سورة الجاثية

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): This word of Allah, أَمْ حَسِبَ الَّذینَ اجْتَرَحُوا السَّیِّئات [Or do those who commit evil deeds think], was revealed on the day of the Battle of Badr concerning these six persons.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him) said regarding the word of Allah: أَمْ حَسِبَ الَّذِینَ اجْتَرَحُوا السَّیِّئاتِ [Nay! do those who have wrought evil deeds think]: Utba and Shayba, the two sons of Rabi'a, and al-Walid ibn Utba said to Ali (peace be upon him), Hamza (may Allah have mercy on him) and Ubayda: 'If what Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) says about the hereafter — the reward, paradise and blessings — is true, then we shall be given better than what you are given, and we shall have superiority over you just as we have superiority in this world.' So Allah revealed: أَمْ حَسِبَ الَّذِینَ اجْتَرَحُوا السَّیِّئاتِ [Nay! do those who have wrought evil deeds think], meaning: do Shayba, Utba and al-Walid think that We will place them like those who have believed and done righteous deeds — meaning Ali (peace be upon him), Hamza (may Allah have mercy on him) and Ubayda? From themselves, how evil is the judgement they make.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): [Regarding] أَمْ حَسِبَ الَّذِینَ اجْتَرَحُوا السَّیِّئاتِ [Nay! do those who have wrought evil deeds think], he said: 'It was revealed concerning Ali (peace be upon him), Hamza (may Allah have mercy on him) and Ubayda ibn al-Harith ibn Abd al-Muttalib, and they are those who believed and did righteous deeds; and concerning three men from the polytheists — Utba and Shayba, the sons of Rabi'a, and al-Walid ibn Utba — and they are those who committed evil deeds [and sins], meaning they associated partners with Allah. They were all in Makkah and they disputed and quarrelled with one another. Those three who did evil deeds said to those three who were believers: "By Allah, you are on nothing, and even if what you say be true, in the hereafter we shall have superiority over you." So this verse was revealed concerning them.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): The referents of الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا وَ عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ [those who believed and did righteous deeds] are Ali (peace be upon him), Hamza (may Allah have mercy on him) and Ubayda; and the referents of the corrupters in the phrase کَالْمُفْسِدِینَ فِی الْأَرْضِ [like the corrupters on earth] are Utba, Shayba and al-Walid ibn Uqba. The intended meaning of the pious ones (al-muttaqin) is likewise Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), Hamza (may Allah have mercy on him) and Ubayda; and the referents of the wicked (al-fujjar) are Utba, Shayba and al-Walid ibn Utba. In the verse: أَمْ حَسِبَ الَّذِینَ اجْتَرَحُوا السَّیِّئَاتِ أَنْ نَجْعَلَهُمْ کَالَّذِینَ آمَنُوا وَ عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ [Nay! do those who have wrought evil deeds think that We will make them like those who believe and do good], what is meant by the believers is Banu Hashim and Banu Abd al-Muttalib, and what is meant by the evildoers is Banu Abd Shams.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): أَمْ حَسِبَ الَّذِینَ اجْتَرَحُوا السَّیِّئاتِ [Nay! do those who have wrought evil deeds think] — what is meant is Banu Umayya. And الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا وَ عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحاتِ [those who believed and did righteous deeds] are the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), Ali (peace be upon him), Hamza (may Allah have mercy on him), Ja'far (may Allah have mercy on him), Hasan and Husayn (peace be upon them), and Fatima (peace of Allah be upon her).

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Allah — exalted be His station and His names — created His creation and bound them to His worship and charged them with His obedience, and He apportioned their provision among them, and He established them in the world as they needed to be established, and He explained His religion to them as it truly is. Yet in all of this He was free of need of them: He gains no benefit from the obedience of one who obeys Him, nor does He suffer any harm from the disobedience of one who disobeys Him. Rather, Allah knew that people fall short of setting their own affairs right and of straightening their own crookedness in the two worlds and are unable to do so, and so by His command He disciplined them and issued commands and prohibitions to them. He commanded them so that they might obey freely, and He laid upon them an easy charge, and He rewarded them by the ruling of His justice and His wisdom — both those who hastened to carry out His command, and those who were slow in it, and those who used the support of His blessing to disobey Him. This is the saying of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: أَمْ حَسِبَ الَّذِینَ اجْتَرَحُوا السَّیِّئاتِ أَنْ نَجْعَلَهُمْ کَالَّذِینَ آمَنُوا وَ عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحاتِ سَواءً مَحْیاهُمْ وَ مَماتُهُمْ ساءَ ما یَحْکُمُون [Nay! do those who have wrought evil deeds think that We will make them like those who believe and do good — that their life and their death shall be equal? Evil it is that they judge].