Tafseer of Hud · Hud · 11:69
And certainly did Our messengers come to Abraham with good tidings; they said, "Peace." He said, "Peace," and did not delay in bringing [them] a roasted calf.
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: وَلَقَدْ جَاءَتْ رُسُلُنَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ بِالْبُشْرَى قَالُوا سَلامًا قَالَ سَلامٌ فَمَا لَبِثَ أَنْ جَاءَ بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ (69) (And indeed Our messengers came to Ibrāhīm with the glad tidings. They said: Peace! He said: Peace! And he tarried not long before he brought a roasted calf.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted says here: وَلَقَدْ جَاءَتْ رُسُلُنَا — the angels, and these were, as has been reported, Jibrīl and two other angels. It has also been said that the two other angels were Mīkāʾīl and Isrāfīl. إِبْرَاهِيمَ — that is to say: Ibrāhīm the friend of Allah (Khalīl Allāh). بِالْبُشْرَى — that is to say: with the glad tidings.
They differed concerning that glad tidings which they brought to him.
Some said: it was the glad tidings of Isḥāq. Others said: it was the glad tidings of the destruction of the people of Lūṭ.
قَالُوا سَلامًا — that is to say: they greeted him with the greeting of peace.
The word "salāman" stands in the accusative through the operation of "qālū" (they said) upon it, as though it were said: they spoke a word and greeted with a greeting.
قَالَ سَلامٌ — that is to say: Ibrāhīm said to them: salām, in the nominative, with the meaning: "ʿalaykum al-salāmu" (peace be upon you), or with the meaning: "salāmun minkum" (peace from you).
It has been mentioned that the Arabs say "silmun" in the meaning of al-salām (peace), just as they say "ḥillun wa-ḥalālun" and "ḥirmun wa-ḥarāmun". Al-Farrāʾ mentioned that some of the Arabs recited to him the verse:
"Mararrā fa-qulnā īhi silmun fa-sallamat kamā iktalla bi-l-barqi l-ghamāmu l-lawāʾiḥu"
(We passed by and said: hey, peace! She greeted back, just as the clouds light up from the lightning.)
With the meaning of salām. It has also been transmitted: "ka-ma nkalla".
Some held that the meaning according to that reading is: we are at peace (silm) with you — from al-musālama (peaceableness), the opposite of war.
This is the reading of the majority of the readers of Kufa.
The majority of the readers of Ḥijāz and Basra read: قَالُوا سَلامًا قَالَ سَلامٌ — such that Ibrāhīm ﷺ answers their greeting in a manner similar to their greeting: ʿalaykum al-salām.
The correct view in this matter, according to my judgement, is that the two readings are close to one another in meaning, because "al-silm" can have the meaning of "al-salām" as described, and "al-salām" the meaning of "al-silm", for a greeting takes place almost exclusively between people who live in peace with one another and not between enemies. When the greeting of one group towards another and the answering of it is mentioned, this indicates that they deal peaceably with one another. Moreover, both readings are valid, accepted by authoritative readers; whichever of the two one reads, one reads correctly.
فَمَا لَبِثَ أَنْ جَاءَ بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ .
Its original form is "maḥnūdh", shifted from "mafʿūl" to "faʿīl".
The philologists differed concerning its meaning. Some of the scholars of Basra said: "al-maḥnūdh" means roasted; one says of it: "ḥanadtu farasī" in the meaning of: I heated him up and made him sweat. As proof they cited the verse of the poet:
"Wa-rahibā min ḥandhihi an yahrajā" (And they feared from its burning heat that they would be overcome by it.)
Another said: "ḥanadha farasahu" means: he made it exert itself; and one says: "ḥanadha yaḥnidhuh ḥandhan" — that is to say: he made it sweat.
Some of the scholars of Kufa said: everything that is roasted in the earth, when you have dug a pit for it and buried it therein and covered it, is "al-ḥanīdh" or "al-maḥnūdh". He said: horses too are treated as "maḥnūdh", namely when blankets are piled upon them so that they sweat. One also says: "idhā saqayta fa-aḥnidh" — that is to say: add little to it, that is: give little water and more drink.
The exegetes said concerning this what I shall now mention:
18297. 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, concerning the words: بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ — he said: cooked through.
18298. Al-Muthanná related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ — he said: "ʿijl" is a young calf of cattle; and "al-ḥanīdh" is roasted and cooked through.
18299. Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the words: وَلَقَدْ جَاءَتْ رُسُلُنَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ بِالْبُشْرَى up to بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ — he said: cooked through, heated, cooked through with stones.
18300. Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: فَمَا لَبِثَ أَنْ جَاءَ بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ — and "al-ḥanīdh" is that which is cooked through.
18301. Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ — he said: cooked through. He also said — and al-Kalbī said: "al-ḥanīdh" is that which is roasted in the earth.
18302. Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us, on the authority of Ḥafṣ ibn Ḥumayd, on the authority of Shammār, concerning the words: فَجَاءَ بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ — he said: "al-ḥanīdh" is that which lets its juices drip while it is roasted. And Ḥafṣ said: "al-ḥanīdh" resembles the treatment of horses (ḥinādh).
18303. Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: he slaughtered it and then roasted it on hot stones (raḍf) — thus it is "ḥanīdh" when it is roasted.
18304. Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: Abū Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Yaʿqūb, on the authority of Ḥafṣ ibn Ḥumayd, on the authority of Shammār ibn ʿAṭiyya: فَجَاءَ بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ — he said: that which is roasted and lets its juices drip.
18305. Al-Muthanná related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Hishām related to us: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Ḥafṣ ibn Ḥumayd, on the authority of Shammār ibn ʿAṭiyya: "al-ḥanīdh" — that which lets its juices drip while it is roasted.
18306. Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ — he said: cooked through.
18307. I was informed by al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning the words: بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ — that which is cooked through with stones.
18308. Al-Ḥārith related to me: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us: Sufyān related to us: فَمَا لَبِثَ أَنْ جَاءَ بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ — he said: roasted.
18309. Al-Muthanná related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to me that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: "ḥanīdh" — that is to say: roasted.
18310. Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: "al-ḥinādh" — the cooking through.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The opinions which we mention from the philologists and from the exegetes are close to one another in meaning.
The position of "an" in the words: أَنْ جَاءَ بِعِجْلٍ حَنِيذٍ is accusative through the words: فَمَا لَبِثَ أَنْ جَاءَ .