Tafseer of The Fig · At-Tin · 95:5
Then We return him to the lowest of the low,
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 saying: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low") (95:5). The exegetes of the tafsīr differed concerning the interpretation of this. Some of them said: the meaning of this is: then We returned him to the most contemptible old age.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low"), he said: to the most contemptible old age.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām ibn Salm related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Abū Razīn, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low"), he said: to the most contemptible old age.
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: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low"), he says: he is returned to the most contemptible old age, he grows old until his reason departs. There was a group who were returned to the most contemptible old age in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was questioned concerning them when their reason became foolish. Then Allah revealed their excuse: that they have their reward for what they performed before their reason departed.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, he said: ʿIkrima was questioned concerning His saying: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low"), he said: they were returned to the most contemptible old age.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, both of them saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His saying: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low"), he said: to the most contemptible old age.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, the like of that.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, the like of that.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low"), he said: We returned him to advanced old age.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: advanced old age.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḥakam relating, on the authority of ʿIkrima: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low"), he said: the very aged greybeard; his old age does not harm him, if Allah seals for him with the best of what he used to do.
And others said: the meaning of this is rather: then We returned him to the Fire in the most hideous form.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low"), he said: in the worst form, in the form of a pig.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low"), he said: the Fire.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: to the Fire.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: in the Fire.
He said: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: to the Fire.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low"), he said: al-Ḥasan said: Hell (jahannam) is his abode.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: al-Ḥasan said, concerning His saying: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low"), he said: in the Fire.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His saying: ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ ("Then We returned him to the lowest of the low"), he said: to the Fire.
The correct of the statements concerning this, in my view, and the most in agreement with the interpretation of the verse, is the statement of him who said: its meaning is: then We returned him to the most contemptible old age, to the age of senility, of those whose reason has departed through advanced old age and aging, so that he is in the lowest of the low with respect to the decline of life-span and the departure of reason.
We have only said: this statement is the most correct concerning this, because Allah, the Exalted whose remembrance is exalted, gave news of His creation of the son of Adam and His disposing of him in the various states, as a proof thereby against those who deny His power over the resurrection after death. Do you not see that He says: فَمَا يُكَذِّبُكَ بَعْدُ بِالدِّينِ ("What then makes you deny the Recompense after that?") (95:7), that is to say: after these proofs.
It is impossible that one should argue against a people who deny the meaning of a thing by means of that very thing which they deny. The proof against any people rests only upon that which they cannot refute, of what they see with their own eyes and perceive with their senses, or to which they acknowledge, even if they did not perceive it with the senses.
Since that is so, and since that people denied the Fire — with which Allah threatened them in the Hereafter — while they were witnesses to the very aged and the senile after youth and strength, thus it became known that He only argued against them by means of that which they saw with their own eyes, of His disposing of His creation and His transferring them from the state of the beautiful form, youth and strength, to advanced old age, weakness, the passing of life-span and the onset of senility.
