Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:31
And when Our verses are recited to them, they say, "We have heard. If we willed, we could say [something] like this. This is not but legends of the former peoples."
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: وَإِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُنَا قَالُوا قَدْ سَمِعْنَا لَوْ نَشَاءُ لَقُلْنَا مِثْلَ هَذَا إِنْ هَذَا إِلا أَسَاطِيرُ الأَوَّلِينَ (31) ("And when Our signs are recited to them, they say: 'We have already heard; if we wished, we could say something like this. This is nothing but the fables of the ancients.'" (31))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — may His mention be glorified — says: And when there are recited to these people who have become disbelievers the signs of the Book of Allah, which are clear to whomever Allah has expanded the breast to understand them = then they say, out of ignorance on their part and out of obstinate resistance to the truth, while they know that they are lying in their statement = "if we wished, we could say something like this," namely that which has been recited to us = "this is nothing but the fables of the ancients," by which they mean: they say that this Qurʾān which is recited to them is nothing but the fables of the ancients.
And "al-asāṭīr" (the fables) is a plural of "asṭur," and that is a plural of a plural, for the singular of "al-asṭur" is "saṭr" (line); then "al-saṭr" is pluralized as "asṭur" and "suṭūr," and then "al-asṭur" is pluralized as "asāṭīr" and "asāṭir."
And some of the linguists used to say: the singular of "al-asāṭīr" is "usṭūra."
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The polytheists (mushrikīn) intended by their statement "this is nothing but the fables of the ancients" only: this Qurʾān which you recite to us, O Muḥammad, is nothing but that which the ancients have recorded and written of reports of the ancient peoples! As if they attributed it to the fact that he had taken it over from the children of Adam, and that Allah had not revealed it to him.
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And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
15977 - Al-Qāsim related to me, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said concerning His word: "and when Our signs are recited to them, they say: 'We have already heard; if we wished, we could say something like this'": al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith used to travel back and forth to Persia as a merchant, and he would pass by the ʿIbād while they were reciting the Gospel and bowing and prostrating themselves. Then he came to Mecca, and he found Muḥammad ﷺ, to whom revelation had already come, bowing and prostrating himself. Then al-Naḍr said: "We have already heard; if we wished, we could say something like this!", on account of what he had heard from the ʿIbād. Then there was revealed: "and when Our signs are recited to them, they say: 'We have already heard; if we wished, we could say something like this'." He said: Our Lord related what they had said in Mecca, and He related their statement when they said: O Allah, if this be the truth from You, the whole verses.
15978 - 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, who said: al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAlqama, brother of the Banū ʿAbd al-Dār, used to travel back and forth to al-Ḥīra, and he heard the rhymed prose (sajʿ) of its inhabitants and their speech. When he came to Mecca, he heard the words of the Prophet ﷺ and the Qurʾān, and he said: "We have already heard; if we wished, we could say something like this. This is nothing but the fables of the ancients," by which he meant: the rhymed-prose utterances (asājīʿ) of the inhabitants of al-Ḥīra.
15979 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: The Prophet killed on the day of Badr in captivity (ṣabran): ʿUqba ibn Abī Muʿayṭ, and Ṭuʿayma ibn ʿAdī, and al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith. Al-Miqdād had taken al-Naḍr captive, and when the command was given to kill him, al-Miqdād said: "O Messenger of Allah, my captive!" Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "He used to say about the Book of Allah what he said!" Then the Prophet ﷺ gave the command to kill him. Thereupon al-Miqdād said: "My captive!" Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "O Allah, make al-Miqdād rich out of Your bounty!" Then al-Miqdād said: "This is what I wished!" And concerning this, this verse was revealed: "and when Our signs are recited to them," the whole verses.
15980 - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Abū Bishr informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ killed on the day of Badr three men of the Quraysh in captivity (ṣabran): al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī, and al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith, and ʿUqba ibn Abī Muʿayṭ. He said: When the command was given to kill al-Naḍr, al-Miqdād ibn al-Aswad said: "My captive, O Messenger of Allah!" He said: "He used to say about the Book of Allah and about His Messenger what he used to say!" He said: Then he said that two or three times, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "O Allah, make al-Miqdād rich out of Your bounty!" And al-Miqdād had taken al-Naḍr captive.
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Footnotes:
(65) See the explanation of "al-tilāwa" (the recitation) in what preceded, p. 385, note 1, and the references there.
(66) See the explanation of "al-asāṭīr" in what preceded, 11: 308 - 310.
(67) "Al-ʿIbād" were a group from various tribes, from diverse sections of the Arabs, who united around Christianity before Islam. They refused to be called "al-ʿabīd" (the slaves), and said: "we are al-ʿibād (the worshippers)," and settled in al-Ḥīra. So one was ascribed to "al-ʿibād"; among them was the poet ʿAdī ibn Yazīd al-ʿIbādī.
(68) "Al-asājīʿ" is the plural of "usjūʿa," namely that with which the soothsayer and others spoke in rhymed prose. See what preceded under no. 13157.
(69) The narration 15980 - Thus in the version of this report "al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī" has come, in place of "Ṭuʿayma ibn ʿAdī." And it does not appear to be a copyist's error, for Ibn Kathīr said in his tafsīr 4: 51: "And thus did Hushaym relate it, on the authority of Abū Bishr Jaʿfar ibn Abī Waḥshiyya, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, that he said: al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī, in place of Ṭuʿayma. And that is a mistake, for al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī was not alive on the day of Badr; therefore the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said on that day: 'If al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī had been alive, and had then asked me about these stinking ones, I would have granted them to him!' — thereby meaning the captives, because he had granted protection to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the day he returned from al-Ṭāʾif." See the note at no. 15981.
