Tafseer of The Prostration · As-Sajda · 32:16
They arise from [their] beds; they supplicate their Lord in fear and aspiration, and from what We have provided them, they spend.
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement, the Exalted: تَتَجَافَى جُنُوبُهُمْ عَنِ الْمَضَاجِعِ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُمْ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ (16) (Their sides forsake their beds, calling upon their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend out of what We have provided them) (32:16).
He, exalted is His mention, says: the sides of these who believe in the signs of Allah, whose quality I have described, draw aside and lift themselves from their beds upon which they lie down to sleep, and they do not sleep. (They call upon their Lord in fear and hope) for His forgiveness toward them and His bounty upon them through His mercy and pardon. (And they spend out of what We have provided them) in the way of Allah, and they fulfill therefrom the rights of Allah that He has obligated upon them therein.
And "tatajāfā" is the tafāʿul form of "al-jafāʾ" (drawing back), and "al-jafāʾ" is the rising up / recoiling, as the rajaz poet said:
And my companion is one full of ardor, swift, while the son of Milāṭ draws aside and is more supple (1).
He means: that her nobility is a natural disposition, on account of [the distance of] the son of Milāṭ. He, exalted is His mention, described them only with the drawing of their sides away from the beds on account of their abstaining from lying down to sleep, since they are occupied with the prayer.
The scholars of exegesis differed concerning the prayer with which He, glorified be His praise, described them, on account of which their sides draw away from the bed. Some of them said: it is the prayer between sunset (maghrib) and the late evening prayer (ʿishāʾ). And he said: this verse was revealed concerning a people who used to pray at that time.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Abū ʿArūba, saying: Qatāda said: Anas said concerning His statement: kānū qalīlan mina al-layli mā yahjaʿūn (little of the night did they used to sleep), he said: they performed voluntary prayers in [the time] between the maghrib and the ʿishāʾ, and likewise (their sides forsake their beds). He said: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Anas concerning His statement: (Their sides forsake their beds), he said: they pray in [the time] between these two prayers.
ʿAlī ibn Saʿīd al-Kindī related to me, saying: Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Anas: (Their sides forsake their beds), he said: [the time] between the maghrib and the ʿishāʾ.
Muḥammad ibn Khalaf related to me, saying: Yazīd ibn Ḥayyān related to us, saying: al-Ḥārith ibn Wajīh al-Rāsibī related to us, saying: Mālik ibn Dīnār related to us, on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik, that this verse was revealed concerning men of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, who used to pray in [the time] between the maghrib and the ʿishāʾ: (Their sides forsake their beds).
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Bishr related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Anas: (Their sides forsake their beds), he said: they performed voluntary prayers in [the time] between the maghrib and the ʿishāʾ.
He said: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Anas: (Their sides forsake their beds), he said: [the time] between the maghrib and the ʿishāʾ.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (Their sides forsake their beds), he said: they performed voluntary prayers in [the time] between the maghrib prayer and the ʿishāʾ prayer.
And others said: by it the maghrib prayer is meant (2).
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Ṭalḥa, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ: (Their sides forsake their beds), he said: from the late evening prayer (al-ʿatama).
And it is narrated from Ḥajjāj, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ṣayfī said, on the authority of Abū Salama, saying: the late evening prayer (al-ʿatama).
And others said: on account of waiting for the late evening prayer (al-ʿatama).
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ziyād related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd al-Awīsī related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān ibn Bilāl, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik, that this verse (Their sides forsake their beds) was revealed concerning waiting for the prayer that is called al-ʿatama.
And others said: by it the night prayer (qiyām al-layl) is meant.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: (Their sides forsake their beds), he said: the night prayer.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: (Their sides forsake their beds), he said: these are those who keep watch through the night for the night prayer.
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, his statement: (Their sides forsake their beds), they rise and pray in the night.
And others said: this is rather the description of a people whose tongues do not cease from the remembrance of Allah.
* Mention of who said that:
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement: (Their sides forsake their beds, calling upon their Lord in fear and hope): these are people who do not cease to remember Allah, whether in prayer, or standing, or sitting, or when they awaken from their sleep; they are people who do not cease to remember Allah.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his statement: (Their sides forsake their beds ...) to the end of the verse, he says: they draw away for the remembrance of Allah; every time they awaken they remember Allah, whether in prayer, or standing, or sitting, or upon their sides — they do not cease to remember Allah.
And the correct view concerning that is that one says: indeed, Allah described these people with the fact that their sides draw back from their beds, since they are occupied with calling upon their Lord and His worship in fear and hope, and that is the drawing back of their sides from the beds at night. For what is known, when a describer describes a man with the words that his side drew back from his bed, is only a description of him that he abstained from sleep in the time of the people's sleep that is known, and that is the night and not the day. And likewise the Arabs describe a man when they describe him with that. To this points the statement of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥa al-Anṣārī, may Allah be pleased with him, in describing the Prophet of Allah ﷺ:
He passes the night, drawing his side away from his bed, while the beds weigh heavy upon the polytheists (mushrikīn) (3).
