Tafsir of Ash-Shu`ara' 26:223

(They cast), i.e., the fabricators, (the hearing), i.e., their hearing toward the devils. "Casting the hearing" is a metaphor for the intensity of listening for the purpose of reception; it is as if it were said: They listen intently to the devils, and thus receive from them what they receive.

(And most of them), i.e., the fabricators, (are liars) in what they utter of sayings. The use of "most" here pertains to their statements, in the sense that these people rarely speak the truth in their claims; rather, they are liars in the majority of them. The intent is that most of their speech is false—not in reference to their very selves (such that it would necessitate that the minority of them are absolute truth-tellers, nor does it require that "most" implies "all"). The term affāk (fabricator) does not mean one who never speaks anything but lies, such that truthfulness would be impossible for him; rather, it means one who fabricates frequently, so it does not contradict his occasionally speaking the truth at times.

It has been permitted that "the hearing" (al-sam') be interpreted as "what is heard" (al-masmu'), and "casting it" is a metaphor for mentioning it, meaning: The fabricators cast to the people what they have heard from the devils, (and most of them are liars) in what they recount from the devils. Some have not accepted this view due to its remoteness or lack of utility, as has been stated.

There is a difference of opinion regarding the cause for the majority of their statements being lies. It is said: After the Prophetic mission, it is because they receive from them conjectures and signs, since they have no share in the knowledge of the Unseen, and they are veiled from the news of the Heavens. Due to the lack of purity in their souls, their conjectures rarely hit the mark. Furthermore, the fabricators add to these conjectures—because they do not suffice for their desires—things based on their own imaginations, most of which do not correspond to reality.

It is also said: Before the Prophetic mission, when they were not veiled from the news of the Heavens and would hear from the angels (peace be upon them) the news of the Unseen, it is possible that the fabricators’ frequent errors were due to the deficiency of their understanding of them. It is also possible that they combined what they understood of the truth with things from their own selves, most of which did not correspond to reality. It is also possible that it was due to the frequent errors of the devils themselves, who would reveal to them, in their understanding from the angels (peace be upon them) due to the devils' own limited understanding of them. Or, it may be the combination of all that has been mentioned.

It is said: Before the Prophetic mission, it could be one of these matters. As for after the Prophetic mission, it is due to their frequent mixing of lies into what the devils snatch while eavesdropping on the angels, which the devils then cast to them.

Al-Bukhari, Muslim, and Ibn Marduyah recorded from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that she said: Some people asked the Prophet (may Allah be peace and blessings be upon him) about the soothsayers, and he said: "They are nothing." They said: "O Messenger of Allah, they sometimes tell us something that turns out to be true." He said: "That is the word of truth which the jinn snatches and throws into the ear of his protégé, and they mix into it more than a hundred lies."

It is said: Both before and after the Prophetic mission, it is due to the fabricators' frequent mixing of lies into what they receive from the devils. The frequency of this before the mission is due to the manifest nature of the aforementioned report. As for after the mission, it is because of what was recorded by Abd al-Razzaq, Abd bin Humayd, Ibn Jarir, Ibn al-Mundhir, and Ibn Abi Hatim from Qatadah, who said regarding this verse: "The devils used to ascend to heaven and listen, then descend to the soothsayers and inform them. The soothsayers would speak of what the devils brought from their eavesdropping, and the soothsayers would mix a great deal of lies into it, then relate it to the people. As for that which was from the hearing of heaven, it would be true; and as for that which they mixed with it of lies, it would be false."

It is not hidden that the view that devils, after the Prophetic mission, cast what they snatch of hearing to the soothsayers is not unanimously agreed upon. Among those who hold it, some permit that the pronoun in "they cast" (yulquna) in the verse refers to the devils. The meaning would be: The devils cast what they have heard from the Higher Assembly—before being pelted—of some unseen matters to their protégés, and most of them are liars in what they reveal to them, since they do not convey it to them in the same manner as the angels (peace be upon them) spoke, due to the devils' evil nature, or the deficiency of their understanding, or their retention, or their ability to communicate it.

