Tafseer of Abraham · Ibrahim · 14:51
So that Allah will recompense every soul for what it earned. Indeed, Allah is swift in account.
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.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning سَرَابِيلُهُم مِّن قَطِرَانٍ: he said: the sarābīl are the shirts. His word مِن قَطِرَانٍ: he says: of the qiṭrān (tar) with which camels are smeared. There are three pronunciation variants for it: one says qiṭrān, and qaṭrān with an open qāf and a quiescent ṭāʾ. It has been said that ʿĪsā ibn ʿUmar read it as "min qiṭrān" with a closed qāf and a quiescent ṭāʾ, to which the word of Abū al-Najm bears witness:
"Pitch-black, as if the pressed-out sweat / clothed him in tar and coarse woolen blankets."
with a closed qāf. And he also said:
"As if the tar, when the wind pursued her / hurled her toward it."
with the closed vowel.
In agreement with what we said, those who read it thus also read it.
Mention of who said that:
Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: مِن قَطِرَانٍ: that is to say: the khiṣkhāṣ — the tar with which camels are smeared.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: مِن قَطِرَانٍ: he said: camel tar.
Others said: the qaṭrān is copper.
Mention of who said that:
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: he said: qaṭrān is copper. Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: مِن قَطِرَانٍ: copper.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: مِن قَطِرَانٍ: he said: it is copper. With this reading — namely with an open qāf, a closed ṭāʾ, and regarding the whole as one word — read all the Qurʾān reciters in all the cities, and so we also read, on account of the agreement of the authoritative reciters therein.
It has been transmitted from some of the earlier scholars that he read it as: "min qaṭrin ānin" — with an open qāf, a quiescent ṭāʾ, tanwīn on the rāʾ, and the word "ān" as a further description of it — whereby the meaning of qaṭr is taken to be "copper" and the meaning of "ānin" to be "that whose heat has reached its utmost."
Among those who read it thus — as has been conveyed to us — was ʿIkrima, the freedman (mawlā) of Ibn ʿAbbās. Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf conveyed this to me, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥuṣayn informed us, from him.
Mention of who, on the basis of this reading, explained it in the aforementioned manner:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, concerning the reading: "sarābīluhum min qaṭrin ānin": he said: qaṭr, and "ānin" means: that whose heat has reached its utmost.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Dāwūd ibn Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Yaʿqūb, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, similarly.
Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Hishām related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, similarly.
Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥammād related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, that he read: "sarābīluhum min qaṭrin ānin."
Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAffān related to us, saying: al-Mubārak ibn Faḍāla related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḥasan say: the Arabs say of something whose heat has reached its utmost: "its heat has reached its utmost" (qad anā ḥarruh); for Hell has indeed been stoked since the creation of heaven and earth, so that its heat has reached its utmost.
Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, concerning the reading: "sarābīluhum min qaṭrin ānin": he said: al-qaṭr is copper, and "ānin" means: that whose heat has reached its utmost; that is because Allah says: "ḥamīmun ān" (boiling hot water).
Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAffān ibn Muslim related to us, saying: Thābit ibn Yazīd related to us, saying: Hilāl ibn Khabbāb related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning this verse "sarābīluhum min qaṭrin ānin": he said: of copper; he said: "ānin" — the time has come for them to be tormented with it.
Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us, saying: Hushaym informed us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning "min qaṭrin ānin": he said: the "ānī" is that whose heat has reached its utmost.
Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning "min qaṭrin ānin": he said: it is molten copper.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAṭāʾ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda: "min qaṭrin ānin": that is to say molten brass.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "sarābīluhum min qaṭrin ānin": he said: of copper.
Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Hishām related to us, saying: Abū Ḥafṣ related to us, on the authority of Hārūn, on the authority of Qatāda, that he read it as "min qaṭrin ānin": he said: of brass whose heat has reached its utmost.
And al-Ḥasan read it as "min qaṭrin ānin."
His word وَتَغْشَى وُجُوهَهُمُ النَّارُ: he says: the Fire envelops their faces and burns them. لِيَجْزِيَ اللَّهُ كُلَّ نَفْسٍ مَّا كَسَبَتْ: he says: Allah did this to them as a recompense for them for the sins they amassed in the worldly life, so that He may recompense every soul with what it has earned of good and evil — rewarding the doer of good for his good deed, and punishing the doer of evil for his evil deed. إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَرِيعُ الْحِسَابِ: he says: Allah knows the deed of every doer and needs no fingers to count therewith, nor any effort; His reckoning of their deeds is swift, for He has wholly encompassed them with His knowledge — nothing of it escapes Him — and He recompenses them for the whole of it, great and small.
