Tafseer of The Night Journey · Al-Israa · 17:90
And they say, "We will not believe you until you break open for us from the ground a spring.
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 be His remembrance, says: The polytheists of Allah among your people, O Muḥammad, have said to you: We will never believe you until you cause to gush forth for us from our earth a spring that wells up water for us.
His words yanbuʿan are of the pattern yafʿūl, derived from the expression nabaʿa al-māʾ: when the water appears and wells up — yanbuʿu and yanbaʿu; that is what wells up.
As Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words ḥattā tafjura lanā min al-arḍi yanbuʿan: that is to say: until you cause springs to gush forth for us from the earth — that is to say: here in our city.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words ḥattā tafjura lanā min al-arḍi yanbuʿan — he said: springs.
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda — the same.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: yanbuʿan — he said: springs.
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 — the same.
The Qurʾān reciters differed in the reading of His words tafjura. It is related from Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī that he read ḥattā tafjura lanā with the light vowel, and His words fa-tufajjira al-anhāra khilālahā tafjīran with doubling; thus too did the reciters of Kūfa read it, apparently because by the light vowel in the first instance they intended: until you bore water out of the earth for us once; and by the doubling in the second: that it springs forth in several places, time after time — for then it concerns the springing forth of rivers, not of a single river. The light vowel in the first and the doubling in the second, in accordance with the reading of the Kūfans, is my preference because of the difference in meaning that I have explained; though the first reading is not invalid.
[Note of the editors: In the text there is a clear lacuna. The upshot is that there was agreement on the doubling in fa-tufajjira, but they differed concerning ḥattā tafjura — some doubled it, others left it light.]
