7. Al-A'raaf

The Heights · Meccan · 206 ayahs

سُورَةُ الأَعۡرَافِ

Reading Asbab al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

Ayahs 171–180 of 206

۞ وَإِذْ نَتَقْنَا ٱلْجَبَلَ فَوْقَهُمْ كَأَنَّهُۥ ظُلَّةٌۭ وَظَنُّوٓا۟ أَنَّهُۥ وَاقِعٌۢ بِهِمْ خُذُوا۟ مَآ ءَاتَيْنَٰكُم بِقُوَّةٍۢ وَٱذْكُرُوا۟ مَا فِيهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ

And [mention] when We raised the mountain above them as if it was a dark cloud and they were certain that it would fall upon them, [and Allah said], "Take what We have given you with determination and remember what is in it that you might fear Allah."

Explained together with ayah 168

Al-A'raaf 7:171Listen in Qur'an →

172

وَإِذْ أَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِنۢ بَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ مِن ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَأَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ ۖ قَالُوا۟ بَلَىٰ ۛ شَهِدْنَآ ۛ أَن تَقُولُوا۟ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ إِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هَٰذَا غَٰفِلِينَ

And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam - from their loins - their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes, we have testified." [This] - lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, "Indeed, we were of this unaware."

When your Lord took from the children of Adam, from their loins, their offspring and made them bear witness concerning themselves. " Am I not your Lord? " They said, " Yes indeed. " In terms of understanding in the tongue of the Reality, this verse has another intimation and another tasting. It alludes to the beginning of the states of the friends and the binding of the compact and covenant of friendship with them on the first day in the era of the Beginningless, when the Real was present and the Reality was there. How blessed were Laylā and those nights when we were meeting with Laylā! What a fine day was the day of laying the foundation of friendship! What an exalted time was the time of making the compact of friendship! Those who desired on the first day will never forget their desire. Those who yearned at the time of union with the Friend know the crown of life and the kiblah of the days. How blessed was the time of Your covenant, without which my heart would have no place for ardor! The command came, " O Master, remind them of the days of God [14:5]. These servants of Ours have forgotten Our covenant and have busied themselves with others. Remind them of the day when their pure spirits made the covenant of friendship with Us, and We were anointing their yearning eyes with this collyrium: 'Am I not your Lord?' " O indigent man! Remember the day when the spirits and the very persons of the friends were drinking the wine of passion for Me from the cup of love in the assembly of intimacy. The proxi- mate angels of the Higher Plenum were saying, 'These indeed are a people with high aspiration! As for us, we have never tasted this wine, nor have we found a scent of it. But the roaring and shouting of these beggars has risen to Capella: " Is there any more? " [50:30].' " Of that wine not forbidden by my religion my lips will not stay dry till I'm back in nonexistence. One day that paragon of the world and master of the children of Adam was saying, " This is a moun- tain that loves me and that I love.

Al-A'raaf 7:172Listen in Qur'an →

173

أَوْ تَقُولُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَآ أَشْرَكَ ءَابَآؤُنَا مِن قَبْلُ وَكُنَّا ذُرِّيَّةًۭ مِّنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ ۖ أَفَتُهْلِكُنَا بِمَا فَعَلَ ٱلْمُبْطِلُونَ

Or [lest] you say, "It was only that our fathers associated [others in worship] with Allah before, and we were but descendants after them. Then would You destroy us for what the falsifiers have done?"

Explained together with ayah 172

Al-A'raaf 7:173Listen in Qur'an →

174

وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُفَصِّلُ ٱلْءَايَٰتِ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ

And thus do We [explain in] detail the verses, and perhaps they will return.

Explained together with ayah 172

Al-A'raaf 7:174Listen in Qur'an →

175

وَٱتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ ٱلَّذِىٓ ءَاتَيْنَٰهُ ءَايَٰتِنَا فَٱنسَلَخَ مِنْهَا فَأَتْبَعَهُ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ فَكَانَ مِنَ ٱلْغَاوِينَ

And recite to them, [O Muhammad], the news of him to whom we gave [knowledge of] Our signs, but he detached himself from them; so Satan pursued him, and he became of the deviators.

(Recite unto them the tale of him to whom We gave Our revelations, but he sloughed them off�) [7:175]. Ibn Mas'ud said: �This verse was revealed about Bal'am ibn Abrah, one of the Children of Israel�, while Ibn 'Abbas and other commentators of the Qur'an said this relates to Bal'am ibn Ba'ura. Said al-Walibi: �He was a man from the city of al-Jabbarin and his name was Bal'am. This man knew Allah's greatest name. When Moses, peace be upon him, went to this city, his cousins and people went to see Bal'am and said to him: 'Moses is a tough man and he has a huge army. He will definitely destroy us if he ever conquers us. Pray to Allah that he drives Moses and those with him away from us'. The man said: 'I will lose both this world and the next if I were to pray to Allah to drive away Moses and those with him'. But they kept insisting until he prayed against Moses and those with him. As a result, [Allah] stripped him of what he had. Hence Allah's saying (but he sloughed them off�)�. Said 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As and Zayd ibn Aslam: �This verse was revealed about Umayyah ibn Abi al-Salt al-Thaqafi who had studied the Scriptures and knew that Allah was about to send a messenger at around that time, hoping to be himself that messenger. When Allah, exalted is He, sent Muhammad, Allah bless him and give him peace, he envied him resentfully and disbelieved in him�. Ibn 'Abbas said, according to the report of 'Ikrimah: �This verse is about a man who was given three prayers which were answered. This man had a wife called al-Basus who loved him, and from her he had children. One day she said to him: 'Let one of those answered prayers of yours be for me'. He said: 'One is for you, what do you wish for?' She said: 'Ask Allah to make me the most beautiful woman among the Children of Israel'. [He did and] when she knew that there was no one like her, she shunned him and wanted something else. The man prayed to Allah to make her a barking dog. And so, two prayers were wasted. Then, her children came to him and said: 'We cannot stand this, our mother has become a barking dog and people are insulting us because of her. Pray that Allah restores her to her initial state'. The man prayed and she became as she was before. But all three answered prayers were now wasted. This is al-Basus whose ill-omen became a proverb. People say: He/she is more ill-omened than al-Basus�.

