Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:201
Indeed, those who fear Allah - when an impulse touches them from Satan, they remember [Him] and at once they have insight.
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 word: inna lladhīna ttaqaw idhā massahum ṭāʾifun mina l-shayṭāni tadhakkarū fa-idhā hum mubṣirūn (201) (Truly, those who are God-fearing — when a whispering from Satan touches them, they remember, and behold, they see clearly) (201).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, says: (Truly, those who are God-fearing), that is: those among His creatures who fear Allah and dread His punishment by fulfilling His obligations and avoiding acts of disobedience to Him — (when a whispering from Satan touches them, they remember) — He says: when a fit from Satan befalls them, of anger or something else that diverts them from what Allah has made obligatory upon them as His right, then they remember the punishment of Allah and His reward, His promise and His threat, and they see the truth and act upon it, and they return to obedience to Allah in what He has made obligatory upon them, and they abandon therein obedience to Satan.
The reciters differed over the reading of His word "ṭayf."
The general body of reciters of Medina and Kūfa read it: (ṭāʾif), on the pattern of "fāʿil."
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Some Meccans, Basrans, and Kūfans read it: "ṭayf mina l-shayṭān."
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The scholars of the Arabic language differed over the distinction between "al-ṭāʾif" and "al-ṭayf."
Some Basrans said: "al-ṭāʾif" and "al-ṭayf" are the same, and it is that which befalls you like an apparition (khayāl) or a thing. He said: and it is possible that "al-ṭayf" is a lightened form of "ṭayyif," like "mayt" and "mayyit."
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Some Kūfans said: "al-ṭāʾif" is that which circles around you of the whispering (waswasa) of Satan. As for "al-ṭayf," it comes only from the lamam (fit) and the touch (mass).
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Another of them said: "al-ṭayf" is the lamam, and "al-ṭāʾif" is everything that circles around the human being.
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It is reported of Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ that he used to say: "al-ṭayf" is the whispering.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The more correct of the two readings therein, in my view, is the reading of him who read: (ṭāʾif mina l-shayṭān), because the exegetes have explained this in the sense of anger and the lapse that proceeds from that which circles around it. And when that is the meaning, it is well known — since "al-ṭayf" is only a verbal noun (maṣdar) from the expression "ṭāfa yaṭīfu" — that this is a report from Allah about what touches the God-fearing from Satan; and what touches them is only that which of his causes circles around them, such as anger and whispering. Satan only circles around the son of Adam to seduce him into a lapse away from obedience to his Lord, or to whisper to him. And the whispering and the seduction into the lapse, that is "al-ṭāʾif mina l-shayṭān" (the whispering of Satan).
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As for "al-ṭayf," that is only the apparition (khayāl), and it is a maṣdar of "ṭāfa yaṭīfu." He says: I have not heard therein "ṭāfa yaṭīfu," and he explains it as though it has the meaning of "al-mayt," and that is derived from the wāw.
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The Basrans and some Kūfans related, having heard it from the Arabs: "ṭāfa yaṭīfu," and "ṭiftu aṭīfu," and they recited concerning that:
Truly, the apparition overtook you, circling round, and its encircling is for you a remembrance and a consumed longing (shuʿūf).
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As for the interpretation, they differed therein in their construal.
Some of them said: that "al-ṭāʾif" is anger.
* Mention of who said that:
15555 — Abū Kurayb and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us; they said: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd: (when a whispering touches them) — he said: and "al-ṭayf" is anger.
15556 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Ḥukkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: "when a ṭayf from Satan touches them" — he said: it is anger.
15557 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us; he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rajāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr, on the authority of Mujāhid; he said: anger.
15558 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (when a ṭayf from Satan touches them, they remember) — he said: it is anger.
15559 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: (a ṭāʾif from Satan) — he said: anger.
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Others said: it is the touch (lamma) and the lapse (zalla) of Satan.
* Mention of who said that:
15560 — Al-Muthannā related to me; he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us; he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (truly, those who are God-fearing — when a ṭāʾif from Satan touches them, they remember), and "al-ṭāʾif" is the touch of Satan — (and behold, they see clearly).
15561 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me; he said: my father related to me; he said: my uncle related to me; he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (truly, those who are God-fearing — when a ṭāʾif from Satan touches them) — he says: an incitement (nazgh) from Satan — (they remember).
15562 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me; he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us; he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (truly, those who are God-fearing — when a ṭāʾif from Satan touches them, they remember) — he says: when they stumble, they show repentance.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: These two interpretations are close to each other in meaning, for "anger" arises from the seduction into the lapse by Satan, and "the touch" of sin likewise comes from him, and all of that belongs to the whispering of Satan. And when that is so, there is no reason to restrict the meaning to the one to the exclusion of the other; rather, it is correct that one take it generally, just as He, exalted be His praise, has kept it general, so that one says: truly, those who are God-fearing — when an occasion of the causes of Satan befalls them, whatever that occasion may be — they remember the command of Allah and return to His command.
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As for His word: (and behold, they see clearly), He means thereby: and behold, they see the guidance of Allah, His clarification, and obedience to Him therein, and they cease from that to which the whispering of Satan called them. As:
15563 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me; he said: my father related to me; he said: my uncle related to me; he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (and behold, they see clearly) — he says: then they cease from disobedience, take hold of the command of Allah, and disobey Satan.
