'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Adh-Dhariyat

This surah is Makki, by consensus of the mufassirun.

His saying, exalted is He:

﴿And the winds scattering﴾ ﴿And those that bear a burden﴾ ﴿And the ships sailing smoothly﴾ ﴿And those that divide the matter﴾ ﴿Indeed, what you are promised is true﴾ ﴿And indeed, the Day of Judgment will occur﴾ ﴿By the heaven, with its great structure﴾ ﴿Indeed, you are in a statement differing﴾ ﴿It is turned away from him who is turned away﴾ ﴿Cursed are the falsifiers﴾ ﴿Who are in a state of heedlessness﴾ ﴿They ask, when is the Day of Judgment?﴾ ﴿The Day they will be tormented in the Fire﴾ ﴿Taste your trial; this is what you used to hasten﴾ ﴿Indeed, the righteous will be in gardens and springs﴾ ﴿Taking what their Lord has given them; indeed, they were before that doers of good﴾

Allah, exalted is He, swore by these creations as a reminder of them, and as an honor for them, and as a sign for reflection in them, so that the observer in them may turn to the Oneness of Allah, exalted is He.

And "the winds scattering" refers to the winds, by consensus of the interpreters. It is said: the wind scattered and it means the same. In the winds, there is a consideration of their strength at times, and their gentleness at times, and their being sometimes a mercy and sometimes a punishment, among other things. And "scattering" is in the accusative as a verbal noun.

"And those that bear a burden" Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, said: it refers to the clouds heavy with water. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, and others said: it refers to the ships laden with people and their goods. A group of scholars also said: it refers to all pregnant animals. In all of this, there is consideration, and "a burden" is a clear object.

"And the ships sailing smoothly" Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, and others said: it refers to the ships in the sea. Others said: it refers to the clouds driven by the wind. Others said: it refers to the celestial bodies. The wording accommodates all of this, and "smoothly" is an adjective for a deleted verbal noun, and the attributes of the deleted verbal nouns refer to conditions, and "smoothly" means: with ease and little effort.

"And those that divide the matter": the angels, and "the matter" here is a generic noun. It is as if He, exalted is He, said: and the groups that divide the affairs of the kingdom, such as sustenance, lifespans, creation in the wombs, and the matter of the winds, and so forth; because all of this is done by angels who serve it. The verse encompasses all the angels because they are all involved in different matters, and "the dividers" is feminine because it refers to groups. Abu Tufail Amir ibn Wathila said: Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, was on the pulpit and said: do not ask me about a verse from the Book of Allah, exalted is He, or a past Sunnah except that I will answer. Then Ibn al-Kiway asked him about this, and he said: the scattering winds are the winds, the bearers are the clouds, the sailing are the ships, and the dividers are the angels. Then he said to him: ask a question of learning and do not ask a question of obstinacy.

And this oath is based on His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Indeed, what you are promised is true﴾, and "you are promised" can be understood as from warning, or it can be understood as from a promise. Whichever it is, the description of it with truthfulness is correct, and "true" here is placed as a substitute for "truth"; the noun is placed in the place of the verbal noun.

'And the religion': the recompense. Mujahid said: the reckoning. The more apparent meaning in the verse is that it is for the disbelievers and that it is a pure warning about the Day of Resurrection.

Then Allah, the Exalted, swore by another creation and said: ﴿By the heaven with its paths﴾. The apparent meaning of the word 'heaven' is that it refers to all the heavens. Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As said: it is the seventh heaven. 'Paths' - with a dammah on the ha and a ba - are the paths that are arranged in the celestial bodies. The weaving of sand and water: the paths that are made by the wind blowing over them. From this is the saying of Zuhair:

'Veiled with abundant vegetation, woven by a gentle autumn wind, for the brightness of its water is patterned.'

And the weaving of armor: the connected paths at the point where the rings connect to one another. In some wings of birds, there are weavings of this kind. It is said that for the breaking of hair: it is weaving. And in the hadith: 'Indeed, behind you is the liar who misleads, and the head of it behind him is woven.' Meaning the coarseness of his hair, for it is its breaking. And it appears in textiles, from garments and others, the paths at the point of interlacing of the threads are weavings. It is said: he wove the garment well, so this is the weaving in the language. And Mundhir ibn Sa'id said: the heaven, in the composition of its body, is thus it has weaving, and that is for the quality of its creation and the precision of its making. For this reason, Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, expressed in the interpretation of His saying, the Exalted: ﴿By the heaven with its paths﴾ by saying: its weaving is the beauty of its creation. And Ibn Jubair said: the weaving is adornment. And Al-Hasan said: its weaving is its stars. And Ibn Zayd said: the weaving is strength, woven: tightened. And he recited: 'seven strong.' And Ibn Jinni said: the weaving is the paths of the clouds and the like. And one of 'the weavings' is habak. It is said for the braid that is used to tie the girdle of cane and the like, and it is elongated, made in the welcoming of the arranged plants: habak. And it may be that one of the weavings is habikah. And the poet said:

'As if the weaver covered it, like a cloth in its weaving, with habak.'

(p-64) And the majority of the people read: "al-Hubuk" with a dammah on the ح and ب. Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan and Abu Malik al-Ghifari read it with a dammah on the ح and a sukoon on the ب for ease, which is the dialect of Banu Tamim, like رُسْلٍ in رُسُلٍ. This is the reading of Abu Haywah and Abu al-Samal. Al-Hasan also read, and Abu Malik al-Ghifari: "al-Hibik" with a kasrah on the ح and ب, on the basis that it is a language like إطِلٍ and إبِلٍ. Al-Hasan also read: "al-Hibk" with a kasrah on the ح and a sukoon on the ب, as they said in the context of ease: "إبِلٌ" and "إطِلٌ" with a sukoon on the ب and ط. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, read: "al-Habak" with a fatha on the ح and ب. Al-Hasan also read in what was narrated from him: "al-Hibuk" with a kasrah on the ح and a dammah on the ب, which is an unusual language that is not common. It seems he intended to break them then mistakenly thought of "al-Habuk" reading the dammah after he had broken the ح, so he added a dammah on the ب. This is due to the intermingling of languages, and this structure is not found in the speech of the Arabs. Ikrimah read: "al-Hubak" with a dammah on the ح and a fatha on the ب, the plural of حُبْكَةٍ. All of these are languages, and the meaning is as we have mentioned. The horse that is محبوك is the one with a strong physique that has حُبَكٌ in certain places of its hair growth, and that is a sign of its good build.

And His saying, the Most High: ﴿Indeed, you are in a differing saying﴾ can be understood as addressing all people, believer and disbeliever. That is: you have differed in that some of you said: a group: we have believed in Muhammad and his Book, while another group said: we have disbelieved. This is the saying of Qatadah. It can also be understood as addressing the disbelievers only, that is: you are in a kind of sayings differing within themselves, some of you say: magician, and some say: soothsayer, and some say: poet, and some say: madman, and so on. This is the saying of Ibn Zayd. The pronoun in: "from him" as Al-Hasan and Qatadah said, refers back to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, or his Book or his Law. And "yu'fik" means: is turned away, so the meaning is: many are turned away from the Book of Allah, the Most High, by the disbelievers. It is possible that the pronoun in "from him" refers back to the saying that is turned away because of it from those who intended to embrace Islam by saying: it is magic, it is soothsaying. This is a saying reported by Al-Zahrawi. It is also possible that the pronoun in "from him" refers back to the saying, that is: it is turned away from him by the success of Allah, the Most High, to Islam for whoever's happiness prevails. This is on the assumption that His saying, the Most High: ﴿Indeed, you are in a differing saying﴾ is for the disbelievers only, and this is a good interpretation that does not contradict. Unless it is known that the usage in "أُفُكٍ" is indeed in turning from good to evil, and contemplate that you will always find it in the turned away, the blameworthy. Abu Amr reported from Qatadah that he read: "Who has turned away" with a fatha on the همزة and ف.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Cursed are the falsifiers," is a supplication against them, as you say: May Allah fight him, and may Allah kill him. And some of the commentators said: Its meaning is: The falsifiers are cursed. And this interpretation is not given by the wording. And "the falsifier" is the one who estimates and speaks based on his assumption and estimation. This includes the soothsayer and the doubter and others who have no certainty. The reference is to the deniers of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, in every way of their paths. And "the overwhelming" is what covers and envelops a person, like the overwhelming of water. And the meaning is: in an overwhelming of ignorance. And "the heedless" means: that they are in an overwhelming and in other aspects of consideration. And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿They ask, When is the Day of Judgment?﴾ means: They say: When is the Day of Judgment? In the sense of denial. And it is permissible that some of them may be mocking in that and that it may not be associated. And Al-Sulami and Al-Amash read: "Iyan" with the hamzah broken and the ya opened lightly.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿On the Day they will be tested in the Fire﴾, Al-Zajjaj said: They have made "Day" accusative as an adverbial of a hidden meaning, the estimation of which is: It will occur on the Day they are in the Fire, or something like this. And Al-Khalil and Sibawayh said: They made it accusative based on what is added to something that is not established. Some grammarians said: It is in the position of raising as a substitute for "the Day of Judgment." And "they will be tested" means: they will be burned and punished in the Fire, as said by Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, and Ikrimah, and all of them. And from this, it was said to the free woman: She is a test, as if the sun has burned its stones. And from this is the saying of Ka'b ibn Malik:

"The places of drinking that the right thigh desires, Those who see them think they are burning."

And I tested the gold: I burned it. And since it is not burned except for the meaning of testing, every test is called a trial. And they used "I was tested" in the meaning of "I was examined." And "on" here is a connector to the meaning of "in." And in His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Taste your trial﴾ there is an implicit meaning, that is: It is said to them: Taste your burning and your punishment, as said by Qatadah and others. And the tasting is a metaphor. And "this" refers to their burning, and their hastening is their saying: ﴿When is the Day of Judgment?﴾ and other verses that necessitate their hastening in the aspect of their denial.

And when He, the Exalted, mentioned the state of the disbelievers and what they will face from the punishment of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, He followed that by mentioning the righteous and what they will receive of bliss, to clarify the difference so that people may follow the path of guidance. The 'gardens' and 'springs' are well known. The term 'the righteous' in the verse is absolute in avoiding disbelief and sins. His saying, the Exalted, 'taking' is in the accusative case, and Ibn Abi Abla read it as 'taking' with a 'waw'. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him and his father, said: The meaning is 'taking in their worldly life what their Lord has given them of His commands, prohibitions, obligations, and legislation.' Thus, the state here is described as preceding in time to their being in gardens and springs. A group of the interpreters said: The meaning of His saying, the Exalted, 'taking what their Lord has given them' is: being grateful for the blessings of Allah, the Exalted, which He has given them from His gardens and His pleasure. This is a state connected in meaning to their being in the gardens. This interpretation is stronger in my view due to the coherence of the words with it. His saying, the Exalted, 'before that' means: in this world, 'doing good' through obedience and righteous deeds.