Tafseer of The Winnowing Winds · Adh-Dhaariyat · 51:41
And in 'Aad [was a sign], when We sent against them the barren wind.
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 statement concerning the explanation of His word, the Exalted: وَفِي عَادٍ إِذْ أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الرِّيحَ الْعَقِيمَ ("And in ʿĀd, when We sent against them the barren wind") (41).
The Exalted says: وَفِي عَادٍ ("And in ʿĀd") likewise, and in what We did with them, there is for them a sign and a lesson, إِذْ أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الرِّيحَ الْعَقِيمَ ("when We sent against them the barren wind"). By "the barren wind" He means: that which does not pollinate the trees.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: the barren wind is the violent wind that pollinates nothing.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word الرِّيحَ الْعَقِيمَ ("the barren wind"), he said: it does not pollinate the trees and does not drive the clouds.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning this "barren wind," he said: in it there is no mercy and no plant growth, and it pollinates no crop.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Sulaymān Abū Dāwūd related to us, saying: Shuʿba informed us, on the authority of Shās, who said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word الرِّيحَ الْعَقِيمَ , he said: it does not pollinate.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: a sheikh from the people of Khorasan, from the Azd, surnamed Abū Sāsān, informed us, saying: I asked al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim about His word الرِّيحَ الْعَقِيمَ , he said: the wind in which there is no blessing and which does not pollinate the trees.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Hilālī related to us, saying: Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥanafī related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Dhiʾb related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, that he used to say: الرِّيحَ الْعَقِيمَ is the south wind.
Aḥmad ibn al-Faraj related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Fudayk related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Dhiʾb related to us, on the authority of his maternal uncle al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, who said: the barren one means: the south wind.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word وَفِي عَادٍ إِذْ أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الرِّيحَ الْعَقِيمَ : verily, among the winds there is a barren and chastising wind, which, when it is sent, pollinates nothing; and among the winds there is a merciful wind, with which Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, drives the clouds and sends down the rain. And it has been related to us that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to say: "I have been aided by the east wind (al-Ṣabā), and ʿĀd was destroyed by the west wind (al-Dabūr)."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, with the like of it.
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 الرِّيحَ الْعَقِيمَ , he said: the wind that does not make things grow.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word الرِّيحَ الْعَقِيمَ : that which pollinates nothing.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to me, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, who said concerning الرِّيحَ الْعَقِيمَ : that which makes nothing grow.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word وَفِي عَادٍ إِذْ أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الرِّيحَ الْعَقِيمَ , he said: verily, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, sends the wind as glad tidings before His mercy, and with it He gives life to the root and the tree. But this [barren wind] does not pollinate and does not give life; it is barren, in it there is nothing of good, it is only a chastisement that pollinates nothing. And that [other wind] does pollinate; and he recited: وَأَرْسَلْنَا الرِّيَاحَ لَوَاقِحَ ("And We send the fertilizing winds").
