Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:56
And cause not corruption upon the earth after its reformation. And invoke Him in fear and aspiration. Indeed, the mercy of Allah is near to the doers of good.
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: وَلا تُفْسِدُوا فِي الأَرْضِ بَعْدَ إِصْلاحِهَا وَادْعُوهُ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا إِنَّ رَحْمَةَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ (56)
(And do not work corruption in the land after its reformation, and call upon Him in fear and hope; truly the mercy of Allah is near to those who do good) (7:56).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, means by His word "and do not work corruption in the land after its reformation": do not ascribe partners to Allah in the land and do not disobey Him therein, for that is the corruption thereof.
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We have already mentioned the report concerning that in what has previously passed, and set forth its meaning with its evidences. (27)
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— "after its reformation" — He says: after Allah's reformation of it for the benefit of the people of His obedience, in that He sent among them the messengers as callers to the truth, and in that He made clear to them His proofs (28). — "and call upon Him in fear and hope" — He says: and devote the supplication and the action to Him, and in your action ascribe to Him nothing other than Him among gods and idols and the like, and let that which proceeds from you in this be out of fear of His punishment and out of hope for His reward. For whoever directs his supplication to Him otherwise than thus belongs in the end among the deniers, because whoever does not fear the punishment of Allah and does not hope for His reward does not care what deed he commits that angers Allah and does not please Him. — "truly the mercy of Allah is near to those who do good" — The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: truly the reward of Allah which He has promised those who do good for their doing good in the worldly life is near to them, and that is His mercy (29), for between them and their reaching that mercy from Him and what He has prepared for them of honor lies only that their souls depart from their bodies.
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For that meaning His word "qarīb" (near) is put in the masculine, while it is the predicate of "al-raḥma" (the mercy), and "al-raḥma" is feminine — because by it is intended nearness in time, not in kinship. And when the expressions of time occur in that meaning as predicate to the nouns (30), the Arabs treat them by analogy to the circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl): they put them in the singular with the singular, the dual, and the plural, and they put them in the masculine with the feminine. Thus they say: "the honor of Allah is far (baʿīd) from so-and-so" and "it is near (qarīb) to so-and-so," just as they say: "Hind is near to us," and "the two Hinds are near to us," and "the Hinds (plural) are near to us," because the meaning of that is: she is in a place near to us. Then when they omit the place and put "the near one" (al-qarīb) in its stead, they put it in the masculine and in the singular with the plural, just as the place was masculine and singular with the plural. But when they put it in the feminine, they make it appear in the dual with the dual and in the plural with the plural, and say: "she is near (qarība) to us," and "they two are near to us (qarībatān)," as ʿUrwa [ibn al-Ward] said: (31)
A night on which ʿAfrāʾ is not near (qarība) to you, that she may draw close — nor is ʿAfrāʾ far (baʿīd) from you. (32)
Thus he put "qarība" in the feminine and "baʿīd" in the masculine, in the manner I have described. If "al-qarīb" here were from "al-qarāba" (kinship) in lineage, then it could only be feminine with the feminine and plural with the plural. (33)
Some of the grammarians of Baṣra said: he put "qarīb" in the masculine, while it is an adjectival qualifier of "al-raḥma," and that is like the saying of the Arabs: "a howling wind" (rīḥ kharīq) (34), and "a new upper-garment" (milḥafa jadīd) (35), and "a sheep in its sixth year" (shāt sadīs) (36). He said: and if you wish you may say: the meaning of "al-raḥma" here is the rain and the like, and for that reason it is put in the masculine, as He said: وَإِنْ كَانَ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْكُمْ آمَنُوا (And if a group among you have believed) [Surah al-Aʿrāf: 87], where He put it in the masculine, because He intended the people. And if you wish, you may reckon it among that which they put in the masculine while it is feminine, as the saying of the poet: (37)
And no land brought forth its produce. (38)
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Some of the philologists have rejected this explanation, and held that, if it were permissible to put "qarīb" in the masculine by inclining "al-raḥma" toward the meaning of rain, it would likewise oblige him to say: "Hind stood up (qāma)," by inclining "Hind" — while she is a woman — toward the meaning of "man" (insān). And they held that that with which he compared His word "truly the mercy of Allah is near to those who do good," namely His word وَإِنْ كَانَ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْكُمْ آمَنُوا , is not equivalent to it. That is because "al-ṭāʾifa," as they claimed, is a verbal noun (maṣdar) with the meaning of "al-ṭayf," just as "al-ṣayḥa" and "al-ṣiyāḥ" have the same meaning, and for that reason it is said: وَأَخَذَ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا الصَّيْحَةُ (And the Cry seized those who did wrong) [Surah Hūd: 67].
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The footnotes:
(27) See the explanation of "corruption in the land" in what has previously passed 1: 287, 416, and in other places, most recently 10: 461, note 1, and the references there.
(28) See the explanation of "al-iṣlāḥ" (reformation) in what has previously passed in the lexical entries (ṣ-l-ḥ).
(29) See the explanation of "al-raḥma" (the mercy) in what has previously passed in the lexical entries (r-ḥ-m). — And the explanation of "al-iḥsān" (the doing of good) in what has previously passed in the lexical entries (ḥ-s-n).
(30) In the printed edition it read "when they are raised as predicate," which is a misreading of the manuscript.
(31) Thus it occurs in the manuscript and the printed edition, but the correct reading is that it is "ʿUrwa ibn Ḥizām," as one will see in the source citation; it appears to be an error and addition of the copyist, for Abū Jaʿfar here follows al-Farrāʾ entirely in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, and al-Farrāʾ mentioned only "ʿUrwa," after which the copyist by mistake added "ibn al-Ward."
(32) Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 381, according to what Abū Jaʿfar mentioned and took from him. The verse is in the dīwān of ʿUrwa ibn Ḥizām, and in Tazyīn al-Aswāq 1: 84, and in al-Bakrī in Sharḥ al-Amālī: 401, from a poem of his whose correct recitation is upon the bāʾ:
A night on which ʿAfrāʾ is not far (baʿīda) from you, that you may find consolation — nor is ʿAfrāʾ near (qarīb) to you. And truly, at the remembrance of you a languor overcomes me that creeps between my skin and my bones.
(33) See Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 381, and Majāz al-Qurʾān of Abū ʿUbayda 1: 216, 217.
(34) "rīḥ kharīq": violent, and it has also been said: gentle and easy. A word with opposite meanings.
(35) In the printed edition it read "wa-sāḥifa ḥadīd," and in the manuscript "wa-māḥiqa jadīd," without diacritical points; the correct reading is what has been included, and that is the proverb adduced in this connection. Ibn Sīda said: "milḥafa jadīd, and jadīda," and Sībawayh said: and they have also said "milḥafa jadīda," and that is rare.
(36) "shāt sadīs": a sheep that has entered its sixth year.
(37) ʿĀmir ibn Juwayn al-Ṭāʾī.
(38) The verse and its source citation have passed in what was earlier 1: 432, and I forgot to mention there that it would recur in this place of the tafsīr, and afterwards in 18: 118 (Būlāq); the first hemistich reads:
And no rain-cloud poured forth its rain.
