Tafseer of The Bee · An-Nahl · 16:6
And for you in them is [the enjoyment of] beauty when you bring them in [for the evening] and when you send them out [to pasture].
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.
Allah, exalted is His mention, says: And for you in this livestock and these animals which He has created for you there is beauty when you drive them home in the evening — that is to say: when you bring them back in the evening from their pastures to their fold and resting places where they take shelter. For this reason that place is called the marāḥ (fold), because the animals are driven to it in the evening to take shelter there. Of this one says: "So-and-so drove his livestock home" (arāḥa fulān māshiyatahu) and "he drives them home" (yurīḥuhā irāḥatan). And as for His word وَحِينَ تَسْرَحُونَ (and when you drive them out), that is to say: and at the time when you drive them out in the morning from their fold to their pastures. Of this one says: "So-and-so drove his livestock out" (sarraḥa fulān māshiyatahu yusarriḥuhā tasrīḥan) when he sent them out in the morning to graze; and "the livestock went out to graze" (saraḥat al-māshiyatu) when it set off for the pasture, with the verbal nouns sarḥ and sarūḥ. The driving out thus takes place in the morning, and the driving home in the evening. Hence also the saying of the poet:
As though the traces of the wild she-asses upon his back were the track of locusts over a white sand-pit, while he was grazing.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes spoke.
Mention of who said that:
Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا جَمَالٌ حِينَ تُرِيحُونَ وَحِينَ تَسْرَحُونَ (And for you in them there is beauty when you drive them home and when you drive them out): that is most beautiful when they come back in the evening with great udders and high humps, and when you drive them out while they set off for their pasture.
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, concerning وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا جَمَالٌ حِينَ تُرِيحُونَ وَحِينَ تَسْرَحُونَ : he said: when they return they are as large as they ever are, with the finest humps and the most beautiful udders.
