Tafsir of Al-Isra 17:58

The apparent meaning is generality, because the "an" (أن) is negative, and the "min" (من) is redundant, used for the comprehensive coverage of the genus. That is, "There is no town of the towns (إِلَّا نَحْنُ مُهْلِكُوهَا قَبْلَ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ) by causing its inhabitants to die a natural death, (أَوْ مُعَذِّبُوهَا عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا) through slaughter and various types of calamities."

This has been narrated from Muqatil, and it is the evident meaning of what was narrated from Mujahid. Al-Jubba'i and a group of scholars held this view. It was narrated from the former (Mujahid) that he said: "Destruction is for the righteous, and punishment is for the wicked." He also said: "I found in the book of Ad-Dahhak ibn Muzahim regarding its interpretation: As for Mecca, the Abyssinians will destroy it; Medina will be destroyed by hunger; Basra by drowning; Kufa by the Turks; the mountains by thunderbolts and earthquakes. As for Khurasan, its destruction will be of various kinds." Then he mentioned city after city.

It is narrated from Wahb ibn Munabbih that the Peninsula (Al-Jazirah) is safe from ruin until Armenia is ruined; Armenia is safe until Egypt is ruined; Egypt is safe until Kufa is ruined; and the Great Battle (Al-Malhamah al-Kubra) will not occur until Kufa is ruined. When the Great Battle occurs, Constantinople will be conquered at the hands of a man from the Banu Hashim. The destruction of Andalusia will be at the hands of the Zanj; the destruction of Africa (Ifriqiyah) will be at the hands of Andalusia; the destruction of Egypt will be due to the cutting off of the Nile and the conflict of armies therein; the destruction of Iraq will be by hunger; the destruction of Kufa will be at the hands of an enemy that besieges them by land and sea; the destruction of Rayy will be at the hands of the Daylam; the destruction of Khurasan will be at the hands of the Nabataeans; the destruction of the Nabataeans will be at the hands of the Chinese; the destruction of India and Yemen will be at the hands of locusts and the Sultan; the destruction of Mecca will be by the Abyssinians; the destruction of Medina will be by hunger.

It is narrated from Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The last of the cities of Islam to be destroyed is Medina." This is how the scholar Abu al-Su'ud recorded it.

What is in the book of Ad-Dahhak, as well as what is narrated from Wahb, is hardly to be relied upon. As for what is narrated from Abu Hurairah, it is accepted; An-Nasa'i narrated it from him with these exact words, and At-Tirmidhi also narrated it similarly, saying: "Hasan Gharib." Abu Hayyan narrated it with the wording: "The last city in Islam to be destroyed is Medina."

In Al-Buhur al-Zakhirah, it is stated that the cause of its destruction is that some of its people will leave the Mahdi for Jihad, then it will tremble for its hypocrites and cast them out to the Dajjal. Some of the sincere ones will migrate to Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) to their Imam, and the souls of those who remain will be taken by a pleasant wind, leaving it empty.

The idea that hunger is the cause of its destruction—as heard from Ad-Dahhak and Ibn Munabbih—is contradicted by what the two Sheikhs (Al-Bukhari and Muslim) recorded: "Medina will be left in the best state it ever was, its fruits humbled (i.e., easy to reach), and none will enter it except the ‘Awafi (birds and beasts of prey). The last to be gathered (in resurrection) will be two shepherds from the Muzaynah," and the Hadith. Imam Ahmad also recorded, with a chain of narrators whose men are trustworthy: "Medina will be left by its inhabitants while it is thriving." They asked, "Who will eat its fruits?" He said, "The beasts of prey and the ‘Awafi."

As for what is mentioned regarding Mecca being destroyed by the Abyssinians, it is established in the two Sahihs and elsewhere, but with the wording: "The Kaaba will be destroyed by Dhu al-Suwayqatayn (the one with two thin legs) from Abyssinia." In a Hadith of Hudhayfah in marfu' form: "It is as if I am looking at an Abyssinian, red-legged, blue-eyed, flat-nosed, large-bellied, placing his feet on the Kaaba—he and his companions—demolishing it stone by stone, passing it among themselves until they throw it into the sea." In Ahmad’s Hadith from Abu Hurairah: "The Abyssinians will come and destroy it"—meaning the House—"a destruction after which it will never be built again."

