Tafseer of Jonas · Yunus · 10:87
And We inspired to Moses and his brother, "Settle your people in Egypt in houses and make your houses [facing the] qiblah and establish prayer and give good tidings to the believers."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The exposition of the explanation of the word of Allah the Exalted: وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى وَأَخِيهِ أَنْ تَبَوَّآ لِقَوْمِكُمَا بِمِصْرَ بُيُوتًا وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلاةَ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (87) — (And We revealed to Moses and his brother: Take for your people in Egypt houses, and make your houses a direction of prayer, and maintain the prayer, and give the believers the good news.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted says: We revealed to Moses and his brother that they should take houses for their people in Egypt.
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One says in this connection: "Tabawwaʾa fulān li-nafsihi baytan" — when someone takes a house for himself. Likewise "tabawwaʾa muṣḥafan" — when he takes one. And "bawwaʾtuhu anā baytan" — when I myself furnished a house for him.
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وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — (And make your houses a direction of prayer) — that is to say: make your houses into places of prayer (masājid) in which you pray.
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The exegetes differed over the interpretation of وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً.
Some of them said therein the same as we have said.
*Mention of who said that:*
17793 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥumayd, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — concerning وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: places of prayer (masājid).
17794 — Al-Muthanná related to me, he said: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Khaṣīf, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning his word وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً, he said: they were commanded to set them up as places of prayer (masājid).
17795 — … he said: Abū Ghassān Mālik ibn Ismāʿīl related to us, he said: Zuhayr related to us, he said: Khaṣīf related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning the word of Allah the Exalted وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً, he said: they feared Pharaoh and his people regarding praying, and so it was said to them: اجعلوا بيوتكم قبلة — that is to say: make them a place of prayer so that you may pray therein.
17796 — Ibn Wakīʿ and Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, they said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm — concerning وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: they were afraid, and so they were commanded to pray in their houses.
17797 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm — concerning وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: they were fearful, and so they were commanded to pray in their houses.
17798 — Al-Muthanná related to me, he said: Al-Ḥammānī related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Khaṣīf, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his word وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً, he said: they were fearful and so they were commanded to pray in their houses.
17799 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — concerning وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: they prayed only in churches (biyaʿ), and they could pray only in fear, and so they were commanded to pray in their houses.
17800 — … he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid — he said: they were fearful, and so they were commanded to pray in their houses.
17801 — he said: ʿAbdullāh related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik — concerning وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: the Children of Israel feared Pharaoh, and so they were commanded to set up their houses as places of prayer in which they would pray.
17802 — Al-Muthanná related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿd related to us, he said: Abū Jaʿfar informed us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, concerning his word وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: places of prayer (masājid).
17803 — … he said: Aḥmad ibn Yūnus related to us, he said: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm — concerning وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: they prayed in their houses out of fear.
17804 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Zayd ibn al-Ḥubbāb related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk — concerning أَنْ تَبَوَّآ لِقَوْمِكُمَا بِمِصْرَ بُيُوتًا — he said: places of prayer (masājid).
17805 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning his word وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: they were fearful and so they were commanded to pray in their houses.
17806 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning his word وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: my father said: make your places of prayer in your houses, and pray therein — that is "the qibla."
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Others said: the meaning of this is: direct your places of prayer toward the Kaʿba.
*Mention of who said that:*
17807 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of al-Minhāl, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — concerning وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — that is to say: toward the Kaʿba.
17808 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his word وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلاةَ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ — he said: the Children of Israel said to Moses: "We cannot perform our prayer openly amid the Pharaohs (al-farāʿina)!" And so Allah granted them permission to pray in their houses, and they were commanded to direct their houses toward the direction of prayer (qibla).
17809 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً: direct your houses — "your places of prayer" — toward the qibla. Do you not see that He says: فِي بُيُوتٍ أَذِنَ اللَّهُ أَنْ تُرْفَعَ (In houses which Allah has permitted to be raised) [Sūra al-Nūr: 36].
17810 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: ʿUbaydullāh related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, on the authority of Mujāhid — concerning وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: toward the qibla.
17811 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — concerning بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: in the direction of the Kaʿba, when Moses and those who were with him feared the danger from Pharaoh regarding praying in the great churches (al-kanāʾis al-jāmiʿa), and so they were commanded to set up places of prayer in their houses, directed toward the Kaʿba, and to pray therein in secret.
17812 — Al-Muthanná related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — concerning وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — then he mentioned exactly the same.
17813 — … he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — concerning وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى وَأَخِيهِ أَنْ تَبَوَّآ لِقَوْمِكُمَا بِمِصْرَ بُيُوتًا — places of prayer (masājid).
17814 — … he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: ʿAbdullāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — concerning his word أَنْ تَبَوَّآ لِقَوْمِكُمَا بِمِصْرَ بُيُوتًا — he said: Miṣr — that is Alexandria.
17815 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his word وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى وَأَخِيهِ أَنْ تَبَوَّآ لِقَوْمِكُمَا بِمِصْرَ بُيُوتًا وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: that was when Pharaoh forbade them the prayer, and so they were commanded to set up their places of prayer in their houses and to direct these toward the qibla.
17816 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda — concerning بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: toward the qibla.
17817 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk — concerning وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى وَأَخِيهِ أَنْ تَبَوَّآ لِقَوْمِكُمَا بِمِصْرَ بُيُوتًا — he said: places of prayer (masājid); and concerning وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: toward the qibla.
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Others said: the meaning of this is — direct your houses so that they face one another (qibalan: one house facing the other).
*Mention of who said that:*
17818 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: ʿImrān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr — concerning وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً — he said: the one facing the other.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct opinion concerning this is the opinion which we set forth earlier. The reason for that is that the most current usage of "houses" (al-buyūt) — even though places of prayer are likewise houses — refers to inhabited houses, when they are designated by their indefinite name without reference to places of prayer. For "places of prayer" (al-masājid) has its own name specifically designated for it, and that is "masājid." But "houses" in the absolute sense, without connection to anything or annexation to anything, are the inhabited houses.
Likewise "the qibla" in the most current usage among the people is: the direction of the places of prayer and the prayers.
Since this is so, and it is not permissible to direct the meanings of the word of Allah to anything other than the most current and customary among the speakers of the language in which it was revealed — in place of the obscure and unknown — unless an indication is present that points to another direction; and since with His word وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً there is no indication that removes every excuse that its meaning would be something other than the obvious, as is in use in Arabic — we may not interpret it in a direction other than the obvious one which we have described.
The same applies to His word قِبْلَةً.
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وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلاةَ — Allah the Exalted says: perform the obligatory prayer (al-ṣalāh) with its prescriptions at its appointed times. And His word وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ — Allah the Exalted says to His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: give those who maintain the prayer and obey Allah — O Muḥammad — the believers, the glad tidings of the abundant reward from Him.