It is also said: The meaning is that the devils listen and eavesdrop on the Higher Assembly before being pelted, and most of them are liars in what they reveal to their protégés afterward, due to their evil nature, or because they do not hear it properly themselves, or they do not convey to their protégés that which they heard of the angels’ speech in the proper way.

The sentence "they cast" (yulquna), on the assumption that the pronoun refers to the fabricators, is an adjective for "every fabricator" (kulli affakin), because it implies the plural, whether "casting the hearing" means listening to the devils or casting what is heard to the people. It is permitted that it be an isti’naf (a new starting sentence) as a report of their condition in either case, since both receiving from the devils and casting to the people occur after the descent of the devils. It is considered most likely that an implied subject is intended here, and that it is an isti’naf prompted by a question, as if it were said: "What do they do when the devils descend, or what do they do after they descend?" and it was answered: "They cast their hearing to them to memorize what they reveal to them," or "They cast what they hear from them to the people." It has also been permitted that it be a circumstantial clause (hal)—both pending and intended—in both interpretations.

On the assumption that the pronoun refers to the devils, and the meaning of what I heard first: it is said it could be an isti’naf explaining the purpose of the descent, prompted by a question about it, as if it were asked: "Why do they descend upon them?" and it was answered: "They cast to them what they heard." It could also be a hal pending from the pronoun of the devils, meaning: "They descend upon every sinful fabricator, casting to them what they hear from the Higher Assembly."

And on that assumption, the meaning of what I heard second: it is said it is not permissible for it to be an isti’naf like the one mentioned just now, nor can it be a hal, because "casting the hearing" in the sense of "listening intently" precedes the aforementioned descent, so how could it be its purpose or a concurrent or pending hal? It is then determined to be an isti’naf intended to report their condition. This has been criticized as unsound because mentioning their condition prior to their descent—mentioned before it—is not fitting for the eloquence of the Revelation. Hence, it was said: Making the pronoun refer to the devils and interpreting "casting the hearing" as their listening and eavesdropping on the Higher Assembly is a path that cannot be taken, though there is debate in this.

The sentence (they are liars) is an isti’naf, or it allows for being an isti’naf or a hal.

Know that there is a problem arising from some possibilities in the verse, because according to them, it implies that the devils hear the angels (peace be upon them) and cast it to the fabricators, whereas it has been established that they are forbidden from hearing, namely in the words of the Almighty: "Indeed, they are removed from hearing."

The response is that what is intended by "hearing" in the earlier instance is the hearing that carries weight, while here it is the "hearing" in a general sense, intended as the "snatching" mentioned in the Almighty’s words: "Except for one who snatches a snatching," and the word mentioned in the previously cited report of the two Sahihs and Ibn Marduyah.

This has been objected to, saying that one who snatches does not remain alive long enough to deliver what he snatched to his protégé, due to the apparent meaning of the Almighty's words: "Except for one who snatches a snatching, and is pursued by a piercing flame," for its apparent meaning is that he perishes by the flame that pursues him.

The response is that the negation of his remaining alive is not conceded, nor do we concede that the verse is manifest in what was mentioned, for it contains nothing more than the pursuit of the piercing flame, which is consistent with "frightening" just as it is consistent with "perishing." Let its pursuit be for the sake of frightening him while he remains alive, for the aforementioned report requires his survival in such a state.

It has been narrated from Ibn Abbas that the devils used to not be barred from the Heavens; they would enter them, bring back their news, and cast it to the soothsayers. When Jesus (peace be upon him) was born, they were barred from three heavens. When Muhammad (peace be upon him) was born, they were barred from all the heavens. No one among them seeks to eavesdrop but that he is cast with a flame—a spark of fire—and it never misses. Some of them it kills, some it burns their faces, and some it drives insane, and they become ghouls who lead people astray in the wilderness.

