Tafseer of The Dunes · Al-Ahqaf · 46:33
Do they not see that Allah, who created the heavens and earth and did not fail in their creation, is able to give life to the dead? Yes. Indeed, He is over all things competent.
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: Do they not then see that Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth and was not wearied by their creation, is able to give life to the dead? Indeed, He is over all things Almighty (33)
The Exalted, Whose praise is sublime, says: have these people who deny the giving of life by Allah to His creatures after their death, and His raising of them from their graves after their decay—those who said to their fathers and mothers Fie upon you both! Do you promise me that I shall be brought forth, when generations have already passed away before me?—have they then not looked with the eyes of their hearts, so that they would see and know that Allah, Who created the seven heavens and the earth and brought them into being out of nothing, from nothing, and was not wearied by bringing them forth such that He would be incapable of creating them and bringing them about, is able to give life to the dead, so that He brings them forth alive after their decay in their graves, in the same form as before their death.
The grammarians differ concerning the reason for the entering of the bāʾ in His statement bi-qādirin. Some grammarians of Basra said: this bāʾ is like the bāʾ in His statement Allah suffices as a witness (kafā bi-llāhi), and it is equivalent to It produces oil (tanbutu bi-l-duhni). And some grammarians of Kufa said: this bāʾ has entered on account of the negation. He said: the Arabs cause it to enter with the negation when they make that which precedes it a subject, and they cause it to enter when there falls upon it a verb that requires two nouns, as in your saying: "I do not think you are standing (mā aẓunnuka bi-qāʾimin)," and "I do not think that you are standing (mā aẓunnu annaka bi-qāʾimin)," and "I was not standing (mā kuntu bi-qāʾimin)." And when you remove the bāʾ, you put that in which it was operative into the accusative, by that in which the verb is operative. He said: and if you were to drop the bāʾ of qādir in this place, it would stand in the nominative, because it is the predicate of anna. He said: and someone recited to me:
No mounts returned disappointed, Ḥakīm ibn al-Musayyib is their journey's end.
Thus he caused the bāʾ to enter into a verb of which, were you to drop it, it would stand in the accusative by the verb and not by the bāʾ. Upon this, what resembles it is measured by analogy.
And some of those who rejected the aforementioned statement of the Basrian said: this bāʾ has entered on account of the negation, because the negated meaning is present, even though anna has separated between them. Do they not then see that Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth and was not wearied by their creation, is able to give life to the dead? He said: for the subject of yaraw and what comes after it stands in its relative clause, and the bāʾ does not enter therein; but its meaning is negation, so it has entered on account of the meaning.
And it is related from the Basrian that he refused the entering of illā, and that the grammarians of the people of Kufa permit it, and they say: "I did not think Zayd to be other than standing (mā ẓanantu anna Zaydan illā qāʾiman)," and "I did not think Zayd to be knowing (mā ẓanantu anna Zaydan bi-ʿālimin)." And one recites:
I am no swearer, though I have borne offspring from among them, upon a blind folly—except Ziyād.
He said: thus he caused illā to enter after the response to the oath. He said: and as for Allah suffices (kafā bi-llāhi), this has entered only for a valid meaning, and it is for wonder, as you say "how excellent is Zayd (ẓarufa bi-Zaydin)." He said: and as for It produces oil (tanbutu bi-l-duhni), concerning this they are agreed that it is redundant (ṣila). And the statement that comes closest to correctness in this matter is the statement of the one who said: the bāʾ in His statement bi-qādirin has entered on account of the negation, for the reasons we have mentioned in favor of its proponents.
The reciters differ concerning the reading of His statement bi-qādirin. Most of the reciters of the regions read it, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, al-Jaḥdarī, and al-Aʿraj, as bi-qādirin, and that is, in our view, the correct reading on account of the consensus of the reciters of the regions upon it. And as for the others whom I have mentioned, they read it, according to what is related from them, as "yaqdiru" with a yāʾ. And it is related that in the reading of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd it reads that Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, is able (qādirun), without the bāʾ, and in that is a proof for the one who read it as "bi-qādirin" with the bāʾ and the alif. And His statement Indeed, He is over all things Almighty—the Exalted, Whose praise is sublime, says: indeed, He Who created the heavens and the earth is able to give life to the dead; that is to say: He Who created that is, over everything He wished to create and whose performance He willed, a possessor of power; nothing He wishes renders Him incapable, and nothing He wills to perform wearies Him, such that the bringing forth of creation after its annihilation would weary Him. For whoever is incapable of that is weak, and it is not fitting that he be a god, whoever is weak in regard to what he wills.
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Footnotes:
(3) The verse belongs to the evidentiary citations of al-Farrāʾ in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 303). He said: and His statement, the Exalted: "Do they not then see that Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, is able (bi-qādirin)": the bāʾ has entered on account of the negation. The Arabs cause it to enter with the negation when they make that which precedes it a subject, or they cause it to enter when there falls upon it a verb that requires two nouns, as in your saying: "I do not think you are standing," and "I do not think that he is standing," and "I was not standing." And when you remove the bāʾ, you put that in which it was operative into the accusative, by that in which the verb is operative. And if you were to drop the bāʾ of "qādir" in this place, it would stand in the nominative, because it is the predicate of anna, and someone recited to me: "No mounts returned disappointed... the verse." Thus he caused the bāʾ to enter into a verb of which, were you to drop it, it would stand in the accusative by the verb and not by the bāʾ. Upon this, what resembles it is measured by analogy. And it is related from some of the reciters that he read "yaqdiru" in place of "bi-qādirin," as Ḥamza read: "and you are not the guide of the blind (bi-hādī al-ʿumyi)," whereas the reading of the common reciters is "bi-hādin al-ʿumyi." End.
(4) This is a verse that the author has not attributed, and he took it from some of the grammarians. It is not in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ. It is a point of dispute between the Basrians and the Kufians: the Basrians refuse the entering of (illā) after the response to the oath, and the Kufians permit it and adduce the verse as evidence for it, as the author has said.
