Tafseer of The Jinn · Al-Jinn · 72:6
And there were men from mankind who sought refuge in men from the jinn, so they [only] increased them in burden.
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.
His statement: wa-annahu kāna rijālun mina l-insi yaʿūdhūna bi-rijālin mina l-jinni ("And that there were men among mankind who sought refuge with men among the jinn"). The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says, reporting the statement of that group: and that there were men among mankind who, on their journeys, sought protection with men among the jinn, when they took up their resting-places.
And that was part of their practice, according to what has been transmitted to us, as in the report that Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me; he said: my father related to me; he said: my uncle related to me; he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: wa-annahu kāna rijālun mina l-insi yaʿūdhūna bi-rijālin mina l-jinni. He said: there were men among mankind who, in the time of ignorance (jāhilīyah), spent the night in a valley, one of them saying: "I seek my refuge with the mightiest one of this valley." That only increased them in sin.
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafah related to us; he said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His statement: wa-annahu kāna rijālun mina l-insi yaʿūdhūna bi-rijālin mina l-jinni. He said: when a man among them descended into a valley and spent the night there, he would say: "I seek my refuge with the mightiest one of this valley against the evil of the foolish ones among his people."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His statement: wa-annahu kāna rijālun mina l-insi yaʿūdhūna bi-rijālin mina l-jinni. When they descended into a valley, they would say: "We seek our refuge with the lord of this valley against the evil of what is in it." Then the jinn would say: "We possess for you, nor for ourselves, any evil or benefit."
He said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His statement: wa-annahu kāna rijālun mina l-insi yaʿūdhūna bi-rijālin mina l-jinni. He said: in the time of ignorance (jāhilīyah), when they descended into a valley, they would say: "We seek our refuge with the lord of this valley." Then the jinn would say: "Do you seek your refuge with us, while we possess for ourselves no evil or benefit!"
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me; he said: al-Ḥasan related to us; he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: yaʿūdhūna bi-rijālin mina l-jinni. He said: they used to say, when they descended into a valley: "We seek our refuge with the great ones of this valley."
Bishr related to us; he said: Yazīd related to us; he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatādah, concerning His statement: wa-annahu kāna rijālun mina l-insi yaʿūdhūna bi-rijālin mina l-jinni. It has been transmitted to us that this tribe of the Arabs, when they descended into a valley, would say: "We seek our refuge with the mightiest inhabitant of this place." Allah said: fa-zādūhum rahaqan ("so they increased them in rahaq"), that is: in sin, and the jinn became all the more insolent toward them thereby.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us; he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatādah: yaʿūdhūna bi-rijālin mina l-jinni. In the time of ignorance (jāhilīyah), when they descended at a place, they would say: "We seek our refuge with the mightiest inhabitant of this place."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: wa-annahu kāna rijālun mina l-insi yaʿūdhūna bi-rijālin mina l-jinni. He said: they used to say: "So-and-so among the jinn is the lord of this valley." And when one of them entered the valley, he would seek his refuge with the lord of the valley instead of with Allah. He said: that increased him in rahaq, which is fear (faraq).
Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement: wa-annahu kāna rijālun mina l-insi yaʿūdhūna bi-rijālin mina l-jinni fa-zādūhum rahaqan. He said: in the time of ignorance (jāhilīyah), before Islam, a man would say when he descended into a valley: "I seek my refuge with the great one of this valley." But when Islam came, they sought their refuge with Allah and abandoned them.
His statement: fa-zādūhum rahaqan ("so they increased them in rahaq"). The scholars of interpretation (taʾwīl) differed concerning the meaning of this. Some of them said: the meaning of it is: so mankind increased the jinn — by seeking their refuge with their mightiest — in insolence toward them, and they thereby increased in sin.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me; he said: my father related to me; he said: my uncle related to me; he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: fa-zādūhum rahaqan: that increased them in sin.
Bishr related to us; he said: Yazīd related to us; he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatādah; he said: Allah said: fa-zādūhum rahaqan, that is: in sin, and the jinn became all the more insolent toward them thereby.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us; he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatādah: fa-zādūhum rahaqan. He says: sin (wrongdoing).
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Mihrān related to us; he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: fa-zādūhum rahaqan. He said: so they increased in insolence toward them.
He said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: fa-zādūhum rahaqan. He said: they increased in insolence toward them.
Others said: no, by it was meant that the unbelievers thereby increased in tyranny (ṭughyān).
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me; he said: al-Ḥasan related to us; he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: fa-zādūhum rahaqan. He said: it increased the unbelievers in tyranny.
Others said: no, by it was meant: so they increased them in fear (faraq).
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: fa-zādūhum rahaqan. He said: that increased them in rahaq, which is fear (faraq).
Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement: fa-zādūhum rahaqan. He said: the jinn increased them in dread.
And the correct of the statements concerning this is the statement of him who said: the meaning of it is: so mankind increased the jinn, through that practice, in sin, and that is because they thereby increased them in deeming permissible what Allah has forbidden. Rahaq, in the language of the Arabs, means: sin and the committing of the forbidden. To that belongs the statement of al-Aʿshā:
"Nothing avails me apart from beholding her — does it bring healing to him who loves, so long as he commits no rahaq?"
He means: so long as he commits nothing forbidden.
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The footnotes:
(6) The verse is by al-Aʿshā of the Banū Qays ibn Thaʿlabah (his Dīwān, Cairo edition, p. 365, from the qaṣīdah numbered 80). In the Lisān (rahaq) it states: he said: rahaq is the committing of the forbidden, such as the drinking of wine and the like. Ibn Barrī said: and thus rahaq in the poem of al-Aʿshā was interpreted as the committing of the forbidden and what contains no good — his statement: "Nothing avails me…", the verse. I [the annotator] say: the interpretation of Ibn Barrī does not please me, for al-Aʿshā did not know the prohibitions; rather, the correct interpretation of it is as the commentator of the Dīwān said: that rahaq means drawing near to the beloved and closeness to her, and taking delight in what she grants him; for when he is far from her, there is no healing and no rest. And in the Lisān (rahaq) it states, on the authority of al-Zajjāj: fa-zādūhum rahaqan, that is: humiliation and weakness. It has been said: foolishness and tyranny. And in its interpretation it has been said: injustice. And it has been said: corruption… and so forth.
