Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:65
Say, "He is the [one] Able to send upon you affliction from above you or from beneath your feet or to confuse you [so you become] sects and make you taste the violence of one another." Look how We diversify the signs that they might understand.
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: قُلْ هُوَ الْقَادِرُ عَلَى أَنْ يَبْعَثَ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابًا مِنْ فَوْقِكُمْ أَوْ مِنْ تَحْتِ أَرْجُلِكُمْ (Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you or from beneath your feet.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah, exalted is His mention, says to His Prophet ﷺ: Say to these who set up others alongside their Lord — the idols and false deities — O Muḥammad: Verily, the One who saves you from the darknesses of the land and the sea and from every distress, and after which you return to ascribing partners to Him, He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you or from beneath your feet, because of your ascribing partners to Him, and your calling upon, besides Him, a god other than Him, and your ingratitude for His favours, despite His having poured out His bounties and blessings abundantly upon you.
* * *
The people of interpretation differed concerning the meaning of the "chastisement" which Allah warned this people He would send upon them from above them or from beneath their feet.
Some of them said: As for the chastisement which He warned them He would send from above them, that is the stoning (rain of stones). And as for that which He warned them He would send from beneath them, that is the swallowing up into the earth (al-khasf).
* Mention of who said that:
13344 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik: "a chastisement from above you or from beneath your feet", he said: the swallowing up into the earth.
13345 — Sufyān related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of al-Ashjaʿī, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik and Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, the same.
13346 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Salama related to us, on the authority of Shibl, on the authority of Ibn Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you or from beneath your feet", he said: the swallowing up into the earth.
13347 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you", that is the chastisement of the heaven; "or from beneath your feet", then He causes the earth to swallow you up.
13348 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you or from beneath your feet", he said: Ibn Masʿūd called out loudly, while he was in the assembly or upon the pulpit: O people, verily, it has descended upon you. Verily, Allah says: "Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you" — if a chastisement from the heaven came upon you, none of you would remain; "or from beneath your feet" — if He caused the earth to swallow you up, He would destroy you, and none of you would remain; or He confounds you into factions and makes some of you taste the violence of others — verily, the worst of the three has descended upon you.
* * *
Others said: By "the chastisement from above you" are meant the evil rulers; "or from beneath your feet", the servants and the lowest of the people.
* Mention of who said that:
13349 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: I heard Khallād say: I heard ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān say: Verily, Ibn ʿAbbās used to say concerning this [verse]: "Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you or from beneath your feet" — as for the chastisement from above you, those are the evil rulers; and as for the chastisement from beneath your feet, those are the evil servants.
13350 — 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: "Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you", that is to say: from your sovereigns; "or from beneath your feet", that is to say: your lowliest ones.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The more correct of the two interpretations concerning this is, in my view, the word of those who said: by the chastisement from above them is meant the stoning, or the deluge and what resembles it of that which descends upon them from above their heads; and by that from beneath their feet, the swallowing up into the earth and what resembles it. That is because what is well known in the speech of the Arabs concerning the meaning of "above" and "beneath the feet" is precisely that, and nothing else. And although what has been transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning this has a valid aspect, the rule is: when there is disagreement concerning the interpretation of a word, then referring it back to the most current and best known of its meanings is more correct and more fitting than otherwise, so long as no proof comes which prevents this and to which one must submit.
* * *
The explanation of His word: أَوْ يَلْبِسَكُمْ شِيَعًا وَيُذِيقَ بَعْضَكُمْ بَأْسَ بَعْضٍ (Or He confounds you into factions and makes some of you taste the violence of others.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah, exalted is His mention, says: Or He intermixes you [into] "factions" (shiyaʿ), [that is] parties; the singular of it is "shīʿa".
* * *
And as for His word "yalbisukum", it comes from your expression "labastu ʿalayhi al-amr" (I confounded the matter for him), when you intermix [something]; "fa-anā albisuhu" (and I confound it). I have said that it is so only because there is no disagreement among the reciters concerning this regarding the kasra of the "bāʾ"; in that lies a clear proof that it derives from "labasa yalbisu", and that is the meaning of intermixing. By this is meant only: or He intermixes you [into] differing inclinations and disjoined parties.
