Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:146
I will turn away from My signs those who are arrogant upon the earth without right; and if they should see every sign, they will not believe in it. And if they see the way of consciousness, they will not adopt it as a way; but if they see the way of error, they will adopt it as a way. That is because they have denied Our signs and they were heedless of them.
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 statement: سَأَصْرِفُ عَنْ آيَاتِيَ الَّذِينَ يَتَكَبَّرُونَ فِي الأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ ("I shall turn away from My signs those who behave arrogantly upon the earth without right.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The scholars of exegesis differed concerning the meaning of this.
Some of them said: its meaning is: I shall deprive them of the understanding of the Book.
Mention of who said that:
15122 - Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr al-Marwazī related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn Bakr related to me, saying: I heard Ibn ʿUyayna say concerning the statement of Allah: "I shall turn away from My signs those who behave arrogantly upon the earth without right," he said: He says: I shall deprive them of the understanding of the Qurʾān and turn them away from My signs.
Abū Jaʿfar said: This explanation of Ibn ʿUyayna indicates that this statement, according to him, was a threat from Allah to the people who disbelieved in Allah among those to whom our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent, and not to the people of Mūsā, because the Qurʾān was sent down only upon our Prophet Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and not upon Mūsā, peace be upon him.
Others said concerning that: its meaning is: I shall turn them away from taking instruction from the proofs.
Mention of who said that:
15123 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: "I shall turn away from My signs," from the creation of the heavens and the earth and the signs therein, I shall turn them away from reflecting upon them and taking instruction from them.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct of the views concerning that is that one says: Allah has informed that He shall turn away from His signs — and they are His indications and His marks pointing to the truth of that which He has commanded His servants and obligated upon them of obedience to Him in His oneness (tawḥīd) and His justice, and all the rest of His obligations. The heavens and the earth, and all that exists of His creation, belong to His signs, and likewise the Qurʾān belongs to His signs. By this statement He has made known in a general sense that He turns away from His signs those who behave arrogantly upon the earth without right, and they are those against whom the word of Allah has come true that they will not believe. Therefore they are turned away from understanding all His signs and from taking instruction from them and remembering, for if they were enabled to understand any of them, so that they were led to take instruction from them, then they would be admonished and turn to the truth; but that does not occur from their side, because He, whose praise is exalted, has said: وَإِنْ يَرَوْا كُلَّ آيَةٍ لا يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَا ("And even if they were to see every sign, they would not believe in it"), for there is no change to the words of Allah.
The explanation of His statement: وَإِنْ يَرَوْا كُلَّ آيَةٍ لا يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَا وَإِنْ يَرَوْا سَبِيلَ الرُّشْدِ لا يَتَّخِذُوهُ سَبِيلا وَإِنْ يَرَوْا سَبِيلَ الْغَيِّ يَتَّخِذُوهُ سَبِيلا ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا وَكَانُوا عَنْهَا غَافِلِينَ (146) ("And even if they were to see every sign, they would not believe in it; and if they were to see the way of right guidance, they would not take it as a way; and if they were to see the way of error, they would take it as a way. That is because they denied Our signs and were heedless of them." (146))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, says: and even if these who behave arrogantly upon the earth without right — and their arrogance therein without right, their haughtiness therein, and their deeming themselves too great to believe in Allah and His messenger and to submit to His command and prohibition, while they are merely slaves of Allah whom He nourishes with His bounty and to whom He provides His sustenance morning and evening — were to see "every sign," He says: every proof of Allah for His oneness and His sovereignty, and every indication that worship is due to none other than Him alone, to the exclusion of any other, "they would not believe in it," He says: they would not hold that sign to be true as being a proof for that for which it is a proof, but they say: "it is sorcery and falsehood" = "and if they were to see the way of right guidance, they would not take it as a way," He says: and even if these whose attribute He has described were to see the way of guidance and rectitude, which, if they were to walk it, would save them from ruin and destruction and bring them to eternal felicity — they would not walk it, nor take it as a way for themselves, out of ignorance and confusion on their part = "and if they were to see the way of error," He says: and even if they were to see the way of ruin, which, if they were to walk it, would bring them to error and destruction.
We have already expounded the meaning of "al-ghayy" (error) previously, in a manner that makes repetition unnecessary. "They would take it as a way," He says: they would walk it and make it a way for themselves, because of Allah's turning them away from His signs and His sealing of their hearts; thus they will not succeed and will not prosper = "that is because they denied Our signs and were heedless of them," the Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, says: We turned them away from Our signs, so that they would not understand and comprehend them and take instruction from them and remember and repent — as a punishment from Us upon them for their denial of Our signs = "and were heedless of them," He says: and they were, with respect to Our signs and Our proofs that bear witness to the truth of that which We have commanded and forbidden them = "heedless," they did not reflect upon them, they were indifferent to them, they took no instruction from them; then the word of our Lord against them came true and they perished.
The Qurʾān-reciters differed concerning the reading of His statement: "al-rushd."
Most of the reciters of Medina, and some of the Meccans and some of the Basrans, read it as (al-rushd), with a ḍamma on the "rāʾ" and a sukūn on the "shīn."
And most of the reciters of Kūfa and some of the Meccans read it as (al-rashad), with a fatḥa on the "rāʾ" and the "shīn."
Then the experts of the Arabic language differed over its meaning when the rāʾ is read with a ḍamma and the shīn with a sukūn, and over its meaning when both are read with a fatḥa.
From Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ it is related that he said: its meaning, when the rāʾ is read with a ḍamma and the shīn with a sukūn, is: rectitude (al-ṣalāḥ), as Allah has said: فَإِنْ آنَسْتُمْ مِنْهُمْ رُشْدًا [Sūrat al-Nisāʾ: 6], in the meaning of: rectitude. And thus he himself used to read it. And its meaning, when the rāʾ and the shīn are read with a fatḥa, is: right guidance in religion, as He, whose praise is exalted, has said: تُعَلِّمَنِي مِمَّا عُلِّمْتَ رُشْدًا [Sūrat al-Kahf: 66], in the meaning of steadfastness and correctness in religion.
And al-Kisāʾī used to say: they are two dialectal forms with one and the same meaning, like "al-suqm" and "al-saqam," and "al-ḥuzn" and "al-ḥazan"; and likewise "al-rushd" and "al-rashad."
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct of the views concerning that is, according to me, that one says: they are two readings that are widely read among the reciters of the regions, agreeing in meaning; with whichever of the two the reciter reads, he attains correctness thereby.
