Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (2/318)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

If it be asked: How can the rigorously authenticated ḥadīth indicate that they will be a ransom for the believers on the Day of Resurrection, that they will be cast into the Fire, and that no messengers were ever sent to them—while Allah, exalted is He, has said: “We never punish until We have sent a messenger” (al-Isrāʾ 15)?

(The answer is that they will not be punished until the proof has been established against them and the excuse conveyed to them, exactly as Allah says: “We never punish until We have sent a messenger.”) (1)

If, in the era (2) prior to the mission (3) of Muḥammad ﷺ, messengers from among themselves had indeed been sent to them, then the proof stood against those people. If, however, Allah had not sent any messengers to them, they are deemed like the “people of the intermission,” those to whom the summons never reached. A ḥadīth transmitted through multiple chains from several Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ states that such persons will be tested on the plains of the Resurrection: whoever answers the caller will enter Paradise, and whoever refuses will enter the Fire. We have already cited that ḥadīth in its various chains (4), wordings, and the comments of the leading scholars when discussing the verse, “We never punish until We have sent a messenger.”

Shaykh Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī even related the consensus of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamāʿah on this point. Their being tested does not necessarily entail their salvation, nor does it contradict the report that they are from the people of the Fire; for Allah discloses to His Messenger ﷺ whatever He wills of the unseen, and He informed him that these people are destined for misery, that their very dispositions reject the truth and refuse to submit to it. Hence they will not respond to the caller even on the Day of Resurrection. From this it is known that they would have been still more obstinate in denying the truth during worldly life had it reached them. Indeed, on the Day of Resurrection many who once denied will yield; therefore embracing faith amid the terrors of that Day is even more likely than doing so in this world. Allah knows best.

As He, exalted, says: “If only you could see when the guilty will hang their heads before their Lord, saying, ‘Our Lord, we have now seen and heard; so send us back, and we will act righteously—indeed, we are now certain’” (al-Sajdah 32:12). And He says: “How well they will hear and see on the Day they return to Us” (Maryam 19:38).

As for the narration claiming that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ invited them on the Night of the Ascension and they refused to respond, it is munkar—indeed fabricated—concocted by ʿUmar ibn al-Ṣubḥ.

Regarding the barrier, it has already been mentioned that Dhu’l-Qarnayn built it of iron and copper, levelling it with the lofty, impenetrable mountains (5). Nowhere on earth is there a construction more magnificent or more beneficial to people’s worldly affairs.

Al-Bukhārī said: A man once told the Prophet ﷺ, “I have seen the barrier.” He asked, “And what did it look like?” The man replied, “Like a richly patterned brocade cloak, with alternating black and red bands.” He said, “That is exactly how I saw it.” Al-Bukhārī recorded this assertion categorically, yet without an unbroken chain (6). I have not discovered it with a connected isnād that satisfies me, except that Ibn Jarīr

(1) Omitted in manuscript B due to the transposition of an ‘ayn. (2) In B: “al-zaman” (time). (3) In B: “ba‘tha” (mission). (4) Tafsir Ibn Kathir, vol. 3, pp. 28–32. (5) In B: “al-shamm”. (6) Narrated by al-Bukhari (vol. 6, p. 381) in the section on Prophets, where it opens the chapter “The Story of Gog and Magog” as a mu‘allaq (i.e. with the isnād omitted).

فإن قيل: فكيف دلّ الحديث المتفق عليه أنهم فداء المؤمنين يوم القيامة، وأنهم في النار ولم يُبعثْ إليهم رُسُلٌ، وقد قال الله تعالى: ﴿وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّى نَبْعَثَ رَسُولًا﴾ [الإسراء: ١٥] ، (فالجواب أنهم لا يُعذَّبون إلا بعد قيام الحجّة عليهم والإعذار إليهم كما قال تعالى: ﴿وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّى نَبْعَثَ رَسُولًا﴾) (١) فإن كانوا في زمن (٢) الذي قبل بعث (٣) محمد ﷺ قد أتتهم رسل منهم، فقد قامت على أولئك الحجّة، وإن لم يكن قد بعث الله إليهم رسُلاً، فهم في حكم أهل الفترة، ومن لم تبلغه الدعوة، وقد دلَّ الحديث المرويُّ من طُرُق عن جماعة من الصحابة عن رسول الله ﷺ أن من كان كذلك يُمتحَنُ في عَرَصَات القيامةِ، فمن أجابَ الداعي دخَلَ الجَنَّةَ، ومن أبى دَخلَ النار. وقد أوردنا الحديث بطرقه (٤) وألفاظه وكلام الأئمة عليه عند قوله: ﴿وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّى نَبْعَثَ رَسُولًا﴾. وقد حكاه الشيخ أبو الحسن الأشعري إجماعاً عن أهل السنة والجماعة، وامتحانهم لا يقتضي نجاتهم ولا ينافي الإخبار عنهم بأنهم من أهل النار، لأن الله يُطلع رسوله ﷺ على ما يشاء من أمر الغيب، وقد أطلعه على أن هؤلاء من أهل الشقاء، وأن سجاياهم تأبى قَبولَ الحق والانقياد له، فهم لا يجيبون الداعي إلى يوم القيامة، فيُعلَم من هذا أنهم كانوا أشدّ تكذيباً للحق في الدنيا لو بلغهم فيها، لأن في عرصات القيامة ينقاد خلقٌ ممن كان مكذِّباً في الدنيا، فإيقاع الإيمان هنالك لما يشاهد من الأهوال أولى وأحرى منه في الدنيا، والله أعلم. كما قال تعالى: ﴿وَلَوْ تَرَى إِذِ الْمُجْرِمُونَ نَاكِسُو رُءُوسِهِمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ رَبَّنَا أَبْصَرْنَا وَسَمِعْنَا فَارْجِعْنَا نَعْمَلْ صَالِحًا إِنَّا مُوقِنُونَ﴾ [السجدة: ٢] . وقال تعالى: ﴿أَسْمِعْ بِهِمْ وَأَبْصِرْ يَوْمَ يَأْتُونَنَا﴾ [مريم: ٣٨] . وأما الحديث الذي فيه أن رسول الله ﷺ دعاهم ليلة الإسراء فلم يُجِيبوا، فإنه حديث منكَرٌ، بل موضوع، وضعه عمر بن الصبح. وأما السَّدُّ، فقد تقدّم أن ذا القرنين بناه من الحديد والنُّحاس، وساوَى به الجبالَ الصم (٥) الشامخات الطوال، فلا يُعرفُ على وجه الأرض بناءٌ أجلّ منه ولا أنفع للخلق منه في أمر دنياهم. قال البخاري: وقال رجل للنبي ﷺ : رأيتُ السد. قال: "وكَيْفَ رَأَيْتَهُ " ؟ قالَ: مثل البُرْدِ المحبَّر. فقال: "رأيته هكذا" . ذكره البخاري (٦) معلقاً بصيغة الجزم، ولم أَرَه مُسْنَداً من وجه متصل أرتضيه، غير أن ابن جرير

(١) سقطت من ب بنقلة عين. (٢) في ب الزمن. (٣) في ب: بعثة. (٤) تفسير ابن كثير (٣/ ٢٨ - ٣٢). (٥) في ب: الشم. (٦) رواه البخاري (٦/ ٣٨١) في الأنبياء، معلقاً أول باب قصة يأجوج ومأجوج.