Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:78
Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even if you should be within towers of lofty construction. But if good comes to them, they say, "This is from Allah "; and if evil befalls them, they say, "This is from you." Say, "All [things] are from Allah." So what is [the matter] with those people that they can hardly understand any statement?
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 word: أَيْنَمَا تَكُونُوا يُدْرِكْكُمُ الْمَوْتُ وَلَوْ كُنْتُمْ فِي بُرُوجٍ مُشَيَّدَةٍ ("Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even though you were in lofty fortified towers" — 4:78).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His praise — means thereby: wherever you may be, death will reach you so that you die, "even though you were in lofty fortified towers." He says: Do not be afraid of death, do not flee from armed combat (qitāl), and do not be weak in the encounter with your enemy out of fear for your own life of being killed and of death. For death stands before you wherever you may be, and it reaches your very soul wherever you may be, even though you were to entrench yourselves against it in impregnable fortresses.
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The scholars of exegesis differed over the meaning of His word: "even though you were in lofty fortified towers."
Some of them said: by this are meant fortified castles.
*Mention of who said that:
9957 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "even though you were in lofty fortified towers," he says: in fortified castles.
9958 — ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to me, saying: Muʾammal ibn Ismāʿīl related to us, saying: Abū Hammām related to us, saying: Kathīr Abū al-Faḍl related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: Among those who lived before you there was a woman, and she had a hired laborer. She gave birth to a girl. She said to her hired laborer: Fetch fire for us. He went out and met a man at the door. The man said to him: What has this woman given birth to? He said: A girl. He said: Well now, this girl will not die until she has committed fornication with a hundred men, and her hired laborer will marry her, and her death will come about by a spider. The hired laborer then said to himself: Would I want her, after she has committed fornication with a hundred men?! He took a knife, went in, and slit open the girl's belly. She was treated and recovered, and she grew up, and she committed fornication. She went to one of the coasts of the sea and continued committing fornication there. The man remained as long as Allah willed, and then came to that coast with much wealth. He said to a woman from among the inhabitants of the coast: Choose for me the most beautiful woman in the village, so that I may marry her! She said: Here is a woman who is among the most beautiful of people, but she commits fornication. He said: Bring her to me. She went to her and said: A man has come who has much wealth, and he has said such-and-such to me, and I have said such-and-such to him. She said: I have given up fornication, but if he wishes, I will marry him! He then married her, and she pleased him greatly. While he was with her one day, he told her about his affair, and she said: I am that girl! — and she showed him the cut in her belly — and I committed fornication, but I do not know whether it was with a hundred, or fewer, or more! He said: Well now, he told me: her death will come about by a spider. He said: Then he built for her a tower in the desert and raised it high. While the two of them were one day in that tower, suddenly there was a spider in the ceiling. She said: Does this one kill me? No one shall kill it but I! She loosened it and it fell down, and she came to it and set the toe of her foot upon it and crushed it, and its venom flowed between her nail and the flesh, and her foot turned black and she died. Then this verse was revealed: "Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even though you were in lofty fortified towers."
9959 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: "even though you were in lofty fortified towers," he said: lofty castles.
* * *
Others said: the meaning of that is: certain towers in the heaven.
*Mention of who said that:
9960 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even though you were in lofty fortified towers," and those are white towers in the lowest heaven, built up.
9961 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿd related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar informed us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His word: "Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even though you were in lofty fortified towers," he says: even though you were in towers in the heaven.
* * *
The scholars of the Arabic language differed over the meaning of "al-mushayyada" (the lofty/raised one).
Some of the people of Basra among them said: "al-mushayyada" means: the lofty one. He said: As for "al-mashīd" with the light (undoubled) pronunciation, that is the adorned one.
* * *
Another among them said something similar, except that he said: "al-mashīd" with the light pronunciation is that which is worked with al-shīd, and "al-shīd" is plaster (gypsum).
* * *
Some of the people of Kufa said: "al-mashīd" and "al-mushayyad" have the same origin, except that whatever of it is doubled is only doubled on its own account, the action in it being in a plural — as in their expression: "these are dyed garments" (muṣabbagha) and "slaughtered sheep" (mudhabbaḥa); it was doubled because it is a plural over which the action is distributed. And likewise the same: "lofty castles" (quṣūr mushayyada), because the castles are numerous and the raising is repeated in them; therefore it was said: "lofty fortified towers" (burūj mushayyada). To that also belongs His word: وَغَلَّقَتِ الأَبْوَابَ ("and she bolted the doors" — 12:23), and as one says: "I broke the wood into pieces" (kassartu al-ʿūd) when you make it into pieces, that is: piece by piece. And the light pronunciation is permissible in it. So when its singular form stands on its own, while the action is repeated in it and the repetition of it in a plural of it is frequent, then with them both the doubling and the lightening are permissible, and one says of it: "this is a torn garment" (thawb mukharraq) and "cut leather" (jild muqaṭṭaʿ), because of the repetition of the action in it and the frequency of it through cutting and tearing. And if the action in it is not frequent and not repeated, they permitted it only with the light pronunciation, as in their expression: "I saw a slaughtered ram" (kabsh madhbūḥ); and they did not permit in it: "madhdhabaḥ" (doubled), because the slaughtering is not repeated in it as the tearing in the garment is repeated.
* * *
And they said: therefore it was said: "a lofty castle" (qaṣr mashīd), because it is singular, and it was placed in the position of their expression: "a slaughtered ram" (kabsh madhbūḥ). And they said: it is permissible with regard to the castle to say: "a lofty castle" (qaṣr mushayyad) with the doubling, because of the repetition of the building and raising in it, and that is not permissible with "a slaughtered ram" (kabsh madhbūḥ), for what we have mentioned.
* * *
The explanation of His word: وَإِنْ تُصِبْهُمْ حَسَنَةٌ يَقُولُوا هَذِهِ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ وَإِنْ تُصِبْهُمْ سَيِّئَةٌ يَقُولُوا هَذِهِ مِنْ عِنْدِكَ ("And if something good befalls them, they say: this is from Allah, and if something bad befalls them, they say: this is from you" — 4:78).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His praise — means by His word: "And if something good befalls them, they say: this is from Allah," that is: and if prosperity, victory, and conquest fall to their lot and they acquire spoils (ghanīma), "they say: this is from Allah," that is: from the side of Allah and from His decree. "And if something bad befalls them," he says: and if want in livelihood, a defeat by the enemy, wounds, and pain fall to their lot, "they say" to you, O Muḥammad: "this is from you," through your faulty leadership.
This is merely a report from Allah — exalted is His mention — about those concerning whom He said to His prophet: أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ قِيلَ لَهُمْ كُفُّوا أَيْدِيَكُمْ ("Have you not seen those to whom it was said: restrain your hands" — 4:77).
And in accordance with what we have said concerning that, the scholars of exegesis have spoken.
*Mention of who said that:
9962 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿd and Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, both of them saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning His word: "And if something good befalls them, they say: this is from Allah, and if something bad befalls them, they say: this is from you," he said: this concerns prosperity and adversity.
9963 — 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, something similar.
9964 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "And if something good befalls them, they say: this is from Allah, and if something bad befalls them, they say: this is from you" — and he recited until he reached: وَأَرْسَلْنَاكَ لِلنَّاسِ رَسُولا ("And We have sent you as a messenger to mankind" — 4:79). He said: these verses were revealed in connection with the war. And he recited: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا خُذُوا حِذْرَكُمْ فَانْفِرُوا ثُبَاتٍ أَوِ انْفِرُوا جَمِيعًا ("O you who believe, take your precaution and march forth in groups or march forth all together" — 4:71). And he recited until he reached: "and if something bad befalls them," they say: "this is from Muḥammad — peace be upon him —; he has led badly and counseled badly! How badly has he led and counseled!"
* * *
The explanation of His word: قُلْ كُلٌّ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ ("Say: all is from Allah" — 4:78).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His praise — means by His word: "Say: all is from Allah": Say, O Muḥammad, to these speakers who, when something good befalls them, say: "this is from Allah," and when something bad befalls them: هَذِهِ مِنْ عِنْدِكَ ("this is from you"): all of this is from Allah, not from me and not from any other than me. From Him comes prosperity and adversity, and from Him comes aid and victory, and from Him comes defeat and retreat. As:
9965 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: "Say: all is from Allah," the blessings and the calamities.
9966 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "all is from Allah," the victory and the defeat.
9967 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "Say: all is from Allah. What is the matter then with these people, that they scarcely understand a report," he says: the good and the evil are from Allah; as for the good, with it He has bestowed grace upon you, and as for the evil, with it He has tested you.
* * *
The explanation of His word: فَمَالِ هَؤُلاءِ الْقَوْمِ لا يَكَادُونَ يَفْقَهُونَ حَدِيثًا ("What is the matter then with these people, that they scarcely understand a report" — 4:78).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His praise — means by His word: "What is the matter then with these people," that is: what is the matter with these people who, if something good befalls them, say: هَذِهِ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ ("this is from Allah"), and if something bad befalls them, say: هَذِهِ مِنْ عِنْدِكَ ("this is from you"), "that they scarcely understand a report." He says: they scarcely know the reality of what you report to them — namely that all that befalls them of good or evil, or harm and adversity and prosperity, is from Allah; none other than He is capable of it, and no one is afflicted with evil except by His decree, and no one attains prosperity and favor except by His will.
And this is an instruction from Allah to His servants that the keys of all matters are in His hand; none other than He possesses any of that.
