Tafseer of The Smoke · Ad-Dukhaan · 44:24
And leave the sea in stillness. Indeed, they are an army to be drowned."
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 saying ( And leave the sea calm behind ) — He says: and when you have crossed the sea, you and your companions, then leave it calm in the state in which it was when you entered it. It is said: Allah, the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, spoke these words to Mūsā after he had crossed the sea with the children of Israel. If that is so, then there is something omitted in the statement, namely: Mūsā set out by night with My servants and crossed the sea with them, whereupon We said to him after he had crossed it, and he wanted to bring the sea back into the state in which it had been before it split: leave it calm (rahwan) behind.
* Mention of who said that, namely that Allah, mighty and exalted is He, spoke these words to Mūsā ﷺ after he had crossed the sea with his people:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying ( Then he called upon his Lord: verily, these are a criminal people ) up to ( verily, they are a host to be drowned ), he said: when the last of the children of Israel had come out, the prophet of Allah ﷺ wanted to strike the sea with his staff so that it would return as it had been, out of fear that the people of Pharaoh would overtake them, whereupon it was said to him ( And leave the sea calm behind, verily, they are a host to be drowned ).
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: when he had crossed the sea, he turned around to strike the sea with his staff so that it would close again, and he feared that Pharaoh and his armies would follow him, whereupon it was said to him: ( And leave the sea calm behind ) as it is ( verily, they are a host to be drowned ).
And the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning the meaning of al-rahw. Some of them said: its meaning is: leave it in its form and condition in which it was.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his saying ( And leave the sea calm behind ) — he says: in the same state.
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, his saying ( And leave the sea calm behind, verily, they are a host to be drowned ) he said: al-rahw is: that it be left as it was, for they will not escape what lies behind it.
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ḥumayd informed us, on the authority of Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥārith, on the authority of his father, that Ibn ʿAbbās asked Kaʿb about the saying of Allah ( And leave the sea calm behind ), he said: a road.
And others said: no, its meaning is: leave it easily passable.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, his saying ( And leave the sea calm behind ) he said: easily passable.
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, his saying ( And leave the sea calm behind ) he said: it is said: al-rahw is: the easily passable.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ḥaramī ibn ʿUmāra related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: ʿUmāra informed me, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim, concerning the saying of Allah, mighty and exalted is He ( And leave the sea calm behind ) he said: soft and level.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning his saying ( And leave the sea calm behind ) he said: easily passable, soft and level.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning his saying ( And leave the sea calm behind ) he said: it is the easily passable.
And others said: no, its meaning is: and leave it dry and hard-trodden.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Muʿādh related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning his saying ( And leave the sea calm behind ) he said: hard-trodden.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Muʿādh related to me, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning his saying ( And leave the sea calm behind ) he said: dry as its form was after he struck it. He says: do not command it to return, leave it until the last of them has entered it.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his saying ( rahwan ) he said: a dry road.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda ( And leave the sea calm behind ) as it is, a dry road.
And the correct of the views concerning this is the view of him who says that its meaning is: leave it in its form as it is, in the state in which it was when you entered it. And that is because al-rahw in the language of the Arabs means: rest and stillness, as the poet said:
It is as though the dwellers of Ḥajar are watching for when they see me depart — birds scattered in every direction;
birds that saw a hawk, with spatters of blood upon it, while its mother went calmly (rahwan) on her way to a feast.
He means: in rest. And if that is the meaning, then it is undoubtedly so that it is left easily passable, soft and level, and a dry road, for the children of Israel crossed it when they crossed it, and it was thus. So when the sea is left calm as it was when Mūsā crossed it, tranquil and not stirred up, then it is undoubtedly of the quality that has been described.
And His saying ( verily, they are a host to be drowned ) — He says: verily, Pharaoh and his people are a host whom Allah will drown in the sea.
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The footnotes:
(1) This is a verse from a poem by al-Rāʿī, with which he praised Saʿd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAttāb ibn Asīd, comprising fifty-seven verses. And his saying "dhāt athāra" means: many a she-camel with fat. Al-athāra, with fatḥa on the hamza, is: fat that is joined to other fat; it is also said that it is a remnant of old fat; one says: the she-camel became fat upon athāra, that is, upon a remnant of fat. And akmatahu: it enveloped it, plural of kimām, which is the plural of kimm with kasra on the kāf, namely the covering and sheath of the blossom. And qifāran and qifāra: a description of the herbage, that is: it grazed it in isolation, free from being crowded out by others in grazing it. Its origin comes from their saying "ṭaʿām qifār": that is, eaten without a side dish. (See Khizānat al-Adab al-Kubrā of al-Baghdādī 4:251.) And Abū ʿUbayda cited the verse as evidence in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 222) for His saying, the Exalted: "or athāra of knowledge", that is: a remnant of fat upon which there was eating. And whoever reads "athra", that is a verbal noun of athara-yaʾthuru: he mentions it. And in (al-Lisān: athr): athrat al-ʿilm and athratuhu and athāratuhu, a remnant of it that is transmitted and thus mentioned. Al-Zajjāj said: athāra has the meaning of a sign. It is possible that it has the meaning of a remnant of knowledge. And the verse is attributed to al-Shammākh.
