Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:43
O you who have believed, do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying or in a state of janabah, except those passing through [a place of prayer], until you have washed [your whole body]. And if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and find no water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and your hands [with it]. Indeed, Allah is ever Pardoning and Forgiving.
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: يا أيها الذين آمنوا لا تقربوا الصلاة وأنتم سكارى حتى تعلموا ما تقولون (O you who believe, do not approach the ritual prayer (ṣalāh) while you are drunk, until you know what you are saying).
He — exalted is His praise — means by His word يا أيها الذين آمنوا (O you who believe): you who hold Allah and His Messenger to be truthful. لا تقربوا الصلاة (do not approach the prayer): do not perform the ritual prayer. وأنتم سكارى (while you are drunk) — this (sukārā) is the plural of sakrān (a drunken person). حتى تعلموا ما تقولون (until you know what you are saying) in your prayer, and what you recite therein of that which Allah has commanded you, or to which He has urged you to say therein, and of that from which He has restrained you and which He has forbidden you.
Then the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed about the intoxication (sukr) that Allah meant by His word: لا تقربوا الصلاة وأنتم سكارى (do not approach the prayer while you are drunk). Some of them said: He meant by it intoxication from drink.
Mention of who said that:
7554 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of ʿAlī: that he and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and another man drank wine, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān led them in prayer and recited "Qul yā ayyuhā l-kāfirūn" and confused the words therein. Then it was revealed: لا تقربوا الصلاة وأنتم سكارى (do not approach the prayer while you are drunk).
7555 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥabīb: that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf prepared food and drink and invited a group of the Companions (ṣaḥāba) of the Prophet ﷺ. They ate and drank until they became intoxicated, and they put ʿAlī forward to lead them in the maghrib prayer. He recited: "Qul yā ayyuhā l-kāfirūn, aʿbudu mā taʿbudūn, wa-antum ʿābidūna mā aʿbud, wa-anā ʿābidun mā ʿabadtum, lakum dīnukum wa-liya dīn." Then Allah — blessed and exalted is He — revealed this verse: لا تقربوا الصلاة وأنتم سكارى حتى تعلموا ما تقولون (do not approach the prayer while you are drunk, until you know what you are saying).
7556 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: يا أيها الذين آمنوا لا تقربوا الصلاة وأنتم سكارى (O you who believe, do not approach the prayer while you are drunk) — this was before wine was forbidden, and Allah said: يا أيها الذين آمنوا لا تقربوا الصلاة وأنتم سكارى … the verse.
7557 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Abū Razīn, concerning His word: يا أيها الذين آمنوا لا تقربوا الصلاة وأنتم سكارى (O you who believe, do not approach the prayer while you are drunk), he said: This was revealed while they were drinking wine, and he said: this was before the prohibition of wine was revealed.
7558 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Abū Razīn, he said: They continued to drink after the verse in [Sūrat] al-Baqarah was revealed, and after the verse in [Sūrat] al-Nisāʾ; but when the verse in [Sūrat] al-Māʾidah was revealed, they abandoned it.
7559 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: وأنتم سكارى حتى تعلموا ما تقولون (while you are drunk, until you know what you are saying), he said: They were forbidden to pray while they were drunk; then the prohibition of wine abrogated this.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
7560 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: لا تقربوا الصلاة وأنتم سكارى (do not approach the prayer while you are drunk), he said: They used to refrain from intoxication at the onset of the prayer times; then it was abrogated by the prohibition of wine.
7561 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil and Abū Razīn and Ibrāhīm, concerning His word: يا أيها الذين آمنوا لا تقربوا الصلاة وأنتم سكارى (O you who believe, do not approach the prayer while you are drunk) and يسألونك عن الخمر والميسر قل فيهما إثم كبير ومنافع للناس وإثمهما أكبر من نفعهما (They ask you about wine and gambling; say: in both is a great sin and benefits for people, but their sin is greater than their benefit) (2:90), and His word: تتخذون منه سكرا ورزقا حسنا (you take from it intoxicating drink and good provision) (16:67), they said: This was before the prohibition of wine was revealed.
Others said: The meaning of it is: do not approach the prayer while you are intoxicated by sleep.
Mention of who said that:
7562 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Nubayṭ, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: لا تقربوا الصلاة وأنتم سكارى (do not approach the prayer while you are drunk), he said: the intoxication of sleep.
* - Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim al-Ghifārī related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: يا أيها الذين آمنوا لا تقربوا الصلاة وأنتم سكارى (O you who believe, do not approach the prayer while you are drunk), he said: By it intoxication from wine was not meant, but only the intoxication of sleep.
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The most fitting of the two statements concerning this, as regards the interpretation of the verse, is the interpretation of the one who said that it is a prohibition from Allah to the believers against approaching the prayer while they are intoxicated by drink, before the prohibition of wine — because of the abundant reports from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that it was thus a prohibition from Allah, and that this verse was revealed concerning those about whom I have mentioned that it was revealed.
And if someone says to us: How can that be its meaning, when the drunken person, in the state in which his reason has departed, is like the insane person in the state in which his reason has departed — and you are among those who hold it impossible to impose religious obligations upon the insane, because of their lack of comprehension of what is commanded and forbidden to them? — he is told: If the drunken person had the meaning of the insane person, it would not be permissible to command or forbid him anything. But the drunken person is one who does understand what he does and refrains from, except that the drink has weighed down his tongue, heated his body and numbed it, so that he is unable to complete his recitation in his prayer, nor the obligatory limits required of him therein, without his reason having departed. He is therefore knowing and understanding of what is commanded and forbidden to him, but unable to complete part of it because of the numbing of his body by the drink. As for the one who has entered a state in which he no longer perceives what he does and refrains from, he has passed from intoxication to derangement of reason, and is counted among the insane; and he is not the one addressed by His word: لا تقربوا الصلاة (do not approach the prayer), for that one is insane. Only the drunken person was addressed, and the drunken person is the one whose description we have set forth.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل حتى تغتسلوا (nor in a state of ritual impurity (junub), except as those passing along a way, until you have washed yourselves).
The people of interpretation differed about the interpretation of it. Some of them said: The meaning of it is: do not approach the prayer while you are drunk, until you know what you are saying, and do not approach it either while in a state of ritual impurity (junub), except as those passing along a way — that is: except when you are travelers traversing a road — until you have washed yourselves.
Mention of who said that:
7563 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār and Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, they said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: The traveler. And Ibn al-Muthannā said: during travel.
7564 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he says: Do not approach the prayer while you are junub, when you find water; and if you do not find water, then I have permitted you to wipe with the earth (tayammum).
7565 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of al-Minhāl, on the authority of ʿAbbād ibn ʿAbd Allāh, or on the authority of Zirr, on the authority of ʿAlī — may Allah be pleased with him: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: except that you are travelers who do not find water, and then perform the tayammum.
7566 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Sālim al-Afṭas, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His word: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: The traveler.
* - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Hishām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the same.
* - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn ibn al-Mughīra related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAbbād ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of ʿAlī — may Allah be pleased with him, he said: It was revealed concerning travel: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way); and the one passing along a way is the traveler: when he does not find water, he performs the tayammum.
7567 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Ibn Mujāhid, on the authority of his father: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: The traveler: when he does not find water, he performs the tayammum and prays.
* - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: It is the man who is on a journey and is afflicted by ritual impurity (janāba), and then performs the tayammum and prays.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: travelers who do not find water and then perform the tayammum with pure ground, until they find water and wash themselves.
* - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: travelers who do not find water.
7568 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Misʿar, on the authority of Bukayr ibn al-Akhnas, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Muslim, concerning His word: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: except that they are travelers who do not find water and then perform the tayammum.
7569 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Ḥakam: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: The traveler who is afflicted by ritual impurity and does not find water, and then performs the tayammum.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Sālim al-Afṭas, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, and on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, concerning His word: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), they both said: The traveler in a state of ritual impurity who does not find water and then performs the tayammum and prays.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way): except that he is a traveler.
* - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, in a similar manner.
7570 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr, he said: We used to keep hearing that it concerned travel.
7571 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: It is the traveler who does not find water; for him there is no escape from performing the tayammum and praying — so he performs the tayammum and prays. He said: My father used to say this.
Others said: The meaning of it is: do not approach the place of prayer (al-muṣallā) for prayer while you are drunk, until you know what you are saying, and do not approach it in a state of ritual impurity until you have washed yourselves, except as those passing along a way — that is: except as those passing through it in order to go out again. The proponents of this view said: The [word] "prayer" (ṣalāh) is put in place of the place of prayer and the mosque, since the prayer of the Muslims in those days took place in their mosques and they did not stay back from performing it in congregation; so in the prohibition against approaching "the prayer" there was sufficient [indication], without there being any need to mention the mosques and the place of prayer in which they pray.