It is said: The intended meaning of "hearing" in the previous instance is the hearing of Revelation, while here it is the hearing of the Unseen, other than that. They are not forbidden from it before or after the Prophetic mission. This is taken from the words of Abd al-Rahman bin Khaldun in the introduction to his history, which is unparalleled, although there is room for criticism in it. He said: The verses only indicated the barring of devils from one type of news of heaven, which is that related to the news of the Prophetic mission; they were not barred from other than that. Indeed, it might be said that in his words there is an indication that the barring was only immediately before the Prophethood, not before it nor after it.

It is not hidden that the apparent meanings witness to their being barred absolutely until the Day of Judgment. Indeed, it may be claimed that there is evidence in the verses that the preservation of the heaven by the stars did not begin [then], and that they were created for that purpose, which is manifest that they were also barred from the news of heaven before the birth of the Prophet (peace be upon him). This conflicts with the outward meaning of "being removed," unless one claims that the barring before was not of the same degree as the barring after, so "removal" from what was [already] made the barring severe in relation to it.

In al-Yawaqit wa al-Jawahir fi 'Aqa'id al-Akabir by our master Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani (may Allah have mercy upon him), it states: "The correct view is that the devils have been forbidden from hearing since the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was sent until the Day of Judgment. Even assuming they eavesdrop, they do not reach the humans to inform them of what they eavesdropped; rather, the flames burn and destroy them." (End quote).

It is said that those who hold this are required to carry what is in the report of the two Sahihs to apply to soothsayers who were before the Prophetic mission, and whom the questioners [in the hadith] had encountered. This is what the words of al-Qadi also necessitate. Al-Nawawi reported from him in his commentary on Sahih Muslim that he said: "Soothsaying among the Arabs was of three types: one of which is that a human has a protégé from the jinn who informs him of what he eavesdrops from heaven. This section was voided from the time our Prophet (peace be upon him) was sent..." until the end of his words. This is the apparent meaning of al-Busiri’s words where he says: "Allah sent at the time of his mission flames as guards, and the space narrowed for them; they drive the jinn away from the seats of hearing as shepherds drive away wolves. So the signs of the soothsayers were erased by the signs of the Revelation, which have no erasure."

Something similar has been said in answer to the difficulty—that the descent of the devils and their casting what they heard from heaven to their protégés, as the aforementioned verse indicates in one of its interpretations, only occurred before the Prophetic mission when there was no barring, or there was, but it was not severe. The barring from hearing that the Almighty’s words "Indeed, they are removed from hearing" indicates only occurred after the mission and was in the most perfect manner.

This is difficult in my view regarding Ibn Sayyad and what happened with him, for they counted him among the soothsayers. It is established that he said to the Prophet (peace be upon him) when he asked him about his matter: "A truthful one comes to me, and a liar." And that the Prophet (peace be upon him) tested him, concealing for him the verse of al-Dukhan (Smoke), which is the Almighty's words: "Then watch for the day when the sky will bring a visible smoke." And the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "I have hidden a secret for you." Ibn Sayyad said: "It is the dukh," meaning the smoke, and it is a dialectical form of it, as the majority have held. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to him: "Be off, you shall not exceed your limits."

Al-Qadi said, as reported by al-Nawawi, that the soundest of the opinions is that he did not perceive from the verse that the Prophet (peace be upon him) concealed except this partial word, according to the habit of soothsayers when the devil casts to them as much as he snatches before the flame catches him. This is evidenced by his (peace be upon him) saying: "Be off, you shall not exceed your limits," meaning the limit that soothsayers reach in perceiving some things, which does not clarify its reality, nor does it reach through it to an explanation and verification of the matters of the Unseen.

