Tafseer of The Romans · Ar-Room · 30:7
They know what is apparent of the worldly life, but they, of the Hereafter, are unaware.
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: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven, maar van het hiernamaals zijn zij onachtzaam (7).
The Exalted, whose remembrance is sublime, says: these deniers of the truthfulness of the report of Allah — that the Byzantines shall overcome the Persians — know the outward of their worldly life, and the management of their livelihood therein, and what is good for them; but of the matter of their Hereafter, and of what would provide them there with deliverance from the punishment of Allah, they are heedless — they do not reflect upon it.
And in the sense of what we have said about this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Abū Tumayla Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ al-Anṣārī related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid related to us, saying: Yazīd al-Naḥwī related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven. He means: their livelihood, when they harvest and when they plant.
Aḥmad ibn al-Walīd al-Ramlī related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmar related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn ʿAlī, saying: Abū Tumayla related to us, saying: Ibn Wāqid related to us, on the authority of Yazīd al-Naḥwī, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven. He said: when they sow, when they plant.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: Sharqī related to me, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His saying: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven. He said: it is the lamp, or something of the kind.
Abū Hurayra Muḥammad ibn Firās al-Ḍubaʿī related to us, saying: Abū Qutayba related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Sharqī, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His saying: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven. He said: the lamp-makers.
Aḥmad ibn al-Walīd al-Ramlī related to us, saying: Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Sharqī, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His saying: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven. He said: the leatherworkers and the lamp-makers.
Bishr ibn Ādam related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven. He said: their livelihood, and what is good for them.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, the like of it.
Bishr ibn Ādam related to me, saying: al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Makhlad related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿIkrima, and on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven. He said: their livelihood.
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven. He means the unbelievers (kuffār): they know the building up of the worldly life, but in the matter of religion they are ignorant.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿIkrima: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven. He said: their livelihood, and what is good for them.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, the like of it.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven — of his craft, his conduct, and his striving, maar van het hiernamaals zijn zij onachtzaam.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of a man, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, saying: they know when their sowing-time is and when their harvest is.
He said: Ḥafṣ ibn Rāshid al-Hilālī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Sharqī, on the authority of ʿIkrima: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven. He said: the lamp and the like.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, saying: his expenditure on his livelihood.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven, maar van het hiernamaals zijn zij onachtzaam (1).
And others said about this what Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, concerning His saying: Zij kennen het uiterlijke van het wereldse leven. He said: the devils eavesdrop secretly, and they catch the word that has been sent down and that is to come to pass on the earth. He said: and they are pelted with fiery stars, and not one of them escapes being burned or being struck by a spark thereof. He said: then he falls down and never returns again. He said: and he casts that which he has overheard to his confederates among mankind. He said: and they add to it a thousand lies. He said: and thus I see people saying: such and such will come to pass. He said: then the true portion of it comes about, as they say — that which they overheard from the heaven — and following it comes the lie in which they immerse themselves.
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Footnotes:
(1) Thus in the manuscript copies; the explanation is not mentioned, and perhaps it was dropped by the pen of the copyist, or perhaps it was the word "the like of it" or "similar to it," which he often omits.
