Surah al-An`am (The Cattle) 6 : 33

قَدْ نَعْلَمُ إِنَّهُۥ لَيَحْزُنُكَ ٱلَّذِى يَقُولُونَ ۖ فَإِنَّهُمْ لَا يُكَذِّبُونَكَ وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ بِـَٔايَٰتِ ٱللَّهِ يَجْحَدُونَ

Translations

 
 Muhsin Khan
 Pickthall
 Yusuf Ali
Quran Project
We know that you, [O Muhammad], are saddened by what they say. And indeed, they do not call you untruthful, but it is the verses of Allāh that the wrongdoers reject.

1. Lessons/Guidance/Reflections/Gems

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Explanatory Note

The pagan Arabs with their idolatrous beliefs, particularly those of them who took upon themselves the unworthy task of opposing the message of Islam, had no doubt that Muhammad (peace be upon him) was telling the truth. They have known him to be truthful and honest. They knew that he had never told a lie before starting to convey God’s message. Those who were most hardened in their opposition to him did not doubt the truthfulness of his message either. They knew that the Qur’an could not have been authored by a human being. They, nevertheless, stubbornly refused to declare their belief or to embrace a new faith. Their reason for rejecting it was not that they could not believe the Prophet; rather, it was their realisation that his message threatened their positions and influence. Hence, they decided to deny God’s revelations and to stick to their idolatrous beliefs.

2. Linguistic Analysis

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Frequency of Root words in this Ayat used in this Surah *


3. Surah Overview

4. Miscellaneous Information

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5. Connected/Related Ayat

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6. Frequency of the word

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7. Period of Revelation

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According to Ibn Abbas, the whole of the Surah was revealed at one sitting at Makkah [during the night]. Asma bint Yazid says, ‘During the revelation of this Surah the Prophet was riding on a she-camel and I was holding her nose-string. The she-camel began to feel the weight so heavily that it seemed as if her bones would break under it.’ We also learn from other narrations that it was revealed during the last year before the migration (Hijrah) and that the Prophet dictated the whole of the Surah the same night that it was revealed. [Mawdudi]

8. Reasons for Revelation

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After determining the period of its revelation it is easier to visualize the background of the Surah. Twelve years had passed since the Prophet had been inviting the people to Islam. The antagonism and persecution by the Quraysh had become most savage and brutal and the majority of the Muslims had to migrate to Abyssinia. Additionally, the two great supporters of the Prophet, Abu Talib and his wife Khadijah were no longer there to help him, so he was deprived of all worldly support. In spite of this he carried on his mission. As a result of this all the good people of Makkah and the surrounding clans gradually began to accept Islam but there the community as a whole was still bent on obstinacy and rejection. Therefore if anyone showed an inclination towards Islam they were subjected to taunts and derision, physical violence and social boycott.

It was in these dark circumstances that a ray of hope gleamed from Yathrib, where Islam began to spread freely by the efforts of some influential people of the tribes of Aws and Khazraj, who had embraced Islam at Makkah. At that time, none but God knew the great hidden potential in this.

To a casual observer it appeared as if Islam was a weak movement, with no material backing, except for some limited support from the Prophet's own family and a few poor followers. Obviously the latter could not give much help because they themselves were being persecuted.

9. Relevant Hadith

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10. Wiki Forum

Comments in this section are statements made by general users – these are not necessarily explanations of the Ayah – rather a place to share personal thoughts and stories…

11. Tafsir Zone

 

Overview (Verse 33)

Honest No Doubt

We know too well that what they say grieves you. Yet it is not you that they charge with falsehood; but it is God’s revelations that the wrongdoers deny. (Verse 33)
 
The pagan Arabs with their idolatrous beliefs, particularly those of them who took upon themselves the unworthy task of opposing the message of Islam, had no doubt that Muĥammad (peace be upon him) was telling the truth. They have known him to be truthful and honest. They knew that he had never told a lie before starting to convey God’s message. Those who were most hardened in their opposition to him did not doubt the truthfulness of his message either. They knew that the Qur’ān could not have been authored by a human being. They, nevertheless, stubbornly refused to declare their belief or to embrace a new faith. Their reason for rejecting it was not that they could not believe the Prophet; rather, it was their realisation that his message threatened their positions and influence. Hence, they decided to deny God’s revelations and to stick to their idolatrous beliefs. There are numerous reports that clearly state the reasons behind the Quraysh’s attitude. We will now look at just a few of these.
 