It may be said in defense of this difficulty: Ibn Sayyad was of the second type of soothsayers—those whom devils inform about what occurs or happens in the regions of the earth, and what is hidden from them of what is near or far. The correct view is the permissibility of their existence after the mission, contrary to the Mu'tazilah and some theologians who said it is impossible for this type to exist, as well as the previous type. It is also possible that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had whispered to some of his companions who were with him what he concealed, or that the Surah of al-Dukhan was written in his (peace be upon him) hand, or he had written the verse alone in his hand. Both of the latter two statements were narrated by al-Dawudi from some scholars, as in the commentary of Sahih Muslim.

Be that as it may, Ibn Sayyad had reported an occurrence about which the devils are informed without eavesdropping from heaven, and that has nothing to do with knowing what is in the heart. Even so, he did not report it completely; rather, he reported it in the manner of the soothsayers preceding the time of the mission who were of the first type in their deficiency. Perhaps al-Qadi’s intent by saying "he did not perceive... except this partial word" is comparing his situation—despite being of the second type—to those who preceded him of the first type; otherwise, his words would conflict with what we quoted from him earlier. It is as if he believes in the pelting of those who eavesdrop on hearing even before the mission, except that it was not to the degree it was after the mission. A group of hadith scholars has leaned toward this.

Some people said: When the devil snatches a snatching and is pursued by a piercing flame, he casts what he snatches to those below him before the flame reaches him, then those below him deliver that to the soothsayer. This is hardly sound.

It is said: What the devils cast to the soothsayers after the mission is what they hear from the angels (peace be upon them) in the ‘inan (clouds/mist), which is the intended meaning of the Almighty’s words: "They cast the hearing," while what they are forbidden from is the hearing from the angels (peace be upon them) [directly from heaven], which is the intended meaning of the Almighty’s words: "Indeed, they are removed from hearing." This is supported by what al-Bukhari and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) from the Prophet (peace be upon him) who said: "The angels speak in the ‘inan—the clouds—about matters on earth, so the devil hears the word and settles it into the ear of the soothsayer as one settles a bottle, and they add to it a hundred lies." It is not hidden that the report contains no reference to hearing from the angels in heaven in the known sense, neither by negation nor affirmation.

It may be chosen that the devils were forbidden after the mission from hearing what carries weight of the knowledge of the Unseen from the angels of heaven or the ‘inan, and whoever snatches a snatching that carries weight of that is pursued by the flame and destroyed, and is not allowed by any means to deliver it to the soothsayers. As for hearing what does not carry weight, it may happen to them and they deliver it to the soothsayers and mix into it the lies they mix. So, wherever they were judged as being removed from hearing, "hearing" is intended as the complete hearing that carries weight; and wherever they were judged as "casting the hearing," "hearing" is intended as hearing in a general sense, and the least that can be called hearing. The apparent meaning is that what happened to Ibn Sayyad was from this [latter] type of hearing.

It is possible that it is said, though remotely: The devils were forbidden after the mission from hearing absolutely by the flames that burn them, and referring the pronoun in "they cast" to the devils is weak because the context is to explain whom they descend upon, not to explain their state or their "casting the hearing" in the sense of their listening to the Higher Assembly. And "most of them" means all of them, the expression being used to indicate that the aforementioned majority is sufficient for the intended purpose. The meaning is: they listen in order to hear, but they do not hear; it is just that "most of them are liars" was put in the place of "they hear," or "casting the hearing" means the fabricators casting what they hear to the people. It does not necessitate that they heard it from the angels (peace be upon them), for it is permissible that they fabricated it from their own selves by conjecture and guessing and cast it to their protégés. It is not unlikely that they are truthful in some of it, and the matter is then one of naming it "heard" at that point. What came in the hadith of the two Sahihs and Ibn Marduyah is carried to what was before the mission, and it is said they used to hear in a general sense, and what is in the verse may be carried to that. Some have gone to this, carrying the "snatching of the word" in it to guessing it through some astronomical positions and the like. That it would be after the mission is something I do not think anyone would accept.

