Tafseer of Yaseen · Yaseen · 36:30
How regretful for the servants. There did not come to them any messenger except that they used to ridicule him.
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 His statement, the Exalted: yā ḥasratan ʿalā l-ʿibādi mā yaʾtīhim min rasūlin illā kānū bihi yastahziʾūn (36:30) ("O grief over the servants! There came to them no messenger but that they mocked him.").
Allah, whose mention is exalted, says: O grief of the servants over themselves, and what regret and what sorrow over 20-512 their mocking of the messengers of Allah. mā yaʾtīhim min rasūlin ("there came to them no messenger") from Allah illā kānū bihi yastahziʾūn ("but that they mocked him"). And it has been mentioned that this, in some readings, reads: yā ḥasrata l-ʿibādi ʿalā anfusihā ("O grief of the servants over themselves").
And in agreement with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: yā ḥasratan ʿalā l-ʿibād ("O grief over the servants"), that is to say: O grief of the servants over themselves, over what they neglected of the matter of Allah, and in which they fell short with respect to Allah. He said: and in some readings it reads: yā ḥasrata l-ʿibādi ʿalā anfusihā ("O grief of the servants over themselves").
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, concerning His statement yā ḥasratan ʿalā l-ʿibād ("O grief over the servants"). He said: their mocking of the messengers was a grief for them.
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, concerning His statement yā ḥasratan ʿalā l-ʿibād ("O grief over the servants"), he says: O woe over the servants. And some of the grammarians of Arabic said: the meaning of it is: O, what a grief over the servants.
