Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:128
And [mention, O Muhammad], the Day when He will gather them together [and say], "O company of jinn, you have [misled] many of mankind." And their allies among mankind will say, "Our Lord, some of us made use of others, and we have [now] reached our term, which you appointed for us." He will say, "The Fire is your residence, wherein you will abide eternally, except for what Allah wills. Indeed, your Lord is Wise and Knowing."
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: وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ جَمِيعًا يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ قَدِ اسْتَكْثَرْتُمْ مِنَ الإِنْسِ (And on the Day when He gathers them all together: O assembly of jinn, you have taken much of mankind.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, means by His saying ويوم يحشرهم جميعًا (and on the Day when He gathers them all together): and on the Day when He gathers these who set up idols and graven images as equals to Allah, and the rest of the polytheists (mushrikīn) along with them, together with their allies among the devils, who whispered to them their embellished words as a temptation, so that thereby they might dispute with the believers; He then gathers them all together at the standing-place of the Resurrection. (30) He says to the jinn: يا معشر الجن قد استكثرتم من الإنس (O assembly of jinn, you have taken much of mankind). And "He says to the jinn" has been omitted from the saying, the indication that the apparent part of the saying gives to it being deemed sufficient.
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And He means by His saying قد استكثرتم من الإنس (you have taken much of mankind): you have done much in leading them astray and tempting them, as in:-
13885- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying ويوم يحشرهم جميعًا يا معشر الجن قد استكثرتم من الإنس: it means: you have led many of them astray.
13886- Mohammed ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Mohammed ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: يا معشر الجن قد استكثرتم من الإنس, he said: you have led many of mankind astray.
13887- 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 قد استكثرتم من الإنس, he said: numerous were those whom you seduced.
13888- 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, the like of it.
13889- Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: قد استكثرتم من الإنس, he says: you have led many of mankind astray.
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The explanation of the saying: وَقَالَ أَوْلِيَاؤُهُمْ مِنَ الإِنْسِ رَبَّنَا اسْتَمْتَعَ بَعْضُنَا بِبَعْضٍ (And their allies among mankind say: Our Lord, we profited from one another.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: then the allies of the jinn among mankind respond and say: "Our Lord, we profited from one another" in the worldly life. (31) As for the profiting of mankind by means of the jinn, that was as in:-
13890- Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His saying ربنا استمتع بعضنا ببعض, he said: in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) a man would alight in a land and say: "I seek refuge with the great [jinn] of this valley." That was their profiting, and for it they made excuses for themselves on the Day of Resurrection.
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And as for the profiting of the jinn by means of mankind, that was, according to what has been transmitted, what the jinn obtained from mankind in the way of being magnified by them through the latter seeking refuge with them; they would then say: "We hold dominion over the jinn and the ḥinn." (32)
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The explanation of the saying: وَبَلَغْنَا أَجَلَنَا الَّذِي أَجَّلْتَ لَنَا (And we have reached the term which You appointed for us.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: they said: we have reached the time which You appointed for our death. (33) And He, whose praise is exalted, means by it only: that they said: we profited from one another throughout the days of our life until the moment of our death. As in:-
13891- 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: as for His saying وبلغنا أجلنا الذي أجَّلتَ لنا, that is death.
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The explanation of the saying: قَالَ النَّارُ مَثْوَاكُمْ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا إِلا مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ حَكِيمٌ عَلِيمٌ (128) (He says: The Fire is your abode, abiding therein eternally, except what Allah wills. Verily, your Lord is Wise, All-Knowing.) (6:128)
Abū Jaʿfar said: And this is a report from Allah, whose remembrance is exalted, about what He will say to these whom He gathers on the Day of Resurrection among those who set Him up as equal in the worldly life with idols, and to their companions among the jinn. He expressed the report about what will happen in the form of a report about what has already happened, because of the preceding of the saying before it with that meaning and that intent. So He said: Allah said to the allies of the jinn among mankind, about whom His report has already preceded: النار مثواكم (the Fire is your abode), He means the fire of Hell (jahannam). "Mathwākum" (your abode) is that in which you abide, that is to say: in which you tarry.
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And "al-mathwā" is the "mafʿal"-form of their expression: "thawā fulān bi-makān kadhā" (so-and-so abode at such-and-such a place), when he resided there. (34)
خالدين فيها (abiding therein eternally), He says: tarrying therein. (35) إلا ما شاء الله (except what Allah wills), He means: except what Allah wills of the duration of the period between their being raised from their graves and their arrival at Hell (jahannam); that is the period which Allah has excepted from their eternal abiding in the Fire. إن ربك حكيم (verily your Lord is Wise), in His disposal of His creation, and in His disposing of them according to His will from one state to another, and in others of His acts. عليم (All-Knowing), concerning the outcomes of His disposal of them, (36) and concerning that to which their affair will ultimately come, of good and evil. (37)
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And it has been transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās that he used to explain this exception thus: that Allah has left the affair of this people, in the measure of His punishing them, to His will.
13892- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: قال النار مثواكم خالدين فيها إلا ما شاء الله إن ربك حكيم عليم, he said: verily this verse is a verse concerning which it does not befit anyone to pass judgment upon Allah regarding His creation, namely to place them [with certainty] neither in Paradise nor in the Fire. (38)
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The footnotes:
(30) See the explanation of "al-ḥashr" (the gathering) in what passed earlier, p. 50, note 1, and the references there.
(31) See the explanation of "al-istimtāʿ" (the profiting) in what passed earlier 8: 175, note 1, and the references there.
(32) In the printed edition it reads: "We hold dominion over the jinn and mankind", differing from what is in the manuscript, which he could not read well because it was not provided with diacritical points. And I have adopted what is in the manuscript. And "al-ḥinn" (with a kasra on the ḥāʾ) is a tribe among the tribes of the jinn, and the clarification of it already passed in volume 1: 455, note 1, consult it there. See Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 354, and what is there agrees with what is in the printed edition.
(33) See the explanation of "al-ajal" (the term) in what passed earlier, p. 11: 259, note 1, and the references there.
(34) See the explanation of "al-mathwā" in what passed earlier 7: 279.
(35) See the explanation of "al-khulūd" (the eternal abiding) in what passed earlier from the linguistic registers (kh-l-d).
(36) See the explanation of "ḥakīm" (Wise) and "ʿalīm" (All-Knowing) in what passed earlier from the linguistic registers (ḥ-k-m) and (ʿ-l-m).
(37) In the printed edition it reads "ṣāʾir" without a tāʾ at the end, and the correct reading is what is in the manuscript: "ṣāʾira" like "ʿāqiba" in wording and meaning, and from that comes earlier: "al-ṣāʾira is that to which the vegetation comes in drought".
(38) In the printed edition it reads "an lā yunazzila-hum", with "an" added, which corrupted the meaning so that it contradicted itself. And his word is only: "to place them [with certainty] neither in Paradise nor in the Fire", a prohibition to people against saying: "So-and-so is in Paradise" and "So-and-so is in the Fire". "Yunazzilu-hum" has the lām in the jussive because of the prohibitive particle.
