Tafseer of Those who drag forth · An-Naazi'aat · 79:25
So Allah seized him in exemplary punishment for the last and the first [transgression].
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement, the Exalted: فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأُولَى (25) (So Allah seized him with an exemplary punishment for the last and the first) (25).
He, exalted is His remembrance, means by His statement: فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ (So Allah seized him), that is: Allah punished him, نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (with an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). He says: the punishment for the last of his two statements, namely his words: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord), and the first is his statement: مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرِي (I do not know of any god for you other than me).
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: I heard Abū Bakr, while he was being asked about this, say: between those two there were forty years, between his statement: مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرِي (I do not know of any god for you other than me) and his statement: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord). He said: those are his two statements, فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (so Allah seized him with an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). He was asked: who related that? He said: Abū Ḥaṣīn. Then he was asked: on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās? He said: yes.
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 statement: فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (so Allah seized him with an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). He said: as for the first, that was when he said: مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرِي (I do not know of any god for you other than me), and as for the last, that was when he said: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord).
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Waḍḍāḥ related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jazarī, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (so Allah seized him with an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). He said: that is his statement: مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرِي (I do not know of any god for you other than me), and his statement: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord), and between those two there were forty years.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl al-Asadī, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, something similar.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Zakariyyā, on the authority of ʿĀmir, نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). He said: those are his two statements: مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرِي (I do not know of any god for you other than me) and أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord).
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 statement: نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). That is his statement: مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرِي (I do not know of any god for you other than me), and the last is in his statement: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord).
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, saying: someone who heard Mujāhid informed me that he said: between Pharaoh's statement: مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرِي (I do not know of any god for you other than me) and his statement: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord) there were forty years.
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 statement: نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأُولَى (an exemplary punishment for the last and the first): as for the first, that was when Pharaoh said: مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرِي (I do not know of any god for you other than me), and as for the last, that was when he said: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord). So Allah seized him for those two statements of his, and drowned him in the sea.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (so Allah seized him with an exemplary punishment for the last and the first): they differed about this. Some of them said: the punishment of the last concerns his two statements, and the first is his statement: مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرِي (I do not know of any god for you other than me) and his statement: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord).
And others said: it is the punishment of this world and the punishment of the hereafter; Allah hastened the drowning for him together with the punishment that He has prepared for him in the hereafter.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Khaythama al-Juʿfī, saying: between Pharaoh's two statements there were forty years: his statement: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord) and his statement: مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرِي (I do not know of any god for you other than me).
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Thuwayr, on the authority of Mujāhid, saying: Pharaoh remained among his people, after he had said: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord), forty years.
Others said: no, by it is meant: and Allah seized him with an exemplary punishment of this world and of the hereafter.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Hawdha related to us, saying: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His statement: فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (so Allah seized him with an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). He said: this world and the hereafter.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (so Allah seized him with an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). He said: the punishment of this world and the hereafter; and that is the statement of Qatāda.
And others said: the first is his disobedience to his Lord and his disbelief in Him, and the last is his statement: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord).
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Sumayʿ, on the authority of Abū Razīn: فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (so Allah seized him with an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). He said: the first is his denial and his disobedience, and the last is his statement: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (I am your most high lord). Then he recited: فَكَذَّبَ وَعَصَى * ثُمَّ أَدْبَرَ يَسْعَى * فَحَشَرَ فَنَادَى * فَقَالَ أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى (Then he denied and disobeyed * then he turned away, striving * and he gathered [his people] together and called out * and said: I am your most high lord). So that is the last statement.
And others said: no, by it is meant that He seized him for his first deed and his last.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (so Allah seized him with an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). He said: his first deed and his last.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (so Allah seized him with an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). He said: the first of his deeds and the last of them.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Kalbī: فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (so Allah seized him with an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). He said: the punishment of the last because of the disobedience, and the first.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: نَكَالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولَى (an exemplary punishment for the last and the first). He said: his deed for the hereafter and for the first.
