Tafseer of Hud · Hud · 11:41
And [Noah] said, "Embark therein; in the name of Allah is its course and its anchorage. Indeed, my Lord is Forgiving and Merciful."
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 words of Allah the Exalted: وَقَالَ ارْكَبُوا فِيهَا بِسْمِ اللَّهِ مَجْرَاهَا وَمُرْسَاهَا إِنَّ رَبِّي لَغَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (41)
Abū Jaʿfar says: Allah the Exalted says: Nūḥ said: "Embark upon the ship — بِسْمِ اللَّهِ مَجْرَاهَا وَمُرْسَاهَا — in the name of Allah, at its sailing and its anchoring."
In the expression something has been omitted that has become superfluous through the proof which the mentioned report provides of it, namely His word: قُلْنَا احْمِلْ فِيهَا مِنْ كُلٍّ زَوْجَيْنِ اثْنَيْنِ وَأَهْلَكَ إِلا مَنْ سَبَقَ عَلَيْهِ الْقَوْلُ وَمَنْ آمَنَ وَمَا آمَنَ مَعَهُ إِلا قَلِيلٌ — Nūḥ took them aboard and said to them: "Embark." Thus His word وَقَالَ ارْكَبُوا فِيهَا was sufficient as proof of his embarking them, and the mention of it was left out.
The Qurʾān reciters differed over the reading of His word بِسْمِ اللَّهِ مَجْرَاهَا وَمُرْسَاهَا . Most of the reciters of Medina and Basra and some of those of Kūfa read: بِسْمِ اللهِ مُجْرَاهَا وَمُرْسَاهَا — with a vocalic lengthening (ḍamma) of the mīm in both words. If one reads it thus, it is derived from "ajrā" (he caused to sail) and "arsā" (he caused to anchor), and there are two grammatical possibilities:
The first: the nominative, with the meaning: "in the name of Allah [occurs] its sailing and its anchoring" — whereby "al-majrā" and "al-marsā" are then in the nominative on account of the bāʾ in بِسْمِ اللهِ .
The second: the accusative, with the meaning: "in the name of Allah at its sailing and its anchoring" or "at the time of its sailing and its anchoring" — whereby بِسْمِ اللهِ would then be an independent expression, like one who, upon beginning an action, says: "in the name of Allah"; and "al-majrā" and "al-marsā" are then in the accusative, just as the Arabs say: "Praise be to Allah at your new moon and your end of the month" — by which they mean the first and the last night of the moon.
Most of the reciters of Kūfa read: بِسْمِ اللَّهِ مَجْرَاهَا وَمُرْسَاهَا — with a vocalic opening (fatḥa) of the mīm of "majrāhā" and a lengthening (ḍamma) of the mīm of "mursāhā"; they made "majrāhā" a maṣdar of "jarā yajrī majrā" (to sail), and "mursāhā" a maṣdar of "arsā yursī irsāʾ" (to anchor).
It has been related on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ al-ʿUṭāridī that he read it as: بِسْمِ اللهِ مُجْرِيهَا وَمُرْسِيهَا — with a lengthening of the mīm in both words, and he made them an attribute of Allah. If one reads it thus, there are likewise two grammatical possibilities, of which the genitive is the most dominant, for the meaning according to this reading is then: "in the name of Allah, the One who causes the ship to sail and to anchor" — whereby "al-mujrī" is then an attribute of the name of Allah.
Abū Jaʿfar says: The reading which I prefer is the reading of the one who reads بِسْمِ اللهِ مَجْرَاهَا — with a vocalic opening (fatḥa) of the mīm — and وَمُرْسَاهَا — with a lengthening (ḍamma) of the mīm — with the meaning: "in the name of Allah when it sails and when it anchors."
I have chosen the opening (fatḥa) of the mīm of "majrāhā" because of its closeness to His word وَهِيَ تَجْرِي بِهِمْ فِي مَوْجٍ كَالْجِبَالِ — and it does not say "tujrā bihim." Whoever reads بِسْمِ اللهِ مُجْرَاهَا would, on the basis of his reading, have to read: "wa-hiya tujrā bihim." In the fact that they are all unanimous about the reading تَجْرِي with a vocalic opening (fatḥa) of the tāʾ, there lies a clear proof that the correct reading of "majrāhā" is the opening of the mīm. The lengthening (ḍamma) of the mīm in مُرْسَاهَا I have chosen because of the unanimity of the authoritative reciters over its lengthening.
The meaning of مَجْرَاهَا is its sailing, and of وَمُرْسَاهَا : its lying still — that Allah brought it to a standstill and caused it to anchor.
Mujāhid read that with a lengthening (ḍamma) of the mīm in both words.
18182 — Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibil related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid.
18183 — [...] he said: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: بِسْمِ اللهِ مُجْرَاهَا وَمُرْسَاهَا — he said: "when they embark and sail and anchor."
18184 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "in the name of Allah when they embark and sail and anchor."
18185 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: بِسْمِ اللهِ مُجْرَاهَا وَمُرْسَاهَا — he said: "in the name of Allah when they sail and when they anchor."
18186 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Jābir ibn Nūḥ related to us, saying: Abū Rawq related to us, on the authority of Al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word ارْكَبُوا فِيهَا بِسْمِ اللَّهِ مَجْرَاهَا وَمُرْسَاهَا : "if he wished that it should anchor, he said: 'in the name of Allah' — and it anchored; and if he wished that it should sail, he said: 'in the name of Allah' — and it sailed."
إِنَّ رَبِّي لَغَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ — that is to say: my Lord covers the sins of whoever repents to Him and returns to Him; merciful toward them is He, and He does not punish them after the repentance.
