as He said: “And Allah will protect you from the people.” (al-Ma'idah 5:67)

“And We did not make the vision which We showed you except as a trial for the people.” The majority hold that this refers to the wonders and signs which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw on the Night of the Ascension.

Ibn Abbas said: “It was an actual vision seen by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with his eyes.” (1) This was also the view of Sa'id ibn Jubayr, al-Hasan, Masruq, Qatadah, Mujahid, Ikrimah, Ibn Jurayj, and the majority. (2) The Arabs use both ru'yah and ru'ya for something seen with the eye. When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, told the people of it, some of them rejected and denied it; thus, it became a trial for the people.

Some said: “He was taken on the Night Journey in spirit without his body.” (3)

Others said: “He had two ascensions: an ascension seen with the eye, and an ascension perceived by the heart.”

Another group said (4) that this vision referred to what he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw in the year of Hudaybiyyah: that he and his Companions would enter Mecca. So he set out for Mecca before the appointed time, but the idolaters prevented him, and he returned to Medina. His return that year, after he had informed them that he would enter it, became a trial for some of them—until he entered it the following year. Thereupon Allah Most High revealed: “Allah has certainly fulfilled His Messenger’s vision in truth.” (al-Fath 48:27) (5)

“And the accursed tree mentioned in the Quran”: this means the tree of Zaqqūm. That is, the accursed tree mentioned in the Quran. The Arabs describe every loathsome food as “accursed food.” It was also said that it means that its eater is accursed. (6) The phrase “the tree” is in the accusative because it is coordinated with “the vision”; that is: We made neither the vision which We showed you nor the accursed tree except as a trial for the people. The trial concerning the vision was what we have already mentioned.

The trial concerning the accursed tree had two aspects. The first was that Abu Jahl said: “The son of Abu Kabshah promises you a fire that burns stones, then claims that a tree grows in it—yet you know that fire burns trees.”

The second was that Abdullah ibn al-Ziba'ra said: “Muhammad frightens us with Zaqqūm, yet we know Zaqqūm only as butter and dates.” Abu Jahl then said: “Girl, come and feed us Zaqqūm!” She brought dates and butter, and he said: “People, eat Zaqqūm! (7) This is what Muhammad frightens you with.” Allah Most High then described it in al-Saffat. (8)