among them, ‘O so-and-so!’ The man will ask, ‘What do you want?’ He will say, ‘Do you remember a man who gave you a drink on such-and-such a day?’ He will ask, ‘Are you indeed that man?’ He will reply, ‘Yes.’ So he will intercede for him, and his intercession concerning him will be accepted.” He said: “Then a man from the people of Paradise will pass by them and say, ‘O so-and-so!’ He will ask, ‘What do you want?’ He will say, ‘Do you remember a man who gave you water for ablution on such-and-such a day?’ He will ask, ‘Are you indeed that man?’ He will reply, ‘Yes.’ So he will intercede for him, and his intercession concerning him will be accepted.” (1)

“So what is the matter with them that they are turning away from the Reminder, as though they were startled donkeys fleeing from a lion? Rather, every one of them wishes to be given open scrolls.” (49–52)

“So what is the matter with them that they are turning away from the Reminder?” That is, from the admonitions of the Quran. “Turning away” is in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier. It has also been said that the meaning is: they have become those who turn away. “As though they were donkeys,” the plural of donkey, “startled”: the people of Medina and Syria recited it with the fāʾ vowelled with fatḥah, in which case it means driven away and frightened; the rest recited it with the fāʾ vowelled with kasrah, in which case it means fleeing. It is said that nafar and istanafar have one meaning, just as it is said ʿajiba and istaʿjaba.

“Fleeing from a lion.” Mujahid, Qatadah, and al-Dahhak said: “Qaswarah means archers; it has no singular form derived from its own wording.” This is also the narration of ʿAtaʾ from Ibn ʿAbbas. Saʿid ibn Jubayr said: “They are hunters,” and this is the narration of ʿAtiyyah from Ibn ʿAbbas.

Zayd ibn Aslam said: “They are strong men.” Among the Arabs, every large and powerful man is called qaswar or qaswarah. Abu al-Mutawakkil reported that it means the clamor and voices of people. ʿIkrimah narrated from Ibn ʿAbbas that it means the ropes of hunters.

Abu Hurayrah said: “It is the lion.” This was also the view of ʿAtaʾ and al-Kalbi, for when wild donkeys see a lion, they flee. Likewise, when these polytheists heard the Prophet ﷺ reciting the Quran, they fled from it.

ʿIkrimah said: “It is the darkness of night.” The blackness of the first part of the night is called qaswarah. “Rather, every one of them wishes to be given open scrolls.” The exegetes said: