Tafseer of The Star · An-Najm · 53:34
And gave a little and [then] refrained?
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.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement a-fa-raʾayta lladhī tawallā ("Have you then seen him who turned away") ... up to His statement fa-huwa yarā ("so that he sees"); he said: this was a man who had embraced Islam. Then someone met him who reproached him, and who said: "Have you abandoned the religion of the forefathers and branded them as misguided, and claimed that they are in the Fire? It would be your duty to help them. How then will your forefathers be dealt with?" He said: "I fear the punishment of Allah." Then the other said: "Give me something, and I will bear in your stead all the punishment that lies upon you." Thereupon he gave him something. Then he said: "Give me more." And he held back miserly until he gave him still more, and he wrote a document for him and had witnesses act on his behalf. That, then, is Allah's statement a-fa-raʾayta lladhī tawallā * wa-aʿṭā qalīlan wa-akdā ("Have you then seen him who turned away * and gave little and held back stingily") — he held back miserly — a-ʿindahu ʿilmu l-ghaybi fa-huwa yarā ("Is the knowledge of the unseen then with him, so that he sees?"). This āya was sent down concerning him.
And in agreement with what we have said concerning the meaning of His statement akdā spoke the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl).
* 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 aʿṭā qalīlan wa-akdā; 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 statement a-fa-raʾayta lladhī tawallā * wa-aʿṭā qalīlan wa-akdā; 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 wa-aʿṭā qalīlan wa-akdā; he said: he ceased, so that he gives nothing more. Have you not seen that it is said of the well: 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 wa-akdā: 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 statement wa-akdā; he said: he gave little and then cut it 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 wa-akdā: that is, he was miserly and his giving ceased.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His statement wa-akdā; he says: his giving ceased.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement wa-akdā: he held back miserly. The Arabs say: so-and-so dug and struck hard ground (akdā); and that is when he reaches the hard layer (al-kudya), namely that a man digs in the plain and then encounters a mountain, so that he cannot go further (yukdī). One says: he has reached the hard layer (akdā kadāʾan). And "his nails and fingers became kadiya with a strong kady," maimed: when they become thick; and "his fingers became kadiya": when they become blunt, so that they accomplish nothing more. And "kadā al-nabt": when its yield becomes scant — with or without the hamza. And some of the scholars of the Arabic language said: His statement akdā is derived from kudyat al-rakiyya, namely that one digs until one gives up hope of water, and then one says: we have reached its hard bottom.
