فَلَعَلَّكَ باخِعٌ نَفسَكَ عَلىٰ آثارِهِم إِن لَم يُؤمِنوا بِهٰذَا الحَديثِ أَسَفًا
You are liable to imperil your life for their sake, if they should not believe this discourse, out of grief.
EXEGESIS
Bākhiʿ (imperil) comes from bakhʿ, which originally means the sweat that drips from the neck of an animal that is about to be slaughtered. From this comes the meaning of striving extremely hard for something (juhd). It is then used to mean to strive so hard that one kills themselves out of sorrow.
Āthārihim: āthār is the plural of athar and literally means footprints. In a more general sense, any sign or indication of something can be called an athar. The expression here depicts the Prophet as someone who walks after the disbelievers arduously and insistently to call them to faith out of compassion and mercy.
Ḥadīth literally means for something to come into existence after not being. It is used to refer to talking about an event, do not question me concerning anything until I [myself] make a mention (uḥdithu) of it to you (verse 70), hence the translation of discourse. The speech that it is referring to here is the Quran.
Asafan (grief): it has been said to have the meaning of both anger and grief together. Here it means grief or sadness, and this is because here the cause of asaf is outside the control of the one experiencing grief. If it were under his control then the meaning of anger (ghaḍab) – which some have claimed – may be warranted, such as in the verse, So when they roused Our wrath (āsafūnā), We took vengeance on them (43:55). Though its usage in the verses Thereupon Moses returned to his people, indignant (ghaḍbān) and grieved (asif) (20:86; see also 7:150) suggests that anger and asaf are two different emotions.
EXPOSITION
This verse turns its attention to the reality of the utterance spoken by the ignorant disbelievers that was mentioned in the previous verse. When they uttered it, they did not think of its reality, supposing it to be a light matter, while it was a grave [matter] with Allah (24:15). The Holy Prophet, realising the gravity of their utterances, was deeply affected by it, being greatly saddened.
The description of the Prophet imperilling himself in his efforts to seek their ‘footprints’ (āthār) conjures for the reader the image of a man who has lost his loved ones and desperately seeks their footprints, trying to find them. It also depicts the disbelievers as those who have turned their backs on the Prophet and walked away from him, leaving him to seek after them, trying to bring them back.
If they should not believe this discourse, out of grief: meaning they do not believe that this is revelation from God. This is similar to the verse, You are liable to imperil (bākhiʿ) your life [out of distress] that they will not have faith (26:3).
The Prophet is described as putting himself in peril, due to the love and mercy that he had in his heart towards his people, caring deeply for their guidance, which caused him to grieve greatly over their faithlessness. It is reported that this verse was revealed after some of his clansmen turned away from his call and his advice, and worked and plotted against him; seeing this saddened the Prophet greatly. Indeed, one of the most important qualities of a good leader is that he loves his people and cares for them.
The objective of the verse then is to comfort the Messenger of God, reminding him that his duty is not to guide whom he wills, You cannot guide whomever you wish, but [it is] Allah [who] guides whomever He wishes (28:56); but rather his duty is to deliver the message of God, The Apostle’s duty is only to communicate (5:99).
Compare also the usage of ḥadīth (discourse) to describe the speech of God, vis-à-vis the usage of kalimah (utterance) in the previous verse to describe the speech of the disbelievers. One denotes breadth and scope, while the other denotes diminutiveness and a limited nature. This is meant to make the reader draw a parallel between the knowledge that the two speakers possess.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Āthārihim has also been said to mean ‘after their death’, meaning the Prophet would get greatly saddened after they died, regretting that he could not guide them. This is in contradiction to the report mentioned earlier. It is also somewhat problematic, as someone who has died on disbelief has already sealed their fate, And never pray over any of them when he dies, nor stand at his graveside. They indeed defied Allah and His Apostle and died as transgressors (9:84).
This verse has also been used as evidence that the words of the Quran have the quality of ḥudūth, i.e. being produced temporally.
[1] Tantawi, 8/470.
[2] Razi, 21/426, quoting al-Farrāʾ.
[3] Tabrisi, 6/694; Tabari, 15/129; Raghib, p. 110; Razi, 21/426; Nemuneh, 12/348.
[4] Mizan, 13/239.
[5] Nemuneh, 12/348.
[6] Raghib, p. 222.
[7] Tibyan, 7/8; Thalabi, 6/145; Razi, 21/426. See also verse 39:23.
[8] Raghib, p. 75.
[9] Tibyan, 7/9.
[10] This opinion is attributed to Qatādah, and Ibn Kathir, 5/124. Although the meaning of sadness has been also attributed to him, Suyuti, 4/211.
[11] Raghib, p. 75; Muhit, 7/139.
[12] Ālūsī reaches the opposite conclusion and argues that asaf means sadness when it is used in conjunction with ghaḍab, Alusi, 8/197.
[13] Zamakhshari, 2/703.
[14] Muhit, 7/139.
[15] Tibyan, 7/8-9.
[16] Tibyan, 7/9.
[17] Suyuti, 4/211.
[18] Nemuneh, 12/347.
[19] Related by Tabrisi, 15/129.
[20] Alusi, 8/196.
[21] Razi, 21/426; Alusi, 8/196.