Tafseer of The Mount · At-Tur · 52:40
Or do you, [O Muhammad], ask of them a payment, so they are by debt burdened down?
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.
His words: أَمْ تَسْأَلُهُمْ أَجْرًا فَهُمْ مِنْ مَغْرَمٍ مُثْقَلُونَ ("Or do you ask them for a reward, so that they are burdened by a debt-load?"). The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: Do you ask these polytheists (mushrikīn) to whom We have sent you, O Muḥammad, for that to which you call them — namely the profession of the oneness of Allah and obedience to Him — a reward and a payment out of their possessions, so that, because of the heaviness of the debt-load you have imposed upon them, they are unable to respond to you in that to which you call them?
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 words أَمْ تَسْأَلُهُمْ أَجْرًا فَهُمْ مِنْ مَغْرَمٍ مُثْقَلُونَ , he says: Have you asked this people for a reward that exhausts them, so that they cannot accept Islam?
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words أَمْ تَسْأَلُهُمْ أَجْرًا فَهُمْ مِنْ مَغْرَمٍ مُثْقَلُونَ , he said: he says: Have you asked them a reward for this, so that what would be taken from them burdened them?
