣ — an aged old man who had reached the utmost of old age. He said: I came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, with the letter of Heraclius, and he gave the document to a man on his left side. I said: Who is your companion who reads? They said: Muʿāwiya. And behold, the letter of my master read: "You wrote to me and invited me to a paradise whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth, prepared for the God-fearing — where then is the Fire?" Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, said: Glory be to Allah! Where then is the night when the day comes?
7832 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn Muslim, on the authority of Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb: that a number of people of the Jews asked ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb about "a paradise whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth" — where then is the Fire? He said: What do you think — when the night comes, where then is the day? They said: By Allah, you have derived it from something similar in the Torah.
7833 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn Muslim, on the authority of Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb: that three men of the people of Najrān came to ʿUmar and asked him, while his companions were with him, and they said: What do you say concerning His word "and a paradise whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth" — where then is the Fire? The people drew back, but ʿUmar said: What do you think — when the night comes, where then is the day? And when the day comes, where then is the night? They said: You have derived something similar from the Torah.
7834 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba informed us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir, on the authority of Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb, on the authority of ʿUmar, in like manner, concerning the three men who came to ʿUmar and asked him about a paradise whose breadth is equal to the breadth of the heavens and the earth — like the narration of Qays ibn Muslim.
7835 — Mujāhid ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn related to us, saying: al-Aʿmash informed us, on the authority of Qays ibn Muslim, on the authority of Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb, who said: A man of the Jews came to ʿUmar and said: You say "a paradise whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth" — where then is the Fire? ʿUmar said to him: What do you think — the day, when it comes, where then is the night? What do you think — the night, when it comes, where then is the day? He said: It is truly something similar in the Torah. Then his companion said to him: Why did you tell him? But his companion said to him: Leave him; he is convinced of everything.
7836 — Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym informed us, saying: Jaʿfar ibn Burqān related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn al-Aṣamm related to us: that a man of the People of the Book came to Ibn ʿAbbās and said: You say "a paradise whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth" — where then is the Fire? Ibn ʿAbbās said: What do you think — the night, when it comes, where then is the day? And when the day comes, where then is the night?
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for His word "prepared for the God-fearing," it means: indeed, the paradise whose breadth is equal to the breadth of the heavens and the seven earths, that Allah has prepared for the God-fearing (al-muttaqīn) — those who feared Allah and obeyed Him in that which He commanded and forbade them, and who did not transgress His limits (ḥudūd) and did not fall short in the obligatory right that He has upon them, so as to neglect it. As:
7837 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said concerning "and hasten toward forgiveness from your Lord and toward a paradise whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth, prepared for the God-fearing": that is to say, an abode for whoever obeyed Me and obeyed My Messenger.
--------------
The footnotes:
(1) See the explanation of "sāraʿa" (to hasten) in what has preceded, 7: 130.
(2) He is Shaqīq ibn Jazʾ ibn Riyāḥ al-Bāhilī; it is attributed to al-Aʿshā Bāhila, and erroneously to al-Nābigha.
(3) Al-Kāmil 2: 196, Muʿjam al-buldān (Sillā), al-Lisān (fawq) and (sall). Shaqīq ibn Jazʾ had undertaken a raid against the Banū Ḍabba at the meadow of Sillā and the meadow of Sājir — these are two meadows of ʿUkl. Ḍabba, ʿAdī, ʿUkl and Taym are neighboring allies. He defeated them; ʿAwf ibn Ḍirār and Ḥakīm ibn Qabīṣa ibn Ḍirār escaped after the latter had been wounded, and they killed ʿUbayda ibn Quḍayb al-Ḍabbī. Then Shaqīq said:
Indeed, my eye has delighted in them, at Sillā and the meadow of Sājir with its lowland.
I requited those who sought refuge among them with what the spears of the Banū Ḍirār had taken away of misery.
And Ḥakīm escaped from our spearheads, all but dead, like the escaping of a donkey.
