Commentary
And when forgiveness of the oppressor who does not return from his oppression is not a deficiency, because there is no wisdom in it, He expressed it with the greatest name in a present participle saying: ﴿And Allah﴾ meaning, while the one characterized by all attributes of perfection ﴿judges with truth﴾ meaning the established truth which cannot be negated at all. If He were to judge regarding one whom He knows is not worthy of intercession by accepting intercession, He would negate the truth and affirm falsehood, thus contradicting that perfection. ﴿And those who invoke﴾ meaning the oppressors - according to the reading of the majority, and
I am the leader of the people on the Day of Resurrection. Do you know why that is? Allah will gather the first and the last on one plain, and the observer will see them, and the caller will hear them. The sun will draw near to them, and the people will reach such distress and anguish that they cannot bear it or endure it. The people will say: Do you not see what you are in and what has befallen you? Do you not look to who can intercede for you with your Lord? Some people will say to each other: Your father is Adam. He mentioned their question to the greatest of the Prophets, and each one of them refers to the one after him until Jesus, peace be upon him, says: Go to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. When the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, is approached, he says: I am the one for it. He will go and prostrate beneath the Throne." - This is narrated from others than Abu Huraira from Anas and others among the companions, may Allah be pleased with them. However, I have not seen in it the explicit mention of the general intercession after he, blessings and peace be upon him, raises his head from prostration except in what Al-Bukhari narrated in the chapter of "Who asks people to increase" from his Sahih regarding Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "The sun will draw near on the Day of Resurrection until the sweat reaches half of the ear. While they are in that state, they will seek help from Adam, then from Moses, then from Muhammad, and he will intercede to judge between the creation. He will walk until he takes hold of the door handle, and on that day Allah will raise him to a praised station that all the people of the gathering will praise him." Similarly, in what Abu Ya'la narrated in his Musnad, he said: Amr ibn Al-Dahhak ibn Mukhlad narrated to us, Abu Asim Al-Dahhak ibn Mukhlad narrated to us, Abu Rafi' Ismail ibn Rafi' from Muhammad ibn Ziyad from Muhammad ibn Ka'b Al-Qurazi from a man among the Ansar from Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, told us while he was with a group of his companions: 'When Allah, blessed and exalted, completed the creation of the heavens and the earth, He created the image and mentioned the blowing in it for death, then for resurrection, then He mentioned the gathering.'" - This is a very long hadith until he said: "Then they will stand in one position for a duration of seventy years, during which they will not be looked upon nor judged among them. They will cry until the tears run out, then they will weep blood and sweat until it reaches such a level that it will overwhelm them or reach their chins. They will cry out and say: Who can intercede for us with our Lord to judge between us? They will say: Who is more deserving of that than your father Adam, whom Allah created with His own hands, breathed into him from His spirit, and spoke to him before? So you will come to Adam and ask him for that, but he will refuse and say: I am not the one for that. Then they will approach the Prophets, one by one, and each time they come to a Prophet, he will refuse them. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: Until you come to me, then I will go until I reach the examination and fall in prostration." (p-36) Abu Huraira said: O Messenger of Allah! What is the examination? He said: In front of the Throne - until Allah sends to me an angel who will take me by the arm and raise me up and say to me: O Muhammad! I will say: Yes, O Lord! He will say: What is your concern? - and He knows best. I will say: O Lord, You promised me, so intercede for me among Your creation to judge between them. He will say: I have interceded for you. I will come to you and judge between you. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: Then I will return and stand with the people. While we are standing, we will hear a sound from the heavens that is intense, and the people of the heavens will descend to the earth like those on the earth from the jinn and humans, until when they draw near to the earth, the earth will shine with their light. They took their positions, and we said to them: Is our Lord coming? They said: No, He is coming. Then the people of the second heaven will descend like those who descended from the angels, and like the jinn and humans, until when they draw near to the earth, the earth will shine with their light. They took their positions, and we said to them: Is our Lord coming? They said: No, He is coming. Then they will descend in proportion to that until the Almighty, blessed and exalted, descends in clouds of darkness, and the angels will carry His Throne that day, eight of them, and on that day He will be on four. - Until he said: Then Allah will place His Throne wherever He wills on His earth, then He will call out with His voice and say: O assembly of jinn and humans! I have listened to you from the day of your creation until this day. I hear your words and see your deeds, so listen to me, for indeed they are your deeds (p-38) and your records will be read to you. Whoever finds good, let him praise Allah, and whoever finds other than that, let him blame no one but himself. Then Allah will command Hellfire, and a neck will emerge from it, bright and dark. Then Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, will say: "Did I not enjoin upon you, O children of Adam, that you should not worship Satan? Indeed, he is a manifest enemy to you." [Ya-Sin: 60] "And that you should worship Me; this is a straight path." [Ya-Sin: 61] "And indeed, he has led astray many of you. Did you not understand?" [Ya-Sin: 62] "This is Hell, which you were promised." [Ya-Sin: 63] - Or do you deny it? - Abu Asim doubted.
And distinguish yourselves today, O criminals. [Yasin: 59] So the Fire is named, and the nations kneel. You see every nation kneeling, each nation is called to its book, and He will judge between His creation.
