Tafsir of Al-Ahzab 33:21

The manifest meaning is that the address is to the believers, the sincere ones who were addressed previously in His saying, the Almighty: {about your reports}, and His saying, the Glorified: {and even if they were among you}.

Al-Uswah (أسوة) is read with a kasrah on the alif by the majority, and with a dammah on it as read by ‘Asim, meaning a trait. Al-Raghib said: It is the state in which a human finds himself. It is the noun of kana (كان), and {for you} (لكم) is its predicate. {In the Messenger of Allah} (في رسول الله) is connected to what {for you} is connected to, or it is in the place of an adjective for Uswah; for if it were placed later, it would be permissible for it to be an adjective for it, or connected to kana according to the school of those who permit it to be a deficient verb and to act upon a prepositional phrase, similar to its sisters. It is also permissible for {in the Messenger of Allah} to be the predicate, and {for you} to be an explanation—meaning: I mean for you. That is, by Allah, there has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent trait that is worthy of being emulated and followed, such as steadfastness in war and enduring hardships.

It is permissible for Uswah to be intended as Qudwah (model), in the sense of the one who is imitated; meaning that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is in himself a model worthy of being emulated. In the speech, there is the art of tajrid (abstraction), which is to derive from a possessor of a quality another like him in it, as a hyperbole in description, such as: "I met a lion in him." As it can mean "one who is," it can also mean "in," as in his saying: "The sons of Marwan shed our blood unjustly, and in Allah—if they do not act justly—is the judgment of justice," and as in the saying: "In the egg are twenty manns of iron," meaning it contains that amount of iron within it.

Although the verse was brought down regarding following him, peace and blessings be upon him, in matters of war such as steadfastness and the like, it is general for all his actions, peace and blessings be upon him, provided it is not known to be from his specific characteristics, such as marrying more than four women. Ibn Majah and Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from Hafs ibn ‘Asim, who said: I said to ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with both: I saw you during travel not praying before the prayer nor after it. He said: O son of my brother, I accompanied the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, for such and such a time, and I did not see him praying before the prayer nor after it, and Allah the Almighty says: {There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern}.

‘Abd al-Razzaq narrated in his Musannaf from Qatadah, who said: ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, intended to forbid the Hibra (garment). A man said: Have you not seen the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, wearing it? ‘Umar said: Yes. The man said: Did Allah the Almighty not say: {There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern}? So ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, abandoned that.

The two Shaykhs (Al-Bukhari and Muslim), Al-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah, and others narrated from Ibn ‘Umar that he was asked about a man performing ‘Umrah who circumambulated the House: May he have intercourse with his wife before he circumambulates between Safa and Marwah? He said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, arrived, circumambulated the House, prayed two rak'ahs behind the Maqam, and performed Sa'i between Safa and Marwah, then he recited: {There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern}.

The two Shaykhs and others narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas, who said: If a man declares his wife unlawful to himself, it is an oath which he must expiate, and he said: {There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern}, along with other reports. The full discussion is in the books of Usul.

That is: hopes for Allah the Almighty and His reward, as indicated by a trace from Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both. According to this, {the Last Day} is placed in the sense of the Day of Resurrection in place of "reward," because His reward, the Almighty, occurs therein. It is, according to what Al-Tayyibi said, an instance of using the name of the container for the contained. The speech is similar to your saying: "I hope for Zayd and his generosity," where the mention of what is conjoined is a preamble to the conjoined term, which is the intended object. There is in it a beauty and eloquence not found in your saying: "I hope for Zayd's generosity" as an appositional replacement.

The author of Al-Fara'id said: It is possible that the estimation is "hopes for the mercy of Allah or the pleasure of Allah and the reward of the Last Day." Thus, there are two estimated nouns. According to Muqatil, it means: he fears Allah the Almighty and fears the Resurrection in which there is the recompense for deeds, based on placing the "Last Day" in the place of the "Resurrection" because it occurs therein, and "hope" here is in the sense of "fear." The object of hope, in whatever sense it is taken, is of the nature of meanings, for it does not relate to physical entities.

Some have estimated the noun attributed to the Glorious Name as the word "days," intending by it "events," for the "day" is applied to the wars and incidents that occur therein. This has become so famous it has reached the status of a literal meaning, and the conjoined element is made an indicator for this estimation, making the conjunction an instance of conjoining the specific to the general. The apparent meaning is that hope here is in the sense of fear. It is permissible for the speech to be like your saying: "I hope for Zayd and his generosity," or that the hope is in the sense of expectation if what is intended is the victory and reward that is in that Day, or that it is in the sense of fear and hope together, based on the permissibility of using a word in both its senses, or in its literal and metaphorical meanings, and intending what occurs therein of the pleasant and the repulsive. In my opinion, the estimation of "days" is not immediate to the understanding. Some interpreted {the Last Day} as the Day of the Assembly, and what is immediately understood from it is the Day of Resurrection.

{Min} (for whoever) is, as has been said, a substitute for the pronoun of address in {for you} (لكم), and the agent is repeated for emphasis; it is a total-for-total substitution. The benefit therein is the urging to emulate, and substituting the explicit noun for the addressed pronoun is permissible according to the Kufans and Al-Akhfash; it is evidenced by his saying: "Through you, O Quraysh, we were spared every difficulty; and the mother of the path of guidance is one who was lost." The majority of the Basrans prohibited this. From here, the author of Al-Taqrib said it is an encompassing substitution or a part-for-whole substitution, and this cannot be managed except on the view that the address is general, which is contrary to the apparent meaning as you have heard. Even so, it requires the estimation of "among you."

Abu al-Baqa' said: It is permissible for {for whoever} to be connected to "excellent" or to an estimated word that serves as an adjective for it, because it occurred after an indefinite noun. It was also said: It is permissible for it to be an adjective for Uswah, but this was rebutted by saying that a qualified verbal noun does not act upon what comes after its adjective, and similarly, multiple adjectives without conjunction is not sound; Imam Al-Wahidi stated the prohibition of this. It is not hidden that the matter is controversial, so do not be neglectful.

That is: a frequent remembrance. He, the Glorified, coupled the remembrance with hope, because perseverance in frequent remembrance of Him, the Almighty and Majestic, leads to consistency in obedience, and through it, the emulation of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is realized.

Among what should be known is that some dignitaries, such as Al-Nawawi, have stated that the remembrance of Allah the Almighty which is considered valid by the Law is that which occurs within a beneficial sentence, such as "Subhan Allah," "Alhamdulillah," "La ilaha illa Allah," "Allahu Akbar," "La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah," and the like. What is not a complete sentence is not considered in the Law as dhikr (remembrance), such as "Allah," "Qadir," "Sami'," or "Basir," unless something is estimated there that would make the utterance complete speech. People are oblivious to this.

They have also reached a consensus that the dhikr which is worshipped through its meaning, the one who performs it is not rewarded unless he brings its meaning to his consciousness. So, the one who utters something like "Subhan Allah" or "La ilaha illa Allah" while being oblivious to the meaning, not observing it, nor keeping it in his consciousness, is not rewarded, by consensus. People are also oblivious to this—so to Allah we belong, and to Him we shall return.