Tafseer of Hud · Hud · 11:6
And there is no creature on earth but that upon Allah is its provision, and He knows its place of dwelling and place of storage. All is in a clear register.
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 words of Allah the Exalted: وَمَا مِنْ دَابَّةٍ فِي الأَرْضِ إِلا عَلَى اللَّهِ رِزْقُهَا وَيَعْلَمُ مُسْتَقَرَّهَا وَمُسْتَوْدَعَهَا كُلٌّ فِي كِتَابٍ مُبِينٍ (6)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His word Allah the Exalted means: there is no creeping creature upon the earth. The dābba is the active participle of the verb dabba (to creep). إِلا عَلَى اللَّهِ رِزْقُهَا — there is no creature but that the provision which reaches it is from Allah; He has taken it upon Himself. That is its food, its sustenance, and that by which it lives.
In the direction of what we have said about this, some of the exegetes also spoke.
17959. Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Mujāhid said: Every provision that reaches the creature is from Allah; it may be that He grants it no provision until it dies of hunger, but everything that is given as provision is from Allah.
17960. Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me: my father related to me: my uncle related to me: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: every creeping creature.
17961. Al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying: every creeping creature, with mankind being among them.
Some of the philologists of Basra claimed that every possession is a dābba, and that "min" here is a redundant particle.
وَيَعْلَمُ مُسْتَقَرَّهَا — the place where it dwells, the shelter to which it returns by night or by day. وَمُسْتَوْدَعَهَا — the place that serves it as a depository, whether because it dies there, or because it is buried there.
17962. Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Ibn al-Taymī informed us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Miqsam, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: مُسْتَقَرَّهَا — the place where it seeks shelter; مُسْتَوْدَعَهَا — the place where it dies.
17963. Al-Muthanná related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: مُسْتَقَرَّهَا — the place where it seeks shelter; مُسْتَوْدَعَهَا — when it dies.
17964. Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Miqsam, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: al-mustaqarr is the place where it seeks shelter; al-mustawdaʿ is the place where it dies.
Others said: مُسْتَقَرَّهَا — in the womb; مُسْتَوْدَعَهَا — in the loins.
17965. Al-Muthanná related to us: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: مُسْتَقَرَّهَا — in the womb; مُسْتَوْدَعَهَا — in the loins, as in Sūrat al-Anʿām.
17966. Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me: my father related to me: my uncle related to me: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: al-mustaqarr is what is in the womb, and al-mustawdaʿ is what is in the loins.
17967. Al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying: مُسْتَقَرَّهَا — in the womb; مُسْتَوْدَعَهَا — in the loins.
Yet others said: al-mustaqarr is in the womb; al-mustawdaʿ is the place where it dies.
17968. Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father and Yaʿlā and Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh: mustaqarruhā — the womb; mustawdaʿuhā — the earth where it dies.
17969. ʿUbayd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Murra, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh: al-mustaqarr is the womb, and al-mustawdaʿ is the place where it dies.
Others said: مُسْتَقَرَّهَا — the days of its life; مُسْتَوْدَعَهَا — the place where it dies.
17970. Al-Muthanná related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿd related to us: Abū Jaʿfar informed us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: مُسْتَقَرَّهَا — the days of its life; مُسْتَوْدَعَهَا — the place where it dies and from which it will be resurrected.
Abū Jaʿfar said: We chose the opinion that we chose because Allah the Exalted has informed us that every provision which living creatures receive is from Him. The most fitting with this is knowledge of their dwelling places and resting places, not an announcement about His knowledge of what the loins and the womb contain.
By His word: كُلٌّ فِي كِتَابٍ مُبِينٍ He means: the number of every living creature, the measure of their provisions, the duration of their stay in their resting place, and the duration of their existence in their place of deposit — all of this is recorded and written down with Allah in a Book. مُبِينٍ makes clear to whoever reads it that this is recorded and written down, before He created these creatures and brought them into existence.
This is an announcement from Allah the Exalted to those who fold up their breasts in order to hide themselves from Him, that He knew all things and recorded them in a Book with Him before He created them and brought them into existence. He says to them: Whoever among them was already known before their existence, how then could what their souls conceal be hidden from Him when they fold up their breasts and draw their garments over themselves?