Tafseer of The Resurrection · Al-Qiyaama · 75:5
But man desires to continue in sin.
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 Exalted — praised be His mention — says: the son of Adam is not ignorant that his Lord is able to gather his bones, but he wishes to press forward in disobedience to Allah; nothing restrains him from that, and he never turns back from it in repentance, and he postpones repentance.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Abū al-Khayr ibn Tamīm al-Ḍabbī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: بَلْ يُرِيدُ الإنْسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ ("Nay, man wishes to sin before himself"): he said: he presses forward before himself.
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, concerning His word: بَلْ يُرِيدُ الإنْسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ ("Nay, man wishes to sin before himself"): he means desire; man says: I act and then I repent before the Day of Resurrection. And it is said: it is disbelief in the truth before the Resurrection.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ ("that he may sin before himself"): he said: he presses forward before himself, obstinately following his own head.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: بَلْ يُرِيدُ الإنْسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ ("Nay, man wishes to sin before himself"): he said: al-Ḥasan said: you do not find the son of Adam but that his soul is drawn toward disobedience to Allah, continually going further and further, except him whom Allah has protected.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ ("that he may sin before himself"): he said: continually further in disobedience.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Ismāʿīl al-Suddī: بَلْ يُرِيدُ الإنْسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ ("Nay, man wishes to sin before himself"): he said: continually further.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of al-Naḍr, on the authority of ʿIkrima: بَلْ يُرِيدُ الإنْسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ ("Nay, man wishes to sin before himself"): he said: continually further, he does not cease from sinning.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ ("that he may sin before himself"): he said: [he says:] later I will repent.
Others said: no, the meaning of that is that he obstinately follows his own head in pursuing the world, untiring, and does not remember death.
* Mention of those who said that:
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: بَلْ يُرِيدُ الإنْسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ ("Nay, man wishes to sin before himself"): it is desire; man desires: I will live and I will obtain from the world this and that, and obtain this and that, and he does not remember death.
Others said: no, the meaning of that is: but the disbelieving man wishes to deny the Day of Resurrection.
* Mention of those who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: بَلْ يُرِيدُ الإنْسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ ("Nay, man wishes to sin before himself"): he says: the disbeliever denies the reckoning.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: بَلْ يُرِيدُ الإنْسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ ("Nay, man wishes to sin before himself"): he said: he denies what lies before him: the Day of Resurrection and the reckoning.
Others said: no, the meaning of that is: but man wishes to deny the truth before the Resurrection. And the "hā" (the suffix) in His word أمامَهُ ("before him") refers, according to this view, to the Resurrection. We have already mentioned the report concerning that earlier.