It is as though their state ...........
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In the Muʿjam it reads "dhāt al-ʿarā," but the correct reading is what I have established. Al-qarār is the low-lying, quiet place where the water collects, so that meadows arise there; of this too is His word, the Exalted: "And We brought them both to a highland with a resting-place and a spring." Al-muljiʾ is the one who has entrenched himself in a refuge and protected himself therein. "Azalla ilayhi zalla" means: he showed him kindness and did him a favor; here, however, he means, mockingly, the evil that they had earlier committed. He says: I requited these refuge-seekers with the worst of what they had done. His word "jarīḍan" means: he escaped while almost perishing and dying. Al-ʿadhīr is the state. He says: It is as though their state were the state of ostriches in a desolate land, shrieking in terror — they were defeated and cried out. Al-qifār is the plural of qafr; one says "arḍ qafr" and "arḍ qifār," it being described by the plural.
(4) He is Dhū al-Khirq al-Ṭuhawī.
(5) Its origin and explanation have been given earlier in 3: 103.
(6) In the printed edition it reads "qad uqʿida" ("he had become bedridden"). That is undoubtedly an error. In Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr 2: 240 it reads "qad fasada" ("he had become corrupt"), which is likewise incorrect. But it seems probable to me that the text of al-Ṭabarī here is "qad funnida" (with ḍamma on the fāʾ and a doubled, kasra-bearing nūn, in the passive form), with the meaning: he was ascribed to al-fanad (with two fatḥas), which means incapacity, and senility and the loss of the intellect through old age and illness. But that is not intended; what is intended is only the advanced age and the old age unto the utmost of life. The philologists say in this case "afnada" (in the active form); "afnadahu al-kibar" means: old age caused him to fall into al-fanad. As for the narration of Aḥmad in the Musnad, its text reads: "an aged old man who had reached al-fanad, or who was close to it."
(7) In the printed edition it reads "fa-idhā huwa annaka katabta tadʿūnī" — that is an attempt to correct what stood in the manuscript, namely "fa-idhā kāna katabta tadʿūnī." The correct reading, which I have established, comes from Ibn Kathīr in his Tafsīr 2: 241, and the same stands in the report of Aḥmad in his Musnad.
(8) The narration 7831: "Muslim ibn Khālid" is al-Zanjī al-Makkī, the jurist, the teacher of Imam al-Shāfiʿī. In himself he is trustworthy (ṣadūq), but he makes many errors in his narration, so that al-Bukhārī said: "objectionable in narration" (munkar al-ḥadīth); therefore we have given preference to his weakening in the Musnad: 613. Ibn Khuthaym — with ḍamma on the dotted khāʾ and after it a fatḥa on the three-dotted thāʾ — is ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym, whose biography has been given earlier in: 4341. Saʿīd ibn Abī Rāshid: in al-Tahdhīb 4: 26; it is also said Ibn Rāshid. He narrated on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn Murra al-Thaqafī, and on the authority of the Christian Tanūkhī, the envoy of the emperor — it is said: the envoy of Heraclius. From him narrated ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym. Ibn Ḥibbān mentioned him among the trustworthy (al-thiqāt). I say: and among the narrators there is another Saʿīd ibn Abī Rāshid, or Ibn Rāshid.
Then the editor of al-Tahdhīb took over a footnote from the original from which it is printed, and placed its number at the word "the Christian" — and this is its text: "Our teacher said: he converted late to Islam; therefore he is called Abū Muḥammad al-Māzinī, al-Sammāk, mentioned in the book of the weak narrators (al-ḍuʿafāʾ). I have pointed it out"!!
This is a strange arrangement by the editor, for the footnote was originally with certainty two footnotes, each in its own place, as is self-evident.
