Surah Al-Ahqaf 46:27-35 - Quran Translation Commentary

(46:28) Then, why did not those help them that they took for gods besides Allah as means of nearness? But they disappeared from them. That was their slander, and what they had been forging.

(46:29) And when We turned towards you a group of Jinn³¹ listening to the Qur’an.³² When they attended it they said, ‘Listen in silence.’ When it was concluded, they turned back to their people warning.³³

(46:30) They said, ‘O our people! We have indeed heard a Book sent down after Musa:³⁴ testifying to that which was before it, guiding to the truth and to a straight path.’

(46:31) ‘O our people! Hearken to Allah’s Caller, and believe in him. He will forgive you your sins³⁵ and will rescue you from a painful chastisement.³⁶

(46:32) He who does not hearken to Allah’s Caller, is not the one to frustrate in the earth, and he will not have protectors besides Him. Such of them are in a manifest error.’

(46:33) Have they not seen that Allah, who created the heavens and earth and was not wearied with their creation,³⁷ has the power over quickening the dead? Yes indeed. He has power over all things.

(46:34) And the day those who disbelieved will be exposed to the Fire: ‘Is this not real?’ They will answer, ‘Yes, by our Lord.’ He will say, ‘Then taste the punishment for that you were disbelieving.’

(46:35) Observe patience then as the Messengers of firm resolution observed patience,³⁸ and seek not to hasten it for them. The day they see what they are being promised, it will be as if they did not tarry but an hour of the day. A deliverance.³⁹ Then, shall any be destroyed except the transgressing people?

Commentary

30. That is, the Makkans passed by the destroyed nations of old as they traveled about: `Ad, who were in Ahqaf above Hadr al-Mawt in Yemen; Thamud, whose dwellings were between their towns and Syria; Saba’, who had lived in Yemen; Madyan which they came across as they went to Ghazzah; and the Dead Sea where lay the dwellings of the people of Lut (Ibn Kathir).

31. The word “nafar” is for any number between 3 and 20 (Sayyid).

32. The ayah was revealed to impress on the Quraysh that their rejection of the Islamic faith was, by all standards of behavior, quite unreasonable, seeing that the most ardent and fanatic of unbelievers – the Jinn – had embraced Islam (Thanwi).

A few points may be noted in connection with the timing of the Prophet’s contact with the Jinn. First, the Jinn heard the Qur’an first time when the Prophet was returning from his unsuccessful trip to Ta’if. The event took place at a time when disappointment could touch the Prophet’s heart. It must have been quite consoling for him to feel that if the humans had rejected him, as in Makkah and Ta’if, the Jinn had accepted. Secondly, had the encounter taken place right at the start of the mission, the Quraysh would have had another point against him: have not the devils believed in you? Is that not enough? Thirdly, the Quraysh had already alleged that the Prophet (saws) was influenced by a Jinn. Had he told them that they visited him regularly and that they had believed in him, he would have become known in the land more as one who controlled or was controlled by the Jinn, rather than as a simple human, but a Prophet (Au.).

33. A study of the mass of reports that have been recorded in this connection, and reproduced by Ibn Jarir Tabari, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir, Sayyid Qutub and others suggests that the listening of the Qur’an by the Jinn, or, the Prophet delivering them the message, occurred several times, both in Makkah as well as in Madinah. (Khifaji has worked it out as six encounters in all: Thanwi, Ma`arif, Shabbir). Ibn Is-haq (and Ibn Hisham: Sami) have preserved a report which says that after the failed journey of Ta’if, as the Prophet was returning, he spent a night at Nakhlah. It was there that a group of Jinn of the Nasibin listened to his recitation. Without surrounding details, the report is also in Bukhari. It says,

Abu Hurayrah reported that he used to carry the Prophet’s gear for ablution and call of nature. One day when he began to follow him with his paraphernalia he asked, “Who is it?” He answered, “Myself, Abu Hurayrah.” He said, “Look for me some stones that I can cleanse myself with, but do not bring me a bone, nor dung.” So I gave him some stone which I was carrying in a corner of my cloak and placed them by his side and left. When he was over I walked along him and asked, “What about the bones and dung?” He answered, “They are food for the Jinn. A delegation of the Nasibin Jinn came to me and asked me for provision. So I prayed to Allah that they should not pass by a bone nor a piece of dung but should find their food therein.”

