Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:15
On thrones woven [with ornament],
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.
" عَلَى سُرُرٍ مَوْضُونَةٍ " ("Upon woven couches"). He says: upon woven couches, whose parts are interlaced with one another, just as the rings of the coat of mail are woven in double layers upon one another (yūḍan). To this category belongs the saying of al-Aʿshā:
And of the weave of Dāwūd, woven (mawḍūna), driven with the tribe, caravan after caravan.
To this category also belongs waḍīn al-nāqa, which is the belly-girth of leather straps when its parts are woven in double layers upon one another, like the rings — the rings of the coat of mail. And one says waḍīn, while it is in reality mawḍūn, transformed from the mafʿūl-form into the faʿīl-form, just as one says qatīl for maqtūl. And it has been transmitted orally from some of the Arabs: the earthenware jars (azyār al-ājurr) are stacked upon one another (mawḍūn), by which is meant: arranged in layers upon one another.
And it was said: these couches are called woven (mawḍūna) because they are interlaced with gold and gems.
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: Ḥuṣayn related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning عَلَى سُرُرٍ مَوْضُونَةٍ , he said: interwoven with gold.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning عَلَى سُرُرٍ مَوْضُونَةٍ , he said: interwoven with gold.
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, concerning His word: عَلَى سُرُرٍ مَوْضُونَةٍ , he said: thereby are meant the couches interwoven with gold.
Hannād related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: al-mawḍūna: the ones interwoven with gold.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid related to us, on the authority of Yazīd, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His word: عَلَى سُرُرٍ مَوْضُونَةٍ , he said: interwoven with pearls and rubies.
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: مَوْضُونَةٍ , he said: interwoven with gold.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: عَلَى سُرُرٍ مَوْضُونَةٍ , and al-mawḍūna: the ones interwoven, and those are the most sumptuous of couches.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sulaymān related to us, saying: Abū Hilāl related to us, concerning His word: مَوْضُونَةٍ , he said: interwoven.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, concerning His word: عَلَى سُرُرٍ مَوْضُونَةٍ , he said: interwoven and interlaced.
It was related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: عَلَى سُرُرٍ مَوْضُونَةٍ : al-waḍn is the interlacing and the weaving; he says: the middle of it is interlaced and woven.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: عَلَى سُرُرٍ مَوْضُونَةٍ : al-mawḍūna: the ones interwoven with leather; that waḍīn is woven.
Others said: rather, the meaning of it is that they are arranged in rows (maṣfūfa).
* Mention of those 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: عَلَى سُرُرٍ مَوْضُونَةٍ , he says: arranged in rows (maṣfūfa).
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Footnotes:
(4) This verse is by Aʿshā Banī Qays ibn Thaʿlaba (his dīwān, Cairo edition, p. 99), from a poem in which he praises Hawdha ibn ʿAlī al-Ḥafnī. Preceding the verse stands:
And for the war you have prepared its equipment: long spears and stallions.
awzār al-ḥarb: its equipment; and a mawḍūna coat: that is a coat of mail whose parts are woven upon one another; and tusāq maʿa al-ḥayy: it is driven along. He says: I have prepared for the war its equipment, of long spears, noble horses, and the sturdy coats of mail that are woven in double layers, borne upon the camels, caravan after caravan. And Abū ʿUbayda said in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 174-b) concerning His word, the Exalted, "ʿalā sururin mawḍūna": its parts upon one another, joined together just as the rings of the coat of mail are woven in double layers into one another. And al-Aʿshā said: "wa-min nasji Dāwūda ... the verse." And al-waḍīn is the belly-girth of leather straps when its parts are woven in double layers upon one another, like the rings — the rings of the coats of mail; that is waḍīn, placed in the position of mawḍūn, just as one says qatīl in the position of maqtūl. He said:
*Toward you she hastens onward, restless her belly-girth (waḍīn)*