Tafseer of Those drawn up in Ranks · As-Saaffaat · 37:49
As if they were [delicate] eggs, well-protected.
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.
And His statement kaʾannahunna bayḍun maknūnun ("as though they were sheltered eggs"): the people of exegesis (tafsīr) differed concerning that to which they are likened among the eggs by this statement. Some of them said: they are likened to the inside of the egg in its whiteness, namely that which is inside the shell, and that is because nothing has touched it.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His statement kaʾannahunna bayḍun maknūnun: he said: as though they were the inside of the egg.
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, kaʾannahunna bayḍun maknūnun: he said: the egg when it is peeled, before the hands touch it.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, kaʾannahunna bayḍun maknūnun: the hands have not passed over it and have not touched it; they are likened to its whiteness.
And others said: no, they are likened to the egg which the bird incubates, which inclines toward yellow, and thus their whiteness tinged with yellow is likened to it.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement kaʾannahunna bayḍun maknūnun: he said: the egg which the feathers cover, like the ostrich egg which the feathers have sheltered against the wind, so that it is white inclining toward yellow, as though it gleams; that is the "sheltered" (al-maknūn).
And others said: no, by "the egg" in this place is meant the pearl (al-luʾluʾ), and they are likened to it in their whiteness and purity.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement kaʾannahunna bayḍun maknūnun: he says: the sheltered pearl.
And the most correct of the statements concerning this, in my view, is the statement of the one who said: they are likened in their whiteness — and in the fact that no human nor jinn (jinn) has touched them before their husbands — to the whiteness of the egg that is within the shell; that is the membrane that envelops the yolk, before a hand or anything else touches it. That, without doubt, is the "sheltered" (al-maknūn); as for the outer shell, the bird touches it, the hands come into contact with it, and the nest meets it. And the Arabs call everything that is preserved "maknūn" (sheltered), whether that thing be a pearl, an egg, or merchandise, as Abū Dahbal said:
"And she is radiant, like the pearl of the diver, distinguished from a sheltered jewel"
And they say of everything that the breast conceals: "akantuhu" (I concealed it), and then it is "mukann."
And in agreement with what we have said concerning this, the report (athar) of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has come.
* Mention of who said that:
Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Wahb related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn al-Faraj al-Ṣadafī al-Dimyāṭī related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Hāshim, on the authority of Ibn Abī Karīma, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of his mother, on the authority of Umm Salama: "I said: O Messenger of Allah, tell me about His statement kaʾannahunna bayḍun maknūnun. He said: 'Their tenderness is like the tenderness of the membrane that you have seen on the inside of the egg, which lies against the shell, and that is the ghirqiʾ (egg membrane).'"