Mention of who said that:
7572 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jazarī, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of his father, concerning His word: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: It is the passing through the mosque.
7573 - Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, on the authority of Ibn Yasār, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: Do not approach the mosque, except when your way passes through it; then you pass straight through it and do not sit down.
7574 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʿādh ibn Hishām related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Saʿīd: concerning the junub who passes through the mosque as one passing through, standing, not sitting, and without having performed wuḍūʾ; and he recited this verse: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way).
7575 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Nahshal, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: There is no objection to the menstruating woman and the junub passing through the mosque, so long as they do not sit down in it.
7576 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Abū l-Zubayr informed us, saying: One of us used to pass through the mosque while he was junub, as one passing through.
7577 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: The junub passes through the mosque and does not sit down in it.
7578 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us — and al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us — they both said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His word: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: When he finds no way other than the mosque and passes through it.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ghassān Mālik ibn Ismāʿīl related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning this verse: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل حتى تغتسلوا (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way, until you have washed yourselves), he said: There is no objection to the junub passing through the mosque when he has no other way.
* - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, the same.
7579 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: The junub passes through the mosque and does not sit down in it; then he recited: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way).
7580 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥimmānī related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Karīm, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda, the same.
7581 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥimmānī related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, the same.
7582 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥimmānī related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, on the authority of Abū l-Ḍuḥā, the same.
* - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: There is no objection to the menstruating woman and the junub passing through the mosque, and they do not sit down in it.
7583 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, he said: The junub is permitted to pass through the mosque.
7584 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Layth related to me, saying: Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb related to me, concerning the saying of Allah: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way): that there were men of the Anṣār whose doors opened onto the mosque; ritual impurity afflicted them while they had no water with them, and they wished to fetch water but found no passage except through the mosque. Then Allah — blessed and exalted is He — revealed: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way).
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way), he said: He does not cross the mosque, except when he finds no other way.
7585 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Ibn Mujāhid, on the authority of his father: The junub does not pass through the mosque so as to make it a thoroughfare.
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The most fitting of the two statements for the interpretation of it is the interpretation of the one who interpreted it [thus]: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way) — except as those passing along a way therein. That is because He has already set forth the ruling concerning the traveler who does not find water while he is junub in His word: وإن كنتم مرضى أو على سفر أو جاء أحد منكم من الغائط أو لامستم النساء فلم تجدوا ماء فتيمموا صعيدا طيبا (and if you are sick, or on a journey, or one of you comes from the privy, or you have touched women, and you do not find water, then perform the tayammum with pure ground). By that it was known that His word: ولا جنبا إلا عابري سبيل حتى تغتسلوا (nor in a state of ritual impurity, except as those passing along a way, until you have washed yourselves), if the traveler were meant by it, would have no comprehensible meaning in its being mentioned again in His word: وإن كنتم مرضى أو على سفر (and if you are sick or on a journey), when the mention of its ruling had already passed before it. And since that is so, the interpretation of the verse is: O you who believe, do not approach the mosques in order to pray in them while you are drunk, until you know what you are saying, and do not approach it either while in a state of ritual impurity until you have washed yourselves, except as those passing along a way. And the one passing along a way is the one who traverses it, going and cutting across. One says of this: "ʿabartu hādhā l-ṭarīq" (I crossed this road), "fa-anā aʿburuhu ʿabran wa-ʿubūran." And from this comes the expression: "ʿabara fulānun al-nahr" (so-and-so crossed the river): when he cut across it and crossed over. And from this it is said of the she-camel that is strong in undertaking journeys, because of her strength: "wa-hiya ʿibru asfārin" — because of her strength in undertaking journeys.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وإن كنتم مرضى (and if you are sick).
He — exalted is His praise — means by His word: وإن كنتم مرضى (and if you are sick): by a wound or smallpox, while you are junub. As:
7586 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: Abū l-Munabbih al-Faḍl ibn Sulaym related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, [concerning] His word: وإن كنتم مرضى أو على سفر (and if you are sick or on a journey), he said: The sick person to whom the tayammum is permitted is the one with a fracture or a wound. When ritual impurity afflicts the man with a fracture, he washes himself; and the man with a wound — his wound is not [exempted], except a wound for which there is no fear.
7587 - Tamīm ibn al-Muntaṣir related to us, saying: Isḥāq ibn Yūsuf al-Azraq related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Ismāʿīl al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik, he said concerning this verse: وإن كنتم مرضى أو على سفر (and if you are sick or on a journey), he said: It concerns the sick person who has a wound for which he fears when he washes himself, so that he does not wash; therefore the tayammum is permitted to him.
