Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:248
And their prophet said to them, "Indeed, a sign of his kingship is that the chest will come to you in which is assurance from your Lord and a remnant of what the family of Moses and the family of Aaron had left, carried by the angels. Indeed in that is a sign for you, if you are believers."
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 explanation of His word: وَقَالَ لَهُمْ نَبِيُّهُمْ إِنَّ آيَةَ مُلْكِهِ أَنْ يَأْتِيَكُمُ التَّابُوتُ (And their prophet said to them: "The sign of his kingship is that the ark will come to you") (2:248)
Abū Jaʿfar said: This communication from Allah — exalted be His remembrance — concerning His prophet, whom He caused to proclaim this, constitutes the proof that the leading men (al-malaʾ) of the Children of Israel, to whom this word was addressed, did not acknowledge Allah's appointment of Ṭālūt as king over them when their prophet conveyed that to them and made known to them the excellence with which Allah had favored him. Instead, they asked him for a sign confirming the truthfulness of what he had said and conveyed to them about that. The explanation of the word, then — since the matter is as we have described — is: "And Allah gives His kingship to whom He wills, and Allah is all-encompassing, all-knowing." Then they said to him: "What is the sign of that, if you are among the truthful?" — "Their prophet said to them: The sign of his kingship is that the ark will come to you."
Although this account is a communication from Allah — exalted be His remembrance — concerning the leading men of the Children of Israel and their prophet, and concerning what proceeded from them when they of their own accord put to their prophet the request that he ask Allah on their behalf to appoint over them a king with whom they would fight in His path; and although it is a report of what proceeded from them in the way of denying their prophet after their knowledge of his prophethood, and then their breaking of the promise they had made to Allah and His messenger regarding the jihād in the path of Allah, in that they withdrew from it at the moment when they were called to the war to which they were called — while Allah granted victory to the small portion of the group, despite the discouragement that the majority of them spread against their king and their holding back from the jihād at his side — it is nevertheless [also] an admonition for those who dwelt amid the place of the migration of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, namely their descendants and sons: the Jews of Qurayẓa and al-Naḍīr. [The import is] that in their denial of Muḥammad ﷺ — in what he commanded them and what he forbade them, despite their knowledge of his truthfulness and their recognition of the genuineness of his prophethood, and after they had, before his messengership, been wont to seek Allah's help through him against their enemies, before Allah sent him to them and to others — they should go no further than to become like their forefathers and predecessors who denied their prophet Shamwīl ibn Bālī, despite their knowledge of his truthfulness and their recognition of the genuineness of his prophethood, and who refused to wage the jihād at the side of Ṭālūt when Allah appointed him as king over them — after they themselves had asked their prophet for the appointment of a king with whom they would fight their enemy and wage jihād in the path of their Lord, a request that they of their own accord addressed to their prophet, and after their prophet Shamwīl had given them his reply concerning it.
[And it is] also an exhortation to the people of faith in Allah and His messenger, from among the Companions of Muḥammad ﷺ, to the jihād in His path; and a warning from Him to them that, in withdrawing from their prophet Muḥammad ﷺ at his encounter with the enemy and his standing forth against the people of disbelief in Allah and in him, they should not be like the leading men of the Children of Israel in their withdrawing from their king Ṭālūt when he marched out to battle against the enemy of Allah, Jālūt, and in their preferring rest and ease over exposing themselves to the heat of the jihād and the struggle in the path of Allah.
[And it is] also an incitement from Him to them to fling themselves undaunted into the decisive clash in the war with the people of disbelief in Him, and to abandon the reluctance to fight them when their [own] number is small and the number of their enemies great, and the striking power of those enemies formidable — by His word: قَالَ الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُمْ مُلاقُو اللَّهِ كَمْ مِنْ فِئَةٍ قَلِيلَةٍ غَلَبَتْ فِئَةً كَثِيرَةً بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ (Those who were convinced that they would meet Allah said: "How many a small group has overcome a large group by the permission of Allah! And Allah is with the steadfast") (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:249). And it is a communication from Him — exalted be His remembrance — to His believing servants that in His hand lies victory, triumph, good, and evil.
