Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:26
And they prevent [others] from him and are [themselves] remote from him. And they do not destroy except themselves, but they perceive [it] not.
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement: وَهُمْ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ وَيَنْأَوْنَ عَنْهُ وَإِنْ يُهْلِكُونَ إِلا أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ (26) (And they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it. And they destroy none but themselves, while they perceive it not (26)).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The people of interpretation differed concerning the explanation of His statement: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it."
Some of them said: its meaning is: these polytheists (mushrikīn) who deny the signs of Allah forbid the people from following Muḥammad ﷺ and from accepting from him = "and they keep away from it," they distance themselves far from him.
* Mention of who said that:
13159 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth and Hāniʾ ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Ḥajjāj, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Ibn al-Ḥanafiyya: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it" — he said: they hold back from the Prophet ﷺ and do not respond to him, and they forbid the people from him.
13160 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh 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 statement: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it" — he means: they forbid the people from believing in Muḥammad = "and they keep away from it" — he means: they distance themselves far from him.
13161 - Muḥammad 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: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it" — that Muḥammad be followed, and they keep themselves far from him.
13162 - Muḥammad 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 statement: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it" — he says: they do not meet with him, and they let no one come to him.
13163 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say concerning His statement: "and they forbid [others] from it" — he says: from Muḥammad ﷺ.
13164 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it" — they combined the forbidding and the keeping away. And "al-naʾy" is the keeping away.
And some of them said: rather, its meaning is: "and they forbid [others] from it" — from the Qurʾān, that it be listened to and that what is in it be acted upon.
Mention of who said that:
13165 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "and they forbid [others] from it" — he said: they forbid from the Qurʾān and from the Prophet ﷺ = "and they keep away from it," and they distance themselves far from it.
13166 - 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 His statement: "and they forbid [others] from it" — he said: Quraysh, from the reminder (al-dhikr) = "and they keep away from it" — he says: they distance themselves far away.
13167 - 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: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it" — Quraysh, from the reminder = "they keep away from it," they distance themselves far away.
13168 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it" — he said: they forbid from the Qurʾān and from the Prophet ﷺ, and they distance themselves far from it.
13169 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: "they keep away from it" — he said: "and they keep away from it," they hold him at a distance.
* * *
And others said: its meaning is: and they forbid [others] from doing harm to Muḥammad ﷺ = "and they keep away from it," they keep away from his religion and from following him.
* Mention of who said that:
13170 - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ and Qabīṣa related to us = and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us = on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, on the authority of someone who heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: it was revealed concerning Abū Ṭālib; he used to forbid that Muḥammad be harmed, while he kept himself away from that with which he had come, namely that he should believe in it.
13171 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, saying: there related to me someone who heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it" — he said: it was revealed concerning Abū Ṭālib; he forbade that he be harmed, while he kept himself away from that with which he had come.
13172 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, on the authority of someone who heard Ibn ʿAbbās: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it" — he said: it was revealed concerning Abū Ṭālib; he used to forbid the polytheists from harming Muḥammad, while he kept himself away from that with which he had come.
13173 - Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbda related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Mukhaymira, saying: Abū Ṭālib used to forbid [harm] from the Prophet ﷺ (that he be harmed), yet he did not believe him.
13174 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father and Muḥammad ibn Bishr related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Mukhaymira, concerning His statement: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it" — he said: it was revealed concerning Abū Ṭālib = Ibn Wakīʿ said, Ibn Bishr said: Abū Ṭālib used to forbid from the Prophet ﷺ that he be harmed, but he did not believe in him.
13175 - Hannād related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, on the authority of Abū Muḥammad al-Asadī, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, saying: there related to me someone who heard Ibn ʿAbbās say concerning the statement of Allah — exalted is His mention: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it" — it was revealed concerning Abū Ṭālib; he used to forbid harming Muḥammad, while he kept himself away from that with which he had come, namely that he should follow him.
13176 - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Mukhaymira, concerning His statement: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it" — he said: it was revealed concerning Abū Ṭālib.
13177 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Siyāh, on the authority of Ḥabīb, saying: that is Abū Ṭālib, in His statement: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it."
13178 - Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Abī Ayyūb related to me, saying: ʿAṭāʾ ibn Dīnār said concerning the statement of Allah: "and they forbid [others] from it and keep away from it," that it was revealed concerning Abū Ṭālib, that he used to forbid the people from harming the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, while he kept himself away from the guidance with which he had come.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most fitting of these statements for the interpretation of the verse is the statement of him who said: its interpretation is: "and they forbid [others] from it" — they forbid others among the people from following Muḥammad ﷺ, and they themselves keep away from following him.