Yes, there is disagreement as to when this will happen. It is said: In the time of ‘Isa (peace be upon him). It is also said: When there is no one left on earth who says "Allah," which is one of the final signs. As-Safarini inclined toward this. The apparent meaning of the aforementioned reports regarding Medina, that it is the last of the cities of Islam to be destroyed, necessitates that the destruction of Mecca is before it. And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

As for what is mentioned in the report of Ibn Munabbih, that Egypt is safe until Kufa is destroyed—if it is authentic—it implies that Kufa will be inhabited and then destroyed. Otherwise, it has been destroyed for hundreds of years and remains in ruins to this day, while Egypt is safe, prosperous, and in the best state today. Its prosperity—as the report implies—has been mentioned in numerous traces, as is not hidden from those who have read books written on the signs of the Hour and the news of the Mahdi and the Sufyani. However, most of them are subject to criticism. Al-Buni and his likes claimed that it would be prosperous in the late 13th century, deriving this from the words of Sheikh Muhyiddin (may his secret be sanctified). You know that this is most like [nonsense] and can hardly be counted as Arabic language.

As for the mention that the destruction of Iraq is by hunger, it includes Baghdad, for it is its base. Judge ‘Iyad said in Al-Shifa: "It is narrated that he (peace be upon him) said: 'A city will be built between the Tigris, the Dujayl, Qutrubbul, and the Sarāt, to which treasuries will be moved, and it will be swallowed by the earth'—meaning Baghdad." This is explicit that its destruction is by being swallowed, not by hunger, but the hadith scholars mentioned that there is an unknown narrator in the chain.

Then, the apparent meaning of this interpretation is that the words of the Exalted, "or punishing them," etc., are qualified by the same thing that the preceding clause is qualified by. Thus, both destruction and punishment are before the Day of Judgment—that is, in the time close to it. The use of this for this meaning is widespread, and you will hear it soon, if Allah wills, in the Hadith. Denying it is an obstinacy that is not to be listened to.

It is as if He, the Exalted—after mentioning the matters of Resurrection and Oneness—mentioned some of what will happen before the Day of Resurrection, which indicates His greatness, the Exalted. In it is a confirmation of what was mentioned before. It is established that after the death of ‘Isa (peace be upon him), a cold wind will come from the direction of Ash-Sham, leaving no one on the face of the earth who has a mustard seed’s weight of faith in his heart except that it will take his soul. Then only the wicked of people will remain, and upon them the Hour will rise.

It has come in more than one report what will afflict people before it rises in terms of punishment. Among that is what At-Tabarani and Ibn ‘Asakir recorded from Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him): "A fire will come upon you that is today dormant in a valley called Barhut, in which people will be afflicted with a painful punishment. It will consume lives and wealth, and will circle the entire world in eight days, flying like the wind and clouds. Its heat at night is more intense than its heat by day, and between the sky and the earth, it has a buzzing sound like the buzzing of thunder." It was asked: "O Messenger of Allah, will there be safety for the believers—men and women—that day?" He said: "Where are the believers? People on that day will be worse than donkeys, mating as animals mate, and there will not be a single man among them who says, 'Wait, wait!'"

And to other such reports. It is not far-fetched—after considering the generality in "town"—to interpret the destruction and punishment as what those reports contain: the saving of the believers by the wind, and the punishment of the remaining wicked people by the aforementioned fire. It is established that it will drive them to the Gathering (Mahshar). It has been reported that they will shield themselves with their faces from every obstacle and thorn, and that calamity will fall upon [every] beast of burden until not a single beast remains, such that a man will be given a beautiful orchard for a mount that can carry a saddle to flee upon.

That this is before the Day of Judgment is what is relied upon. Hafiz Ibn Hajar depended upon it, Judge ‘Iyad deemed it correct, and Al-Qurtubi and Al-Khattabi held it. It is explicitly stated in some Hadiths; Imam Ahmad and At-Tirmidhi (who called it Hasan Sahih) recorded from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) in marfu' form: "A fire will emerge from Hadramaut, or from the sea of Hadramaut, before the Day of Judgment, gathering the people," and the Hadith. It is not far-fetched that they will be punished by other things as well; indeed, there are traces that necessitate this.

(كَانَ ذَٰلِكَ)—that is, what was mentioned of destruction and punishment—(فِي الْكِتَابِ)—in the Preserved Tablet (Al-Lawh al-Mahfuz), as narrated from Ibrahim al-Taymi and others—(مَسْطُورًا)—written. More than one has mentioned that there is nothing but it is explained therein with its modalities, its causative reasons, and its appointed time.

The generality was questioned by the fact that it requires the non-finiteness of existents, whereas revelatory and rational proofs have been established to the contrary. Therefore, it is necessary to speak of specification, by interpreting the thing as relating to this world or the like. Some said it is general, but they committed to the idea that the statement is in a way that is compatible with finiteness. Thus, the Preserved Tablet, in its statement, contains all worldly and otherworldly things, and what was and what will be, like the Jafr al-Jami’ in its statement of what it clarifies. I myself have seen a manuscript of the Great Sheikh (may his secret be sanctified) in which he claimed that he knows from it what will happen in the land of the Gathering on the Day of Resurrection, and another in which he claimed he knows from it the names of the people of Paradise and Hell and the names of their fathers, and another in which he claimed he knows from it the events that will take place in Paradise. Accepting or rejecting these claims is left to you. Some interpreted "the Book" as the previous decree, so there is a metaphor in the speech that is not hidden.

This is the end of the matter. Abu Muslim held that the meaning is: "There is no town of the towns of the disbelievers." Maulana Abu al-Su'ud chose this and made the verse an explanation of the inevitability of His punishment, the Exalted, upon those who do not beware of it, following the explanation that He is worthy of being feared, and that the pillars of creation, from the angels and the prophets (peace be upon them), are in fear of that. He mentioned that the meaning is: "There is no town of the towns of the disbelievers but that We are its destroyers absolutely—by swallowing it or by destroying its inhabitants entirely—because of what they committed of great atrocities that necessitate that, or We will punish its inhabitants with a severe punishment, the essence of which cannot be fathomed." Its intended meaning is what encompasses worldly calamities—slaughter, captivity, and the like—and otherworldly punishments which no one knows but Allah, the Exalted, as is clarified by the absolute nature of "punishment" from what "destruction" was qualified by (i.e., being before the Day of Judgment). It is not restricted to worldly calamities. How could it be? Many tyrannical, disobedient towns have had their punishment delayed until the Day of Judgment.

Furthermore, it is possible to say regarding the aspect of the connection—assuming specification—that He, the Exalted, after pointing out that the disbelieving addressees are in a trial and distress, and that their gods do not have the power to remove that from them or divert it, pointed out that such a thing must inevitably strike the disbelievers, and no one can remove it or divert it from them. This is evident based on what was previously mentioned from some regarding the occasion of revelation, for which "distress" was interpreted as famine. So contemplate this.

In choosing the active participle form in both places, even if it is in the sense of the future, there is a clear indication of its certainty and stability. The qualification with "the Day of Judgment" is because destruction on that day is not specific to disbelieving towns, nor is it by way of punishment; rather, it is for the end of the life of the world. He then said: "Generalizing 'the town' is not supported by the context or the preceding text." And in this is a reflection, and some people preferred it over the previous one, in which destruction is interpreted as what comes to mind, which is what happens by way of punishment, and it is not so in what preceded.

The response given is that this is easy; it has been used in a context of warning for what was not by way of punishment, like His saying, the Exalted...