Tafseer of She that is to be examined · Al-Mumtahana · 60:13
O you who have believed, do not make allies of a people with whom Allah has become angry. They have despaired of [reward in] the Hereafter just as the disbelievers have despaired of [meeting] the inhabitants of the graves.
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 the saying of the Exalted: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تَتَوَلَّوْا قَوْمًا غَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ كَمَا يَئِسَ الْكُفَّارُ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ الْقُبُورِ (O you who believe, do not take as allies a people upon whom Allah is wrathful; they have despaired of the Hereafter, just as the disbelievers have despaired of the inhabitants of the graves) (60:13).
The Exalted, Whose remembrance is exalted, says to those among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who believe in Him: ( يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تَتَوَلَّوْا قَوْمًا غَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ ) (O you who believe, do not take as allies a people upon whom Allah is wrathful) — namely the Jews — ( قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ كَمَا يَئِسَ الْكُفَّارُ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ الْقُبُورِ ) (they have despaired of the Hereafter, just as the disbelievers have despaired of the inhabitants of the graves).
The scholars of exegesis differed concerning the explanation of His saying ( قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ كَمَا يَئِسَ الْكُفَّارُ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ الْقُبُورِ ). Some said: its meaning is: these people upon whom Allah is wrathful, of the Jews, have despaired of the reward of Allah in the Hereafter and of being resurrected, just as the living disbelievers despair of their dead who are in the graves, that these will return to them.
* Mention of those who said this:
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 saying: ( يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تَتَوَلَّوْا قَوْمًا غَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ ) ... the verse — he means: whoever of the disbelievers has died, concerning him the living among the disbelievers despair that they will return to them, or that Allah will resurrect them.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr ibn Zādhān, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, that he said concerning this verse: ( قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ كَمَا يَئِسَ الْكُفَّارُ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ الْقُبُورِ ), he said: the living disbelievers have despaired of the dead.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: ( قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ ), he says: they despair of being resurrected, just as the disbelievers despair of the inhabitants of the graves who have died returning to them.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: ( يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تَتَوَلَّوْا قَوْمًا غَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ ) ... the verse: the disbeliever holds no hope for the meeting with his dead one, nor for his reward.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His saying: ( قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ كَمَا يَئِسَ الْكُفَّارُ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ الْقُبُورِ ), he says: whoever of the disbelievers has died, concerning him the living among them despair that they will return to them, or that Allah will resurrect them.
And others said: rather its meaning is: they have despaired of the Hereafter, that Allah will have mercy upon them therein and forgive them, just as the disbelievers, who are the inhabitants of the graves and have died and ended up in the graves, despair of the mercy of Allah and His forgiveness for them in the Hereafter — for they have already become certain of the punishment (ʿadhāb) of Allah upon them.
* Mention of those who said this:
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning this verse ( قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ ) ... the verse, he said: the inhabitants of the graves, who are in the graves, have despaired of the Hereafter.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to me; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: ( قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ كَمَا يَئِسَ الْكُفَّارُ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ الْقُبُورِ ), he said: of the reward of the Hereafter, when their deeds became clear to them and they beheld the Fire with their own eyes.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, that he said concerning this verse ( قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ ) ... the verse, he said: the inhabitants of the graves have despaired of the Hereafter.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, he said: al-Kalbī said: ( قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ ), he means the Jews and the Christians; he says: they have despaired of the reward of the Hereafter and its honor, just as the disbelievers who have died and are in the graves despair of the Garden (janna) when they saw their place in the Fire.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the saying of Allah ( لا تَتَوَلَّوْا قَوْمًا ) ... the verse, he said: these disbelievers despair that there will be a Hereafter for them, just as the disbelievers who have died and are in the graves despair that there will be a Hereafter for them, because of what they have beheld with their own eyes of the matter of the Hereafter; so just as those disbelievers despair, likewise these disbelievers despair. He said: and the people upon whom Allah is wrathful are their Jews, who despair that there will be a Hereafter for them, just as the disbelievers before them, of the inhabitants of the graves, despaired — because they knew the Book of Allah and yet persisted in disbelief in it, and because they did what they did while they knew.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, concerning His saying: ( يَئِسُوا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ ) ... the verse, he said: they despair that there will be for them a reward of the Hereafter, just as those who are in the graves among the disbelievers despair of the good, when they beheld the punishment and the humiliation with their own eyes.
And the correct of the two sayings concerning that, in my judgment, is the saying of those who said: these people upon whom Allah is wrathful, of the Jews, have despaired of the reward of Allah for them in the Hereafter and His honoring, on account of their disbelief and their denial of His Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ, while they knew that he was truly a Prophet of Allah — just as the disbelievers among them, who have passed away before them and have perished and become inhabitants of the graves, and who were [in the same state] as that in which these are with respect to their denial of ʿĪsā — the blessings of Allah be upon him — and of other messengers, despaired of the reward of Allah and His honoring of them.
And we have only said that this is the correct of the two sayings for the explanation of the verse, because the dead — both the believers and the disbelievers — despair of their return to the worldly life, or of being resurrected before the coming of the Hour; so there is no reason to restrict that report specifically to the disbelievers, while the believers share with them in despairing of that.
End of the explanation of Surah Al-Mumtaḥanah.
