Tafseer of The Emissaries · Al-Mursalaat · 77:33
As if they were yellowish [black] camels.
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.
Aḥmad ibn ʿAmr al-Baṣrī related to me, saying: Badal ibn al-Muḥabbir related to us, saying: ʿAbbād ibn Rāshid related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: ( كَأَنَّهُ جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "as though they were yellow camels," he said: the black she-camels.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( كَأَنَّهُ جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "as though they were yellow camels": like the black she-camels that you have seen.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: ( جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "yellow camels," he said: black she-camels.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us; and Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, both on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Mujāhid: ( كَأَنَّهُ جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "as though they were yellow camels," he said: these are the camels.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda: ( كَأَنَّهُ جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "as though they were yellow camels," he said: like the black she-camels that you have seen.
Others said: No, what is meant by this are the ropes of the ships, to which the sparks are compared.
* Mention of those who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd 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: ( كَأَنَّهُ جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "as though they were yellow camels." The yellow camels, then, are the ropes of the ships, which are bundled together and with which the ships are lashed fast.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĀbis, who said: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about His word: ( كَأَنَّهُ جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "as though they were yellow camels," he said: the ropes of the seagoing ships, which are bundled upon one another until they are as thick as the waists of men.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĀbis, who said: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās, when he was asked about ( جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "yellow camels," and he said: the ropes of the ships, which are bundled upon one another until they are as thick as the waists of men.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĀbis, who said: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbdallāh related to us, saying: Hilāl ibn Khabbāb related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His word: ( جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "yellow camels," he said: the ropes of the bridge.
Muḥammad ibn Ḥuwayra ibn Muḥammad al-Minqarī related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Qaṭṭān related to us, saying: Hilāl ibn Khabbāb related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, something similar.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar and Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: ( كَأَنَّهُ جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "as though they were yellow camels," he said: the ropes.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Sulaymān ibn ʿAbdallāh, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: ( كَأَنَّهُ جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "as though they were yellow camels," he said: the ropes of the seagoing ships.
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: Waraqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: ( كَأَنَّهُ جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "as though they were yellow camels," he said: the ropes of the bridges.
And still others said: No, the meaning of it is: as though they were pieces of copper.
* Mention of those 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: ( كَأَنَّهُ جِمَالَةٌ صُفْرٌ ) "as though they were yellow camels," he says: pieces of copper.
And the most correct statement concerning this, in my view, is the statement of him who said: by "the yellow camels" are meant the black camels, for that is what is known from the language of the Arabs, and because "al-jimālāt" is the plural of "jimāl," just as "rijālāt" is of "rijāl" and "buyūtāt" is of "buyūt."
The reciters differed over its recitation. Most of the reciters of Medina and Basra and some of the Kūfans recited it ( جِمالاتٍ ) "jimālāt" with kasra on the jīm and the tāʾ, as being the plural of "jimāl." It is also possible that by it is meant the plural of "jimāla," and "jimāla" is the plural of "jamal" (camel), just as "ḥijāra" is the plural of "ḥajar" (stone), and "dhikāra" is the plural of "dhakar." Most of the reciters of the Kūfans recited it ( كأنه جمالات ) "as though they were jimālāt" with kasra on the jīm, as being the plural of "jamal" gathered into "jimāla," as I have mentioned regarding the plural of "ḥajar" into "ḥijāra." And it is transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās that he recited it ( جُمالاتٌ ) "jumālāt" with the tāʾ and ḍamma on the jīm, as being the plural of "jumāla," from something that is joined together.
Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related to us, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Hārūn, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn al-Muʿallim, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās.
And the correct view concerning this is that the reciter has the choice of whichever of the two recitations he wishes: kasra on the jīm with recitation with the tāʾ, or kasra on the jīm with recitation with the hāʾ, which in the connected reading (waṣl) becomes a tāʾ, for those are the two recitations that are well known among the reciters of the cities. As for the ḍamma on the jīm, I do not consider it permissible, on account of the consensus of the authoritative reciters against that statement.
