Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:35
And if their evasion is difficult for you, then if you are able to seek a tunnel into the earth or a stairway into the sky to bring them a sign, [then do so]. But if Allah had willed, He would have united them upon guidance. So never be of the ignorant.
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: "And if their turning away is hard upon you, then seek, if you are able, a tunnel in the earth or a ladder to the heaven, so that you may bring them a sign" (6:35).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: If it has become hard upon you, O Muhammad, that these polytheists turn away from you and turn aside from believing you concerning the truth that I have caused you to bring to them, and it has burdened you and you could not bear with patience the harm that befalls you from them —
"Then seek, if you are able, a tunnel in the earth," that is to say: if you are able to make a passage in the earth like the nāfiqāʾ of the jerboa — that is one of its burrows — and depart through it,
"Or a ladder to the heaven," that is to say: or an ascent by which you climb upward, like a stairway and the like, as the poet said:
The man does not entrench himself in the far corners of the lands, nor are ladders built for him into the heavens.
"So that you may bring them a sign" thereof — that is to say: with a sign and proof of the soundness of your word, other than what I have given you — then do that.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, a number of the exegetes spoke.
Mention of those who said that:
13201 — Al-Muthannā related to us, 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, his word: "And if their turning away is hard upon you, then seek, if you are able, a tunnel in the earth or a ladder to the heaven" — and "al-nafaq" is the passage through which you depart, "so that you may bring them a sign," meaning: make for yourself a ladder to the heaven, and ascend by it, and bring them a sign more excellent than what we have brought them — then do that.
13202 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His word: "Then seek, if you are able, a tunnel in the earth," he said: a passage. "Or a ladder to the heaven," he said: he means the stairway.
13203 — Muhammad 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 if their turning away is hard upon you, then seek, if you are able, a tunnel in the earth or a ladder to the heaven" — as for "al-nafaq," that is the passage, and as for "al-sullam" (the ladder), that is the ascent.
13204 — 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 ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his word: "a tunnel in the earth," he said: a passage.
And the apodosis of the condition was omitted and not mentioned, because the wording indicates it and the hearers know its meaning. The Arabs do that at times with that whose meaning is understood by those to whom it is addressed. Thus one man among them says to another: "If you are able to stand with us for our need, if you are able to help us," and he omits the apodosis, while he means: if you are able to help us, then do it. But when the one addressed and the hearer can know the meaning of the utterance only through the displaying of the apodosis, then they do not omit it. One does not say: "If you stand up," and then fall silent and omit the apodosis, because the one to whom that is said can know its apodosis only through its being displayed, until one says: "If you stand up, you will obtain something good," or: "If you stand up, then that is good," and the like. And equivalent to what is in the verse, whose apodosis was omitted while it is indeed intended, on account of the addressee's understanding of the meaning of the utterance, is the word of the poet:
Then live with a portion of that whereby we live, and let not the trifles carry you off into the terrors.
And the meaning is: then live with a portion of that whereby we live — that is: live.
The explanation of His word: "And had Allah willed, He would have gathered them upon guidance. So do not be among the ignorant" (6:35).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: As for those who deny you among these unbelievers, O Muhammad, so that their denial of you grieves you — had I willed to gather them upon a steadfastness in faith and a soundness in the way of Islam, until the word of you all would be one, and your religious community and theirs one — then I would have gathered them upon that, and that would not have been unattainable for me, for I am able to do that through my gracious care. But I did not do that on account of my prior knowledge concerning my creatures and my abiding ordainment over them, before I created them and formed their bodies.
"So do not be," O Muhammad, "among the ignorant," that is to say: do not be among those who do not know that Allah, had He willed, would have gathered all His creatures upon guidance through His gracious care, and that whoever among His creatures is an unbeliever in Him is an unbeliever in Him only on account of Allah's prior knowledge concerning him and His abiding ordainment that he would be among the unbelievers in Him — by choice, not by compulsion. For when you know the soundness of this, the turning away of whoever among the polytheists turns away from the truth to which you call him, and the denial of whoever among them denies you, will not be hard upon you.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, a number of the exegetes spoke.
Mention of those who said that:
13205 — 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: Allah, glory be to Him, says: had I willed, I would have gathered them all upon guidance.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And in this report from Allah, the Exalted whose mention is exalted, lies the clear proof of the falsity of what the adherents of tafwīḍ among the Qadariyya say — those who deny that Allah possesses gracious means (laṭāʾif) for whoever He wills to grant success among His creatures, by which He gently guides him until he is guided to the truth, so that he submits to it and turns to the straight path, accepts it, and prefers it over error and unbelief in Allah. For this is so, because He, the Exalted whose mention is exalted, has reported that He, had He willed guidance for all who are unbelievers in Him, until they would gather upon guidance, would have done that. And there is no doubt that, had He done that with them, they would have been guided and not erring. And had they been guided, there is no doubt that their being guided would be better for them. And in His refraining, the Exalted whose mention is exalted, from gathering them upon guidance, lies a refraining on His part from doing with them in their faith something that is better for them, while He is able to do that with them, yet He has refrained from doing it with them. And in His refraining from doing that with them lies the clearest proof that He has not given them all the causes by which they would come to guidance and by which they would acquire faith.
