Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:18

Al-A'raf (The Heights): Verse 18

{قال اخرج منها مذؤوما مدحورا لمن تبعك منهم لاملان جهنم منكم اجمعين}

Know that when Iblis (Satan) promised the corruption he mentioned, Allah the Exalted addressed him with words indicating reprimand and humiliation, saying:

{اخرج منها} (Get out of it) — meaning out of Paradise or out of the heavens.

{مذؤوما} (Despised/Scorned).

• Al-Layth said: Dha'amtu ar-rajula fa huwa madh'oom, meaning he was scorned and held in contempt. Adh-dhaam is contempt.
• Al-Farra' said: Dha'amtuhu means I criticized him. They say in a proverb: "The beautiful woman will never be without criticism (or fault)."
• Ibn al-Anbari said: Al-madh'oom means the blameworthy.
• Ibn Qutaybah said: Madh'ooman means blameworthy with the strongest form of blame. Umayyah said:

  And the Lord of the Servants said to Iblis: "Get out, driven away, accursed, scorned!"

{مدحورا} (Driven away/Repulsed).

• Ad-Dahr in language means expulsion and driving far away. It is said dahara-hu dahran wa duhooran if he expelled him and drove him far. From this is His saying, the Exalted: {ويقذفون من كل جانب * دحورا} (And they will be hurled from every side, repulsed) (As-Saffat: 8-9). Umayyah also said:

  And by His command, they all prostrated to Adam, Except for an accursed, sinful one, driven away.

{لمن تبعك منهم} (Whoever of you follows you).

• The Lām here is the Lām of an oath, and its response is His saying: {لأملأن} (I will surely fill).
• The author of Al-Kashshaf narrated that 'Asim recited: {لَمَن تبعك} (with a Kasra on the Lām), meaning: "Whoever follows you among them," referring to this threat: {لأملأن جهنم منكم أجمعين} (I will surely fill Hell with all of you).
• Another view is that {لأملأن} is in the position of the subject (Ibtidā’), and {ولمن تبعك} is its predicate (Khabar).
• Abu Bakr al-Anbari said: The pronoun in {لمن تبعك منهم} refers back to the offspring of Adam, because when Allah said {ولقد خلقناكم} (And We have certainly created you) (Al-A'raf: 11), He was addressing the offspring of Adam, so the pronoun refers back to them.

The Juristic Implication (Al-Qadi's View): The Qadi (Judge) said: This verse indicates that both the follower and the leader being followed are intended to be included in the filling of Hellfire. Since the disbeliever followed him, so too does the sinner (Fasiq). Therefore, it must be established that the sinner enters the Fire.

The Response: The response is that what is mentioned in the verse is that Allah will fill Hell with those who follow him. The verse does not state that everyone who follows him will enter Hell. Thus, this line of reasoning fails.

However, we say that this verse indicates that all proponents of innovations (ahl al-bida') and misguidance will enter Hell, because they are all followers of Iblis. And Allah knows best.

And [He said], "O Adam, dwell, you and your spouse, in Paradise and eat freely from wherever you both wish, but do not approach this tree, lest you become of the wrongdoers."