Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:29
It is He who created for you all of that which is on the earth. Then He directed Himself to the heaven, [His being above all creation], and made them seven heavens, and He is Knowing of all things.
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.
And in a manner corresponding to what we have said concerning His statement: "He it is Who created for you all that is on the earth" (2:29), Qatāda used to say:
587 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "He it is Who created for you all that is on the earth": "Yes, by Allah, He has made subservient to you what is on the earth."
## Treatment of the explanation of His statement, the Exalted: ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ
("Then He directed Himself to the heaven and fashioned it into seven heavens")
Abū Jaʿfar said: People have differed concerning the explanation of His statement: "Then He directed Himself to the heaven (thumma istawā ilā al-samāʾ)."
Some of them said: The meaning of "He directed Himself to the heaven (istawā ilā al-samāʾ)" is: He turned toward it, just as you say: "So-and-so was thus disposed toward so-and-so, and then istawā ʿalayya, he turned upon me to revile me" – and "istawā ilayya to revile me," with the meaning: he turned toward me and in my direction to revile me. They adduced as proof that istiwāʾ has the meaning "to turn" with the statement of the poet:
I say, while they had passed through Sharawrā with us, journeying tirelessly, as they set out away from Al-Ḍajūʿ.
He claimed that by this he meant that they (the she-camels) left Al-Ḍajūʿ, and that this, according to him, had the meaning "they turned." But this interpretation of this verse is incorrect; rather, the meaning of his statement "wa-stawayna mina al-ḍajūʿi" is: they set themselves straight upon the road, departing from Al-Ḍajūʿ, in the meaning: they headed straight for it.
Others said: This, from Allah – exalted be His mention – did not proceed from a movement, but rather it has the meaning of His acting, just as you say: "The caliph resided among the people of Iraq and bestowed his favor upon them, and then he moved on to Syria (al-Shām)." By this one only means: his activity moved on. [And some of them said: His statement "then He directed Himself to the heaven" means: it (the heaven) came to be (istawat).] As the poet said:
I say to him, when he lay level with his dust: according to which religion did Muṣʿab kill the people?
And some of them said: "Then He directed Himself to the heaven" means: He betook Himself purposefully toward it. And it was said: Rather, everyone who abandons a work in which he was engaged in favor of another is "mustawin" (directed) toward that toward which he purposefully betakes himself, and "mustawin ilayhi" (directing himself to it).
And some of them said: The istiwāʾ is loftiness (al-ʿuluww), and loftiness is rising up (al-irtifāʿ). Among those who said that is Al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas.
588 – That was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: "Then He directed Himself to the heaven." He says: He rose up to the heaven.
Then those who explained the istiwāʾ in the meaning of loftiness and rising up differed concerning Who it was that directed Himself to the heaven. Some of them said: The One Who directed Himself to the heaven and rose above it is its Creator and Originator. And others said: Rather, that which rose up above it is the smoke (al-dukhān) which Allah made into a heaven for the earth.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The istiwāʾ is employed in the language of the Arabs in various meanings. Among them: a man's reaching the fullness of youth and strength; one says, when he has become so: "The man has istawā (become full-grown)." Among them also: the straightening of something that was crooked, in matters and affairs; one says of that: "istawā li-fulān amruhu," when his affair became straight after having been crooked. To that belongs the statement of Al-Ṭirimmāḥ ibn Ḥakīm:
Long has its span of time grown over the remnant of Mahdad, it decayed, and its tract was leveled even with it.
He means: came to lie level with it. Among them also: the turning toward something; one says: "istawā fulān ʿalā fulān" with that which he hates and which harms him, after having shown him kindness. Among them also: the taking into possession and gaining mastery (al-iḥtiyāz wa-al-istīlāʾ), as in their statement: "istawā fulān ʿalā al-mamlaka," in the meaning: he encompassed it and took it into his possession. And among them: loftiness and rising up, as in the statement of someone: "istawā fulān ʿalā sarīrihi" (so-and-so sat high upon his throne), by which he means his loftiness above it.
And the most fitting of the meanings for the statement of Allah – exalted be His praise –: "Then He directed Himself to the heaven and fashioned it," is: He rose above it and ascended above it, and governed it by His power, and created it as seven heavens.
