Tafsir al-Sadi - Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi’ - (866)

Tafsir al-SadiAbd al-Rahman al-Sadi’

(5–6) “Has the news not reached you of those who disbelieved before? They tasted the evil consequences of their conduct, and they will suffer a painful punishment. * That was because their messengers came to them with clear proofs, but they said, ‘Are human beings to guide us?’ So they disbelieved and turned away. Allah had no need of them, and Allah is Self-Sufficient, Praiseworthy.”

Having mentioned those of His magnificent and perfect attributes through which He is known and worshiped—attributes that call one to strive for His pleasure and avoid what angers Him—He relates what He did to the former nations and past generations, whose accounts continue to be recounted by later generations and reported by truthful people. When the messengers (1) came to them with the truth, they rejected them and stubbornly opposed them. Allah therefore made them taste the evil consequences of their conduct in this world and disgraced them in it, while “they will suffer a painful punishment” in [the abode of] the Hereafter.

He then mentions the reason for this punishment, saying: “That”—the exemplary punishment and evil consequences We caused to befall them—“was because their messengers came to them with clear proofs,” meaning clear signs that distinguish truth from falsehood. Yet they recoiled in aversion and behaved arrogantly toward their messengers, saying: “Are human beings to guide us?” That is, they possess no superiority over us, so why did Allah single them out rather than us? As He says in another verse: “Their messengers said to them, ‘We are only human beings like you, but Allah bestows His favor upon whomever He wills of His servants.’” They thus sought to deny Allah’s grace and favor to His prophets by objecting to their being messengers to creation, and they were too arrogant to submit to them. Consequently, they were afflicted with the worship of stones, trees, and the like.

“So they disbelieved” in Allah “and turned away” from obeying Him. “Allah had no need” of them: He pays them no heed, and their misguidance does not harm Him in the least. “And Allah is Self-Sufficient, Praiseworthy”—that is, He is the Self-Sufficient, whose self-sufficiency is perfect and absolute in every respect, and He is praiseworthy in His words, deeds, and attributes.

(1) Manuscript B reads: *rusuluhum* (“their messengers”).

﴿٥-٦﴾ ﴿أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَبَأُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ فَذَاقُوا وَبَالَ أَمْرِهِمْ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ * ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُ كَانَتْ تَأْتِيهِمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَقَالُوا أَبَشَرٌ يَهْدُونَنَا فَكَفَرُوا وَتَوَلَّوْا وَاسْتَغْنَى اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ﴾ . لما ذكر تعالى من أوصافه الكاملة العظيمة، ما به يعرف ويعبد، ويبذل الجهد في مرضاته، وتجتنب مساخطه، أخبر بما فعل بالأمم السابقين، والقرون الماضين، الذين لم تزل أنباؤهم يتحدث بها المتأخرون، ويخبر بها الصادقون، وأنهم حين جاءتهم الرسل (١) بالحق، كذبوهم وعاندوهم، فأذاقهم الله وبال أمرهم في الدنيا، وأخزاهم فيها، ﴿وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ﴾ في [الدار] الآخرة، ولهذا ذكر السبب في هذه العقوبة فقال: ﴿ذَلِكَ﴾ النكال والوبال، الذي أحللناه بهم ﴿بِأَنَّهُ كَانَتْ تَأْتِيهِمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ﴾ أي: بالآيات الواضحات، الدالة على الحق والباطل، فاشمأزوا، واستكبروا على رسلهم، ﴿فقالوا أَبَشَرٌ يَهْدُونَنَا﴾ أي: فليس لهم فضل علينا، ولأي: شيء خصهم الله دوننا، كما قال في الآية الأخرى: ﴿قَالَتْ لَهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ إِنْ نَحْنُ إِلا بَشَرٌ مِثْلُكُمْ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَمُنُّ عَلَى مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ﴾ فهم حجروا فضل الله ومنته على أنبيائه أن يكونوا رسلا للخلق، واستكبروا عن الانقياد لهم، فابتلوا بعبادة الأحجار والأشجار ونحوها ﴿فَكَفَرُوا﴾ بالله ﴿وَتَوَلَّوْا﴾ عن طاعة الله، ﴿وَاسْتَغْنَى اللَّهُ﴾ عنهم، فلا يبالي بهم، ولا يضره ضلالهم شيئًا، ﴿وَاللَّهُ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ﴾ أي: هو الغني، الذي له الغنى التام المطلق، من جميع الوجوه، الحميد في أقواله وأفعاله وأوصافه.

(١) في ب: رسلهم.