Tafseer of The Forgiver · Ghafir · 40:18
And warn them, [O Muhammad], of the Approaching Day, when hearts are at the throats, filled [with distress]. For the wrongdoers there will be no devoted friend and no intercessor [who is] obeyed.
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 the saying of the Exalted: وَأَنْذِرْهُمْ يَوْمَ الآزِفَةِ إِذِ الْقُلُوبُ لَدَى الْحَنَاجِرِ كَاظِمِينَ مَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ حَمِيمٍ وَلا شَفِيعٍ يُطَاعُ (And warn them of the Approaching Day, when the hearts reach up to the throats, choked with grief; the wrongdoers have neither an intimate friend nor an intercessor who is heeded) (40:18).
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says to His prophet: And warn, O Muḥammad, the polytheists (mushrikīn) among your people of the Approaching Day — by which the Day of Resurrection is meant — that they will meet Allah on that Day with their corrupt deeds, so that they merit His painful punishment.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, spoke the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl).
* Mention of those who said that:
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 the word of Allah يَوْمَ الآزِفَةِ (the Approaching Day), he said: the Day of Resurrection.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, وَأَنْذِرْهُمْ يَوْمَ الآزِفَةِ (And warn them of the Approaching Day): the Day of Resurrection.
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, وَأَنْذِرْهُمْ يَوْمَ الآزِفَةِ (And warn them of the Approaching Day), he said: the Day of Resurrection.
Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word وَأَنْذِرْهُمْ يَوْمَ الآزِفَةِ (And warn them of the Approaching Day), he said: the Day of Resurrection, and he recited: أَزِفَتِ الآزِفَةُ * لَيْسَ لَهَا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ كَاشِفَةٌ (The Approaching has approached; none besides Allah can avert it).
And His word: إِذِ الْقُلُوبُ لَدَى الْحَنَاجِرِ كَاظِمِينَ (when the hearts reach up to the throats, choked with grief) — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: when the hearts of the servants, out of fear of the punishment (ʿadhāb) of Allah, reach up to their throats, having risen from their chests and remained suspended at their windpipes, while they choke back their grief; they try to bring them back to their place in their chests, but they do not return, nor do they come out of their bodies so that they would die.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, spoke the scholars of interpretation.
* Mention of those who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, إِذِ الْقُلُوبُ لَدَى الْحَنَاجِرِ (when the hearts reach up to the throats), he said: the hearts have come up into the throats out of fear, so that they do not come out of them nor return to their place.
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, إِذِ الْقُلُوبُ لَدَى الْحَنَاجِرِ كَاظِمِينَ (when the hearts reach up to the throats, choked with grief), he said: their hearts have risen from their place and remained stuck in their windpipes, so that they did not come out of their innermost being to die, nor did they return to their place to find rest.
The linguists of Arabic (ahl al-ʿarabiyya) differed concerning the reason for the accusative in كَاظِمِينَ (choked with grief). Some grammarians of Basra said: the accusative is on account of the circumstantial state (ḥāl), as though He meant: when the hearts reach up to the throats in this state. And some grammarians of Kufa said: the definite article (al-alif wa-al-lām) stands in the place of the annexation (iḍāfa), as though He said: when their hearts reach up to their throats in the state of their choked grief. And another of them said: it is an accusative on the basis of the cut-off (qaṭʿ) of the meaning that refers back to their mention in "the hearts" and "the throats"; the meaning being: when their hearts reach up to their throats, while they choke back their grief. He said: if you wish, you make it a cut-off from the pronoun (hāʾ) in His word وَأَنْذِرْهُمْ (And warn them). He said: the first view is better in Arabic, and the explanation of that has already been given previously.
And His word: مَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ حَمِيمٍ وَلا شَفِيعٍ (the wrongdoers have neither an intimate friend nor an intercessor) — the Exalted, praised be His praise, says: the disbelievers in Allah have on that Day no intimate friend who cares for them¹ and who wards off from them the tremendous calamity of Allah's punishment that befalls them, and no intercessor (shafīʿ) who intercedes for them with their Lord so that his intercession is heeded and his request is granted.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, spoke the scholars of interpretation.
* Mention of those who said that:
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, مَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ حَمِيمٍ وَلا شَفِيعٍ (the wrongdoers have neither an intimate friend nor an intercessor), he said: no one who cares about their affair, and no intercessor for them. And His word يطاع (who is heeded) is a further qualification of "the intercessor." And the meaning of the saying is: the wrongdoers have neither an intimate friend nor an intercessor who, when he intercedes, is obeyed in what he intercedes for, so that he is granted his request and his intercession is accepted on his behalf.
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Footnotes:
(1) In al-Lisān: "ḥamna-nī al-amr" and "aḥamma-nī": it caused me concern. Al-Azharī said: "aḥamma-nī hādhā al-amr" and "iḥtamamtu lahu", as though it is a concern for a close relative (ḥamīm qarīb).
