Tafseer of The Believers · Al-Muminoon · 23:50
And We made the son of Mary and his mother a sign and sheltered them within a high ground having level [areas] and flowing water.
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.
وَجَعَلْنَا ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَأُمَّهُ — that is to say: We made the Son of Mary and his mother a proof for Us against those who lived among them, and a proof of Our power to create bodies without origin, just as We brought about the creation of ʿĪsā without a father.
As 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 word: وَجَعَلْنَا ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَأُمَّهُ — he said: she bore him without having a father, and for that reason the verse mentions [them as] one sign, even though Mary and her son are mentioned.
And His word: وَآوَيْنَاهُمَا إِلَى رَبْوَةٍ — that is to say: We took them both in and brought them to a rabwa (an elevated place). One says: "awā fulān ilā mawḍiʿ kadhā fa-huwa yaʾwī ilayhi" — when he made his way to it; and according to the afʿaltahu pattern: "fa-huwa yuʾwīhi". And His word: إِلَى رَبْوَةٍ — that is to say: an elevated place of earth that rises above its surroundings. Hence one says of a man who occupies an elevated position among his people, with standing, honor, and followers: "he stands upon a rabwa amid his people." The word has two dialectal forms: with ḍamma on the rāʾ and with kasra, when it is intended as a noun; when it denotes the action of the verb, one says: rabā rabwan.
The exegetes differed concerning the place that Allah designated with this description and to which He brought Mary and her son. Some said: it is al-Ramla in Palestine.
*Mention of those who said this:*
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Ṣafwān ibn ʿĪsā related to us, he said: Bishr ibn Rāfiʿ related to us, he said: a nephew of Abū Hurayra who was called Abū ʿAbd Allāh related to me, he said: Abū Hurayra said to us: Hold fast to this al-Ramla in Palestine, for that is the rabwa concerning which Allah said: وَآوَيْنَاهُمَا إِلَى رَبْوَةٍ ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ وَمَعِينٍ .
ʿIṣām ibn Rawwād ibn al-Jarrāḥ related to me, he said: my father related to us, he said: ʿAbbād Abū ʿUtba al-Khawwāṣ related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Abī ʿAmr al-Shaybānī related to us, on the authority of Ibn Waʿla, on the authority of Kurayb, who said: I do not know exactly what Murra al-Baḥzī related to us; he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and mentioned that the rabwa is al-Ramla.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, on the authority of Bishr ibn Rāfiʿ, on the authority of Abū ʿAbd Allāh the nephew of Abū Hurayra, who said: I heard Abū Hurayra say concerning the word of Allah: إِلَى رَبْوَةٍ ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ وَمَعِينٍ — he said: that is al-Ramla in Palestine.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Ṣafwān related to us, he said: Bishr ibn Rāfiʿ related to us, he said: Abū ʿAbd Allāh the nephew of Abū Hurayra related to me, he said: Abū Hurayra said to us: Hold fast to this al-Ramla in Palestine, for that is the rabwa concerning which Allah said: وَآوَيْنَاهُمَا إِلَى رَبْوَةٍ ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ وَمَعِينٍ .
Others said: it is Damascus.
*Mention of those who said this:*
Aḥmad ibn al-Walīd al-Qurashī related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, who said concerning this verse: وَآوَيْنَاهُمَا إِلَى رَبْوَةٍ ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ وَمَعِينٍ — he said: it is claimed that it is Damascus.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, who said: I heard from Ibn al-Musayyab that he said: Damascus.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab — the same.
Yaḥyā ibn ʿUthmān ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Sahmī related to me, he said: Ibn Bukayr related to us, he said: al-Layth ibn Saʿd related to us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Lahīʿa related to me, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab concerning His word: وَآوَيْنَاهُمَا إِلَى رَبْوَةٍ ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ وَمَعِينٍ — he said: to a rabwa of the high grounds of Egypt. He said: high grounds exist nowhere but in Egypt; when the water is released the villages lie upon the high grounds — were it not for those high grounds, those villages would sink.
Others said: it is Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis).
*Mention of those who said this:*
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: it is Jerusalem.
He said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: Kaʿb used to say: Jerusalem lies eighteen miles nearer to heaven.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Kaʿb — the same.
The most correct of these statements in its interpretation is that it is an elevated, level place with visible water. That, however, is not the description of al-Ramla, for in al-Ramla there is no flowing visible water (maʿīn), while Allah — exalted be His remembrance — has described this rabwa as "possessing a place of rest and visible water."
A group of exegetes also agreed with what we have said.
*Mention of those who said this:*
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: وَآوَيْنَاهُمَا إِلَى رَبْوَةٍ — he said: the rabwa is the level [place].
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: إِلَى رَبْوَةٍ — he said: level.
Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
And His word: ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ وَمَعِينٍ — the Exalted — exalted be His remembrance — describes thereby the rabwa to which We gave shelter to Mary and her son ʿĪsā: it is a broad, open land with visible water — not hidden water but flowing water.
The exegetes also agreed with what we have said.
*Mention of those who said this:*
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَمَعِينٍ — he said: al-maʿīn is flowing water, namely the river concerning which Allah said: قَدْ جَعَلَ رَبُّكِ تَحْتَكِ سَرِيًّا .
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmāra al-Asadī related to me, he said: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, he said: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ وَمَعِينٍ — he said: al-maʿīn is water.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmāra al-Asadī related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: maʿīn — he said: water.
Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to me, he said: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣalt related to us, he said: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd, concerning His word: ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ وَمَعِينٍ — he said: the level place, and al-maʿīn is the visible water.
Al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj related to me — so I was told —, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: وَمَعِينٍ — that is the visible water.
Others said: by "qrār" fruits are meant.
*Mention of those who said this:*
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ وَمَعِينٍ — it is a place with fruits, and it is Jerusalem.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda — the same.
Abū Jaʿfar says: the statement which Qatāda made concerning the meaning of ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ — even if he did not mean thereby that it is described as "possessing a place of rest" because of the fruits that are in it, and because of those [fruits] that its inhabitants remain there — has for us no intelligible position. As for مَعِينٍ : it is a mafʿūl from "ʿintuhu fa-anā aʿīnuhu wa-huwa muʿīn." It is also possible that it is a faʿīl form from "maʿana yamʿunu" so that it is maʿīn, derived from al-māʿūn. From this comes the verse of ʿUbayd ibn al-Abraṣ:
"Running, or an abundantly flowing maʿīn, or a high rocky plateau behind which lie ravines."
