Tafsir of Al-Hajj 22:17

"Indeed, those who have believed"—that is, in what has been mentioned of that which was sent down through the guidance of Allah the Exalted, or in everything that is obligatory to believe in, and what was mentioned is included therein primarily—"and those who are Jews, and the Sabeans"—they are, according to what Ibn Jarir and others recorded from Qatadah, a people who worship the angels, pray facing the Qiblah, and read the Psalms (Zabur). In Al-Qamus, it is stated that they are a people who claim to follow the religion of Noah, peace be upon him, and their Qiblah is the direction from which the north wind blows at midday. In Al-Milal wa al-Nihal by Al-Shahrastani, it is stated that the Sabeans existed during the time of Abraham, peace be upon him, and they are said to be the counterparts to the Hanifs (monotheists). They used to say: "In knowing Allah the Exalted and knowing His obedience, commands, and rulings—glorified be His Majesty—we require a spiritual intermediary, not a physical one."

The crux of their doctrines lies in their fanaticism for spiritual entities; they revered them with the utmost reverence and sought proximity to them. When they were unable to attain proximity to the essences of these entities and encounter them in their original states, a group of them resorted to temples—which are the seven planets and some of the fixed stars. The Sabeans of Rome resorted to the planets, and the Sabeans of India resorted to the fixed stars. Sometimes they descended from the celestial temples to physical forms that neither hear nor see nor avail anything. The first group are the worshippers of the planets, and the second are the worshippers of idols. Abraham, peace be upon him, silenced both groups and bound them with the argument.

It is mentioned in another place that their emergence was in the first year of the reign of Tahmurath, one of the kings of the Persians. The word Sabi'ah is Arabic, derived from saba'a (like mana'a or karuma), meaning one who has departed from one religion to another.

"And the Christians and the Magians"—they are, according to the view also narrated from Qatadah, a people who worship the sun, the moon, and fire. Some limited their description to the worship of the sun and the moon, while others limited it to the worship of fire. It is also said: they are a people who withdrew from the Christians and wore haircloth garments. Another view is that they are a people who took something from the religion of the Christians and something from the religion of the Jews. They claim that the world has two origins: light and darkness. In Al-Milal wa al-Nihal, there is evidence indicating that they are sects, that they existed before the Jews and the Christians, that they believe in divine laws contrary to the Sabeans, that they have a semblance of a scripture, and that they revere fire. It mentions that the fire temples of the Magians are numerous: the first house built by Afridun between the fire of Tus and another in the city of Bukhara is Hubardson. Bahman took a house in Sijistan called Karku. They also have a fire temple in Bukhara called Qabadan, and a fire temple called Kunshah between Fars and Isfahan built by Kay Khosrow, another in Qumis called Jarir, the fire temple of Kaykdar which he built in the east of China, and another in Arjan in Fars taken by Arjan, the grandfather of Vishtaspa. All these houses existed before Zoroaster. Then Zoroaster renovated a fire temple in Nisa after Vishtaspa, seeking the fire that Jam used to revere, finding it in the city of Khwarazm, and transferring it to the house of Abjird. The Magians revere it more than any other. When Kay Khosrow invaded Afrasiab, he revered it and prostrated to it. It is said that Anushirwan was the one who transferred it to Karshan, so they left some of it there and carried some to Nisa. In the land of Rome, at the gate of Constantinople, is a fire temple taken by Shapur bin Ardashir, which remained so until the days of Al-Mahdi. The fire temple of Asfitha, near the City of Peace (Baghdad), belongs to Buran, the daughter of Chosroes. There are also fire temples in India and China. The Magians only revere fire because they perceive it as a noble, celestial substance, thinking that this will save them from the punishment of the fire of the Day of Resurrection, failing to realize that this is the greatest cause of their punishment.

Note: It contains what is not hidden from one who reviews history. In Al-Qamus, Majus (like sabur) is a man with small ears who founded a religion and called to it; it is the Arabized form of Mih-Gosh. In Al-Sihah, Majusiyyah is a sect, and Majusi is an attribution to it, with the plural Majus. Abu Ali al-Nahwi said: Majus and Yahud were known on the pattern of Yahudi and Yahud, and Majusi and Majus, pluralized on the analogy of Sha'irah and Sha'ir, then the plural was made definite with the definite article al-. If this were not the case, the definite article would not be permitted to enter upon them because they are feminine definite nouns; they functioned in their speech like the names of two tribes and were not treated like the Hayy (tribes) in the chapter of declension. He cited: "O wanderer, do you see lightning in the night like the fire of the Magians, blazing and blazing?" End quote. Some mentioned that Majus is the Arabized form of Mukush, and it was applied to those people because they used to let the hair of their heads hang to their ears. It is reported in Al-Bahr that the mim is a substitute for the nun, and it was applied to them because of their use of impurities—a statement which cannot be relied upon.

"And those who associated"—it is famous that they are the worshippers of idols. It is also said that it is a term encompassing them and all those who worship another god alongside Allah, such as angels, planets, and others who are not known by a specific name like the Sabeans or the Magians.

His saying, the Exalted: "Indeed, Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection"—it is in the position of a nominative, as the predicate of the previous Inna. Inna was introduced to each of the two parts of the sentence for added emphasis, as in the saying of Jarir: "Indeed, the Caliph, indeed Allah, has clothed him in a robe of kingship, by which rings are adorned." It is said that the predicate of the first Inna is omitted—i.e., "they will be separated on the Day of Resurrection" or something similar to what is indicated by His saying, the Exalted: "Indeed, Allah will judge between them", etc., for your saying "Indeed Zayd, indeed Amr, hits him" is poor. In the verse, there is no necessity to make the sentence conjoined with Inna the predicate; rather, it is permissible for it to be a parenthetical clause, and the predicate is the sentence "by which rings are adorned." It is not hidden from you, after conceding the poverty [of the construction], that the verse is not like the mentioned example due to the length of the separation within it. In Al-Bahr, he said: "The entry of Inna into the sentence that occurs as a predicate is made beautiful in the verse by the length of the separation with the conjunctions." Al-Zajjaj said: "Some claimed that your saying 'Indeed Zayd, that he is standing' is poor, and that this verse only became proper because of the precedence of the relative noun (al-ladhina). There is no difference between the relative noun and others in the chapter of Inna, and there is no disagreement among the Basrians that Inna enters upon every subject and predicate." Based on this, one should not turn away from the most immediate interpretation. The intended meaning of "judging" is the verdict—that is, He, the Exalted, will judge between the believers and the five sects that agree upon disbelief by manifesting the truthful from the falsifier and granting each of them their due of recompense by rewarding the believers and punishing the other sects according to the merit of the individuals of each. It is also said: The meaning is that He, the Exalted, judges between the six sects in all circumstances and places, so He does not recompense them with a single, undifferentiated recompense; rather, He recompenses the believers with what befits them, and the Jews with what befits them, and so on. He does not gather them in one place; rather, He places the believers in Paradise and each of the disbelieving sects in a level of the levels of Hell.

And His saying, the Exalted: "Indeed, Allah is, over all things, Witness"—is a justification for what preceded it of judgment; that is, He, the Exalted, is All-Knowing of everything among the things and is vigilant over its states, and it is of His judgment to encompass the details of what has been issued from every individual of the mentioned sects and to carry out upon him the recompense befitting him.