Tafseer of The Emissaries · Al-Mursalaat · 77:32
Indeed, it throws sparks [as huge] as a fortress,
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.
His statement: إِنَّهَا تَرْمِي بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("Verily, it throws up sparks like a fortress") — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: verily, the Hellfire (jahannam) throws up sparks like a fortress (al-qaṣr). The reciters of the cities read this كَالْقَصْرِ ("ka-l-qaṣr") with a sukūn on the ṣād.
Those who read it thus differed concerning its meaning. Some of them said: it is the singular of "quṣūr" (fortresses).
* 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 statement: إِنَّهَا تَرْمِي بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("Verily, it throws up sparks like a fortress"), he said: like the mighty fortress.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Mujāhid: إِنَّهَا تَرْمِي بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("Verily, it throws up sparks like a fortress"), he said: that refers to the fortress.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Yazīd ibn Yūnus informed me, on the authority of Abū Ṣakhr, concerning the word of Allah: إِنَّهَا تَرْمِي بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("Verily, it throws up sparks like a fortress"), he said: al-Quraẓī used to say: around the Hellfire is a wall, and that which comes out from behind the wall and returns into it is as great as the fortress, and has the color of pitch.
Others said: no, rather it is the thick wood, like the trunks of date palms and the like.
* Mention of who said that:
Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĀbis, he said: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about His statement: إِنَّهَا تَرْمِي بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("Verily, it throws up sparks like a fortress"). He said: "al-qaṣr": it is wood that we used to store up for winter, [pieces of] three cubits, and larger than that and smaller than that — we called it "al-qaṣr".
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĀbis say: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say concerning His statement: إِنَّهَا تَرْمِي بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("Verily, it throws up sparks like a fortress"), he said: "al-qaṣr": it is wood that was cut in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), a cubit [long] or less or more, which was used as support timber.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĀbis, he said: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say concerning His statement: إِنَّهَا تَرْمِي بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("Verily, it throws up sparks like a fortress"), he said: we used in the time of ignorance to cut [wood] down to two cubits or three cubits, and larger than that and smaller than that we called "al-qaṣr".
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 statement: إِنَّهَا تَرْمِي بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("Verily, it throws up sparks like a fortress"): "al-qaṣr" is the cut wood; and it is said: "al-qaṣr" is the hewn date palm.
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 statement: كَالْقَصْرِ ("like a fortress"), he said: bundles of wood — that is to say: the bundle.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Abī Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning this verse إِنَّهَا تَرْمِي بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("Verily, it throws up sparks like a fortress"), he said: like the trunk (qaṣr) of the date palm.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: إِنَّهَا تَرْمِي بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("Verily, it throws up sparks like a fortress"): the trunks of trees and the trunks of date palms.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("sparks like a fortress"), he said: like the trunk of a tree.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement: بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("sparks like a fortress"): "al-qaṣr" is the mighty tree trunks, as though they were the bodies of yellow camels — the middle of each thing is its body (jawz), and those are the "ajwāz".
Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related to us, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Hārūn, he said: al-Ḥasan read it: كَالْقَصْرِ ("like a fortress") and said: it is the thick wood; the singular of it is "qaṣara" and [the collective] "qaṣar", just as "jamra" and "jamr", and "tamra" and "tamr".
It has been related on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās that he read it كَالْقَصَرِ ("ka-l-qaṣar") with a movement [a fatḥa] on the ṣād.
Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related to me, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Hārūn, he said: Ḥusayn al-Muʿallim informed me, on the authority of Abī Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās that he read it كَالْقَصَرِ ("ka-l-qaṣar") with a fatḥa on the qāf and the ṣād.
He said: and Hārūn said: Abū ʿUmar informed me that Ibn ʿAbbās read it: كَالْقَصَرِ ("ka-l-qaṣar") and said: the trunk (qaṣr) of the date palms, that is to say: the necks.
The more correct of the two recitations therein, according to us, is that which the reciters of the cities adhere to, namely the sukūn on the ṣād. And the more correct of the interpretations regarding it is that it is "al-qaṣr" in the sense of fortresses (al-quṣūr), and that is because of the indication of His statement: كَأَنَّهُ جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ("as though they were yellow camels") pointing to its correctness. The Arabs compare camels to constructed fortresses, as al-Akhṭal said in the description of a she-camel:
"As though she were a Roman tower raised high, joined together with gypsum, fired brick, and stones."
And it was said: بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("sparks like a fortress") and not "like the fortresses", while "al-sharar" (sparks) is a plural, just as it was said: سَيُهْزَمُ الْجَمْعُ وَيُوَلُّونَ الدُّبُرَ ("The multitude will be defeated and they will turn their backs") and it was not said "the backs" (al-adbār), because "al-dubur" carries the meaning of "al-adbār". That was done for harmony between the endings of the verses and the pauses of the discourse, for the Arabs do that thus, and in their tongue the Qurʾān was sent down. And it was said: كَالْقَصْرِ ("like a fortress"), and the meaning of the discourse is: like the mightiness of the fortress, just as it was said: تَدُورُ أَعْيُنُهُمْ كَالَّذِي يُغْشَى عَلَيْهِ مِنَ الْمَوْتِ ("their eyes rolling like one who faints from death") and it was not said "like the eyes of one who faints", because in the comparison the concern is with the action and not with the eye [itself].
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, that he asked al-Aswad about this verse: تَرْمِي بِشَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ ("it throws up sparks like a fortress"). He said: like the fortress.
And His statement: جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ("yellow camels") — the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning its explanation. Some of them said: its meaning is: as though the sparks which the Hellfire (jahannam) throws up like the fortress were black camels, that is to say: black camels. And they said: "al-ṣufr" (yellow) carries in this place the meaning of "al-sūd" (black). They said: it was only called "ṣufr" while they are black, because the colors of camels are black with a tinge of yellow, and for that reason they were called "ṣufr", just as the gazelles were called "udm" because of the darkness that covers their whiteness.
* Mention of who said that:
