Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:122
And is one who was dead and We gave him life and made for him light by which to walk among the people like one who is in darkness, never to emerge therefrom? Thus it has been made pleasing to the disbelievers that which they were doing.
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: أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ كَمَنْ مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ لَيْسَ بِخَارِجٍ مِنْهَا ("Is then he who was dead, and whom We brought to life, and for whom We made a light by which he walks among the people, like him whose likeness is [that of one] in the depths of darkness, from which he cannot emerge?" (6:122)).
Abū Jaʿfar said: This word of Allah, whose praise is exalted, points to His prohibition to the believers, by means of His Messenger on that day, against obeying certain polytheists who disputed with them about eating carrion — by means of what we have mentioned concerning them regarding their disputing with them about that — and His command to them to obey a believer among them who [formerly] had been an unbeliever, and whom Allah, whose praise is exalted, guided to His straight path and granted the capacity for faith. Thus He said to them: is obedience to him who was dead — He says: he who was an unbeliever? — He, whose praise is exalted, placed him, on account of his turning away from His obedience, and his ignorance of His oneness and the legal rulings of His religion, and his failure to take his share in the work for Allah that would lead him to his salvation, in the rank of "the dead" who benefits himself with nothing useful, nor wards off any approaching harm from himself — فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ ("and whom We brought to life"). He says: We guided him to Islam, and We brought him to life, so that he came to know what harms and benefits his soul, and began to work for its deliverance from the wrath of Allah and His punishment in the Hereafter. Thus He made his beholding of the truth, the Exalted whose mention is exalted, after his blindness to it before, and his knowledge of His oneness and the legal rulings of His religion after his ignorance of it, into a life and a radiance by which he illuminates himself, so that he walks among the people upon the right course and the clear path — كَمَنْ مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ ("like him whose likeness is [that of one] in the depths of darkness"), who does not know how to turn, nor which way to take, on account of the intensity of the darkness of the night and the losing of the way therein. Such, too, is this unbeliever, straying in the darknesses of unbelief, who sees no straight path and knows no truth — He means: in the darknesses of unbelief. He says: is then obedience to this one whom We have guided to the truth and to whom We have caused the right way to be beheld, like obedience to him whose likeness is that of one who wanders about in the darknesses and does not know the way out of them — in this [first one] his call to forbidding what Allah has forbidden and permitting what He has permitted, and in that [other one] his permitting what Allah has forbidden and his forbidding what He has permitted?
And it has been mentioned that this āya was sent down concerning two particular men, known by name: one a believer, the other an unbeliever.
Then the exegetes differed concerning them.
Some of them said: as for the one who was dead and whom Allah brought to life, that is ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him. And as for the one whose likeness is that of one in the darknesses, from which he cannot emerge, that is Abū Jahl ibn Hishām.
Mention of who said that:
13836 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Sulaymān ibn Abī Hawdha informed us, on the authority of Shuʿayb al-Sarrāj, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His saying: أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ ("Is then he who was dead, and whom We brought to life, and for whom We made a light by which he walks among the people"), he said: ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him — كَمَنْ مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ ("like him whose likeness is [that of one] in the depths of darkness"), he said: Abū Jahl ibn Hishām.
And others said: no, the dead one whom Allah brought to life is ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, may Allah's mercy be upon him. And as for the one whose likeness is that of one in the darknesses, from which he cannot emerge, that is Abū Jahl ibn Hishām.
Mention of who said that:
13837 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of Bishr ibn Taym, on the authority of a man, on the authority of ʿIkrima: أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ ("Is then he who was dead, and whom We brought to life, and for whom We made a light by which he walks among the people"), he said: it was sent down concerning ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir.
13838 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿUyayna, on the authority of Bishr, on the authority of Taym, on the authority of ʿIkrima: أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ ("Is then he who was dead, and whom We brought to life, and for whom We made a light by which he walks among the people"), [that is] ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir — كَمَنْ مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ ("like him whose likeness is [that of one] in the depths of darkness"), [that is] Abū Jahl ibn Hishām.
And in agreement with what we have said concerning the āya, the exegetes have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
13839 — Mohammed 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: أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ ("Is then he who was dead, and whom We brought to life"), he said: straying, and We guided him — وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ ("and for whom We made a light by which he walks among the people"), he said: guidance — كَمَنْ مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ لَيْسَ بِخَارِجٍ مِنْهَا ("like him whose likeness is [that of one] in the depths of darkness, from which he cannot emerge"), he said: forever in the straying.