As for the explanation of His word: "Their prophet said to them" — thereby are meant the leading men of the Children of Israel who had said to their prophet: "Appoint for us a king, and we will fight in the path of Allah."
And His word: "The sign of his kingship" means: the sign of the kingship of Ṭālūt — that sign which you asked of me as proof of my truthfulness in my statement that Allah has appointed him as king over you, even though he is not of the lineage of kingship — "is that the ark will come to you, in which is a sakīna from your Lord." That is the ark which the Children of Israel, whenever they encountered an enemy of theirs, were wont to carry out before them, and with it they advanced, and no enemy could stand firm against them so long as it was with them, and no one who showed them hostility gained the upper hand over them — until they neglected the command of Allah and their dissension against their prophets grew abundant. Then Allah took the ark from them, time after time, and each time He gave it back to them again, until He took it from them the last time and did not give it back to them, and will never give it back to them for all eternity.
Then the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning the cause of the coming of the ark, the coming of which to the Children of Israel Allah made a sign of the truthfulness of their prophet Shamwīl in his statement: "Allah has appointed Ṭālūt as king over you" — and [they differed] over whether the Children of Israel had previously had it taken from them, whereupon Allah gave it back to them when He made its coming a sign of Ṭālūt's kingship, or whether it had not previously been taken from them, but rather Allah caused it to come to them for the first time.
Some of them said: No, it was with them from the time of Mūsā and Hārūn, and they inherited it [from generation to generation], until kings of the people of disbelief in Him took it from them; then Allah gave it back to them as a sign of the kingship of Ṭālūt. And concerning the cause of its restoration to them he said what I shall now relate, namely:
5658 — Al-Muthannā related it to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to me that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: ʿAylī, who had raised Shamwīl, had two young sons who introduced something new into the offering that did not belong in it. The stirring instrument of the offering with which they were wont to stir had two hooks; whatever they brought up with it was for the priest who stirred with it. But his two sons attached several hooks to it. And when the women came to pray in the sanctuary, they would seize them. While Shamwīl was sleeping opposite the chamber in which ʿAylī slept, he heard a voice say: "O Shamwīl!" He sprang up toward ʿAylī and said: "Here I am! What is it? Did you call me?" The latter said: "No! Go back and sleep!" He went back and slept. Then he heard another voice say: "O Shamwīl!" He sprang up again toward ʿAylī and said: "Here I am! What is it? Did you call me?" The latter said: "I did not do it; go back and sleep, and if you hear anything, then say in your place: 'Here I am! Command me, and I will do it!'" He went back and slept, and again heard a voice say: "O Shamwīl!" He said: "Here I am, here I am! Command me, and I will do it!" The latter said: "Go to ʿAylī and say to him: 'Love for his children has kept him from rebuking his two sons for introducing something new into My sanctuary and My offering and disobeying Me; therefore I shall take away the priesthood from him and from his progeny, and I shall destroy him and both of them!'" When morning came, ʿAylī asked him [about it], and he conveyed it to him, whereupon the latter was greatly terrified at it. Then an enemy from their vicinity marched out against them, and he commanded his two sons to go forth with the people to fight that enemy. They went forth and took with them the ark in which were the two tablets and the staff of Mūsā, that they might be aided by it. When they and their enemy had drawn up for battle, ʿAylī began to await the news: what have they done? A man came who brought him news while he was sitting on his chair: "Both your sons have been killed and the people have been defeated!" He said: "And what has happened to the ark?" He said: "The enemy has taken it!" Then he let out a cry and fell backward from his chair and died. And those who had captured the ark went off with it and placed it in the house of their gods — they had an idol which they worshipped — and they placed it beneath the idol, with the image atop it. But the next morning the image was found beneath it, and it stood above the image. Then they took it and placed it above and fastened