Tafseer of The letter Qaaf · Qaaf · 50:1
Qaf. By the honored Qur'an...
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 words of the Exalted: ق وَالْقُرْآنِ الْمَجِيدِ (50:1) (Qāf. By the glorious Qurʾān.)
The scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning His word ( ق ). Some of them said: it is one of the names of Allah, the Exalted, by which He swears.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī ibn Dāwūd 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, concerning His word ( ق ) and ن and what resembles them: that is an oath by which Allah swears, and it is one of the names of Allah.
Others said: it is one of the names of the Qurʾān.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word ( ق ), he said: it is one of the names of the Qurʾān.
Others said: ( ق ) is the name of the mountain that surrounds the earth. We have already, in the explanation of the disconnected letters that stand at the beginning of the sūras of the Qurʾān, given a sufficient exposition, so that it is unnecessary to repeat it here.
And His word ( وَالْقُرْآنِ الْمَجِيدِ ) "By the glorious Qurʾān" — He says: by the noble Qurʾān.
As Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Jaʿfar ibn Abī al-Mughīra, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr ( ق وَالْقُرْآنِ الْمَجِيدِ ), he said: the noble.
The scholars of the Arabic language differed concerning the location of the answer to this oath. Some grammarians of Basra said: ( ق وَالْقُرْآنِ الْمَجِيدِ ) is an oath relating to His word قَدْ عَلِمْنَا مَا تَنْقُصُ الأَرْضُ مِنْهُمْ ("We already know what the earth takes away from them"). And some grammarians of the people of Kufa said: contained within it is the meaning by which the oath is sworn. He said: it has been transmitted that it means "He has decided, by Allah." And he said: it is said that Qāf is a mountain that surrounds the earth; if that is so, then it is as though placed in the nominative, that is to say: "It is Qāf, by Allah." He said: it would actually have been fitting for the nominative ending to appear, because it is a name and not a spelling of a disconnected letter. He said: and perhaps the Qāf alone was mentioned of its name, as the poet said:
"I said to her: stand still for us — she said: 'Qāf'" (1)
He mentioned the Qāf, thereby intending the Qāf of "al-waqf" (the standing still), that is to say: "I am standing still."
This second statement is, in our view, the most correct of the two statements, because "qad" is not known in the answers to oaths. Oaths, when they are answered, are answered with one of the four particles: the lām, "in," "mā," or "lā," or else with the omission of the answer, so that it is dropped.
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Footnotes:
(1) In ( al-Lisān: waqf ) it is not attributed. His word "I said to her: stand still — she said: Qāf," with sukūn on the kāf and the fāʾ: he meant only "I have already stood still," and contented himself with mentioning the Qāf. Ibn Jinnī said: had this poet transmitted to us something of the circumstances of the scene and added to his word "she said: Qāf" the words "and she held the rein of her camel" or "she turned it toward herself," then it would have been clearer how they fared, and it would have better demonstrated that she meant "stand still for us" — that is, he says to me "stand still for us," in wonder at him. And when he sees her while she has stood still, he knows that her word "Qāf" is an answer to his word and a wonder at his word "stand still for us." End of quotation. And in the Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ (folio 308) the verse is cited, after which he says: he mentioned the Qāf of "al-waqt," that is to say: "I am standing still." End of quotation.
