Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:96
Bring me sheets of iron" - until, when he had leveled [them] between the two mountain walls, he said, "Blow [with bellows]," until when he had made it [like] fire, he said, "Bring me, that I may pour over it molten copper."
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 discussion of the interpretation of the word of Allah the Exalted: آتُونِي زُبَرَ الْحَدِيدِ حَتَّى إِذَا سَاوَى بَيْنَ الصَّدَفَيْنِ قَالَ انْفُخُوا حَتَّى إِذَا جَعَلَهُ نَارًا قَالَ آتُونِي أُفْرِغْ عَلَيْهِ قِطْرًا (Bring me pieces of iron, until when he had made level between the two mountain-sides, he said: Blow! Until when he had made it fire, he said: Bring me, I will pour molten copper over it) (verse 96)
Allah the Almighty and Exalted said: Dhū al-Qarnayn said to those who had asked him to make a barrier between them and Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj: آتُونِي — bring me pieces of iron (zubara al-ḥadīd); zubara is the plural of zubra, and a zubra is a piece of iron.
As ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning his word (زُبَرَ الْحَدِيدِ): he said: "pieces of iron."
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to us, 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 his word (آتُونِي زُبَرَ الْحَدِيدِ): he said: "pieces of iron."
Ismāʿīl ibn Sayf related to us, saying: ʿAlī ibn Mushhir related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning his word (زُبَرَ الْحَدِيدِ): he said: "pieces of iron."
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra al-Asadī related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his word (آتُونِي زُبَرَ الْحَدِيدِ): he said: "pieces of iron."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (آتُونِي زُبَرَ الْحَدِيدِ) — that is to say: loaves/discs of iron.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his word (آتُونِي زُبَرَ الْحَدِيدِ): he said: "pieces of iron."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning (آتُونِي زُبَرَ الْحَدِيدِ): "pieces of iron."
His word (حَتَّى إِذَا سَاوَى بَيْنَ الصَّدَفَيْنِ) — Allah the Almighty and Exalted says: they brought the pieces of iron and he placed them between the two mountain-sides, until when he had made level between the two mountains with the pieces of iron that he had laid between them — and one may also say: "sawwā" (made level). The ṣadafān are what lies between the two flanks of the mountain-sides and their summits. Hence the word of the rajaz-poet:
"It has taken what lay between the breadth of the two ṣadafayn, their two flanks and the summits of the two corners."
In accordance with what we have said about this, the interpreters spoke.
Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning his word (بَيْنَ الصَّدَفَيْنِ): he said: "between the two mountains."
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to us, 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: حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغَ بَيْنَ السَّدَّيْنِ — he said: "it is a barrier that was between two ṣadafayn, and the ṣadafān are the two mountains."
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, concerning his word (الصَّدَفَيْنِ): "the summits of the two mountains."
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 — to the same effect.
It was related to me by al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning his word (بَيْنَ الصَّدَفَيْنِ): "he means the two mountains, and they are on the side of Armenia and Azerbaijan."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (حَتَّى إِذَا سَاوَى بَيْنَ الصَّدَفَيْنِ) — and these are the two mountains.
Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related to us, saying: al-Qāsim informed us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, that he read it as (بَيْنَ الصَّدَفَيْنِ) — with short vocalization on the ṣād and the dāl — and he said: "between the two mountains." The Arabs know three dialectal variants for al-ṣadafayn, and for each a group of reciters has made a choice:
Fatḥa on the ṣād and the dāl: the reading of the majority of the reciters of Medina and Kufa; ḍamma on both: the reading of the people of Basra; ḍamma on the ṣād and sukūn on the dāl: the reading of some from Mecca and Kufa. The fatḥa on both is the best known of these dialectal variants, and the reading with it is the most pleasing to me; I approve of the reading with each of all the variants on account of the agreement in their meaning, but I have preferred the fatḥa on both for the reason I have mentioned.
His word (قَالَ انْفُخُوا) — Allah the Almighty and Exalted says: he said to the craftsmen: "Blow the fire upon these pieces of iron."
His word (حَتَّى إِذَا جَعَلَهُ نَارًا) — in the text something is omitted, namely: "they blew, until when he had made what was between the mountain-sides of iron into fire" (قَالَ آتُونِي أُفْرِغْ عَلَيْهِ قِطْرًا). The reciters differed concerning the reading of it. The majority of the reciters of Medina, Basra, and some of Kufa read: (قَالَ آتُونِي) — with the lengthened alif of (آتُونِي) — in the meaning: give me molten copper, then I will pour it over it. Some reciters of Kufa read: (ائتُونِي) — with the conjoined alif — in the meaning: bring me molten copper that I may pour over it, as one says: "I have seized the rope" or "I have seized the rope by hand," and "I have come to you with Zayd" or "I have come to you and brought Zayd along." The meaning in that case, when it is read thus, may also take the meaning of giving, as though the reader intended the lengthened alif of ātūnī and then dropped the first hamza and softened (hamasa) the second.
His word (أُفْرِغْ عَلَيْهِ قِطْرًا) — he says: I will pour over it molten copper (qiṭr). The qiṭr is copper.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the interpreters spoke.
Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to us, 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 his word (أُفْرِغْ عَلَيْهِ قِطْرًا): he said: "the qiṭr is copper."
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 — to the same effect.
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 — to the same effect.
It was related to me by al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning his word (أُفْرِغْ عَلَيْهِ قِطْرًا): "he means copper."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (أُفْرِغْ عَلَيْهِ قِطْرًا) — that is to say: copper, to bind the iron together with it.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his word (أُفْرِغْ عَلَيْهِ قِطْرًا): he said: "copper."
One of the scholars of the Arabic language from Basra said that al-qiṭr is molten iron, and he cited as proof for that the word of the poet:
"A sharp sword whose iron has the color of salt, clear of steel, cut from the pieces of the wrought iron."