This of course is a report of the Madinan period but the Prophet (saws) could be referring to the event before Hijrah. Alternatively, he might have been referring to another occasion, taking place after Hijrah. But the fact remains that the first hearing by the Jinn happened a year or two before Hijrah; although there are differences in details, which could be, once again, because of more than one event being involved. In fact, adds Thanwi, one narrative says that due to the influence of the first batch of Jinn, a batch of 300 Jinn came to embrace Islam at his hand.

We have a report in the Sahihayn whose Muslim version suggests that although the Jinn heard the Prophet recite the Qur’an, he himself remained ignorant of their hearing. But, it might be noted that this is the opinion of Ibn `Abbas, and not a statement of the Prophet (saws). The report is as follows,

Ibn `Abbas said that the Prophet neither recited the Qur’an to the Jinn, nor did he see them. But rather, he started out with a few of his Companions intending the `Ukaz market. By that time a barrier had been placed between them and the devils, and news from the heavens; and flames of fire were being flung at them. So the devils returned to their kind. They asked, what’s wrong with you? They replied, a barrier has been placed between us and news from the heavens; and flames of fire are being flung at us. They said, this is none other than the indication that something new has happened; so spread out in the easts and wests of the lands and look for what is it because of which we are barred from the news of the heaven. So they set out to the easts and wests. A few of them who had started off towards Tihama, passed by him (the Prophet) while he was in Nakhla (a place between Makkah and Ta’if). They were heading towards the `Ukaz fair. He was then doing his Fajr Prayer along with his Companions. When they heard the Qur’an, they listened quietly and said, this is what has come between us and the news of the heaven. They went back to their kind and said, O our people, “We have heard a strange recitation that leads to right path. So we have believed, and we shall never associate anyone as partner with our Lord.” Thereupon, Allah revealed, “And when We turned towards you a group of Jinn ,,..”

Indeed, there is another report coming from Ibn `Abbas, as in Tabari which leads us to believe that the Prophet (saws) encountered the Jinn or gave his message to them more than once. This one says that they were seven in number, from Nasibin and that the Prophet appointed them messengers for their people.

Ibn Mas`ud once remarked, as in a report preserved by Abu Bakr ibn Shaybah, that they came down while he was reciting the Qur’an in Nakhlah .. They were nine and one of them was called Zawba`ah. It was in reference to this that Allah (swt) revealed, “And when We turned towards you a group of Jinn listening to the Qur’an. When they attended it they said, ‘Listen in silence.’ When it was concluded, they turned back to their people warning.”

Another report confirms that the Jinn had come to know of the Prophet’s appearance in Makkah itself; one of them says, as in Bukhari,

`Abdullah ibn `Umar reported, “I never heard `Umar saying about something that 'I guess it is this way,' except that it turned out to be the way he said. Once when he was in an assembly, a handsome man passed by. (That was Sawad b. Qarib: Ibn Hajr). `Umar said, ‘Either my guess is wrong or this man is still on his religion of pagan days. Or he must have been their soothsaying priest. Get me the man.’ So he was called in. He asked him making the same comment to him. The man said, ‘I have never experienced a Muslim who was received in such (evil) manner.’

(According to another report, the man was pretty upset at being referred to as a former soothsaying priest. But `Umar calmed him by saying that there was nothing to be so upset about it since, before Islam, ‘After all, we were worse off as associators in Allah’s divinity’: Au.).

`Umar said, ‘But I bind you to tell me the story.’ He said, ‘In pagan times I was indeed a soothsaying priest.’ He asked, ‘What’s the strangest of things that your Jinni ever brought you?’