For his word "he converted late" fits with his word "the Christian." And as for what comes after that, by it he means that "Saʿīd ibn Rāshid" or "Ibn Abī Rāshid" is later than the one discussed who narrates on the authority of the envoy of the emperor, and that this later one is the one whose kunya is "Abū Muḥammad al-Māzinī al-Sammāk." He is discussed in al-Kabīr of al-Bukhārī 2/1/431, in which he said: "objectionable in narration." Ibn Abī Ḥātim discussed him 4/1/19-20 under number 80, and before that, under number 79, he discussed "Saʿīd ibn Abī Rāshid" and that this one was a companion (ṣaḥābī), and then, under number 81, he discussed "Saʿīd ibn Rāshid al-Murādī" — who is later than these two.
The ḥāfiẓ discussed in al-Iṣāba 3: 96 the companion, and then said at the end of the biography: "As for Saʿīd ibn Abī Rāshid, the teacher of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym, who narrated on his authority a narration about the envoy of the emperor — I suspect that he is not this one."
Al-Dhahabī discussed in al-Mīzān 1: 379 three biographies, and distinguished between them, and between the weakness of "Saʿīd ibn Rāshid al-Māzinī al-Sammāk." So too did the ḥāfiẓ in Lisān al-Mīzān 3: 27-28. And "Saʿīd ibn Rāshid al-Sammāk," the weak one: Ibn Ḥibbān discussed him in al-Majrūḥīn under number 398, and spoke ill of him. The most probable, in my view, is that "Saʿīd ibn Abī Rāshid" who occurs here is the companion, and that he narrated this on the authority of the Tanūkhī, the envoy of Heraclius.
Yaʿlā ibn Murra: he is the well-known companion al-Thaqafī. In my view his mention in this isnād was inserted by mistake, as will yet become clear.
The Tanūkhī, the envoy of Heraclius: I have found no biography of him, except his mention with this description and that Saʿīd ibn Abī Rāshid narrated on his authority, as the ḥāfiẓ mentions it in al-Taʿjīl, p. 535. And except the words that the editor of al-Tahdhīb took over from the margin of his original, that he converted late to Islam. He is therefore not counted among the companions, for when he met the Prophet, may Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, he was not a Muslim; he converted only after him. And among the companions is counted only one who saw the Prophet, may Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, and was a Muslim at the moment of seeing. As for one who saw him while he was an unbeliever at the moment of seeing and then, after his death, may Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, converted — as did this Tanūkhī — he has no companionship. See Tadrīb al-rāwī, p. 202.
But his narration is valid and acceptable, because he was a Muslim at the moment of transmission — I mean the passing on and the narrating — even though he was an unbeliever at the moment of receiving — I mean the seeing and the hearing of what he narrates. See also Tadrīb al-rāwī, p. 128. This narration is a part of a long narration within a story, narrated by Imam Aḥmad in the Musnad: 15719 (volume 3, pp. 441-442, Ḥalabī edition), on the authority of Isḥāq ibn ʿĪsā — that is al-Ṭabbāʿ — on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Sulaym, that is al-Ṭāʾifī, "on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī Rāshid, who said: I saw the Tanūkhī, the envoy of Heraclius to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, in Ḥimṣ, and he was a neighbor of mine, an aged old man who had reached al-fanad or was close to it..." — to the end of the story.
The ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr took it over in al-Taʾrīkh 5: 15-16, from the Musnad — in its full length — and with its isnād, and then said: "This is a rare narration, and its isnād is not bad. Aḥmad stands alone with it." He referred to it in the Tafsīr 2: 240, with a brief reference.
In my two copies of the Musnad — the printed and the handwritten — it reads "Yaḥyā ibn Sulaymān" in place of "Yaḥyā ibn Sulaym." That is an error of the copyists. It stands correctly in the Taʾrīkh of Ibn Kathīr. This, then, is the narration of Yaḥyā ibn Sulaym al-Ṭāʾifī on the authority of Ibn Khuthaym — in it stands that Saʿīd ibn Abī Rāshid is the one who met the Tanūkhī and heard this narration from him.
