Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:157
Or lest you say, "If only the Scripture had been revealed to us, we would have been better guided than they." So there has [now] come to you a clear evidence from your Lord and a guidance and mercy. Then who is more unjust than one who denies the verses of Allah and turns away from them? We will recompense those who turn away from Our verses with the worst of punishment for their having turned away.
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 His word: أَوْ تَقُولُوا لَوْ أَنَّا أُنْزِلَ عَلَيْنَا الْكِتَابُ لَكُنَّا أَهْدَى مِنْهُمْ فَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ بَيِّنَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةٌ
("Or lest you should say: 'If the Book had been sent down to us, we would surely have been better guided than they.' So now there has come to you a clear proof from your Lord, and guidance and mercy." (6:157))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: وَهَذَا كِتَابٌ أَنْزَلْنَاهُ مُبَارَكٌ ("And this is a Book which We have sent down, blessed"), so that the polytheists (mushrikīn) among the idolaters of Quraysh would not say: إِنَّمَا أُنْزِلَ الْكِتَابُ عَلَى طَائِفَتَيْنِ مِنْ قَبْلِنَا ("The Book was only sent down to two groups before us"), or: so that they would not say: if the Book had been sent down to us as it was sent down to these two groups before us, so that we would have had commands and prohibitions enjoined upon us therein, and so that the error of what we are in would have been distinguished for us therein from the right of it =\"la-kunnā ahdā minhum\" ("we would surely have been better guided than they"), that is to say: then we would have been more steadfast on the path of truth and more faithful in following the Book, and better in acting upon what is in it, than the two groups to whom the Book was sent down before us. (50) Allah says: \"fa-qad jāʾakum bayyinatun min rabbikum\" ("so now there has come to you a clear proof from your Lord"), He says: so now there has come to you a Book in your language, a clear Arabic [Book], a clear, manifest proof against you from your Lord (51) =\"wa-hudan\" ("and guidance"), He says: and an exposition of the truth, and a distinction (furqān) between the right and the wrong =, \"wa-raḥmatun\" ("and mercy") for whoever acts upon it and follows it, as:-
14189 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: \"aw taqūlū law annā unzila ʿalaynā al-kitābu la-kunnā ahdā minhum fa-qad jāʾakum bayyinatun min rabbikum\" ("or lest you should say: if the Book had been sent down to us, we would surely have been better guided than they; so now there has come to you a clear proof from your Lord"), he says: there has come to you a clear proof, a clear Arabic tongue, since you did not know the study of the two groups, and since you said: if a Book had come to us, we would surely have been better guided than they.
14190 - Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: \"aw taqūlū law annā unzila ʿalaynā al-kitābu la-kunnā ahdā minhum\" ("or lest you should say: if the Book had been sent down to us, we would surely have been better guided than they"), this is the saying of the disbelieving Arabs =\"fa-qad jāʾakum bayyinatun min rabbikum wa-hudan wa-raḥmatun\" ("so now there has come to you a clear proof from your Lord, and guidance and mercy").
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The explanation of His word: فَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنْ كَذَّبَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَصَدَفَ عَنْهَا سَنَجْزِي الَّذِينَ يَصْدِفُونَ عَنْ آيَاتِنَا سُوءَ الْعَذَابِ بِمَا كَانُوا يَصْدِفُونَ (157)
("Who then is more unjust than he who denies the signs of Allah and turns away from them? We shall recompense those who turn away from Our signs with the worst punishment because of their turning away." (6:157))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: who then is greater in transgression and more severe in enmity than you, O you polytheists (mushrikīn), who deny the proofs of Allah and His evidences = and these are His signs (52) =\"wa-ṣadafa ʿanhā\" ("and turns away from them"), He says: and turns away from it after it has come to him, so that he does not believe in it and does not hold its reality to be true.
And the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, brought forth the report in His word \"fa-man aẓlamu mimman kadhdhaba bi-āyāti Allāh\" ("who then is more unjust than he who denies the signs of Allah") in the form of a report about the absent one, while what is intended by it are those addressed by it, the polytheists of Quraysh.
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And in agreement with what we have said in the explanation of His word \"wa-ṣadafa ʿanhā\" ("and turns away from them"), the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke. (53)
* The mention of who said that:
14191 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: \"wa-ṣadafa ʿanhā\" ("and turns away from them"), he says: he turns away from it.
14192 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: \"yaṣdifūna ʿan āyātinā\" ("they turn away from Our signs"), they turn away from it, and \"al-ṣadf\" is the turning away.
14193 - Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: \"wa-ṣadafa ʿanhā\" ("and turns away from them"), he turns away from it; \"sa-najzī al-ladhīna yaṣdifūna ʿan āyātinā sūʾa al-ʿadhābi bimā kānū yaṣdifūn\" ("We shall recompense those who turn away from Our signs with the worst punishment because of their turning away"), that is to say: turning away.
14194 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: \"wa-ṣadafa ʿanhā\" ("and turns away from them"), he held [others] back from it.
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And His word: \"sa-najzī al-ladhīna yaṣdifūna ʿan āyātinā sūʾa al-ʿadhāb\" ("We shall recompense those who turn away from Our signs with the worst punishment"), He says: Allah will recompense those who turn away from His signs and His proofs and do not reflect upon them (54) and do not come to know their reality, so that they would believe in that to which they pointed of the oneness of Allah (tawḥīd), and the reality of the prophethood of His prophet, (55) and the truthfulness of what he brought them from their Lord — He will recompense them =\"sūʾa al-ʿadhāb\" ("with the worst punishment"), He says: with severe punishment, and that is the punishment of the Fire (al-nār) which Allah has prepared for the disbelievers among His creation against Him =\"bimā kānū yaṣdifūn\" ("because of their turning away"), He says: Allah does that to them as recompense for what they turned away from His signs in this world, so that they did not accept what their prophet Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — brought them.
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The footnotes:
(50) See the explanation of \"al-hudā\" in what preceded in the linguistic registers (hdy).
(51) See the explanation of \"al-bayyina\" in what preceded in the linguistic registers (byn).
(52) See the explanation of \"al-ẓulm\" in what preceded in the linguistic registers (ẓlm) = and the explanation of \"al-āya\" in what preceded in the linguistic registers (ʾyy).
(53) See the explanation of \"ṣadafa\" in what preceded, 11: 366.
(54) See the explanation of \"al-jazāʾ\" in what preceded in the linguistic registers (jzy).
(55) In the printed edition: \"wa-ḥaqqiyyat nubuwwat nabiyyih\"; with it has been done what was done with its sisters before it. See what preceded, 11: 475, note: 3, and the references there. And \"ḥaqīqa\" is a verbal noun with the meaning of \"ḥaqq\" (truth).
