Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:47
And when their eyes are turned toward the companions of the Fire, they say, "Our Lord, do not place us with the wrongdoing people."
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: And when their eyes are turned in the direction of the inhabitants of the Fire, they say: "Our Lord, do not place us among the wrongdoing people" (7:47).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: And when the eyes of the inhabitants of al-Aʿrāf are turned in the direction of the inhabitants of the Fire — that is to say: facing them and in their direction — and they then see how Allah has disfigured them, then they say: "Our Lord, do not place us among the wrongdoing people", namely those who wronged themselves and thereby brought upon themselves Your wrath, which bequeathed to them the punishment in which they find themselves.
14734 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: And when they — that is to say the inhabitants of al-Aʿrāf — pass by a group being driven to the Fire, they say: Our Lord, do not place us among the wrongdoing people.
14735 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When the inhabitants of al-Aʿrāf look at the inhabitants of the Fire and recognize them, they say: Our Lord, do not place us among the wrongdoing people.
14736 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Abū Makīn, on the authority of his brother, on the authority of ʿIkrima: And when their eyes are turned in the direction of the inhabitants of the Fire, he said: Their faces are turned toward the Fire, but as soon as they see the inhabitants of Paradise, that vanishes from them.
14737 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: And when their eyes are turned in the direction of the inhabitants of the Fire, and they see their faces having turned black and their eyes having turned blue, then they say: "Our Lord, do not place us among the wrongdoing people".
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Footnotes:
(36) The narration 14736 — "Abū Makīn" is "Nūḥ ibn Rabīʿa al-Anṣārī", already mentioned under the numbers 9742-9839. Wakīʿ erred and said that "Abū Makīn" was "Nūḥ ibn Abān", the brother of "al-Ḥakam ibn Abān", and this error was pointed out. See the biography of "Nūḥ ibn Rabīʿa" in al-Tahdhīb and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 4/1/482.
And his brother — Wakīʿ means — is "al-Ḥakam ibn Abān al-ʿAdanī", who narrates on the authority of Ṭāwūs and ʿIkrima; trustworthy, with a biography in al-Tahdhīb, and in al-Kabīr 1/2/334, and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/2/113.
