Tafsir of At-Takathur 102:2

Until you have exhausted the number of the living, you proceed to the graves and shift your mention to those who are within them, then you boast of the dead. In this view, the limit (the reaching of the graves) is included within the delimited action; the narration regarding the occasion of revelation previously mentioned clarifies this.

Al-Kalbi and Muqatil narrated that the Banu Abd Manaf and the Banu Sahm boasted to one another as to who was greater in number. The Banu Abd Manaf outnumbered them, so the Banu Sahm said, "The rebellion destroyed us in the Era of Ignorance." They then returned to count both the living and the dead, and the Banu Sahm outnumbered them. While "visiting the graves" in the first interpretation is taken literally, in this interpretation it is an expression—either metonymical or metaphorical—for their reaching the point of mentioning the dead. It is considered appropriate to view this as a representation (tamthil).

In Al-Kashshaf, it is expressed in this manner as a form of mockery towards them. Some have explained this by suggesting it is as if it were said: "You, in this action of yours, are like one who visits graves without a sound purpose." Others have suggested that visiting graves is meant for admonition and remembering death, yet they did the opposite, turning it into a cause for heedlessness; this [view] is more sound. The meaning is: this distraction—which does not concern you and provides you no benefit in your worldly life or your afterlife—has distracted you from that which concerns you: the matter of religion, which is the most important of all important matters. The object of the distraction was omitted to signify its greatness—which is derived from the ambiguity caused by the omission—and to emphasize the condemnation, as it points to the fact that whatever distracts one is blameworthy, let alone that which distracts one from the matter of religion.

It has also been said that the meaning is: the accumulation of wealth and children has distracted you until you died and were buried, having spent your lives in pursuit of the world, yearning for it, and obsessing over it, until death came to you—with no concern other than this—distracting you from what is better for you: striving for your final end and working for your afterlife. Ibn al-Mundhir recorded this chain from Ibn Abbas, as did Ibn Abi Hatim, and Ibn Abi Shaybah from Al-Hasan.

"Visiting the graves" here is an expression for death, as the poet said: I have seen that the turning of time is a dreadful thing, No friend will stay with a friend for ten years, He shall taste the turning of time or he shall visit the graves. And Jarir said: "Abu Malik has visited the graves; / He has become the vilest of their visitors."

This contains an indication of the certainty of the Resurrection. It is recounted that a Bedouin heard this and said, "They have been resurrected for the Day of Judgment, by the Lord of the Kaaba! For the visitor departs, he does not remain." Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz said, "He who visits must return either to Paradise or to Hell." It also contains an indication of the shortness of the time spent in the graves. The use of the past tense indicates that the event is certain to occur, or it reflects the precedence of those who died first, or it treats the death of their fathers as their own death.

Among the things that evoke wonder is the statement of Abu Muslim: "Allah, the Almighty, will speak this Surah on the Day of Judgment to reproach the disbelievers, and they at that time will have already visited the graves." It has been said that this is a reprimand for frequenting graves for the sake of accumulation, boasting of one's ancestors, and showing off—rather than for the purpose of admonition and remembering the afterlife, as is prescribed. The Hadith in Sunan Abi Dawud points to this: "I had forbidden you from visiting the graves, so visit them, for they remind you of the afterlife." It is clear that the verse is remote from that [specific context]. Indeed, there is no dispute regarding the condemnation of visiting graves for the purpose of boasting about the one visited or for showing off the act of visiting, as many of the ignorant who claim affiliation with the Sufis do in their visits to the graves of the masters (may they have mercy upon them)—this, along with the forbidden acts they commit therein, which they believe to be acts of obedience, and the abominations they have adopted as rituals—matters that would make the pages too narrow to contain.

Ibn Abbas, Aisha, Muawiyah, Abu Imran al-Jawni, Abu Salih, Malik ibn Dinar, Abu al-Jawza', and a group recited "A-alhakum" (Have you been distracted?) with an elongated vowel (madd) for interrogation. It is also narrated from Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), as well as Ibn Abbas, Al-Sha'bi, Abu al-Aliyah, Ibn Abi Abla, and Al-Kisa'i in one narration, as "A-alhakum" with two hamzahs, the interrogation being for the purpose of affirmation (taqrir).