Tafseer of The Stories · Al-Qasas · 28:23
And when he came to the well of Madyan, he found there a crowd of people watering [their flocks], and he found aside from them two women driving back [their flocks]. He said, "What is your circumstance?" They said, "We do not water until the shepherds dispatch [their flocks]; and our father is an old man."
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 the words of Allah the Exalted: وَلَمَّا وَرَدَ مَاءَ مَدْيَنَ وَجَدَ عَلَيْهِ أُمَّةً مِنَ النَّاسِ يَسْقُونَ وَوَجَدَ مِنْ دُونِهِمُ امْرَأتَيْنِ تَذُودَانِ قَالَ مَا خَطْبُكُمَا قَالَتَا لا نَسْقِي حَتَّى يُصْدِرَ الرِّعَاءُ وَأَبُونَا شَيْخٌ كَبِيرٌ (23) (And when he arrived at the water of Madyan, he found there a group of people watering [their flocks]. And besides them he found two women holding back [their flock]. He said: "What is your concern?" They said: "We do not water until the herders have departed, and our father is a very old man.")
Allah the Exalted — praised be His remembrance — says: وَلَمَّا وَرَدَ Mūsā مَاءَ مَدْيَنَ وَجَدَ عَلَيْهِ أُمَّةً — that is to say: a group — مِنَ النَّاسِ يَسْقُونَ their cattle and their flocks.
And in like manner to what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said this:
Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, (concerning) وَجَدَ عَلَيْهِ أُمَّةً مِنَ النَّاسِ يَسْقُونَ : he says: a great multitude of people who were watering.
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: أُمَّةً مِنَ النَّاسِ ; he said: people.
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 — the same as the foregoing.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: he found at Madyan a group of people watering — people who had cattle and sheep.
ʿAlī ibn Mūsā and Ibn Bashshār related to us, they said: Abū Dāwūd related to us, saying: ʿImrān al-Qaṭṭān informed us, saying: Abū Ḥamza related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: وَلَمَّا وَرَدَ مَاءَ مَدْيَنَ . ʿAlī ibn Mūsā said: he said: like the water of your well here — meaning thereby the (freshly dug) well. And Ibn Bashshār said: like your well here — meaning thereby the water of your well.
As for His word: وَوَجَدَ مِنْ دُونِهِمُ امْرَأتَيْنِ تَذُودَانِ — He says: besides the group of people who were at the water, he found two women holding back the flock. By His word تَذُودَانِ He means: they were holding back their sheep; one says of it: "So-and-so held back (dhāda) his sheep and cattle" when some of that livestock wants to stray off and run away, and he drives it back and prevents it — he drove it off (yadhūduhā dhawdan).
Some of the linguists of Kūfa said: it is not permissible to say "I held back the man (dhudtu al-rajul)" in the meaning of "I detained him," for this expression applies only to sheep and camels.
However, it has been related from the Prophet ﷺ: "I stand at the edge of my Basin and hold the people back from it with my staff" — and the Prophet ﷺ thus applied the usage of dhawda to people as well. Among the examples of dhawda is also the saying of Suwayd ibn Kirāʿ:
"I dwell at the gate of the rhymes, as though thereby I hold back a herd of wild game that flees."
And the saying of another poet:
"The Banū Tamīm have plundered your staff — you no longer know with which staff to hold back."
And in like manner to what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said this:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: تَذُودَانِ ; he says: they held back (taḥbisān).
Al-ʿAbbās related to me, saying: Yazīd informed us, saying: al-Aṣbagh informed us, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning وَوَجَدَ مِنْ دُونِهِمُ امْرَأتَيْنِ تَذُودَانِ : thereby he means that they were holding [it] back (ḥābisatān).
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū al-Haytham, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His word: امْرَأتَيْنِ تَذُودَانِ ; he said: two [women] holding back (ḥābisatayn).
Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning وَوَجَدَ مِنْ دُونِهِمُ امْرَأتَيْنِ تَذُودَانِ ; he says: they held back their sheep.
The exegetes differed concerning what these two women were holding the flock back from. Some said: they held their sheep back from the water until the flocks of the people had departed from it, and afterwards they would water their cattle on account of their weakness.
* Mention of who said this:
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥuṣayn informed us, on the authority of Abū Mālik, concerning His word: امْرَأتَيْنِ تَذُودَانِ ; he said: they held their sheep back from the people until they had finished and the well was free for them.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, concerning وَوَجَدَ مِنْ دُونِهِمُ امْرَأتَيْنِ : that is to say, besides the group — they held their sheep back from the water, the water of Madyan.
Others said: rather the meaning is that they were holding the people back from their sheep.
* Mention of who said this:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَلَمَّا وَرَدَ مَاءَ مَدْيَنَ وَجَدَ عَلَيْهِ أُمَّةً مِنَ النَّاسِ يَسْقُونَ وَوَجَدَ مِنْ دُونِهِمُ امْرَأتَيْنِ تَذُودَانِ ; he said: that is to say: two women who were holding back their sheep and keeping the people away from their flock.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of his companions, concerning تَذُودَانِ ; he said: they kept the people away from their sheep.
