Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:174

Al-A'raf: (174) "And thus do We explain the signs..."

(And thus do We explain the signs) i.e., that eloquent explanation which leads to magnificent benefits—We explain them, and none other than that.

(And perhaps they may return) from the blindness they are upon in their persistence in falsehood, we perform this aforementioned explanation. It is said: The meaning is, "And perhaps they may return to the first covenant, remembering it and acting according to its requirements." We do this. In any case, the waw (and) is inaugural, like the one before it. It is permissible that it is a conjunction to an implied phrase, i.e., "that they may stand before what is within it of encouragements and warnings," or "that the truth may appear, and perhaps they may return." It is also said that it is...

They said: (And ask them about the town) i.e., about the people of the town of the body, which are the spirit, the heart, the soul that commands evil (nafs al-ammarah), and their subordinates—(that was by the sea) i.e., overlooking the shore of the sea of humanity—(when they transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath) they exceeded the limits of Allah Almighty on the day when the consumption of certain psychological pleasures was forbidden to them. The "transgressor" among those inhabitants is only the soul that commands evil, for it is greedy during seasons of obedience and abstinence from desires—such as the month of Ramadan, for example—to consume what it has been forbidden, and man is greedy for what he is denied—(when their fish came to them), which are the affairs they were forbidden from consuming, (on their Sabbath day) which they were commanded to honor according to the law, arriving within easy reach, (and the day they did not observe the Sabbath, they did not come to them)—meaning, what they desired was not made available to them. (Thus do We try them), we treat them with the treatment of one who tests them, (because they were defiantly disobedient), i.e., due to their persistent, habitual defiance.

Some have said: The affair that Allah Almighty narrated was nothing but the state of the Muslims of our time in the gathering of various worldly pleasures of food, drink, entertainment, and marriage, appearing in markets and assemblies on honored days such as holidays and blessed times, like the well-known times of visiting the sites of the righteous that are known among the people.

(And when a community among them said), which is the heart and its followers, to the preaching community, which is the spirit and its followers: (Why do you advise a people), who are the soul that commands evil and its faculties, (whom Allah is to destroy or punish with a severe punishment) for their actions? (They said: "As an excuse") to your Lord. Meaning: We advise them as an excuse to Him Almighty, and that is because we were created as those who enjoin good and forbid evil, so we want to fulfill what is upon us so that it may appear that we have not changed from our attributes. (And perhaps they may fear Allah), because they are receptive to that by nature, so we do not despair of their fear of Allah.

(And when they forgot that by which they had been reminded) due to the overcoming of wretchedness upon them, (We saved those who had forbidden evil), who are the spirit and the heart and their followers, for they all forbade that, though some grew weary and some did not, (and We seized those who wronged with a wretched punishment), i.e., a severe one, which is the punishment of being deprived of receiving divine grace, (because they were defiantly disobedient), i.e., due to their persistence in exiting from obedience. (And when they were insolent about that which they had been forbidden), i.e., they refused to leave that, (We said to them: "Be apes, despised"), i.e., We made their natures like their [apes'] natures, and that is above the deprivation of receiving grace.

(And when your Lord declared), i.e., He swore, (that He would surely send against them until the Day of Resurrection), i.e., their own resurrection, (those who would afflict them), which is the manifestation of Majesty (al-tajalli al-jalali), (with the worst of punishment), which is the punishment of subjugation and the humiliation of following desires. (And We divided them), i.e., We scattered the children of Israel—the spirit—(in the earth), i.e., the earth of the body, (as nations), i.e., groups, (of them are the righteous), i.e., the perfect in righteousness, such as the intellect, (and of them are other than that), within it, such as the heart; and whoever considers the heart more perfect than the intellect reverses the matter. (And We tested them with good and evil), the manifestations of Beauty and Majesty, (that perhaps they might return) by annihilation unto Us.

