Tafseer of The Prostration · As-Sajda · 32:5
He arranges [each] matter from the heaven to the earth; then it will ascend to Him in a Day, the extent of which is a thousand years of those which you count.
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 statement concerning the explanation of His saying, the Exalted: يُدَبِّرُ الأَمْرَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ إِلَى الأَرْضِ ثُمَّ يَعْرُجُ إِلَيْهِ فِي يَوْمٍ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ مِمَّا تَعُدُّونَ (5) (He manages the affair from heaven to earth; then it ascends to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years according to what you count (32:5)).
He, exalted is His mention, says: It is Allah who manages the affair of the matters of His creation from heaven to earth, and then it ascends to Him.
The exegetes differed concerning what is meant by His saying: (then it ascends to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years according to what you count). Some said: its meaning is: that the affair descends from heaven to earth and ascends from earth to heaven in a single day, and its measure is a thousand years according to what you count of the days of the world; for what lies between the earth and the heaven is five hundred years, and what lies between the heaven and the earth is likewise, and that together is a thousand years.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maʿrūf, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: (in a day whose measure is a thousand years) — by that is meant: the descending of the affair from heaven to earth, and from earth to heaven in a single day, and that has as its measure a thousand years; for what lies between the heaven and the earth is a distance of five hundred years.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (He manages the affair from heaven to earth; then it ascends to Him in a day) of your days (whose measure is a thousand years according to what you count) — he says: the measure of its journey on that day is a thousand years according to what you count of your days, of the days of the world: five hundred years its descent and five hundred years its ascent, that together a thousand years.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: (then it ascends to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years according to what you count). He said: the angels ascend to the heaven, then they descend in one of these days of yours, and that is a distance of a thousand years.
He said: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima: (a thousand years according to what you count). He said: of the days of the world.
Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Abī al-Ḥārith, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: (He manages the affair from heaven to earth; then it ascends to Him in a day) of these days of yours — the distance of what lies between the heaven and the earth is five hundred years.
And it has been mentioned on the authority of ʿAbd al-Razzāq, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, saying: the affairs descend and ascend from the heaven to the earth in a single day, whose measure is a thousand years: five hundred until it descends, and five hundred until it ascends.
Others said: no, the meaning of that is: He manages the affair from heaven to earth, then it ascends to Him in one of the six days in which Allah created the creation; the measure of that day was a thousand years according to what you count of your days.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (a thousand years according to what you count). He said: that is the measure of the journey. His saying: (like a thousand years according to what you count) — he said: He created the heavens and the earth in six days, and each day of these is like a thousand years according to what you count.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (in a day whose measure is a thousand years according to what you count). He said: the six days in which Allah created the heavens and the earth.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His saying: (in a day whose measure is a thousand years according to what you count) — by that is meant: this day of the six days in which Allah created the heavens and the earth and what lies between them.
Others said: no, the meaning of that is: He manages the affair from heaven to earth by means of the angels, then the angels ascend to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years of the days of the world.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: (then it ascends to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years). He said: this is in the world; the angels ascend to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ghundar related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima: (in a day whose measure is a thousand years). He said: what lies between the heaven and the earth is a distance of a thousand years according to what you count of the days of the Hereafter.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, that he said concerning this verse: (it ascends to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years according to what you count). He said: what lies between the heaven and the earth is a distance of a thousand years.
Others said: no, the meaning of that is: He manages the affair from heaven to earth in a day the measure of that management of which is a thousand years according to what you count of the days of the world, then that management which He has managed ascends to Him.
* Mention of who said that:
It has been mentioned on the authority of Ḥajjāj, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, that he said: He decrees the affair of all things for a thousand years to the angels, and so on until a thousand years pass, then He decrees the affair of all things for a thousand, and so on forever. He said concerning (a day whose measure is): the meaning is that to that which He decrees for a thousand years to the angels it is said: 'Be', and it is. But He called it a day — He called it as we have set forth all of that on the authority of Mujāhid. He said concerning His saying: وَإِنَّ يَوْمًا عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ كَأَلْفِ سَنَةٍ مِمَّا تَعُدُّونَ (And indeed, a day with your Lord is like a thousand years according to what you count). He said: it is exactly the same.
Others said: no, the meaning of that is: He manages the affair from heaven to earth, then it ascends to Allah in a day whose measure is a thousand years — the measure of the ascent is a thousand years according to what you count.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: (then it ascends to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years according to what you count): some of the scholars said: the measure of what lies between the earth — when it ascends to Him — and the reaching of its ascent, is a thousand years; this is the measure of that ascent on that day in which it ascends therein.
And the most justified of the statements concerning that is, in my view, the statement of him who said: its meaning is: He manages the affair from heaven to earth, then it ascends to Him in a day the measure of which day, in the ascent of that affair to Him and its descent to the earth, is a thousand years according to what you count of your days: five hundred in the descent and five hundred in the ascent. For that is the clearest of its meanings, and the most resembling the apparent meaning of the revelation.
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The footnotes:
(1) What is found in al-Durr al-manthūr is: 'of the days of the world'; and that is clear. End.
