Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:66
[Saying], "Indeed, we are [now] in debt;
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.
And His statement: إِنَّا لَمُغْرَمُونَ ("Indeed, we are laden with debt/loss") — the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differ over its meaning. Some of them said: it means: we have been afflicted with adversity.
* Mention of those who said that:
Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masrūqī related to me, saying: Yazīd ibn al-Ḥubāb related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid informed me, saying: Yazīd al-Naḥwī related to me, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning the statement of Allah, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted: إِنَّا لَمُغْرَمُونَ ("Indeed, we are laden with debt/loss"), he said: we have been afflicted with adversity.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, saying: Mujāhid said concerning His statement: إِنَّا لَمُغْرَمُونَ ("Indeed, we are laden with debt/loss"): that is, we have been afflicted with adversity.
And others said: no, the meaning of it is: we are truly punished.
* Mention of those who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: إِنَّا لَمُغْرَمُونَ ("Indeed, we are laden with debt/loss"): that is, punished.
And others said: no, the meaning of it is: we have been exposed to evil.
* Mention of those 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: إِنَّا لَمُغْرَمُونَ ("Indeed, we are laden with debt/loss"), he said: exposed to evil.
The most correct of the views concerning that is the view of him who said: its meaning is: we are truly punished. That is because al-gharām among the Arabs means punishment, and of this is the statement of al-Aʿshā:
If he punishes (yuʿāqib), then it is a torment (gharām); and if he gives
abundantly, then it does not harm him. (3)
By his statement "then it is a gharām" he means: then it is a punishment. And in the sentence something has been omitted, the indication of the sentence being sufficient for it, namely: فَظَلْتُمْ تَفَكَّهُونَ ("then you would remain lamenting") "saying": إِنَّا لَمُغْرَمُونَ ("Indeed, we are laden with debt/loss"); the "saying" (taqūlūn) has been omitted from the sentence for the reason just described.