There is nothing in the story of Ibn Sayyad that is an explicit text that what he said was from hearing from the angels (peace be upon them) which the devil cast to him. And as if you find it far-fetched that the angels (peace be upon them) would talk in heaven about what the Prophet (peace be upon him) concealed, and the devils would ascend upon the questioning without delay, and eavesdrop and descend in the fastest time with what Ibn Sayyad answered—it is nothing but a type of soothsaying.

The verification of the matter, according to what the scholar Abd al-Rahman bin Khaldun mentioned, is that the human soul has a predisposition to strip away from humanity to the spirituality above it. From this, a glimpse occurs to humans of the pious class, based on what they are created with of that. They do not need to earn it, nor do they need to seek help from any of the cognitive faculties, nor from images, nor from bodily actions—speech or movement—nor by any other thing. Intellectual classification gives that here is another class of humans, lacking the rank of this class by the deficiency of the opposite to its perfect opposite. It is a class of humans created such that its rational power moves with its intellectual movement by will when the longing for it follows. But it is deficient, so it clings, for the sake of using trickery, to partial matters that are sensed or imagined, such as transparent bodies, animal bones, rhymed speech, and whatever occurs to them of bird or animal movements. They persist in that sensing and imagining, seeking help by it in that stripping-away which they intend, and it is like a guide for it.

This power, which is the principle in this class for that perception, is soothsaying. Because these souls are created with a deficiency and are short of perfection, their perception of particulars is greater than their perception of universals, and they are occupied with them, heedless of the universals. For this reason, the imagination in them is often in the utmost of strength, and the particulars are present and ready for it, and they are like a mirror in which it constantly looks. The soothsayer cannot reach perfection in perceiving the intelligibles because his deficiency is innate, and his inspiration is satanic.

The highest states of this class is to seek help by speech that has rhyme and balance to occupy the senses with it and to strengthen themselves in that stripping-away—deficient as it is—so there occurs in his heart from that movement, and what that foreign element guides him toward, what is cast upon his tongue. By this he tells the truth and corresponds to reality, and he may lie because he completes his deficiency with something foreign to the essence of cognitive faculties, disparate from them, and not compatible with them. Thus, truth and falsehood occur to him both together, and he is not to be trusted. He may also flee to conjectures and guesses in his eagerness to achieve perception, as he claims, and to deceive the questioners.

Since the stripping-away of the Prophet (peace be upon him) from humanity and his connection to the Higher Assembly was without a guide or seeking help from anything foreign, he was truthful in all that he brought, and truthfulness was among the characteristics of Prophethood. This is why he said (peace be upon him) to Ibn Sayyad when he asked him, uncovering his state: "How does this matter come to you?" He replied: "A truthful one comes to me, and a liar." [He said:] "The matter has been confused for you." He (peace be upon him) intended to negate Prophethood from him by pointing out that it is something in which lying is never considered.

It is said that the highest state of this class is rhyme because the helper of rhyme is lighter than all other helpers of sights and sounds. The lightness of the helper indicates the proximity of that stripping-away and connection, and the distance in it from helplessness in general. There is no limitation for the sciences of soothsayers to that which comes from devils; rather, as they come from devils, they can come from their own selves by their souls stripping away in a non-complete stripping and connecting in general—by way of some causes—with a world that is not veiled from future events and others. So, the cutting off of the news of heaven after the mission from the devils, by pelting, if conceded, does not indicate the cutting off of soothsaying.

Then, these soothsayers, if they are contemporaries of the time of Prophethood, are aware of the truthfulness of the Prophet and the evidence of his miracle, because they have some intuition of the matter of Prophethood. Nothing holds them back from belief and calls them to stubbornness except the whispers of greed for obtaining Prophethood for themselves, as happened to Umayyah bin Abi al-Salt, for he was greedy to be a prophet. Similar occurred to Ibn Sayyad, Musaylimah, and others. Perhaps those desires are cut off, and they believe a good belief, as happened to Tulayhah al-Asadi and Qarab bin al-Aswad, and they both had, in the Islamic conquests, effects that testify to the goodness of their belief.

