Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:63
Do they not know that whoever opposes Allah and His Messenger - that for him is the fire of Hell, wherein he will abide eternally? That is the great disgrace.
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: أَلَمْ يَعْلَمُوا أَنَّهُ مَنْ يُحَادِدِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَأَنَّ لَهُ نَارَ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدًا فِيهَا ذَلِكَ الْخِزْيُ الْعَظِيمُ (63) ("Do they not know that for whoever opposes Allah and His Messenger, the fire of Hell is destined, wherein he shall abide eternally? That is the tremendous disgrace." (63))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Do these hypocrites — who swear falsely by Allah to the believers in order to please them, while they persist in their hypocrisy — then not know, that for whoever fights Allah and His Messenger and opposes them by setting himself against them and rising up against them, "the fire of Hell (jahannam) is destined," in the Hereafter, "wherein he shall abide eternally" — He says: residing therein, lingering therein unto infinity? "That is the tremendous disgrace" — He says: his residing in the fire of Hell and his eternal lingering therein, that is the tremendous ignominy and the tremendous contempt.
* * *
And the reciters read: فَأَنَّ, with the fatḥa on the alif of "anna," in the meaning: Do they then not know that for whoever opposes Allah and His Messenger the fire of Hell is destined — whereby "yaʿlamū" is operative in it, as though they made the second "anna" refer back to the first and relied upon it, since the predication comes along with the second and not with the first.
* * *
And some of the grammarians of Baṣra preferred the kasra in this, on the basis of the inception [of a new sentence] (al-ibtidāʾ), because of the entry of the "fāʾ" into it; and its entry, in his judgment, is an indication that it constitutes the answer to the condition (al-jazāʾ), and when it is an answer to the condition, then what is preferred in it is the inception [with the kasra].
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the reading which I permit no other than is the fatḥa on the alif in both words — I mean the first "anna" and the second — because that is the reading of the great cities, and because of the reason which I have mentioned from the standpoint of Arabic linguistics.
