Tafseer of The Reality · Al-Haaqqa · 69:32
Then into a chain whose length is seventy cubits insert him."
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.
فِي سِلْسِلَةٍ ذَرْعُهَا سَبْعُونَ ذِرَاعًا فَاسْلُكُوهُ ("in a chain whose length is seventy cubits, then thread him through it")
He says: then thread him through a chain whose length is seventy cubits, measured by the cubit — and Allah knows best how great its length is. And it is said: it enters his backside and then comes out through his nostrils.
And some of them said: it enters his mouth and comes out through his backside.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Nuṣayr ibn Dhuʿlūq, who said: I heard Nawf say concerning فِي سِلْسِلَةٍ ذَرْعُهَا سَبْعُونَ ذِرَاعًا ("in a chain whose length is seventy cubits"): every cubit is seventy fathoms, and the fathom is the furthest distance between you and Mecca.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: Nuṣayr related to me, saying: I heard Nawf say in the square of Kūfa, during the governorship of Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr, concerning His word فِي سِلْسِلَةٍ ذَرْعُهَا سَبْعُونَ ذِرَاعًا ("in a chain whose length is seventy cubits"), he said: the cubit is seventy fathoms, and the fathom is the furthest distance between you and Mecca.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Nuṣayr ibn Dhuʿlūq Abū Ṭuʿma, on the authority of Nawf al-Bikālī, concerning فِي سِلْسِلَةٍ ذَرْعُهَا سَبْعُونَ ذِرَاعًا ("in a chain whose length is seventy cubits"), he said: every cubit is seventy fathoms, every fathom being further than the distance between you and Mecca — and he was that day in the mosque of Kūfa.
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 فِي سِلْسِلَةٍ ذَرْعُهَا سَبْعُونَ ذِرَاعًا فَاسْلُكُوهُ ("in a chain whose length is seventy cubits, then thread him through it"), he said: thread him through it, measured by the cubit of the angel. He said: it is threaded through his backside until it comes out through his nostrils, so that he can no longer stand on his legs.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yaʿmar ibn Bishr al-Minqarī related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Yazīd informed us, on the authority of Abū al-Samḥ, on the authority of ʿĪsā ibn Hilāl al-Ṣadafī, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, who said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "If a lead ball like this — and he pointed to a skull — were cast down from the heaven to the earth, that being a journey of five hundred years, it would reach the earth before nightfall; but if it were cast down from the head of the chain, it would travel for forty autumns, night and day, before reaching its bottom or its floor."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Ibn al-Mubārak, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning فَاسْلُكُوهُ ("then thread him through it"), he said: the threading means that the chain enters his mouth and comes out through his backside. And it is said: ثُمَّ فِي سِلْسِلَةٍ ذَرْعُهَا سَبْعُونَ ذِرَاعًا فَاسْلُكُوهُ ("then thread him through a chain whose length is seventy cubits") — and in reality the chain is threaded into his mouth, just as the Arabs say: "I have put my head into the cap," whereas in reality the cap is put onto the head; and as al-Aʿshā said:
"When the mirage shrouds itself with the hilltops" (2)
— whereas in reality the hilltops shroud themselves with the mirage, and the like of that. And this is said in this way because of the listeners' familiarity with its meaning, and because it is not obscure to the listener what the speaker intended.
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The footnotes:
(2) This is the second hemistich of a verse by al-Aʿshā of Banū Qays ibn Thaʿlaba, from a poem of his in which he praises Qays ibn Maʿdī Karib (35) and what follows it. The transmission of the complete verse, as in the Dīwān, reads:
"Wrathful, with the sword, swaggering as he sways ....."
"When the hilltops shroud themselves with the mirage"
According to the author's transmission, there is in the verse an inversion (qalb), for the meaning is: when the hilltops shroud themselves with the mirage, as in the transmission of the Dīwān. But according to the transmission of the Dīwān there is no inversion. And the author, according to his transmission, placed the inversion in the verse by analogy with what is in His word, the Exalted: ثم في سلسلة ذرعها سبعون ذراعا فاسلكوه ("then thread him through a chain whose length is seventy cubits"). He said: the chain is threaded into his mouth, just as the Arabs say: "I have put my head into the cap," whereas in reality the cap is put onto the head. And this is said in this way because of the listeners' familiarity with its meaning, and because it is not obscure to the listener what the speaker intended. End.