the feet of the image to the ark. The next morning the hands and feet of the image were broken off and it lay cast down beneath the ark. Then they said to one another: "You know that nothing can stand firm against the god of the Children of Israel; so take it out of the house of your gods!" They brought the ark out and placed it in a quarter of their village, whereupon the inhabitants of that quarter in which they had placed the ark got pains in their necks. They said: "What is this?!" A slave-girl whom they had with them from among the captives of the Children of Israel said to them: "You will continue to see what you abhor so long as this ark is among you! So take it out of your village!" They said: "You are lying!" She said: "The sign of that is that you bring two cows that have calves and upon which a yoke has never been placed; then you place the calves behind them, then you place the ark on the cart and let them go forward while you hold back their calves. Then those two cows will go forward with it willingly, until, when they have gone out of your land and come into the land of the Children of Israel, they will break their yoke and return to their calves." They did that, and when the two cows had gone out of their land and come into the adjacent land of the Children of Israel, they broke their yoke and returned to their calves. And they set it [the ark] down by a ruin in which were reapers of the Children of Israel, and the Children of Israel hastened to it in alarm and came up to it; but no one approached it without dying. Then their prophet Shamwīl said to them: "Come forward for inspection! Whoever perceives strength in himself, let him approach it." So the people were brought forward to him, but none could approach it except two men of the Children of Israel, to whom he permitted to carry it to the house of their mother — she was a widow. So it remained in the house of their mother until Ṭālūt became king and the affair of the Children of Israel was set in order with Shamwīl.
5659 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: One of the people of knowledge related to me, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: Shamwīl said to the Children of Israel when they said to him: "How can he have kingship over us, when we have more right to kingship than he, and he has not been granted abundance of wealth?" — he said: "Allah has chosen him above you and given him a more ample measure of knowledge and bodily strength. And the sign of his kingship, and that his appointment as king is from Allah, is that the ark will come to you, which will give back to you the sakīna it contains and the remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind — it is the one with which you were wont to defeat every enemy you encountered and with which you gained the upper hand over him." They said: "If the ark comes to us, then we are content and we submit!" The enemy that had captured the ark was at the foot of the mountain, the mountain of Īliyāʾ, in the region between them and Egypt; they were idolaters, and among them was Jālūt. Jālūt was a man who had been given an ample bodily frame, power in striking, and formidableness in war, and he was renowned among the people for that. The ark, when it was captured, had been placed in a village of the villages of Palestine called "Azdūd"; they had placed the ark in a temple in which their idols stood. And when there came to pass what came to pass regarding the affair of the prophet ﷺ — namely that he had promised the Children of Israel that the ark would come to them — their idols in the temple began every morning to stand upside down on their heads, and Allah sent upon the inhabitants of that village mice: the mouse would fall upon the man at night, and the next morning he was dead, while it had eaten what was in his belly by way of his rear. They said: "By Allah, you know it: a calamity has struck you such as no nation of the nations has ever met with, and we know of no calamity that has struck us except since this ark has been among us! Moreover, you have seen that your idols stand upside down every morning — something that never befell them until this ark was with them! So take it away from among us." Then they called for a cart, loaded the ark upon it, then yoked two oxen to it, struck them on their flanks, and the angels went out with the two oxen, driving them forward. The ark passed no spot on earth without that spot being hallowed. And nothing disquieted them so much as the ark on a cart drawn by the two oxen, until it came to a halt among the Children of Israel. Then they cried "Allāhu akbar," praised Allah, showed themselves valiant in their war, and joined themselves united around Ṭālūt.
