Tafseer of The Cloaked One · Al-Muddaththir · 74:5
And uncleanliness avoid
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.
( وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ ) "And shun the abomination (al-rujz)." The reciters differed over its reading. Some reciters of Medina and most reciters of Kūfa read ( وَالرِّجْزَ ) with a kasra on the rāʾ, while some Meccans and Medinans read ( وَالرُّجْزَ ) with a ḍamma on the rāʾ. Whoever pronounced the rāʾ with a ḍamma referred it to the idols and said: the meaning of the words is: and the idols — shun the worship of them and abandon serving them. And whoever pronounced the rāʾ with a kasra referred it to the punishment (al-ʿadhāb) and said: its meaning is: and the punishment — shun it, that is to say: the deeds that would bring upon you the punishment, those you must shun.
The correct ruling concerning this is that they are two well-known readings, and with whichever of the two the reciter recites, he has hit upon the correct one. The ḍamma and the kasra in this are two linguistic variants with one and the same meaning. We have not found anyone among the early people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) who distinguished between the interpretation of the two; it was, as far as has reached us, only al-Kisāʾī who distinguished between them.
The people of interpretation differed over the meaning of ( الرُّجْزُ ) in this place. Some of them said: it is the idols.
* Mention of who said that:
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, concerning His word: ( وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ ) he says: it is that which provokes the wrath, and that is the idols.
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 on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: ( وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ ) he said: the idols.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl — Abū Jaʿfar said: I myself suspect it — on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Mujāhid and ʿIkrima: ( وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ ) he said: the idols.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ ) : Isāf and Nāʾila, which were two idols that stood by the House (the Kaʿba); whoever passed by them stroked their faces. Allah commanded His Prophet ﷺ to shun both and to keep aloof from both.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī: ( وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ ) he said: it is the idols.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: ( وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ ) he said: al-rujz are their gods whom they worshipped; He commanded him to shun them, not to approach them and not to come near them.
And others said: no, its meaning is: and the disobedience and the sin — shun it.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: ( وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ ) he said: the sin.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: ( وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ ) he says: shun the disobedience. And we have already set out earlier the meaning of al-rujz together with the proofs for it, which relieve us from repeating it in this place.