Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:53
Do they await except its result? The Day its result comes those who had ignored it before will say, "The messengers of our Lord had come with the truth, so are there [now] any intercessors to intercede for us or could we be sent back to do other than we used to do?" They will have lost themselves, and lost from them is what they used to invent.
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: هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلا تَأْوِيلَهُ يَوْمَ يَأْتِي تَأْوِيلُهُ يَقُولُ الَّذِينَ نَسُوهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ قَدْ جَاءَتْ رُسُلُ رَبِّنَا بِالْحَقِّ ("Do they await anything other than its final fulfillment? On the Day when its fulfillment comes, those who forgot it before will say: Indeed, the messengers of our Lord came with the truth.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: "Do they await anything other than its final fulfillment (taʾwīl)," that is, do these polytheists (mushrikīn) who declare the signs of Allah to be lies and deny meeting Him expect = "anything other than its fulfillment," He says: anything other than that to which their affair ultimately leads, namely their arrival at the punishment of Allah, their burning in His blazing Fire, and other such matters with which Allah has threatened them.
And we have already previously set forth the meaning of "al-taʾwīl" with its proofs, in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat it in this place.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* The mention of who said that:
14761 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, His word: "Do they await anything other than its fulfillment," that is to say: its recompense = "on the Day when its fulfillment comes," that is to say: its recompense.
14762 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, saying: Maʿmar related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "Do they await anything other than its fulfillment, on the Day when its fulfillment comes," he said: "its fulfillment," its outcome.
14763 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Shibl, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "Do they await anything other than its fulfillment," he said: its requital = "on the Day when its fulfillment comes," he said: its requital.
14764 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of that.
14765 — 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: "Do they await anything other than its fulfillment," as for "its fulfillment," these are its outcomes, such as the Battle of Badr, the Resurrection, and what has been promised therein of promise.
14766 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, concerning His word: "Do they await anything other than its fulfillment, on the Day when its fulfillment comes, those who forgot it before will say: Indeed, the messengers of our Lord came with the truth," something of its fulfillment keeps occurring, matter after matter, until its fulfillment becomes complete on the Day of Resurrection; and concerning that was sent down: "Do they await anything other than its fulfillment," when Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, recompenses His protected ones and His enemies the reward of their deeds. On that Day those who forgot it before will say: "Indeed, the messengers of our Lord came with the truth," the verse.
14767 — 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, His word: "Do they await anything other than its fulfillment, on the Day when its fulfillment comes," he said: the Day of Resurrection.
14768 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "on the Day when its fulfillment comes," he said: the Day when its reality comes, and he recited the word of Allah, the Exalted: هَذَا تَأْوِيلُ رُؤْيَايَ مِنْ قَبْلُ ("This is the interpretation of my dream of old") [Surah Yūsuf: 100]. He said: this is its realization. And he recited the word of Allah: وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلا اللَّهُ ("And none knows its interpretation except Allah") [Surah Āl ʿImrān: 7], he said: none knows its reality and when it comes except Allah, the Exalted.
As for His word: "on the Day when its fulfillment comes, those who forgot it before will say," the meaning of it is: on the Day when that to which their affair ultimately leads of the punishment of Allah comes = "those who forgot it before will say," that is to say: they will say, namely those who neglected and failed to do what they were commanded of deeds that would have saved them from that to which their affair on that Day ultimately leads of punishment, before that in the worldly life = "Indeed, the messengers of our Lord came with the truth," the wretched ones swear, when they behold the affliction and the punishment strikes them: that the messengers of Allah who had come to them with the warning and had conveyed to them the message of Allah, had given them truly sincere counsel and had proclaimed to them the truth of Allah; and that is at a time when affirmation does not benefit them, nor does much talk and argumentation save them from the wrath of Allah and His painful punishment.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* The mention of who said that:
14769 — 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: "those who forgot it before will say: Indeed, the messengers of our Lord came with the truth," as for "those who forgot it," these are those who abandoned it; and when they saw what their prophets had promised them, they became convinced and said: "Indeed, the messengers of our Lord came with the truth."
14770 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "those who forgot it will say," he said: they turned away from it.
14771 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of that.
The explanation of His word: فَهَلْ لَنَا مِنْ شُفَعَاءَ فَيَشْفَعُوا لَنَا أَوْ نُرَدُّ فَنَعْمَلَ غَيْرَ الَّذِي كُنَّا نَعْمَلُ قَدْ خَسِرُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَضَلَّ عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ (53) ("Do we then have any intercessors, that they might intercede for us, or shall we be sent back, so that we might act otherwise than we used to act? They have caused themselves loss, and what they used to invent has strayed away from them.") (53)
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is an announcement from Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, concerning these polytheists (mushrikīn) whose characteristic He has described, that upon the descent of the wrath of Allah over them, upon their arrival at His painful punishment, and upon their beholding the fulfillment of what the messengers of Allah promised them, they say: Do we today have friends and protectors who will intercede for us with our Lord, so that their intercession with Him saves us from the evil that has struck us on account of our evil deeds in the worldly life = or shall we be sent back once more to the worldly life, so that we act therein in a manner that pleases Him and that makes Him accept our reconciliation? The wretched ones made this statement there, because in the worldly life they were accustomed to suppose that they had intercessors who interceded for them in their needs; thus they remember that at a time when there is for them neither friendship nor intercession.
Allah, whose praise is exalted and whose names are hallowed, says: "They have caused themselves loss," He says: they have deprived themselves of their share, in that they sold that which has no weight — namely the lasting bliss of the Hereafter — for the worthless of the perishable worldly goods = "and what they used to invent has strayed away from them," He says: and He has delivered them over to the punishment of Allah, and their protectors have fled away from them, those whom they used to worship apart from Allah, and of whom they used to claim in falsehood and invention that they were their lords alongside Allah.
14772 — 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, His word: "They have caused themselves loss," he says: they have sold themselves at a loss.
And the word "or shall we be sent back (aw nuraddu)" was put in the nominative and not in the accusative as a conjunction (ʿaṭf) upon His word "that they might intercede for us," because the meaning is: do we have intercessors who intercede for us = or are we sent back, so that we act otherwise than we used to act? = and it is not intended as a conjunction upon His word "that they might intercede for us."
