Tafseer of The letter Saad · Saad · 38:31
[Mention] when there were exhibited before him in the afternoon the poised [standing] racehorses.
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 إِذْ عُرِضَ عَلَيْهِ بِالْعَشِيِّ الصَّافِنَاتُ الْجِيَادُ (when in the evening the standing, swift horses were presented to him) — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: he is one who turns back in repentance (awwāb) to Allah for the fault he committed, when in the evening the standing horses (al-ṣāfināt) were presented to him. The word "when" (idh) is connected to "one who turns back in repentance" (awwāb). And al-ṣāfināt is the plural of al-ṣāfin among horses; the feminine is ṣāfina. The ṣāfin among horses is, according to some of the Arabs: the horse that draws its forelegs together and bends back the tip of the hoof of one of its hind legs; and according to others: the one that draws its forelegs together. Al-Farrāʾ claimed that al-ṣāfin is the horse standing still, erect; one says of this: ṣafanati l-khaylu, taṣfinu, ṣufūnan (the horses stood still).
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Those who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah: الصَّافِنَاتُ الْجِيَادُ (the standing, swift horses), he said: the standing (ṣufūn) of the horse is the lifting of one of its forelegs until it rests upon the tip of the hoof.
Al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: ṣafana l-farasu (the horse stood still): it lifted one of its forelegs until it rested upon the tip of the hoof.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda إِذْ عُرِضَ عَلَيْهِ بِالْعَشِيِّ الصَّافِنَاتُ الْجِيَادُ (when in the evening the standing, swift horses were presented to him), he means: the horses, and their ṣufūn is their standing still and the stretching out of their legs.
Muḥammad related to us, he said: Aḥmad related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: al-ṣāfināt, he said: the horses.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement الصَّافِنَاتُ الْجِيَادُ (the standing, swift horses), he said: the horses, which Satan brought forth for Sulaymān out of a meadow among the meadows of the sea. He said: the horses, the mules and the donkeys stand still (taṣfin); and al-ṣafn (1) is that the animal stands on three legs and lifts one leg so that the tip of the hoof rests upon the ground.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said: al-ṣāfināt are the horses, and they had wings.
As for al-jiyād, those are the swift ones (al-sirāʿ); the singular is jawād.
As Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me — he said it — al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: al-jiyād, he said: the swift ones.
And it has been mentioned that they were twenty horses with wings.
* The mention of the report about that:
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Muʾammal related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibrāhīm al-Taymī, concerning His statement إِذْ عُرِضَ عَلَيْهِ بِالْعَشِيِّ الصَّافِنَاتُ الْجِيَادُ (when in the evening the standing, swift horses were presented to him), he said: they were twenty horses with wings.
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The footnotes:
(1) We have not found "al-ṣafn" with sukūn on the fāʾ as a verbal noun of ṣafanati l-khayl; rather, its verbal noun is al-ṣufūn, like jalasa, yajlisu, julūsan, and that is the regular form, because the verb is intransitive; al-ṣafn, on the other hand, is the verbal noun of the transitive verb.