* * *
And in accordance with what we said concerning this, the people of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
13351 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Shibl, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "or He confounds you into factions", [namely] the disjoined inclinations.
13352 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "or He confounds you into factions", he said: He separates you from one another.
13353 — 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: "or He confounds you into factions", he said: what was among you of trials (fitan) and division.
13354 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "or He confounds you into factions", he said: that in which the people are today of division, inclinations, and the shedding of one another's blood.
13355 — 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 word: "or He confounds you into factions", he said: the inclinations and the division.
13356 — 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: "or He confounds you into factions", he means by the factions the differing inclinations.
* * *
And as for His word "and makes some of you taste the violence of others", that means: through the killing of some of you by the hand of others.
* * *
The Arabs say of the man who strikes another with a weapon and thereby kills him: "so-and-so made so-and-so taste death", and "he made him taste his violence"; the origin of that comes from "the tasting of food" when one consumes it, and then it is used for everything that a man attains of pleasure and sweetness, or of bitterness, adversity and pain.
* * *
I have already previously set forth the meaning of "al-baʾs" (the violence) in the speech of the Arabs in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat it here.
* * *
And in accordance with what we said concerning this, the people of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
13357 — 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 makes some of you taste the violence of others", with the swords.
13358 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū al-Nuʿmān ʿĀrim related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Abū Hārūn al-ʿAbdī, on the authority of ʿAwf al-Bikālī, that he said concerning His word: "and makes some of you taste the violence of others", he said: they are, by Allah, the men with the spears in their hands, who pierce you in the flanks.
13359 — 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: "and makes some of you taste the violence of others", he said: He makes some of you gain the upper hand over others through killing and chastisement.
13360 — Saʿīd ibn al-Rabīʿ al-Rāzī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: the chastisement of this community, the people of the profession [of faith], is by the sword — "or He confounds you into factions and makes some of you taste the violence of others" — and the chastisement of the people of denial is the scream and the earthquake.
* * *
Then the people of interpretation differed concerning who is meant by this verse.
Some of them said: by it are meant the Muslims of the community of Muḥammad ﷺ, and concerning them it was revealed.
* Mention of who said that:
13361 — Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā al-Dāmaghānī related to me, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning His word: Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you [to the end of] the verse, he said: they are four, and all four are a chastisement; two of them came to fulfilment twenty-five years after the passing of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: they were confounded into factions, and some of them were made to taste the violence of others; and two remained, and they will inevitably take place — namely the swallowing up into the earth (al-khasf) and the transformation [of form] (al-maskh).
13362 — 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 word: from above you or from beneath your feet, [that applies] to the community of Muḥammad ﷺ, and He has preserved you from it; "or He confounds you into factions", he said: what was among you of trials and division.
13363 — 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 same.
13364 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement [to the end of] the verse. It was related to us that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ one day prayed the morning prayer and prolonged it, whereupon some of his household said to him: O Prophet of Allah, you prayed a prayer such as you do not [usually] pray? He said: It was a prayer of yearning and fear, and I asked my Lord therein for three [things]: I asked Him that He would not give power over my community to an enemy from outside them who would destroy them, and He granted me that. And I asked Him that He would not give power over my community to a [devastating] famine, and He granted me that. And I asked Him that He would not confound them into factions and make some of them taste the violence of others, but He refused me that. It was related to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ used to say: There will not cease to be a group of my community that fights for the truth, victorious; whoever forsakes them does not harm them, until the command of Allah comes.
13365 — Aḥmad ibn al-Walīd al-Qurashī and Saʿīd ibn al-Rabīʿ al-Rāzī related to us, both of them saying: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, he heard Jābir say: When Allah, exalted is His mention, revealed to the Prophet ﷺ: (Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you or from beneath your feet), he said: I seek refuge in Your countenance; "or He confounds you into factions and makes some of you taste the violence of others", he said: these two are lighter — or: easier.
