Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:86
And do not sit on every path, threatening and averting from the way of Allah those who believe in Him, seeking to make it [seem] deviant. And remember when you were few and He increased you. And see how was the end of the corrupters.
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 the words of Allah: وَلا تَقْعُدُوا بِكُلِّ صِرَاطٍ تُوعِدُونَ وَتَصُدُّونَ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ مَنْ آمَنَ بِهِ وَتَبْغُونَهَا عِوَجًا وَاذْكُرُوا إِذْ كُنْتُمْ قَلِيلا فَكَثَّرَكُمْ وَانْظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُفْسِدِينَ (7:86) (And do not sit on every path, threatening and turning away from the way of Allah those who believe in Him, and seeking to make it crooked. And remember when you were few and He multiplied you, and look how the end of the corrupters was.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His words ("and do not sit on every path, threatening"): do not sit on every road — and that is "the path (al-ṣirāṭ)" — to threaten the believers with death.
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And they used to, according to what has been transmitted, sit on the road in the way of whoever sought out Shuʿayb and wished to reach him in order to believe in him, and then they would threaten him and instill fear in him, and say: he is a liar!
* Mention of who said that:
14843 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ("on every path, threatening"), he said: they used to threaten whoever came to Shuʿayb and sought him out and wished to accept Islam.
14844 - 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 words: ("and do not sit on every path, threatening"), and "al-ṣirāṭ" is the road; they frightened the people from coming to Shuʿayb.
14845 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his words: ("and do not sit on every path, threatening and turning away from the way of Allah"), he said: they used to sit on the road and inform everyone who passed by them: that Shuʿayb, peace be upon him, is a liar, "so let him not lead you away from your religion."
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, concerning the words of Allah, the Exalted: ("on every path"), he said: a road = ("threatening"), on every true path.
14846 - 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, something similar.
14847 - 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: ("and do not sit on every path, threatening"), they used to sit on every road to threaten the believers.
14848 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, on the authority of Qays, on the authority of al-Suddī: ("and do not sit on every path, threatening"), he said: the tax-collectors.
ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, on the authority of Abū Hurayra or another — Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī was uncertain — he said: The Prophet ﷺ, on the night of the heavenly journey, passed by a beam on the road; no garment passed it without it tearing it, and nothing passed without it ripping it apart. He said: What is this, O Jibrīl? He said: This is like people from your community who sit on the road and cut it off! Then he recited: ("and do not sit on every path, threatening and turning away").
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And this narration which we have mentioned on the authority of Abū Hurayra indicates that its meaning, according to Abū Hurayra, was: that the prophet of Allah Shuʿayb only forbade his people, with his words ("and do not sit on every path, threatening"), from blocking the road, and that they were highway robbers.
* * *
And one says: ("and do not sit on every path, threatening") (bi-kull) — even if one were to say, outside the Qurʾān, "do not sit in every road" (bi-kull / fī kull), that would be permissible and eloquent in the language. And that is only permissible because the road is not a fixed, determined place; therefore that is permissible, just as it is permissible to say: "he sat down before him on that place, by that place, in that place."
* * *
And He said: ("threatening") (tūʿidūn), and did not say "taʿidūn", because the Arabs act thus regarding what they leave vague and do not make explicit concerning the threat. One says: "I threatened him (awʿadtuhu)" with the alif, and "a threat (waʿīd) has gone forth from me toward him." But when one clarifies what one is threatening with and makes it explicit, one says: "I promised him good (waʿadtuhu khayran)" and "I promised him evil (waʿadtuhu sharran)", without the alif, just as He, exalted is His praise, said: النَّارُ وَعَدَهَا اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا [Surah Al-Ḥajj: 72] (The Fire, Allah has promised it to those who disbelieve).
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And as for His words: ("and turning away from the way of Allah those who believe in Him"), He says: and you turn away from the way of Allah — and that is turning away from belief in Allah and acting in obedience to Him = ("those who believe in Him"), He says: you turn away from the way of Allah whoever holds Allah to be true and acknowledges Him as one = ("and seeking to make it crooked"), He says: and you seek for whoever travels the way of Allah and believes in Him and acts in obedience to Him = ("crookedness"), away from the straight path and the truth, toward misguidance and error, as:
14849 - 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: ("and turning away from the way of Allah"), he said: its people = ("and seeking to make it crooked"), you seek misguidance for it.
14850 - 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, something similar.
14851 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: ("and seeking to make it crooked"), he said: you seek for the way, away from the truth, crookedness.
14852 - 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: ("and turning away from the way of Allah"), from Islam = you seek for the way = ("crookedness"), ruin.
* * *
And His words: ("and remember when you were few and He multiplied you"), Shuʿayb reminds them of the favor of Allah upon them, in that He made their number numerous after they were small in number, and in that He raised them up from humiliation and lowliness. He says to them: so be grateful to Allah who favored you with that, and devote worship sincerely to Him, and guard yourselves against His punishment through obedience, and be wary of His vengeance by abandoning disobedience = ("and look how the end of the corrupters was"), He says: and look at what came down upon the communities that were before you when they rebelled against their Lord and disobeyed His messengers, of punishing trials and acts of vengeance, and how they found the outcome of their disobedience toward Him. Was not a part of them destroyed by drowning in the Flood, a part by the stoning with stones, and a part by the cry?
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And "the bringing of corruption (al-ifsād)" means in this place: disobedience to Allah.