He replied, ‘Once while I was in the market when one of those female Jinni came up to me and I could see that she was scared. She said, “Have you noticed the disappointment among the Jinn after they were turned back and so have instead begun to follow the camel-riders (i.e., the Arabs)?

`Umar said, ‘You spoke the truth. At one time, while I (`Umar) was sleeping near their idols a man appeared with a calf and slaughtered it. Thereat a crier cried out in a manner I never heard a crier cry out in a louder voice. It said, “O Jalih, (according to other reports: O the people of Dhar ih) a successful affair: an eloquent man says, there is no deity save Allah.” Thereat, the people jumped and I said, I shall not rest until I have known what is behind all this. Then, once again someone called, “O Jal ih, a successful affair: an eloquent man says, there is no deity save Allah.” I left the place and we had not attempted at anything before it was said, “Here is a Prophet.”’

A report preserved by Hakim and declared having the narrators of same quality as of the Sahihayn, has the fuller story of Sawad b. Qarib, according to which he was actually warned by one of his Jinni-companions of the Prophet’s advent while he was in India. Sawad would not believe, if not for three warnings during three nights. He came back to Arabia. By then the Prophet had already migrated to Madinah. He met him there and entered into faith. (The report in Hakim has, apart from Hakim’s own judgment, internal evidences of its trustworthiness from the kind of sentences that perhaps only the Jinn or soothsayers could make. The report mentions that the Prophet (saws) and his Companions were quite pleased by his entry into Islam, which confirms the reported version above, which says that Sawad was a soothsaying-priest in Jahiliyyah, whose conversion to Islam made the Prophet happy: Au.).

Thus it is possible that in that first instance the Jinn chanced upon the Prophet reciting the Qur’an, without he knowing of their presence. Then they retreated to their kind, warning them and sending back delegations after delegations. One of those that could be quoted is in Muslim. It goes as follows:

` Amir said that he asked `Alqamah about Ibn Mas`ud whether he was with the Prophet the night of the Jinn. `Alqamah said that he had asked Ibn Mas`ud whether anyone of you was with the Prophet the night of Jinn? He said, no, but we were with the Prophet (saws) another night when we missed him. We searched him in the valleys and mountain wedges. We said to ourselves, “Was he flown away by the Jinn, or kidnapped (by men)?” That was one of the worst nights that a people could have spent. As the morning came, there he was, coming from the Hira side. We said, “Messenger of Allah, we missed you and looked for you. But, not finding you we spent a night worse than any people spent their night.” He said, “There came to me a caller from the Jinn. I went with him and recited the Qur’an to them.” Then, Ibn Mas`ud added, he took us along and showed us their marks and their fires. They had asked him for provision and he told them, “Every bone on which Allah’s name has been pronounced that falls into your hand will be full of meat for you. And every piece of dung will be fodder for your cattle. Then the Prophet added, “Do not cleanse yourself using the two for they are food for your brothers.”

(Ibn Mas`ud saying “no” to the inquiry at the start tells us that the allusion by the ‘night of the Jinn’ was to the first encounter in Nakhlah when the Jinn chanced upon the Prophet: Au.).

Yet another report confirms that the Prophet (saws) had contacts with the Jinn at Makkah. Ibn Mas`ud reports, as in Ahmed:

The Prophet said, “I spent the last night reciting upon the Companions (from among the) Jinn in Hajun.” (Hajun: a place little outside Makkah).

Another report confirming the Prophet’s contacts with Jinn at Makkah is also in Ahmed. It has `Abdullah ibn Mas`ud saying,