13366 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Jābir, who said: When it was revealed: (Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you or from beneath your feet), he said: We seek refuge in You, we seek refuge in You; "or He confounds you into factions", he said: this is easier.
13367 — Ziyād ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Muzanī related to me, saying: Marwān ibn Muʿāwiya al-Fazārī related to us, saying: Abū Mālik related to us, saying: Nāfiʿ ibn Khālid al-Khuzāʿī related to me, on the authority of his father: that the Prophet ﷺ prayed a light prayer, complete in its bowing and prostration, and he said: It was a prayer of yearning and fear, and I asked Allah therein for three [things]; He granted me two and one remained. I asked Allah that He would not afflict you with a chastisement with which He afflicted those who were before you, and He granted me that. And I asked Allah that He would not give power over you to an enemy who would plunder your heartland, and He granted me that. And I asked Him that He would not confound you into factions and make some of you taste the violence of others, but He refused me that. Abū Mālik said: Then I said to him: Did your father hear this from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ? He said: Yes, I heard him relate it to the people that he had heard it from the mouth of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
13368 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Abū Qilāba, on the authority of Abū al-Ashʿath, on the authority of Abū Asmāʾ al-Raḥabī, on the authority of Shaddād ibn Aws, [attributing it] to the Prophet ﷺ: that he said: Verily, Allah has folded up the earth for me, until I saw its east and its west; and verily, the dominion of my community will reach that which was folded up of it for me; and I have been given the two treasures, the red and the white. And I asked my Lord that He would not destroy my people by a general [devastating] famine, and that He would not confound them into factions, and would not make some of them taste the violence of others. Then He said: O Muḥammad, verily, when I have made a decision, it is not reversed; and verily, I have granted to you for your community that I will not destroy them by a general famine, and that I will not give power over them to an enemy from outside them who will destroy them in their entirety, until some of them destroy others, and some of them kill others, and some of them take others captive. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: Verily, I fear for my community the misleading leaders; and when the sword is placed in my community, it will not be lifted from them until the Day of Resurrection.
13369 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, saying: Ayyūb informed me, on the authority of Abū Qilāba, on the authority of Abū al-Ashʿath, on the authority of Abū Asmāʾ al-Raḥabī, on the authority of Shaddād ibn Aws, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, and he mentioned something similar — except that he said: And the Prophet ﷺ said: Verily, I fear for my community nothing but the misleading leaders.
13370 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, saying: Maʿmar related to us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, who said: Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt — who was a [participant in the Battle of] Badr — was watching the Prophet ﷺ while he prayed, until, when he had finished — and it was at the morning prayer — he said to him: O Messenger of Allah, I saw you pray a prayer such as I have never seen you pray the like of? He said: Indeed, it was a prayer of yearning and fear; I asked my Lord for three qualities, and He granted me two and refused me one. I asked Him that He would not destroy us with that with which He destroyed the [former] communities, and He granted me that. And I asked Him that He would not give power over us to an enemy, and He granted me that. And I asked Him that He would not confound us into factions, but He refused me that.
13371 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, concerning His word: "or He confounds you into factions", he said: Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt — who was a [participant in the Battle of] Badr — was watching the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he mentioned something similar — except that he said: three qualities.
13372 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, who said: I heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh say: When it was revealed to the Prophet ﷺ: Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you, the Prophet ﷺ said: I seek refuge in Your countenance; or from beneath your feet, the Prophet ﷺ said: I seek refuge in Your countenance; "or He confounds you into factions", he said: this is easier.
13373 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: that the Prophet ﷺ said: I asked my Lord for four [things], and I was granted three and refused one. I asked Him that He would not give power over my community to an enemy from outside them who would plunder their heartland, and that He would not give power over them to famine, and that He would not unite them in misguidance, and these were granted to me. And I asked Him that He would not confound them into factions and make some of them taste the violence of others, but that was refused me.
