Tafsir of An-Naml 27:62

"Or, who answers the distressed one when he calls upon Him..."

Al-Darurah (Necessity): A state that compels one to seek refuge. Al-Idtirar is the ifti'al form derived from it. It is said: "He compelled him (idtarrahu) to such and such," and both the subject and the object are called mudtarr (distressed).

The mudtarr is one whom sickness, poverty, or a calamity of time has compelled to seek refuge and supplicate to Allah.

• Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both): He is the one who is exhausted (al-majhud).
• Al-Suddi: He who has no power and no strength.
• It is also said: The one who is at a dead end (al-madhhab) when he seeks forgiveness.

If you ask: "He has generalized the distressed ones by His saying: 'He answers the distressed one when he calls upon Him,' yet how many distressed people call upon Him and are not answered?"

I say: The answer is contingent upon the thing being supplicated for being in one's best interest (maslaha). For this reason, it is not appropriate for a servant to supplicate without conditioning it upon that interest. As for the term "the distressed one," it encompasses the entire genus absolutely; it is applicable to the whole and to the part. There is no way to be certain of one over the other except through evidence. Evidence has established that it refers to the part—that is, the one whose answer lies in his best interest—thus, the application of the general sense is invalidated.

"...and makes you successors in the earth..." Meaning: Their inheriting its habitation and exercising authority over it, generation after generation. Or, He may have intended by "succession" kingship and dominion.

"...little do you remember." It is recited as yadhakkurun (they remember) with the ya and assimilation, and with the ta with assimilation and elision. The ma is an intensifier (mazidah), meaning: "You remember with little remembrance." The meaning is the negation of remembrance, as "little" is used to signify negation.

"Or, who guides you through the darkness of the land and the sea, and who sends the winds as heralds before His mercy? Is there a deity with Allah? Exalted is Allah above what they associate [with Him]."