Question:
Assalamualaikkum to our beloved Shuyukhs.
Please help me with interpretations of the following verse.
And do not send away those who call upon their Lord morning and afternoon, seeking His countenance. Not upon you is anything of their account and not upon them is anything of your account. So were you to send them away, you would [then] be of the wrongdoers.(06:52)
To whom it is mentioned?
Please forgive me if my question is wrong as well.
Srilanka
Colombo
Answer:
wa `alaykum salam,
Muslim, Ibn Majah and others narrate that the Holy Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) dearly wanted for the major Arab tribal groups to be attracted and so he gave ear to their requests. One such time when two of their important leaders, al-Aqra` ibn Habis al-Tamimi and `Uyayna ibn Hisn al-Fazari came in and saw that he was sitting with Suhayb, Bilal, Salman, `Ammar, Khabbab, Ibn Mas`ud, Miqdad and other such humble freedmen, the two noblemen were repelled and spoke to the Prophet in private that he arrange for them an exclusive meeting and write it down as a written agreement, saying: “we can never follow the likes of these, so tell them to go away,” whereupon this verse was revealed.
{Who call upon their Lord in the early morning and the evening [not
“afternoon”]} means those who pray; {Seeking His countenance} means seeking to obey Him or seeking Him. {Not upon you is anything of their account and not upon them is anything of your account} is understood in light of verses 6:53-54: {And even so do We try some of them by others, so that they say: “Are these they whom Allah favored among us?” Is not Allah best Aware of the thanksgivers? And when those who believe in Our revelations come unto you, say: Peace be unto you! Your Lord has prescribed for Himself mercy, that whoso of you does evil through ignorance and repents afterward thereof and does right, (for him) lo! He is Forgiving, Merciful.}
“After that,” Khabbab relates, “we became so close to the Prophet that we would sit knee to knee with him. When he needed to leave he would get up and leave us, then Allah Most High revealed {Restrain yourself along with those who cry unto their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Countenance; and let not your eyes overlook them, desiring the pomp of the life of the world} (18:28) and he was told not to sit with the nobility: {and obey not him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance} (18:28), meaning `Uyayna and al-Aqra`.”
Source: Tafsir al-Qurtubi.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