Once while we were with the Prophet in Makkah in the company of a few Companions when he said, “Let one of your men rise up, but let not any man rise up with me who has the slightest of deceit in his heart.” So I got up and took with me a leather bottle that I did not imagine but that it had water. In any case, I went out with the Prophet (saws) until when we were at the upper end of Makkah I saw a huge crowd of dark bodies gathered together. He drew a line for me and said, “Stand here until I come back to you.” So I stood there and the Prophet went up to them. I saw them crowding upon him. He spent a good part of the night with them to come back to me only at Fajr. He asked, “Did you remain standing O Ibn Mas`ud?” I said, “Messenger of Allah. Had you not instructed me to stand until I come back to you?” He asked, “Do you have any water for ablution?” I said yes and opened the bottle and lo, it had a non-intoxicating beverage (of dates). I said, “Messenger of Allah, when I brought it I had not thought but that it will have water, but it is this beverage.” He said, “A good fruit and clean water.” He made ablution therewith. Then, as he got up to Pray, two of them said, “Messenger of Allah, we wish that you give us assurance with regard to the Prayer.” So the Prophet made them line up behind him and prayed. When they had left, I asked, “Who were they, Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Those were Jinn of Nasibin. They had come to me disputing over a few issues that had occurred between them. They asked me for provision and I provided them.” I asked, “Did you have something to provide them with, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “I provided them with the refuse (of others). They will not find dung but will find it barley and not a bone but enveloped (with meat).” Ibn Mas`ud added, “It was at that point that the Prophet instructed against cleansing oneself with dung or bones.”

(Nasibin was a place near Diyar Bakr in Syria, while Nakhlah at a night’s distance from Makkah. And, it is reported that the Prophet (saws) hard recited to them Surah al-Rahman: Alusi).

Other versions supply some other information such as, when the Prophet returned, he asked whether Ibn Mas`ud had crossed the line he had drawn. When told no, he said that he could not guarantee they would have ever met again until the Day of Judgment, had Ibn Mas`ud crossed the line. Ibn Mas`ud also reported that he saw them as eagles. Perhaps on another occasion they looked like dark palm trees, which started to recede like receding dark patches of the night before dawn, with merely a few remaining with him by dawn. On one occasion they were many and covered the Prophet wholly, to the extent that Ibn Mas`ud thought he should rather seek the help of the people to rescue the Prophet but changed his mind when he saw that the Prophet was using his walking stick to push them back and was saying, “Sit down.” The Prophet had then remarked, “Had you come out of the line, I could not have guaranteed that one of them would have snatched you away.” Ibn Mas`ud also heard plenty of noises and when inquired the Prophet, was told that there was a dispute over a murder between them which he had resolved.

In connection with the Jinn’s encounters with humans, especially as snakes, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir and others present several stories. Some involve a few of those who received the Qur’an directly from the Prophet. Ibrahim Nakha`i, for instance, reported that while he was traveling with a few students of Ibn Mas`ud (who was then not in their company) for Hajj, they came across a (white) dead snake in a field (filled with dead snakes). This one exhumed the perfume of misk. Ibrahim told his companions to proceed while he himself went up to the perfuming snake, and after some curious examination, wrapped it in a piece of cloth and buried it. Then he rejoined his colleagues. At nightfall two women showed up and asked, “Which of you buried `Amr?” They said they had buried no one that day. She said, “Sure one of you did. We are referring to the snake you buried.” Then they added that he was the last of those Jinns that had taken the Qur’an directly from the Prophet (saws). There was a battle between the believing and unbelieving Jinn, in which `Amr was killed. When it was reported to `Uthman ibn `Affan (according to other reports to `Umar ibn al-Khattab), he remarked, “If you saw this, and are true, then you are saying something strange, but if you have lied, then the lie will be on you.”

There are many stories in Tafsir works involving encounters with believing Jinn, but neither the strength of the above report could be established, nor of others. Nonetheless there are Sahih reports which say that the Prophet prohibited that snakes found in Madinan homes be killed. They might be given three day’s notice. If the snake would not leave, then it was not Jinn but the Devil, and so could be killed. The Jinn used to visit Madinah in the form of snakes to learn Islam. (Scholars say that the instructions were for the times when the Prophet was alive). There is a hadith in Muslim according to which a visitor found a snake in Abu Sa`id al-Khudri’s house. He got up to kill it but Abu Sa`id prevented him saying that during the time of the Prophet, a young man killed one such snake found in his house, but himself died immediately (Au.).

