Tafsir of Saba' 34:23

(And intercession does not benefit in His presence): That is, it does not exist at all, just as in the line: Upon a trackless path where one is not guided by its beacon. This is based on His saying, "Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission?" The negation was attached to the benefit of intercession rather than its occurrence as an explicit way to negate the very thing they intended by its occurrence.

His saying, (Except for whom He has permitted) is an exception of the most general circumstances, as chosen by Al-Zamakhshari. "Man" (whoever/whom) refers to the intercessor, and the "lam" (preposition) attached to it indicates specialization, similar to its usage in "the generosity is for Zayd." The "lam" in "lahu" (for him) connects to "adhina" (permitted). The intent is to negate the intercession of their deities for them, but this was stated in a general way so as to serve as a demonstrative path; meaning: intercession does not benefit in any circumstance, nor does it exist for anyone, except for an intercessor permitted to perform it, such as the prophets, the angels, and others who are worthy of the station of intercession. It is evident that they are not permitted to intercede for the disbelievers, for God the Exalted has said: "They do not speak except for one whom the Most Merciful has permitted and [for whom] He has spoken words of truth." Intercession for them is far removed from the truth, and the lack of permission for idols is even more obvious. Thus, the total deprivation of these disbelievers from it becomes clear.

Alternatively, "Man" refers to the one interceded for, and the "lam" attached to it is for the purpose of causal explanation (ta’lil), while the "lam" in "lahu" connects to "adhina." That is: intercession does not benefit unless it is for one for whom permission has been granted—meaning for his intercessor—via suppression (of the direct object), because the one interceded for does not perform an action for which he would be permitted to intercede. Al-Zamakhshari chose that the "lam" in "lahu" is for causal explanation, meaning: except for the one for whom permission was granted to the intercessor on his behalf. The reason for this, as stated in Al-Kashshaf, is that it includes an indication of both the intercessor and the one interceded for, because the one for whom the permission is granted is the interceded-for, and the one permitted is the intercessor. Furthermore, because the purpose is to clarify the location of benefit, which is the interceded-for, making his mention explicit is more important. It is not hidden that the previous interpretation involves evident artificiality and the use of suppression that the context does not necessitate. The essence of the meaning, according to this, is: intercession by those intercessors worthy of it does not benefit unless it is for one for whom permission was granted to the intercessor on his behalf and in his matter among those deserving of intercession. As for those other than them—those not deserving of it—it does not benefit them at all, even if one were to assume its occurrence from the intercessors, for permission was not granted to them for their intercession, but rather for the intercession of others. From this, the deprivation of these disbelievers from the intercession of the worthy intercessors is proven by the express wording of the text, and from the intercession of idols by its implication; for if they are deprived of it by those capable of it in general, then they are all the more deserving of being deprived of it by those entirely incapable of it.

Abu Hayyan held that the exception is from the most general of entities, meaning: intercession does not benefit anyone except for [so-and-so] etc. He considered it likely that "man" refers to the one interceded for, and that the "lam," considering the apparent meaning, relates to "intercession." Abu al-Baqa’ permitted it to relate to "benefit" (tanfa'u), but he was refuted by the claim that the verb does not take a direct object except by itself. Abu Hayyan said regarding this: "The object is delayed, so the inclusion of the 'lam' is rare."

Abu 'Amr, Hamzah, and Al-Kisa'i recited "udhina" in the passive voice, and thus the pronoun takes the place of the subject.