If that is so, and Allah, exalted is His mention, in His description of these people with that with which He described them — the drawing back of their sides from their beds — did not single out a specific time or moment of the night above another time or moment, then it is necessary that this apply to all the hours and moments of the night. And if that is so, then whoever prays between the maghrib and the ʿishāʾ, or awaits the late evening prayer (al-ʿishāʾ al-ākhira), or keeps watch through the night or part of it in prayer, or remembers Allah in the hours of the night, or prays the late evening prayer (al-ʿatama) — all of these fall under the outward meaning of His statement: (Their sides forsake their beds), for his side drew back from his bed in the state in which he rose to pray, praying standing or remembering Allah, or sitting, provided he is not lying down while able to stand or sit. Yet, although the matter is so, the directing of the statement to the meaning that by it the night prayer is meant is more pleasing to me, for that is the most evident of its meanings, and the most predominant in the outward meaning of the text, and with it the report from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has been narrated.
And that is what Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, saying: I heard ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr narrate on the authority of Muʿādh ibn Jabal, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him: "Shall I not direct you to the gates of goodness? Fasting is a shield, almsgiving wipes out sin, and the rising of the servant in the depth of the night." And he recited this verse: (Their sides forsake their beds, calling upon their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend out of what We have provided them).
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit and al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Maymūn ibn Abī Shabīb, on the authority of Muʿādh ibn Jabal, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, with something similar.
Muḥammad ibn Khalaf al-ʿAsqalānī related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtayba, on the authority of Maymūn ibn Abī Shabīb, on the authority of Muʿādh ibn Jabal, he said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me: "If you wish, I will inform you about the gates of goodness: fasting is a shield, almsgiving wipes out sin, and the rising of the man in the depth of the night." Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited: (Their sides forsake their beds).
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Ḥayyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Salama, saying: ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd related to us, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Muʿādh ibn Jabal, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning His statement: (Their sides forsake their beds), he said: "The rising of the servant in the night."
Abū Hammām al-Walīd ibn Shujāʿ related to us, saying: my father related to me, saying: Ziyād ibn Khaythama related to me, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā the seller of clover (al-qatt), on the authority of Mujāhid, saying: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned the night prayer, and his eyes overflowed until his tears streamed down, and he said: (Their sides forsake their beds).
And as for His statement: (They call upon their Lord in fear and hope ...) the verse, in accordance with what we (4) have said concerning it, the scholars of exegesis have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (They call upon their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend out of what We have provided them), he said: in fear of the punishment of Allah, and in hope of the mercy of Allah, and they spend out of what We have provided them in obedience to Allah and in His way.
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Footnotes:
(1) The two verse lines are by al-Zafayān (see them in the supplement to the dīwān of al-ʿAjjāj, 100). "Al-hibāb" is energy and haste in the journey. "Al-dimashq" is the light, swift she-camel. Abū ʿUbayda recited the statement of al-Zafayān:
And a brimming well, upon which the green algae floats, [water] that al-Khawarnaq lights up or weaves; I came to it while the night was dark and mottled, and my companion is one full of ardor, swift, as though she were, after exhaustion, a skiff.
And he did not mention the second verse line, which is the locus of the citation in the author's view. And in (al-Lisān: mlṭ) al-Naḍr said: the two milāṭān are what is on the right and left of the breastbone ridge. And the two sons of the milāṭ of the camel are the two upper arms; and it is said: its two shoulder blades; and the two sons of the milāṭ are the upper arms and the shoulder blades, the singular being "ibn milāṭ." Ibn al-Sikkīt said: the two sons of the milāṭ are the upper arms. And "al-mutajāfī" is that which deviates from her side, and that is stronger for her gait. And "al-arfaq" is that whose elbow turns away from the side, and that is more supple, and one speaks of a "nāqa rafqāʾ" (supple she-camel). End. And al-Azharī said: what he memorized in this sense is: "nāqa dafqāʾ," and "jamal adfaq," when its elbow draws away from its side. And in (al-Lisān: dfq): a "rajul adfaq" is one whose back is bent by old age or grief. And al-Mufaḍḍal recited: * and the son of milāṭ draws aside, adfaq *. End. And Abū ʿUbayda recited the two verse lines in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 193-a) and did not ascribe them. Then he said: "adfaq" (with the dāl) means: drawing away from her breastbone ridge. End.
(2) Perhaps it is the late evening prayer (al-ʿatama), namely the ʿishāʾ, as the following narrations indicate.
(3) The verse line is by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥa al-Anṣārī, one of the poets of the Prophet ﷺ. "Yujāfī" means: he draws away, and "istathqalat" means: they became heavy, and "al-maḍājiʿ" is the plural of "maḍjaʿ," which is the bed in which one sleeps or the place thereof. The verse line is a second witness for the "tajāfī" in His statement, the Exalted: (Their sides forsake their beds); its meaning is: drawing away. Abū ʿUbayda said in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 195-b): that is to say: they rise from it and draw aside, because they pray in the night. End.
(4) See the author's tafsīr on the verse at the beginning of its discussion, p. 99.
