Tafsir of Al-Burooj 85:4

Al-Buruj (The Constellations): (4) Cursed are the companions of the trench (Ashab al-Ukhdud)

It must be known that an oath requires an answer (a response to the oath). Scholars have differed regarding this answer in several ways:

First View: As mentioned by Al-Akhfash, the answer to the oath is the statement: {Cursed are the companions of the trench}. The lām (of emphasis) is implied within it, similar to His saying: {By the sun and its brightness} (Ash-Shams: 1), {He has succeeded who purifies it} (Ash-Shams: 9), meaning, Laqad aflaha (He has indeed succeeded). Alternatively, one could view it as a matter of precedence, as if it were said: Cursed are the companions of the trench, by the heaven possessing the constellations.

Second View: As mentioned by Al-Zajjaj, the answer to the oath is: {Indeed, the grasp of your Lord is severe} (Al-Buruj: 12). This is the view of Ibn Mas'ud and Qatadah.

Third View: The answer to the oath is His saying: {Indeed, those who persecuted the believers} (Al-Buruj: 10) and the following verses. This is like saying: By God, Zayd is certainly standing, except that what intervenes between the oath and its answer is the phrase: {Cursed are the companions of the trench} up to {Indeed, those who persecuted the believers} (Al-Buruj: 4-10).

Fourth View: A group of early scholars held that the answer to the oath is omitted. This is the choice of the author of Al-Kashshaf. However, the early scholars said that the omitted part is that the matter (of recompense for deeds) is true. The author of Al-Kashshaf, however, stated that the answer to the oath is what is indicated by the statement: {Cursed are the companions of the trench}. It is as if the meaning is: I swear by these things, that the disbelievers of Quraysh are cursed, just as the companions of the trench were cursed. This is because the Surah was revealed to strengthen the believers and make them patient regarding the harm inflicted by the people of Mecca, reminding them of what happened to those who preceded them in being tortured for their faith, so that they may emulate them and endure the harm from their people. They should know that the disbelievers of Mecca are, in the sight of God, like those who were in past nations, burning those who believed, and they deserve to be told: Quraysh have cursed them, just as {Cursed are the companions of the trench}.

As for His saying, the Exalted: {Cursed are the companions of the trench}, there are several issues concerning it:

They mentioned the story of the Companions of the Trench through differing accounts. We mention three of them here:

First Account: There was a sorcerer serving a certain king. When the sorcerer grew old, he took a young boy to teach him magic. On the boy's path, there was a monk. The boy's heart inclined toward this monk. One day, the boy saw a snake blocking the path of the people. He took a stone and said: "O God, if the monk is dearer to You than the sorcerer, grant me strength to kill it by throwing this stone." He threw it and killed the snake. This became the reason for the boy turning away from sorcery and dedicating himself to the monk's path. Later, the boy began healing the blind and the leper and curing diseases. It happened that a close companion of the king became blind. The boy restored his sight. When the king saw him, he asked: "Who restored your sight?" He replied: "My Lord." The king became angry, tortured the man, who then pointed to the boy. The boy was tortured, and he pointed to the monk. The monk was brought and warned against his religion, but he refused. He was sawn in half with a saw. Then the boy was brought to a mountain to be thrown from its peak. He prayed to God, and the mountain shook, causing the people to perish, while the boy was saved. They took him onto a ship to drown him in deep water, but he prayed, and the ship capsized, drowning them while he was saved. He then told the king: "You cannot kill me unless you gather the people in an open space, crucify me on a trunk, take an arrow from my quiver, say: 'In the name of God, the Lord of the boy,' and shoot me." The king did so, and the arrow struck his temple. The boy placed his hand on it and died. The people then declared: "We believe in the Lord of the boy." The king was told: "You have been afflicted by what you feared." He ordered trenches to be dug at the entrances of the streets, and fires were lit in them. Whoever did not renounce their faith was thrown into them. This continued until a woman came with her infant, hesitated to fall in, but the child said: "O mother, be patient, for you are upon the truth." So she remained patient and was thrown in.

