Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:94
[It will be said to them], "And you have certainly come to Us alone as We created you the first time, and you have left whatever We bestowed upon you behind you. And We do not see with you your 'intercessors' which you claimed that they were among you associates [of Allah]. It has [all] been severed between you, and lost from you is what you used to claim."
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: وَلَقَدْ جِئْتُمُونَا فُرَادَى كَمَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ وَتَرَكْتُمْ مَا خَوَّلْنَاكُمْ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِكُمْ (And indeed, you have come to Us alone, just as We created you the first time, and you have left behind your backs that which We bestowed upon you).
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is an announcement from Allah, exalted be His praise, concerning what He will say on the Day of Resurrection to those who set up deities and equals as rivals to Him. He informs His servants that He will say to them, upon their arrival before Him: "Indeed, you have come to Us alone (furādā)."
And by His word "alone" He means: each one individually, with no possessions, no wives, no slaves (raqīq), and without anything of that which Allah had bestowed upon them in the worldly life. "Just as We created you the first time," naked, uncircumcised, with the foreskin still uncut, barefoot, just as their mothers bore them, and just as the Exalted, exalted be His praise, created them in the bellies of their mothers, without anything upon them or with them of that which they boasted about in the worldly life.
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And "furādā" is a plural; of the singular one says "farid," as Nābigha of the Banū Dhubyān said:
"From the wild beasts of Wajra, speckled on its legs, lean of belly, like the sword of the polisher, solitary (al-farid)."
And one also says "farad" and "farīd," just as one says "waḥad" and "waḥid" and "waḥīd" for the single one, the sole of the solitary ones (al-awḥād). And sometimes "al-farad" is made plural as "al-furād," just as "al-waḥad" is made plural as "al-wuḥād." Of this is the word of the poet:
"You see the blue gadflies above its breast, singly and in pairs, struck down by its neighing."
And Yūnus al-Jarmī used to say, as is related from him: "furād" is the plural of "fard," just as one says "tuʾm" and "tuʾām" for the plural form. Of this too is "al-furādā" and "al-rudāfā" and "al-qurānā." One says: "a solitary man (fard)" and "a solitary woman (fard)," when she has no brother. "And the man set himself apart (farada), he sets himself apart (yafrudu), with a setting apart (furūdan)," by which is meant: he set himself aside, "and he is a solitary one (fārid)."
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13570 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: [Ibn Zayd said, he said:] ʿAmr informed me: that Ibn Abī Hilāl told him: that he heard al-Quraẓī say: ʿĀʾisha, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, recited the word of Allah: "And indeed, you have come to Us alone, just as We created you the first time," and she said: "What a disgrace! The men and the women will all be gathered together, and each one will behold the private parts of the other!" Whereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Each one of them on that day will have a concern that wholly preoccupies him." The men will not look at the women, nor the women at the men; each one will be too preoccupied to pay heed to the other.
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And as for His word: "and you have left behind your backs that which We bestowed upon you," He says: you have left behind, O people, that which We had enabled you to attain in the worldly life and which you boasted about therein; you have left it behind you in the worldly life and have not carried it with you.
And this is a rebuke from Allah, exalted be His praise, to these polytheists (mushrikīn) on account of their boasting by which they flaunted their possessions in the worldly life.
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And everything that you give and bestow into another's ownership: "you have bestowed it upon him (khawwaltahu)." Of this one says: "the man possessed (khāla yakhālu) in the strongest manner of possessing (al-khiyāl)," with a kasra on the khāʾ, "and he is a possessor (khāʾil)." Of this is the word of Abū al-Najm:
"He gave and was not miserly and was not called miserly, the humps of the camels, from the bestowal of the Bestower (al-mukhawwil)."
And it is related that Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ used to recite the verse of Zuhayr thus:
"There, when they are asked for wealth to be put at disposal, they put it at disposal, and when they are asked, they bestow, and when they play maysir, they pick out the fattest animals."
And in the spirit of what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
13571 — Mohammed 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 you have left that which We bestowed upon you," of wealth and servants, "behind your backs," in the worldly life.
