38:3 Saad (The letter Saad)

فتوعدهم بإهلاك القرون الماضية المكذبة بالرسل، وأنهم حين جاءهم الهلاك، نادوا واستغاثوا في صرف العذاب عنهم ولكن { وَلَاتَ حِينَ مَنَاصٍ } أى: وليس الوقت، وقت خلاص مما وقعوا فيه، ولا فرج لما أصابهم، فَلْيَحْذَرْ هؤلاء أن يدوموا على عزتهم وشقاقهم، فيصيبهم ما أصابهم.

فقال تعالى "كم أهلكنا من قبلهم من قرن " أي من أمة مكذبة "فنادوا" أي حين جاءهم العذاب استغاثوا وجأروا إلى الله تعالى وليس ذلك بمجد عنهم شيئا كما قال عز وجل "فلما أحسوا بأسنا إذا هم منها يركضون" أي يهربون "لا تركضوا وارجعوا إلى ما أترفتم فيه ومساكنكم لعلكم تسألون" قال أبو داود الطيالسي حدثنا شعبة عن أبي إسحاق التميمي قال: سألت ابن عباس رضي الله تعالى عنهما عن قول الله تبارك وتعالى فنادوا "ولات حين مناص " قال ليس بحين نداء ولا نزو ولا فرار وقال علي بن أبي طلحة عن ابن عباس رضي الله تعالى عنهما ليس بحين مغاث وقال شبيب بن بشر عن عكرمة عن ابن عباس نادوا النداء حين لا ينفعهم وأنشد تذكر ليلى لات حين تذكر وقال محمد بن كعب في قوله تعالى "فنادوا ولات حين مناص " يقول نادوا بالتوحيد حين تولت الدنيا عنهم واستناصوا للتوبة حيت تولت الدنيا عنهم وقال قتادة لما رأوا العذاب أرادوا التوبة في غير حين النداء وقال مجاهد "فنادوا ولات حين مناص " ليس بحين فرار ولا إجابة وقد روي نحو هذا عن عكرمة وسعيد بن جبير وأبي مالك والضحاك وزيد بن أسلم والحسن وقتادة وعن مالك عن زيد بن أسلم "ولات حين مناص " ولا نداء في غير حين النداء وهذه الكلمة وهي لات هي لا التي للنفى زيدت معها التاء كما تزاد في ثم فيقولون ثمت ورب فيقولون ربت وهى مفصولة والوقف عليها ومنهم من حكى عن المصحف الإمام فيما ذكره ابن جرير أنها متصلة بحين ولا تحين مناص والمشهور الأول ثم قرأ الجمهور بنصب حين تقديره وليس الحين حين مناص ومنهم من جوز النصب بها وأنشد تذكر حب ليلى لات حينا واأضحى الشيب قد قطع القرينا ومنهم من جرز الجر بها وأنشد: طلبوا صلحنا ولات أوان فأجبنا أن ليس حين بقاء وأنشد بعضهم أيضا: ولات ساعة مندم بخفض الساعة وأهل اللغة يقولون النوص التأخر والبوص التقدم ولهذا قال تبارك وتعالى "ولات حين مناص" أي ليس الحين حين فرار ولا ذهاب والله سبحانه وتعالى الموفق للصواب.

Which was revealed in Makkah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

وَالْقُرْءَانِ ذِى الذِّكْرِ

(By the Qur'an full of reminding.) means, by the Qur'an which includes all that is in it as a reminder and a benefit to people in this life and the Hereafter. Ad-Dahhak said that the Ayah,

ذِى الذِّكْرِ

(full of reminding.) is like the Ayah,

لَقَدْ أَنزَلْنَآ إِلَيْكُمْ كِتَـباً فِيهِ ذِكْرُكُمْ

(Indeed, We have sent down for you (O mankind) a Book in which there is Dhikrukum) (21:10). i.e., your reminder. This was also the view of Qatadah and of Ibn Jarir. Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Isma`il bin Abi Khalid, Ibn `Uyaynah, Abu Husayn, Abu Salih and As-Suddi said:

ذِى الذِّكْرِ

(full of reminding.) "Full of honor," i.e., of high standing. There is no contradiction between the two views, because it is a noble Book which includes reminders and leaves no excuse and brings warnings. The reason for this oath is to be found in the Ayah:

إِن كُلٌّ إِلاَّ كَذَّبَ الرٌّسُلَ فَحَقَّ عِقَابِ

(Not one of them but denied the Messengers; therefore My torment was justified.) (38:14). Qatadah said, "The reason for it is to be found in the Ayah:

بَلِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ فِى عِزَّةٍ وَشِقَاقٍ

(Nay, those who disbelieve are in false pride and opposition)." This was the view favored by Ibn Jarir.

بَلِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ فِى عِزَّةٍ وَشِقَاقٍ

(Nay, those who disbelieve are in false pride and opposition.) means, in this Qur'an there is a reminder for those who will be reminded and a lesson for those who will learn a lesson, but the disbelievers will not benefit from it because they

فِى عِزَّةٍ

(are in false pride) meaning, arrogance and tribalism,

وَشِقَاقٍ

(and opposition.) means, they are stubbornly opposed to it and go against it. Then Allah scares them with news of how the nations who came before them were destroyed because of their opposition to the Messengers and their disbelief in the Scriptures that were revealed from heaven. Allah says:

كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّن قَرْنٍ

(How many a generation have We destroyed before them!) meaning, disbelieving nations.

فَنَادَوْاْ

(And they cried out) means, when the punishment came to them, they called for help and cried out to Allah, but that did not save them at all. This is like the Ayat:

فَلَمَّآ أَحَسُّواْ بَأْسَنَآ إِذَا هُمْ مِّنْهَا يَرْكُضُونَ - لاَ تَرْكُضُواْ وَارْجِعُواْ إِلَى مَآ أُتْرِفْتُمْ فِيهِ وَمَسَـكِنِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُسْأَلُونَ

(Then, when they perceived (saw) Our torment, behold, they (tried to) flee from it. Flee not, but return to that wherein you lived a luxurious life, and to your homes, in order that you may be questioned.) (21:12-13). Abu Dawud At-Tayalisi recorded that At-Tamimi said, "I asked Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, about the Ayah:

فَنَادَواْ وَّلاَتَ حِينَ مَنَاصٍ

(And they cried out when there was no longer time for escape.) He said that it was not the time for them to call or flee or escape. Muhammad bin Ka`b said, concerning the Ayah:

فَنَادَواْ وَّلاَتَ حِينَ مَنَاصٍ

(And they cried out when there was no longer time for escape.) "They called for Tawhid when their lives were over, and they resorted to repentance when their lives were over." Qatadah said, "When they saw the punishment, they wanted to repent when there was no longer time to call out." Mujahid said:

فَنَادَواْ وَّلاَتَ حِينَ مَنَاصٍ

(And they cried out when there was no longer time for escape.) "It was not the time to flee or escape." Allah says:

وَّلاَتَ حِينَ مَنَاصٍ

(when there was no longer time for escape.) meaning, there was no time to escape or run away; and Allah knows best.

How many — in other words many — a generation a community of past communities We have destroyed before them and they cried out when the chastisement was sent down on them when it was no longer the time for escape that is to say the time was not one for fleeing the suffixed tā’ of wa-lāta is extra; the sentence is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the subject of the verb nādaw ‘they cried out’ in other words they called for help but the situation was such that there could be no escape or deliverance; but still the Meccan disbelievers have not taken heed from their example.

Commentary

The background of the revelation

The background of the revelation of the initial verses of this Surah was that Abu Talib, the uncle of the Holy Prophet ﷺ was doing his best as his guardian, despite that he had not yet embraced Islam. When he fell sick, the chiefs of the tribe of Quraish held a consultative meeting in which Abu Jahl, ` As Ibn Wa'il, Aswad Ibn Muttalib, Aswad Ibn ` Abd Yaghuth and several other chiefs participated. They discussed the situation they faced. Abu Talib was sick. If he were to pass away and they were to take some strong action against the Holy Prophet ﷺ to restrain his activities in favor of promoting his new faith, the people of Arabia will throw taunts at them and say, 'Here are these people who could do nothing against him while his uncle Abu Talib was alive while, now when he has died, they have stood up against him as their target. So, they came to the conclusion that they should decide this thing about Muhammad ﷺ while Abu Talib was still alive, so that he would stop speaking ill about their objects of worship.

Accordingly, these people came to Abu Talib and said to him that his nephew spoke ill of their objects of worship. They appealed to his sense of justice, and asked him to tell his nephew that he was free to worship any god he liked, but say nothing against their objects of worship. The truth of the matter was that the Holy Prophet ﷺ himself did not say about these idols anything more than that they were insensate and lifeless. They were not their creators, nor their sustainers, and that nothing that could benefit or harm them was in their control. Abu Talib asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ to come in the meeting. To him, he said, 'My dear nephew, these people are complaining about you that you speak ill of their objects of worship. Leave them on their faith and, on your part, you keep worshiping your God.' People from the Quraish also kept making their comments following it.

Finally, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, 'My dear uncle, should I not be inviting them to something that is better for them?' Abu Talib said, 'What thing is that?' He said, 'I want them to say a particular kalimah (statement) by virtue of which the whole Arabia will be at their feet, and they will become masters of the non-Arab lands beyond it.' Thereupon, Abu Jahl said, 'Tell us. What that kalimah is? By your father, not simply one kalimah, we are ready to say ten of them.' To this he replied, 'Just say: لا إله إلا اللہ (la ilaha il-lal-lah: There is no god (worthy of worship) but Allah). Hearing this, all of them rose to leave saying, 'Are we supposed to leave all objects of worship we have, and take to just one? This is something very strange.' It was on this occasion that these verses of Surah Sad were revealed. (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, pp. 27, 28 v. 4)