13840 — 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: أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ ("Is then he who was dead, and whom We brought to life"), We guided him — وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ كَمَنْ مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ ("and for whom We made a light by which he walks among the people, like him whose likeness is [that of one] in the depths of darkness"), forever in the straying.
13841 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Mujāhid: أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ ("Is then he who was dead, and whom We brought to life"), he said: straying, and We guided him.
13842 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ ("Is then he who was dead, and whom We brought to life"), He means: he who was an unbeliever and whom We guided — وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ ("and for whom We made a light by which he walks among the people"), by the light He means the Qurʾān — whoever believes in it and acts by it — كَمَنْ مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ ("like him whose likeness is [that of one] in the depths of darkness"), by the darknesses He means unbelief and straying.
13843 — Mohammed 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 saying: أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ ("Is then he who was dead, and whom We brought to life, and for whom We made a light by which he walks among the people"), he says: the guidance — "by which he walks among the people," he says: that is the unbeliever whom Allah guides to Islam. He says: he was a polytheist, and We guided him — كَمَنْ مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ لَيْسَ بِخَارِجٍ مِنْهَا ("like him whose likeness is [that of one] in the depths of darkness, from which he cannot emerge").
13844 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ ("Is then he who was dead, and whom We brought to life"), this is the believer; with him is from Allah a light and a clear proof by which he acts and which he adopts, and at which he ends, [namely] the Book of Allah — كَمَنْ مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ لَيْسَ بِخَارِجٍ مِنْهَا ("like him whose likeness is [that of one] in the depths of darkness, from which he cannot emerge"), and this is the likeness of the unbeliever in straying, bewildered therein and wandering about, who finds no way out and no passage.
13845 — Mohammed ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ ("Is then he who was dead, and whom We brought to life, and for whom We made a light by which he walks among the people"), he says: he who was an unbeliever and whom We made a Muslim, and for whom We made a light by which he walks among the people, and that is Islam. He says: this one is like him who is in the darknesses, He means: the shirk (the assigning of partners to Allah).
13846 — Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ ("and for whom We made a light by which he walks among the people"), he said: the Islam to which Allah has guided him — كَمَنْ مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ ("like him whose likeness is [that of one] in the depths of darkness"), who is not among the people of Islam. And he recited: اللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يُخْرِجُهُمْ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ ("Allah is the Protector of those who believe; He brings them out of the darknesses into the light") [sūrat al-Baqara: 257]. He said: and the light — by it is illuminated what is in his house and he sees it; and likewise is he to whom Allah has granted this light: he illuminates himself with it in his religion and acts by it in his light, just as the owner of this lamp illuminates himself with it. He said: كَمَنْ مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ ("like him whose likeness is [that of one] in the depths of darkness"), who does not know what is coming, nor what will befall him.
The explanation of the saying: كَذَلِكَ زُيِّنَ لِلْكَافِرِينَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ (122) ("Thus was made fair-seeming to the unbelievers what they used to do" (6:122)).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: just as I have left this unbeliever who disputes with you — O believers in Allah and His Messenger, about the eating of what I have forbidden you of foods — to his fate concerning the truth, and have made his evil work fair-seeming to him so that he found it beautiful, that he might thereby earn what I have prepared for him of painful punishment — so too have I, for another besides him, who was in the same state of unbelief in Allah and His signs as he, made fair-seeming what they performed of disobediences toward Allah, that they might thereby earn through their action the punishment that befalls them from their Lord.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And in this is the clearest declaration in refutation by Allah of those who claim that Allah has handed over the affairs to His creatures as regards their works, so that He has no part in their deeds, and that He has made them all equal in the causes by which they arrive at obedience and disobedience. For if that were as they say, then He would have made fair-seeming for His prophets and His friends, of straying and unbelief, the same as what He has made fair-seeming of that for His enemies and the people of unbelief in Him, and He would have made fair-seeming for the people of unbelief in Him, of faith in Him, the same as what He has made fair-seeming of that for His prophets and His friends. And in His informing, whose praise is exalted, that He has made fair-seeming for each one of them who acts his work, is that which indicates the making fair-seeming of unbelief, moral corruption (fisq), and disobedience; and He has specifically apportioned to His enemies and the people of unbelief the making fair-seeming of unbelief for them, and moral corruption and disobedience, and has made hateful to them faith in Him and obedience.