Al-A'raaf 7:175Listen in Qur'an →

176

وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَرَفَعْنَٰهُ بِهَا وَلَٰكِنَّهُۥٓ أَخْلَدَ إِلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱتَّبَعَ هَوَىٰهُ ۚ فَمَثَلُهُۥ كَمَثَلِ ٱلْكَلْبِ إِن تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْهِ يَلْهَثْ أَوْ تَتْرُكْهُ يَلْهَث ۚ ذَّٰلِكَ مَثَلُ ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا ۚ فَٱقْصُصِ ٱلْقَصَصَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

And if We had willed, we could have elevated him thereby, but he adhered [instead] to the earth and followed his own desire. So his example is like that of the dog: if you chase him, he pants, or if you leave him, he [still] pants. That is the example of the people who denied Our signs. So relate the stories that perhaps they will give thought.

Explained together with ayah 175

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177

سَآءَ مَثَلًا ٱلْقَوْمُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا وَأَنفُسَهُمْ كَانُوا۟ يَظْلِمُونَ

How evil an example [is that of] the people who denied Our signs and used to wrong themselves.

Explained together with ayah 175

Al-A'raaf 7:177Listen in Qur'an →

178

مَن يَهْدِ ٱللَّهُ فَهُوَ ٱلْمُهْتَدِى ۖ وَمَن يُضْلِلْ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْخَٰسِرُونَ

Whoever Allah guides - he is the [rightly] guided; and whoever He sends astray - it is those who are the losers.

Explained together with ayah 175

Al-A'raaf 7:178Listen in Qur'an →

179

وَلَقَدْ ذَرَأْنَا لِجَهَنَّمَ كَثِيرًۭا مِّنَ ٱلْجِنِّ وَٱلْإِنسِ ۖ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌۭ لَّا يَفْقَهُونَ بِهَا وَلَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌۭ لَّا يُبْصِرُونَ بِهَا وَلَهُمْ ءَاذَانٌۭ لَّا يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَآ ۚ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ كَٱلْأَنْعَٰمِ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ ۚ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْغَٰفِلُونَ

And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind. They have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like livestock; rather, they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless.

Explained together with ayah 175

Al-A'raaf 7:179Listen in Qur'an →

180

وَلِلَّهِ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ فَٱدْعُوهُ بِهَا ۖ وَذَرُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِىٓ أَسْمَٰٓئِهِۦ ۚ سَيُجْزَوْنَ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ

And to Allah belong the best names, so invoke Him by them. And leave [the company of] those who practice deviation concerning His names. They will be recompensed for what they have been doing.

And to God belong the most beautiful names, so supplicate Him by them, and leave those who deviate concerning His names. God has names, and those names are His attributes. By those names He is renowned, praised, and recognized. They are names full of blessing, sweet to the hearts. They are a pure arrangement and pure words from the pure Lord, a worthy arrangement and beautiful words from the one Lord, the ornament of the tongue, the lamp of the spirit, and the everlasting laudation. He Himself says, " 'My light is My guidance, 'No god but God' is My word, and I am He': The servant who gains access gains it with My light, when he finds the way he finds it with My lamp-the lamp of the Sunnah, the lamp of recognition, the lamp of love. I light the lamp of the Sunnah in their hearts, I light the lamp of recognition in their secret cores, and I light the lamp of love in their spirits. " Happy is the servant who walks among these three lamps! Who is more exalted than he in whose heart the greatest light is shining and who sees the Friend face-to-face in his heart? Then He said that " No god but God " is My word and My attribute. " God " is My name, and I am the name that I am, for My name is requiter and lovingly kind, the God of all, the keeper of the world, the giver of turns to the world's folk. The Pir of the Tariqah has a few words appropriate to this place. He said, " O worthy of Your own laudation, O grateful for Your own bestowal, O You who show Your own trial as sweet! In myself I am incapable of lauding You, in my intellect I am incapable of recognizing Your favor, in my ability I am incapable of what is worthy of You. O generous one! I am captive to the pain for which You are the remedy. I am slave of that laudation of which You are worthy. What do I know of You? You know. You are what You Yourself have said, and what You Yourself have said, You are that. " This is the same as MuṣṬafā said: " I do not number Thy laudations-Thou art as Thou hast lauded Thyself.

Al-A'raaf 7:180Listen in Qur'an →

Commentary: Asbab al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi. Qur'an text and translation via AlQuran Cloud.