Tafseer of The letter Qaaf · Qaaf · 50:32
[It will be said], "This is what you were promised - for every returner [to Allah] and keeper [of His covenant]
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.
And His statement ( هَذَا مَا تُوعَدُونَ ) ("This is what you are promised"), He says: it was said to them: this is what was promised to you, O God-fearing ones, namely that you will enter it and dwell therein. And His statement ( لِكُلِّ أَوَّابٍ ) ("for every penitent returner"), that is to say: for everyone who returns from disobedience to Allah to obedience to Him, who repents of his sins.
The exegetes differed concerning the meaning of this. Some of them said: it is the one who glorifies Allah (al-musabbiḥ); and others said: it is the one who repents (al-tāʾib). We have already mentioned their disagreement on this previously, in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat it; yet in this place we mention what we did not mention there.
Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣalt related to us, saying: Abū Kudayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: ( لِكُلِّ أَوَّابٍ ), he said: for everyone who glorifies Allah.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Muslim al-Aʿwar, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: the awwāb is the one who glorifies Allah.
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Ghaniyya related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtayba, concerning the statement of Allah ( لِكُلِّ أَوَّابٍ حَفِيظٍ ), he said: it is the one who remembers Allah in seclusion.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Yūnus ibn Khabbāb, on the authority of Mujāhid: ( لِكُلِّ أَوَّابٍ حَفِيظٍ ), he said: the one who remembers his sins and asks forgiveness for them.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement ( هَذَا مَا تُوعَدُونَ لِكُلِّ أَوَّابٍ ). He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Khārija, on the authority of ʿĪsā al-Ḥannāṭ, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, he said: it is the one who remembers his sins in seclusion and asks forgiveness for them. ( حَفِيظٍ ): that is to say, obedient to Allah and frequent in prayer.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement ( لِكُلِّ أَوَّابٍ حَفِيظٍ ), he said: the awwāb is the penitent (al-tawwāb), the one who returns to obedience to Allah and turns back toward it.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Yūnus ibn Khabbāb, concerning His statement ( لِكُلِّ أَوَّابٍ حَفِيظٍ ), he said: the man who remembers his sins and asks Allah forgiveness for them.
And His statement ( حَفِيظٍ ) ("a keeper"): the exegetes differed concerning its interpretation. Some of them said: he kept his sins in mind until he repented of them.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Tamīmī, he said: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about the awwāb ḥafīẓ, he said: he kept his sins in mind until he turned away from them.
And others said: its meaning is that he is watchful over the duties prescribed by Allah and over what He has entrusted to him.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( حَفِيظٍ ), he said: watchful over what Allah has entrusted to him of His right and His favor.
And the most correct judgment concerning this is to say: Allah, exalted is His mention, has described this penitent returner as watchful (ḥafīẓ), and He did not restrict that to the keeping of one particular kind of obedience to the exclusion of another kind. What is obligatory, then, is to take it in a general sense, just as He, exalted is His praise, expressed it in a general sense; one then says: he is watchful over everything that brought him nearer to his Lord of prescribed duties and acts of obedience, and over the sins he had previously committed, so as to repent of them and ask forgiveness for them.
