Tafsir al-Baghawi - Al-Baghawi - (4/321)

Tafsir al-BaghawiAl-Baghawi

“Indeed, messengers before you were mocked. So I granted respite to those who disbelieved, then I seized them; and how severe was My punishment! (32) Is He who watches over every soul, knowing what it has earned, [like one who does not]? Yet they ascribe partners to Allah. Say, ‘Name them. Or are you informing Him of something He does not know to exist on earth, or is it merely an outward assertion?’ Rather, the plotting of those who disbelieve has been made appealing to them, and they have been turned away from the path. Whoever Allah leaves astray has no guide. (33)”

“Indeed, messengers before you were mocked,” just as they mocked you. “So I granted respite to those who disbelieved”: I gave them time and prolonged their term. From this comes the expression “the two successive ones,” namely, night and day. “Then I seized them”: I punished them in this world through killing, and in the Hereafter through the Fire. “And how severe was My punishment!” That is, My punishment of them.

“Is He who watches over every soul, knowing what it has earned”—that is, preserving it, providing for it, knowing it, and requiting it for what it has done—[like one who does not]? The answer is omitted; its intended meaning is: Is He like one who watches over nothing, but is rather incapable even of caring for himself?

“Yet they ascribe partners to Allah. Say, ‘Name them,’” that is, make their names known.

It was also said: Describe them, then consider whether they are worthy of being worshipped.

“Or are you informing Him”—that is, are you informing Allah Most High—“of something He does not know to exist on earth?” For He knows of no partner for Himself, nor of any god on earth besides Him. “Or is it merely an outward assertion?” That is, are you clinging to an outwardly stated claim, heard from others, which is in reality false and has no basis?

It was also said: It means a false assertion. The poet said:

“The tale-bearers reproached me for loving her—
Yet it is a complaint whose shame has departed from you.”

That is, it has vanished. (1)

“Rather, the plotting of those who disbelieve has been made appealing to them”: that is, their scheming. Mujahid said: Their polytheism and their lies against Allah.

“And they have been turned away from the path”: that is, they have been diverted from the religion.

(1) Abu Mansur wrote in Tahdhib al-Lughah: “Shakah is used to mean fault and blame. A man taunted Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr on account of his mother, saying, ‘O son of the woman of the two waist-wraps.’ Abdullah then recited the verse of the Hudhali poet: ‘Wa tilka shakatun zahirun anka aruha...’ He meant that taunting him with his mother’s being the woman of the two waist-wraps was not a disgrace; rather, it was something in which he took pride. The phrase ‘zahirun anka aruha’ means that its disgrace is far removed from you.” See Lisan al-Arab by Ibn Manzur, 14:440-441.

﴿وَلَقَدِ اسْتُهْزِئَ بِرُسُلٍ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ فَأَمْلَيْتُ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا ثُمَّ أَخَذْتُهُمْ فَكَيْفَ كَانَ عِقَابِ (٣٢) أَفَمَنْ هُوَ قَائِمٌ عَلَى كُلِّ نَفْسٍ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ وَجَعَلُوا لِلَّهِ شُرَكَاءَ قُلْ سَمُّوهُمْ أَمْ تُنَبِّئُونَهُ بِمَا لَا يَعْلَمُ فِي الْأَرْضِ أَمْ بِظَاهِرٍ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ بَلْ زُيِّنَ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مَكْرُهُمْ وَصُدُّوا عَنِ السَّبِيلِ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلِ اللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُ مِنْ هَادٍ (٣٣) ﴾ . ﴿وَلَقَدِ اسْتُهْزِئَ بِرُسُلٍ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ﴾ كما استهزؤوا بِكَ، ﴿فَأَمْلَيْتُ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا﴾ أَمْهَلْتُهُمْ وَأَطَلْتُ لَهُمُ الْمُدَّةَ، وَمِنْهُ "الْمَلَوَانِ"، وَهُمَا: اللَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ، ﴿ثُمَّ أَخَذْتُهُمْ﴾ عَاقَبْتُهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا بِالْقَتْلِ وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ بِالنَّارِ، ﴿فَكَيْفَ كَانَ عِقَابِ﴾ أَيْ: عِقَابِي لَهُمْ. ﴿أَفَمَنْ هُوَ قَائِمٌ عَلَى كُلِّ نَفْسٍ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ﴾ أَيْ: حَافِظُهَا، وَرَازِقُهَا، وَعَالَمٌ بِهَا، وَمُجَازِيهَا بِمَا عَمِلَتْ. وَجَوَابُهُ مَحْذُوفٌ، تَقْدِيرُهُ: كَمَنْ لَيْسَ بِقَائِمٍ بَلْ عَاجِزٌ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ. ﴿وَجَعَلُوا لِلَّهِ شُرَكَاءَ قُلْ سَمُّوهُمْ﴾ بَيِّنُوا أَسْمَاءَهُمْ. وَقِيلَ: صِفُوهُمْ ثُمَّ انْظُرُوا: هَلْ هِيَ أَهْلٌ لِأَنْ تُعْبَدَ؟ ﴿أَمْ تُنَبِّئُونَهُ﴾ أَيْ: تُخْبِرُونَ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى: ﴿بِمَا لَا يَعْلَمُ فِي الْأَرْضِ﴾ فَإِنَّهُ لَا يَعْلَمُ لِنَفْسِهِ شَرِيكًا وَلَا فِي الْأَرْضِ إِلَهًا غَيْرَهُ، ﴿أَمْ بِظَاهِرٍ﴾ يَعْنِي: أَمْ تَتَعَلَّقُونَ بِظَاهِرٍ، ﴿مِنَ الْقَوْلِ﴾ مَسْمُوعٍ، وَهُوَ فِي الْحَقِيقَةِ بَاطِلٌ لَا أَصْلَ لَهُ. وَقِيلَ: بِبَاطِلٍ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ: قَالَ الشَّاعِرُ: وَعَيَّرَنِي الْوَاشُونَ أَنِّي أُحِبُّهَا وَتِلْكَ شَكَاةٌ ظَاهِرٌ عَنْكَ عَارُهَا أَيْ: زَائِلٌ (١) . ﴿بَلْ زُيِّنَ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مَكْرُهُمْ﴾ كَيَدُهُمْ. وَقَالَ مُجَاهِدٌ: شِرْكُهُمْ وَكَذِبُهُمْ عَلَى اللَّهِ. ﴿وَصُدُّوا عَنِ السَّبِيلِ﴾ أَيْ: صُرِفُوا عَنِ الدِّينِ.

(١) قال أبو منصور في تهذيب اللغة: الشكاة توضع موضع العيب والذم؛ وعير رجل عبد الله بن الزبير بأمه، فقال: يابن ذات النطاقين. فتمثل عبد الله بقول الهذلي: وتلك شكاة ... أراد: أن تعييره إياه بأن أمه كانت ذات النطاقين ليس بعار، ومعنى قوله: "ظاهر عنك عارها" أي: ناب. أراد: أن هذا ليس عارا يلزق به وأنه يفتخر بذلك ... " انظر: لسان العرب لابن منظور: ١٤ / ٤٤٠-٤٤١.