Tafsir al-Baghawi - Al-Baghawi - (7/100)

Tafsir al-BaghawiAl-Baghawi

“They will say, ‘Why is it that we do not see men whom we used to count among the wicked? Did we take them in mockery, or have our eyes missed them?’ Indeed, that is the truth: the disputing of the people of the Fire. Say, ‘I am only a warner, and there is no god but Allah—the One, the Irresistible Subduer.’”

“They will say”—that is, the followers—“Our Lord, whoever brought this upon us,” meaning: whoever prescribed it and established it for us, “increase his punishment twofold in the Fire,” meaning: multiply his punishment in the Fire. Ibn Mas‘ud said: This means serpents and vipers.

“And they will say”—that is, the leaders of Quraysh while they are in the Fire—“Why is it that we do not see men whom we used to count,” in this world, “among the wicked?” They mean the poor believers: ‘Ammar, Khabbab, Suhayb, Bilal, and Salman—may Allah be pleased with them. Then they mentioned that they used to mock these people, and so they said:

“Did we take them in mockery?” The scholars of Basra, Hamzah, and al-Kisa’i recited it as a connected statement: “among the wicked whom we took in mockery,” joining it to the preceding words, and they pronounced the initial alif with kasrah when beginning from it. The others recited it with a separate alif, pronounced with fathah, as a question. (1)

The scholars of meanings said: The first reading is preferable, because they knew that they had taken them in mockery, so the interrogative form would not be fitting. According to this reading, “or” has the meaning of “rather.” Those who pronounced the alif with fathah said that it follows the wording rather than the meaning, so that it may correspond to “or” in His saying, “or have our eyes missed them?” Al-Farra’ said: This is an interrogative whose meaning is rebuke and amazement. “Have our eyes missed them?” means: Have our eyes turned away from them? The sense of the verse is: Why do we not see these people whom we took in mockery? Have they not entered the Fire with us? Or have they entered it, but our eyes have missed them, so that we did not see them when they entered it?

It was also said: Or are they in the Fire, but concealed from our sight?

Ibn Kaysan said: Or were they better than us, though we did not know it? Thus, our eyes turned away from them in this world, and we did not regard them as anything.

“Indeed, that which I have mentioned is the truth.” Then He clarified it, saying: “The disputing of the people of the Fire”—that is, the disputing of the people of the Fire in the Fire is indeed true.

“Say,” O Muhammad, to the polytheists of Mecca, “I am only a warner,” one who warns, “and there is no god but Allah—the One, the Irresistible Subduer.”

(1) The rest of the statement in Ma'ani al-Quran, 2:411, reads: “Thus, it is permissible both with the interrogative form and without it.” (2) Added from manuscript B.

