Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:75
And thus did We show Abraham the realm of the heavens and the earth that he would be among the certain [in faith]
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: وَكَذَلِكَ نُرِي إِبْرَاهِيمَ مَلَكُوتَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَلِيَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُوقِنِينَ (6:75) (And thus did We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, that he might be among those possessed of certainty.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, means by His word "and thus," that is: and just as We showed him insight into his religion and the truth, in contrast to the error in which they were, so We show him the kingdom (malakūt) of the heavens and the earth — by which His dominion (mulk) is meant.
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And the "tāʾ" therein is an addition, just as it is added in "al-jabarūt" (omnipotence) derived from "al-jabr," and just as one says: "rahabūt khayrun min raḥamūt" (awe is better than mercy), in the sense of: fear is better than compassion. And it has been transmitted as heard from the Arabs: "to him belongs the malakūt of Yemen and Iraq," in the sense of: to him belongs the dominion over them.
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The exegetes differed concerning the explanation of His word: "We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth."
Some said: the meaning thereof is: We show him the creation of the heavens and the earth.
* Mention of who said that:
13441 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth," that is: the creation of the heavens and the earth.
13442 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "and thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth," that is: the creation of the heavens and the earth = "that he might be among those possessed of certainty."
13443 — 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: "and thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth," whereby he means by "the kingdom of the heavens and the earth": the creation of the heavens and the earth.
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And others said: the meaning of "al-malakūt" is the dominion (al-mulk), in accordance with the explanation that we have given.
* Mention of who said that:
13444 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: ʿUmar ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, saying: I heard ʿIkrima, and a man asked him concerning His word: "and thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth." He said: it is the dominion, except that in the language of the Nabataeans it is: "malakūtā."
13445 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Zāʾida, on the authority of ʿIkrima, who said: it is in Nabataean: "malakūtā."
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And others said: the meaning thereof is: the signs of the heavens and the earth.
* Mention of who said that:
13446 — Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: "We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth." He said: the signs of the heavens and the earth.
13447 — 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 the word of Allah, the Exalted whose praise is proclaimed: "and thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth." He said: signs.
13448 — 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 thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth." He said: the seven heavens were opened for Ibrāhīm, up to the Throne, and he looked into them, and the seven earths were opened for him, and he looked into them.
13449 — 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 thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, that he might be among those possessed of certainty." He said: he was placed upon a rock and the heavens were opened for him, and he looked at the dominion of Allah therein, until he saw his place in the Garden (janna). And the earths were opened for him until he looked at the lowest of the earth. That, then, is His word: وَآتَيْنَاهُ أَجْرَهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا [sūra al-ʿAnkabūt: 27] (And We gave him his reward in the worldly life). He says: We gave him his place in the Garden. And it is said: "his reward" is the fair praise.
13450 — 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 al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: "and thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth." He said: the heavens were opened for him and he looked at what was therein, until his gaze reached the Throne, and the seven earths were opened for him and he looked at what was therein.
13451 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "and thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth." He said: the surface of the heavens and the earth was unveiled for him, until he looked at it while he was upon a rock; and the rock is upon a fish, and the fish is upon the seal of the Lord of Might — there is no god but Allah.
13452 — Hannād and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Abū ʿUthmān, on the authority of Salmān, who said: when Ibrāhīm saw the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, he saw a slave committing an enormity, and he invoked a curse upon him, whereupon he perished. Then he saw another committing an enormity, and he invoked a curse upon him, whereupon he perished. Then he saw yet another committing an enormity, and he invoked a curse upon him, whereupon he perished. Then He said: let My slave descend; let him not cause My servants to perish!
13453 — Hannād related to us, saying: Qabīṣa related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: when Allah raised Ibrāhīm up in the kingdom in the heavens, he looked down and saw a slave committing fornication (zinā), and he invoked a curse upon him, whereupon he perished. Then he was raised up and looked down, and saw a slave committing fornication, and he invoked a curse upon him, whereupon he perished. Then he was raised up and looked down, and saw a slave committing fornication, and he invoked a curse upon him. Then it was called out: gently, O Ibrāhīm! For you are a slave whose supplication is answered, and I deal with My slave in one of three positions: either he turns to Me in repentance, whereupon I turn to him in forgiveness; or I bring forth from him a righteous progeny; or he persists in that which he is in, and then I am near to him (to requite him).