7588 - 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: وإن كنتم مرضى (and if you are sick) — and the sickness: it is the wound and the injury for which one fears from the water that it harms its bearer if it touches it; that [person] performs the tayammum with pure ground.
7589 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of ʿAzra, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His word: وإن كنتم مرضى (and if you are sick), he said: When he has wounds or sores, he performs the tayammum.
7590 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: وإن كنتم مرضى (and if you are sick), he said: from the sores that are in the forearms.
* - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: وإن كنتم مرضى (and if you are sick), he said: The sores in the forearms.
7591 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, he said: The one with a wound for which there is fear for him performs the tayammum. Then he recited: وإن كنتم مرضى أو على سفر (and if you are sick or on a journey).
7592 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: وإن كنتم مرضى (and if you are sick) — and the sickness: that the man is afflicted by a wound, or a sore, or smallpox, and fears for himself the coldness of the water and its harm, then he performs the tayammum with the ground, as the traveler who does not find water performs the tayammum.
7593 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʿādh ibn Hishām related to us, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of ʿĀṣim — that is al-Aḥwal — on the authority of al-Shaʿbī: that he was asked about the smallpox-sufferer who is afflicted by ritual impurity? He said: The horsemen of this verse have gone away.
Others said concerning that what:
7594 - Yūnus related to me concerning it, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word: وإن كنتم مرضى أو على سفر فلم تجدوا ماء فتيمموا (and if you are sick or on a journey and you do not find water, then perform the tayammum), he said: The sick person who finds no one to bring him water and is himself unable to do so, and has no servant, nor any helper — when he is unable to reach the water and has no one with him to bring it to him, and cannot crawl to the water, then he performs the tayammum and prays, when the prayer time has come. He said: All of this is the statement of my father: when he is unable to reach the water and has no one with him to bring it to him, he does not omit the prayer, and he is more excused than the traveler.
The interpretation of the verse is then: and if you are wounded, or you have sores, or a fracture, or a defect by which you are unable to wash yourselves of ritual impurity, while you are resident and not travelers, then perform the tayammum with pure ground.
And as for His word: أو على سفر (or on a journey): or: if you are travelers while you are healthy and junub, then perform the tayammum with ground.
And likewise is the interpretation of His word: أو جاء أحد منكم من الغائط (or one of you comes from the privy), He says: or one of you comes from the privy, after he has relieved himself, while he is a healthy traveler, let him then perform the tayammum with pure ground. And al-ghāʾiṭ: it is that which recedes into the valleys and runs downward; it was made a euphemism for the relieving of human need, because the Arabs used to relieve their need in the low-lying places (al-ghīṭān); that became so frequent among them that it became predominant, and therefore of everyone who relieved his need that used to be relieved in the low-lying places, wherever he relieved it on the ground, it was said: "mutaghawwiṭ"; "jāʾa fulānun min al-ghāʾiṭ" means: he has relieved his need that used to be relieved in the low-lying place (al-ghāʾiṭ) on the ground. And it has been related from Mujāhid that he said concerning al-ghāʾiṭ: the valley.
7595 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: أو جاء أحد منكم من الغائط (or one of you comes from the privy), he said: al-ghāʾiṭ: the valley.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women).
He — exalted is His praise — means by it: or you have touched women with your hands. Then the people of interpretation differed about the touching (al-lams) that Allah meant by His word: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women). Some of them said: He meant by it: sexual intercourse (al-jimāʿ).
Mention of who said that:
7596 - Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: They mentioned the touching, and some people of the mawālī (non-Arab clients) said: it is not sexual intercourse, and some people of the Arabs said: the touching is sexual intercourse. He said: Then I went to Ibn ʿAbbās and said: Some people of the mawālī and the Arabs differed about the touching; the mawālī said: it is not sexual intercourse, and the Arabs said: sexual intercourse. He said: To which of the two groups did you belong? I said: I belonged to the mawālī. He said: The party of the mawālī is defeated; indeed, al-mass, al-lams and al-mubāshara [mean]: sexual intercourse, but Allah conceals what He wills with what He wills.
* - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Qays, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the same.
7597 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, he said: I heard Saʿīd ibn Jubayr relating on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās that he said: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women), he said: it is sexual intercourse.
* - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Wahb ibn Jarīr related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: I, ʿAṭāʾ and ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr differed about His word: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women). ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr said: it is sexual intercourse, and ʿAṭāʾ and I said: it is touching. He said: Then we went to Ibn ʿAbbās and asked him, and he said: The party of the mawālī is defeated and the Arabs were correct: it is sexual intercourse, but Allah shows modesty and conceals.
* - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of ʿIkrima and Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ and ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr: they differed about the touching (al-mulāmasa), and Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and ʿAṭāʾ said: the touching is what remains below sexual intercourse. And ʿUbayd said: it is the sexual act (al-nikāḥ). Then Ibn ʿAbbās came out to them, and they asked him, and he said: The two mawālī erred and the Arab was correct: the touching is the sexual act, but Allah conceals and shows modesty.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Bishr related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, ʿAṭāʾ and ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr gathered together — and he mentioned something similar.
* - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn ʿUthma related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Bishr related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said, he said: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and ʿAṭāʾ said concerning the touching (al-iltimās): pinching with the hand, and ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr said: sexual intercourse. Then Ibn ʿAbbās came out to them and said: The two mawālī erred, and the Arab was correct, but he shows modesty and conceals.
* - Abū Kurayb and Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, they said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: the touching: sexual intercourse.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya and ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, on the authority of Khālid, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the same.
* - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Abū Bishr related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: al-lams, al-mass and al-mubāshara [mean]: sexual intercourse, but Allah conceals with what He wills.
* - ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān related to us, saying: Isḥāq al-Azraq related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, on the authority of Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: The touching: sexual intercourse, but Allah is generous and conceals what He wills.
* - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to me, saying: Ayyūb ibn Suwayd related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the same.
* - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Dāwud, on the authority of Jaʿfar ibn Abī Waḥshiyya, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: The Arabs and the mawālī differed about the touching at the door of Ibn ʿAbbās. The Arabs said: sexual intercourse, and the mawālī said: with the hand. He said: Then Ibn ʿAbbās came out and said: The party of the mawālī is defeated; the touching: sexual intercourse.
* - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Dāwud related to us, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: We were at the door of Ibn ʿAbbās — and he mentioned something similar.
* - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: Dāwud informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: A group of people were sitting at the door of Ibn ʿAbbās — and he mentioned something similar.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women): the touching: it is the sexual act.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Maysara, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: The mawālī and the Arabs gathered in the mosque while Ibn ʿAbbās was on the shaded platform (al-ṣuffa). The mawālī agreed that it is the touching below sexual intercourse, and the Arabs agreed that it is sexual intercourse. Ibn ʿAbbās said: To which of the two groups do you belong? I said: To the mawālī. He said: You are defeated.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: The touching: sexual intercourse.
* - And through that same [chain]: Sufyān, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Bakr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the same.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ḥabīb, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: it is sexual intercourse.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Mālik related to us, on the authority of Zuhayr, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the same.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ related to us, on the authority of Dāwud, on the authority of Jaʿfar ibn Iyās, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women), he said: sexual intercourse.
7598 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of ʿAlī — may Allah be pleased with him, he said: sexual intercourse.
7599 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: sexual intercourse.
7600 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Mālik related to us, on the authority of Khuṣayf, he said: I asked Mujāhid, and he said that [same thing].
7601 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda and al-Ḥasan, they both said: the lying with women.
Others said: Allah meant by it every touching, whether it was with the hand or with another part of the human body. And they imposed the wuḍūʾ upon everyone who touched something of her body with something of his body, in direct contact with it.
Mention of who said that:
7602 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Mukhāriq, on the authority of Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, that he said something which had this meaning: the touching: what remains below sexual intercourse.
7603 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Hilāl, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh — or on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda, [it is] Manṣūr who doubted — he said: The kiss is part of the touching.
* - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Mukhāriq, on the authority of Ṭāriq, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, he said: The touching: what remains below sexual intercourse.
* - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: Ibn Masʿūd said: The touching: what remains below sexual intercourse.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, he said: The kiss is part of the touching.
* - Abū l-Sāʾib related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us — and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us — on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, he said: The kiss is part of the touching, and for it [is required] the wuḍūʾ.
* - Tamīm ibn al-Muntaṣir related to us, saying: Isḥāq informed us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, the same.
7604 - Aḥmad ibn ʿAbda al-Ḍabbī related to us, saying: Sulaym ibn Akhḍar informed us, saying: Ibn ʿAwn informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad, he said: I asked ʿUbayda about His word: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women). He said: Then he gave a sign with his hand like this — and Sulaym mimicked it — and Abū ʿAbd Allāh showed it to us, and he brought his fingers together.
