Tafseer of The letter Saad · Saad · 38:29
[This is] a blessed Book which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], that they might reflect upon its verses and that those of understanding would be reminded.
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.
His statement ( كِتَابٌ أَنـزلْنَاهُ إِلَيْكَ ) ("A Book which We have sent down to you") — He, exalted is His remembrance, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: and this Qurʾān is ( كِتَابٌ أَنـزلْنَاهُ إِلَيْكَ ) ("a Book which We have sent down to you"), O Muḥammad, ( مُبَارَكٌ لِيَدَّبَّرُوا آيَاتِهِ ) ("blessed, that they may ponder its signs") — that is to say: so that they may reflect upon the proofs of Allah contained therein, and upon the legislations which He has prescribed therein, that they may take instruction from it and act in accordance with it.
The Qurʾān-reciters differed over the recitation of this. Most of the reciters read it ( لِيَدَّبَّرُوا ) ("that they may ponder") with a yāʾ, that is to say: so that this Qurʾān may be pondered by those among your people to whom We have sent you, O Muḥammad. Abū Jaʿfar and ʿĀṣim read "لِتَدَّبَّرُوا آياته" ("that you may ponder its signs") with a tāʾ, in the meaning: so that you may ponder it, O Muḥammad, and your followers.
The most correct of the two recitations, in our view, is that one says: they are both well-known recitations with a sound meaning, so whichever of the two the reciter recites by, he attains what is correct. ( وَلِيَتَذَكَّرَ أُولُو الألْبَابِ ) ("and that those possessed of understanding may be admonished") means: and so that those possessed of understanding and insight may take instruction from the signs contained in this Book, so that they may turn away from the error in which they persist, and turn toward right guidance and the path of rectitude to which it directs them.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning the meaning of His statement ( أُولُو الألْبَابِ ) ("those possessed of understanding"), the scholars of interpretation (taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: ( أُولُو الألْبَابِ ) ("those possessed of understanding"), he said: the people who possess understanding. We have already expounded that previously together with its proofs, in a manner that absolves us from repeating it in this place.