13454 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī, Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar, and ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of Usāma: that Ibrāhīm, the intimate friend of the All-Merciful, thought within himself that he was the most merciful of creatures, and that Allah raised him up until he looked down upon the inhabitants of the earth and beheld their deeds. When he saw them committing sins, he said: O Allah, destroy them! Whereupon his Lord said to him: I am more merciful toward My servants than you; descend, for perhaps they will turn to Me in repentance and return.
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And others said: no, the meaning thereof is what the Exalted has reported that He showed him of the stars, the moon, and the sun.
* Mention of who said that:
13455 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "and thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth." He said: the sun, the moon, and the stars.
13456 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: "and thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth." He said: the sun and the moon.
13457 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "and thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth." He means thereby: the sun, the moon, and the stars.
13458 — 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, who said: Ibrāhīm ﷺ was kept hidden from one of the tyrants, and his sustenance was placed in his fingers, so that whenever he sucked one of his fingers, he found nourishment therein. When he came out, Allah showed him the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. The kingdom of the heavens was: the sun, the moon, and the stars, and the kingdom of the earth: the mountains, the trees, and the seas.
13459 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: it was related to us that the prophet of Allah, Ibrāhīm ﷺ, was carried away from a luxuriant tyrant, and placed in an underground refuge, and his sustenance was placed in his fingertips, so that he sucked none of his fingers but he found nourishment therein. When he came out of that refuge, Allah showed him the kingdom of the heavens, and showed him a sun, a moon, stars, clouds, and a mighty creation; and He showed him the kingdom of the earth, and showed him mountains, seas, rivers, trees, all kinds of animals, and a mighty creation.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: and the correct of the statements concerning the explanation thereof is the statement of him who said: Allah, the Exalted whose praise is proclaimed, meant by His word "and thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth," that He showed him the dominion over the heavens and the earth, and that is what He created therein of the sun, the moon, the stars, the trees, the animals, and the rest of His mighty authority therein, and that He unveiled for him the inner and outer aspects of things — on account of what we mentioned earlier concerning the meaning of "al-malakūt" in the language of the Arabs.
* * *
As for His word: "that he might be among those possessed of certainty," He means thereby that He showed him the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, that he might be among those who acknowledge the oneness of Allah, and that he might know the reality of that to which He guided him and for which He gave him insight, namely the knowledge of His oneness, and of the error in which his people were through their worship of the idols and their taking of them as gods instead of Allah, the Exalted.
* * *
And Ibn ʿAbbās used to say in the explanation thereof, according to what has been related to me:
13460 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related that 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: "that he might be among those possessed of certainty," namely that He unveiled for him the matter, both its hidden and its manifest part, so that nothing of the deeds of the creatures remained hidden from him. Then, when he began to curse the sinners, Allah said: you cannot (endure) this! Whereupon Allah restored him to how he was before.
* * *
The explanation thereof, according to this explanation, is then: We showed him the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, that he might be among those who know everything with certainty through their own perception, not through transmission.
13461 — Al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Walīd related to me, saying: my father informed me, saying: Ibn Jābir related to us, saying — and al-Awzāʿī also related to us — saying: Khālid ibn al-Lajlāj related to me, saying: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĀʾish al-Ḥaḍramī say: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ led us one morning in the prayer, whereupon someone said to him: I have never seen you with a more radiant countenance than this morning! He said: and why not, when my Lord has shown Himself to me in the fairest form? He said: over what do the highest assembly (al-malaʾ al-aʿlā) dispute, O Muḥammad? I said: You know best [O my Lord]! Then He placed His hand between my shoulders, and I felt the coolness of it between my breast, and thus I knew what is in the heavens and the earth. Then he recited this verse: "and thus We show Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, that he might be among those possessed of certainty."