5660 — 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: When their prophet said to them: "Allah has chosen Ṭālūt above you and given him a more ample measure of knowledge and bodily strength," they refused to accord him the leadership, until he said to them: "The sign of his kingship is that the ark will come to you, in which is a sakīna from your Lord." He said to them: "What do you think, if the ark comes to you in which is a sakīna from your Lord and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind, carried by the angels?!" — And Mūsā, when he cast down the tablets, had broken them, and a part of them was taken away; then he came down and gathered what remained and placed it in that ark. — Ibn Jurayj said: Yaʿlā ibn Muslim informed me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that of the tablets nothing remained except a sixth of them. He said: The ʿAmāliqa had captured that ark — the ʿAmāliqa are a group of the ʿĀd who were at Arīḥā (Jericho) — and the angels brought the ark, carrying it between heaven and earth while they looked at the ark, until they set it down before Ṭālūt. When they saw that, they said: "Good!" and they submitted to him and appointed him as king. He said: The prophets were wont, when they attended a battle, to carry the ark out before them. And it is said that Ādam descended [to the earth] with that ark and with the [Black] Cornerstone. And it has reached me that the ark and the staff of Mūsā are in the lake of Tiberias, and that both of them will appear before the Day of Resurrection.
5661 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil informed us that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: When Irmiyā (Jeremiah) saw that Jerusalem had been destroyed and the scriptures burned, he stood at the side of the mountain and said: "How will Allah bring this back to life after its death?" Then Allah caused him to die for a hundred years. Then, after seventy years reckoned from the moment He caused him to die, Allah caused a number of the Children of Israel to return, who rebuilt it over the course of thirty years, to the completion of the hundred. When the hundred [years] had passed, Allah gave him back his spirit, while it [the city] had been rebuilt, and it was in its original state.
[...] [a portion is missing here in the text] [...]
When He willed to give the ark back to them, Allah revealed to one of their prophets — whether Dāniyāl (Daniel) or another —: "If you wish that the sickness be removed from you, then remove this ark from among you!" They said: "By what sign?" He said: "By the sign that you bring two unmanageable cows that have never performed any labor; when they see it [the ark], they will bend their necks under the yoke until it is fastened upon them; then the ark is fastened upon a cart and then yoked to the two cows; then they are let loose, and they will go forward to wherever Allah wills that they should come." They did that, and Allah appointed over the two of them four of the angels who drove them forward; and the two cows went forward at a swift pace, until, when they reached the edge of the sanctuary, they broke their yoke, tore their ropes, and went away. Then Dāwūd descended toward them with those who were with him, and when Dāwūd saw the ark, he sprang toward it for joy — we asked Wahb: what is "ḥajila toward it"? He said: it resembles dancing — whereupon his wife said to him: "You have lifted up your [garment] so that the people almost despised you for what you did!" He said: "Would you hold me back from obedience to my Lord?! You shall be no wife to me after this." And he divorced her.
And others said: No, the ark — which Allah made a sign of the kingship of Ṭālūt — was in the wilderness, and Mūsā ﷺ had left it with his servant Yūshaʿ (Joshua), whereupon the angels carried it until they set it down in the house of Ṭālūt.
Mention of who said that:
5662 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "The sign of his kingship is that the ark will come to you, in which is a sakīna from your Lord," the [whole] verses: Mūsā had left it with his servant Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn, while he was in the wilderness, and the angels came with it, carrying it, until they set it down in the house of Ṭālūt, and in the morning it was in his house.
5663 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His word: "The sign of his kingship is that the ark will come to you," the [whole] verse, he said: Mūsā had — according to what has been conveyed to us — left the ark with his servant Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn while he was in the wilderness. And it has been conveyed to us that the angels carried it out of the wilderness until they set it down in the house of Ṭālūt, and the ark was in the morning in his house.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The more correct of the two statements concerning this is what Ibn ʿAbbās and Wahb ibn Munabbih said: that the ark was with an enemy of the Children of Israel who had taken it from them. That is because Allah — exalted be His remembrance — rendered, as a communication concerning His prophet at that time, his word to his people of the Children of Israel: "The sign of his kingship is that the ark (al-tābūt) will come to you." And the definite article ("alif-lām") is attached to such nouns only for something known to those who address one another about it, and both the speaker and the addressee knew it. From this, then, it becomes clear that the meaning of the word is: the sign of his kingship is that the ark, which you already know, with which you were wont to seek help, will come to you, in which is a sakīna from your Lord. Had it been some arbitrary ark among the arks, the value of which and the measure of its usefulness were not previously known to them, it would have been said: "The sign of his kingship is that an ark (tābūt) will come to you in which is a sakīna from your Lord."