- He mentioned it while it is very long. Then he mentioned the Sirat and some of the specific intercessions for the people of Paradise. He mentioned their entering Paradise, then that they intercede for some of the people of the Fire until he said: 'Then Allah will permit intercession, and there will not remain a prophet or martyr except that he will be interceded for.'
Until he said: "Then Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will say: I remain, and I am the Most Merciful of the merciful. So Allah will put His hand into Hell and bring out from it those whom none can count but Him." And Ibn Hibban narrated in his Sahih - Al-Mundhiri said: I do not know of any criticism in its chain - from Hudhayfah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "On the Day of Resurrection, Ibrahim, peace be upon him, will say: O my Lord! And the Lord, glorified and exalted is He, will say: Here I am! Ibrahim will say: O my Lord, my children have been burned! And Allah will say: Bring out from the fire whoever has in his heart a mustard seed or a barley seed of faith." And Al-Hakim narrated and said: It is authentic according to the condition of Muslim and Ahmad ibn Mani: "A man will meet his father on the Day of Resurrection and will say: O my father! What kind of son was I to you? He will say: The best of sons. He will say: Are you obedient to me today? He will say: Yes. He will say: Take hold of my garment. So he takes hold of his garment, then he proceeds until he comes to Allah while He is presenting some of the creation. He will say: O My servant! Enter from whichever of the gates of Paradise you wish. He will say: O my Lord, and my father is with me, for You have promised me that You would not disgrace me. So Allah will turn away from him and will judge between the creation and present them, then He will look at him and say: O son of Adam, enter from whichever of the gates of Paradise you wish. He will say: O my Lord, and my father is with me, for You have promised me that You would not disgrace me. He said: So Allah will transform his father into a hyena - or a jackal - Abu Ja'far, one of the narrators of Ibn Mani, doubted. "So he takes hold of its nose and says: This is your father. He will say: He is not my father, and he will fall into the fire." And it is in Al-Bukhari in the Hadith of the Prophets and the interpretation of the poets with the wording: "Ibrahim, peace be upon him, will meet his father Azar on the Day of Resurrection, and there will be dust and grime on Azar's face. Ibrahim, peace be upon him, will say to him: Did I not tell you: Do not disobey me? He will say to him: Today I will not disobey you. Ibrahim will say: O my Lord, You have promised me that You would not disgrace me on the Day they are resurrected, so what disgrace is more disgraceful than my distant father? Allah, the Exalted, will say: Indeed, I have forbidden Paradise to the disbelievers. Then it will be said to Ibrahim, peace be upon him: Look beneath your feet. He will look and see a male hyena - which is the male of the hyenas - covered in filth, and he will be taken by his neck and thrown into the fire." And Abu Ya'la Al-Muwasili and Al-Hakim narrated and said: It is authentic according to the condition of the two Shaykhs from Abu Sa'id, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "A man will take his father's hand on the Day of Resurrection, and the fire will cut it off while he intends to enter him into Paradise. It will be announced that no polytheist will enter Paradise. Indeed, Allah has forbidden Paradise to every polytheist." He will say: O my Lord! My father! So he will be transformed into an ugly form and a foul odor, and he will leave him. The companions of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, used to think that it was Ibrahim, peace be upon him." And the two Shaykhs and others narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, that he said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, giving a sermon on the pulpit saying:
Indeed, you will meet Allah barefoot, naked, and uncircumcised, just as We began the first creation, We will return it. This is a promise upon Us; indeed, We were certainly capable of it. And the first of the creatures to be clothed will be Ibrahim, peace be upon him. And indeed, men from my nation will be brought and taken to the left side, and I will say: O my Lord! My companions! He will say: Indeed, you do not know what they innovated after you. So I will say as the righteous servant said: "And I was a witness over them as long as I was among them" [Al-Ma'idah: 117] - until His saying: "And if You forgive them, indeed You are the Exalted in Might, the Wise" [Al-Ma'idah: 118].
"Indeed, I am at the pond, watching who will come to me from among you. By Allah, there will be men who will be cut off from me. I will say: O my Lord! They are from me and from my nation. He will say: Indeed, you do not know what they have innovated after you. They continued to turn back on their heels." And from the two Shaykhs from Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "My nation will come to me at the pond, and I will drive people away from it just as a man drives away the camels of another man from his camels. They said: O Prophet of Allah! Will you recognize us? He said: Yes, you will have marks that are not for others. You will come to me glowing and bright from the traces of ablution. And a group from among you will be turned away from me, and they will not reach me. I will say: O my Lord! These are my companions. Then an angel will respond to me and say: Do you know what they innovated after you?" And in a narration: "While I was standing at the pond, a group came until when I recognized them, a man came out from between me and them and said: Come! I said: Where to? He said: To the Fire, by Allah. I said: What is their matter? He said: They have turned back on their heels, and I do not see anyone escaping from them except like the strays of the flock. That is, the few who are saved." And in a narration for Muslim regarding ablution: "Indeed, men will be driven away from my pond just as a stray camel is driven away. I will call them: Come! It will be said: Indeed, they have changed after you. I will say: Away, away!" Al-Mundhiri said: (p-44) And the hadiths on this meaning are very numerous.
Explore Other Scholars on This Verse
Compare different scholarly perspectives on Surah Ghafir verse 20