Ibn Isĥāq reports on the authority of al-Zuhrī that three of the Quraysh’s notables, namely, Abū Sufyān, Abū Jahl and al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq, protected by the cover of darkness, took their separate ways to listen to God’s Messenger as he recited the Qur’ān during his night worship. They sat just outside his house, listening to his recitation of the Qur’ān. Each was on his own, thinking that no one would know about his action. One can only assume that their motivation was either to try to judge Muĥammad’s message objectively, or to learn the truth about it, or to listen to the superb literary style of the Qur’ān. As the day began to break, each of them returned the way they had come such that their clandestine activities would not be found out. However, their individual plans were foiled when the three happened, by chance, to meet with each other. There was no need to ask each other what they were doing. There was only one reason for their presence there at that particular time. Therefore, they counselled each other against such action: “Should some of your followers see you”, one of them said, you would stir doubts in their minds”.
 
The following night they did the same, and once again they met at the break of day. Again they counselled each other against their irresponsible’ action. Nevertheless, the third night each of them again went to sit outside the Prophet’s home and listen to the Qur’ān. When they met in the morning, they were ashamed of themselves. One of them suggested that they should give each other their word of honour not to come again. They did so before going home.

Knowing the Truth
 
Commenting on the Qur’ānic verse, “We know too well that what they say grieves you. Yet it is not you that they charge with falsehood; but it is Gods revelations that the wrongdoers deny” (Verse 33), al- Ţabarī quotes the following report on the authority of al-Suddī: “On the day of the Battle of Badr, al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq said to his tribesmen, the Zuhārah people, `Muĥammad is your sister’s son, and you are the ones who defend their nephew. If he is truly a Prophet, why would you fight him today? And if he is a liar, you should repel aggression against your nephew. Wait until I meet Abū al-Ĥakam, i.e. Abū Jahl. Should Muĥammad be victorious, you will return home safely, but if he is defeated, your people will do you no harm.’ [It was on that day that he was nicknamed al-Akhnas, while his real name was Ubayy.] He went to meet Abū Jahl and spoke to him in private: `Tell me about Muĥammad: is he telling the truth, or is he a liar? There is no one from the Quraysh listening to this conversation between us.’ Abū Jahl said: `By God, Muĥammad is telling the truth. Muĥammad never told a lie in his life. But what would happen, should the descendants of Quşayy add prophethood to their other honours, such as holding the banner in war, providing water for the pilgrims, etc. What will remain for the rest of the Quraysh?’“ All this then explains the statement made in the above verse.

Making False Accusations
 
Another incident reported by Ibn Isĥāq took place close to the pilgrimage season. A meeting attended by a large number of Makkans and chaired, as it were, by al- Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, defined their strategy for a defamation campaign. In his opening address, al-Walīd said: “Now that the pilgrimage season is approaching, people will start arriving from all over the place. They must have heard about your friend [meaning the Prophet]. So you had better agree what to say when you are asked about him. We must guard against having too many opinions, particularly if they are mutually contradictory.”
 
When his audience asked his advice as to what they should say, he preferred to listen to their suggestions first. What concerned al-Walīd most was that the opinion they would come out with should take account of the fact that Muĥammad was asking people to listen to the Qur’ān, God’s message, expressed in the most beautiful language and employing the most powerful of styles. The description they would attach to Muĥammad should also account for his persuasive, eloquent argument.
 
