Tafseer of The Pen · Al-Qalam · 68:26
But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost;
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 statement concerning the interpretation of His word, the Exalted: فَلَمَّا رَأَوْهَا قَالُوا إِنَّا لَضَالُّونَ (26) ("When they saw it, they said: 'Truly, we have gone astray' (26)").
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: when this people arrived at their garden and saw their crop burned, they no longer recognized it and were in doubt about it: is this their garden or not? Then one of them said to his companions, supposing that they had missed the way to their garden and that what they were seeing was a different one: indeed, we, O people, have lost the way to our garden. Then the one who knew that it was their garden and that they had not missed the way said: no, we, O people, are rather deprived; we have been deprived of the benefit of our garden through the destruction of its crop.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: فَلَمَّا رَأَوْهَا قَالُوا إِنَّا لَضَالُّونَ ("When they saw it, they said: 'Truly, we have gone astray'") — that is to say: we have lost the way; no, we are deprived; no, we have been punished and thus deprived.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: فَلَمَّا رَأَوْهَا قَالُوا إِنَّا لَضَالُّونَ ("When they saw it, they said: 'Truly, we have gone astray'"). Qatāda says: they say: we have missed the way, this is not our garden.
