Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:111
They said, "Postpone [the matter of] him and his brother and send among the cities gatherers
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.
The statement concerning the interpretation of His word: قَالُوا أَرْجِهْ وَأَخَاهُ وَأَرْسِلْ فِي الْمَدَائِنِ حَاشِرِينَ ("They said: Put him and his brother off, and send recruiters to the cities") (7:111).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: The chiefs of the people of Pharaoh said to Pharaoh: "Put him off (arjihi)", that is to say: defer him to a later time.
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And some said: Its meaning is: hold him fast (imprison him).
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The word al-irjāʾ in the language of the Arabs means "deferral". One says of it: "I deferred this matter (arjaytu)" and "arjaʾtu-hu", when one defers something. To this also belongs the word of Allah the Exalted: تُرْجِي مَنْ تَشَاءُ مِنْهُنَّ ("You may put off whom You will of them") [Surah Al-Aḥzāb: 51], that is to say: you defer. The form with the hamza belongs to the language of some of the tribes of Qays; they say: "arjaʾtu hādhā al-amr". The dropping of the hamza belongs to the language of Tamīm and Asad; they say: "arjaytu-hu".
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The reciters differ over the reading of it.
Most of the reciters of Medina and some of the Iraqis read it: "arjihi" without the hamza and with a kasra on the hāʾ.
Some of the reciters of Kūfa read it: "arjih" with the dropping of the hamza and with a sukūn on the "hāʾ", according to the language of the one who stops on the hāʾ of the pronoun (al-mukannā, i.e. the referring pronoun) in the middle of the sentence (fī al-waṣl), when what precedes it carries a vowel, as the rajaz-poet said:
"Fate has assailed me with a leg and a hand, it swears that it will set nothing right but that it spoils it, it sets something right today and spoils it tomorrow."
And sometimes they do something similar with the feminine hāʾ; they say: "hādhihi Ṭalḥah qad aqbalat" ("here is Ṭalḥah, she has approached"), as the rajaz-poet said:
"When he saw that there was neither rest nor satiety, he inclined toward an arṭāʾ-bush on a sand-dune and lay down."
And some of the Basrans read it: "arjiʾhu" with the hamza and a ḍamma on the "hāʾ", according to the language of Qays which I have mentioned.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of these readings is the most well-known and the most eloquent in the language of the Arabs, and that is the dropping of the hamza and the kasra on the "hāʾ". Although the other reading is permissible, what we have chosen is the most eloquent of the languages and the most common on the tongues of the eloquent Arabs.
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The scholars of interpretation differ over the interpretation of His word: "arjihi".
Some said: its meaning is: put him off.
* Mention of who said that:
14924 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī informed me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "arjih wa-akhāhu" ("put him and his brother off"), he said: defer him to a later time.
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And others said: its meaning is: hold him fast.
* Mention of who said that:
14925 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "arjih wa-akhāhu", that is to say: hold him and his brother fast.
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And as for His word: "wa-arsil fī al-madāʾin ḥāshirīn" ("and send recruiters to the cities"), He says: those who gather the magicians and bring them together to you.
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And it was said: they are the police-guards (al-shuraṭ).
* Mention of who said that:
14926 - ʿAbbās ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Al-Ḥakam ibn Ẓuhayr related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "wa-arsil fī al-madāʾin ḥāshirīn", he said: the police-guards.
14927 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Mujāhid: "wa-arsil fī al-madāʾin ḥāshirīn", he said: the police-guards.
14928 - He said: Ḥumayd related to us, on the authority of Qays, on the authority of al-Suddī: "wa-arsil fī al-madāʾin ḥāshirīn", he said: the police-guards.
14929 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "fī al-madāʾin ḥāshirīn", he said: the police-guards.
14930 - ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn al-Haytham related to me, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: Abū Saʿd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "wa-arsil fī al-madāʾin ḥāshirīn", he said: the police-guards.
