Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:60
We have decreed death among you, and We are not to be outdone
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 word: نَحْنُ قَدَّرْنَا بَيْنَكُمُ الْمَوْتَ وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمَسْبُوقِينَ ("We have decreed death among you, and We are not to be outstripped"). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: We have decreed death among you, O people, advancing it for some and deferring it for others to an appointed term.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* 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 word: قَدَّرْنَا بَيْنَكُمُ الْمَوْتَ ("We have decreed death among you"), he said: the deferred and the advanced.
And His word: وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمَسْبُوقِينَ عَلَى أَنْ نُبَدِّلَ أَمْثَالَكُمْ ("and We are not to be outstripped in that We replace others like you in your place"). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمَسْبُوقِينَ ("and We are not to be outstripped"), O people, with respect to yourselves and your life-terms, such that anyone could outstrip Us in the matter We have decreed for them of life and death; rather, nothing of Our decreed term comes before its time, nor does it come later than its time.
