ﳇ ﳈ ﳉ ﳊ ﳋ ﳌ ﳍ ﳎ ﳏ ﳐ ﳑ ﳒ ﳓ ﳔ ﳕ ﳖ ﳗ ﳘ ﳙ ﳚ
So when they forgot that by which they had been reminded, We opened to them the doors of every [good] thing until, when they rejoiced in that which they were given, We seized them suddenly, and they were [then] in despair.
Tafsir
Verse range: 6:44
(فلما نسوا ما ذكروا به) meaning: they abandoned that which the Messengers (peace and blessings be upon them) invited them to, rejected it when it was presented to them, and did not take heed of it, as has been narrated from Ibn Jurayj. It is also said: the meaning is that they persisted in their acts of disobedience and did not take heed of the adversity and hardship that befell them. So, when they did not take heed, (فتحنا عليهم أبواب كل شيء) [We opened for them the doors of everything]—that is, the abundant blessings such as prosperity and vast provision—as a plot against them and a means of gradual drawing toward destruction.
Ahmad, al-Tabarani, and al-Bayhaqi in Shu'ab al-Iman have narrated from the hadith of 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir as a marfu' (raised) report: "When you see Allah the Exalted giving a servant in this world while he persists in his acts of disobedience, it is only a gradual drawing [to destruction]." Then, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) recited: (فلما نسوا) until the end of the verse. It is narrated from al-Hasan that when he heard this verse, he said: "They have been plotted against, by the Lord of the Ka'bah! They were given their needs, and then they were seized." It is also said: The meaning of "We opened for them" is that We did so to establish the proof against them and to remove any excuse. The manifest view is that (فتحنا) is the response to lamma (when), because it contains—whether one considers it a particle or a noun—the meaning of a conditional.
This has been challenged by the observation that the causality of [the act of] forgetting for the opening of the doors of goodness is not apparent. It has been answered that the forgetting is the cause of the gradual drawing (istidraj), which is dependent upon the opening of the doors of goodness, and the cause of a thing being a cause for something else necessitates its being a cause for that which it depends upon. Or, it may be said that the response is what was mentioned in light of its outcome and conclusion, which is "We established the proof against them" and the like, and its causality stemming from that is apparent. It is also said: It is a consequence of it in consideration of its ultimate purpose, which is their sudden seizure. Abu Ja'far and Ibn Amir read (فتحنا) with the tashdid (doubling of the letter 'ta') to denote intensification.
(حتى إذا فرحوا) i.e., rejoiced with insolence and arrogance over what they were given of blessings, and did not fulfill the right of the Bestower (Glorified and Exalted is He). (أخذناهم) i.e., We punished them and sent down upon them the torment (بغتة) i.e., suddenly, so that it might be more severe for them and more terrifying in its horror. It is an accusative denoting the state (hal) of the subject or the object—that is, "taking them by surprise" or "being taken by surprise"—or it is an infinitive (masdar), i.e., "We surprised them with a surprise." (فإذا هم مبلسون)
Meaning: they are in despair of salvation and mercy, as narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both). Al-Balkhi said: they are humbled and submissive. From al-Suddi: al-iblas is the changing of the face, and from this, Iblis was named as such because Allah the Exalted inverted his face and changed it. From Mujahid: it carries the meaning of being struck with grief.
In the Hashiyah of al-Shihab, al-iblas has three meanings in the language: sadness, regret, and despair; and these are closely related meanings. Al-Raghib said: it is the sadness that arises from the intensity of despair. Since the one who is mublis (in despair) often falls silent and forgets what concerns him, it is said: "He became ablas" if he fell silent or if his argument was cut off. (إذا) is the fujai'iyyah (particle of suddenness), and it is a locative adverb of place, as Abu al-Baqa' has explicitly stated. From a group of scholars, it is a temporal adverb. The doctrine of the Kufans is that it is a particle. According to the first two opinions, that which governs it is the predicate of the initial noun (mubtada'), i.e., "they fell into despair in the place of their residence or at the time of it."
