Tafseer of The Dunes · Al-Ahqaf · 46:35
So be patient, [O Muhammad], as were those of determination among the messengers and do not be impatient for them. It will be - on the Day they see that which they are promised - as though they had not remained [in the world] except an hour of a day. [This is] notification. And will [any] be destroyed except the defiantly disobedient people?
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: فَاصْبِرْ كَمَا صَبَرَ أُولُو الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ وَلا تَسْتَعْجِلْ لَهُمْ كَأَنَّهُمْ يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَ مَا يُوعَدُونَ لَمْ يَلْبَثُوا إِلا سَاعَةً مِنْ نَهَارٍ بَلاغٌ فَهَلْ يُهْلَكُ إِلا الْقَوْمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ (46:35) (So be patient, just as those endowed with resolve among the messengers were patient, and do not ask for haste concerning them. On the Day they see what they have been promised, it will be for them as though they had tarried only an hour of a day. A proclamation! Is anyone destroyed except the wicked people?)
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ — while making him steadfast to carry on with the burden of the message which He has laid upon him and the heavy weight of prophethood with which He has charged him ﷺ, and while commanding him, in resoluteness to fulfil this, to follow the example of those endowed with resolve among the messengers who preceded him, who patiently endured what their people inflicted upon them of grievous suffering and what befell them of harm and trials: (فَاصْبِرْ) "So be patient," O Muḥammad, with what befalls you of harm on account of Allah from those of your people who reject you, to whom We have sent you with the warning, (كَمَا صَبَرَ أُولُو الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ) "just as those endowed with resolve among the messengers were patient" in fulfilling Allah's command and adhering to His obedience — those messengers who were not held back from carrying out His command by the heaviness that befell them therein.
It has been said: Those endowed with resolve among them were those who were tested in the cause of Allah in this world by trials, and the trials did nothing but increase their zeal in the cause of Allah, such as Nūḥ, Ibrāhīm, Mūsā, and those resembling them.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Thawāba ibn Masʿūd related to me, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī, that he said concerning (فَاصْبِرْ كَمَا صَبَرَ أُولُو الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ): Nūḥ, Ibrāhīm, Mūsā, ʿĪsā, and Muḥammad ﷺ.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda (فَاصْبِرْ كَمَا صَبَرَ أُولُو الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ): We used to relate that Ibrāhīm was among them.
Ibn Zayd said concerning that what Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying (فَاصْبِرْ كَمَا صَبَرَ أُولُو الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ): All the messengers were endowed with resolve; Allah did not take any messenger but that he was one of resolve. So be patient just as they were patient.
Ibn Sinān al-Qazzāz related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Rajāʾ related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His saying (فَاصْبِرْ كَمَا صَبَرَ أُولُو الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ), he said: Allah named them thus because of the strength of their resolve.
And His saying (وَلا تَسْتَعْجِلْ لَهُمْ) "and do not ask for haste concerning them" means: do not ask for the punishment (ʿadhāb) to be hastened for them. He says: do not be hasty in your request to your Lord for that concerning them, for it will undoubtedly befall them. (كَأَنَّهُمْ يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَ مَا يُوعَدُونَ لَمْ يَلْبَثُوا إِلا سَاعَةً مِنْ نَهَارٍ) "On the Day they see what they have been promised, it will be for them as though they had tarried only an hour of a day." He says: on the Day they see the punishment of Allah which He promised them that He would cause to descend upon them, it will be for them as though they had tarried in this world only an hour of a day, for the severity of what descends upon them of His punishment will make them forget how much time they tarried in this world and what quantity of years and months they spent therein, just as the Exalted, whose praise is great, says: قَالَ كَمْ لَبِثْتُمْ فِي الأَرْضِ عَدَدَ سِنِينَ * قَالُوا لَبِثْنَا يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ فَاسْأَلِ الْعَادِّينَ (He will say: "How many years did you tarry on the earth?" They will say: "We tarried a day or part of a day; so ask the counters.").
And His saying (بَلاغٌ) "a proclamation" has two possible meanings. The first is that the meaning is: they tarried only an hour of a day — "that is a tarrying which is a proclamation" (dhālika labathu balāghin), in the sense: that is for them a proclamation in this world until their appointed term. Then "that is a tarrying" was omitted, while it is intended in the sentence, because the words mentioned indicate it sufficiently. The second is that the meaning is: this Qurʾān and the admonition are for them a proclamation and sufficient, if they reflect and take heed and let themselves be admonished.
And His saying (فَهَلْ يُهْلَكُ إِلا الْقَوْمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ) "Is anyone destroyed except the wicked people?" — the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: when Allah causes His punishment to descend, will He destroy anyone other than the people who opposed His command, withdrew from His obedience, and were unbelieving in Him? And the meaning of the words is: Allah destroys only the wicked people (al-fāsiqīn). And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying (فَهَلْ يُهْلَكُ إِلا الْقَوْمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ): Know that, with respect to Allah, none is destroyed except one who perishes, who has turned his back on Islam, or a hypocrite (munāfiq) who affirmed with his tongue but opposed with his deeds. It was related to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ used to say: "Whichever servant (ʿabd) of my community intended a good deed, it was recorded for him as one, and if he performed it, it was recorded for him as tenfold thereof. And whichever servant intended an evil deed, it was not recorded against him; and if he performed it, it was recorded as one evil deed, and thereafter it used to go on like that, and Allah erased it, and none perishes except he who perishes."
End of the explanation of Sūrat al-Aḥqāf.
