Tafseer of Divorce · At-Talaaq · 65:8
And how many a city was insolent toward the command of its Lord and His messengers, so We took it to severe account and punished it with a terrible punishment.
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 Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: سَيَجْعَلُ اللَّهُ ("Allah will make") for the one who possesses little, according to what has been apportioned to him of provision, بَعْدَ عُسْرٍ يُسْرًا ("after hardship ease") — He says: after privation prosperity, after distress relief, and after poverty wealth.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) also spoke.
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān: سَيَجْعَلُ اللَّهُ بَعْدَ عُسْرٍ يُسْرًا ("Allah will make after hardship ease") — after privation prosperity.
And His saying: وَكَأَيِّنْ مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ عَتَتْ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهَا وَرُسُلِهِ ("And how many a town rebelled against the command of its Lord and His messengers") — the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: and how many a population of a town became arrogant toward the command of its Lord and opposed it, and toward the command of the messengers of its Lord, and they persisted in their arrogance and their rebellion, and remained obstinate in their disbelief.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) also spoke.
* Mention of those who said that:
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, concerning His saying: وَكَأَيِّنْ مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ عَتَتْ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهَا وَرُسُلِهِ ("And how many a town rebelled against the command of its Lord and His messengers"), he said: it turned away (from its course) and disobeyed.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: وَكَأَيِّنْ مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ عَتَتْ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهَا وَرُسُلِهِ فَحَاسَبْنَاهَا حِسَابًا شَدِيدًا ("And how many a town rebelled against the command of its Lord and His messengers, so We called it to a severe account"), he said: the rebellion (ʿutuww) here is disbelief and disobedience; "ʿutuwwan": disbelief, and "ʿatat ʿan amri rabbihā": it abandoned it and did not accept it.
And it has been said: they were a people who opposed the command of their Lord concerning divorce (ṭalāq), whereupon Allah warned this community by means of the report about them that He would do to them what He had done to those others, if they were to oppose His command in this matter.
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Barqī related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Abī Salama related to us, saying: I heard ʿUmar ibn Sulaymān say concerning His saying: وَكَأَيِّنْ مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ عَتَتْ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهَا وَرُسُلِهِ ("And how many a town rebelled against the command of its Lord and His messengers"), he said: a town that was punished because of divorce.
And His saying: فَحَاسَبْنَاهَا حِسَابًا شَدِيدًا ("so We called it to a severe account") says: so We called it to a severe account concerning Our favor upon it and its gratitude; He says: a reckoning in which We were severe with them, in which We remitted nothing for them and overlooked nothing.
As Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: فَحَاسَبْنَاهَا حِسَابًا شَدِيدًا ("so We called it to a severe account"), he said: We did not remit for it the severe reckoning, in which there is no remission at all.
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: فَحَاسَبْنَاهَا حِسَابًا شَدِيدًا ("so We called it to a severe account"), he says: We showed no mercy.
And His saying: وَعَذَّبْنَاهَا عَذَابًا نُكْرًا ("and We punished it with a terrible punishment") says: and We punished it with a tremendous, dreadful punishment, and that is the punishment of Hell (jahannam).
