Tafsir of An-Nur 24:39

{And those who disbelieved...} until the end of the verse, is a conjunction to what preceded it—a connection of one story to another, or to a latent element to which the preceding part leads. It is as if it were said: "As for those who believed, their deeds are [beneficial] in the present and in the future," just as He described: {those who disbelieved, their deeds are like a mirage}. This refers to their deeds that belong to the categories of righteousness, such as maintaining kinship ties, freeing captives, providing water for pilgrims, maintaining the Sacred House, aiding the distressed, and hosting guests, according to one opinion. Another opinion suggests it refers to their deeds which they assume will be of benefit to them, regardless of whether they are of the type that requires faith, like Hajj, or those that do not, like providing water for pilgrims and the others mentioned. It is also said that the meaning encompasses both the good and the evil, so that both parts of the simile may be realized. We will discuss this further, God willing.

A sarab (mirage) is a thin vapor that rises from the depths of low-lying lands, and when the sunlight strikes it, it resembles from a distance flowing water—that is, moving [water]. Al-Farra’ stipulated that it must be clinging to the earth. It is also said to be the shimmering of the air in the intense heat of the day across expansive, flat lands. Others say: it is the radiance seen at midday when the heat intensifies in the wilderness, making the observer imagine it is flowing water. A poet said: "When we ceased the war, your covenants were like the shimmering of a mirage, sparkling in the desert." Al-Tabarsi held this view and explained the al (another term for heat haze) as a radiance that rises between the sky and the earth like water in the morning heat.

{In a plain} (bi-qi‘ah): This is connected to a latent element that serves as a description for the sarab—that is, existing in a plain, which is the flat, leveled earth. Some say it is the plural of qa‘, like jirah for jar and nirah for nar. Musallamah ibn Muharib read it as bi-qi‘at with a long ta’, as a plural of qi‘ah, like dimat and qimat for dimah and qimah. It is also narrated that he read it as bi-qi‘ah with a rounded ta’ (ta’ marbutah), on which one pauses with an 'h' sound; it is possible that it is the plural of qi‘ah, and he paused with the 'h' following the dialect of Tayy’, as they said: al-banah and al-ikhwah. It is also possible, as the author of al-Lawami‘ suggested, that it is singular, and its root is qi‘ah—as in the reading of the majority—but the vowel was lengthened, from which the alif was generated.

{The thirsty one thinks it to be water}: This is another description for the sarab. It is permitted that this is the [primary] description, and {in a plain} is the adverbial phrase for the [latent] element related to the ka’ (the particle of comparison), which is the predicate. Husban (the act of thinking) denotes speculation, according to the well-known view. A distinction is made between zann (speculation/conjecture) and husban: zann is when both opposites pass through one's mind and one prevails over the other; husban is to judge one of them without the other crossing the mind at all, fixating upon it, leaving one open to the possibility that doubt might infiltrate it. Specifying the husban to the "thirsty one," despite it applying to anyone who sees it—whether thirsty or quenched—is to complete the simile by verifying the partnership of both sides in the aspect of the likeness, which is the attractive prospect and the disappointing outcome. Shaybah, Abu Ja‘far, and Nafi‘ (with a differing narration) read {the thirsty one} (al-zam’an) by omitting the hamza and transferring its vowel to the mim.

{Until, when he comes to it}: That is, when the thirsty one comes to what he thought was water, or—as some say—when he comes to its location, {he finds it nothing}: He does not find what he thought was water, and his hope was attached to it as a thing, but there was nothing—neither in reality nor in appearance—even though he had seen it from afar, let alone a reality that it was water. The accusative case of {nothing} (shay’an) is said to be an adverbial state (hal), though the discussion of its derivation is simple. It is also said that it is a second object for wajada (to find), based on it being one of the synonyms of zanna (to think/deem). It is also permissible for it to be accusative as a substitute for the pronoun, and substituting an indefinite noun for a definite one without an adjective is permissible if it is beneficial, as Al-Radi stated. Abu al-Baqa’ chose the view that it is an accusative verbal noun (masdar), as if it were said: "He does not find it with any finding at all," and it is as you see.

{And he finds God before him}: This is joined to the sentence {he does not find it nothing}, so it is included in the simile—that is, the thirsty one finds His power—Exalted is He—of destruction at the aforementioned mirage. It is also said to mean: he finds God—Exalted is He—holding him to account, on the basis that "before him" (‘indahu) means "in the reckoning," due to the mention of the fulfilling of the account afterward by His saying—Glory be to Him—{and He pays him his account in full}: That is, He gives him, fully and completely, the account of his deeds and his recompense, or He completes his account by presenting the deeds recorded by the scribes. And God is swift in account.

