Tafseer of The Forgiver · Ghafir · 40:75
[The angels will say], "That was because you used to exult upon the earth without right and you used to behave insolently.
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: ذَلِكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَفْرَحُونَ فِي الأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ وَبِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَمْرَحُونَ (40:75) (That is because you used to rejoice on the earth without right, and because you used to be exultant) (40:75).
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, means by His saying: ( ذَلِكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَفْرَحُونَ فِي الأرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ ) (that is because you used to rejoice on the earth without right): this which We have done with you today, O people, in tormenting you with the punishment in which you are, is on account of your joy with which you used to rejoice in this world over that which was not permitted to you, in falsehood and sins, and on account of your exultance therein. And "exultance" (al-maraḥ): that is insolence and arrogance.
And in the spirit of what we have said about this, the exegetes of the Qurʾān have expressed themselves.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his saying: ( بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَفْرَحُونَ فِي الأرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ ) (because you used to rejoice on the earth without right) up to ( فَبِئْسَ مَثْوَى الْمُتَكَبِّرِينَ ) (and how evil is the abode of the arrogant). He said: the joy and the exultance: that is the boasting and the pride, and the committing of sin on the earth, and that occurred in polytheism (shirk). And it is like His saying to Qārūn: إِذْ قَالَ لَهُ قَوْمُهُ لا تَفْرَحْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يُحِبُّ الْفَرِحِينَ (when his people said to him: Do not rejoice; verily, Allah does not love those who rejoice), and that was in polytheism.
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 saying: ( بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَفْرَحُونَ فِي الأرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ وَبِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَمْرَحُونَ ) (because you used to rejoice on the earth without right and because you used to be exultant). He said: you were arrogant and insolent.
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning his saying: ( تَمْرَحُونَ ) (you used to be exultant). He said: you were arrogant.
