قالوا طائِرُكُم مَعَكُم ۚ أَئِن ذُكِّرتُم ۚ بَل أَنتُم قَومٌ مُسرِفونَ

They said: ‘Your bad omens attend you. What! If you are admonished … Rather you are a profligate lot.’

EXEGESIS

Ṭāʾir (bad omen) literally means a bird. As mentioned under the previous verse, the way the birds flew was considered a sign of a good or bad omen. Later, the word became inclusive of everything considered a sign or a cause of evil omen. It is also used for the unfortunate accidents that encounter mankind or for bad luck and deprivation of every good in life, which is a delusional concept.^{‎[1]Mizan, 17/75.}

A-ʾin dhukkirtum (what! If you are admonished) could be the continuation of the previous sentence or it could be an independent sentence with an elided part. The former would mean: your bad omen is because of yourself if you but reflect and take admonition. The latter would mean: your bad omen is with you; what! If you are admonished, do you take it as a bad omen?!

Musrifūn (profligate lot) is a plural active participle from isrāf, which means exceeding or transgressing the measures of justice, acting extravagantly, exorbitantly, or immoderately. This may include behaviours, creeds, expenditure, eating and drinking, exertion of power, exacting revenge, and suchlike. Isrāf also signifies committing excessive faults, offences, crimes, and sins.^{‎[2]Lane, p. 1351.}

EXPOSITION

The response of the messengers to the people of the town was to say: if there is something that you should consider a cause of bad omen and misfortune, it is your state of rejecting the truth, your practice of idol worship, and your excesses and transgressions. In other words, your good or evil fate is destined by your deeds; if your deeds were good, your fortune would be good, and if your deeds were evil, your fortune would be evil. This is supported by the messengers saying: Rather, you are a profligate lot.

The conditional sentence, What! If you are admonished, is a reproaching statement which means: why is it that whenever you are reminded about the truth you consider it as a bad omen and threat, and receive it with ingratitude, and oppose it with stubbornness? The leading cause for their stubbornness and rejection was that they were profligate (musrifūn), in the sense that they were continuously transgressing the limits of disobedience.

The verse implies that the message of monotheism causes nothing but the utmost blessings and what people regard as a good omen. What people regard as a bad omen is the consequence of the transgression of every limit of indecency by falsifying the messengers, disobedience, wickedness, and every act of corruption and extravagance.^{‎[3]Tabrisi, 8/655.}

The messengers described the people of the town as musrifūn (profligate lot). This description is used for some other nations and personalities in the Quran, including Thamūd, who cause corruption in the land and do not bring about reform (26:152), the people of Prophet Lot (a) who committed an indecency none in the world has ever committed before (29:28), and the Children of Israel, many of whom commit excesses on the earth (5:32). Pharaoh is the only tyrant mentioned by name as an individual musrif in the Quran, Indeed he was a tyrant among the profligates (ʿāliyan min al-musrifīn) (44:31).

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘There are three signs of a profligate person: he spends what is not his, wears what is not his, and eats what is not his.’^{‎[4]Daqaiq, 4/462; Khisal, 45/98.}
2. Imam al-Bāqir (a) said: ‘The transgressors are those who see the forbidden acts permissible and shed blood.’^{‎[5]Daqaiq, 4/98.}
3. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘Indeed, when a curse is pronounced by someone, it resonates between him and the one who is cursed; if it is justifiable [then it affects the cursed one], otherwise it will return to the one who pronounced it, who would be more deserving for it, so be cautious when cursing a believer for it would fall upon you.’^{‎[6]Wasail, 12/301, h. 16357.}
4. The Messenger of God said: ‘Do not abuse the wind, for it is commanded [by God] and nor [abuse] the mountains, the hours, the days, or the nights so that you will sin and it [the abuse] will come back to you.’^{‎[7]Sayyid Husayn Burūjirdī, Jāmiʿ Aḥādīth al-Shīʿah fī Aḥkām al-Sharīʿah, 6/348, h. 5307.}
5. Ibn Abbas said: ‘A man cursed the wind in the presence of the Messenger of God (s), so the Messenger of God (s) said: “Do not curse the wind, for it is commanded, and whoever curses something that is not worthy of it, the curse shall return to him.”’^{‎[8]Sayyid Husayn Burūjirdī, Jāmiʿ Aḥādīth al-Shīʿah fī Aḥkām al-Sharīʿah, 6/348, h. 5308.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Regarding If you are admonished, some commentators have stated that it means the messengers said to the people that instead of honouring us, are you going to hurt and stone us after we admonished you with miracles and clear intellectual proofs? You are indeed transgressors (musrifūn) since you make the cause of blessings equal to the cause of evil omen. The miracles they performed were similar to the miracles performed by Prophet Jesus (a), so the king and a few believed, however the majority were musrifūn.^{‎[9]Razi, 26/262.}

There are four recitations for a-ʾin and two for dhukkirtum. It was recited dhukirtum with one kāf (k), indicating that the bad omen accompanies you whenever and wherever you are mentioned and not if you are admonished or reminded.^{‎[10]Sadra, 5/55-56.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make known to you my teachings. since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety.^{‎[11]Proverbs 1:23-33.}
2. The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. He mocks proud mockers but shows favour to the humble and oppressed. The wise inherit honour, but fools get only shame.^{‎[12]Proverbs 3:33-35.}
3. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.^{‎[13]Romans 8:28.}

[1] Mizan, 17/75.
[2] Lane, p. 1351.
[3] Tabrisi, 8/655.
[4] Daqaiq, 4/462; Khisal, 45/98.
[5] Daqaiq, 4/98.
[6] Wasail, 12/301, h. 16357.
[7] Sayyid Husayn Burūjirdī, Jāmiʿ Aḥādīth al-Shīʿah fī Aḥkām al-Sharīʿah, 6/348, h. 5307.
[8] Sayyid Husayn Burūjirdī, Jāmiʿ Aḥādīth al-Shīʿah fī Aḥkām al-Sharīʿah, 6/348, h. 5308.
[9] Razi, 26/262.
[10] Sadra, 5/55-56.
[11] Proverbs 1:23-33.
[12] Proverbs 3:33-35.
[13] Romans 8:28.