Second Account: It is narrated from Ali (peace be upon him) that when they disagreed about the rulings of the Magians (Zoroastrians), he said: They were People of the Book, adhering to their scripture, and wine was permissible for them. Some of their kings consumed it, became drunk, and committed incest with his sister. When he sobered up, he regretted it and sought a way out. She told him: "The way out is for you to address the people and say that God has permitted the marriage of sisters, and then address them again and say that He has forbidden it afterward." He addressed them, but they did not accept it from him. She told him: "Use the whip on them." They did not accept. She said: "Use the sword on them." They did not accept. So he ordered the trenches to be dug, the fires lit, and those whom God intended by His saying: {Cursed are the companions of the trench} were thrown into them.

Third Account: A man following the religion of Jesus came to Najran and called them to his faith, and they responded. Then Dhu Nuwas, the Jewish ruler of Himyar, came with troops. He gave them the choice between fire and Judaism. They refused. He burned twelve thousand of them in the trenches, and some say seventy thousand. It is mentioned that the length of the trench was forty cubits and its width twelve cubits. The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to seek refuge in God from the severity of affliction whenever the story of the Companions of the Trench was mentioned.

If it is argued that these narrations contradict each other, indicating their falsehood, we reply: There is no contradiction. It is said that this happened to three groups on three separate occasions: once in Yemen, once in Iraq, and once in Syria. Although the word al-Ukhdud (trench) is singular, it is intended to be plural, as is common in the Quran. Al-Qaffal said: Different narrations are mentioned regarding the story of the Companions of the Trench, and none of them are sound, except that they agree that they were a group of believers who opposed their people or a disbelieving king ruling over them. He dug a trench for them and threw them in. He then said: "I think that incident was well-known to Quraysh, so God mentioned it to the Companions of the Messenger to alert them to the patience required in their religion and enduring hardships therein. The polytheists of Quraysh used to harm the believers according to the news that spread about their extreme persecution of Ammar and Bilal."

Al-Ukhdud means a slit or opening dug in the earth, usually rectangular. Its plural is al-Akhadīd. Its root is kha-d-d, meaning to split. It is said: Kha-da fi al-ard khaddan (He split the earth). And takhaddada lahmuhu (His flesh became striated, like slits).

It is possible that Ashab al-Ukhdud refers to the killers, and it is possible that it refers to the killed. The famous narration is that the killed were the believers. It is also narrated that the killed were the tyrants, because when they threw the believers into the fire, the fire returned upon the disbelievers and burned them, and God saved the believers from it unharmed. Al-Rabi' ibn Anas and Al-Waqidi held this view, interpreting His saying: {For them is the punishment of Hell, and for them is the punishment of the Burning} (Al-Buruj: 10) to mean: they have the punishment of Hell in the Hereafter, and they have the punishment of the Burning in this world.

Once this premise is established, we say: They mentioned three views regarding the interpretation of His saying: {Cursed are the companions of the trench}. This is because we either interpret Ashab al-Ukhdud as the killers or as the killed.

If interpreted as the killers (the persecutors):

1. It is a curse upon them: Meaning, May the companions of the trench be cursed. Similar to His saying: {Woe to man, how ungrateful he is!} (Abasa: 17) and {Cursed are the guessers} (Adh-Dhariyat: 10).
2. It means those killers were killed by fire: As we mentioned that when the tyrants intended to kill the believers with fire, the fire returned upon them and killed them.

If interpreted as the killed (the persecuted believers): The meaning is that those believers were killed by being burned in the fire, making this a factual statement confirming the oath.

The word Qutila (Cursed/Killed) was recited with a shaddah (doubling of the consonant, making it Quttila - meaning "were killed").