(Until when fear is removed from their hearts, they say, "What has your Lord said?" They say, "The Truth") The taf'il form denotes removal, as in "qarradtu al-ba'ir" (I removed the ticks from the camel). From this comes the word for "nursing" (tamrid). Therefore, tafzi' means the removal of faza' (terror). Faza' is, as Al-Raghib said, a constriction and aversion that strikes a human from something frightening. "Hatta" (until) is for the purpose of the end-point (ghayah). They differed regarding what is being culminated (the mughaya), as there is nothing before it that appears to be the culmination. Consequently, they differed greatly regarding the intent of the verse. It is said: It is what is understood from the Hadith of Intercession and what it points to, namely that His saying, "And intercession does not benefit in His presence except for whom He has permitted," implies intercessors and those interceded for, and that there is a request for permission to intercede. Necessarily, the occurrence of permission implies a prior state of seeking it, which requires waiting for the answer. Since this is speech issuing from the station of Majesty and Pride—how could it be otherwise when what preceded it indicates that all are in that stance behind the curtain of Majesty, with the mantle of Awe cast upon them—and what follows the end-point particle is also intensely indicative of that, it is as if it were said: The intercessors and those interceded for stand in that stance where the petitioners cling to the hems of hope from the interceded-with, and the intercessor stands on the foot of supplication to God—may His Majesty be glorified—knocking at the door of intercession by seeking permission. They all remain waiting, terrified, and alarmed, not knowing what the Great King—may His Majesty be glorified—will decree for them on the parchment of their request, and what will be valid after the presentation of their situation, until when the fear is removed from the hearts of the intercessors and those interceded for by the appearance of the dawn of a favorable decree and the radiance of the lights of acceptance and approval from the horizons of the High King’s mercy, they say—that is, some say to others. The apparent meaning is that the ones speaking are those interceded for; if you wish, you may return the pronoun to them from the beginning, as they are the most in need of the permission and the most concerned with its matter. "What did your Lord say?"—in the matter of permission to intercede. They say—the intercessors, for they are the ones directly responsible for seeking the permission, the intermediaries for those asking for intercession before Him—"Our Lord said the Truth," i.e., that which occurs according to what Wisdom necessitates, which is the permission of intercession for whom He approves.

It is apparent that His saying, (And He is the Most High, the Most Great) is a continuation of the intercessors' speech. They said it in acknowledgement of the Majesty of the Court of Honor—may His Majesty be glorified—and the insignificance of everything other than Him. That is: He—may His glory be magnified—is the One unique in Exaltation and Greatness; none of His creation shares this with Him. It is not for any of them, whoever they may be, to speak except after His permission—may His Majesty be glorified. In this is a display of their humility after their status was elevated by the granting of permission to them for intercession, and it also contains a type of praise, as is not hidden. This clause, which is the culmination of what was mentioned, is not far from being an answer to an implied question, as if it were said: "How is the permission granted in that situation to those seeking it, and how is the condition there for the intercessors and the interceded-for?" Then it was said: "They stand waiting, terrified, alarmed, until when..." etc. The verses indicate that those interceded for are the believers. As for the disbelievers, they are far removed from the station of intercession, and a million miles away from having fear removed from their hearts.

Some, based on this interpretation, made the pronoun in "their hearts" refer to the angels, and specified the intercessors as them. They also made the first "they say" refer to them, and the second "they say" refer to the angels above them, who are the ones conveying that to them. He said: Their fear is either due to the terrifying command that accompanies the permission, or due to a faint that overcomes them upon hearing the speech of God—may His Majesty be glorified—or from noticing the occurrence of shortcomings in determining who is to be interceded for, based on the arrival of the permission for intercession in summary. This is as you can see.

Al-Zajjaj said: The interpretation of this is that when Gabriel, peace be upon him, descended to the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, with the revelation, the angels, peace be upon them, thought he had descended with something regarding the Hour, and they were terrified of that. When the fear was removed from them, they said: "What did your Lord say?"—having asked why Gabriel, peace be upon him, descended—they said: "The Truth."

This was narrated from Qatadah, Muqatil, and Ibn al-Sa'ib, although they said: The angels were struck by a thunderbolt (sa'aqa) because of that, so Gabriel, peace be upon him, would pass by every heaven, remove the fear from them, and inform them that it was the revelation. Al-Zajjaj did not explain how the verse connects to what preceded it, nor did he investigate the end-point (ghayah). Imam Al-Razi mentioned something similar, then said regarding it: That "hatta" is an end-point related to His saying, "Say," because it is explained by the revelation. So when He—glory be to Him—said "Say," those in the heavens were terrified. This, by my life, is one of the most astonishing of things.