13374 — 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, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Verily, I asked my Lord for several qualities, and He granted me three and refused me one. I asked Him that my community would not fall into disbelief in a single blow [collectively], and He granted me that. And I asked Him that He would not give victory over them to an enemy from outside them, and He granted me that. And I asked Him that He would not chastise them with that with which He chastised the communities before them, and He granted me that. And I asked Him that He would not make their violence [turned] amongst themselves, but He refused me that.
13375 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abū Bakr, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: When this verse was revealed, His word: "and makes some of you taste the violence of others", al-Ḥasan said: Then He said to Muḥammad ﷺ, taking him as a witness against them: See how We diversify the signs, that they may understand; thereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ arose, performed the ritual ablution, and asked his Lord that He would not send upon them a chastisement from above them or from beneath their feet, and that He would not confound his community into factions and make some of them taste the violence of others as He made the Children of Israel taste [the violence]. Then Jibrīl, peace be upon him, descended to him and said: O Muḥammad, verily, you have asked your Lord for four [things]; He granted you two and refused you two. No chastisement from above them, nor from beneath their feet, will afflict them which uproots them [root and branch], for those are two chastisements for every community that agreed upon denying its prophet and rejecting the Book of its Lord; but He will indeed confound them into factions and make some of them taste the violence of others, and those are two chastisements for the people of the profession of the Book and the affirmation of the prophets; yet they are punished for their sins. And it was revealed to him: And if We take you away, then We shall surely take vengeance upon them — He says: upon your community — or [if] We show you what We have promised them — of chastisement, while you are alive — then verily We are over them Powerful [sūra al-Zukhruf: 41, 42]. Then the Prophet of Allah ﷺ arose and turned anew to his Lord, and said: What trial is heavier than that I should see my community, some of them chastising others! And it was revealed to him: Alif Lām Mīm. Do the people think that they will be left alone because they say: We believe, while they are not tried? And We have indeed tried those who were before them, and Allah will surely know those who speak the truth, and He will surely know the liars [sūra al-ʿAnkabūt: 1-3]. Thus He informed him that his community would not be distinguished, to the exclusion of the [other] communities, with trials, and that it would be tried as the [former] communities were tried. Then it was revealed to him: Say: My Lord, if You show me what they are promised — My Lord, then place me not among the wrongdoing people [sūra al-Muʾminūn: 93, 94]. Then the Prophet of Allah sought refuge, and Allah granted him refuge; he saw of his community nothing but unity, harmony and obedience. Then a verse was revealed to him in which He warned his companions against the trial, and He informed him that it would afflict only some of them, to the exclusion of others, and He said: And guard yourselves against a trial which will not afflict only those of you who do wrong; and know that Allah is severe in punishment [sūra al-Anfāl: 25]. Thus He afflicted with it after him [certain] groups of the companions of Muḥammad ﷺ, and preserved with it [other] groups.
13376 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, who said: When Jibrīl came to the Prophet ﷺ and informed him of what would befall his community of division and discord, that weighed heavily upon him; then he supplicated and said: O Allah, make the best of them prevail over them [as] a remnant.
13377 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū al-Aswad related to us, saying: Ibn Lahīʿa informed us, on the authority of Khālid ibn Yazīd, on the authority of Abū al-Zubayr, who said: When this verse was revealed: Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: I seek refuge in Allah from that! He [Jibrīl] said: or from beneath your feet, he said: I seek refuge in Allah from that. He said: "or He confounds you into factions", he said: this is lighter! And had he sought refuge [against it], He would have granted him refuge from it too.
13378 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Al-Muʾammal al-Baṣrī related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Yasār al-Madīnī informed us, saying: Zayd ibn Aslam related to us, who said: When it was revealed: (Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you or from beneath your feet, or He confounds you into factions and makes some of you taste the violence of others), the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Do not return after me as disbelievers, some of you striking the necks of others with the swords! They said: But we bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that you are the Messenger of Allah! He said: Yes [indeed]! Then some people said: This will never happen! Thereupon Allah revealed: See how We diversify the signs, that they may understand. And your people denied it, while it is the truth. Say: I am not a guardian over you. For every announcement there is a fixed time, and you will come to know.
