Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:37
Devoted [to their husbands] and of equal age,
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.
His statement: ʿuruban ("loving"). The Exalted, praised be His mention, says: thus have We made them virgins, full of charming playfulness, full of love for their husbands, who are excellent in their conduct with their husband. It is a plural; the singular is ʿarūb, just as the singular of rusul (messengers) is rasūl, and the singular of quṭuf (plucked clusters of fruit) is qaṭūf. To this the verse of Labīd bears witness:
And in the litters is a loving woman, not shameless,
with full buttocks, before whom the eye grows dim.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Abān and Ismāʿīl ibn Ṣubayḥ related to us, on the authority of Abū Idrīs, on the authority of Thawr ibn Zayd, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning ʿuruban atrāban ("loving and equal in age"), he said: the affectionate, coaxing women.
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, his statement: ʿuruban, he said: it means women in love.
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 ʿuruban, he said: the ʿurub are the women who turn affectionately and lovingly toward their husbands.
Sulaymān ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Ghaylānī related to me, saying: Ayyūb related to us, saying: Qurra informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: the ʿarib is the woman in love.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, that he said concerning this verse ʿuruban: the ʿurub are the charming, playful women.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, he said: they are the charming, playful women.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: ʿUmāra ibn Abī Ḥafṣa related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning his statement: ʿuruban, he said: playful, charming women.
ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Azdī related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq al-Taymī, on the authority of Ṣāliḥ ibn Ḥayyān, on the authority of Abū Burayda, concerning ʿuruban, he said: it is al-shakila (the affectionate one) in the language of Mecca, and al-ghinja (the playful one) in the language of Medina.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, saying: I heard Ibrāhīm al-Taymī — that is, Ibn al-Zibriqān — on the authority of Ṣāliḥ ibn Ḥayyān, on the authority of Abū Yazīd, something similar.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn Bashshār, on the authority of Tamīm ibn Ḥadhlam, his statement: ʿuruban, he said: the excellent conduct of the woman with her husband.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Mughīra informed us, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn Bashshār, on the authority of Tamīm ibn Ḥadhlam, concerning ʿuruban, he said: the ʿariba is the woman who is excellent in her conduct with her husband. He said: and the Arabs would say of a woman, when she was excellent in her conduct with her husband: she is truly a ʿariba.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Usāma ibn Zayd ibn Aslam, on the authority of his father, concerning ʿuruban, he said: those who are excellent in speech.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: women in love.
He said: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Mujāhid and ʿIkrima, the same.
He said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning ʿuruban, he said: the ʿurub are the affectionate women.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mahrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning ʿuruban, he said: the ʿurub are the women in love.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Sālim al-Afṭas, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, the same.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mahrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ghālib Abū al-Hudhayl, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning ʿuruban, he said: the ʿurub are the women who long for their husbands.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of al-Mubārak ibn Faḍāla, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: those who long for their husbands.
He said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn al-Aswad informed us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, he said: the ʿurub is the woman who longs for her husband.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mahrān related to us, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn al-Aswad, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, concerning ʿuruban, he said: the ʿariba is she who longs for her husband; do you not see that of the female camel one says: she is truly a ʿariba?
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning ʿuruban, he said: in love with their husbands.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his statement: ʿuruban atrāban, he says: in love with their husbands, they love their husbands with an intense love.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, he says: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say: the ʿurub are the affectionate women.
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 of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his statement: ʿuruban atrāban, he said: affectionate toward their husbands.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning his statement: ʿuruban, he said: the ʿurub are those who are excellent in speech.
Ibn al-Barqī related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Abī Salama related to us, saying: al-Awzāʿī was asked about ʿuruban, he said: I heard Yaḥyā say: they are the women in love.
Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn al-Faraj al-Ṣadafī al-Dimyāṭī related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Hāshim, on the authority of Abū Karīma, on the authority of Hishām ibn Ḥassān, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of his mother, on the authority of Umm Salama, she said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, inform me about His statement: ʿuruban atrāban. He said: "ʿuruban means: in love and affectionate; atrāban means: of one and the same birth (age)."
Muḥammad ibn Ḥafṣ Abū ʿUbayd al-Waṣṣābī related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayr related to us, saying: Thābit ibn ʿAjlān related to us, saying: I heard Saʿīd ibn Jubayr narrate on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning ʿuruban, and the ʿarab (here) is longing.
The reciters differed in the reading of it. Some of the reciters of Medina and some of the reciters of Kūfa read it as ʿuruban, with ḍamma on the ʿayn and the rāʾ. And some of the reciters of Kūfa and Basra read it as waʿurban, with ḍamma on the ʿayn and lightening (sukūn) of the rāʾ; that is the dialect of Tamīm and Bakr. The ḍamma on both letters is the more correct of the two readings, for the reason I have mentioned, namely that it is a plural of ʿarūb, and when a word of the pattern faʿūl, faʿīl, or faʿāl is made plural, it is made into the pattern fuʿul, with ḍamma on the fāʾ and the ʿayn, whether it is masculine or feminine. The lightening (sukūn) of the ʿayn is permissible, even though what I have mentioned is the more common of the two ways of speaking with respect to lightening.
His statement: atrāban means that they are equal in one and the same age; the singular is tirb, just as one says: shabah (resemblance) and ashbāh (resemblances).
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Rabīʿa related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Sābūr, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: the atrāb are those equal in age.
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 of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, his statement: atrāban, he said: equals.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning atrāban, he means: of one and the same age.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, the same.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning his statement: atrāban, he said: the atrāb are those equal in age.
