Tafseer of The Thunder · Ar-Ra'd · 13:8
Allah knows what every female carries and what the wombs lose [prematurely] or exceed. And everything with Him is by due measure.
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.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: وَإِنْ تَعْجَبْ فَعَجَبٌ قَوْلُهُمْ أَئِذَا كُنَّا تُرَابًا أَئِنَّا لَفِي خَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ ("And if you are astonished, then astonishing is their saying: 'When we have become dust, shall we then indeed be in a new creation?'") — by this they deny Allah's power to bring them back anew as a new creation after their decay and decomposition, while they do not deny that He had the power to create them in the first place, to form them in the wombs, and to govern them therein and cause them to pass through state after state. Thus He began the report concerning this with a fresh opening, and its meaning is as I have described. So He, whose praise is exalted, said: الله يعلم ما تحمل كل أنثى وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("Allah knows what every female bears and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase") — He says: and what the wombs cause to diminish from their burden during the nine months by the flowing of the menstrual blood, وما تزداد ("and what they cause to increase") in their burden beyond the nine months, to complete what was lacking from the burden during the nine months by the flowing of the menstrual blood. وكل شيء عنده بمقدار ("And everything with Him is by a fixed measure") — nothing of what He decrees exceeds His determination, and no matter that He has willed and governed falls short of His governance, just as the burden of a woman does not increase beyond what has been measured out to her as burden, nor falls short below what has been delimited for her as measure.
* * *
And "al-miqdār" is a mifʿāl form derived from "al-qadr" (measure, determination).
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
20163 — Yaʿqūb ibn Māhān related to me, saying: al-Qāsim ibn Mālik related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: يعلم ما تحمل كل أنثى وما تغيض الأرحام ("He knows what every female bears and what the wombs cause to diminish"), he said: every day that the woman sees blood on top of her burden, He adds a day to the burden.
20164 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his word: الله يعلم ما تحمل كل أنثى وما تغيض الأرحام ("Allah knows what every female bears and what the wombs cause to diminish"), by this He means the miscarriage (al-siqṭ). وما تزداد ("and what they cause to increase"), he says: what the womb adds to the burden on top of what it has caused to diminish, until she gives birth to it fully developed. That is because some women carry for ten months, some for nine months, some carry longer and some shorter. That, then, is the diminishing (al-ghayḍ) and the increasing (al-ziyāda) that Allah has mentioned, and all of that occurs with His knowledge.
20165 — Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā al-Umawī related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Salām related to us, saying: Khuṣayf related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid or Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning Allah's word: وما تغيض الأرحام ("and what the wombs cause to diminish"), he said: its diminishing is below the nine, and its increasing is above the nine.
20166 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Abū Bishr informed us, on the authority of Mujāhid, that he said: "The diminishing" (al-ghayḍ) is the blood that the pregnant woman sees during her burden, and that is a diminution of the child; and "the increase" (al-ziyāda) is what exceeds the nine months, and that is the completion of the diminution, and that is the increase.
20167 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abī Bishr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase"), he said: the blood that she sees, and what she increases above the nine months.
20168 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abī Bishr, on the authority of Mujāhid, that he said concerning يعلم ما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("He knows what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase"): what exceeds the nine months; and وما تغيض الأرحام ("and what the wombs cause to diminish"), he said: the blood that the woman sees during her burden.
20169 — al-Muthannā related to me, ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn and al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, both saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Abī Bishr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase"), he said: the diminishing is that the pregnant woman sees blood during her burden — that is "the diminishing" (al-ghayḍ), and that is a diminution of the child; and what exceeds the nine months, that is the completion of that diminution, and that is the increase.
20170 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Salām related to us, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Mujāhid: وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase"), he said: when she sees [blood] below the nine, she increases above the nine by the number of days of menstruation.
20171 — Aḥmad related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: وما تغيض الأرحام ("and what the wombs cause to diminish"), he said: the coming out of the blood; وما تزداد ("and what they cause to increase"), he said: the retention of the blood.
20172 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: وما تغيض الأرحام ("and what the wombs cause to diminish") is the flowing of the woman until the child becomes smaller; وما تزداد ("and what they cause to increase"), he said: if the woman does not flow, the child is brought to full term and grows large.
20173 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Shabāba related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase"), he said: the woman sees the blood and carries longer than nine months.
20174 — al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Abū Bishr informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His word: وما تغيض الأرحام ("and what the wombs cause to diminish"), he said: that is the woman who sees blood during her burden.
20175 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Shabāba related to us, saying: Waraqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, his word: وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase") is the shedding of the blood until the child becomes smaller; and "they cause to increase": if the woman does not flow, the child is brought to full term and grows large.
20176 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Hiql related to us, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn al-Aswad, he said: I said to Mujāhid: my wife has seen blood, and I hope that she is pregnant! — Abū Jaʿfar said: thus it stands in the book — Mujāhid then said: that is the diminishing of the wombs: يعلم ما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد وكل شيء عنده بمقدار ("He knows what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase, and everything with Him is by a fixed measure"). The child remains in diminution as long as she sees the blood, and when the blood ceases, it enters into increase, and that continues until it is brought to full term. That, then, is His word: وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد وكل شيء عنده بمقدار ("and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase, and everything with Him is by a fixed measure").
