Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary * - Translations’ Index
Translation of the meanings Ayah: (8) Surah: Al-Isrā’
عَسَىٰ رَبُّكُمۡ أَن يَرۡحَمَكُمۡۚ وَإِنۡ عُدتُّمۡ عُدۡنَاۚ وَجَعَلۡنَا جَهَنَّمَ لِلۡكَٰفِرِينَ حَصِيرًا
(8) May your Lord have mercy on you! But shall you go back, We shall then go back[3507]—We have made Hell an enclosure[3508] for the Deniers![3509]
[3507] God Almighty would show them mercy after this great infliction, make them thrive and give them back their sovereignty (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Wāḥidī, al-Wajīz, al-Qurṭubī, al-Saʿdī); only if they repent and mend their ways. But should they revert back to their old rebellious ways then God Almighty’s Canon is never changing (cf. al-Tafsīr al-Muyassar, al-Tafsīr al-Mukhtaṣar). Sinning and rebelliousness bring about destruction and humiliation, but repentance and obedience only result in prosperity and abundance: “˹Mention Muhammad˺ When your Lord declared ˹that˺ He would certainly send against them, until the Day of Judgement, ˹those˺ who would subject them to the worst of suffering—indeed your Lord is swift in reprisal and He certainly is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. *And We cut them into ˹separate˺ nations ˹asunder˺ in the land; among them are those who are righteous and those who are less so. We tested them with the good and bad ˹fortune˺ so that they might return” (7: 167-168).
They will always stand to face a new test. If they fail it, they should expect nothing but the same dire consequence.
[3508] Ḥaṣīran is a place of imprisonment (cf. al-Zamakhsharī, Abū al-Suʿūd, al-Shawkānī), that is when taken to derive from ḥaṣr which means to enclose and imprison (as in 25: 13; cf. Ibn Qutaybah, Gharīb al-Qur’ān, al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt, Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lughah). But it could mean ‘carpet’ if taken from ḥaṣīr which is what Arabs call a small carpet (as in 3: 205, 3: 12 and 197; cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Qutaybah, Gharīb al-Qur’ān, al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt).
[3509] This might imply that this worldly punishment is for rebelling against the Message and not heeding its dictates, but the Punishment for Denying the Messengers, as they did with Prophets Jesus and Muhammad (q), will be in the Hereafter (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr); or that the worldly punishment could be escaped by some but that of the Hereafter is utterly inescapable (cf. al-Rāzī).
They will always stand to face a new test. If they fail it, they should expect nothing but the same dire consequence.
[3508] Ḥaṣīran is a place of imprisonment (cf. al-Zamakhsharī, Abū al-Suʿūd, al-Shawkānī), that is when taken to derive from ḥaṣr which means to enclose and imprison (as in 25: 13; cf. Ibn Qutaybah, Gharīb al-Qur’ān, al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt, Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lughah). But it could mean ‘carpet’ if taken from ḥaṣīr which is what Arabs call a small carpet (as in 3: 205, 3: 12 and 197; cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Qutaybah, Gharīb al-Qur’ān, al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt).
[3509] This might imply that this worldly punishment is for rebelling against the Message and not heeding its dictates, but the Punishment for Denying the Messengers, as they did with Prophets Jesus and Muhammad (q), will be in the Hereafter (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr); or that the worldly punishment could be escaped by some but that of the Hereafter is utterly inescapable (cf. al-Rāzī).
Arabic explanations of the Qur’an:
Translation of the meanings Ayah: (8) Surah: Al-Isrā’
Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary - Translations’ Index
Translation of the meanings of the Noble Qur’an into English - in progress - translated by Dr. Walid Bleihesh Al-Omari.