Tafsir of Al-Isra 17:93

“Or you have a house of gold”—meaning of gold, as has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, Qatada, and others. Its root meaning is adornment, and it is applied to gold because adornment with it is more desired and admirable. Abdullah [ibn Mas’ud] recited it as “of gold,” though he treated this as an exegesis in his recitation, not as a canonical reading, due to its contradiction with the text of the Mushaf.

“Or you ascend into the sky”—meaning you climb its stairs (the object is omitted). It is said: raqiya (he climbed) the ladder and the step. It is apparent that "the sky" here refers to the dark, vaulted expanse. It is also said that the intent is the high place; indeed, everything that rises and ascends is called sama (sky). The poet said: "Every high thing may be called sama, but excellence lies only where the sun and the moon are."

“And we will not believe in your ascension”—meaning for the sake of your ascension into it alone, or we will not believe in your ascension into it “until you bring down to us a book that we may read”—in our language, according to the style of our speech, which would verify you.

“Say”—expressing astonishment at the intensity of their obstinacy and the excess of their foolishness—“Exalted is my Lord!” Or, say that as a declaration of the purity of the Court of Majesty from that which is hardly befitting to it, such as these suggestions which contain what is among the greatest of impossibilities—like the coming of Allah, the Exalted, in the manner they suggested—or as a dismissal of that request; it contains a warning of the invalidity of what they said.

Ibn Kathir and Ibn ‘Amir recited, “Say: ‘Exalted is my Lord!’”—meaning the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Was I any but a human messenger?” like all other messengers, peace be upon them. They would not bring to their people anything except that which Allah, the Exalted, manifested at their hands according to what wisdom required, without delegation to them or arbitrary authority over Him, the Exalted.

“Human” is the predicate of kana (was), and “messenger” is its adjective; this is the pillar of the speech. His being a human is a preamble for that, refuting what they denied regarding the permissibility of a messenger being human, and indicating that the messengers, peace be upon them, before him were likewise. This is why al-Zamakhshari said: "Was I anything but a messenger, like all other messengers, a human like them?"

Some claimed that the mention of "human" is not a preamble. For when the people requested from him—peace and blessings be upon him—what they requested, it is possible they were asking that he bring it by his own power, and it is possible they were asking that he bring it by the power of Allah, the Exalted. Thus, he mentioned "human" to negate that he could bring it by his own power, as if he were saying: "Was I anything but human? And a human has no power to bring that." And he mentioned "messenger" to negate that he could bring it by the power of Allah, as if it were said: "Was I anything but a messenger? And a messenger does not exercise authority over his Lord, the Exalted."

This was critiqued—along with its opposition to the reports, as you will soon know, God willing—as being apparent in making both nouns predicates, which a refined taste rejects. Al-Khafaji said: "That both nouns are predicates is not tenable because it necessitates their independence, implying that they denied both individually until he refuted them on both counts; yet no one denied his humanity—peace and blessings be upon him." This was further critiqued by noting that when they requested from him what is not possible for a human, such as ascending to the sky, they were in the position of one who denied his humanity.

Some deemed it permissible for "human" to be a hal (state/circumstantial accusative) from the indefinite noun, justifying this by its precedence over it, but this is weak; it necessitates that he—peace and blessings be upon him—has another state besides humanity, and no one claims that, unless one is of the Wujudiyyah (pantheists).

The apparent meaning is that the speaker of all that preceded is one. It is possible there is no unity [in the speakers], in that some suggested one thing and others suggested another, but the speech is attributed to all due to each being pleased with what the other suggested.

Sa’id ibn Mansur and others recorded from Ibn Jubayr that the saying of the Exalted, "And they said, 'We will not believe in you...'" was revealed regarding ‘Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah, and this is apparent in that he is the speaker. The use of the plural pronoun does not conflict with this, for the reason we have indicated.

