Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:11
Those are the ones brought near [to Allah]
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.
Others said: they are the sparks that fly up out of the Fire and that have no fixed form.
* Mention of who said that:
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 word: فَكَانَتْ هَبَاءً مُنْبَثًّا (and they became scattered dust). He said: al-habāʾ (the dust) is that which flies up from the Fire when it blazes; the sparks fly out of it, and when it settles it is nothing more.
Others said: it is the withered wood that is blown away by the winds.
* 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 word: فَكَانَتْ هَبَاءً مُنْبَثًّا (and they became scattered dust): like the withered wood that the winds blow away to the right and to the left.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: هَبَاءً مُنْبَثًّا (scattered dust). He says: al-habāʾ (the dust) is that which the wind blows away from the fragments of the wood.
We have already expounded the meaning of al-habāʾ in another place with its proofs, so that it is superfluous to repeat that here.
As for His word: مُنْبَثًّا (scattered), that means: dispersed.
The statement concerning the explanation of the word of Him, the Exalted: وَكُنْتُمْ أَزْوَاجًا ثَلاثَةً (٧) فَأَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ (٨) وَأَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ (٩) وَالسَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ (١٠) أُولَئِكَ الْمُقَرَّبُونَ (١١) فِي جَنَّاتِ النَّعِيمِ (١٢) (And you will be three kinds (7) The companions of the right side, what are the companions of the right side! (8) And the companions of the left side, what are the companions of the left side! (9) And the foremost, the foremost (10) those are the ones brought near (11) in the Gardens of Bliss (12)).
He, exalted be His mention, says: and you will be, O people, three kinds and categories.
As Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: وَكُنْتُمْ أَزْوَاجًا ثَلاثَةً (and you will be three kinds). He said: the ranks of the people on the Day of Resurrection.
And His word: فَأَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ (the companions of the right side, what are the companions of the right side!) — this is a clarification from Allah concerning the three kinds. He says, exalted be His praise: and you will be three kinds: the companions of the right side, the companions of the left side, and the foremost. Thus He made the statement about them suffice in place of a further explanation about them, in the manner that we have mentioned, because the wording indicates its meaning. So He said: فَأَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ (the companions of the right side, what are the companions of the right side!) — He arouses in His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ wonder over them, and He said: مَا أَصْحَابُ الْيَمِينِ (what are the companions of the right hand!) — those who are led to the right side toward Paradise, what a tremendous matter are the companions of the right hand! وَأَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ (and the companions of the left side, what are the companions of the left side!) — He, exalted be His mention, says: and the companions of the left hand, those who are led to the left side toward the Fire. The Arabs call the left hand: al-shuʾmā. From this is the saying of al-Aʿshā of the Banū Thaʿlaba:
Fa-anḥā ʿalā shuʾmā yadayhi fa-dhādahā / bi-aẓmaʾa min farʿi al-dhuʾābati asḥamā (1) (Then he turned with the left of his two hands toward it and drove her away / with an [arrow] thirstier than the top of the lock of hair, jet-black.)
And His word: وَالسَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ (and the foremost, the foremost) — they are the third kind, and they are those who were foremost in faith in Allah and His Messenger, and they are the first emigrants (the first muhājirūn).
In accordance with what we have said about that, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh related to us, that is, al-ʿAtakī, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Surāqa, concerning His word: وَكُنْتُمْ أَزْوَاجًا ثَلاثَةً (and you will be three kinds). He said: two in Paradise and one in the Fire. He says: the wide-eyed maidens of Paradise (al-ḥūr al-ʿīn) are for the foremost, and the equal-in-age, loving women (al-ʿurub al-atrāb) are for the companions of the right hand.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: وَكُنْتُمْ أَزْوَاجًا ثَلاثَةً (and you will be three kinds). He said: the ranks of the people on the Day of Resurrection.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Hawdha related to us, saying: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: وَكُنْتُمْ أَزْوَاجًا ثَلاثَةً * فَأَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ * وَأَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ * وَالسَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ * أُولَئِكَ الْمُقَرَّبُونَ (and you will be three kinds * the companions of the right side, what are the companions of the right side! * and the companions of the left side, what are the companions of the left side! * and the foremost, the foremost * those are the ones brought near) … up to ثُلَّةٌ مِنَ الأوَّلِينَ * وَثُلَّةٌ مِنَ الآخِرِينَ (a multitude of the earlier ones * and a multitude of the later ones). Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "He has equated between the companions of the right hand of the earlier communities and the companions of the right hand of this community, and the foremost of the [earlier] communities were more numerous than the foremost of this community."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: فَأَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ (the companions of the right side, what are the companions of the right side!): that is, what is there for them, and what is prepared for them? وَأَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ (and the companions of the left side, what are the companions of the left side!): that is, what is there for them, and what is prepared for them? وَالسَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ (and the foremost, the foremost): that is, from every community.
Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: I heard Ibn Zayd say: I have found that desire consists of three parts. So there is the man who lets his desire prevail over his knowledge, so that he gives his desire the upper hand over his knowledge and his desire overwhelms his knowledge, until the knowledge together with the desire is despised and abased, and the knowledge is abased, while the desire is dominant and overwhelming. The one who has placed desire and knowledge in his heart thus belongs to the kinds of the Fire. And when someone belongs to those for whom Allah wills good, then he awakens and becomes alert, and then he is a helper for knowledge against desire, until Allah gives knowledge the upper hand over desire. And when the state of the believer becomes good and his way becomes straight, then desire is abased and knowledge is dominant and overwhelming. And when he belongs to those for whom Allah wills good, He seals his deed with giving knowledge the upper hand, and takes him to Himself when He takes him, while his knowledge is the overwhelming thing and he acts upon it, and his desire is abased and despised, without it having any share or any effect therein. And the third is the one whose desire Allah has made despised through his knowledge, so that his desire does not aspire to overcome the knowledge, nor that it be equal to it or have a share. This is the third, and he is the best of them all, and he is the one about whom Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said in the sūra al-Wāqiʿa: وَكُنْتُمْ أَزْوَاجًا ثَلاثَةً (and you will be three kinds). He said: so there are two kinds in Paradise and one kind in the Fire. He said: the foremost is the one in whom knowledge overwhelms desire, and the other is the one in whom Allah has sealed with giving knowledge the upper hand over desire; these two are two kinds in Paradise. And the other: his desire overwhelms his knowledge; this is the kind of the Fire.
The linguists differed concerning what places "aṣḥāb al-maymana" (the companions of the right side) and "aṣḥāb al-mashʾama" (the companions of the left side) in the nominative. Some grammarians of Basra said: the predicate of His word is فَأَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ * وَأَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ (the companions of the right side, what are the companions of the right side! * and the companions of the left side, what are the companions of the left side!). He said: it is like when you say: "Zayd, what is Zayd!", by which you mean: Zayd is strong. Another said: His word مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ (what are the companions of the right side!) — the sentence cannot be its predicate, but the second [part] refers back to the first, and it is an exclamation of wonder, as if He said: the companions of the right side, what are they; and al-qāriʿa (the Striking Calamity), what is it; and al-ḥāqqa (the Inevitable Reality), what is it? Thus the second referred back to the first, and it was a wonder, and the wonder has the meaning of a statement. If it had been a question, it would not be permissible for it to be the predicate of the subject, for the question cannot be a predicate, and the predicate cannot be a question, but the wonder can be a predicate, so it is the predicate of the subject. And the statement "Zayd, and what is Zayd!" can only consist of two statements, because the wāw (and) is not inserted into the predicate of the subject; it is as if He said: this is Zayd, and what is he, that is: how strong he is and how skilled he is!
The people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning who is meant by His word: وَالسَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ (and the foremost, the foremost). Some of them said: they are those who prayed toward the two prayer directions (qiblas).
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Khārija, on the authority of Qurra, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn: وَالسَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ (and the foremost, the foremost) — those who prayed toward the two prayer directions.
Others said about that what was related to me by ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Abī ʿUmayr, saying: al-Walīd ibn Muslim related to us, saying: Abū ʿAmr related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Abī Sawda related to us, saying: وَالسَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ (and the foremost, the foremost) — those who are the first to go to the mosques, and those who hasten most swiftly on the path of Allah.
The nominative in al-sābiqūn (the foremost) is possible in two ways: the first, that the first [word] is in the nominative …