Yaḥyā ibn Sulaym: his trustworthiness has been established earlier in: 4894. Some have spoken about him on account of his memory, but whatever is said about his memory, we do not doubt that he had a better memory than the weak Muslim ibn Khālid al-Zanjī, and especially in the narration of Ibn Khuthaym, for Aḥmad testified concerning Yaḥyā ibn Sulaym that he "had mastered the narration of Ibn Khuthaym."
Therefore we have established with certainty that the addition "on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn Murra" — in this isnād of al-Ṭabarī — is an error and a mistake. The most probable is that the error comes from Muslim ibn Khālid. This narration of al-Ṭabarī was mentioned by Ibn Kathīr in the Tafsīr 2: 240-241, and by al-Suyūṭī 2: 71, and neither of them attributed it to another.
(9) In the printed edition it reads "mithlahu min al-Tawrāt," and in the manuscript "fa-mithlahu"; the correct reading of it is what I have established. One says: "intazaʿa maʿnan jayyidan wa-nazaʿahu," that is: he derived it and drew it forth.
(10) The narration 7836: Jaʿfar ibn Burqān — with ḍamma on the doubled bāʾ and sukūn on the rāʾ — al-Kilābī al-Jazarī: trustworthy, ṣadūq; Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn Numayr and others declared him trustworthy. Yazīd ibn al-Aṣamm ibn ʿUbayd al-Bakkāʾī: a trustworthy Successor (tābiʿī); his mother was Barza bint al-Ḥārith, the sister of Maymūna, the Mother of the believers. ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās is the son of his mother's sister.
In the printed edition it reads here "Yazīd al-Aṣamm," which is an error. "Al-Aṣamm" is the byname of his father, not his own byname. This narration was related by Yazīd ibn al-Aṣamm on the authority of the son of his mother's sister, Ibn ʿAbbās, as a statement attributed to him (mawqūf) of his own words. The isnād up to him is authentic (ṣaḥīḥ).
Yazīd also narrated it on the authority of Abū Hurayra, in ascending form (marfūʿ), who said: "A man came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, and said: O Muḥammad, what do you say concerning a paradise whose breadth is equal to the heavens and the earth — where then is the Fire? The Prophet, may Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, said: What do you think — this night, which was and then is no more, where has it gone? He said: Allah knows best. He said: Indeed, Allah does what He wills." Ibn Ḥibbān narrated it in his Ṣaḥīḥ, under number 103 in our redaction, and al-Ḥākim in al-Mustadrak 1: 36 — from the narration of Yazīd ibn al-Aṣamm on the authority of Abū Hurayra. Al-Ḥākim said: "An authentic narration according to the standard of the two shaykhs, although they both did not include it, and I know of no defect in it," and al-Dhahabī agreed with him. So too al-Bazzār narrated it from his narration. Ibn Kathīr took it over from him 2: 241, in like manner.
Al-Haythamī mentioned it in Majmaʿ al-zawāʾid 6: 327, and said: "al-Bazzār narrated it, and his narrators are the narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ." Al-Suyūṭī mentioned it 2: 71, and attributed it only to al-Bazzār and al-Ḥākim. As for the report attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās (mawqūf), Ibn Kathīr took it over 2: 241, from this place in al-Ṭabarī. Al-Suyūṭī mentioned it 2: 71, and attributed it to him and to ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd.
(11) The report 7837: Sīrat Ibn Hishām 3: 115, and it is a continuation of the reports the last of which is: 7829. In the printed edition it read "ay dhālika li-man aṭāʿanī," which, although it is correct in one manner, does not preclude that the text of Ibn Hishām is yet more correct along the line of the meaning in the verse; therefore I have established the text of Ibn Hishām. This, together with the closeness of the scribal error in "dāran" to "dhālika." Therefore I have given preference to what stands in the Sīra of Ibn Hishām.
