Al-Kashshaf on Sad 38:26

Surah Sad 38:26

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ﳈ ﳉ ﳊ ﳋ ﳌ ﳍ ﳎ ﳏ ﳐ ﳑ ﳒ ﳓ ﳔ ﳕ ﳖ ﳗ ﳘ ﳙ ﳚ ﳛ ﳜ ﳝ ﳞ ﳟ ﳠ ﳡ ﳢ ﳣ ﳤ ﳥ ﳦ

[We said], "O David, indeed We have made you a successor upon the earth, so judge between the people in truth and do not follow [your own] desire, as it will lead you astray from the way of Allah." Indeed, those who go astray from the way of Allah will have a severe punishment for having forgotten the Day of Account.

{ خليفة في الأرض } Meaning: We have made you a successor (khalīfah) over the kingdom on earth, just as some sultans appoint a successor over certain lands and grant them authority over them. From this comes the saying: "The caliphs of God on His earth."

We have made you a successor to those who were before you among the prophets who upheld the truth. In this is evidence that his state after repentance remained as it was and did not change.

{ فاحكم بين الناس بالحق } Meaning: Judge between people with the truth, which is the judgment of God Almighty, since you are His successor.

{ ولا تتبع الهوى } Meaning: Do not follow the desires of the self in your judgments or in other matters of religion and worldly affairs that you manage.

{ فيضلك عن سبيل الله } Meaning: If you follow desire, it will be a cause for your straying from the path of God—that is, from the proofs He has established in the intellects and the laws He has legislated and revealed.

{ يوم الحساب } This is connected to the word "forgot" (in the preceding verse), meaning: because of their forgetting the Day of Reckoning. It is a command regarding what is said to them: they shall have the punishment of the Day of Resurrection because of their forgetfulness, which is their straying from the path of God.

It is narrated that one of the Umayyad caliphs said to Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz—or perhaps to al-Zuhri—"Have you heard what has reached us?" He asked, "What is it?" The caliph replied, "It has reached us that the pen does not run against the Caliph, and no sin is recorded against him." He replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, are the caliphs better than the prophets?" Then he recited this verse.

{ وما خلقنا السماء والأرض وما بينهما باطلاً ذلك ظن الذين كفروا فويل للذين كفروا من النار } "And We did not create the heaven and the earth and that which is between them in vain. That is the assumption of those who disbelieve, so woe to those who disbelieve from the Fire."

Tafsir of Sad 38:26

Al-Kashshaf

{ خليفة في الأرض } Meaning: We have made you a successor (khalīfah) over the kingdom on earth, just as some sultans appoint a successor over certain lands and grant them authority over them. From this comes the saying: "The caliphs of God on His earth."

{ فاحكم بين الناس بالحق } Meaning: Judge between people with the truth, which is the judgment of God Almighty, since you are His successor.

{ ولا تتبع الهوى } Meaning: Do not follow the desires of the self in your judgments or in other matters of religion and worldly affairs that you manage.

{ فيضلك عن سبيل الله } Meaning: If you follow desire, it will be a cause for your straying from the path of God—that is, from the proofs He has established in the intellects and the laws He has legislated and revealed.