Tafseer of The letter Saad · Saad · 38:10
Or is theirs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and what is between them? Then let them ascend through [any] ways of access.
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: أَمْ لَهُمْ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فَلْيَرْتَقُوا فِي الأَسْبَابِ (Or do they possess the dominion of the heavens and the earth and what is between them? Then let them ascend by the means) (10).
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: Or do these polytheists (mushrikīn), who are in pride and dissension, possess the dominion of the heavens and the earth and what is between them ? For no one who is within My dominion and under My sovereignty is able to set himself in pride against Me or to oppose Me. And His saying فَلْيَرْتَقُوا فِي الأسْبَابِ (then let them ascend by the means) means: and if the dominion of the heavens and the earth and what is between them truly belongs to them, then let them ascend by the gates of heaven and its ways; for whoever possesses something, it is not impossible for him to oversee it, to inspect it, and to take care of it.
The exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed regarding the meaning of the "means" (al-asbāb) which Allah mentions in this place. Some said: by this are intended the gates of heaven.
* Those who said that:
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, concerning His saying فَلْيَرْتَقُوا فِي الأسْبَابِ (then let them ascend by the means), he said: the ways and the gates of heaven.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda فَلْيَرْتَقُوا فِي الأسْبَابِ (then let them ascend by the means), he said: by the gates of heaven.
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His saying فِي الأسْبَابِ (by the means), he said: the ways of the heavens.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His saying فَلْيَرْتَقُوا فِي الأسْبَابِ (then let them ascend by the means), he said: the ways of the heavens.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Muḥāribī, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk أَمْ لَهُمْ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأرْضِ (Or do they possess the dominion of the heavens and the earth?), he said: if the dominion of the heavens and the earth and what is between them belongs to them, then let them ascend by the means , he said: then let them ascend to the seventh heaven.
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying فَلْيَرْتَقُوا فِي الأسْبَابِ (then let them ascend by the means), he said: in heaven.
And concerning al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas the following has been transmitted in this regard, as it was related to me on the authority of al-Musayyab ibn Sharīk, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, he said: the means (al-asbāb) are finer than a hair and stronger than iron, and they are everywhere, except that they are not seen.
The original meaning of sabab among the Arabs is: everything by which one seeks a means to attain what is desired — whether that be a rope, or a means, or kinship, or blood-ties, or a way, or a beaten path, or something of the like.
