Tafseer of The Mount · At-Tur · 52:32
Or do their minds command them to [say] this, or are they a transgressing 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 His statement, exalted is He: أَمْ تَأْمُرُهُمْ أَحْلامُهُمْ بِهَذَا أَمْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ طَاغُونَ ("Or do their minds command them to this, or are they a transgressing people?") (52:32)
He, exalted is His mention, says: Do the minds of these polytheists (mushrikīn) perhaps command them to say of Muḥammad ﷺ: he is a poet, and that what he has brought is poetry? أَمْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ طَاغُونَ ("or are they a transgressing people?"). He, exalted is His praise, says: their minds and their faculty of reasoning do not command them to that, but rather they are a transgressing people who have transgressed against their Lord, and have thus overstepped the bounds of what He has permitted them and what He has commanded them of faith, into disbelief in Him.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement أَمْ تَأْمُرُهُمْ أَحْلامُهُمْ بِهَذَا ("Or do their minds command them to this?"), he said: in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) they were regarded as people of intellect, so Allah said: do their minds perhaps command them to this, that they worship dumb, deaf idols and abandon the worship of Allah? Their minds thus availed them nothing, for they served only their worldly life, and their intellect was not directed in their religion; their minds thus availed them nothing. And some of those knowledgeable in the speech of the Arabs among the people of Basra interpreted His statement أَمْ تَأْمُرُهُمْ أَحْلامُهُمْ ("or do their minds command them") as: no, their minds command it of them.
And in accordance with what we have said in the explanation of His statement أَمْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ طَاغُونَ ("or are they a transgressing people?"), the people of interpretation likewise spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn al-Aswad, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement أَمْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ طَاغُونَ ("or are they a transgressing people?"), he said: no, they are a transgressing people.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā related to us, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn al-Aswad, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning أَمْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ طَاغُونَ ("or are they a transgressing people?"), he said: no, they are a transgressing people.
