Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:30
And shade extended
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 statement: وَظِلٍّ مَمْدُودٍ ("and outstretched shade"). He says: and they are in an enduring shade that the sun does not remove and cause to vanish. Everything that knows no interruption is "outstretched" (mamdūd), as Labīd said:
The long, enduring, outstretched age has overcome perpetuity, while I was not overcome.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the narrations have come, and thus the people of knowledge have said it.
* 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 Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn: وَظِلٍّ مَمْدُودٍ ("and outstretched shade"), he said: five hundred thousand years.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us, he said: Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid related to us, on the authority of Ziyād, the freedman of Banū Makhzūm, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, he said: "Truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for a hundred years; recite if you wish: وَظِلٍّ مَمْدُودٍ ('and outstretched shade')." This reached Kaʿb, and he said: "He has spoken the truth, by Him who sent down the Tawrāt upon the tongue of Mūsā and the Furqān upon the tongue of Muḥammad — if a man were to mount a two- or four-year-old camel-foal and then ride around the trunk of that tree, he would not reach it before he collapsed from old age. Truly, Allah planted it with His hand and breathed into it of His spirit, and its branches reach beyond the wall of the Garden. There is in the Garden no river but that it issues forth from the trunk of that tree."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of Ziyād, a freedman of Banū Makhzūm, that he heard Abū Hurayra say — then he mentioned something similar, except that he said: "There is in the Garden no river (mā fī l-janna min nahr)."
Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn: وَظِلٍّ مَمْدُودٍ ("and outstretched shade"), he said: a distance of seventy thousand years.
Yūnus related to us, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Abū Yaḥyā ibn Sulaymān informed me, on the authority of Hilāl ibn ʿAlī, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmra, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for a hundred years; recite if you wish: وَظِلٍّ مَمْدُودٍ ('and outstretched shade')."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Ziyād, he said: I heard Abū Hurayra say: I heard the Prophet ﷺ say: "Truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for a hundred years; recite if you wish: وَظِلٍّ مَمْدُودٍ ('and outstretched shade')."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Ziyād, he said: I heard Abū Hurayra say: I heard the Prophet ﷺ say: "And truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for a hundred years without traversing it; recite if you wish: وَظِلٍّ مَمْدُودٍ ('and outstretched shade')."
Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū l-Ḍuḥā, he said: I heard Abū Hurayra say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "And truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for a hundred years without traversing it, without traversing it — the tree of eternity (shajarat al-khuld)."
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, he said: I heard Abū l-Ḍaḥḥāk narrate, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, he said: "And truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for seventy or a hundred years — it is the tree of eternity."
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Abū Dāwūd related to us, he said: ʿImrān related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Anas, that the Prophet ﷺ said: "Truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for a hundred years without traversing it."
He said: Abū Dāwūd related to us, he said: ʿImrān related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Ziyād, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, something similar.
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Salama, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Ziyād, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, something similar.
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: ʿAbda and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Abū Salama, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "In the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for a hundred years without traversing it; recite if you wish His statement: وَظِلٍّ مَمْدُودٍ ('and outstretched shade')."
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Firdaws related to us, he said: Layth related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī Saʿīd, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for a hundred years."
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Abū Salama, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, something similar.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Khālid ibn al-Ḥārith related to us, he said: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: it reached me that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for a hundred years without traversing it."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Khālid related to us, he said: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ; and with something similar on the authority of Khilās.
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Abū Bakr related to us, he said: Abū Ḥaṣīn related to us, he said: we were at a gate in a certain place, and with us were Abū Ṣāliḥ and Shaqīq — that is, al-Ḍabbī. Abū Ṣāliḥ narrated and said: Abū Hurayra related to me, he said: "Truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for seventy years." Then Abū Ṣāliḥ said: "Do you declare Abū Hurayra a liar?" He said: "I do not declare Abū Hurayra a liar, but I declare you a liar." He said: and that weighed heavily upon the reciters that day.
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Sulaymān related to us, he said: Abū Hilāl related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَظِلٍّ مَمْدُودٍ ("and outstretched shade"), he said: Anas ibn Mālik related to us, he said: "Truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for a hundred years without traversing it."
He said: Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, His statement: وَظِلٍّ مَمْدُودٍ ("and outstretched shade"). Qatāda said: Anas ibn Mālik related to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ said: "Truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for a hundred years without traversing it."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Anas, that the Prophet ﷺ said: "Truly, in the Garden there is a tree beneath which the rider travels in its shade for a hundred years without traversing it."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Ziyād, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, likewise something similar.
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Footnotes:
(5) The verse is by Labīd; Abū ʿUbayda attributed it to him in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 175-b). In his transmission "al-gharrāʾ" stands in the place of "al-baqāʾ" in the author's transmission. He says: the long age has overcome continued existence in this world, and nothing could overcome me except the age. Abū ʿUbayda recited it in connection with His, the Exalted's, statement وَظِلٍّ مَمْدُودٍ ("and outstretched shade"); he said: that is, the sun does not remove it, it is enduring. This is said of the outstretched age and of life when it does not cease. Labīd said: "ghalaba l-baqāʾa ... the verse."