Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:86
Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it [as if] setting in a spring of dark mud, and he found near it a people. Allah said, "O Dhul-Qarnayn, either you punish [them] or else adopt among them [a way of] goodness."
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 statement concerning the interpretation of the word of Allah the Exalted: حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغَ مَغْرِبَ الشَّمْسِ وَجَدَهَا تَغْرُبُ فِي عَيْنٍ حَمِئَةٍ وَوَجَدَ عِنْدَهَا قَوْمًا قُلْنَا يَا ذَا الْقَرْنَيْنِ إِمَّا أَنْ تُعَذِّبَ وَإِمَّا أَنْ تَتَّخِذَ فِيهِمْ حُسْنًا (86)
Allah the Exalted says: (until, when he reached) — that is to say: Dhū al-Qarnayn — (the setting place of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring (ʿayn ḥamiʾa)). The Qurʾān reciters differed over the reading of this word. Some reciters of Medina and Basra read it as (fī ʿaynin ḥamiʾatin), with the meaning that the sun sets in a well-spring that contains mire; a group of reciters of Medina and the majority of the reciters of Kufa read it as (fī ʿaynin ḥāmiyatin), with the meaning that it sets in a hot water-spring.
The exegetes likewise differed over its interpretation, in accordance with the difference of the reciters in the reading.
We mention here those who said that it sets in a muddy spring (ḥamiʾa):
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning (it sets in a muddy spring): he said: that is to say: one that possesses mire.
Al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Junayd related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Salama related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn Ḥāḍir, who said: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās say: Muʿāwiya recited this verse and said: (ʿaynun ḥāmiyatun — a hot spring); but Ibn ʿAbbās said: it is a muddy spring (ʿayn ḥamiʾa). They made Kaʿb the arbiter between them. They sent a message to Kaʿb al-Aḥbār and asked him, whereupon Kaʿb said: as for the sun, it sets in slime (thaʾṭ) — and this was in agreement with what Ibn ʿAbbās had said. The word al-thaʾṭ means mud.
Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Nāfiʿ ibn Abī Nuʿaym related to me, saying: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Aʿraj say: Ibn ʿAbbās used to say (fī ʿaynin ḥamiʾatin) and then he would explain it as: one that has mire; Nāfiʿ said: and Kaʿb was asked about it, whereupon he said: you know the Qurʾān better than I, but I find in the Scripture that it sets in black mud.
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, concerning (he found it setting in a muddy spring): he said: that is the ḥamaʾa (the mire).
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning (in a muddy spring): he said: thaʾṭ (slime).
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, concerning the word of Allah the Exalted (it sets in a muddy spring): he said: a slime-pool (thaʾṭa).
He said: and ʿAmr ibn Dīnār informed me, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: I recited (fī ʿaynin ḥamiʾatin) and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ recited (fī ʿaynin ḥāmiyatin); we sent a message to Kaʿb, who said: it sets in mire — black mud.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning (it sets in a muddy spring): al-ḥamiʾa is the black mire.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Marwān ibn Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, who said: I heard Saʿīd ibn Jubayr say: Ibn ʿAbbās used to read this word as (fī ʿaynin ḥamiʾatin) and said thereby: black mire, in it the sun sets.
Others said: rather it sets in a hot spring.
We mention here those who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, (he found it setting in a hot spring), that is to say: in a warm spring.
Yaʿqūb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, who said: I heard al-Ḥasan say, concerning (in a hot spring): he said: hot.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning his word (in a hot spring): he said: hot — and thus did al-Ḥasan recite it as well.
The correct view on this, in my opinion, is this: they are two readings widely current among the reciters of the regions, and each of the two has a sound basis and an intelligible meaning, and neither of them invalidates the other. This is because it is possible that the sun sets in a hot spring that contains mire and mud: the reciter who reads (fī ʿaynin ḥāmiyatin) describes it with the attribute that it possesses, namely heat; and the reciter who reads (fī ʿaynin ḥamiʾatin) describes it with the attribute that it possesses, namely that it contains mire and mud. And reports have been transmitted with both forms which are descriptions of it.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: al-ʿAwwām informed us, saying: a freedman (mawlā) of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr related to me, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, who said: "The Prophet ﷺ looked at the sun as it was setting and said: In the burning fire of Allah, in the burning fire of Allah — were it not for what Allah imposes upon it of His command, it would have burned up whatever is on the earth."
Al-Faḍl ibn Dāwūd al-Wāsiṭī related to me, saying: Abū Dāwūd related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Dīnār related to us, on the authority of Saʿd ibn Aws, on the authority of Miṣdaʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, that the Prophet ﷺ had him read it: (ḥamiʾatin).
As for his word (he found by it a people): it is reported that this people bore the name Nāsik.
And his word (We said: O Dhū al-Qarnayn, either you punish) means: either you kill them if they do not accept the belief in the One God and do not submit to that to which you call them of obedience to their Lord; (or you adopt a good attitude toward them) means: or you take them captive and instruct them in right guidance and bring them to perceive what is correct.
