Qul ya AAibadiya allatheena asrafoo AAala anfusihim la taqnatoo min rahmati Allahi inna Allaha yaghfiru alththunooba jameeAAan innahu huwa alghafooru alrraheemu
English
Ahmed Ali
Say: "O creatures of God, those of you who have acted against your own interests should not be disheartened of the mercy of God. Surely God forgives all sins. He is all-forgiving and all-merciful.
53
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (say: my slaves who have been prodigal to their own hurt) through disbelief, idolatry, adultery and murder! (despair not of the mercy of allah) despair not of allah's forgiveness, (who forgiveth all sins. lo! he is the forgiving) he forgives those who repent of disbelief and believe in allah, (the merciful) towards those who die repentant.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : say [that god declares]: ‘o my servants who have been prodigal against their own souls, do not despair (read taqnitū, taqnatū, or taqnutū), do not give up hope, of god’s mercy. truly god forgives all sins, for those who repent from idolatry. truly he is the forgiving, the merciful.
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (say: o my slaves who have been prodigal to their own hurt! despair not of the mercy of allah…) [39:53].
said ibn ‘abbas: “this was revealed about the people of mecca who said: ‘muhammad claims that whoever has worshipped idols and killed souls which allah has made inviolable will not be forgiven; how are we expected to embrace islam and migrate when we have in the past worshipped other deities besides allah and killed souls which allah has made inviolable?’ and so allah, exalted is he, revealed this verse”.
said ibn ‘umar: “this verse was revealed about ‘ayyash ibn abi rabi‘ah, al-walid ibn al-walid and a group of people who had accepted islam but later on renounced it after being tortured and tried. we used to say: ‘allah will never accept the repentance or return of these people; people who renounced their religion because of some torture they faced’. and so this verse was revealed. ‘umar was a scribe. he wrote the verse and sent it to ‘ayyash ibn abi rabi‘ah, al-walid ibn al-walid and those people. they embraced islam and migrated to medina”.
‘abd al-rahman ibn muhammad al-sarraj informed us> muhammad ibn al-hasan al-kazari> ‘ali ibn ‘abd al-‘aziz> al-qasim ibn salam> hajjaj> ibn jurayj> ya‘la ibn muslim> sa‘id ibn jubayr> ibn ‘abbas who related that some idolaters who had killed a great number of people and committed adultery numerous times went to the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, and said: “what you say and call people to is fine, if only you inform us that there is an expiation for the wrongs that we have committed. and so this verse was revealed (say: o my slaves who have been prodigal to their own hurt! despair not of the mercy of allah)”. this was narrated by bukhari> ibrahim ibn musa> hisham ibn yusuf> ibn jurayj.
abu ishaq al-muqri’ informed us> abu ‘abd allah al-husayn ibn muhammad al-dinawari> abu bakr ibn khurjah> muhammad ibn ‘abd allah ibn sulayman> muhammad ibn al-‘ala’> yunus ibn bukayr> muhammad ibn ishaq> nafi‘> ibn ‘umar> ‘umar who said: “when we gathered for migration, myself, ‘ayyash ibn abi rabi‘ah and hisham ibn al-‘as ibn wa’il set an appointment between us. we said: ‘we shall meet at al-manasif, banu ghifar’s site for entering ihram. if some of us do not make it, it means they have been stopped and the others should proceed ahead’. ‘ayyash and i made it but hisham was stopped and was tortured until he renounced islam. we then made it to medina. we used to say: ‘allah will never accept the repentance of these people: they have known allah and his messenger but then renounced their faith because of a worldly affliction that has befallen them’. but allah, exalted is he, revealed (say: o my slaves who have been prodigal to their own hurt! despair not of the mercy of allah) up to his words (is not the home of the scorners in hell?) [39:60]”. ‘umar said: “i wrote these verses with my own hands and sent them to hisham”. hisham said: “when i received the verses, i went to tuwa and prayed ‘o allah, grant me understanding of these verses’. i knew then that they were revealed about us; i therefore mounted my camel and joined the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace”.
it is also related that this verse was revealed about wahshiyy, the killer of hamzah, may allah’s mercy and good pleasure be with him. we have already mentioned this at the end of surah al-furqan.
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : say [that god declares]: ‘o my servants who have been prodigal against their souls! do not despair of god’s mercy…’he said:god, exalted is he, has given his servants respite, out of his bounty, up to their last breath, and he says to them, ‘do not despair of my mercy; even if you came back to me in your last breath, i would receive you.’he said:this verse is the most far reaching in conveying the compassion (ishfāq) shown by god, exalted is he, to his servants; because, in accordance with his knowledge, he does not deprive them of that which he bestows on others, rather he showers mercy upon them to the point that he admits them to the very essence of [his] generosity (ʿayn al-karam), by virtue of [his] eternal remembrance of them. it was related of the angel gabriel <img border="0" src="images/alyhialsalam.jpg" width="34" height="19"> that he heard abraham <img border="0" src="images/alyhialsalam.jpg" width="34" height="19"> pray, ‘o you who are most generous in pardoning!’ then gabriel <img border="0" src="images/alyhialsalam.jpg" width="34" height="19"> said to him, ‘o abraham! do you know what the generosity of his pardon (ʿafw) [implies]?’ he answered, ‘no, o gabriel.’ he continued, ‘it is that when he pardons a misdeed, he converts it into a good deed.’ then sahl said:witness this of me: it is part of my religion that i do not disown the sinners among the nation of muḥammad <img border="0" src="images/salatonmassenger.jpg" width="24" height="22">, nor the wicked, the murderers, the adulterers or the thieves, for truly, the extent of the generosity, bounty, and beneficence that god, exalted is he, shows, especially to the nation of muḥammad <img border="0" src="images/salatonmassenger.jpg" width="24" height="22">, cannot be fathomed.his words:
