Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:25

(And among them are those who listen to you): This speech is presented to recount what emanated from some of the polytheists in this world regarding their judgments of disbelief, followed by a clarification of what will emanate from them on the Day of Gathering, as a confirmation of what preceded it and a substantiation of its content. The pronoun in "among them" (minhum) refers to those who associated others with Allah.

"Listening" (istima') carries the meaning of hearkening (isgha'), which is an intransitive verb that is made transitive by the letter lam or by ila (to), as stated by the linguistic scholars. It is also said that it is imbued with the meaning of hearkening, and its object is implied, namely: the Quran. Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with both of them—narrated in a report by Abu Salih that Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah, al-Nadr ibn al-Harith, Utbah and Shaybah (the sons of Rabi’ah), Umayyah, and Ubayy ibn Khalaf listened to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) as he was reciting the Quran. They said to al-Nadr, "O Abu Qutilah, what is Muhammad saying?" He replied, "By the One who made this His House, I do not know what he says, except that I see his lips moving, uttering something. He speaks only the fables of the ancients, like what I used to narrate to you about past centuries." Al-Nadr used to speak extensively about the early centuries, and he would tell stories to Quraysh, who found his narratives pleasant; thus, Allah the Almighty revealed this verse.

The pronoun "min" (among them) is singular in "listens" (yastami'u) and plural in His saying—Exalted is He—(And We have placed over their hearts coverings), regarding both its wording and its meaning. Al-Kurkhi mentioned that the singular "listens" is used here, while in [Surah] Yunus the plural "they listen" (yastami'una) is used, because the context here concerns a small group of people, so they were treated as a single entity, whereas there, it concerns the collection of disbelievers, so the plural was appropriate. It was not made plural later in His saying—Exalted is He—(And among them are those who look at you) because the intention is to signify the act of contemplating the proofs of truthfulness and the signs of prophethood, and those who look in such a manner are fewer than those who listen to the Quran.

"Placing" (ja'l) here means creation/origination. Akinna is the plural of kinan, similar to ghita' (cover) and aghṭiyah (covers), both in wording and meaning. This is because the form fi'al—whether with a fatha or kasra on the fa—is pluralized in small numbers (paucity) as af'ilah (like ahmirah and aqdhilah), and in large numbers (abundance) as fu'ul (like humur), unless the root is doubled (mudha'af) or has a weak final letter (mu'tall al-lam), in which case it is required to be pluralized as af'ilah, like akinna and akbiyah, except in rare cases. The verb kanna is triliteral, and it is also augmented; it is said: kannat and akinna, as Al-Tabarsi and others have stated. Al-Raghib distinguished between them, saying: aknantu (augmented) is used for what conceals the self, while the triliteral is used for other things. The tanwin (indefiniteness) is for magnification. The wa (and) is for conjunction; the sentence is conjoined to the previous sentence, a conjunction of a verbal sentence to a nominal one. It is also said that the wa denotes a state (hal), meaning: "And [indeed] We have placed."

(Over their hearts) is connected to the verb before it. Abu Hayyan claimed that if it is in the sense of "casting," then the prepositional phrase is connected to it, and if it is in the sense of "making/rendering," then it is connected to an implied object, since it is in the position of the second object. The meaning, according to what we have mentioned, is: "And We have originated over their hearts many coverings, the extent of which cannot be estimated."

(That they might not understand it): That is, out of aversion to understanding what they listen to from the Quran—which is indicated by the mention of "listening"—so the speech is based on an implied addition; some have estimated it as "lest they understand it." They do the same in similar cases. It is also permitted that it be an object for the meaning indicated by His saying (And We have placed over their hearts coverings), meaning: "We prevented them from understanding it," or [an object] for what the phrase "over their hearts coverings" itself indicates.

(And in their ears is deafness): Meaning deafness and heaviness in hearing that prevents one from listening to it as it deserves. The speech, according to more than one, is an allegory expressing the completeness of their ignorance regarding the affairs of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the excessive turning away of their hearts from understanding the Noble Quran, and their ears’ rejection of what Allah the Almighty has made deaf. It is also permissible that there is an explicit, implicit, or analogical metaphor here, and what is useful to you here has already passed in [Surah] Al-Baqarah, so recall it. Talha recited "wiqran" with a kasra, which is—according to what Sibawayh established—the burden of a mule and the like. Its accusative case in both recitations is by way of conjunction to "akinna," as Abu al-Baqa' stated.