Now, should a heedless person suppose that they had known that ark, and the measure of its usefulness, and what it contained, while it was with Mūsā and Yūshaʿ, the incorrectness of that is unmistakable. That is because it has not reached us that Mūsā ever met an enemy with the ark, nor did his servant Yūshaʿ; rather, what is known of the affair of Mūsā and the affair of Firʿawn (Pharaoh) is what Allah has related concerning the two of them, and likewise his affair and the affair of the tyrants (al-jabbārīn). And as for his servant Yūshaʿ: those who made this statement claimed that Yūshaʿ left it in the wilderness (al-tīh) until it was given back to them when Ṭālūt became king. If the matter is as they describe, in which of the states of the ark was the state in which they knew it, such that it could be said: "The sign of his kingship is that the ark will come to you which you already know and whose affair you already know"? And in the incorrectness of this statement on the basis of what we have mentioned lies the clearest proof of the correctness of the other statement, since the people of interpretation have no statement concerning this other than these two.
And the description of the ark was, according to what has reached us, as follows:
5664 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAskar and al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, both of them saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Bakkār ibn ʿAbd Allāh informed us, saying: We asked Wahb ibn Munabbih about the ark of Mūsā: how was it? He said: It was about three cubits [long] by two cubits [wide].
The explanation of His word: فِيهِ سَكِينَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ (in which is a sakīna from your Lord)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted be His remembrance — means by His word "in which": in the ark — "a sakīna from your Lord."
And the people of interpretation differed concerning the meaning of "the sakīna."
Some of them said: It is a gently blowing wind that has a face like the face of a human being.
Mention of who said that:
5665 — ʿImrān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaḥāda related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Kuhayl, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, who said: The sakīna is a gently blowing wind that has a face like the face of a human being.
5666 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us — and al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Sufyān informed us — on the authority of Salama ibn Kuhayl, on the authority of Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, on the authority of ʿAlī, who said: The sakīna has a face like the face of a human being, and moreover it is a gently blowing wind.
5667 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Salama ibn Kuhayl, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, concerning His word: "in which is a sakīna from your Lord," he said: a gently blowing wind that has a form — and Yaʿqūb said in his transmission: that has a face — and Ibn al-Muthannā said: like the face of a human being.
5668 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Salama ibn Kuhayl, who said: ʿAlī said: The sakīna has a face like the face of a human being, and it is a gently blowing wind.
5669 — Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Simāk ibn Ḥarb, on the authority of Khālid ibn ʿArʿara, who said: ʿAlī said: The sakīna is a fierce, howling wind, and it has two heads.
5670 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk, who said: I heard Khālid ibn ʿArʿara transmit from ʿAlī something similar.
5671 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Dāwūd related to us, saying: Shuʿba and Ḥammād ibn Salama and Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, all on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of Khālid ibn ʿArʿara, on the authority of ʿAlī, something similar.
And others said: It has a head like the head of a cat and two wings.
Mention of who said that:
5672 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah — exalted —: "in which is a sakīna from your Lord," he said: The sakīna [and the ṣurad-bird] and Jibrīl came with Ibrāhīm from Syria — Ibn Abī Najīḥ said: I heard Mujāhid say: The sakīna has a head like the head of a cat and two wings.
5673 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
5674 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: The sakīna has two wings and a tail.
5675 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: It has two wings and a tail like the tail of a cat.
And others said: No, it is the head of a dead cat.
