Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:5
And the mountains are broken down, crumbling
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 word: وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا ("And the mountains will be crumbled to fragments"). He, exalted is His mention, says: the mountains are crumbled into fragments, so that they become like finely soaked flour (al-mabsūs), that is to say: moistened flour, just as He, praised is His laudation, says: وَكَانَتِ الْجِبَالُ كَثِيبًا مَهِيلا ("And the mountains will become a flowing dune of sand"). And al-basīsa among the Arabs is: flour and roasted barley-meal (sawīq) that is diluted with water and taken along as travel-provision.
And it has been related concerning a thief from [the tribe of] Ghaṭafān that he wished to bake bread, but feared that he would be taken by surprise before the flour had been baked into bread, and therefore ate it as dough, and said:
"Bake no bread, but soak it, soak it, swiftly drive it off with the herd of the Ḥalasī camels, drive it onward." (2)
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* 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 word: وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا , he said: they are crumbled into fragments.
Al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا , he said: they are crumbled.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا , he said: like the barley-meal diluted with water.
Aḥmad ibn ʿAmr al-Baṣrī related to me, he said: Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar al-ʿAdanī related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam ibn Abān, on the authority of ʿIkrima: وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا , he said: they are crumbled into fragments.
Ismāʿīl ibn Mūsā ibn Bint al-Suddī related to me, he said: Bishr ibn al-Ḥakam al-Aḥmasī informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Ṣalt, on the authority of Ismāʿīl al-Suddī and Abū Ṣāliḥ: وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا , he said: they are crumbled into fragments.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا , he said: like the barley-meal diluted with water.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the word of Allah: وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا , he said: they became a flowing dune of sand, just as Allah has said.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا , he said: they are crumbled into fragments.
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Footnotes:
(2) This verse belongs to the poetic testimonies (shawāhid) of Abū ʿUbayda in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 174-b) on His word, the Exalted: ( وبست الجبال بسا ). He said: its meaning is like the meaning of the barley-meal diluted with water, that is to say the moistened and the dough. He said: a thief from Ghaṭafān, who wished to bake bread but feared being taken by surprise before the flour had been baked, therefore ate it as dough, and said: "Bake no bread, but soak it, soak it." End of quotation. And in (Lisān: mls): al-mals is forceful driving onward. And under "bss": Thaʿlab said: the meaning of "wa-bussati l-jibālu bassan" is: they became mingled with earth. And some said: they were crumbled, and others said: they were leveled. End of quotation. Abū ʿUbayda did not cite the second verse, and the author of the Lisān recited the first verse, and then brought another verse, namely: * "and do not tarry at the resting-place with ḥays (a dish of dates)" *. And he recited under "mls" the second verse, and said: al-mals is forceful driving onward. One says: "malastu bi-l-ibili amlusu" (from the conjugation class of qatala) "malsan": when one drives them onward stealthily. The rajaz-poet said: * "driving, driving the Ḥalasī camels onward, driving" *. And Ibn al-Aʿrābī said: al-mals is a manner of light going. And al-mals is the soft of everything. End of quotation.
And al-Farrāʾ recited in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān the two verses according to the transmission of the author. And he said (folio 322): "وبست الجبال بسا" means: they became like flour, and that is His word "وسيرت الجبال" ("and the mountains were set in motion"). And I heard the Arabs reciting: "لا تخبزا خبزا ... (the two verses)". And al-basīsa among them is: the flour or the barley-meal, which is diluted with water and taken along as provision. End of quotation. And in al-Nawādir of Abū Zayd (Beirut 11):
"Driving, driving the Ḥumasī camels onward, driving, from the break of dawn, until it was as though the sun on the western horizon were smeared with wars (a yellow dye)."
Abū Zayd said: al-mals is forceful going. Abū Ḥātim said: and I say, not on the authority of Abū Zayd: al-mals is the swift, easy going. And his word "tuṭlā warsan" means: it has turned yellow at its setting. End of quotation.