The more sound of the two interpretations is that of the one who said the meaning is: they held their sheep back from the people until the latter had finished watering their cattle.
We say this to be the most sound because of the indication in His word: مَا خَطْبُكُمَا قَالَتَا لا نَسْقِي حَتَّى يُصْدِرَ الرِّعَاءُ — that it is indeed so. For the women complained that they only water after the herders have departed, when Mūsā asked them about the holding back. Had they been holding the people away from their sheep, they would undoubtedly have spoken of the reason for that holding back, not of the reason for delaying their watering until the herders had departed.
As for His word: قَالَ مَا خَطْبُكُمَا — Allah the Exalted — praised be His remembrance — says: Mūsā said to the two women: what is your affair and condition, that you hold your livestock back from the people — do you not water it together with the flocks of the people? The Arabs say to a man: "Mā khaṭbuka?" in the meaning of: what is your affair and condition? As the versifier said:
"O wonder! What is his concern, and mine?"
And in like manner to what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said this:
Al-ʿAbbās related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: al-Aṣbagh informed us, saying: al-Qāsim informed us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: he said to them: مَا خَطْبُكُمَا — you are set apart and do not water with the people.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: he felt pity for them, and fear for them welled up in him — on account of the weakness he saw in them and the upper hand the people at the water had over them — and he said to them: "What is your concern?" — that is to say: what is your condition?
As for His word: قَالَتَا لا نَسْقِي حَتَّى يُصْدِرَ الرِّعَاءُ — Allah the Exalted — exalted be His praise — says: the two women said to Mūsā: we do not water our livestock until the herders have made their flocks depart, for we are not able to water; we water our livestock only with what the flocks of the herders leave over in the trough. Al-riʿāʾ is the plural of rāʿin (herder); the plural of rāʿī is riʿāʾ, ruʿāh, and ruʿyān.
And in like manner to what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said this:
Al-ʿAbbās related to me, saying: Yazīd informed us, saying: al-Aṣbagh informed us, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: when Mūsā asked the two women: مَا خَطْبُكُمَا قَالَتَا لا نَسْقِي حَتَّى يُصْدِرَ الرِّعَاءُ وَأَبُونَا شَيْخٌ كَبِيرٌ — that is to say: we are not able to water until the people have watered, then we take what they leave over.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His word: حَتَّى يُصْدِرَ الرِّعَاءُ ; he said: they waited and watered from the surplus that remained in the troughs of the herders.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, concerning قَالَتَا لا نَسْقِي حَتَّى يُصْدِرَ الرِّعَاءُ : "We are two women who are not able to push in among the men. وَأَبُونَا شَيْخٌ كَبِيرٌ — he cannot do that himself, and cannot water his livestock. So we wait until the people are finished, then we water and depart."
The Qurʾān reciters differed concerning the reading of His word: حَتَّى يُصْدِرَ الرِّعَاءُ . Most of the reciters of the Ḥijāz — with the exception of Abū Jaʿfar al-Qāriʾ — and most of the reciters of Iraq — with the exception of Abū ʿAmr — read: يُصْدِرَ الرِّعَاءُ with a ḍamma on the yāʾ. Abū Jaʿfar and Abū ʿAmr, however, read it with a fatḥa on the yāʾ, in the meaning of: the herders depart from the trough. The others gave the yāʾ a ḍamma, in the meaning of: the herders have made their flocks depart. In my view these are two readings close to each other in meaning; both have been read by learned reciters, and whichever the reciter chooses, he has done well.
As for His word: وَأَبُونَا شَيْخٌ كَبِيرٌ — they say: he is, through old age and weakness, not able to water the livestock.
As for His word: فَسَقَى لَهُمَا — it is mentioned that he ﷺ cleared for them the mouth of a well over which lay a stone that a group of people together could not lift, after which he drew water and watered the livestock of both women from it.
* Mention of who said this:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, 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, who said: he removed for them the stone of the well-mouth and watered for them with it.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj — the same as the foregoing — and he added: Ibn Jurayj said: a stone that only ten men together could lift.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥajjāj, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Shurayḥ, who said: he reached a stone that only ten men could lift, and he lifted it alone.
Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: Mūsā felt pity for them when قَالَتَا لا نَسْقِي حَتَّى يُصْدِرَ الرِّعَاءُ وَأَبُونَا شَيْخٌ كَبِيرٌ — and he went to the well and pulled away a rock that lay upon the well, which the men of Madyan would roll together in order to lift it. Mūsā watered for them with a single bucket and their sheep were satisfied, and they returned quickly. For they used to water only from the surplus of the troughs.
Al-ʿAbbās related to me, saying: Yazīd informed us, saying: al-Aṣbagh informed us, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning فَسَقَى لَهُمَا : he kept scooping water in the bucket — much water — until they were the first of the herders to be satisfied, and they returned to their father with their sheep.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: the Prophet of Allah ﷺ bestowed a favor upon them and watered for them, and it was not long before he had satisfied their sheep.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Mūsā took their bucket and advanced with the strength that had been given to him to the watering place, pushed the people aside from the water and made them draw back, and then watered for them.