* * *
The explanation of His word: وَمَا نَرَى مَعَكُمْ شُفَعَاءَكُمُ الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُمْ أَنَّهُمْ فِيكُمْ شُرَكَاءُ (And We do not see with you your intercessors whom you claimed were partners among you).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says on the Day of Resurrection to those who set up equals to their Lord: We do not see with you your intercessors, whom you claimed in the worldly life would intercede for you with your Lord on the Day of Resurrection.
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And it is related that this verse was revealed concerning al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith, on account of his statement: that al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā would intercede for him with Allah on the Day of Resurrection.
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And it is said: that this was the statement of the entire company of the idol-worshippers.
* Mention of who said that:
13572 — Mohammed 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: as for His word: "And We do not see with you your intercessors whom you claimed were partners among you," the polytheists (mushrikīn) used to claim that they worshipped the deities because they were intercessors who would intercede for them with Allah, and that these deities were partners of Allah.
13573 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: al-Ḥakam ibn Abān informed me, on the authority of ʿIkrima, he said: al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith said: "Soon al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā will intercede for me!" Whereupon this verse was revealed: وَلَقَدْ جِئْتُمُونَا فُرَادَى كَمَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ (And indeed, you have come to Us alone, just as We created you the first time), up to His word: "partners."
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The explanation of His word: لَقَدْ تَقَطَّعَ بَيْنَكُمْ وَضَلَّ عَنْكُمْ مَا كُنْتُمْ تَزْعُمُونَ (Indeed, the bond between you has been severed, and that which you claimed has strayed away from you) (6:94).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says, announcing what He will say on the Day of Resurrection to those who set up equals to Him: "Indeed, the bond between you has been severed," He means: their mutual connection which existed between them in the worldly life; on that day it has vanished, so that between them there remains no connection, no affection, and no mutual support. In the worldly life they used to be connected and to support one another, but all of that has come to naught in the Hereafter, so that none of them helps his companion or connects himself with him.
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And in the spirit of what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
13574 — Mohammed 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: "Indeed, the bond between you has been severed," "al-bayn" (the bond) is their mutual connection.
13575 — 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: "Indeed, the bond between you has been severed," he said: their mutual connection in the worldly life.
13576 — Mohammed ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Mohammed ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: "Indeed, the bond between you has been severed," he said: your mutual connection.
13577 — And 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: "Indeed, the bond between you has been severed," he said: that which existed of connection between you.
13578 — 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: "Indeed, the bond between you has been severed, and that which you claimed has strayed away from you," he means the blood-ties and the ranks.
13579 — Mohammed 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: "Indeed, the bond between you has been severed," he says: that which existed between you has been severed.
13580 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh said: "Indeed, the bond between you has been severed," the mutual connection in the worldly life.
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And the reciters differed in [the reading of] His word: "baynakum."
The majority of the reciters of Medina read it with a fatḥa (naṣb), in the meaning: indeed, that which was between you has been severed.
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And the majority of the reciters of Mecca and the two Iraqs read it: "laqad taqaṭṭaʿa baynukum," with a ḍamma (rafʿ), in the meaning: indeed, your connection has been severed.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct view concerning this, in my judgment, is to say: these are two well-known readings that agree in meaning; whichever of the two the reader reads, he hits upon the correct one.
And that is because the Arabs sometimes place "bayn" in the naṣb (as an adverbial qualifier) in the position of the noun. It is related from them that one heard: "there came to me your direction (naḥwaka), and your vicinity (dūnaka), and your equal (siwāka)," in the naṣb in the position of the rafʿ. And it is also related from them that one heard the rafʿ with "bayn," when it is its agent and is made into a noun; and the verse of Muhalhil is recited:
"It is as though their spears were the ropes of a well, a deep well whose space (baynu) between the two walls is far."
with the rafʿ on "bayn," since it is a noun. But the predominant usage in their speech is the naṣb with it, both in the state where it is a qualifier and in the state where it is a noun.
* * *
And as for His word: "and that which you claimed has strayed away from you," He says: and that of your deities which you claimed was a partner of your Lord, and that it was for you an intercessor with your Lord, has strayed away from you and from your path, so that today it does not intercede for you.
