Tafseer of The Beneficent · Ar-Rahmaan · 55:6
And the stars and trees prostrate.
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 saying, the Exalted: وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ (And the plant and the tree prostrate themselves) (6).
The exegetes differed concerning the meaning of "al-najm" (the plant/the star) in this place, while they are in agreement that "al-shajar" (the tree) is that which stands upon a trunk. Some of them said: by it in this place is meant a kind of plant, namely what comes up out of the earth and spreads out over it and does not stand upon a trunk, such as herbaceous growths and the like.
* 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, concerning His word: وَالنَّجْمُ (And the najm). He said: that which spreads out over the earth.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, concerning His word: وَالنَّجْمُ (And the najm). He said: the najm is everything that stretches along the earth and spreads out. He said: and the Arabs call the herb (al-thabl) a najm.
Muḥammad ibn Khalaf al-ʿAsqalānī related to me, saying: Rawwād ibn al-Jarrāḥ related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of al-Suddī: وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ (And the plant and the tree prostrate themselves). He said: the najm is the growth of the earth.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān: وَالنَّجْمُ (And the najm). He said: the najm is that which has no trunk.
And others said: by the najm in this place is meant the star of the heaven.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, 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 His word: وَالنَّجْمُ (And the najm). He said: the star of the heaven.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: وَالنَّجْمُ (And the najm): that is, the star of the heaven.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ (And the plant and the tree prostrate themselves). He said: he means only the star.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, something similar.
And the most correct of the two statements concerning this is the statement of the one who said: by the najm is meant what comes up out of the earth as plant, because of the fact that "the tree" is joined to it. Thus its meaning would be: that which stands upon a trunk and that which does not stand upon a trunk both prostrate themselves before Allah, in the sense that all the various forms of His creatures prostrate themselves before Him. That is more fitting and more correct as regards the meaning of the word than any other interpretation. And as for His word وَالشَّجَرُ (and the tree), the tree is that whose description has already been given previously.
And with what we have said concerning this the exegetes have concurred.
* 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, concerning His word: وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ (and the tree prostrate themselves). He said: the tree is everything that stands upon a trunk.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, concerning His word: وَالشَّجَرُ (and the tree). He said: the tree is everything that stands upon a trunk.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: وَالشَّجَرُ (and the tree). He said: the tree is the trees of the earth.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān: وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ (and the tree prostrate themselves). He said: the tree is that which has trunks.
And as for His word يَسْجُدَانِ (they prostrate themselves), by it is meant the prostration of their shadow, just as He, exalted be His praise, said: وَلِلَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَن فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا وَظِلَالُهُم بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالآصَالِ (And to Allah prostrates whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly and unwillingly, and also their shadows, in the morning and the evening) (13:15).
As Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Tamīm ibn ʿAbd al-Muʾmin related to us, on the authority of Zibriqān, on the authority of Abū Razīn and Saʿīd: وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ (And the plant and the tree prostrate themselves). They both said: their shadow is their prostration.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Marwān related to us, saying: Abū al-ʿAwwām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ (And the plant and the tree prostrate themselves): nothing has descended from the heaven of His creation without His making it subject to Himself, willingly and unwillingly.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, and that is the statement of Qatāda.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, 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 His word: وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ (And the plant and the tree prostrate themselves). He said: they prostrate themselves in the morning and the evening. And it has been said: وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ (And the plant and the tree prostrate themselves), wherein the dual is used while it is a report about two groups.
And al-Farrāʾ claimed that the Arabs, when they combine two groups of something other than human beings, such as the lote-trees and the date-palms, make their action one, so that they say: "the sheep and the cattle have arrived" (in the singular), and "the date-palms and the lote-trees have become sated." He said: and this is the most frequent in their speech, and the dual of it is also permissible.