Descriptions like ‘fortune-teller’, ‘madman’, ‘poet’ and `magician’ were proposed. None was considered convincing by al-Walīd, who pointed out weaknesses in each, one after the other. He told his people that what Muĥammad said was nothing like what was said by such men. When nobody could suggest anything more plausible, they asked al-Walīd to come up with a better suggestion.
 
He said: “What Muĥammad says is certainly beautiful. It is like a date tree with solid roots and rich fruit. Every one of these suggestions you have made is bound to be recognized as false. The least disputable one is to claim that he is a magician who repeats magic words which make a man fall out with his father, mother, wife and clan”. They all approved of al-Walīd’s suggestion and set about preparing their propaganda campaign to make the pilgrims wary of Muĥammad and unwilling to meet him.
 
Another report mentions that al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah met the Prophet once and the Prophet read him some passages of the Qur’ān. Al-Walīd seemed to have been favourably influenced by what he had heard. News of this was communicated to Abū Jahl who went straight to al-Walīd and said: “Uncle, your people are starting a collection of money for you!” Surprised, al-Walīd asked the reason for this. Abū Jahl said: “They want to give you that money because you went to Muĥammad trying to find what you may get out of him.” (Abū Jahl was making this insinuation knowing that al-Walīd would be on the defensive because his pride would not allow him to appear in this light at all.) Al-Walīd answered: “All the Quraysh are aware that I am the richest among them.” Abū Jahl then offered the following advice: “Then you should say something about him to reassure your people that you disagree with what he says and that you are fully against it.”
 
Al-Walīd said: “What shall I say? None of you is a better judge of poetry than I. None of you can appreciate the finer points of poetry as I do. By God, what he says has no similarity with poetry. It is sweet, fine, overpowering and cannot be excelled.” Abū Jahl said: “By God, your people will not be satisfied unless you denounce him.” Al-Walīd asked for time to think the matter over. When he had done so, he came up with the idea of describing the Qur’ān as sorcery handed down from olden times.
 
There is a reference to this in the Qur’ān: “Leave Me alone [to deal] with the one whom I created alone, and to whom I have granted vast wealth and thriving children. I have made his progress smooth and easy; yet he greedily desires that I shall give him more. By no means! Because he has stubbornly denied Our revelations, I shall constrain him to endure a painful uphill climb. He reflects and meditates. Confound him how he meditates! Again, confound him how he meditates! He then looks around him, and then he frowns and glares; and in the end he turns his back in scornful pride and says: ‘This is but sorcery handed down [from olden times]. This is nothing but the word of a mere mortal!’ I shall cast him in the Fire. Would that you knew what the Fire is like! It leaves nothing, it spares no one; it burns the skin of men. It is guarded by nineteen keepers.” (74: 11-30)
 
Another version of this story suggests that when al-Walīd showed signs of appreciating the Qur’ān some people in Makkah said: “If al-Walīd will desert his religion, all the Quraysh people will follow suit.” Abū Jahl then said: “I will take care of him.” He then went to him and said what we have learned of in the above reports. When al-Walīd came up with his ill-conceived suggestion, he justified it in the following words: “It is sorcery. We all see how it causes friction between a man and his family, children and members of his household.” All these reports confirm that these unbelievers did not think that the Prophet Muĥammad (peace be upon him) was telling them something untrue when he conveyed God’s message to them. They only persisted with their disbelief for the sort of reasons indicated in these reports and because they realized that the triumph of Muĥammad’s message meant that they would have to give up their authority which rightly belonged to God, and which they had unfairly and unjustifiably usurped. They knew their language very well and they perfectly understood the meaning of the declaration that there is no deity other than God, which is the cornerstone of the Islamic faith. They simply did not want to put that declaration into practice, because it meant an all-out rebellion against any authority, other than that of God, which aimed to regulate human life. God certainly tells the truth when He says: “We know too well that what they say grieves you. Yet it is not you that they charge with falsehood; but it is God’s revelations that the wrongdoers deny.” The term `wrongdoers’ refers to the unbelievers, and is frequently used in the Qur’ān in this context.


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