Surah As-Saaffaat: Verse 28 - قالوا إنكم كنتم تأتوننا عن... - English

Tafsir of Verse 28, Surah As-Saaffaat

قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ تَأْتُونَنَا عَنِ ٱلْيَمِينِ

English Translation

They will say, "Indeed, you used to come at us from the right."

English Transliteration

Qaloo innakum kuntum tatoonana AAani alyameeni

Tafsir of Verse 28

These say, 'Why, you of old would come to us from the right hand.'

They will say: "It was ye who used to come to us from the right hand (of power and authority)!"

Commentary

When the leading elders among disbelievers who had misled their common adherents appear before their followers on the plains of resurrection, they would, rather than help each other, start arguing among themselves. The present verses carry a sampling of the same mutual argumentation between the contesting parties as well as the sad end they will have to face. Two things are noteworthy here:

1. The word: يَمِينِ (yamin) in:إِنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ تَأْتُونَنَا عَنِ الْيَمِينِ (You were the ones who used to come to [ mislead ] us forcefully.- 37:28) may have several meanings. One possible meaning of the expression: عَنِ الْيَمِينِ ('ani'l-yamin) is 'powerfully' or 'forcefully'. The translation given in the text above is based on this meaning, which seems to be fairly clear and cloudless. In addition to that, 'yamin' is also used to mean oath. Some commentators have explained it as: 'you came to us with oaths,' that is, 'you made us believe on oath that our creed is correct and the teaching of the messenger of Allah is, God forbid, false.' In terms of the words of the Qur'an, both these explanations are possible and acceptable comfortably.

Verse 28 - Surah As-Saaffaat: (قالوا إنكم كنتم تأتوننا عن اليمين...) - English