Tafsir of Al-Anbiya' 21:112

(He said, "My Lord, judge in truth"): This is a narration of the supplication of the Prophet ﷺ. Most read it as (Say, "My Lord, judge...") in the imperative form. "Judgment" (al-hukm) is the decree, and "truth" (al-haqq) is justice; meaning: My Lord, decree between us and the people of Mecca with the justice that necessitates the hastening of punishment and severity upon them. It is a prayer for hastening and severity, for otherwise, all of His decrees are justice and truth. This was sought when they were punished at Badr with the most severe form of torture. Abu Ja'far read "Rabbi" (My Lord) with a damma, as a singular vocative, as the author of al-Lawami' said, though he criticized it by stating that omitting the vocative particle from a generic noun is anomalous, limited to poetry. Abu Hayyan said: It is not a singular vocative, but rather a vocative added to the 'ya' (of the first person), where the added-to noun was omitted and the word was built upon a damma—like "before" (qabl) and "after" (ba'd). This is a dialect mentioned by Sibawayh regarding the vocative added to the first-person pronoun, and there is no anomaly in it. Ibn Abbas, 'Ikrimah, al-Jahdari, and Ibn Muhaisin read it as (Rabbi) with a quiescent 'ya'. (Judge) is in the superlative form, meaning: execute, be the most just of judges, or the most profound in wisdom; thus, "Rabbi ahkam" is a nominal sentence (subject and predicate). A group read "ahkama" as a past tense verb. (And our Lord, the Most Merciful) is a subject and predicate, meaning: He who is abundant in mercy toward His servants. His saying, the Exalted, (is the One sought for aid)—meaning the One from whom help is requested—is another predicate for the subject. It is also permitted that it be an attribute of "The Most Merciful," based on treating that name as a proper noun. The attribution of "Lord" previously to his ﷺ own pronoun is specifically because supplication is among his private duties, just as its attribution here to the plural pronoun—incorporating the believers—is because seeking aid is among the general duties of all.

(Upon what you describe): This is a state, for they used to say: "The partnership is for us," and "The banner of Islam will flutter, then subside," and "If what is threatened were true, it would have descended upon us," among other things in which there is no good. So, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, answered the prayer of His Messenger ﷺ, frustrated their hopes, altered their conditions, and granted victory to His allies over them; thus, what befell them on the day of Badr befell them. The sentence is a corroborative digression, establishing the content of what preceded it. It is reported that the Prophet ﷺ recited it to Ubayy, may Allah be pleased with him, as (they describe) with the 'ya' of the third person, and this is reported from Ibn 'Amir and 'Asim. Finally, placing the Seal of the Prophets, peace be upon them, and that which pertains to him as the conclusion of Surah al-Anbiya is appropriate, as al-Tayyibi said: "From it exhales the musk of the seal."

(And We had already given Abraham his guidance from before): It is said that this guidance was preferring the Truth, the Majestic, over all else. Al-Junayd was asked when He gave him that, and he said: "At the time of 'no-when'."

(He said, "Then do you worship instead of Allah that which does not benefit you at all nor harm you?"): In this is an allusion that a needy person's request to another needy person is folly in opinion and error in intellect. Hamdun al-Qassar said: "The creation seeking aid from the creation is like a prisoner seeking aid from a prisoner."

(We said, "O fire, be coolness and safety upon Abraham"): Ibn 'Ata said: That was due to the soundness of Abraham’s heart, his freedom from turning toward [secondary] causes, and the integrity of his reliance upon Allah the Exalted. Hence, he said, peace be upon him, when Gabriel, peace be upon him, said to him, "Do you have a need?" "As for to you, no."

(And We gave understanding of it to Solomon): In this is an allusion that grace is in the hand of Allah the Exalted; He gives it to whom He wills, and it has no connection to youth or age. How many a youth is superior to an elder by much!

(And to each We gave judgment): It is said: knowledge of the rulings of Lordship. (And knowledge): knowledge of the rulings of servitude.

(And We subjected with David the mountains, exalting [Allah]): It is said that he, peace be upon him, used to seclude himself in caves for the remembrance and exaltation of the Exalted, and the mountains would share in that with him, exalting with him. Some mentioned that the mountains, being free from the manufacturing of the creation and adorned with the lights of the power of the Truth, are what the lovers love to dwell in; and for this reason, he ﷺ practiced the tahannuth (devotion) in the cave of Hira. Many of the righteous chose seclusion for worship in such places.

(And [mention] Job, when he called to his Lord, "Indeed, adversity has touched me, and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful"): It is mentioned that he, peace be upon him, said this when a worm aimed for his heart and a worm for his tongue, and he feared that it would distract the seat of his reflection and the seat of his remembrance. Ja'far said: That was from him, peace be upon him, a solicitation for an answer from the Truth, the Exalted, so that he might find tranquility in Him; it was not a complaint. And how could a lover complain about his Beloved, while all that the Beloved does is [beloved]? He, peace be upon him, maintained the etiquettes of address.

(And [mention] the Man of the Fish, when he went off in anger and thought that We would not decree over him): It is said that this is a seepage from the cask of coquetry (dall). They mentioned that the station of coquetry is lower than the station of pure servitude, due to the lack of the annihilation of the will within it. Hence, he, peace be upon him, cried out: (There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers), meaning: because it occurred in my innermost secret to desire other than what I had desired.

(And Zechariah, when he called to his Lord, "My Lord, do not leave me alone [with no heir], while You are the Best of inheritors"): It is said that he, peace be upon him, desired a child who would be fit to be a place for the disclosing of divine secrets to him; for when the knower is solitary, not having one to whom he may disclose the secret, his capacity becomes straitened.

(And they used to supplicate to Us with longing and awe): It is said: longing for Us and awe of all else, or longing for Our meeting and awe of being veiled from Us. (And they were to Us humbly submissive). Abu Zayd said: Humility (khushu') is the extinguishing of the heart from [false] claims. It is also said: [It is] annihilation under the skirts of Greatness and the mantle of Majesty.

(And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds): Most of the Sufis—may their secrets be sanctified—hold that the meaning of "the worlds" is all creation, and he ﷺ is a mercy to each of them, although the shares differ. All share in that he ﷺ is the cause of their existence. Rather, they said: The entire world was created from his light, ﷺ. Sheikh Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, may his secret be sanctified, explicitly stated this in his commentary on the verse, and it has preceded more than once: "Taha the Prophet—from his light all creation was formed, then if the sandgrouse were to leave..."—and he indicated by his saying "if the sandgrouse were to leave" that all is from his light, ﷺ, and [that is] the face of the division into believer and disbeliever after its formation; so reflect upon this. We ask Allah the Exalted to grant us an abundant share of His mercy and to facilitate for us the affairs of this world and the Hereafter by His repetitive utterance.