Tafsir al-Baghawi - Al-Baghawi - (5/312)

Tafsir al-BaghawiAl-Baghawi

“How many a town steeped in wrongdoing We have shattered, raising up other peoples after it! (11) When they perceived Our punishment, they fled headlong from it. (12) ‘Do not flee! Return to the comforts you enjoyed and to your dwellings, so that you may be questioned.’ (13) They said, ‘Woe to us! We were indeed wrongdoers.’ (14) And this cry of theirs did not cease until We made them like a harvested crop, extinguished. (15) We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them in play. (16)”

“How many We have shattered” means: how many We have destroyed. Shattering means breaking. “Of a town that was wrongdoing”: that is, whose people were unbelievers. “And We raised up after it”: that is, We brought into existence, after the destruction of its people, “other peoples.”

“When they perceived Our punishment”: that is, they saw (1) Our punishment with their sense of sight. “They fled headlong from it”: that is, they hastened away in flight. “Do not flee”: that is, they were told, “Do not flee; do not run away. Return to the comforts you enjoyed”: that is, to that in which you lived in luxury, “and to your dwellings, so that you may be questioned.” Ibn Abbas said: “About the killing of your Prophet.” Qatadah said: “For something from your worldly possessions.”

This verse was revealed concerning the people of Hasura, a town in Yemen whose inhabitants were Arabs. Allah sent them a prophet, calling them to Allah, but they rejected him and killed him. So Allah set Nebuchadnezzar against them, and he killed them and took them captive (2). When the killing continued among them, they regretted what they had done, fled, and were routed. Then, in mockery, the angels said to them: “Do not flee. Return to your dwellings and your wealth, so that you may be questioned.”

Qatadah said: “So that you may be asked for something from your worldly possessions, and then give to whomever you wish and withhold from whomever you wish; for you are people of wealth and luxury.” They said this in mockery of them. Then Nebuchadnezzar pursued them, and the swords overtook them. A herald cried out from the expanse of heaven: “O vengeance for the prophets!” When they saw this, they confessed their sins, at a time when it no longer benefited them. “They said, ‘Woe to us! We were indeed wrongdoers.’”

“And this cry of theirs did not cease”: that is, that statement—namely, their saying, “Woe to us!”—was their supplication, which they kept repeating.

“Until We made them like a harvested crop”: by the swords, just as crops are harvested. “Extinguished”: that is, dead. His saying, exalted is He, “We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them in play,” means: vainly and without purpose.

(1) Added from manuscript B. (2) See al-Tabari, 17:9.

﴿وَكَمْ قَصَمْنَا مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ كَانَتْ ظَالِمَةً وَأَنْشَأْنَا بَعْدَهَا قَوْمًا آخَرِينَ (١١) فَلَمَّا أَحَسُّوا بَأْسَنَا إِذَا هُمْ مِنْهَا يَرْكُضُونَ (١٢) لَا تَرْكُضُوا وَارْجِعُوا إِلَى مَا أُتْرِفْتُمْ فِيهِ وَمَسَاكِنِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُسْأَلُونَ (١٣) قَالُوا يَا وَيْلَنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا ظَالِمِينَ (١٤) فَمَا زَالَتْ تِلْكَ دَعْوَاهُمْ حَتَّى جَعَلْنَاهُمْ حَصِيدًا خَامِدِينَ (١٥) وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاءَ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا لَاعِبِينَ (١٦) ﴾ ﴿وَكَمْ قَصَمْنَا﴾ أَهْلَكْنَا، وَالْقَصْمُ: الْكَسْرُ، ﴿مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ كَانَتْ ظَالِمَةً﴾ أَيْ كَافِرَةً، يَعْنِي أَهْلَهَا، ﴿وَأَنْشَأْنَا بَعْدَهَا﴾ أَيْ: أَحْدَثْنَا بَعْدَ هَلَاكِ أَهْلِهَا، ﴿قَوْمًا آخَرِينَ﴾ ﴿فَلَمَّا أَحَسُّوا بَأْسَنَا﴾ أَيْ [رَأَوْا] (١) عَذَابَنَا بِحَاسَّةِ الْبَصَرِ، ﴿إِذَا هُمْ مِنْهَا يَرْكُضُونَ﴾ أَيْ يُسْرِعُونَ هَارِبِينَ. ﴿لَا تَرْكُضُوا﴾ أَيْ قِيلَ لَهُمْ لَا تَرْكُضُوا لَا تَهْرُبُوا، ﴿وَارْجِعُوا إِلَى مَا أُتْرِفْتُمْ فِيهِ﴾ أَيْ نَعِمْتُمْ بِهِ، ﴿وَمَسَاكِنِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُسْأَلُونَ﴾ قَالَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ: عَنْ قَتْلِ نَبِيِّكُمْ. وَقَالَ قَتَادَةُ: مِنْ دُنْيَاكُمْ شَيْئًا، نَزَلَتْ هَذِهِ الْآيَةُ فِي أَهْلِ حَصُورَا، وَهِيَ قَرْيَةٌ بِالْيَمَنِ وَكَانَ أَهْلُهَا الْعَرَبَ، فَبَعَثَ اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِمْ نَبِيًّا يَدْعُوهُمْ إِلَى اللَّهِ فَكَذَّبُوهُ وَقَتَلُوهُ، فَسَلَّطَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ بَخْتُنَصَّرَ، حَتَّى قَتَلَهُمْ وَسَبَاهُمْ (٢) فَلَمَّا اسْتَمَرَّ فِيهِمُ الْقَتْلُ نَدِمُوا وَهَرَبُوا وَانْهَزَمُوا، فَقَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ لَهُمُ اسْتِهْزَاءً: لَا تَرْكُضُوا وَارْجِعُوا إِلَى مَسَاكِنِكُمْ وَأَمْوَالِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُسْأَلُونَ. قَالَ قَتَادَةُ: لَعَلَّكُمْ تُسْأَلُونَ شَيْئًا مِنْ دُنْيَاكُمْ، فَتُعْطُونَ مَنْ شِئْتُمْ وَتَمْنَعُونَ مَنْ شِئْتُمْ، فَإِنَّكُمْ أَهْلُ ثَرْوَةٍ وَنِعْمَةٍ، يَقُولُونَ ذَلِكَ اسْتِهْزَاءً بِهِمْ، فَاتَّبَعَهُمْ بُخْتُنَصَّرُ وَأَخَذَتْهُمُ السُّيُوفُ، وَنَادَى مُنَادٍ فِي جَوِّ السَّمَاءِ: يَا ثَارَّاتِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ، فَلَمَّا رَأَوْا ذَلِكَ أَقَرُّوا بِالذُّنُوبِ حِينَ لَمْ ينفعهم. ﴿قَالُوا يَا وَيْلَنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا ظَالِمِينَ﴾ . ﴿فَمَا زَالَتْ تِلْكَ دَعْوَاهُمْ﴾ أَيْ تِلْكَ الْكَلِمَةُ وَهِيَ قَوْلُهُمْ يَا وَيْلَنَا، دُعَاؤُهُمْ يَدْعُونَ بِهَا وَيُرَدِّدُونَهَا. ﴿حَتَّى جَعَلْنَاهُمْ حَصِيدًا﴾ بِالسُّيُوفِ كَمَا يُحْصَدُ الزَّرْعُ، ﴿خَامِدِينَ﴾ مَيِّتِينَ. قَوْلُهُ ﷿: ﴿وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاءَ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا لَاعِبِينَ﴾ أَيْ عَبَثًا وَبَاطِلًا.

(١) زيادة من (ب) . (٢) انظر: الطبري: ١٧ / ٩.