And astonishing is he who rejects the meaning understandable from the language of the Arabs in the explanation of Allah's statement "then He directed Himself to the heaven" – which has the meaning of loftiness and rising up – out of fear for himself that there would be imposed upon him, by his claim – when he explains it according to that understandable meaning – that He only rose and ascended after having been beneath it – so that he explains it according to an unknown, reprehensible interpretation. But then he does not escape that from which he fled! For one says to him: You claimed that the interpretation of His statement "istawā" is: He turned. Was He then turned away from the heaven, so that He turned toward it? And if he claims that this is not a turning of action, but a turning of governance, then it is said to him: Then say likewise: He rose above it with the loftiness of dominion and authority, not with the loftiness of movement and displacement. Then he will not make a statement about any portion of it without the like being imposed upon him in the other case. And were it not that we refrain from lengthening the book with what does not belong to its nature, we would have mentioned the untenability of the statement of everyone who has said about that anything diverging from the statement of the people of the truth. And in what we have set forth of that, there is for the man of understanding what suffices him, if Allah the Exalted wills.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And if someone were to say to us: Inform us about Allah's – exalted be His praise – directing Himself (istiwāʾ) to the heaven: was that before the creation of the heaven or after it?
Then it is said: After it, and before He fashioned it into seven heavens, as He – exalted be His praise – said: ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاءِ وَهِيَ دُخَانٌ فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلأَرْضِ اِئْتِيَا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا [Sūrat Fuṣṣilat: 11] ("Then He directed Himself to the heaven, while it was smoke, and said to it and to the earth: come, willingly or unwillingly"). The istiwāʾ took place after He had created it as smoke, and before He fashioned it into seven heavens.
And some of them said: He only said "He directed Himself to the heaven" while there was no heaven, like the statement of a man to another: "Make this garment," while he only has yarn with him.
As for His statement "fasawwāhunna" (and He fashioned it), by it He means: He arranged it, created it, governed it, and put it into good order. And the taswiya (fashioning) in the language of the Arabs is the making-straight, the putting-in-order, and the leveling, as one says: "So-and-so fashioned (sawwā) this matter for so-and-so," when he made it straight, put it in order, and leveled it for him. And thus is the taswiya by Allah – exalted be His praise – of His heavens: His making them straight according to His will, His governing them according to His wish, and His opening them after they had been closed.
589 – As was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: "and He fashioned it into seven heavens." He says: He completed their creation, وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ ("and He is Knowing of all things").
And He – exalted be His mention – said: "fasawwāhunna" (and He fashioned them [feminine plural]), bringing out the pronoun referring to it in the form of the plural pronoun, while previously He had said: "then He directed Himself to the heaven (al-samāʾ)," which He brought out in the form of the singular. He only brought out the pronoun referring to it in the form of the plural pronoun because al-samāʾ (the heaven) is a plural whose singular is samāwa, so that the relation between its singular and its plural is then the relation of baqara (cow) and baqar (cattle), nakhla (palm tree) and nakhl (palm trees), and the like thereof. For this reason it was used at one time as feminine, so that one said "hādhihi samāʾ" (this is a heaven, feminine), and at another time as masculine, so that one said: السَّمَاءُ مُنْفَطِرٌ بِهِ [Sūrat al-Muzzammil: 18] ("the heaven will be split apart thereby," with masculine verb), as is done with the plural between which and its singular there is no difference except the entering and dropping of the tāʾ (hāʾ), so that one says: "hādhā baqar" and "hādhihi baqar," "hādhā nakhl" and "hādhihi nakhl," and the like thereof.
And some of the grammarians claimed that al-samāʾ is a singular, except that it denotes the heavens, so that one said "fasawwāhunna," by which is meant: that single one which has been named and those remaining heavens to which it points and which have not been named with it. He said: And it is only mentioned as masculine while it is feminine, so that one says: السَّمَاءُ مُنْفَطِرٌ بِهِ ("the heaven will be split apart thereby"), just as the feminine is mentioned as masculine, and as the poet said:
No rain-cloud that let its downpour fall, and no earth that made its herbage sprout.
And as Aʿshā of the Banū Thaʿlaba said:
And if you see my locks of hair changed, the calamities have indeed worn them away.
And some of them said: Al-samāʾ, even though it is a heaven above a heaven and an earth above an earth, is in the explanation, if you wish, a single one, and then that single one is a collective, as one says: "thawb akhlāq wa-asmāl" (a worn-out, frayed garment), and "burma aʿshār" for the broken (pot), and "burma aksār wa-ajbār," and "akhlāq," that is to say that its parts are worn out.
And if someone were to say to us: You have indeed said that Allah – exalted be His praise – directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke, before He fashioned it into seven heavens, and that He then fashioned it into seven after His directing Himself to it – how then do you claim that it is a collective?