* * *
Others said: by part of it are meant the people of ascribing partners (shirk), and by another part the people of Islam.
* Mention of who said that:
13379 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Hārūn ibn Mūsā, on the authority of Ḥafṣ ibn Sulaymān, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you or from beneath your feet, he said: this applies to the polytheists (mushrikīn); "or He confounds you into factions and makes some of you taste the violence of others", he said: this applies to the Muslims.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct word concerning this is, in my view, that one should say: Verily, Allah, exalted is His mention, threatened with this verse the people who ascribe partners to Him — the idolaters — and them He addressed with it, because it [the verse] stands between a report about them and an address to them. That is because it follows His word: Say: Who saves you from the darknesses of the land and the sea, [while] you call upon Him humbly and in secret: If He saves us from this, we shall surely be among the thankful? Say: Allah saves you from it and from every distress, and yet you ascribe partners to Him — and it is followed by His word: And your people denied it, while it is the truth. And it is not permissible that the believers should have denied it; and when it is impermissible that that should be so, and this verse stands between these two verses, then it is clear that this is a threat to the one whom Allah previously described with ascribing partners and concerning whom the report of denial followed thereafter — and not to one for whom no mention preceded. Nevertheless, even though that is so, His threat with it encompasses everyone who treads their path of the people of opposition to Allah and to His Messenger, and of the denial of the signs of Allah, these [mentioned] and others.
And as for the reports which have been transmitted from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he said: "I asked my Lord for three [things], and He granted me two and refused me one" — it is possible that this verse was revealed at that time as a threat to those whom I mentioned of the polytheists and whoever followed their path of the opponents of their Lord, whereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked his Lord to grant his community refuge from that with which the communities were tried which deserved these chastisements of Allah, exalted is His mention, through their disobedience to Him; and He granted them, through his supplication and his request to Him, refuge from the sins by which they would deserve the heaviest of these four qualities of chastisements, and He did not grant them refuge from that by which they would deserve two of them.
And as for those who interpreted it such that by all that is in this verse is meant this [present] community — I think that they interpreted it such that there will come in this community [people] who commit sins against Allah and undertake that which angers Allah, like that which the communities before them undertook of opposition to Him and disbelief in Him, so that there befalls them what befell their predecessors of exemplary punishments and retributions. And so said Abū al-ʿĀliya and whoever followed his word: "Two of them came to fulfilment twenty-five years after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and two remained: the swallowing up into the earth (al-khasf) and the transformation [of form] (al-maskh)" — and that is because it is transmitted from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he said: "There will be in this community swallowing up, transformation and [stone-]hurling", and that a people of his community will spend the night in amusement and play, and then awaken as apes and swine. And when that occurs, then there is no doubt that this is equal to what befell the communities that opposed their Lord in denial and rejected His signs. And something similar to what is transmitted from Abū al-ʿĀliya has been transmitted, on the authority of Ubayy.
13380 — Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us — and Sufyān related to us, saying: My father informed us — on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb: (Say: He is the One able to send upon you a chastisement from above you or from beneath your feet, or He confounds you into factions), he said: they are four qualities, and they are all a chastisement, and they all take place before the Day of Resurrection; two of them have passed twenty-five years after the passing of the Prophet ﷺ: they were confounded into factions, and some of them were made to taste the violence of others. And there are two which will inevitably take place: the swallowing up into the earth (al-khasf) and the stoning (al-rajm).
* * *
The explanation of His word: انْظُرْ كَيْفَ نُصَرِّفُ الآيَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَفْقَهُونَ (65) (See how We diversify the signs, that they may understand. (65))
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah, exalted is His mention, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: See, O Muḥammad, with the eye of your heart, how We repeat Our proofs against these who deny their Lord — who disavow His favours — and how We diversify them among them; "that they may understand" — He says: that they might understand that and take a lesson from it, so that they may be admonished and restrained from that in which they persist of what angers Allah toward them, of worshipping the idols and the false deities, and denying the Book of Allah, exalted is His mention, and His Messenger ﷺ.