(And if they see): That is, witness and behold (every sign): Meaning every miracle indicating the truthfulness of the Messenger (peace be upon him)—according to what is transmitted from Sibawayh, and this is what the statement of Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with both of them—requires—such as the splitting of the moon, the gushing of water between his noble fingers, the multiplication of small amounts of food, and similar things. (They do not believe in it): Due to their excessive stubbornness and the entrenched nature of blind imitation in them. The speech here is a case of "negating the universal" (denying the possibility of belief), not "universal negation."

The intent is to blame them for their failure to benefit from the sense of sight, after He—the Almighty—mentioned their failure to benefit from their intellects and their hearing. It is reported from some that it is necessary to restrict the verse to [signs] other than those that compel belief, to avoid contradiction between this and His saying: (If We willed, We could send down to them a sign from the sky, so their necks would remain bent before it in humility). Some sufficed by interpreting belief as "voluntary belief," distinguishing between it and the bowing of the necks, so let this be understood. The Shaykh al-Islam restricted the verse to those [signs] which consist of Quranic signs; that is, if they see something of that by witnessing it through listening, they do not believe in it. Perhaps what we have presented is more pleasant to the sound taste.

(Until when they come to you, disputing with you): That is, contending and quarreling with you. "Hatta" here is the one followed by sentences, and it is called the "initial" (ibtida'iyyah) hatta; the sentence following it has no grammatical position, contrary to Sibawayh and Ibn Darastawayh, who claimed it is in the genitive position due to hatta. This is refuted by the fact that prepositions do not have their governance suspended; they only enter upon singular nouns or what functions as such. The sentence here is His saying—Exalted is He—(When they come to you) along with the response to the condition—that is, His saying—Exalted and Majestic is He—(Those who disbelieve say), and whatever is between them is a state (hal) of the subject of "come." The relative noun ("those who") was placed in the position of the pronoun as a way to blame them for what is contained within the relative clause, and to signal the reason for the ruling.

"Idha" (when) is in the position of the accusative for the adverbial sense, governed by the condition or the response, according to the famous disagreement regarding that. It has been objected that making "disputing with you" a state and "those who say" the response leads to rendering the speech redundant, because the disputation is the very act of this saying, unless the disputation is interpreted as "the intention behind it." It is not hidden what is in this, for "disputation" is absolute contention; it was named as such because of the intensity involved, or because each of the disputants wants to throw the other onto the jidalah (the ground). The mentioned saying is an instance of it, so the speech is beneficial to the highest degree, like your saying, "When Zayd insults you, he curses you."

Some grammarians mentioned that when "hatta" is followed by "idha," it is possible that it is in the sense of "fa" (consequence) or in the sense of "ila" (until), and the limit (ghayah) is considered in both aspects. Meaning: they reached such a degree of denial and obstinacy that when they come to you disputing with you, they are not satisfied with mere disbelief, but rather say: (This is nothing but fables of the ancients): That is, their written stories that are not to be relied upon. Qatadah said: "Their lies and their falsehood."

The summary of what has been mentioned is that their denial reached its limit through what was stated, because the perfect instance is being used. A parallel to this is: "People died, even the prophets." It is also permitted that hatta be the preposition, and "when they come to you" is in the genitive position; this is the view of al-Akhfash, followed by Ibn Malik in al-Tashil, though it was refuted by Abu Hayyan in his commentary. In this view, idha is outside the adverbial sense, as they have stated, and also outside the conditional sense, so it has no response. In that case, "saying" would be an explanation of "disputing with you," and it would also be in the position of a state.

Asatir (fables), according to al-Akhfash, is a plural that has no singular form, like ababil and madhakir. Some said it has a singular, and it is stated in al-Qamus that it is the plural of astar and astir (both with kasra), and usturah, with ha in all cases. It is also said that it is the plural of astar, which is the plural of satr (line), like sabab and asbab; thus, it is a plural of a plural. The origin of satr is in the sense of a line (writing).