* - Yaʿqūb and Ibn Wakīʿ related to me, they said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn ʿAlqama, on the authority of Muḥammad, he said: I asked ʿUbayda about His word: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women). He made a gesture with his hand, and I surmised what he meant and did not ask him [further].
7605 - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, he said: There was mentioned in the presence of Muḥammad the touching of the genitals, and I think they mentioned what Ibn ʿUmar said about it. Then Muḥammad said: I said to ʿUbayda: His word: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women)? Then he made a gesture with his hand. Ibn ʿAwn said: with his hand as though he was taking something to grasp it.
* - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Khālid informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad, he said: ʿUbayda said: the touching with the hand.
* - He said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of Muḥammad, he said: I asked ʿUbayda about this verse: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women). Then he made a gesture with his hand and brought his fingers together, until I understood what he meant.
7606 - Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar informed me, on the authority of Nāfiʿ: that Ibn ʿUmar used to perform the wuḍūʾ after kissing his wife, and held the wuḍūʾ to be obligatory for it, and said: it is part of the touching (al-limās).
7607 - ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd informed us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of ʿĀmir, he said: The touching: what remains below sexual intercourse.
7608 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: Maḥil ibn Muḥriz related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: Touching out of desire breaks the wuḍūʾ.
7609 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam and Ḥammād, that they both said: The touching: what remains below sexual intercourse.
7610 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, he said: The touching: what remains below sexual intercourse.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of the companions of ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, he said: The touching: what remains below sexual intercourse.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Bayān, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, he said: The touching: what remains below sexual intercourse.
* - He said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, the same.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, the same.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Bishr related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: ʿAbd Allāh said: The touching: what remains below sexual intercourse. Then he recited: أو لامستم النساء فلم تجدوا ماء (or you have touched women and you do not find water).
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, he said: I asked ʿUbayda about: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women). Then he made a gesture with his hand like this, and I understood what he meant.
7611 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of his father and Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Hilāl ibn Yasāf, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda, he said: The kiss is part of the touching.
7612 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Mālik ibn Ismāʿīl related to us, on the authority of Zuhayr, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda: the kiss and [such] things.
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The most fitting of the two statements herein, as regards correctness, is the statement of the one who said: Allah meant by His word: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women) sexual intercourse and nothing else of the meanings of touching — because of the authenticity of the report from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he kissed some of his wives and then prayed without performing the wuḍūʾ.
7613 - Ismāʿīl ibn Mūsā al-Suddī related that to me, saying: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh informed us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, she said: "The Prophet ﷺ used to perform the wuḍūʾ and then kiss, and then pray without performing the wuḍūʾ [again]."
* - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha: "that the Prophet ﷺ kissed some of his wives and then went to the prayer without performing the wuḍūʾ." I [ʿUrwa] said: Who is she other than you? Then she laughed.
7614 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth related to us, on the authority of Ḥajjāj, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, on the authority of Zaynab al-Sahmiyya, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ: "that he used to kiss and then pray without performing the wuḍūʾ."
* - Abū Zayd ʿUmar ibn Shabba related to us, saying: Shihāb ibn ʿAbbād related to us, saying: Mandal related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha. And on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of Ibrāhīm al-Taymī, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, she said: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ obtained a kiss from me after the wuḍūʾ, and he did not repeat the wuḍūʾ afterward."
7615 - Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā al-Umawī related to us, saying: my father related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Sinān related to me, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Awzāʿī, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, on the authority of Abū Salama, on the authority of Umm Salama: "that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to kiss her while he was fasting, and then neither broke his fast nor performed the wuḍūʾ [again]."
In the authenticity of the report concerning the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in what we have mentioned lies the clear indication that the touching in this place is the touching of sexual intercourse, and not all the meanings of touching — as the poet said:
"wa-hunna yamshīna binā hamīsā / in taṣduqi l-ṭayru nanik lamīsā" (And they go along with us in stillness / if the birds [omen] speak truly, we lie with Lamīs).
