“And We have certainly set forth in this Quran every kind of parable for mankind, yet man is more prone to dispute than anything else. (54)”

His saying, exalted is He: “And on the Day He will say”: Hamzah recited it with the first-person plural, “We will say,” while the others recited it with the third-person singular, “He will say”; that is, Allah will say to them on the Day of Resurrection: “Call upon My partners,” meaning the idols, “whom you claimed” were My partners. “Then they will call upon them,” seeking their aid, “but they will not answer them”; that is, they will neither respond to them nor support them. “And We shall place between them”—that is, between the idols and their worshippers; it was also said: between the people of guidance and the people of misguidance—“a barrier of destruction.” ‘Ata’ and al-Dahhak said: a place of destruction. Ibn ‘Abbas said: It is a valley in the Fire. Mujahid said: A valley in Hell.

‘Ikrimah said: It is a river in the Fire, flowing with fire, upon whose banks are snakes like black mules.

Ibn al-A‘rabi said: Every barrier between two things is called a mawbiq; its root meaning is destruction. One says, awbaqahu, meaning: he destroyed him.

Al-Farra’ said: We have made their association with one another in this world a cause of their destruction in the Hereafter. According to this view, the word bayn means association, as in His saying, exalted is He: “Indeed, the bond between you has been severed” [al-An‘am 6:94]—according to the recitation of those who read it in the nominative case (1). “And the criminals will see the Fire,” meaning the idolaters, “and realize”—that is, know with certainty—“that they are about to fall into it,” entering it and falling within it, “and they will find no escape from it”: no way of turning away from it, for it will surround them on every side.

His saying, exalted is He: “And We have certainly set forth”: We have made clear, “in this Quran every kind of parable,” so that they may remember and take heed. “Yet man is more prone to dispute than anything else”: disputing in falsehood.

Ibn ‘Abbas said: This refers to al-Nadr ibn al-Harith and his disputation concerning the Quran.

Al-Kalbi said: It refers to Ubayy ibn Khalaf al-Jumahi (2).

It was also said that the verse refers to the disbelievers, due to His saying, exalted is He: “Those who disbelieve dispute by means of falsehood” [al-Kahf 18:56].

It was also said that it is general in meaning, and this is the sounder view.

‘Abd al-Wahid ibn Ahmad al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Nu‘aymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma‘il informed us; Abu al-Yaman informed us; Shu‘ayb informed us, from al-Zuhri, who informed us that ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn informed us that