﴿وَقَالُوا مَا لَنَا لَا نَرَى رِجَالًا كُنَّا نَعُدُّهُمْ مِنَ الْأَشْرَارِ (٦٢) أَأَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الْأَبْصَارُ (٦٣) إِنَّ ذَلِكَ لَحَقٌّ تَخَاصُمُ أَهْلِ النَّارِ (٦٤) قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَنَا مُنْذِرٌ وَمَا مِنْ إِلَهٍ إِلَّا اللَّهُ الْوَاحِدُ الْقَهَّارُ (٦٥) ﴾ ﴿قَالُوا﴾ يَعْنِي: الْأَتْبَاعُ ﴿رَبَّنَا مَنْ قَدَّمَ لَنَا هَذَا﴾ أَيْ: شَرَعَهُ وَسَنَّهُ لَنَا، ﴿فَزِدْهُ عَذَابًا ضِعْفًا فِي النَّارِ﴾ أَيْ: ضَعِّفْ عَلَيْهِ الْعَذَابَ فِي النَّارِ. قَالَ ابْنُ مَسْعُودٍ: يَعْنِي حَيَّاتٍ وَأَفَاعِي. ﴿وَقَالُوا﴾ يَعْنِي صَنَادِيدَ قُرَيْشٍ وَهُمْ فِي النَّارِ، ﴿مَا لَنَا لَا نَرَى رِجَالًا كُنَّا نَعُدُّهُمْ﴾ فِي الدُّنْيَا، ﴿مِنَ الْأَشْرَارِ﴾ يَعْنُونَ فُقَرَاءَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ: عَمَّارًا، وَخَبَّابًا، وَصُهَيْبًا، وَبِلَالًا وَسَلْمَانَ ﵃. ثُمَّ ذَكَرُوا أَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يَسْخَرُونَ مِنْ هَؤُلَاءِ، فَقَالُوا: ﴿أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيَّا﴾ قَرَأَ أَهْلُ الْبَصْرَةِ، وَحَمْزَةُ، وَالْكِسَائِيُّ: "مِنَ الْأَشْرَارِ اتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ" وَصْلٌ، وَيَكْسِرُونَ الْأَلِفَ عِنْدَ الِابْتِدَاءِ، وَقَرَأَ الْآخَرُونَ بِقَطْعِ الْأَلِفِ وَفَتْحِهَا عَلَى الِاسْتِفْهَامِ (١) . قَالَ أَهْلُ الْمَعَانِي: الْقِرَاءَةُ الْأُولَى أُولَى؛ لِأَنَّهُمْ عَلِمُوا أَنَّهُمُ اتَّخَذُوهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا فَلَا يَسْتَقِيمُ الِاسْتِفْهَامُ، وَتَكُونُ "أَمْ" عَلَى هَذِهِ الْقِرَاءَةِ بِمَعْنَى "بَلْ" وَمَنْ فَتَحَ الْأَلِفَ قَالَ: هُوَ عَلَى اللَّفْظِ لَا عَلَى الْمَعْنَى لِيُعَادِلَ "أَمْ" فِي قَوْلِهِ ﴿أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الْأَبْصَارُ﴾ قَالَ الْفَرَّاءُ: هَذَا مِنَ الِاسْتِفْهَامِ الَّذِي مَعْنَاهُ التَّوْبِيخُ وَالتَّعَجُّبُ "أَمْ زَاغَتْ" أَيْ، مَالَتْ "عَنْهُمُ الْأَبْصَارُ" وَمَجَازُ الْآيَةِ: مَا لَنَا لَا نَرَى هَؤُلَاءِ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا لَمْ يَدْخُلُوا مَعَنَا النَّارَ؟ أَمْ دَخَلُوهَا فَزَاغَتْ عَنْهُمْ أَبْصَارُنَا، فَلَمْ نَرَهُمْ حِينَ دَخَلُوهَا. وَقِيلَ: أَمْ هُمْ فِي النَّارِ وَلَكِنِ احْتَجَبُوا عَنْ أَبْصَارِنَا؟ وَقَالَ ابْنُ كَيْسَانَ: أَمْ كَانُوا خَيْرًا مَنَّا وَلَكِنْ نَحْنُ لَا نَعْلَمُ، فَكَانَتْ أَبْصَارُنَا تَزِيغُ عَنْهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا فَلَا نَعُدُّهُمْ شَيْئًا. ﴿إِنَّ ذَلِكَ﴾ الَّذِي ذَكَرْتُ ﴿لَحَقٌّ﴾ ثُمَّ بَيَّنَ فَقَالَ: ﴿تَخَاصُمُ أَهْلِ النَّارِ﴾ أَيْ: تُخَاصُمُ أَهْلِ النَّارِ فِي النَّارِ لَحَقٌّ. ﴿قُلْ﴾ يَا مُحَمَّدُ لِمُشْرِكِي مَكَّةَ، ﴿إِنَّمَا أَنَا مُنْذِرٌ﴾ مُخَوِّفٌ (٢) ﴿وَمَا مِنْ إِلَهٍ إِلَّا اللَّهُ الْوَاحِدُ الْقَهَّارُ﴾ .

(١) تتمة العبارة في معاني القرآن (٢ / ٤١١) فهو يجوز بالاستفهام وبطرحه. (٢) زيادة من "ب".