Tafseer of The Spider · Al-Ankaboot · 29:56
O My servants who have believed, indeed My earth is spacious, so worship only Me.
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 saying of the Exalted: يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّ أَرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ فَإِيَّايَ فَاعْبُدُونِ (29:56) (O My servants who believe, indeed My earth is spacious, so worship Me, and Me alone.)
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says to those among His servants who believe in Him: O My servants who have affirmed My oneness and believed in Me, and in My Messenger Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: إنَّ أَرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ (indeed My earth is spacious).
The people of interpretation (tafsīr) differed over the meaning intended by the announcement concerning the spaciousness of the earth. Some of them said: by it was meant that it is not too narrow for you, such that you would have to reside in a place of it where residing is not permitted to you; rather, when in a place of it the acts of disobedience toward Allah are committed and you are not able to change that, then flee from it.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr concerning His saying: إنَّ أَرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ (indeed My earth is spacious): he said: When the acts of disobedience are committed therein, then depart from it.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr concerning His saying: إنَّ أرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ (indeed My earth is spacious): he said: When the acts of disobedience are committed therein, then depart from it.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: Flee, for My earth is spacious.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: When you are commanded to the acts of disobedience, then flee, for My earth is spacious.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ: إنَّ أرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ (indeed My earth is spacious): he said: The shunning of the people of the acts of disobedience.
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 the saying of Allah: إنَّ أرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ (indeed My earth is spacious): then emigrate and strive (jihād).
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّ أَرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ فَإِيَّايَ فَاعْبُدُونِ (O My servants who believe, indeed My earth is spacious, so worship Me, and Me alone). I then said: He means by this those who were at Mecca among the believers. He said: Yes.
And others said: the meaning of it is: indeed that which I bring forth for you of provision from My earth is ample for you.
* Mention of who said that:
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, saying: Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb related to me, on the authority of Shaddād ibn Saʿīd ibn Mālik Abī Ṭalḥa al-Rāsibī, on the authority of Ghaylān ibn Jarīr al-Miʿwalī, on the authority of Muṭarrif ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Shikhkhīr al-ʿĀmirī concerning the saying of Allah: إنَّ أرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ (indeed My earth is spacious): he said: Indeed My provision for you is ample.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Zayd ibn Ḥubāb related to us, on the authority of Shaddād, on the authority of Ghaylān ibn Jarīr, on the authority of Muṭarrif ibn al-Shikhkhīr: إنَّ أرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ (indeed My earth is spacious): he said: My provision for you is ample.
And the better of the two sayings concerning the interpretation of the verse is the saying of the one who said: the meaning of it is: indeed My earth is spacious, so flee from whoever prevents you from acting in My obedience — because of the indication of His saying: فَإِيَّايَ فَاعْبُدُونِ (so worship Me, and Me alone) pointing to that, and because that is the more evident of its two meanings. And that is because, when He describes the earth with spaciousness, the most prevalent of His description of it is that it does not become too narrow in its entirety for the one for whom a place of it has become too narrow — not that He described it with abundance of good and fertility.
And His saying: فَإِيَّايَ فَاعْبُدُونِ (so worship Me, and Me alone): He says: so devote your worship and obedience exclusively to Me, and obey none of My creatures in disobedience toward Me.
