Tafseer of Quraysh · Quraish · 106:1
For the accustomed security of the Quraysh -
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 explanation of the word of Allah — Exalted and Blessed are His Names:
لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ (106:1)
The reciters differed among themselves over the reading of: لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ * إِيلَافِهِمْ . The majority of the reciters from all the regions read it with a yāʾ after the hamza, both in "li-īlāfi" and in "īlāfihim," with the exception of Abū Jaʿfar. For he agreed with the others as regards his reading of "li-īlāfi" — he too read it with a yāʾ after the hamza — but concerning his reading of "īlāfihim" the reports diverge. It is related from him that he read it as: "ilfihim" — that is, as a maṣdar (verbal noun) of the verb alifa yaʾlafu ilfan, without a yāʾ. Others report that he read it as: "ilāfihim," without a yāʾ, with a shortened alif.
The correct reading of this is, in my judgment: that of the one who reads it as لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ * إِيلَافِهِمْ — with a fixed yāʾ in both words after the hamza — derived from the verb āʾlaftu al-shayʾa uʾllifuhu īlāfan. This is the reading upon which the learned among the reciters have reached agreement. The Arabs have for it two dialectal variants: āʾlafa and ʾalifa. Whoever says āʾlafa — with lengthening of the alif — says: fa-anā uʾālif īlāfan; whoever says ʾalifa — with shortening of the alif — says: fa-anā ālifu ilfan, and one says: huwa rajulun ālifun ilfan. It is related from ʿIkrima that he read the verse as: "li-taʾlafa Qurayshun ilfahā riḥlata al-shitāʾi wa-l-ṣayf."
That Abū Kurayb related to me; he said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Abī Makkīn, on the authority of ʿIkrima.
There is also something related from the Prophet ﷺ on this matter. Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Mahrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Asmāʾ bint Yazīd, who said: I heard the Prophet ﷺ recite: "ilfaHUM riḥlata al-shitāʾi wa-l-ṣayf."
The Arabic philologists differed among themselves over the meaning of the lām that governs the opening of the verse — namely the lām in لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ . Some of the grammarians (naḥwīs) of Basra said: What this lām brings into the text is the expression فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ — in their view the lām is therefore an attachment to the expression "He made them." According to this view, the meaning of the words would read: We did this to the people of the elephant — as a favor from Us toward the inhabitants of this House, and as a benefaction from Us to them — out of Our bestowal of favor upon them at the winter journey and the summer journey. The lām in لِإِيلَافِ would then have the meaning of "unto" (ilā), as if it said: favor upon favor and unto a (further) favor. For ilā may stand in the place of lām, and lām in the place of ilā.
Some of the exegetes have adopted this position.
* Mention of those who said this:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: ʿĪsā related to us. And al-Ḥārith related to me; he said: al-Ḥasan related to us; he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the expression إِيلَافِهِمْ رِحْلَةَ الشِّتَاءِ وَالصَّيْفِ . He said: "Their becoming accustomed to it, so that neither the winter journey nor the summer journey is burdensome to them."
Ismāʿīl ibn Mūsā al-Suddī related to me; he said: Sharīk informed us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn al-Muhājir, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ . He said: "My favor to Quraysh."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Hilālī related to me; he said: Farwa ibn Abī al-Maghrāʾ al-Kindī related to us; he said: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn al-Muhājir, on the authority of Mujāhid — to the like effect.
ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us; he said: ʿĀmir ibn Ibrāhīm al-Aṣbahānī related to us; he said: Khaṭṭāb ibn Jaʿfar ibn Abī al-Mughīra related to us; he said: My father related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ . He said: "My favor to Quraysh."
Some of the grammarians (naḥwīs) of Kufa said: This position has been mentioned, and one also says: Allah — Blessed and Exalted — incited His Prophet ﷺ to wonder and said: "Marvel, O Muḥammad, at the favors of Allah to Quraysh in their becoming accustomed to the winter journey and the summer journey." Then He said: "Let them not be so preoccupied with that as to be turned away from belief and from following you." This is derived from His word: فَلْيَعْبُدُوا رَبَّ هَذَا الْبَيْتِ .
Some of the exegetes understood لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ as a reference to the mutual familiarity and solidarity of Quraysh.
* Mention of those who said this:
Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word of Allah لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ — he recited: أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحَابِ الْفِيلِ to the end of the sura — and said: "This is for the sake of the familiarity of Quraysh. I did this to them for the sake of the mutual familiarity of Quraysh, that I might not break their unity and community. For the master of the elephant had come to destroy their sanctuary, and Allah did what He did."
The correct view on this is, in our judgment: that this lām has the meaning of wonder. The meaning of the words is thus: Marvel at the becoming-accustomed of Quraysh to the winter journey and the summer journey, and their neglecting to worship the Lord of this House — Who has fed them in time of hunger and granted them security in fear —; so let them worship the Lord of this House, Who has fed them in time of hunger and granted them security in fear. When the Arabs use this lām and insert it into a sentence to express wonder, they suffice with it as an indication of the wonder, without making explicit the verb that calls for it — as the poet says:
"Has it emboldened you that they said of Qurra: he is a poet? Alas, his father, for a skilled one and for a poet!"
He suffices with the lām as an indication of the wonder, without making the verb explicit. In essence the expression reads: "It has emboldened you that they said: Marvel at Qurra as a poet." So too is the case with لِإِيلَافِ .
As for the position of the one whom we have cited — that the lām forms a connection to فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ —: if that were the case, "li-īlāf" would necessarily be a part of أَلَمْ تَرَ and there would be no separate sura distinct from أَلَمْ تَرَ . But the fact that all the Muslims agree that they are two complete suras, each distinct from the other, makes clear that the position of the one who said this is incorrect. And if لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ were a connection to فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ , then أَلَمْ تَرَ would not be complete until it was joined with لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ , because the sentence is only complete when the statement made in it is finished.
Similar to what we have said on this, the exegetes also said.
* Mention of those who said this:
ʿAlī related to me; he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us; he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning إِلْفَهُمْ رِحْلَةَ الشِّتَاءِ وَالصَّيْفِ . He said: "Their attachment to it."
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 لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ . He said: "He forbade them the journey and commanded them to worship the Lord of this House; He took the burden away from them. Their journeys took place in the winter and in the summer, and they had no rest, neither in the winter nor in the summer. Then He fed them after hunger and granted them security after fear, and they became accustomed to the journey. Thus they could depart when they wished and remain when they wished. That was one of the favors of Allah to them."
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to me; he said: Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us; he said: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima. He said: "Quraysh had become accustomed to Buṣrā and to Yemen — they journeyed in the winter to the one, and in the summer to the other. فَلْيَعْبُدُوا رَبَّ هَذَا الْبَيْتِ — He commanded them to remain in Mecca."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Mahrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Abī Ṣāliḥ, concerning لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ * إِيلَافِهِمْ . He said: "They were merchants, and Allah knew their love for Syria."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us; he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ . He said: "The custom of Quraysh — their custom of the winter journey and the summer journey."
It was related to me via al-Ḥusayn; he said: I heard Abā Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us; he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ : "They had become accustomed to traveling in the heat-wave and in the winter."
