"Al-Mutabbar" is "al-mukhsar" (destined for loss). He said: "Al-mutabbar" and "al-batil" are the same. Reading the word of Allah: "Indeed, those people will be destroyed for what they are in, and void is that which they used to do," he said: All of this is one thing, like the expressions "Ghafur Rahim" (Forgiving, Merciful) and "Afuwun Ghafur" (Pardoning, Forgiving). The Arabs say: "Indeed, he is the miserable, the destroyed," and "Indeed, he is the miserable, the ruined."

His saying, the Almighty: "Shall I desire for you a god other than Allah?"

8910 - My father told us, Ibrahim ibn al-Mundhir told us, Muhammad ibn Isma'il ibn Abi Fudayk told us, from Kathir ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Awf, from his father, from his grandfather, that he said: We went on an expedition with the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in the year of the Conquest, and we were over a thousand [men]. Allah granted him victory over Mecca and Hunayn. When we were between Hunayn and al-Ta'if, there was a land of trees, a Sidr tree upon which weapons were hung, and it was called "Dhat Anwat." It used to be worshipped instead of Allah. When the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—saw it, he turned away from it on a hot day toward a shade that was nearer than it. A man said to him: "O Messenger of Allah, make for us a Dhat Anwat just as they have a Dhat Anwat." The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: "I am the sunan (traditions/ways)! You have said—by the One in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad—just as the Children of Israel said to Moses: 'Make for us a god just as they have gods.'" Then he said: "Shall I desire for you a god other than Allah, while He has favored you over the worlds?"

His saying, the Almighty: "And He has favored you"

8911 - 'Isam ibn Rawwad told us, Adam told us, Abu Ja'far—meaning al-Razi—told us, from al-Rabi', from Abu al-'Aliyah, regarding "favored you over the worlds," he said: What they were given of kingship, messengers, and scriptures over the world that existed in that time, for every time has a world. It is narrated from Mujahid, al-Rabi' ibn Anas, Qatadah, and Isma'il ibn Abi Khalid something similar.

His saying, the Almighty: "Over the worlds"

[The first interpretation]

8912 - My father told us, 'Ubayd Allah ibn Musa told us, Abu Ja'far al-Razi told us, from al-Rabi', from Abu al-'Aliyah: Regarding "the worlds," he said: Mankind is a world, the jinn are a world, and besides that, there are eighteen thousand worlds, or fourteen thousand worlds of angels upon the earth. The earth has four corners, and in every corner, there are three thousand and five hundred worlds that Allah created for His worship.