Sūrah Al-Muṭaffifīn The Defrauders: Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī The Source Commentary

Surah Overview

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance

SurahالمطففينMakkī 36 versesWeights fraud condemnation, Sijjīn, ʿIlliyyūn, believers' wine

Key DisagreementWhat are Sijjīn and ʿIlliyyūn (83:7–9, 18–20)?Cosmic register identityAl-Ṭabarī: Sijjīn is in the lowest earth the record of the wicked; ʿIlliyyūn is in the highest heaven the record of the righteous; through chains from Ibn ʿAbbās

Competing OpinionsIs Sijjīn a place or a person?Lexical debateAl-Ṭabarī: a place (the lowest prison-like earth) through chains from Ibn ʿAbbās and Mujāhid; not a person or an angel

MethodologyLexical and chain analysis of cosmological terms with competing identificationsLexical + chain methodAl-Ṭabarī uses both Arabic lexical analysis ("sijjīn" from sijjn = prison) and chains to establish the cosmological identification

Key Themes from Al-Ṭabarī

The Sijjīn-ʿIlliyyūn cosmology (83:7–20) is analyzed by al-Ṭabarī through chains from Ibn ʿAbbās: Sijjīn is the lowest earth (al-arḍ al-sābiʿah, the seventh earth) where the souls of the wicked are gathered after death; ʿIlliyyūn is the highest heaven (al-samāʾ al-sābiʿah, the seventh heaven) where the souls of the righteous are gathered. Both are "kitāb marqum" a written register that is sealed. Al-Ṭabarī treats these as physical cosmological locations, not metaphors, through the chains from Ibn ʿAbbās and prophetic narrations on the afterlife of the soul.

The weights-and-measures condemnation (83:1–6) is analyzed through chains from Ibn ʿAbbās on the occasion: the Prophet arrived in Medina where this practice was prevalent. Al-Ṭabarī notes the Quran opens a surah with a commercial ethics prohibition giving the muṭaffifīn (defrauders) a dedicated divine rebuke. He connects this to the broader Quranic principle: commercial honesty is a religious obligation, and cheating in weights is treated in the same category as the sins that lead to Sijjīn.

كَلَّا إِنَّ كِتَابَ الْفُجَّارِ لَفِي سِجِّينٍ وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا سِجِّينٌ كِتَابٌ مَّرْقُومٌ Kallā inna kitāba l-fujjāri la-fī sijjīn wa-mā adrāka mā sijjīn kitābun marqum "No! Indeed, the register of the wicked is in Sijjīn and what will make you know what is Sijjīn? A register inscribed." (83:7–9) Al-Ṭabarī presents chains from Ibn ʿAbbās identifying Sijjīn as the lowest earth a physical cosmological location where the records of the wicked are gathered.

وَيْلٌ لِّلْمُطَفِّفِينَ الَّذِينَ إِذَا اكْتَالُوا عَلَى النَّاسِ يَسْتَوْفُونَ Waylun li-l-muṭaffifīna lladhīna idhā ktālū ʿalā l-nāsi yastawfūn "Woe to those who give less than due, who, when they take a measure from people, take in full; but if they give by measure or by weight to them, they cause loss." (83:1–3) Al-Ṭabarī traces chains from Ibn ʿAbbās on the Medinan commercial context and the Quran's elevation of commercial honesty to a religious obligation.

Sijjīn cosmology: Al-Ṭabarī's chain-based identification of Sijjīn as the lowest earth is one of his more detailed cosmological analyses treating the afterlife of souls as having specific physical locations.
ʿIlliyyūn cosmology: The highest heaven as the gathering place for righteous souls is treated symmetrically with Sijjīn creating a complete cosmological structure for the afterlife of souls before resurrection.
Commercial ethics: The Quran's opening of a surah with commercial ethics is analyzed as indicating the religious gravity of commercial honesty.
Believers' wine: 83:25's "they will be given drink from pure wine sealed with musk" is analyzed through chains physical wine that does not intoxicate or harm, sealed and pure in contrast to worldly wine.
Ṭayy (written register): "Kitāb marqum" (inscribed register) is analyzed through chains a sealed, completed record that cannot be altered or escaped.

Surah Overview

Key Themes from Al-Ṭabarī

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