Surah Hijr ayat 18 Tafsir Quran 15:18

﴿إِلَّا مَنِ اسْتَرَقَ السَّمْعَ فَأَتْبَعَهُ شِهَابٌ مُّبِينٌ﴾
[ الحجر: 18]

15:18 Except one who steals a hearing and is pursued by a clear burning flame.

except the one who listens by stealth — he is pursued by a clear flame a shining meteor that burns him or pierces him or drives him insane.

He who peers inquisitively into the realm to steal whatever comes to his hearing of the secrets or future events is pursued by a flame of fire which does not miss

The Power of Allah and His Signs in the Heavens and on Earth To those who ponder, and look repeatedly at the dazzling signs and wonders that are to be seen in the creation, Allah mentions His creation of the heavens, with their immense height, and both the fixed and moving heavenly bodies with which He has adorned it.
Here, Mujahid and Qatadah said that Buruj big stars refers to the heavenly bodies.
( I say ): This is like the Ayah : تَبَارَكَ الَّذِى جَعَلَ فِى السَّمَآءِ بُرُوجاً ( Blessed be He Who has placed the big stars in the heavens. ) 25:61 `Atiyah Al-`Awfi said: "Buruj here refers to sentinel fortresses." He made the "shooting stars" to guard it against the evil devils who try to listen to information conveyed at the highest heights.
If any devil breaches it and advances hoping to listen, a clear "shooting star" comes to him and destroys him.
He may already have passed on whatever he heard before the fire hit him, to another devil below him; the latter will then take it to his friends among humans, as is stated in the Sahih.
Explaining this Ayah, Al-Bukhari reported from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said:
«إِذَا قَضَى اللهُ الْأَمْرَ فِي السَّمَاءِ ضَرَبَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ بِأَجْنِحَتِهَا خُضْعَانًا لِقَوْلِهِ كَأَنَّهُ سِلْسِلَةٌ عَلَى صَفْوَان»
( When Allah decrees any matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in submission to His Word, with a sound like a chain beating on a smooth rock." ) ( `Ali and other subnarrators said, "The sound reaches them." ) "When the fright leaves their ( angels' ) hearts, they ( angels ) are asked: `What did your Lord say' They respond: "The truth.
And He is the Most High, the Most Great.' So those who hope to hear something listen, and they are standing one above the other." Sufyan the narrator described them with a gesture, spreading the fingers of his right hand and holding it in such a way that the fingers were above one another.
"Sometimes the flaming fire hits one of these listeners before he is able to convey what he has heard to the one who is beneath him, and he is burned up, or sometimes the fire does not hit him until he has pit on to the one beneath him, so he brings it to the earth." Perhaps Sufyan said: "...until it reaches the earth and he puts it into the mouth of the sorcerer or fortune-teller, so that after telling a hundred lies he gets something right, and the people say, `Did he not tell us that on such and such a day such and such would happen, and we found it to be the truth among the statements which were heard from heaven."' Then Allah mentions His creation of the earth and how He spread it out, and the firm mountains, valleys, lands and sands that he has placed in it, and the plants and fruits that He causes to grow in their appropriate locations. مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ مَّوْزُونٍ ( all kinds of things in due proportion. ) Ibn `Abbas said that this means with their predetermined proportions.
This was also the opinion of Sa`id bin Jubayr, `Ikrimah, Abu Malik, Mujahid, Al-Hakim bin `Utaybah, Al-Hasan bin Muhammad, Abu Salih and Qatadah. وَجَعَلْنَا لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَعَـيِشَ ( And We have provided therein means of living, for you ) Here Allah mentions that He created the earth with different means of provisions and livelihood of all kinds. وَمَن لَّسْتُمْ لَهُ بِرَزِقِينَ ( and for those whom you provide not. ) Mujahid said, "This refers to the riding animals and the cattle." Ibn Jarir said, "They are slaves, men and women, as well as the animals and the cattle.
The meaning is that Allah, may He be exalted, is reminding them of the ways of earning provision that He has made easy for them, and of the animals that He has subjugated for them to ride and to eat, and the slaves from whom they benefit, but the provision of all of these comes from Allah alone."

(15:18) except that an eaves-dropper might hear something *11 , but a fiery flame pursues that eaves-dropper. *12

Except one who steals a hearing and meaning

*11) This is the answer to the false claim of the soothsayers, diviners, hermits, conjurers and the like who pretended to receive communications from the Heaven.
The Qur'an says that in fact they do not possess any means of obtaining information about unseen things.
Satans, however, try to eaves-drop because they are by nature more like angels than human beings, but in reality, they succeed in obtaining very little information about it.