He means by it: "nanik lamāsā." And the reciters (qurrāʾ) differed in the recitation of His word: أو لامستم النساء (or you have touched women). Most of the reciters of the people of Medina and some of the people of Basra and Kūfa recited: أو لامستم (or you have touched — lāmastum), with the meaning: or you have touched your women and they have touched you. And most of the reciters of the people of Kūfa recited: "أو لمستم النساء" (or you have touched the women — lamastum), with the meaning: or you, O men, have touched your women. They are two recitations close in meaning, for the man does not touch his wife without her touching him; the touching (al-lams) therein indicates the meaning of mutual touching (al-limās), and the mutual touching indicates the meaning of each of the two touching his companion. So with whichever of the two recitations the reciter recites it, he is correct, because of the agreement of the meanings of both.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فلم تجدوا ماء فتيمموا صعيدا طيبا (and you do not find water, then perform the tayammum with pure ground).
It has been mentioned that this verse was revealed concerning a group of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who were afflicted by ritual impurity while they were wounded.
7616 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Jābir, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning the sick person who cannot wash himself of ritual impurity, or the menstruating woman, he said: The tayammum suffices for them. And the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ incurred an injury that spread among them; then they were afflicted with ritual impurity, and they complained of that to the Prophet ﷺ. Then it was revealed: وإن كنتم مرضى أو على سفر أو جاء أحد منكم من الغائط (and if you are sick, or on a journey, or one of you comes from the privy) … the entire verse.
Others said: It was revealed concerning a group of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ who could not find water during a journey of theirs.
Mention of who said that:
7617 - Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, that she said: I was on an expedition with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, until, when we were at Dhāt al-Jaysh, I lost a necklace of mine. I informed the Prophet ﷺ of that, and he gave the order to search for it; the search was made but it was not found. Then the Prophet ﷺ made [his camel] kneel, and the people made [their camels] kneel, and they passed that night [without water]. The people said: ʿĀʾisha has held up the Prophet ﷺ! She said: Then Abū Bakr came to me, while the head of the Prophet ﷺ was in my lap and he was sleeping, and he began to jab me and pinch me and said: Because of your necklace you have held up the Prophet ﷺ! She said: But I did not move, out of fear that the Prophet ﷺ would awaken, although he was hurting me, and I did not know what to do. When he saw that I did not answer him, he went away. And when the Prophet ﷺ awoke and wished to pray, he found no water. She said: Then Allah the Exalted revealed the verse of the tayammum. She said: Then Ibn Ḥuḍayr said: This is not the first of your blessings, O family of Abū Bakr.
7618 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Ibn Abī Mulayka: that the Prophet ﷺ was on a journey, and ʿĀʾisha lost a necklace of hers, and he commanded the people to dismount; they dismounted while they had no water with them. Then Abū Bakr came to ʿĀʾisha and said to her: You have made it hard for the people! — and Ayyūb made a gesture with his hand, describing that he pinched her. He said: And the verse of the tayammum was revealed, and the necklace was found at the kneeling-place of the camel. Then the people said: We have never seen a woman of greater blessing than she.
7619 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Hilālī related to me, saying: ʿImrān ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥaddād related to me, saying: al-Rabīʿ ibn Badr related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of a man of ours from Balʿarj, who was called al-Aslaʿ, he said: I used to serve the Prophet ﷺ and saddle for him. One night he said to me: "O Aslaʿ, rise and saddle for me!" I said: O Messenger of Allah, ritual impurity has afflicted me. Then he was silent for a while, and afterward he called me, and Jibrīl — peace be upon him — came to him with the verse of the ground (al-ṣaʿīd), and he described to us two strikes [with the hands].
7620 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Khālid related to us, saying: al-Rabīʿ ibn Badr related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of a man of ours who was called al-Aslaʿ, he said: I used to serve the Prophet ﷺ — and he mentioned something similar, except that he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was silent for a moment — or he said: for a while, the doubt is from ʿAmr. He said: And Jibrīl — peace be upon him — came to him with the verse of the ground, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Rise, O Aslaʿ, and perform the tayammum!" He said: Then I performed the tayammum and saddled for him. He said: We traveled on until we passed by water, and he said: "O Aslaʿ, touch your skin with this!" He said: And he showed me the tayammum as his father showed it to him: a strike for the face and a strike for the hands up to the elbows.
7621 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ ibn Nufayl related to us, saying: Zuhayr ibn Muʿāwiya related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Mulayka related to me that Dhakwān Abū ʿAmr, the chamberlain of ʿĀʾisha, related to him: that Ibn ʿAbbās came in to her during her illness and said: Rejoice! You were the most beloved of the wives of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ loved only what is good; and your necklace fell in the night at al-Abwāʾ, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ occupied the morning searching for it, until it became morning in that lodging-place, and the people in the morning had no water with them. Then Allah revealed: تيمموا صعيدا طيبا (perform the tayammum with pure ground), and that was through your doing, and [through] what Allah permitted this community of dispensation (rukhṣa).
