Tafseer of The Mount · At-Tur · 52:6
And [by] the sea filled [with fire],
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 words وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ (By the sea set ablaze) — the commentators on the text have differed over the meaning of "the sea set ablaze" (al-baḥr al-masjūr). Some said: the kindled sea. Its explanation is: the kindled, heated sea.
* Mention of who said that:
Yaʿqūb related to me; he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab; he said: ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, said to a man of the Jews: Where is Jahannam? He said: The sea. Then he said: I regard him only as truthful: وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ and وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ (And when the seas are set ablaze), with light vocalization.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Ḥafṣ ibn Ḥumayd, on the authority of Shamir ibn ʿAṭiyya, concerning His words وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ : he said: equivalent to the kindled oven.
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: al-Ḥasan related to us; he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ : he said: the kindled.
Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ : he said: the kindled; and he recited the words of Allah, the Exalted: وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ ; he said: kindled.
And others said: rather, its meaning is: and when the seas are filled; and he said: al-masjūr means: the filled.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us; he said: Yazīd related to us; he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ : the overflowing.
And others said: no, rather al-masjūr is that whose water has gone away.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me; he said: my father related to me; he said: my uncle related to me; he said: my father related to me on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ : he said: it is sajara (set ablaze) when its water goes away and drains off.
And others said: al-masjūr is the dammed-up.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me; he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us; he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ : he says: the dammed-up.
The correct of the views on this, in my opinion, is the view of him who says: its meaning is: and the filled sea, whose water is gathered together, one part of it into another. That is because the predominant of the meanings of sajr is: kindling — as one says: "sajartu al-tannūr" meaning: I kindled the oven — or being filled, in the manner I have described, as Labīd said:
The two of them traversed the breadth of the watercourse, and cleft a full [flowing pool], with continuous water-plants along it.
And as al-Namir ibn Tawlab al-ʿUklī said:
When he wishes, he looks down upon a full [spring], around which you see the nabʿ-tree and the sāsam;
watering thunderclouds of the summer rain have given her to drink, and if it be of the autumn rain, then it will not fail her.
Now if that is the predominant of the meanings of al-sajr, and the sea is not set ablaze today, while Allah, the Exalted whose praise is mentioned, has described it as masjūr, then the one of the two attributes falls away from it — namely being set ablaze — and the other attribute remains valid, which belongs to it today, namely being filled, for it is full at all times.
And it has been said: this sea set ablaze by which our Lord, glorified and exalted is He, has sworn, is a sea in the heaven, beneath the Throne.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of ʿAlī وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ : he said: a sea in the heaven, beneath the Throne.
He said: Mihrān related to us; he said: and I myself heard it from Ismāʿīl; he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ : he said: a sea beneath the Throne.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me; he said: ʿUbaydallāh ibn Mūsā related to us; he said: Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid informed us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning His words وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ : he said: a sea beneath the Throne.