20177 — al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Abū Bishr informed us, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase"), he said: "the diminishing" (al-ghayḍ) is that the pregnant woman sees blood during her burden, and that is "the diminishing," and that is a diminution of the child; and what she increases above the nine months, that is the increase, and that is the completion of the birth.
20178 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning this āyah: الله يعلم ما تحمل كل أنثى وما تغيض الأرحام ("Allah knows what every female bears and what the wombs cause to diminish"), he said: every time she causes diminishing through blood, that adds to the burden.
20179 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, something similar.
20180 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: ʿAbbād ibn al-ʿAwwām related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of ʿIkrima: وما تغيض الأرحام ("and what the wombs cause to diminish"), he said: the diminishing of the womb is the blood on top of the burden; every time the womb causes a day of blood to diminish, it adds a day to the burden, until she brings it to full term while she is pure.
20181 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: ʿAbbād related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn Muslim, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, something like it.
20182 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: al-Walīd ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Abū Yazīd related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning this āyah: وما تغيض الأرحام ("and what the wombs cause to diminish"), he said: that is the menstruation on top of the burden; وما تزداد ("and what they cause to increase"), he said: for every day that she has menstruated on top of her burden, she gets a day that she adds to her period of purity, until she completes nine months in purity.
20183 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: ʿImrān ibn Ḥudayr informed us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His word: وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase"), he said: what she sees of blood during her burden adds to her burden.
20184 — ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān related to us, saying: Isḥāq informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word: وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase"): what "they cause to diminish" is less than nine, and what they cause to increase is more than nine.
20185 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say: a child can be born after two years. al-Ḍaḥḥāk himself was born after two years; and "the diminishing" (al-ghayḍ) is what is below the nine, وما تزداد ("and what they cause to increase") is above the nine months.
20186 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase"), he said: below the nine; and what they cause to increase, he said: above the nine.
20187 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, he said: I was born after two years.
20188 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā, he said: al-Ḍaḥḥāk related to us that his mother had carried him for two years. He said concerning وما تغيض الأرحام ("and what the wombs cause to diminish"): what is less than nine; and concerning وما تزداد ("and what they cause to increase"): what is above the nine.
20189 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us; he said: Hushaym informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word: الله يعلم ما تحمل كل أنثى وما تغيض الأرحام ("Allah knows what every female bears and what the wombs cause to diminish"), he said: every female among Allah's creatures.
20190 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, and Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Ḥasan; both of them said: "the diminishing" (al-ghayḍ) is what is below the nine months.
20191 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Jamīla bint Saʿd, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, she said: the burden does not last longer than two years, the time in which the shadow of a distaff shifts.
20192 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya al-ʿAwfī: وما تغيض الأرحام ("and what the wombs cause to diminish"), he said: that is the burden of nine months and what is below the nine; وما تزداد ("and what they cause to increase"), he said: above the nine.
20193 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Thābit related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: وما تغيض الأرحام ("and what the wombs cause to diminish"), he said: the menstruation of the woman on top of her child.
20194 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase"), he said: "the diminishing" (al-ghayḍ) is the miscarriage (al-saqṭ); وما تزداد ("and what they cause to increase") is above the nine months.
20195 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: when the woman sees the blood on top of the burden, then that is "the diminishing" for the child. He says: a diminution in the nourishment of the child, and that is an increase in the burden.
20196 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his word: الله يعلم ما تحمل كل أنثى وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("Allah knows what every female bears and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase"), he said: al-Ḥasan used to say: "the diminishing" (al-ghayḍūḍa) is that the woman gives birth after six months or after seven months, or below the [usual] limit. Qatāda said: and as for the increase, that is what exceeds the nine months.
20197 — al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Qays related to us, on the authority of Sālim al-Afṭas, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: the diminishing of the womb is that she sees the blood on top of her burden. For every time she sees blood thereby on top of her burden, she increases by the like [period] in her burden.
20198 — al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: when the pregnant woman sees the blood, the child grows larger through it.
20199 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: وما تغيض الأرحام وما تزداد ("and what the wombs cause to diminish and what they cause to increase"): "the diminishing" (al-ghayḍ) is the diminution relative to the [usual] term, and "the increase" is what exceeds the term. That is because women do not all give birth according to one term: one child is born after six months and lives, another after two years and lives, and everything in between. He said: and I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say: I was born after two years, and my incisors had already come through.
20200 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: وما تغيض الأرحام ("and what the wombs cause to diminish"), he said: the diminishing of the wombs is the flowing that befalls women on top of the burden; and when that flowing occurs, it is not counted as part of the burden, and it causes her burden to diminish until it ceases. And when it ceases, she begins a new term of nine months. And as long as she sees the blood, the wombs diminish and decrease, and the child becomes smaller. Then when that blood ceases, the child grows, and she counts from the moment that that blood departs from her a burden-term of nine months, while she does not count what was before that — that is a flowing, that lapses entirely.
* * *
And His word: وكل شيء عنده بمقدار ("And everything with Him is by a fixed measure").
20201 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his word: وكل شيء عنده بمقدار ("And everything with Him is by a fixed measure") — yes, by Allah, He has preserved for them their provision and their appointed terms, and has given them a fixed term.
