Tafseer of The Pen · Al-Qalam · 68:20
And it became as though reaped.
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: فَأَصْبَحَتْ كَالصَّرِيمِ ("So it became as al-ṣarīm") (68:20). The exegetes (ahl al-ta-wīl) differed concerning what was meant by al-ṣarīm. Some of them said: by it is meant the black night. Others said: its meaning is: their garden was burned and blackened, like the blackness of the dark, pitch-black night.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Sahl ibn ʿAskar related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: a shaykh of ours informed us, on the authority of a shaykh of [the tribe of] Kalb who was called Sulaymān, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: فَأَصْبَحَتْ كَالصَّرِيمِ ("So it became as al-ṣarīm"). He said: al-ṣarīm: the night.
He said: And Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlā- — may Allah have mercy on him — said concerning it:
"Indeed, she awoke early while my reproacher rebuked me; she keeps me awake while al-ṣarīm (the night) has not yet withdrawn."
And he also said:
"Your night stretched on, the pitch-black, the dark, and it does not give way before a morning, [it remains] ṣarīm (night); each time you say: it has cleared up or has ended, clouds pass by from every direction."
And others said: no, its meaning is: it became like a tract of land that is called al-ṣarīm, known by this name.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, saying: Nuʿaym ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān informed me that he heard Saʿīd ibn Jubayr say: it is a tract of land in the Yemen which is called Ḍarwān, six miles from Ṣanʿā-.