Mention of who said that:
5677 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, on the authority of one of the people of knowledge among the Children of Israel, who said: The sakīna is the head of a dead cat; when it screamed in the ark with the screaming of a cat, they were assured of victory and the triumph came to them.
And others said: It is merely a golden basin from Paradise, in which the hearts of the prophets were washed.
Mention of who said that:
5678 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: Al-Ḥakam ibn Ẓuhayr related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "in which is a sakīna from your Lord," he said: a golden basin from Paradise, in which the hearts of the prophets were washed.
5679 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "in which is a sakīna from your Lord," the sakīna is a golden basin in which the hearts of the prophets were washed, which Allah gave to Mūsā, and in which he placed the tablets. And the tablets were, according to what has reached us, of pearl, ruby, and chrysolite.
And others said: The sakīna is a spirit from Allah that speaks.
Mention of who said that:
5680 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Bakkār ibn ʿAbd Allāh informed us, saying: We asked Wahb ibn Munabbih and said to him: the sakīna? He said: a spirit from Allah that speaks; when they differed about something, it would speak and convey to them the elucidation of what they desired.
5681 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAskar related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, saying: Bakkār ibn ʿAbd Allāh related to us that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih — and he mentioned something similar.
And others said: The sakīna is what they recognize of the signs, by which they find rest.
Mention of who said that:
5682 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: I asked ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ about His word: "in which is a sakīna from your Lord," the [whole] verse; he said: As for the sakīna, that is what they recognize of the signs, by which they find rest.
And others said: The sakīna is mercy.
Mention of who said that:
5683 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "in which is a sakīna from your Lord," that is to say: a mercy from your Lord.
And others said: The sakīna is dignity and composure (al-waqār).
Mention of who said that:
5684 — 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: "in which is a sakīna from your Lord," that is to say: dignity and composure.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of these statements concerning the meaning of "the sakīna" is what ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ said: namely something by which the souls find rest, from among the signs that you recognize. That is because "the sakīna" in the language of the Arabs has the form "faʿīla," derived from the word of one who says: "sakana fulān ilā kadhā wa-kadhā" — when he comes to rest at it and his soul becomes composed at it — "fa-huwa yaskunu sukūnan wa-sakīnatan," like your saying: "ʿazama fulān hādhā al-amr ʿazman wa-ʿazīmatan" and "qaḍā al-ḥākim bayna al-qawm qaḍāʾan wa-qaḍiyyatan." And among that is the word of the poet:
To Allah belongs a grave that took her in! What does it contain? It enclosed, in truth, a composure (sakīna) and a dignity.
And when the meaning of "the sakīna" is as I have described, then it is possible that this is as ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib said according to what we have transmitted from him, and it is possible that this is as Mujāhid said according to what we have related from him, and it is possible that this is what Wahb ibn Munabbih said and what al-Suddī said — for all of those are conclusive signs by which the souls find rest and through which the breasts are cooled. And when the meaning of "the sakīna" is as we have described, then it has become clear that the sign which was in the ark — by which the souls found rest through their knowledge of the genuineness of its affair — was named only with [the term for] the effect, while it is something other than that [effect], because of the word's indication of it.
The explanation of His word: وَبَقِيَّةٌ مِمَّا تَرَكَ آلُ مُوسَى وَآلُ هَارُونَ (and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted be His remembrance — means by His word "and a remnant": the remaining thing, derived from the word of one who says: "there remained of this matter a remnant (baqiyya)," and it is a form "faʿīla" thereof, comparable to "sakīna" from "sakana."
And His word: "of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind" means: from the legacy of the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn.
And the people of interpretation differed concerning "the remnant" that had remained of their legacy.
Some of them said: That "remnant" was the staff of Mūsā and the fragments of the tablets.
Mention of who said that:
5685 — Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, who said: I believe, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he said concerning this verse: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," he said: the fragments of the tablets.
5686 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bazīʿ related to us, saying: Bishr related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima — Dāwūd said: and I believe, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — something similar.