{No occupation distracts Him from another account}. In Irshad al-‘Aql al-Salim, it is stated that the exposition of the states of the disbelievers by way of allegory is completed with His saying—Exalted is He—{he does not find it nothing}. His saying—Exalted is He—{and he finds...} onwards is an exposition of the remaining states that befall them thereafter, by way of completion, so that it may not be assumed that the limit of their affair is merely disappointment and despair, as is the case of the thirsty one. It appears that there befalls them thereafter an evil state for which the disappointment is of no value at all. Thus, the sentence is not joined to {he does not find it nothing}, but rather to what is understood from it by way of allegory regarding the disbelievers' failure to find their deeds to be a reality or an effect, as in His saying—Exalted is He—{And We proceeded to what they had done of deeds and made them as dust dispersed}. How could it be otherwise, when the judgment that the deeds of the disbelievers are like a mirage which the thirsty one thinks is water until, when he comes to it, he finds it nothing, is a judgment that they are such that they assume them to be effective for them in the Hereafter, until they come to them and find them to be nothing? It is as if it were said: "Until when the disbelievers come on the Day of Resurrection to their deeds which they had assumed in the world to be beneficial for them in the Hereafter, they do not find them to be anything." {And he finds God}—that is, His decree and judgment—at the time of arrival, or, as some say, at the time of the deed. {And He pays them in full}: That is, He gives them their account in full—their account of the aforementioned deeds and their recompense, for their belief in their benefit without faith, and their action according to that [belief], is disbelief upon disbelief, inevitably necessitating punishment. The use of the singular pronouns returning to {those who disbelieved} is either to intend the genus—like "the thirsty one" in the allegory—or to apply it to each one of them; the same applies to the singular pronoun returning to their deeds. End quote. Its remoteness and violation of the literal meaning are not hidden.

Regardless, the intent by "the thirsty one" is the absolute thirsty one. It is said that the intent is the disbeliever, and Al-Zamakhshari favored this. He said: "He—Exalted is He—likened what is done by one who does not believe in the faith to a mirage that the disbeliever sees in the Sahirah (the earth of the Day of Judgment), while the thirst of the Resurrection has overcome him. He thinks it is water, so he comes to it, but finds it not, and he finds the angels of God—Exalted is He—before him, taking him and giving him to drink of the boiling water and the pus." It is as if this is taken from what ‘Abd ibn Humayd, Ibn al-Mundhir, and Ibn Abi Hatim narrated via al-Suddi in his Ghara’ib, from the companions of the Messenger of God—may God bless him and grant him peace—who said: "The disbelievers will be resurrected on the Day of Resurrection, thirsty, and they will say: 'Where is the water?' The mirage will be represented to them, and they will think it is water, so they will hasten to it, and they will find God—Exalted is He—before them, and He will pay them their account in full. And God is swift in account." The scholar al-Tibi found this agreeable, saying: "The object of the simile was restricted to the vision of the disbeliever, and its states were made to be what he encounters on the Day of Resurrection, and it was not made absolute, because of His saying—Exalted is He—{and he finds God before him}, etc., because it is a completion of the states of the object of the simile. This style is more eloquent because the disbeliever’s disappointment is more profound, and his arrival at the opposite of what he hoped for is more deeply entrenched."

Abu Hayyan criticized this by saying that it necessitates likening a thing to itself to interpret the "thirsty one" as the "disbeliever." It was refuted that the simile, according to what Jar Allah mentioned, is allegorical or qualified, not disjointed as supposed, so it does not necessitate likening a thing to itself despite the unity of some of the parts in both sides, just as the unity of the agent in "you see yourself advancing one foot and retreating another." In sum, it is better than what is in al-Irshad, as is not hidden from one whose mind is free from the dust of obstinacy.

The verse, according to what is narrated from Muqatil, was revealed regarding ‘Utbah ibn Rabi‘ah ibn Umayyah, who used to worship, wear haircloth, and seek the true religion in the pre-Islamic era, but then disbelieved in Islam. His saying—Exalted is He—{And those who disbelieved} does not refuse this, because it is not specific to the cause of revelation, even if he is included in it in a primary sense. Nor is it a valid objection that the verse is Medinan, revealed after Badr, and ‘Utbah was killed at Badr, for many verses were revealed because of those who have passed away, and there is no harm in that at all. Then, it is not far-fetched that the philosophers and their followers—among those who assume the guise of Islam—are under the ruling of these disbelievers, for their beliefs and deeds, since they were not in accordance with the Sharia, are like a mirage in a plain.