(And there followed them a succession), which is the soul and its faculties, (who inherited the Book), which is what Allah Almighty inspired into the intellect and the heart, (taking the commodities of this lower life), which are the base desires and fleeting pleasures, and they make what they inherited a pretext for obtaining that. (And they say: "It will be forgiven for us"), and it must be, for we are "those who have arrived" and are "perfected." This is the state of many of the Sufis of our time, for they rush towards desires like moths to a flame, saying: "That does not harm us because we are those who have arrived."

It is narrated of some of them that they consume pure forbidden things and say: "The negation and affirmation (nafi wa ithbat) repels its harm." This is a grave error and clear misguidance—may Allah Almighty protect us and you from that. Even greater than this is the belief of some of them in the lawfulness of eating things like carrion without a legal excuse, saying: "Each of us is an ocean, and the ocean is not made impure." This misguided person does not know that whoever believes this is more impure than a dog or a pig. Among them, some narrate from certain perfecters and perfected ones among the people of Allah Almighty that which they use to support their claim, and it is a lie with no foundation; far be it from that perfect one to be associated with what was attributed to him.

(And if there comes to them an offer similar to it, they would take it), i.e., they are persistent in this ugly deed. (Was not the covenant of the Book taken from them), which came in what Allah Almighty inspired to the intellect and the heart, (that they should not say about Allah except the truth? And they studied what was in it) of that which contains their guidance. (And the home of the Hereafter), which contains spiritual pleasures, (is better for those who fear Allah)—to take these commodities of the lower life—(And those who hold fast to the Book), i.e., adhere to the wisdom and knowledge that Allah Almighty inspired to the intellect and the heart, (and establish prayer), and spared no effort in obedience, (We will not lose the reward of the reformers) among them. Their rewards vary according to the variation in their righteousness, to the point that it reaches what no eye has seen and no heart of man has conceived.

(And when We raised the mountain above them), which is the mountain of the Divine Command and Divine Might, (as if it were a canopy), a great cloud, (and they were certain that it would fall upon them) if they did not accept the judgments of Allah, the Exalted, (Take what We have given you with power), with diligence and determination, (and remember what is in it) of secrets, (and perhaps you will become righteous), being arranged in the sequence of the righteous despite the differences in the levels of their righteousness.

The discussion regarding His saying, the Exalted: (And when your Lord took...), etc., from this chapter is rendered unnecessary by what we have mentioned during its interpretation from the words of the people of Allah Almighty—may Allah sanctify their secrets—except that some of them mentioned that the first atom (dharrah) that answered "Yes" was the atom of the Prophet, may Allah Almighty bless him and grant him peace. Likewise, it is the first to answer from the earth when Allah the Exalted addressed the heavens and the earth, saying: ("Come, willingly or by compulsion." They said: "We have come, willingly.") It was from the soil of the Ka'bah, and it is the first thing created from the earth, and from it, the earth was expanded, as came from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both. This would necessitate that the burial place of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, be in Mecca, where his noble soil was originally from. They have narrated that a person is buried where his soil was. However, it is said that when the water surged, it threw the foam to the sides, and the atom of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, fell to where it parallels his noble burial place in Medina.

It is benefited from this speech that he, peace and blessings be upon him, is the origin in creation, and the created beings are subordinates to him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. It is said: Because his atom is the mother of all creation, he was called "the Unlettered" (ummi). Some mentioned that the letter Ba is because it is the first letter with which the atom opened its mouth when it spoke. Children in this existence still pronounce it at the beginning of their affairs, and there is no wonder in that, for every child is born upon the natural disposition (fitrah). It is said: Because of the greatness of what Allah the Exalted placed in the Ba of secrets, Allah the Exalted opened His Book with it, or rather, He opened every surah with it, because the Basmalah, which opens with it, precedes every surah except for Tawbah, and its opening with "Bara'ah" also begins with a Ba. And because the hamza—which is called an alif—was the first letter to strike their ears in that scene, it was the first of the letters, but it did not appear in the Basmalah for a secret we pointed to at the beginning of the book. And Allah Almighty is the Guide to the direction of correctness.