5687 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū al-Walīd related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning this verse: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," he said: the staff of Mūsā and the fragments of the tablets.
5688 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," he said: in the ark were the staff of Mūsā and the fragments of the tablets, according to what has been conveyed to us.
5689 — 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: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," he said: the remnant is the staff of Mūsā and the fragments of the tablets.
5690 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," as for the remnant, that is the staff of Mūsā and the fragments of the tablets.
5691 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," the staff of Mūsā and remnants of the Torah.
5692 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Thaqafī related to us, on the authority of Khālid al-Ḥadhdhāʾ, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning this verse: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," he said: the Torah and the fragments of the tablets and the staff — Isḥāq said: Wakīʿ said: and the "ruḍāḍ" thereof are the shards thereof.
5693 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Khālid, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His word: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," he said: the fragments of the tablets.
And others said: No, that "remnant" was the staff of Mūsā and the staff of Hārūn, and something of the tablets.
Mention of who said that:
5694 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Jābir ibn Nūḥ related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ: "that the ark will come to you, in which is a sakīna from your Lord and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," he said: in it were the staff of Mūsā and the staff of Hārūn, and two tablets of the Torah, and the manna.
5695 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard my father, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya ibn Saʿd, concerning His word: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," he said: the staff of Mūsā, and the staff of Hārūn, and the garment of Mūsā, and the garment of Hārūn, and the fragments of the tablets.
And others said: No, they are the staff and the two sandals.
Mention of who said that:
5696 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: I asked al-Thawrī about His word: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," he said: some of them say: the remnant is a qafīz [a measure] of manna and the fragments of the tablets — and some of them say: the staff and the two sandals.
And others said: No, it was the staff alone.
Mention of who said that:
5697 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Bakkār ibn ʿAbd Allāh informed us, saying: We said to Wahb ibn Munabbih: what was in it? — that is, in the ark — he said: in it were the staff of Mūsā and the sakīna.
And others said: No, they were the fragments of the tablets and what had been broken of them.
Mention of who said that:
5698 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning His word: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," he said: Mūsā, when he cast down the tablets, had broken them, and a part of them was taken away; then he placed what remained in that ark.
5699 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: I asked ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ about His word: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," [he said:] the knowledge and the Torah.
And others said: No, that is the jihād in the path of Allah.
Mention of who said that:
5700 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: "and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind," he means by "the remnant" the fighting (al-qitāl) in the path of Allah, and with it they fought at the side of Ṭālūt, and to it they were commanded.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of the statements concerning this is that one says: Allah — exalted be His remembrance — communicated, concerning the ark which He made a sign of the truthfulness of the statement of His prophet ﷺ — who said to his community: "Allah has appointed Ṭālūt as king over you" — that in it was a sakīna from Him, and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn had left behind. And it is possible that that remnant was: the staff, and the shards of the tablets, and the Torah or a part of it, and the two sandals, and the garment, and the jihād in the path of Allah — and it is possible that it was a part of that. That is a matter the knowledge of which cannot be attained by way of deduction or of language, and the knowledge of which can be attained only through a report that renders its knowledge necessary. And among the people of Islam there exists no report concerning this with the quality we have described [i.e., that it is decisive]. And since that is so, it is not permissible to declare one statement correct in this and to weaken another of them, since all that we have mentioned as a statement concerning this is possible.
The explanation of His word: تَحْمِلُهُ الْمَلائِكَةُ (carried by the angels)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The people of interpretation differed concerning the manner in which the angels carried that ark.
Some of them said: The meaning of that is: they carry it between heaven and earth, until they set it down among them.
Mention of who said that:
5701 — 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: The angels came with the ark, carrying it between heaven and earth while they looked at it, until they set it down before Ṭālūt.
