Tafsir for verse: 38:31
إِذۡ عُرِضَ عَلَيۡهِ بِٱلۡعَشِيِّ ٱلصَّٰفِنَٰتُ ٱلۡجِيَادُ ٣١ ﴿31
31(Worth remembering is the incident) when the swift horses of high breeding were presented before him in the evening.
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Commentary

And when the horses are among the greatest of what has been adorned for people from the love of desires; and the context is for honor; and the conflict; indicating the great need for what can restrain that; of which the greatest is the horses; he mentioned in it a matter for him ﷺ; which indicated that despite his greatness of kingship; he often repented; greatly; because whoever does not have that by nature; cannot achieve what he did; so he said: ﴿When﴾; meaning: remember; to stand upon the witness of what We informed you of; when ﴿it was presented to him in the evening﴾; meaning: after the sun had set; ﴿the standing ones﴾; meaning: the pure Arabian horses; which can hardly keep all their legs grounded; prancing by themselves; and close to flying with their grace; and their ambition; and displaying their strength; and their elegance; and their lightness; he said in the dictionary: "The horse pranced; it stands on three legs; and the tip of the fourth hoof;" and the tanner said: "It stands on three legs; and one leg is raised from the ground or its hoof touches the ground to rest with that;" and most often the noble horses prance; he said: And they said: Every hoofed creature does it; but it is more common among the purebred horses; and it was said: "The standing one" is the one that gathers its hands; and bends the tip of the hoof of one of its legs; and it was said: "The standing one" is the one that raises the hoof of one of its hands; so if it raises the tip of the hoof of one of its legs, it is resting; and "it has pranced"; if it does that.

And when it was clarified that it is permissible to generalize the standing one beyond the noble; even if it is rare; it was established that the intended description is of quality; standing and running; so he said: ﴿the noble ones﴾; meaning: those that excel in their running with the utmost they can; the plural of "noble"; (p-379) so it continued to be presented to him until he missed the prayer of the last part of the day; and it was obligatory upon those who preceded us to pray two units at the beginning of the day; and two units at its end; so he became aware at that moment.

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