Ibn Ishaq and a group recorded from Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with them both—that ‘Utbah and Shaybah the sons of Rabi’ah, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, al-Aswad ibn al-Muttalib, Zam’ah ibn al-Aswad, al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah, Abu Jahl, ‘Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, and others gathered after sunset at the Ka’bah. They said to one another, "Send for Muhammad and speak to him until you have excused yourselves regarding him." They sent for him, and he—peace and blessings be upon him—came to them quickly, thinking they might have changed their minds regarding him, for he was keen on them, loving their guidance and finding their hardship difficult. When he sat with them, they said: "O Muhammad, we have sent for you to excuse ourselves before you. By Allah, we do not know of a man among the Arabs who has brought upon his people what you have brought upon yours. You have insulted the forefathers, criticized the religion, mocked our intellects, insulted the gods, and divided the community. There is no evil that you have not committed between us and you. If you have come with this speech seeking wealth, we will gather from our wealth until you are the wealthiest among us. If you seek honor among us, we will make you our master. If you desire kingship, we will make you our king. And if this who comes to you with what you bring is a vision (ra’y) you see and has overcome you, we will spend our wealth to seek medicine until we cure you of it, or we excuse ourselves regarding you."

The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said: "I have none of what you say. I have not come to you with what I have brought seeking your wealth, nor honor among you, nor kingship over you. But Allah, the Exalted, has sent me to you as a messenger and revealed a Book to me and ordered me to be a bringer of good tidings and a warner. I have delivered the message of my Lord to you and advised you. If you accept what I have brought to you, it is your share in this world and the hereafter. If you reject it from me, I will be patient for the command of Allah until Allah judges between me and you."

They said, "O Muhammad, if you will not accept from us what we have offered you, you know that no one is more constricted in land, less in wealth, or harder in life than us. Ask your Lord who sent you with what He sent you, to remove these mountains that have constricted us, to expand our lands for us, to make rivers flow through them like the rivers of Syria and Iraq, and to resurrect for us those of our forefathers who have passed away—and let there be among those He resurrects Qusay ibn Kilab, for he was a truthful elder—so that we may ask them whether what you say is truth or falsehood. If you do what we have asked and they confirm you, we will believe you and know your station before Allah and that He sent you as a messenger."

The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said: "I was not sent with this. I have only come to you from Allah with what He sent me with. I have delivered to you what I was sent with. If you accept it, it is your share in this world and the hereafter. If you reject it, I will be patient for the command of Allah until Allah judges between me and you."

They said, "If you will not do this for us, then take for yourself; ask your Lord to send an angel to confirm you in what you say and to debate with us on your behalf, and ask Him to make for you gardens, treasures, or palaces of gold and silver, and enrich you so you do not have to walk in the marketplaces and seek a livelihood as we do, so that we may know your station with your Lord if you are a messenger as you claim."

The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said: "I will not do so. I am not one to ask his Lord for this. I was not sent to you with this, but Allah has sent me as a bringer of good tidings and a warner. If you accept what I have brought, it is your share in this world and the hereafter. If you reject it, I will be patient for the command of Allah until Allah judges between me and you."

They said, "Then cause the sky to fall, as you claimed that your Lord, if He willed, would do so. We will not believe you unless you do that." The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said: "That is up to Allah, the Exalted; if He wills, He will do that to you."

They said, "O Muhammad, let your Lord know that we will sit with you, and ask you about what we have asked, and demand from you what we demand; so He should come to you, teach you what to answer us with, and tell you what He is going to do with us if you do not accept what you have brought us. We have heard that it is only a man in al-Yamamah named al-Rahman who teaches you this, and by Allah, we will never believe in al-Rahman! We have excused ourselves to you, O Muhammad. By Allah, we will not leave you and what you have done to us until we destroy you or you destroy us."

And one of them said: "We will not believe you until you bring Allah and the angels before us." When they said that, the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—stood up from them, and ‘Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah stood with him and said: "O Muhammad, your people offered you what they offered and you did not accept; then they asked for themselves things to know your station with Allah, and you did not do it; then they asked you to hasten the torment we fear from them; so by Allah, I will not believe in you until you take a ladder to the sky, then ascend it while I am watching, until you reach it and bring down with you a spread-out scroll with four angels witnessing that you are as you say. And by Allah, if you did that, I would think that I might believe you." Then he turned away, and the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—returned to his family, sad and distressed over what he had missed from his people when they called him, and because of what he saw of their distancing. Then these verses were revealed to him, as was the saying of the Exalted, "Thus have We sent you to a nation that has passed away..." [13:30] and His saying, the Exalted, "And if there were a Qur’an by which the mountains were moved..." [13:31]. And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.