Then it is said: They were already seven, but not fashioned, and for that reason He – exalted be His mention – said: "He fashioned it into seven." As:
590 – Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related to me, he said: Salama ibn al-Faḍl related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq said: The first thing that Allah – blessed and exalted is He – created was light and darkness; then He separated them from one another, and made the darkness into a black, dark night, and made the light into a shining, illuminating day. Then He raised up the seven heavens out of smoke – it is said, and Allah knows best, out of the smoke of the water – until they stood firm, while He had not yet firmly joined them together. And He had darkened over the lowest heaven its night and brought forth its dawn, so that in it the night and the day ran, while there was no sun, nor moon, nor stars in it. Then He spread out the earth and anchored it with the mountains, and determined therein the provisions, and scattered therein what He willed of creation, and He completed the earth and what He determined therein of provisions in four days. Then He directed Himself to the heaven, while it was smoke – as He said – and firmly joined them together, and placed in the lowest heaven its sun, its moon, and its stars, and revealed in each heaven its task, and completed their creation in two days, so that He completed the creation of the heavens and the earth in six days. Then He rose, on the seventh day, above His heavens, and then said to the heavens and the earth: Come, willingly or unwillingly, to that which I intend with you, and settle yourselves upon it, willingly or unwillingly. They both said: We come willingly.
Thus Ibn Isḥāq reported that Allah – exalted be His praise – directed Himself to the heaven – after the creation of the earth and what is in it – while they were seven out of smoke, and that He fashioned it as he described. And we have adduced as testimony for our statement which we made about that only the statement of Ibn Isḥāq, because he – concerning the creation of the heavens, namely that they were seven out of smoke before our Lord's directing Himself to them to fashion them – was clearer in his exposition than another, and better in his clarification of that for which we wished to provide proof, namely that the meaning of al-samāʾ (the heaven) about which Allah the Exalted said: "then He directed Himself to the heaven," has the meaning of the whole (the plural), as we have described; and that He – exalted be His praise – only said "fasawwāhunna," because al-samāʾ had the meaning of the whole, as we have set forth.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And if someone were to say to us: What is the nature of Allah's – exalted be His praise – fashioning of the heavens which He mentioned in His statement "fasawwāhunna," seeing that they had already been created as seven before His fashioning of them? And what is the reason for the mention of their creation after the mention of the creation of the earth? Is that because it was created before it, or for another meaning?
Then it is said: We have already mentioned that in the report which we transmitted from Ibn Isḥāq, and we confirm it emphatically by what we add to it of the reports of some of the early predecessors (al-salaf) and their statements.
591 – Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, he said: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of Al-Suddī, in a report which he mentioned, on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās – and on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of people from the companions of the Prophet ﷺ –: "He it is Who created for you all that is on the earth, then He directed Himself to the heaven and fashioned it into seven heavens." He said: Allah – blessed and exalted is He – had His Throne upon the water, and He had created nothing except what He created before the water. When He willed to create the creation, He brought forth from the water smoke, which rose above the water and towered above it, so that He named it "samāʾ" (heaven, the high). Then He dried up the water and made it into a single earth, and then He split it open and made of it seven earths in two days – on Sunday and Monday. He created the earth upon a fish, and the fish is the Nūn which Allah mentioned in the Qurʾān: ن وَالْقَلَمِ ("Nūn. By the pen"). And the fish is in the water, and the water is upon the back of a rock, and the rock is upon the back of an angel, and the angel is upon a boulder, and the boulder is in the wind – and that is the boulder which Luqmān mentioned – which is neither in the heaven nor in the earth. Then the fish moved and was stirred, so that the earth quaked, and He anchored upon it the mountains, so that it came to rest. The mountains thus rest heavily upon the earth, and that is His statement: وَأَلْقَى فِي الأَرْضِ رَوَاسِيَ أَنْ تَمِيدَ بِكُمْ [Sūrat al-Naḥl: 15] ("And He cast upon the earth firm mountains, lest it sway with you"). And He created the mountains in it, and the provisions of its inhabitants, and its trees, and what is suitable for it, in two days, on Tuesday and Wednesday, and that is when He says: أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَكْفُرُونَ بِالَّذِي خَلَقَ الأَرْضَ فِي يَوْمَيْنِ وَتَجْعَلُونَ لَهُ أَنْدَادًا ذَلِكَ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ * وَجَعَلَ فِيهَا رَوَاسِيَ مِنْ فَوْقِهَا وَبَارَكَ فِيهَا ("Do you really disbelieve in Him Who created the earth in two days, and ascribe equals to Him? That is the Lord of the worlds. And He made therein firm mountains, high above it, and blessed it"). He says: He made its trees sprout. وَقَدَّرَ فِيهَا أَقْوَاتَهَا ("and determined therein its provisions") – He says: its provisions for its inhabitants – فِي أَرْبَعَةِ أَيَّامٍ سَوَاءً لِلسَّائِلِينَ ("in four days, equally, for those who ask"). He says: Say to whoever asks you: thus is the matter. ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاءِ وَهِيَ دُخَانٌ [Sūrat Fuṣṣilat: 9-11] ("Then He directed Himself to the heaven, while it was smoke"). And that smoke was from the breath of the water when it breathed. He made it into a single heaven, and then He split it open and made of it seven heavens in two days – on Thursday and Friday. And Friday (yawm al-jumuʿa) was only named so because in it the creation of the heavens and the earth was completed (jumiʿa). وَأَوْحَى فِي كُلِّ سَمَاءٍ أَمْرَهَا ("and He revealed in each heaven its task"). He said: He created in each heaven its creatures of the angels and the creation that is in it, of the seas, the mountains of hail, and what is not known. Then He adorned the lowest heaven with the stars, and made them an adornment and a protection, guarded against the devils. And when He had finished with the creation of what He loved, He rose above the Throne. And that is when He says: خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ [Sūrat al-Aʿrāf: 54] ("He created the heavens and the earth in six days"). And He says: كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا [Sūrat al-Anbiyāʾ: 30] ("They both were closed, then We opened them").
592 – And Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to me, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: "He it is Who created for you all that is on the earth, then He directed Himself to the heaven." He said: He created the earth before the heaven, and when He created the earth, smoke rose up from it, and that is when He says: "then He directed Himself to the heaven and fashioned it into seven heavens." He said: One above the other, and seven earths, one beneath the other.
593 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "and He fashioned it into seven heavens." He said: One above the other, between every two heavens a distance of five hundred years.
594 – Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement – where He mentioned the creation of the earth before the heaven, and then mentioned the heaven before the earth, and that is because Allah created the earth with its provisions without spreading it out, before the heaven –: "then He directed Himself to the heaven and fashioned it into seven heavens," and then He spread out the earth after that, and that is His statement: وَالأَرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا [Sūrat al-Nāziʿāt: 30] ("And the earth, after that He spread it out").
595 – Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Abū Maʿshar related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī Saʿīd, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām, that he said: Allah began the creation on Sunday, and created the earths on Sunday and Monday, and created the provisions and the firm mountains on Tuesday and Wednesday, and created the heavens on Thursday and Friday, and finished in the last hour of Friday, in which He created Ādam in haste. And that is the hour in which the Hour will arrive.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The meaning of the statement is thus: He it is Who has favored you, and created for you all that is on the earth and made it subservient to you, out of graciousness from Him therewith toward you, so that it would be for you a sustenance in your worldly life, and an enjoyment until the reaching of your appointed terms, and a proof for you of the Oneness of your Lord. Then He rose up to the seven heavens, while they were smoke, and fashioned them and firmly joined them together, and made in some of them His sun, His moon, and His stars to run, and determined in each of them what He determined of His creation.
## Treatment of the explanation of His statement: وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
("And He is Knowing of all things") (29)
By His statement – majestic is His majesty – "and He (wa-huwa)" He means Himself, and by His statement "is Knowing of all things (bi-kulli shayʾin ʿalīm)" He means that the One Who created you, and created for you all that is on the earth, and fashioned the seven heavens with what is in them and made them firm out of the smoke of the water and perfected their making, from Whom is not hidden – O hypocrites and deniers of God who disbelieve in Him from among the People of the Book – what you make manifest and what you conceal within your souls, even though you hypocrites make plain with your tongues your statement: "We believe in Allah and in the Last Day," while they apply themselves to the denial of it. And your scribes have denied that with which My messenger came to them of guidance and light, while they know the correctness of it. And they rejected it and concealed that for which I had taken the covenants from them – by means of the clarification of it to My creatures, concerning the affair of Muḥammad and his prophethood – while they had knowledge of it. Nay, I am Knowing of that of your affair and of the other of your matters, and of the matters of others than you; verily, I am Knowing of all things.
And His statement "ʿalīm" has the meaning of "ʿālim" (knowing, aware). And it has been transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās that he used to say: He is the One Who is perfect in His knowledge.
596 – Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: Al-ʿālim is the one who is perfect in his knowledge.
