Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:109
And they swear by Allah their strongest oaths that if a sign came to them, they would surely believe in it. Say, "The signs are only with Allah." And what will make you perceive that even if a sign came, they would not believe.
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: وَأَقْسَمُوا بِاللَّهِ جَهْدَ أَيْمَانِهِمْ لَئِنْ جَاءَتْهُمْ آيَةٌ لَيُؤْمِنُنَّ بِهَا قُلْ إِنَّمَا الآيَاتُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَمَا يُشْعِرُكُمْ أَنَّهَا إِذَا جَاءَتْ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ (109) ("And they swore by Allah their strongest oaths that, if a sign were to come to them, they would surely believe in it. Say: 'The signs are only with Allah.' And what makes you perceive that, when it comes, they will not believe?" (6:109)).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: And these who associate others with Allah swore by Allah their strongest oath—and that is the most binding, the heaviest, and the most stringent oath they could take—لَئِنْ جَاءَتْهُمْ آيَةٌ ("if a sign were to come to them"). He says: they said: we swear by Allah that, if there comes to us a sign confirming what you say, O Muḥammad, like that which came to the communities before us—لَيُؤْمِنُنَّ بِهَا ("they would surely believe in it"). He says: they said: we will surely believe through its coming to you, and that you are truly a messenger sent by Allah, and that what you have brought us is the truth from Allah.
And it has been said: "they would surely believe in it (bihā)," where the statement is connected to "the sign" (al-āya), while the meaning is: [they would believe] upon the coming of the sign.
He says to His Prophet ﷺ: قُلْ إِنَّمَا الآيَاتُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ ("Say: 'The signs are only with Allah'"), and He is the One who is able to bring them to you, unlike anyone else among His creatures—وَمَا يُشْعِرُكُمْ ("and what makes you perceive"). He says: and what makes you know—أَنَّهَا إِذَا جَاءَتْ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ ("that, when it comes, they will not believe")?
And it has been mentioned that those who asked him for the sign from his people are the very ones of whose belief Allah had made His Prophet despair, namely the polytheists of his people.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
13744 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allah: لَئِنْ جَاءَتْهُمْ آيَةٌ لَيُؤْمِنُنَّ بِهَا ("if a sign were to come to them, they would surely believe in it"), up to His saying يَجْهَلُونَ ("they do not know"): Quraysh asked Muḥammad to bring them a sign, and they swore to him: they would surely believe in it.
13745 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ: لَئِنْ جَاءَتْهُمْ آيَةٌ لَيُؤْمِنُنَّ بِهَا ("if a sign were to come to them, they would surely believe in it"), then he mentioned something similar.
13746 — Hannād related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, saying: Abū Maʿshar related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ spoke with Quraysh, whereupon they said: O Muḥammad, you inform us that Mūsā had a staff with which he struck the rock, from which twelve springs gushed forth; and you inform us that ʿĪsā raised the dead to life; and you inform us that Thamūd had a she-camel—so bring us something of the signs, that we may believe you! Thereupon the Prophet ﷺ said: What thing do you want me to bring you? They said: make Ṣafā into gold for us. He said to them: If I do that, will you then believe me? They said: yes, by Allah, if you do it we will all surely follow you! Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood and prayed, and Jibrīl, peace be upon him, came to him and said to him: yours is what you wish; if you wish, it will become gold, but if He sends a sign and they then do not believe, We will surely punish them; and if you wish, then give them respite until whoever among them wishes to repent repents. Thereupon he said: no, let whoever among them wishes to repent repent. Then Allah, the Exalted, sent down: وَأَقْسَمُوا بِاللَّهِ ("And they swore by Allah"), up to His saying يَجْهَلُونَ ("they do not know").
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَمَا يُشْعِرُكُمْ أَنَّهَا إِذَا جَاءَتْ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ ("And what makes you perceive that, when it comes, they will not believe").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differed concerning who is addressed by His saying وَمَا يُشْعِرُكُمْ أَنَّهَا إِذَا جَاءَتْ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ ("and what makes you perceive that, when it comes, they will not believe").
Some of them said: by His saying وَمَا يُشْعِرُكُمْ ("and what makes you perceive") the polytheists are addressed, those who swore by Allah that, if a sign were to come to them, they would surely believe in it; and the statement ends at His saying وَمَا يُشْعِرُكُمْ ("and what makes you perceive"), after which the judgment concerning them—that they will not believe upon its coming—is posited as a new, independent opening.
Mention of who said that:
13747 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allah وَمَا يُشْعِرُكُمْ ("and what makes you perceive"), he said: what makes you know. He said: then He informed concerning them that they will not believe.
13748 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَمَا يُشْعِرُكُمْ ("and what makes you perceive"), what makes you know—"that, when it comes"; he said: He has determined concerning them that, when it comes, they will not believe.
13749 — Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us, saying: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd say: إِنَّمَا الآيَاتُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ ("The signs are only with Allah"), then He begins anew and says: verily, when it comes they will not believe.