34. To the question as to why did those Jinn ignore to mention the revelation given to `Isa, one answer is that they were Jewish Jinn, and the other is that because the scriptures given to `Isa were only complimentary to the main revelation, viz., Torah revealed to Musa (Zamakhshari, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir and others). Hence we notice that when the Prophet (saws) was taken to Waraqah b. Nawfal, at the start of the revelations, he remarked (although a Christian: Au.), “this is the same message that had been sent down to Musa (Ibn Kathir). However, adds Alusi, trustworthy sources do not say anything about the Jinn having been Jewish.

35. This translation follows the understanding of some scholars, as stated by Thanwi, who treated the textual “min” as “zaidah.” However, others have read it as “tab`idiyyah” in which case the meaning would be: “He will forgive some of the sins;” i.e., not all sins; and the reason is that entry into Islam guarantees forgiveness of sins pertaining to Allah’s rights, but not the rights of the humans, (such as usurpation of another’s property). Their rights must be restored (Zamakhshari, Thanwi).

36. Since this ayah has not mentioned Paradise as the reward for the believing Jinn, but rather, only promises rescue from the Fire, some scholars have thought that perhaps Paradise is for humans alone and that the Jinn will not enter it. Notable among such scholars were Hasan (al-Busri) and Imam Abu Hanifah. But Imam Shafe`i, Malik and Ibn Abi Layla (as also Nawawi: Alusi), held the opinion that they too will enter Paradise. A few texts are cited in support. One is (55: 56),

“Neither men nor Jinn would have touched them.”

And, (55: 74),

“And whoever feared standing before his Lord shall have two gardens; which of your Lord’s blessings then will you two deny?” (Meaning Jinn and mankind).

Qushayri however stated that this is one of those issues about which nothing has been told us in definite terms (Qurtubi).

As for Abu Hanifa’s position, the fact is that in view of non-availability of a clear text, he refused to take any stand, this way or that, because such issues can only be categorically decided by the main sources. This has been stated by Nasafi in his “Taysir” (Alusi, Thanwi).

Thanwi adds that because of the texts quoted above, and another in Surah al-An’am (6: 132), which comes after the mention of Jinn and mankind, and which says,

“For each are ranks according to their deeds,” the majority have held opinion that the Jinn will be in Paradise.

On the other hand, a figure like `Umar ibn `Abdul `Aziz said that the Jinn will be placed at the outskirts of Paradise.

On a different front, Qushayri has an interesting note in his Tafsir. With reference to the words “Respond to the caller of Allah, he writes what sounds more appealing in Arabic,

It is said that there are two kinds of responses: responding to Allah and responding to the caller. Now, response to the caller is through the presence of the means – that is, the Messenger, on whom be peace. The response to Allah should be open when the message comes from the envoy, and should be in secret when the cognizance comes from the meanings that dawns upon the heart. Thus, there is a respondent who responds with his body, another with his heart, a third with his soul and another in secret. As for he who hesitated at the caller calling him, hastening not with a response, is put off from what he was being addressed.

37. “This is to emphatically deny the idea of fatigue and weariness to God implied in the Bible. Cf. the OT: ‘And on the seventh day God ended the work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his works which God created and made (Gen. 2: 2,3). ‘For in six days the Lord made heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day.’ (20: 11) And the NT: ‘And God did rest the seventh day from all his works’ (He. 4: 4).” - Majid.

The idea of rest on the seventh day is extended to rest in the 'seventh year.' Western universities allow their senior teaching staff a sabbatical (every seventh year) off for rest to (Au.).

38. Who were the Messengers of firm resolution? Some say that they were Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, `Isa and our own Prophet; others name others, some others mention larger numbers, while a few say that every Messenger was of firm resolution (Ibn Jarir, Zamakhshari, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir and others). Ibn Marduwayh has a report according to which Jabir b. `Abdullah held the opinion that there were 313 Messengers of firm resolution (Shawkani).

39. One of the connotations is that the allusion is to the Qur’an which is a nothing but deliverance (of a message) – Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir and others.