The learned Al-Tibi said after quoting that interpretation: "The majority of the speech of the commentators is upon this, and it is supported by what we have narrated from Al-Bukhari, Al-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah from Abu Hurayrah, that the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: 'When God—may the Exalted be glorified—decrees the matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in submission to His saying, as if it were a chain upon a smooth rock. Then when fear is removed from their hearts, they say: "What did your Lord say?" They say: "What He said is the Truth, and He is the Most High, the Most Great."'" And from Abu Dawood from Ibn Mas'ud, he said: "When God—may He be glorified—speaks with the revelation, the inhabitants of the heavens hear a sound like the dragging of a chain on a rock, and they are struck by a thunderbolt. They remain like that until Gabriel comes to them. When Gabriel, peace be upon him, comes to them, fear is removed from their hearts, and they say: 'O Gabriel, what did your Lord say?' And he says: 'The Truth, the Truth.'" Then he mentioned regarding the matter of the end-point and the connection of the verse to what precedes it: that the meaning of the culmination is extracted from the concept, which is: that when the polytheists claimed the intercession of the gods and the angels and were answered with His saying, "Say, 'Call upon those you have claimed besides God'..."—meaning the idols and the angels—and you named them with His name and turned to them, for they possess not even the weight of an atom in the heavens or on the earth, and intercession does not benefit from these except for the angels, but only with permission and great fear, and they do not intercede except for those who are approved of. So He expressed the angels, peace be upon them, with His saying: "Except for whom He has permitted, until when fear is removed from their hearts, they say: 'What did your Lord say?'" The verse is a metonymy, as if it were said: Intercession does not benefit except for one whose state and habit is this, and that he does not stand firm at the impact of one of the shocks of this Clear Book and upon hearing the Word of Truth—meaning those who, when the revelation descends upon them, become terrified and are struck by a thunderbolt, until when Gabriel, peace be upon him, comes to them, fear is removed from their hearts and they say: "What did your Lord say?" And they say: "The Truth." End quote. It is not hidden to anyone with the slightest discernment what his state is, and that it is something that should not be relied upon.

Ibn 'Atiyyah's statement—that the interpretation of the verse as referring to the angels when they hear the revelation to Gabriel or the command by God's order, and they hear it like the dragging of an iron chain on iron, so they become terrified out of reverence and awe, and it is said (it is out of) fear of the coming of the Hour—is the correct one and is what the Hadiths have corroborated. This is born from the deprivation of 'Atiyyah of refined taste and precision of thought. The interpretation we mentioned first is degrees better in beauty than what is mentioned from the majority of commentators. What you heard of the narration does not contradict it, for there is no indication in it that the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, mentioned that in the context of interpreting the verse, and there is no contradiction between the two types of terror. It seems the majority of commentators looked at the apparent correspondence of the wording with the Hadith, so they applied the verse to that, and thus fell into what they fell into, even if they were many and great. The one who held the previous opinion looked at the correspondence of the context and realized the lack of contradiction, and the state of what they said became apparent to him, so he turned away from it.

Ibn Jarir and Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Al-Dahhak that he said regarding the verse: Ibn Mas'ud claimed that the angels who are the Mu'aqqibat (successive ones) who descend to the people of the earth to record their deeds, when the Lord—Blessed and Exalted be He—sends them and they descend, a loud sound is heard from them. Those below them among the angels think it is from the matter of the Hour, so they fall in prostration. This happens every time they pass by them, out of fear of their Lord—Blessed and Exalted be He. Ibn Mas'ud is, in my view, too noble to have the verse applied to this, so the apparent meaning is that it is not authentic from him.