13750 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, [concerning] His saying: إِنَّمَا الآيَاتُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَمَا يُشْعِرُكُمْ ("The signs are only with Allah, and what makes you perceive"), what makes you know that you will believe when it comes. Then He resumes and informs concerning them, and says: when it comes they will not believe.
And according to this interpretation, the reading of whoever recites it with a kasra on the alif is: "innahā" ("verily, they"), on the basis that His saying إِنَّهَا إِذَا جَاءَتْ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ ("verily, when it comes they will not believe") is the statement of an inceptive word (mubtadaʾ), separate from what precedes.
And among those who recited it thus is a portion of the reciters of Mecca and Basra.
Others among them said: no, that is rather an address from Allah to His Prophet ﷺ and his companions. They said: that is because those who asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to bring a sign were the believers in him. They said: the occasion of their request for that was that the polytheists had sworn that, when the sign came, they would believe and follow the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Thereupon the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ask, O Messenger of Allah, your Lord for it! Then he asked for it, and Allah sent down concerning them and concerning their request for it: قُلْ "Say" to the believers in you, O Muḥammad—إِنَّمَا الآيَاتُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَمَا يُشْعِرُكُمْ ("The signs are only with Allah, and what makes you perceive"), O believers, that when the signs come to these polytheists from Allah, they will not believe in them—and thus they opened the "alif" of "anna."
And those who recited it thus are the majority of the reciters of Medina and Kūfa, and they said: the "lā" in His saying لا يُؤْمِنُونَ ("not believe") is inserted as a filler (ṣila), just as it is inserted in His saying: مَا مَنَعَكَ أَلا تَسْجُدَ ("What prevented you from prostrating") [sūrat al-Aʿrāf: 12], and in His saying: وَحَرَامٌ عَلَى قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَاهَا أَنَّهُمْ لا يَرْجِعُونَ ("And it is forbidden for a town that We have destroyed that they return") [sūrat al-Anbiyāʾ: 95], while the meaning is only: it is forbidden for them that they return—[and] what prevented you from prostrating.
And a group who recited it with a fatḥa on the "alif" of (annahā) interpreted it in the meaning of: laʿallahā ("perhaps"). And they mentioned that it is so in the reading of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb.
And it has been related on the authority of the Arabs, as heard from their mouths: "Go to the market, anna (= perhaps) you buy something for me," in the meaning of: laʿalla ("perhaps") you buy.
And it has been said that the saying of ʿAdī ibn Zayd al-ʿIbādī:
"O reproacher, what makes you know that my hour of death (annahā manīyatī) will be within an hour, on the day, or in the morning twilight of tomorrow"
is in the meaning of: laʿalla ("perhaps") my hour of death. And they have recited in the verse of Durayd ibn al-Ṣimma:
"Let me roam through the lands, for I (la-annanī) see what you see, or [as] a hardened miser"
in the meaning of: laʿallanī ("perhaps I"). And what our companions have recited to me on the authority of al-Farrāʾ is: "laʿallanī arā mā tarayn" ("perhaps I see what you see"). And they have likewise recited the verse of Tawba ibn al-Ḥumayyir:
"Perhaps you, O buck that leaps in a twisted rope (laʿallaka — la-hannaka), torment Laylā because you see me visiting her"
"la-hannaka, O buck," in the meaning of: "la-annaka," which has the meaning of "laʿallaka" ("perhaps you"); and they have recited the verse of Abū al-Najm al-ʿIjlī:
"I said to Shaybān: draw near to him (annā — laʿallanā), that we may feed the people from his roasted meat"
in the meaning of: laʿallanā ("perhaps we") feed the people.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most fitting of the interpretations herein in the exegesis of the āya is the saying of whoever said: that is an address from Allah to the believers in Him among the companions of His Messenger—I mean His saying وَمَا يُشْعِرُكُمْ أَنَّهَا إِذَا جَاءَتْ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ ("and what makes you perceive that, when it comes, they will not believe")—and that His saying "annahā" has the meaning of: laʿallahā ("perhaps they").
And that is only the most fitting of its interpretations toward correctness, on account of the widespread prevalence of the reading among the reciters of the cities with the yāʾ in His saying لا يُؤْمِنُونَ ("not believe" [in the third person]).
And if His saying وَمَا يُشْعِرُكُمْ ("and what makes you perceive") were an address to the polytheists, then the reading in His saying لا يُؤْمِنُونَ would be with the tāʾ [i.e., "not believe" in the second person]; and that—even though some reciters of Mecca have recited it thus—is a reading that deviates from that upon which the reciters of the cities stand, and the disagreement of all of them with it is sufficient proof of its falling away and its deviance.
And the meaning of the words is only: and what makes you know, O believers, perhaps that the signs, when they come to these polytheists, [they] will not believe, and they are then straightaway struck with vengeance and punishment, and are not thereby deferred.