Tafseer of The Pen · Al-Qalam · 68:51
And indeed, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their eyes when they hear the message, and they say, "Indeed, he is mad."
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.
And His statement: وَإِنْ يَكَادُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ بِأَبْصَارِهِمْ (And indeed, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their glances). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: and indeed, those who disbelieve, O Muḥammad, would almost pierce you with their glances on account of the intensity of their enmity toward you, and would cast you off and reject you when they look at you, out of rage against you. And it has been said: what is meant by this is: and those who disbelieve would almost, by that with which they strike you with their glances, throw you down, O Muḥammad, and dash you to the ground, as the Arabs say: "So-and-so almost threw me down by the intensity of his glance at me." They said: Quraysh struck the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with precisely this, in order to afflict him with the evil eye (al-ʿayn); they looked at him to inflict the evil eye upon him, and said: "We have never seen a man like him," or: "He is indeed possessed." Then Allah said to His Prophet concerning this: and indeed, those who disbelieve would almost throw you down with their glances, لَمَّا سَمِعُوا الذِّكْرَ وَيَقُولُونَ إِنَّهُ لَمَجْنُونٌ (when they hear the Reminder, and they say: indeed, he is possessed).
And similar to what we have said concerning the meaning of لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ (they would make you slip) have the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) said.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: وَإِنْ يَكَادُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ بِأَبْصَارِهِمْ لَمَّا سَمِعُوا الذِّكْرَ (And indeed, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their glances when they heard the Reminder). He says: they pierce you with their glances through the intensity of looking. Ibn ʿAbbās says: one says of an arrow: "The arrow shot away (zahaqa)" or "slipped (zalaqa)."
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 statement: لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ بِأَبْصَارِهِمْ (they would make you slip with their glances). He says: they pierce you with their glances.
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 statement: وَإِنْ يَكَادُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ بِأَبْصَارِهِمْ (And indeed, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their glances). He says: they would almost make you shoot away with their glances.
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya informed us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh, that he used to read it: وَإِنْ يَكَادُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَيُزْهِقُونَكَ (And indeed, those who disbelieve would almost make you shoot away).
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; 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 statement: لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ (they would make you slip), he said: they pierce you with their glances.
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 statement: لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ بِأَبْصَارِهِمْ (they would make you slip with their glances), he said: they would make you shoot away. And al-Kalbī said: they would throw you down.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَإِنْ يَكَادُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ بِأَبْصَارِهِمْ (And indeed, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their glances): they pierce you with their glances out of enmity toward the Book of Allah and toward the remembrance of Allah.
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 statement: وَإِنْ يَكَادُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ بِأَبْصَارِهِمْ (And indeed, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their glances), he says: they pierce you with their glances out of enmity and hatred.
The Qurʾān reciters differed concerning the reading of His statement: لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ (they would make you slip). Most of the reciters of Medina read it as لَيَزْلِقُونَكَ with a fatḥa on the yāʾ, derived from "zalaqtu-hu azliqu-hu zalqan." And most of the reciters of Kūfa and Baṣra read it as لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ with a ḍamma on the yāʾ, derived from "azlaqa-hu yuzliqu-hu."
And the correct judgment concerning this is, in my view, that they are two well-known readings and two dialects famed among the Arabs, close to one another in meaning. The Arabs say of one who shaves the head bald: "He made it smooth (azlaqa-hu and zalaqa-hu)." So with whichever of the two the reciter reads, he has read correctly.
And His statement: لَمَّا سَمِعُوا الذِّكْرَ (when they heard the Reminder). He says: when they heard the Book of Allah recited. وَيَقُولُونَ إِنَّهُ لَمَجْنُونٌ (And they say: indeed, he is possessed). The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: these polytheists (mushrikīn) whose characteristic He has described say that Muḥammad is truly possessed, and that what he has brought us is delirium in which he raves in his madness.