Regarding His saying: {The Fire, full of fuel} (Al-Buruj: 7):

Issue 1: Fire is only great if there is something to burn in it, whether wood or otherwise. Al-Waqūd (fuel) is the name for that thing, based on His saying: {Its fuel is wood and men} (Al-Baqarah: 24). In {full of fuel}, there is an emphasis on the great amount of wood present in that trench.

Issue 2: Abu Ali said this is an appositive (badal al-ishtimāl), like saying: Zayd lost his garment, where the trench contains the fire.

Issue 3: The word Al-Waqūd was recited with a ḍammah (vowel mark) on the wāw (making it Al-Waqūd).

Regarding His saying: {When they were sitting over it} (Al-Buruj: 7):

Issue 1: The operative word governing the time indicated by Idh (When) is {Cursed} (Qutila). Meaning, they were cursed at the time they were sitting by the trench, torturing the believers.

Issue 2: There is a difficulty in the verse: The pronoun Hum (they) refers to the Companions of the Trench, as it is the closest mentioned noun. The pronoun Alayhā (over it) refers to the Fire. This implies that the Companions of the Trench were sitting on the Fire, which is clearly not the case.

The answers are manifold:

1. The pronoun Hum refers to the Companions of the Trench, but here it means the killed (the believers). The meaning is: When the believers were sitting, being burned, thrown upon the Fire.
2. The pronoun Alayhā refers to the edge or rim of the fire (shafīr), the places where one can sit. The word ʿalā (over/upon) suggests proximity, as in saying Marartu ʿalayhā (I passed by it), meaning near it. The persecutors were sitting near the fire while presenting the believers to it. Whoever renounced their faith, they left them; whoever remained steadfast, they threw them into the fire.
3. Even if we accept that Hum refers to the killers and Alayhā refers to the Fire, why can't it be said that those killers were sitting over the Fire? We explained that when they threw the believers into the fire, the fire rose up to them and they perished by the very means they used to destroy others. Thus, the verse indicates that they were also cursed in that state, meaning they lost both this world and the Hereafter.
4. The preposition ʿalā means ʿinda (near/by), as in the saying: {and for them is a sin} (Ash-Shu'arā: 14), meaning near me.

As for His saying: {And they, over what they were doing to the believers, were witnesses} (Al-Buruj: 7):

The word {witnesses} (shuhūd) can mean mere presence, or it can mean witnesses whose testimony establishes a claim.

If it means presence: The meaning is that those tyrannical killers were present, watching that act. The purpose of mentioning this could be one of three things:

1. Describing their hardness of heart, as they were present watching the torture by fire.
2. Describing their zeal in upholding their disbelief and falsehood, as they attended those repulsive scenes and horrifying actions.
3. Describing the steadfastness of the killed believers in their religion and insistence on their truth. The disbelievers attended that place hoping that when the believers saw them, they would be intimidated by their presence and feel shame in opposing them. Yet, those believers paid them no heed and remained insistent upon their true religion.

If you ask: If this meaning of presence is intended, why did He say {over what they were doing} (ʿalā mā yafʿalūn) instead of {at what they were doing} (li-mā yafʿalūn)? We reply that the word ʿalā is used here to mean that they were present, witnessing those ugly acts upon the ugliness of their actions against the believers—that is, burning them with fire.

If it means witnesses whose testimony establishes a claim: There are several views:

1. They were made witnesses, testifying for one another before the king that none of them had failed in what they were commanded regarding the torture.
2. They are witnesses concerning what they did to the believers, giving their testimony on the Day of Resurrection, as in: {On the Day when their tongues, their hands, and their feet will testify against them concerning what they used to do} (An-Nur: 24).
3. These disbelievers were observers of what was being done to the believers by burning them with fire, such that even if others had done it, they would still be witnesses to it, yet despite this, no compassion moved them, nor did any inclination or pity arise in their hearts.

**{And they resented them not except because they believed in God, the Exalted in Might, the Praiseworthy, To Whom belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth. And God, over all things, is a Witness.}* (Al-Buruj: 8-9)