Tafseer of The Originator · Faatir · 35:37
And they will cry out therein, "Our Lord, remove us; we will do righteousness - other than what we were doing!" But did We not grant you life enough for whoever would remember therein to remember, and the warner had come to you? So taste [the punishment], for there is not for the wrongdoers any helper.
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.
His saying وَهُمْ يَصْطَرِخُونَ فِيهَا رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا نَعْمَلْ صَالِحًا غَيْرَ الَّذِي كُنَّا نَعْمَلُ ("And they cry out therein for help: Our Lord, bring us out, and we will do righteous deeds, other than what we used to do") — He, exalted is His remembrance, says: these unbelievers (kuffār) cry out for help and wail loudly in the Fire; they say: O our Lord, bring us out, and we will do righteous deeds, that is to say: then we will serve You obediently, other than what we used to do before in disobedience toward You. And His saying يَصْطَرِخُونَ is an iftaʿal form derived from "the crying out" (al-ṣurākh); its tāʾ has been converted into a ṭāʾ because of the closeness of its place of articulation to the ṣād, since it became heavy in pronunciation.
And His saying أَوَلَمْ نُعَمِّرْكُمْ مَا يَتَذَكَّرُ فِيهِ مَنْ تَذَكَّرَ ("Did We not give you a life long enough for whoever would reflect to reflect therein?") — the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differ over its extent. Some of them say: that is forty years.
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: the lifespan with which Allah left the son of Ādam without excuse — أَوَلَمْ نُعَمِّرْكُمْ مَا يَتَذَكَّرُ فِيهِ مَنْ تَذَكَّرَ — is forty years.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mujālid, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of Masrūq, that he used to say: when one of you reaches forty years, let him be on his guard against Allah.
And others said: rather it is sixty years.
* 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 Ibn Khuthaym, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: أَوَلَمْ نُعَمِّرْكُمْ مَا يَتَذَكَّرُ فِيهِ مَنْ تَذَكَّرَ — he said: sixty years.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: the lifespan with which Allah left the son of Ādam without excuse is sixty years.
ʿAlī ibn Shuʿayb related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Fudayk related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn al-Faḍl, on the authority of Abū Ḥusayn al-Makkī, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "When the Day of Resurrection comes, it will be called out: Where are those of sixty years? And that is the lifespan concerning which Allah said: أَوَلَمْ نُعَمِّرْكُمْ مَا يَتَذَكَّرُ فِيهِ مَنْ تَذَكَّرَ وَجَاءَكُمُ النَّذِيرُ ('Did We not give you a life long enough for whoever would reflect to reflect therein, and did not the warner come to you?')."
Aḥmad ibn al-Faraj al-Ḥimṣī related to me, saying: Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd related to us, saying: Muṭarrif ibn Māzin al-Kinānī related to us, saying: Maʿmar ibn Rāshid related to me, saying: I heard Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ghifārī say: I heard Abū Hurayrah say: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Allah has indeed left no excuse to him who reaches sixty and seventy years."
Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Fazārī related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Sawwār related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb ibn ʿAbd al-Qārī al-Iskandarī related to us, saying: Abū Ḥāzim related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd al-Maqburī, on the authority of Abū Hurayrah, who said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Whomever Allah has let live sixty years, He has left him no excuse with respect to the lifespan."
Muḥammad ibn Sawwār related to us, saying: Asad ibn Ḥumayd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Ṭarīf, on the authority of al-Aṣbagh ibn Nubātah, on the authority of ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, concerning His saying أَوَلَمْ نُعَمِّرْكُمْ مَا يَتَذَكَّرُ فِيهِ مَنْ تَذَكَّرَ وَجَاءَكُمُ النَّذِيرُ — he said: the lifespan with which Allah let you live is sixty years.
And the interpretation that most corresponds to the import of the verse — since the report which we have mentioned from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is a report in whose isnād there is one concerning whom one must be cautious in transmission — is the statement of those who said that it is forty years, because at the age of forty a person's intellect and understanding reach their peak, while what is before that and after that is less than his perfection in the state of forty.
And His saying وَجَاءَكُمُ النَّذِيرُ ("and the warner came to you") — the people of interpretation differ over the meaning of "the warner." Some of them say: by it is meant Muḥammad ﷺ.
* Mention of those who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His saying وَجَاءَكُمُ النَّذِيرُ, he said: the warner is the Prophet ﷺ, and he recited: هَذَا نَذِيرٌ مِنَ النُّذُرِ الأُولَى ("This is a warner like the warners of old").
And it has been said: by it is meant grey hair (hoariness).
The interpretation of the saying is then: did We not, O company of those who associate partners with Allah (mushrikīn) from Quraysh, give you a life of so many years that whoever among the intelligent and reflective wished to reflect could reflect therein, and whoever among them would take admonition took admonition, and whoever would repent repented, and there came to you from Allah a warner who warned you of that in which you find yourselves today of the punishment (ʿadhāb) of Allah; but you did not take to heart the admonitions of Allah, and you did not accept from the warner of Allah who came to you what he brought you from your Lord.
