Tafseer of Yaseen · Yaseen · 36:13
And present to them an example: the people of the city, when the messengers came to it -
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.
Explanation of the statement of the Exalted: "And set forth to them, as a parable, the people of the city, when the messengers came to it" (36:13)
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and set forth, O Muḥammad, to the polytheists (mushrikīn) among your people, as a parable, the people of the city — it has been related that this was Antioch (Anṭākiya) — ( when the messengers came to it ). The people of knowledge differed concerning who these messengers were and concerning who had sent them to the people of the city. Some of them said: they were the envoys of ʿĪsā the son of Maryam, and ʿĪsā was the one who had sent them to them.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( And set forth to them, as a parable, the people of the city, when the messengers came to it. When We sent to them two and they both denied them, We strengthened them with a third ): he said: it has been related to us that ʿĪsā the son of Maryam sent two men of the disciples (al-ḥawāriyyūn) to Antioch — a city in the land of the Romans — and they both denied them, whereupon He strengthened them with a third ( and they said: verily, we are messengers sent to you ).
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, they both said: Sufyān related to us, saying: al-Suddī related to me, on the authority of ʿIkrima ( And set forth to them, as a parable, the people of the city ): he said: Antioch.
And others said: rather they were messengers whom Allah sent to them.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to us — according to what had reached him — on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, and on the authority of Kaʿb al-Aḥbār, and on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, he said: in the city of Antioch there was a pharaoh among the pharaohs, named Abṭīḥus ibn Abṭīḥus, who worshipped the idols, a polytheist (ṣāḥib shirk). Allah then sent the messengers, and they were three: Ṣādiq, Maṣdūq, and Salūm. Two of them came to him and to the people of his city, and they denied them both, after which Allah strengthened them with a third. When the messengers called him and summoned him with the command of Allah, and openly proclaimed that which they had been commanded, and condemned his religion and that which they were upon, he said to them: "Verily, we see in you an evil omen; if you do not desist, we will surely stone you, and a painful punishment (ʿadhāb) from us will surely afflict you."