7622 - Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha: that she borrowed a necklace from Asmāʾ, and it was lost, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent men to search for it. They found it, and the prayer time came upon them while they had no water with them, and they prayed without wuḍūʾ. They complained of that to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and Allah revealed the verse of the tayammum. Then Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr said to ʿĀʾisha: May Allah reward you with good; by Allah, no matter has befallen you that you dislike, but Allah has made therein for you and for the Muslims something good.
* - Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Wahb related to us, saying: my uncle ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed me that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim related to him, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, that she said: A necklace of mine fell at al-Baydāʾ, while we were entering Medina. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ made [his camel] kneel and dismounted, and while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sleeping in my lap, my father arrived and jabbed me a jab, and then said: You have held up the people. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ awoke, and the morning [the dawn prayer] came, and he sought water but it was not found, and there was revealed: يا أيها الذين آمنوا إذا قمتم إلى الصلاة (O you who believe, when you rise for the prayer) … the verse. Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr said: Allah has blessed the people through you, O family of Abū Bakr; you are nothing but a blessing.
7623 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Shabīb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Mulayka, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās came in to ʿĀʾisha and said: You were the Muslim with the greatest blessing for the Muslims: your necklace fell at al-Abwāʾ, and Allah revealed concerning you the verse of the tayammum.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فلم تجدوا ماء فتيمموا صعيدا طيبا (and you do not find water, then perform the tayammum with pure ground).
He — exalted is His praise — means by His word: فلم تجدوا ماء (and you do not find water): or you have touched women, and you have sought water to purify yourselves with it, but you have not found it, neither for a price nor without a price. فتيمموا (then perform the tayammum), He says: then aim deliberately [for]; it is a verbal form (tafaʿʿalū) derived from the saying of the speaker: "tayammamtu kadhā" (I aimed deliberately at such-and-such): when he intended it and deliberately sought it, [one says] "fa-anā atayammamuhu." And one also says of this: "yammamahu fulānun fa-huwa yuyammimuhu," and "ayyamtuhu anā" and "ammamtuhu" without doubling, and "tayammamtu" and "taʾammamtu"; but along with these, "yammamtu" without doubling has not been heard. And from this is the saying of al-Aʿshā of Banū Thaʿlaba:
"tayammamtu Qaysan wa-kam dūnahu / mina l-arḍi min mahmahin dhī shazani" (I aimed deliberately for Qays, and how much lies between him [and me] / of land, of rugged, harsh wilderness).
He means by his word "tayammamtu": I intended and aimed deliberately. And it has been related that in the recitation of ʿAbd Allāh [Ibn Masʿūd] it reads: "fa-ammū ṣaʿīdan" (then aim deliberately for ground).
And in agreement with what we have said about it, the people of interpretation said.
Mention of who said that:
7624 - ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad related to me, saying: ʿAbdān related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: I heard Sufyān say concerning His word: فتيمموا صعيدا طيبا (then perform the tayammum with pure ground), he said: seek deliberately and aim deliberately for pure ground.
And as for al-ṣaʿīd, the people of interpretation differed about it. Some of them said: it is the smooth earth upon which there is no vegetation and no cultivation.
Mention of who said that:
7625 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: صعيدا طيبا (pure ground), he said: that upon which there is no tree and no plant.
Others said: No, it is the level earth.
Mention of who said that:
7626 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: al-ṣaʿīd: the level [ground].
Others said: No, al-ṣaʿīd: it [is] the dust (al-turāb).
Mention of who said that:
7627 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Bashīr related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Qays al-Mulāʾī related to us, saying: al-ṣaʿīd: the dust.
Others said: al-ṣaʿīd: the surface of the earth. And yet others said: No, it is the surface of the earth that contains dust and particles of dust. And the most fitting of these, as regards correctness, is the statement of the one who said: it is the surface of the earth that is free of vegetation and cultivation and building, and is level. And from this is the saying of Dhū l-Rumma:
"ka-annahu bi-l-ḍuḥā yarmī l-ṣaʿīda bihi / dabbābatun fī ʿiẓāmi l-raʾsi khurṭūmu" (as though in the forenoon a snout, [creeping] in the bones of the head, strikes the surface of the earth with it).
