Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:154
And when the anger subsided in Moses, he took up the tablets; and in their inscription was guidance and mercy for those who are fearful of their Lord.
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: وَلَمَّا سَكَتَ عَنْ مُوسَى الْغَضَبُ أَخَذَ الأَلْوَاحَ وَفِي نُسْخَتِهَا هُدًى وَرَحْمَةٌ لِلَّذِينَ هُمْ لِرَبِّهِمْ يَرْهَبُونَ (154) (And when the anger of Mūsā subsided, he took up the tablets, and in what was inscribed thereon was guidance and mercy for those who fear their Lord) (154)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — may His mention be praised — means by His statement "and when the anger of Mūsā subsided," that is to say: when it departed from him and grew calm.
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And so it is said of everyone who refrains from something: "he is silent about it (sākit ʿanhu)." And one who is silent regarding speech is called only "silent (sākit)" because he refrains from it.
And it has been related on the authority of Yūnus al-Jarmī that he said: one says "the grief departed from him (sakata ʿanhu al-ḥuzn)," and so, according to what he claimed, this applies to every matter. To this belongs the saying of Abū al-Najm:
"And the viper made ready to glide away, and the lark (al-mukkāʾ) refrained from screeching."
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= "he took up the tablets," he says: he took them up after he had cast them down, when there had already been lost from them what was lost = "and in what was inscribed thereon was guidance and mercy," he says: and in what had been transcribed upon them, that is to say: what had been recorded upon them = "guidance (hudā)," the clarification of the truth = "and mercy for those who fear their Lord," he says: for those who fear Allah and dread His punishment for their transgressions.
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The people of Arabic (ahl al-ʿarabiyya) differed concerning the reason why the preposition "li-" (the lām) is inserted in His statement "li-rabbihim yarhabūn" (they fear their Lord), while the Arabs deem it objectionable that one should say in speech: "rahibtu laka" with the meaning of "rahibtuka" (I feared you) = and "akramtu laka" with the meaning of "akramtuka" (I honored you). Some of them said: this is like the saying of the Exalted — may His praise be exalted: إِنْ كُنْتُمْ لِلرُّؤْيَا تَعْبُرُونَ [Sūrat Yūsuf: 43] (if you can interpret the dream), where He joined the verb to the lām.
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And some of them said: it means "for the sake of their Lord they fear (min ajli rabbihim yarhabūn)."
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And some of them said: it (the lām) is inserted only after the genitive construction (iḍāfa): "those who fear their Lord (al-ladhīna hum rāhibūna li-rabbihim)" and "fearers of their Lord (rāhibū rabbihim)" = then the lām was inserted with this meaning, because it follows upon the iḍāfa, and not for the sake of grammatical governance (takleef).
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And some of them said: this was done only because the noun preceded the verb, so that it became fitting to insert the lām.
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And others said: something comparable has already occurred with the postposing of the noun, in His statement: رَدِفَ لَكُمْ بَعْضُ الَّذِي تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ [Sūrat al-Naml: 72] (a part of that which you seek to hasten has drawn near to you).
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And it has been related on the authority of ʿĪsā ibn ʿUmar that he said: I heard al-Farazdaq say: "naqadtu lahu miʾata dirham (I paid out to him a hundred dirhams)," by which he meant: "naqadtuhu miʾata dirham." He said: and speech is ample (it admits of many possibilities).