Tafseer of The Prostration · As-Sajda · 32:21
And we will surely let them taste the nearer punishment short of the greater punishment that perhaps they will repent.
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 saying, the Exalted: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ الأَدْنَى دُونَ الْعَذَابِ الأَكْبَرِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ (32:21) (And We shall certainly make them taste the nearer punishment, before the greater punishment, that perhaps they may return.)
The scholars of interpretation differed concerning the meaning of the nearer punishment (al-ʿadhāb al-adnā) which Allah promised to make these reprobates (fāsiqūn) taste. Some of them said: it is the calamities of the world in persons and possessions.
* Mention of those who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَاب الأدنى (And We shall certainly make them taste the nearer punishment), he says: the calamities of the world, its diseases and its trials, with which Allah tests the servants until they repent.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his saying: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى دُونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَر لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ, he said: the nearer punishment is the trial of the world; it was said: it is the calamities.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of al-Ḥasan al-ʿUranī, on the authority of Ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى (And We shall certainly make them taste the nearer punishment), he said: the calamities in the world; he said: and the smoke (al-dukhān) has already passed, as have the seizure (al-baṭsha) and the abiding affliction (al-lizām).
Abū Mūsā said: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd dropped Yaḥyā ibn al-Jazzār — one man fewer in the chain.
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd and Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, both of them saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of al-Ḥasan al-ʿUranī, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn al-Jazzār, on the authority of Ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, that he said concerning this verse: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى دُونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَرِ, he said: the calamities of the world, the abiding affliction (al-luzūm) and the seizure (al-baṭsha), or the smoke (al-dukhān): Shuʿba was uncertain about the seizure or the smoke.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of al-Ḥasan al-ʿUranī, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn al-Jazzār, on the authority of Ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, in a similar manner, except that he said: the calamities, the abiding affliction (al-luzūm) and the seizure (al-baṭsha).
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Zayd ibn Ḥubāb related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of al-Ḥasan al-ʿUranī, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn al-Jazzār, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, he said: the calamities with which they are stricken in the world: the seizure (al-baṭsha), the smoke (al-dukhān) and the abiding affliction (al-luzūm).
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى (And We shall certainly make them taste the nearer punishment), he said: the calamities in the world.
He said: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى دُونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَرِ, he said: the calamities in their world and their possessions.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who related it to him, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning his saying: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى: that is, the calamities of the world.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى, he said: matters with which they are stricken in the world.
And others said: thereby are meant the prescribed punishments (ḥudūd).
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of Shabīb, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى دُونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَرِ, he said: the prescribed punishments (ḥudūd).
And others said: thereby is meant the killing by the sword; he said: and they were killed on the day of Badr.
* Mention of those who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Masrūq, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى, he said: the day of Badr.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Masrūq, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh, the same.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Masrūq, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh, the same.
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: ʿAwf informed us, on the authority of someone who related it to him, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī, that he said: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى دُونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَرِ, he said: the killing by the sword while bound (qatl bi-l-sayf ṣabran).
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Nawfal: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى دُونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَرِ, he said: the killing by the sword; everything of the nearer punishment that Allah has promised this community is only the sword.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى دُونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَرِ, he said: the killing and the famine for the Quraysh in the world.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: Mujāhid used to relate on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, that he used to say: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى دُونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَرِ: the day of Badr.
And others said: thereby are meant the years (of drought/famine) that struck them.
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى دُونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَرِ, he said: years (of famine) that struck 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 same.
And others said: thereby is meant the punishment of the grave.
* Mention of those who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, saying: ʿUbaydullāh related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى دُونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَرِ, he said: the nearer punishment is in the graves and the punishment of the world.
And others said: it is the punishment of the world.
* Mention of those who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning his saying: وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ العَذَابِ الأدْنَى, he said: the nearer punishment is the punishment of the world.
And the most correct of the statements on this is that one says: Allah promised these reprobates, who denied His threat, the nearer punishment in the world, that He would make them taste it before the greater punishment. And the punishment is that which took place in the world of the trial that struck them, whether the severity of a famine, or killing, or calamities with which they are stricken — all of this belongs to the nearer punishment. Allah, whose mention is exalted, did not restrict it, when He promised them that, to punishment with one kind of it apart from another kind; for He has indeed punished them with all of this in the world: with killing, hunger, adversities and calamities in possessions. Thus He fulfilled for them what He promised them.
And His saying: دُونَ العَذابِ الأكْبَرِ (before the greater punishment), he says: before the greater punishment, and that is the punishment of the Day of Resurrection.
And in accordance with what we have said on this, the scholars of interpretation have said.
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Masrūq, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh: دُونَ العَذابِ الأكْبَرِ, he said: the Day of Resurrection.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Masrūq, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh, the same.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: دُونَ العَذابِ الأكْبَرِ: the Day of Resurrection in the Hereafter.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, saying: ʿUbaydullāh related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, on the authority of Mujāhid: دونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَرِ: the Day of Resurrection.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: دُونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَرِ: the Day of Resurrection — Qatāda related it on the authority of al-Ḥasan.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning his saying: دُونَ العَذَابِ الأكْبَرِ, he said: the greater punishment is the punishment of the Hereafter.
And His saying: لَعَلَّهمْ يَرْجِعُونَ (that perhaps they may return), he says: that they may return and repent through their being punished with the nearer punishment.
And in accordance with what we have said on this, the scholars of interpretation have said.
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Masrūq, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh: لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ, he said: they repent.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجعونَ, he said: they repent.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجعونَ: that is, they repent.
