'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Al-Taghabun

Some of the commentators said: It is Medinan, while others among them said: It is Meccan, except for His saying, the Exalted: "O you who have believed, indeed, among your wives and your children..." [Al-Taghabun: 14] to the end of the Surah, for it is Medinan. Al-Tha'labi mentioned from Ibn Umar that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "No newborn is born except that five verses from the beginning of Surah Al-Taghabun are in the tangles of its hair."

His saying, the Exalted:

"Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth glorifies Allah. To Him belongs the dominion and to Him belongs the praise, and He is over all things competent." "He is the One who created you; so among you is a disbeliever and among you is a believer. And Allah is Seeing of what you do." "He created the heavens and the earth in truth and formed you, so He made your forms good. And to Him is the final destination." "He knows what is in the heavens and what is in the earth, and He knows what you conceal and what you declare. And Allah is Knowing of that within the breasts."

His saying, the Exalted: "And He is over all things competent," the general meaning of it is a reminder, and "the thing" is the existent. And His saying, the Exalted: "He is the One who created you" is a recounting of a blessing, and the meaning is: So among you is a disbeliever in His blessing of existence when no disbeliever existed due to his ignorance of Allah, and among you is a believer in Allah, and belief in Him is gratitude for His blessing. The reference - according to this interpretation regarding belief and disbelief - is to the acquisition of the servant. This is the saying of a group of the interpreters, and their proof is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Every newborn is born upon the fitrah," and His saying, the Exalted: "The fitrah of Allah upon which He has created the people" [Ar-Rum: 30]. It seems that the expression in His saying, the Exalted: "So among you" encompasses all of this, and likewise, His saying, the Exalted: "And Allah is Seeing of what you do" strengthens it.

It was said: The meaning is that He created you; among you is a believer and among you is a disbeliever in the essence of creation, so it is a statement in the position of the condition. The reference - according to this - in belief and disbelief is to Allah's creation and His creation. This is the interpretation of Ibn Mas'ud and Abu Dharr, may Allah be pleased with them both. And this meaning aligns with the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Indeed, one of you is in his mother's womb as a drop for forty days, then a clot for forty days, then a lump for forty days, then the angel comes and says: O Lord, is he male or female? Is he wretched or happy? What is his provision? What is his lifespan? And that is written in his mother's womb," so His saying in the hadith: "Is he wretched or happy?" is in this verse: "So among you is a disbeliever and among you is a believer." And this meaning aligns with His saying regarding the boy whom Al-Khidr killed: "Indeed, he was written on the day he was created as a disbeliever," and what Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Allah created Pharaoh in the womb as a disbeliever, and He created Yahya ibn Zakariya as a believer." And 'Ata ibn Abi Rabah said: The meaning of the verse is: Among you is a disbeliever in Allah and a believer in the star, and a believer in Allah and a disbeliever in the star, and the disbeliever is mentioned first because he is more known in terms of the majority.

And His saying, the Exalted: "in truth" means: when He created it, it was true in itself, not in vain nor without meaning.

(p-319) And the majority of the people read: "He shaped you" with a dammah on the صاد, and Abu Razin read: "He shaped you" with a kasrah. This is a mention of the blessing in the beauty of creation, for the members of the son of Adam are capable of all that the members of animals are capable of, and with many additional qualities by which he is preferred. Then he is favored with a beautiful face and the beauty of the limbs. The proof of this is His saying, the Most High: ﴿Certainly, We created man in the best form﴾ [Al-Tin: 4]. Some scholars said: The mentioned blessing here is the form of man in that he is a perceiving, rational human being. This is what is beautiful for him until many perfections are attached to it. The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The first saying is more appropriate in the language of the Arabs because they do not recognize forms except by shape. And He, the Most High, mentioned His knowledge of what is in the heavens and the earth, and He knew the greatest of creations. Then the saying progressed to what is more concealed than that, which is all that people say in secret and openly. Then it progressed to what is hidden, which is what occurs in thoughts, and "what is in the breasts": what is in it of thoughts and beliefs, as it is said: "The wolf is envious of what is in his belly," and the breast here refers to the heart.