Tafseer of The Smoke · Ad-Dukhaan · 44:49
[It will be said], "Taste! Indeed, you are the honored, the noble!
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 statement concerning the interpretation of His word, the Exalted: "Taste! Indeed, you are the mighty, the noble" (44:49)
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: it is said to this sinful, wretched one: taste this punishment (ʿadhāb) with which you are tormented today ( indeed, you are the mighty ) among your people ( the noble ) in their eyes.
And it is mentioned that these verses came down concerning Abū Jahl ibn Hishām.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda "Then pour over his head from the punishment of the boiling water" (44:48), it came down concerning the enemy of Allah, Abū Jahl, who encountered the Prophet ﷺ, whereupon he seized him and shook him about, and then said: "Woe to you, O Abū Jahl, so woe! Again woe to you, so woe!" — taste, indeed you are the mighty, the noble. And that was because he had said: would Muḥammad threaten me? By Allah, I am mightier than anyone who walks between her two mountains. And concerning him came down "And obey not any of them, a sinner or an ingrate" (76:24), and concerning him came down "Nay! Obey him not, and prostrate yourself and draw near" (96:19). And Qatāda said: it came down concerning Abū Jahl and his companions, whom Allah, glorified and exalted is He, killed on the day of Badr: "Have you not seen those who exchanged the favor of Allah for unbelief and brought their people down into the abode of perdition" (14:28).
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: it came down concerning Abū Jahl "Seize him and drag him along" (44:47). Qatāda said: Abū Jahl said: between her two mountains there is no man mightier and nobler than I, whereupon Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said: ( Taste! Indeed, you are the mighty, the noble ).
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word "Seize him and drag him along into the midst of the Blazing Fire" (44:47) he said: this is concerning Abū Jahl.
Now if someone were to say: and how can it be said, while he is being humiliated with the punishment that Allah has mentioned, and being scorned by being dragged into the midst of the Blazing Fire: "indeed, you are the mighty, the noble"? Then it is answered: indeed, His word ( indeed, you are the mighty, the noble ) is not a granting of might and honor to him by the One who utters it, but it is a reproach from Him to him with that wherewith he used to describe himself in the worldly life, and a rebuke of him therewith by way of quotation, for he used to say in the worldly life: indeed, you are the mighty, the noble. So it is said to him in the Hereafter, when he is tormented with that wherewith he is tormented in the Fire: taste today this humiliation, for you used to claim that you are the mighty, the noble, while in reality you are the humiliated, the scorned. Where then is that might and honor which you used to speak of and claim? Why do you not ward off the punishment with your might?
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ṣafwān ibn ʿĪsā related to us; he said: Ibn ʿAjlān related to us on the authority of Saʿīd al-Maqburī, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: Kaʿb said: Allah has three garments: He has girded Himself with might, clothed Himself with mercy, and donned pride as an outer cloak, exalted be His praise. So whoever deems himself mighty with something other than that wherewith Allah has given him might, that is the one to whom it is said: taste, indeed you are the mighty, the noble. And whoever shows mercy to people, that is the one upon whom Allah has put His garment that befits him. And whoever behaves arrogantly, that is the one who has contended with Allah over His outer cloak. Indeed, Allah, exalted be His praise, says: "It does not befit Me that I should admit into Paradise whoever contends with Me over My outer cloak," mighty and exalted is He.
And the reciters of the cities are all in agreement that the alif in His word ( taste, indeed (innaka) you ) is read with kasra, by way of a new beginning, and as a quotation of the word of this speaker: indeed, I am the mighty, the noble. And some of the later reciters read it ( taste, that (annaka) you ) with fatḥa on the alif, whereby His word ( taste ) governs His word ( annaka ), as if the meaning of the statement according to him is: taste this statement which you said in the worldly life.
And the correct reading herein according to us is the kasra of the alif in ( innaka ), according to the meaning which I have mentioned for the one who reads it thus, because of the consensus of the authoritative proof of the reciters upon it, and the deviance of what contradicts it. And as proof for the incorrectness of the contradicting reading, that upon which the leading scholars of the early and later generations have proceeded suffices, together with its remoteness from correctness in meaning and its divergence from the interpretation of the people of interpretation.
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The footnotes:
(2) He did not mention the second, namely the ḍamma on the tāʾ, with which it has likewise been recited, and perhaps he refrained from it because of what he mentioned in the line thereafter.
(3) His word "and the deviance of what contradicts it" — this is incorrect, for the imam al-Kisāʾī read with fatḥa on the hamza, and that is an established (sabʿiyya), frequently transmitted and well-known recitation, and not deviant.