He mentioned in the explanation of the predisposition of some individuals—whether they are soothsayers or others—to report unseen matters before they appear, a long discussion, the gist of which is that the human soul possesses spirituality, and it has perception by itself without a medium, but it is veiled from it by immersion in the body and senses and their occupations, because the senses are always pulling it toward the external by what they are created with of bodily perception. Sometimes it is immersed from the external to the internal, so the veil of the body lifts for a moment, either by a property that belongs to humans absolutely, such as sleep, or by a property found in some individuals, such as soothsayers, people of rhymed speech, those who practice with pebbles and pits, those who look into transparent bodies such as mirrors and water, or hearts, livers, and bones of animals. Sometimes the insane are joined to them, or by religious discipline such as the kashf (unveiling) of the Sufis, or magic such as the kashf of the Yogis. At that time, it turns toward the essences above it in the Higher Assembly, due to the connection in existence between its horizon and theirs. Those essences are pure perception and intellect in act, and in them are the images of existing things and their realities, as established in its place. Something of those images is reflected in them, and knowledge is taken from them. Perhaps those perceived images fall to the imagination, so it casts them into habitual molds, then returns to the sense with what it has perceived, either abstractly or in its molds, so it informs of it. (End quote).

It is not hidden that this is a leaning toward what the philosophers say regarding the Higher Assembly, and they often call it the "world of the abstract," and they sometimes call it the "world of intellects," which they limit in their famous tradition to ten, and they have no evidence for this limitation. Hence, some of their later scholars said they are uncountable. The theologians and the verifiers among the predecessors have a discussion on that which this place cannot contain.

I say—and none but the ignorant would deny it—to Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) belong properties in times, places, and persons. It is not unlikely that the cutting off of the news of heaven from the devils by pelting is made to give some human souls the property of speaking of what hits the mark, either entirely or partially, with a revelation and uncovering that provides knowledge of what it reported, or without that—by having the Almighty make him utter something, so he speaks of it without knowledge of what he is reporting, and it corresponds to reality.

This has happened to me when I was about five years old. It happened that I returned from the school to the house and began to play in it according to the habit of children. My mother (may Allah have mercy on her) forbade me from that and ordered me to sleep so that I would wake up in the morning and go to school. I said to her: "Tomorrow the Minister will be killed, and I will not go to school." This is something that would hardly pass through the mind. She did not pay attention to it and put me to sleep. When it was morning, I prepared to go, but a son of a sister of hers came and whispered something to her that I did not hear, and her state changed, and she forbade me from going. I do not know why that was. I wanted to go out to the street to play with my peers, and she forbade me as well. I sat while she was in a state of agitation, looking for someone to inform her about the state of my father (may Allah have mercy on him), as he had gone just before sunrise to the school. I went out to the street at a time she was unmindful of me, and I found people running and hastening, talking about the Minister being killed by some of his servants while he was in the dawn prayer. I returned to her quickly, happy with the truthfulness of my words. I had forgotten it and it had not crossed my mind until I heard people talking about that.

In al-Yawaqit wa al-Jawahir by al-Sha'rani (may Allah have mercy on him), in the discussion of the difference between a miracle and soothsaying, it states: "Soothsaying is words that run on the tongue of the soothsayer that may hit the mark and may miss." In it is a trace of what we mentioned. This is what Allah (Exalted be He) knows best.

The most apparent, as it is said, is that the Almighty’s words: "Shall I inform you..." etc., is speech directed by Him (Exalted be He) to declare the Prophet (peace be upon him) free from—and God forbid—being someone upon whom the devils descend, and to refute their statement regarding the Quran that it is of the category of what is cast to soothsayers. In al-Bahr is what is manifest that it is in the sense of the command, i.e., "Say, O Muhammad, shall I inform you..." etc., and it is directed to the aforementioned declaration of freedom and refutation. And His words...