Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:49
[Allah will say], "Are these the ones whom you [inhabitants of Hell] swore that Allah would never offer them mercy? Enter Paradise, [O People of the Elevations]. No fear will there be concerning you, nor will you grieve."
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 statement concerning the explanation of His saying: أَهَؤُلاءِ الَّذِينَ أَقْسَمْتُمْ لا يَنَالُهُمُ اللَّهُ بِرَحْمَةٍ ادْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ لا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْكُمْ وَلا أَنْتُمْ تَحْزَنُونَ (49) ("Are these the ones of whom you swore that Allah would not reach them with mercy? Enter the Garden (janna); there is no fear upon you, nor shall you grieve." (7:49))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differed concerning who is intended by these words.
Some of them said: This is a statement of Allah to the people of the Fire, as a reproach for what they had said in the worldly life concerning the People of the Heights (Aṣḥāb al-Aʿrāf), at the moment when He admitted the people of the Aʿrāf into the Garden.
* Mention of who said that:
14743 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "The people of the Aʿrāf" were men who had committed grave sins, while the decision concerning their affair belonged to Allah. They stood upon the Aʿrāf, and when they looked toward the people of the Garden, they longed to enter it; and when they looked toward the people of the Fire, they sought refuge with Allah from it. Then they were admitted into the Garden. That is His saying, exalted is He: "Are these the ones of whom you swore that Allah would not reach them with mercy" — by this He means the people of the Aʿrāf — "Enter the Garden; there is no fear upon you, nor shall you grieve."
14744 - 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, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: Allah admitted the people of the Aʿrāf into the Garden by reason of His saying: "Enter the Garden; there is no fear upon you, nor shall you grieve."
14745 - 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: Allah said to the people of arrogance and wealth: "Are these the ones of whom you swore that Allah would not reach them with mercy" — by this He means the people of the Aʿrāf — "Enter the Garden; there is no fear upon you, nor shall you grieve."
14746 - 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: "Are these" — the weak ones — "the ones of whom you swore that Allah would not reach them with mercy? Enter the Garden; there is no fear upon you, nor shall you grieve." He said: Then Ḥudhayfa said: "The people of the Aʿrāf" are a people whose deeds were equally balanced; their good deeds fell short of bringing them into the Garden, and their evil deeds fell short of bringing them into the Fire, so they were placed upon the Aʿrāf, where they recognized the people by their marks. When judgment had been passed among the servants, they were permitted to seek intercession. They came to Ādam, peace be upon him, and said: "O Ādam, you are our father, so intercede for us with your Lord!" He said: "Do you know anyone whom Allah created with His hand, into whom He breathed of His spirit, whose mercy preceded His wrath, and before whom the angels prostrated, other than me?" They said: "No!" He said: Then he said: "I have not performed therein the measure by which I am able to intercede for you, but go to my son Ibrāhīm!" He said: Then they came to Ibrāhīm, peace be upon him, and asked him to intercede for them with his Lord. He said: "Do you know anyone whom Allah took as His intimate friend (khalīl)? Do you know anyone who burned his people in the Fire for the sake of Allah, other than me?" They said: "No!" He said: "I have not performed the measure by which I am able to intercede for you, but go to my son Mūsā!" Then they came to Mūsā, peace be upon him, and he said: "Do you know anyone to whom Allah spoke directly and whom He brought near as a confidant, other than me?" They said: "No!" He said: "I have not performed therein the measure by which I am able to intercede for you, but go to ʿĪsā!" Then they come to him and say: "Intercede for us with your Lord!" He says: "Do you know anyone whom Allah created without a father, other than me?" They say: "No!" He says: "Do you know anyone who healed the one born blind and the leper and raised the dead by Allah's permission, other than me?" He said: They say: "No!" He said: Then he says: "I plead for myself; I have not performed therein the measure by which I am able to intercede for you, but go to Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah, the Prophet ﷺ!" The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Then they come to me, and I strike my hand upon my breast, and then say: "I am able to do it!" Then I walk until I stand before the Throne, and I praise my Lord, and He opens to me of praise such as the hearers have never heard the like of. Then I prostrate myself, and it is said to me: "O Muḥammad, raise your head, ask, it shall be given to you, and intercede, your intercession shall be accepted!" Then I raise my head and say: "Lord, my community!" Then it is said: "They are yours." Then there remains no sent prophet nor nearby angel but that he envies me on that day for that station, and that is the praiseworthy station (al-maqām al-maḥmūd). He said: Then I bring them to the gate of the Garden and ask for it to be opened, and it is opened for me and for them. Then they are brought to a river called "the river of life" (nahr al-ḥayawān); its two banks are of pipes of gold, crowned with pearls; its earth is musk and its pebbles are rubies. Then they bathe in it, and the colors of the people of the Garden and the fragrance of the people of the Garden return to them, and they become as though they were the shining stars. And upon their breasts there remain white moles by which they are recognized; it is said of them: "The poor of the Garden."
14747 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say: Allah admitted them after the people of the Garden, and that is His saying: "Enter the Garden; there is no fear upon you, nor shall you grieve" — by this He means the people of the Aʿrāf. And this is the saying of Ibn ʿAbbās.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The explanation of the words according to this interpretation which we have related from Ibn ʿAbbās, and from those whose statement we have mentioned therein, is: Allah said to the people who were too arrogant to acknowledge the oneness of Allah and to submit to His obedience and the obedience of His messengers, who amassed wealth in the worldly life out of ostentation and display: O you tyrants who were in the worldly life — are these the weak ones of whom you swore in the worldly life that Allah would not reach them with mercy? He said: I have forgiven them and shown them mercy through My favor and My mercy. Enter, O people of the Aʿrāf, the Garden; there is no fear upon you thereafter of a punishment with which you would be punished for the sins and crimes you committed earlier in the worldly life, nor shall you grieve over anything that escaped you in your worldly life.
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And Abū Mijlaz said: Rather, this statement is a report from Allah concerning what the angels said to the people of the Fire, after they had entered the Fire, as a rebuke from them to them over what they used to say in the worldly life against the believers whom Allah admitted into His Garden on the Day of Resurrection. As for His saying: "Enter the Garden; there is no fear upon you, nor shall you grieve" — that is a report from Allah concerning His command to the people of the Garden to enter it.
14748 - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, who said: The angels called out to men in the Fire whom they recognized by their marks: "Of what avail to you was your gathering, and what you displayed of arrogance? Are these the ones of whom you swore that Allah would not reach them with mercy?" He said: This is at the moment when the people of the Garden enter the Garden: "Enter the Garden; there is no fear upon you, nor shall you grieve."