Tafseer of The Star · An-Najm · 53:33
Have you seen the one who turned away
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: أَفَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي تَوَلَّى (53:33) ("Have you then seen the one who turned away?") (53:33).
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Have you then seen, O Muḥammad, the one who turned his back upon belief in Allah, and turned away from Him and from His religion, and gave his companion a little of his wealth, and then withheld it from him and did not give [more], and was thus miserly toward him.
It has been reported that this verse was revealed concerning al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra, because one of the polytheists rebuked him. He [al-Walīd] had followed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in his religion, and the one who rebuked him guaranteed to him that, if al-Walīd were to give him something of his wealth and return to his idolatry (shirk), he would take upon himself the punishment of the Hereafter on his behalf. He did that, and gave to the one who rebuked him over this a portion of what he had guaranteed him, but afterward he became miserly toward him and withheld from him the remainder of what he had pledged to him.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying وَأَكْدَى ("and withheld"): al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra gave little and then held back.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying أَفَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي تَوَلَّى ("Have you then seen the one who turned away?") ... up to His saying فَهُوَ يَرَى ("so that he sees?"): he said: This is a man who embraced Islam. Someone who reproached him met him and said: Have you abandoned the religion of the forefathers and declared them astray, and claimed that they are in the Fire? It would befit you to help them. How then will it go with your forefathers? He [the convert] said: I fear the punishment of Allah. He said: Give me something, and I will take upon myself all the punishment that is upon you on your behalf. Then he gave him something. He said: Give me more. He then behaved obstinately, until he gave him [yet] something, and he wrote a document for him and had witnesses act for it. That is the saying of Allah أَفَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي تَوَلَّى * وَأَعْطَى قَلِيلا وَأَكْدَى ("Have you then seen the one who turned away and gave little and withheld?") — he behaved obstinately — أَعِنْدَهُ عِلْمُ الْغَيْبِ فَهُوَ يَرَى ("Does he then have knowledge of the unseen, so that he sees?"). Concerning him this verse was revealed.
And in accordance with what we have said regarding the meaning of His saying أَكْدَى ("withheld"), the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān al-Shaybānī, on the authority of Thābit, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās أَعْطَى قَلِيلا وَأَكْدَى ("he gave little and withheld"): he said: he gave little and then ceased.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying أَفَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي تَوَلَّى * وَأَعْطَى قَلِيلا وَأَكْدَى ("Have you then seen the one who turned away and gave little and withheld?"): he says: he gave little and then ceased.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid وَأَعْطَى قَلِيلا وَأَكْدَى ("and he gave little and withheld"): he said: he ceased, so that he gave nothing [more]. Have you not seen the well of which it is said that it has dried up (akdat)?
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid وَأَكْدَى ("and withheld"): his giving ceased.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs and Qatāda, concerning His saying وَأَكْدَى ("and withheld"): he said: he gave little and then cut that off.
He said: Ibn Thawr related to us, saying: Maʿmar related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, the same as that.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda وَأَكْدَى ("and withheld"): that is to say: he was miserly and his giving ceased.
It has been transmitted to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His saying وَأَكْدَى ("and withheld"): he says: his giving ceased.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying وَأَكْدَى ("and withheld"): he behaved obstinately. The Arabs say: "so-and-so dug and struck rocky ground (akdā)," and that is when he reaches the rock layer (kudya) — namely, that a man digs in the level ground and then strikes a mass of rock, so that he cannot proceed further (yukdī). One says: "qad akdā kadāʾan." And "kadiyat aẓfāruhu wa-aṣābiʿuhu kadyan shadīdan," pronounced in the shortened form: when they [the nails and fingers] become thick and hard. And "kadiyat aṣābiʿuhu": when they become blunt and can perform nothing [more]. And "kadā al-nabt" when its yield becomes scant — pronounced with or without the hamza. And some of the scholars of the Arabic language said: His saying "akdā" is derived from the "kudya" of the water well, and that is when one digs until one despairs of water; one then says: we have reached the kudya of it.
