Tafseer of He frowned · Abasa · 80:21
Then He causes his death and provides a grave for him.
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: ثُمَّ أَمَاتَهُ فَأَقْبَرَهُ ("Then He caused him to die and gave him a grave") means: then He took away his soul and thereafter caused him to die. By His word أَقْبَرَهُ ("He gave him a grave") He means: He made him one who possesses a grave. The qābir (the burier) is the one who buries the dead person with his own hand, as al-Aʿshā has said:
Had she leaned a dead man against her breast, He would have come back to life and not been carried off to a burier. (3)
And the muqbir (the one who causes burial to be done) is Allāh, Who commanded His servants to bury him after his death, and thus He made him one who possesses a grave. The Arabs say, as has been related to me: "I cut off the camel's tail (batartu)," whereas Allāh has cut it off (abtarahu); and "I dehorned the bull (ʿadabtu)," whereas Allāh has dehorned it (aʿdabahu); and "I drove so-and-so away from me (taradtu)," whereas Allāh drove him away (atradahu), that is to say: He made him one who is driven away.
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Footnotes:
(3) The verse is by al-Aʿshā of Banū Qays ibn Thaʿlaba (his Dīwān, Cairo edition, p. 139), from a poem in which he lampoons ʿAlqama ibn ʿAlātha and praises ʿĀmir ibn al-Ṭufayl in the rivalry-dispute (munāfara) that took place between those two. It is among the evidentiary citations of Abū ʿUbayda in Majāz al-Qurʾān (185). He said: "fa-aqbarahu means: He commanded that he be buried…" And the one who buries with his hand is the qābir. Al-Aʿshā said: "Had she leaned…" the verse. End. And in (Lisān: q-b-r): "qabarahu yaqburuhu wa-yaqbiruhu (like yaḥfir and yadkhul): he buried him. Wa-aqbarahu: He made for him a grave. Wa-aqbara: when he commanded a man to dig a grave." Abū ʿUbayda said: Banū Tamīm said to al-Ḥajjāj — and he had killed Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān —: "aqbirnā Ṣāliḥan," that is to say: permit us to bury him. He said to them: "He is at your disposal." And al-Farrāʾ said concerning His word, the Exalted: ثم أماته فأقبره "that is to say: He made him one who is buried, one who is interred, and He did not make him one who is cast out for the birds and the beasts of prey," nor one who is cast into the nāwūs (charnel vessels), as though the grave is something by which the Muslim is honored. End.