*12) In Arabic the word shihab-i-mubin literally means " fiery flame ".
In XXXVII: 10, the same thing has been called shihab-i-thaqib ( " flame that pierces through darkness " ).
'This may or may not necessarily be a " meteor " for it is just possible that it may be some type of rays such as " Cosmic Rays " or even a stronger type which we have not been able to discover as yet.
Anyhow if the " fiery flame " that pursues Satans may be taken to be a meteor, a countless number of these can form a fortification around our sphere of the universe.
Scientific observations made with the help of the telescope have shown that billions of these meteors are rushing from space in mass of " rainfall " towards the earth's atmosphere.
Such a scene was witnessed in an eastern pan of North America on November 13, 1833.
This is so strong a fortification that it can prevent Satans from passing through any fortified sphere.

With the help of the above, one can form a mental picture of the " fortified spheres " .
Though there is no visible " wall " to keep distinct and separate one sphere from the others, Allah has securely guarded each of these spheres by invisible " walls " against each other.
That is why our " planet " has remained safe in spite of the occasional " rainfall " of countless meteors.
For as soon as they cross the protective wall of our sphere, they are burnt to ashes.
But sometimes a meteorite reaches the earth from outer space as if to warn the dwellers of this planet of the existence of the " power " of the Creator.
For instance, the biggest of these weighs 645 pounds and it is obvious from this that if the earth had not been made safe and secure by means of " fortified spheres " the rain of the shooting stars would have utterly annihilated it long long ago.
It is these " fortified spheres " which the Qur'an calls " buruj ".

 

The Power of Allah and His Signs in the Heavens and on Earth To those who ponder, and look repeatedly at the dazzling signs and wonders that are to be seen in the creation, Allah mentions His creation of the heavens, with their immense height, and both the fixed and moving heavenly bodies with which He has adorned it.
Here, Mujahid and Qatadah said that Buruj big stars refers to the heavenly bodies.
( I say ): This is like the Ayah : تَبَارَكَ الَّذِى جَعَلَ فِى السَّمَآءِ بُرُوجاً ( Blessed be He Who has placed the big stars in the heavens. ) 25:61 `Atiyah Al-`Awfi said: "Buruj here refers to sentinel fortresses." He made the "shooting stars" to guard it against the evil devils who try to listen to information conveyed at the highest heights.
If any devil breaches it and advances hoping to listen, a clear "shooting star" comes to him and destroys him.
He may already have passed on whatever he heard before the fire hit him, to another devil below him; the latter will then take it to his friends among humans, as is stated in the Sahih.
Explaining this Ayah, Al-Bukhari reported from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said: «إِذَا قَضَى اللهُ الْأَمْرَ فِي السَّمَاءِ ضَرَبَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ بِأَجْنِحَتِهَا خُضْعَانًا لِقَوْلِهِ كَأَنَّهُ سِلْسِلَةٌ عَلَى صَفْوَان» ( When Allah decrees any matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in submission to His Word, with a sound like a chain beating on a smooth rock." ) ( `Ali and other subnarrators said, "The sound reaches them." ) "When the fright leaves their ( angels' ) hearts, they ( angels ) are asked: `What did your Lord say' They respond: "The truth.
And He is the Most High, the Most Great.' So those who hope to hear something listen, and they are standing one above the other." Sufyan the narrator described them with a gesture, spreading the fingers of his right hand and holding it in such a way that the fingers were above one another.
"Sometimes the flaming fire hits one of these listeners before he is able to convey what he has heard to the one who is beneath him, and he is burned up, or sometimes the fire does not hit him until he has pit on to the one beneath him, so he brings it to the earth." Perhaps Sufyan said: "...until it reaches the earth and he puts it into the mouth of the sorcerer or fortune-teller, so that after telling a hundred lies he gets something right, and the people say, `Did he not tell us that on such and such a day such and such would happen, and we found it to be the truth among the statements which were heard from heaven."' Then Allah mentions His creation of the earth and how He spread it out, and the firm mountains, valleys, lands and sands that he has placed in it, and the plants and fruits that He causes to grow in their appropriate locations. مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ مَّوْزُونٍ ( all kinds of things in due proportion. ) Ibn `Abbas said that this means with their predetermined proportions.
This was also the opinion of Sa`id bin Jubayr, `Ikrimah, Abu Malik, Mujahid, Al-Hakim bin `Utaybah, Al-Hasan bin Muhammad, Abu Salih and Qatadah. وَجَعَلْنَا لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَعَـيِشَ ( And We have provided therein means of living, for you ) Here Allah mentions that He created the earth with different means of provisions and livelihood of all kinds. وَمَن لَّسْتُمْ لَهُ بِرَزِقِينَ ( and for those whom you provide not. ) Mujahid said, "This refers to the riding animals and the cattle." Ibn Jarir said, "They are slaves, men and women, as well as the animals and the cattle.
The meaning is that Allah, may He be exalted, is reminding them of the ways of earning provision that He has made easy for them, and of the animals that He has subjugated for them to ride and to eat, and the slaves from whom they benefit, but the provision of all of these comes from Allah alone."

( Save him who stealeth the hearing, and them doth a clear flame pursue ) they are pursued by a bright, burning star.

Except him (devil) that gains hearing by stealing, he is pursued by a clear flaming fire.

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