5702 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: When he — that is, the prophet — said to them, the Children of Israel: "And Allah gives His kingship to whom He wills," they said: "And who guarantees us that Allah has given it to him? It is nothing but your own preference for him!" He said: "If you have denied me and suspected me, then the sign of his kingship is: أَنْ يَأْتِيَكُمُ التَّابُوتُ فِيهِ سَكِينَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ (that the ark will come to you, in which is a sakīna from your Lord)," the [whole] verse. He said: Then the angels descended by day with the ark, while they beheld it with their own eyes, until they set it down among them, whereupon they acknowledged it without being content, and departed displeased. And he recited [on] until he reached: وَاللَّهُ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ (and Allah is with the steadfast).
5703 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: When their prophet said to them: "Allah has chosen him above you and given him a more ample measure of knowledge and bodily strength," they said: "If you are truthful, then bring us a sign that this is a king!" He said: "The sign of his kingship is that the ark will come to you, in which is a sakīna from your Lord and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind, carried by the angels." And the next morning the ark and what was in it were in the house of Ṭālūt, whereupon they believed in the prophethood of Shamʿūn and accepted the kingship of Ṭālūt.
5704 — 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: "carried by the angels," he said: they carry it until they set it down in the house of Ṭālūt.
And others said: The meaning of that is: the angels drive forward the beasts of burden that carry it.
Mention of who said that:
5705 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of one of his teachers, who said: The angels carry it on a cart on a cow.
5706 — Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil informed us that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: Over the two cows that went forward with the ark, four of the angels were appointed who drove them forward; and the two cows went forward with them at a swift pace, until, when they reached the edge of the sanctuary, they went away.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The more correct of the two statements concerning this is the statement of him who says: "The angels carried the ark until they set it down for them in the house of Ṭālūt, drawn up among the Children of Israel." That is because Allah — exalted be His remembrance — said: "carried by the angels," and did not say: "brought by the angels." And what the cows drew forward on a cart — even though it was the angels who drove them forward — that is not the carrying of it, for the well-known "carrying" is that the carrier himself directly carries that which he carries. But what he carries upon something else — even though it is permissible in the language to say "he carried it" in the sense of his supporting the carrier, and because the carrying took place through his agency — his case is not like the case of him who performs the carrying himself directly, in the general usage of the people among themselves. And directing the interpretation of the Qurʾān toward the most well-known of the linguistic expressions is preferable to directing it toward the more unusual, so long as a way to that is found.
The explanation of His word: إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لآيَةً لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ (248) (Verily, in that is a sign for you, if you are believers)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted be His remembrance — means thereby: that His prophet Shamwīl said to the Children of Israel: in your obtaining of the ark, in which is a sakīna from your Lord and a remnant of what the family of Mūsā and the family of Hārūn left behind, carried by the angels, "is verily a sign for you" — that is to say: a sign for you and a proof, O people, of my truthfulness in what I have conveyed to you: that Allah has appointed Ṭālūt as king over you — if you have denied me in what I conveyed to you about Allah's appointment of him as king over you, and have suspected me in my communication concerning that — "if you are believers," thereby He means: if you believe me upon the coming of the sign which you asked of me regarding my truthfulness in what I have conveyed to you about the affair of Ṭālūt and his kingship.
And we have said only that this is its meaning because the people had become disbelievers in Allah through their denial of their prophet and their rejection of his word: "Allah has appointed Ṭālūt as king over you" — by their saying: "How can he have kingship over us, when we have more right to kingship than he" — and through their asking him for the sign of his truthfulness. And since that was disbelief (kufr) on their part, it is not permissible that it be said to them, while they are disbelievers: "For you, in the coming of the ark, is a sign if you are among the people of faith in Allah and His messenger" — while they are not among the people of faith in Allah nor in His messenger. Rather, the matter herein is as we have described its meaning, for they asked for the sign of the truthfulness of his communication to them, that they might acknowledge his truthfulness. Thereupon he said to them: in the coming of the ark — as he described it to them — is a sign for you if, upon its coming, you thus believe me in what I have said and conveyed to you.
