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Ayah
Word by Word
أَكُفَّارُكُمۡ
Are your disbelievers
خَيۡرٞ
better
مِّنۡ
than
أُوْلَٰٓئِكُمۡ
those
أَمۡ
or
لَكُم
for you
بَرَآءَةٞ
(is) an exemption
فِي
in
ٱلزُّبُرِ
the Scriptures
أَكُفَّارُكُمۡ
Are your disbelievers
خَيۡرٞ
better
مِّنۡ
than
أُوْلَٰٓئِكُمۡ
those
أَمۡ
or
لَكُم
for you
بَرَآءَةٞ
(is) an exemption
فِي
in
ٱلزُّبُرِ
the Scriptures
Translation
Are your disbelievers better than those [former ones], or have you immunity in the scriptures?
Tafsir
Are your disbelievers, O Quraysh, better than those?, mentioned [beginning] from the people of Noah to those of Pharaoh, which is why they have not been chastised? Or have you, O disbelievers of Quraysh, [been granted] some immunity, from chastisement, in the Scriptures?, the Books? (the interrogative in both instances is meant as a denial, in other words: it is not so).
The Story of Fir`awn and His People
Allah the Exalted narrates to us the story of Fir`awn and his people.
وَلَقَدْ جَاء الَ فِرْعَوْنَ النُّذُرُ
كَذَّبُوا بِأيَاتِنَا كُلِّهَا فَأَخَذْنَاهُمْ أَخْذَ عَزِيزٍ مُّقْتَدِرٍ
And indeed, warnings came to the people of Fir`awn.
(They) denied all Our signs, so We seized them with a punishment of the Almighty, All-Capable.
A Messenger came to them from Allah, Musa supported by his brother Harun. Their Messengers delivered good news if they believe, and a warning if they rejected the Message. Allah supported Musa and Harun with tremendous miracles and great signs, but Fir`awn and his people rejected all of them. Allah took them the way the All-Mighty, the All-Capable would; He destroyed them all leaving none surviving to tell the story of what happened to them.
Advising and Threatening the Quraysh Allah said
أَكُفَّارُكُمْ
Are your disbelievers,
meaning, `O idolators of the Quraysh,'
خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أُوْلَيِكُمْ
better than these,
meaning better than the nations that were mentioned here, who were destroyed on account of their disbelief in the Messengers and rejecting the Scriptures. `Are you better than these?'
أَمْ لَكُم بَرَاءةٌ فِي الزُّبُرِ
Or have you immunity in the Divine Scriptures,
`do you have immunity from Allah that the torment and punishment will not touch you?'
Allah said about the Quraysh,
أَمْ يَقُولُونَ نَحْنُ جَمِيعٌ مُّنتَصِرٌ
Or say they:We are a great multitude, victorious!
stating that they believed they will support each other and their great gathering will avail them against those who intend to harm them.
Allah the Exalted responded,
سَيُهْزَمُ الْجَمْعُ وَيُوَلُّونَ الدُّبُرَ
Their multitude will be put to flight, and they will show their backs.
affirming that their gathering shall scatter, and they shall be defeated.
Al-Bukhari recorded that Ibn Abbas said,
The Prophet, while in a dome-shaped tent on the day of the battle of Badr, said,
أَنْشُدُكَ عَهْدَكَ وَوَعْدَكَ
اللْهُمَّ إِنْ شِيْتَ لَمْ تُعْبَدْ بَعْدَ الْيَوْمِ فِي الاَْرْضِ أَبَدًا
O Allah! I ask you for the fulfillment of Your covenant and promise.
O Allah! If You wish (to destroy the believers), You will never be worshipped on the earth after today.
Abu Bakr caught him by the hand and said, `This is sufficient, O Allah's Messenger! You have sufficiently asked and petitioned Allah.'
The Prophet was clad in his armor at that time and went out, saying,
سَيُهْزَمُ الْجَمْعُ وَيُوَلُّونَ الدُّبُرَ
بَلِ السَّاعَةُ مَوْعِدُهُمْ وَالسَّاعَةُ أَدْهَى وَأَمَرُّ
Their multitude will be put to flight and they will show their backs. Nay, but the Hour is their appointed time and that Hour will be more grievous and more bitter.
Al-Bukhari also recorded that Yusuf bin Mahak said,
I was with the Mother of the faithful, A'ishah, when she said, `When I was still a young playful girl in Makkah, this Ayah was revealed to Muhammad,
بَلِ السَّاعَةُ مَوْعِدُهُمْ وَالسَّاعَةُ أَدْهَى وَأَمَرُّ
Nay, but the Hour is their appointed time and that Hour will be more grievous and more bitter.
This is the abridged narration that Al-Bukhari collected, but he also collected a longer narration of it in the Book of the Virtues of the Qur'an.
Muslim did not collect this Hadith.
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