Tafseer of The Prostration · As-Sajda · 32:27
Have they not seen that We drive the water [in clouds] to barren land and bring forth thereby crops from which their livestock eat and [they] themselves? Then do they not see?
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 word of the Exalted: Hebben zij dan niet gezien dat Wij het water naar het dorre land drijven, en daarmee gewas voortbrengen waarvan hun vee en zijzelf eten? Zien zij dan niet? (32:27)
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Have these deniers of the resurrection after death and of the raising up after perishing not seen that We, by Our power, drive the water to the dry, hard land in which there is no plant growth? Its origin comes from their expression "a juruz-camel": when it eats everything that is there. So too the juruz-land (al-arḍ al-jurūz): upon which nothing remains without it devouring it, by analogy to the juraz-camel that eats everything it finds. From this also comes their expression for a voracious person: jarūz (glutton). As the rajaz-poet said:
"A glutton, a jarūz, and when ..." (2)
And from this it is said of the sword, when it leaves nothing without cutting through it: a jurāz-sword. There are four dialectal forms in this: arḍ juruz, and jarz, and jirz, and jurz; and the fatḥa-form (jarz) is of the Banū Tamīm, as has been related to me.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of the explanation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: the dry land (al-arḍ al-juruz) — a land in Yemen.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: a land in Yemen.
He said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: Have they then not seen that We drive the water to the dry land — he said: Abyan (3) and its surroundings.
Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā ibn Abī Zāʾida related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq ibn ʿUmar related to us, on the authority of Ibn al-Mubārak, who said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it, except that he said: and the surroundings thereof, of the land.
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 a man, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: to the dry land (al-arḍ al-juruz) — he said: the juruz-land is that which receives no rain except a rain that profits it nothing, except for what comes to it of floodwater.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: to the dry land (al-arḍ al-juruz) — in which there is no plant growth.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: Have they then not seen that We drive the water to the dry land — the dusty.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: Have they then not seen that We drive the water to the dry land — he said: the juruz-land is that in which there is nothing, in which there is no plant growth. And concerning His word: a barren plain (ṣaʿīdan juruzan) — he said: upon which there is nothing, and in which there is no plant growth and nothing else. and thereby bring forth produce of which their cattle and they themselves eat — the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: and We bring forth with that water which We drive toward it — despite its dryness, its hardness, and the long time that it was without water — green produce, of which their cattle eat and by which their bodies and frames are nourished, so that they live from it. Do they then not see? — the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Do they then not see that with their eyes, so that by beholding it they would know that the power by which I have done that does not make it impossible for Me to revive the dead thereby, to raise them up from their graves, and to bring them back into the forms they had before their death.
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The footnotes:
(2) This is a part of a verse in the mashṭūr-form of the rajaz, cited by al-Shawkānī in his tafsīr entitled Fatḥ al-Qadīr (4:249), edition of Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī and sons. There the verse appears in its entirety with what follows it:
"A glutton, a jarūz, and when he is hungry he wails, and he eats the date and does not throw away the pit."
It serves as a witness in the explanation of the word of the Exalted: Have they then not seen that We drive the water to the dry land. Abū ʿUbayda said in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 193-a): the juruz-land, that is to say: the dry, hard land that no rain has struck. End of quotation. And al-Farrāʾ said in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 253): the juruz is that in which there is no plant growth. And it is said of the camel that it is jarāz: when it eats everything. And of the human being: that he is jarūz, when he is voracious. And a jurāz-sword: when it leaves nothing without cutting through it.
(3) Ibyan, with a kasra or fatḥa on the hamza and a sukūn on the bāʾ, and a bāʾ with fatḥa: the name of a man from ancient times. It is said: Dhū Abyan, and he is the one after whom Aden Abyan of the lands of Yemen is named. Perhaps the transmitter of the report means this place. (See al-Bakrī in al-Muʿjam.)