Similar to this is what some claimed, that that is the terror of the angels of the lowest heaven upon the descent of the "Disposers" (Al-Mudabbirat) to the earth. It was said that "hatta" is an end-point related to His saying, "You claimed," meaning: You claimed the denial until the end-point of terror, then you abandoned what you claimed and said, "He said the Truth." To this points what Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Zayd ibn Aslam that he said in the verse: "Until Satan was removed from their hearts, so he departed from them and their desires and what he was misguiding them with; they said, 'What did your Lord say?' They say: 'The Truth, and He is the Most High, the Most Great.'" Then he said: This is regarding the Children of Adam—that is, their disbelievers—at the time of death, they acknowledge when acknowledgement does not benefit them. The apparent meaning is that in the speech, there is a shift from the second person in "you claimed" to the third person in "their hearts," and that the first pronoun "they say" refers to the angels tasked with seizing their souls. The removal of terror from the hearts refers to the uncovering of the veil and the obstacles to perceiving the truth. What was reported from Al-Hasan, that it is said to the polytheists, "What did your Lord say?"—meaning on the tongues of the prophets, peace be upon them—and they acknowledged when it does not benefit, may be like the aforementioned statement in that this is at the time of death. It is also possible that it is a statement that this is on the Day of Resurrection, except that making "hatta" an end-point for "you claimed" based on that is not apparent, for that does not accompany them to the Day of Resurrection in reality, as is not hidden. Further from this is the saying that this is an end-point to His saying, "of whom he is in doubt," and the pronoun "their hearts" refers to "whom" considering its meaning, and the terror refers to the uncovering of the veil and the locations of perceiving the truth. Rather, it is something that God's speech should not be burdened with.

Some claimed that the meaning is when Israfil, peace be upon him, calls them from their graves, they say, answering: "What did your Lord say?" It was related in Al-Bahr, then he said: "And the tafzi' (removal of terror) is from the faza' (terror) which is calling out and crying for help," as Zuhayr said: "When they were terrified (fazi'u), they flew to their helper, the long-speared ones, for weakening and not for removal." You know that tafzi' in the mentioned meaning does not take " 'an" (from), and the matter of the end-point according to it is not apparent. In sum, that claim is nothing.

Abu Hayyan chose that the culmination is the following in His saying, "And Iblis had certainly confirmed his assumption about them, so they followed him, except for a party of believers." The pronoun "their hearts" returns to what the nominative pronoun in "followed him" returned to, meaning the disbelievers, and likewise the second "they say" pronoun. The first "they say" pronoun refers to the angels, as does the "your Lord" pronoun. The sentence of His saying, "Say, 'Call upon those...'" etc., is parenthetical between the end-point and the culminated. The terror is at the moment of parting from life or on the Day of Resurrection, by making their following of Iblis accompany them to that day metaphorically. Its remoteness is not hidden. The view in my opinion is what was mentioned first. "Ma-dha" can be accusative by "qala" (what did your Lord say), or it can be in the nominative position as "ma" (interrogative noun) acting as a subject and "dha" (relative noun) acting as its predicate, and the sentence "qala" is the relative clause (with a suppressed return pronoun), meaning "what is it that your Lord said."

Ibn Abbas, Ibn Mas'ud, Talha, Abu al-Mutawakkil al-Naji, Ibn al-Musayqa', Ibn 'Amir, and Ya'qub recited "fazza'a" with tashdid (doubling) and in the active voice, and the agent is the hidden pronoun of God the Exalted, meaning: God the Exalted removed the terror from their hearts.

Abu Hayyan said: It is His pronoun—Exalted is He—if the pronoun "their hearts" is for the angels; and if it is for the disbelievers, then it is the pronoun of their seducer.

Al-Hasan recited "fuzzi'a" with takhfif (lightness) and in the passive voice, and "from their hearts" is the deputy of the subject, as in the recitation of the majority. He, along with Abu al-Mutawakkil, Qatadah, and Mujahid, also recited "fazza'a" (with 'fa', 'ra', and 'ghayn') doubled and in the active voice, meaning "removed." Al-Hasan also recited it likewise, except that he lightened the 'ra'. Abdullah ibn 'Umar, may God be pleased with them both, Al-Hasan, Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani, Qatadah, and Abu Mijlaz also recited it likewise, except they made it passive. Ibn Mas'ud in a narration, and 'Isa, recited "afranqa'a," which is said to mean "to disperse."

Al-Zamakhshari said: It means "to be uncovered," and the word is composed of the letters of "departure" (mufaraqa) with the addition of the 'ayn, just as "aqmatara" was composed from the letters of "qamt" with the addition of the 'ra'. There is in it an implication that the 'ayn and the 'ra' are letters of addition, and this is not the case. Ibn Abi 'Ablah recited "al-haqqu" in the nominative, meaning: His saying is the Truth.