That is because the verses that precede it dealt with the mention of the community of the polytheists who associate others with Him, and with the report of their denial of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and their turning away from that with which he came to them of the revelation and inspiration of Allah. It is therefore required that His statement: "and they forbid [others] from it" be a report about them, since nothing has reached us indicating that the report turns from them to others. Rather, both what precedes this verse and what follows it indicate the correctness of what we have said: that it is a report about the community of the polytheists from the people of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, without it being a report about a particular group among them.
* * *
And since that is so, the interpretation of the verse is: and if these polytheists, O Muḥammad, were to see every sign, they would not believe in it, until, when they come to you to dispute with you, they say: "this with which you have come to us is nothing but the tales of the ancients and their reports"! And they forbid [others] from listening to the revelation, and they keep away from you, so that they hold themselves far from you and from following you = "and they destroy none but themselves," by which He says: and by their averting [people] from the path of Allah, their turning away from His revelation, and their disbelief in their Lord, they destroy none but themselves and no one else; and that is because by that conduct they earn for themselves the wrath of Allah and His painful punishment, and that against which they have no power = "while they perceive it not," by which He says: and they do not know what ruin and destruction they earn for themselves by their conduct.
* * *
The Arabs say of everyone who keeps away from something: "qad naʾā ʿanhu, fa-huwa yanʾā naʾyan" (he has kept away from it, and he keeps away, with a keeping-away). And it has been heard from them: "naʾaytuka," in the sense of "I kept myself away from you." But when they intend: I have removed you from me, they say: "anʾaytuka." And among the usage of "naʾaytuka" in the sense of "I kept myself away from you" is the statement of al-Ḥuṭayʾa:
Umāma has kept away from you, save to ask for something, and you have beheld of her a phantom of an apparition.
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Footnotes:
(58) The narration 13159 — "Hāniʾ ibn Saʿīd al-Nakhaʿī," sound in ḥadīth, mentioned in al-Kabīr 4/2/233 and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 4/2/102. And "Ḥajjāj" is "Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāt," repeatedly named. And "Sālim" is "Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd," likewise already named. And "Ibn al-Ḥanafiyya" is "Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib," likewise already named.
(59) In the manuscript it reads "wa-l-nahy al-tabāʿud," which is an error; the correct reading is what stands without doubt in the printed version.
(60) In the printed version it reads "yubʿidūna," and in the manuscript "yubʿidūnahu," and I preferred the reading as I have established it.
(61) The narration 13173 — "al-Qāsim ibn Mukhaymira al-Hamdānī," "Abū ʿUrwa," related from ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, Abū Umāma, and others among the tābiʿūn. Trustworthy (thiqa). Mentioned in al-Tahdhīb, al-Kabīr 4/1/167, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 3/2/120.
(62) The narration 13175 — "Abū Muḥammad al-Asadī," I do not know who he is, and I have found no one designated thus. I fear that he is "ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Siyāh al-Asadī," who follows in narration no. 13177, and "ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz" is related from by Yūnus ibn Bukayr.
(63) The narration 13177 — "ʿUbaydallāh ibn Mūsā ibn Abī al-Mukhtār al-ʿAbsī," repeatedly and frequently named. In the printed version and the manuscript it stood as "ʿAbdallāh ibn Mūsā," which is a sheer error. And "ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Siyāh al-Asadī," trustworthy, upright in character, and he was among the prominent figures of the shīʿa. From him related ʿUbaydallāh ibn Mūsā, Yūnus ibn Bukayr, Wakīʿ, and others. Mentioned in al-Tahdhīb and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 2/2/383. See the note on the preceding narration, for I deem it likely that "Abū Muḥammad al-Asadī" is the kunya of "ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Siyāh al-Asadī."
(64) The narration 13178 — "Saʿīd ibn Abī Ayyūb al-Khuzāʿī al-Miṣrī," and he is "Saʿīd ibn Miqlāṣ," trustworthy and firm (thiqa thabt). Already named in the two narrations no. 5615 and 6743, without a biographical note. Mentioned in al-Tahdhīb, al-Kabīr 2/1/419, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 2/1/66. And "ʿAṭāʾ ibn Dīnār al-Miṣrī," belonging to the trustworthy ones of the people of Egypt, already named under no. 160.
(65) See the explanation of "al-halāk" (ruin) just above in the preceding, p. 263.
(66) See the explanation of "shaʿara" (to perceive) in the preceding 1:277, 278 / 6:502.
(67) In the printed version it reads "masmūʿ minhum: naʾaytu," which is an error; the correct reading is in the manuscript.
(68) His dīwān: 31, from his poem with which he praised the Commander of the Faithful ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, excusing himself to him for the lampoon against al-Zibriqān ibn Badr; and after the verse:
A phantom that frightens you in sleep, and that with the morning refuses anything but to vanish.
A woman of Kināna, whose dwelling is far removed, she renews the bond and wears out the bond.
