Tafseer of Those who drag forth · An-Naazi'aat · 79:14
And suddenly they will be [alert] upon the earth's surface.
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.
And His words: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah) — He, exalted be His remembrance, says: Then, behold, these deniers of the resurrection, who are astonished that Allah brings them back to life after their death — out of denial of it — find themselves upon the as-sāhirah, that is, upon the surface of the earth. The Arabs call the open plain and the surface of the earth "sāhirah," and it appears to me that they named it thus because upon it occur the sleep (nawm) and the wakefulness (sahar) of the animals; thus it was named after the characteristic of what is upon it. To this belongs the saying of Umayya ibn Abī al-Ṣalt:
"And therein is the flesh of the sāhirah (the land) and of the sea, and all that they uttered with their mouths stands ready for them."
And to this also belongs the saying of the brother of Nahm on the day of Dhū Qār to his horse:
"Advance, 'Miḥāj', they are the Asāwira (Persian horsemen), and let not a loosened foot make you afraid. For your end is but the dust of the sāhirah (the earth), and after that you return to the first state (al-ḥāfirah), after you had become decayed, crumbled bones."
The exegetes differed concerning its meaning. Some of them said something like what we have said.
* Mention of those who said that:
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥuṣayn informed us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah), he said: upon the earth. He said: and he mentioned a poem that Umayya ibn Abī al-Ṣalt had composed, and said:
"With us is game of the sea and game of the sāhirah (the land)."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn Bazīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Miḥṣan related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His words: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah), he said: the sāhirah is the earth. Have you not heard: "For them is game of the sea and game of the sāhirah (the land)."
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 words: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah), namely: the earth.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: ʿUmāra ibn Abī Ḥafṣa related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His words: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah), he said: then, behold, they are upon the surface of the earth. He said: have you not heard what Umayya ibn Abī al-Ṣalt said to them:
"And therein is the flesh of the sāhirah (the land) and of the sea …"
ʿUmāra ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His words: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah), he said: then, behold, they are upon the surface of the earth. Umayya said:
"And therein is the flesh of the sāhirah (the land) and of the sea …"
Yaʿqūb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah), then, behold, they are upon the surface of the earth.
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 words: (upon the as-sāhirah), he said: the flat, level place.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: when the resurrection seemed far-fetched in the eyes of the people, Allah said: فَإِنَّمَا هِيَ زَجْرَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ * فَإِذَا هُمْ بِالسَّاهِرَةِ (It is but a single cry, and behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah). He says: then, behold, they are upon the topmost of the earth, after they had been in its interior.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: (upon the as-sāhirah), he said: then, behold, they come up out of their graves upon the earth; and the earth is the sāhirah. He said: then, behold, they come forth.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Khaṣīf, on the authority of ʿIkrima and Abū al-Haytham, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah), he said: upon the earth.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Abū al-Haytham, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, the same.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of ʿIkrima, the same.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His words: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah): the surface of the earth.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah), he said: the sāhirah is the back of the earth, upon its top.
And others said: the sāhirah is the name of a particular, well-known place on the earth.
* Mention of those who said that:
ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to me, saying: al-Walīd ibn Muslim related to me, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀtika, concerning His words: فَإِنَّمَا هِيَ زَجْرَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ * فَإِذَا هُمْ بِالسَّاهِرَةِ (It is but a single cry, and behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah), he said: in the region that lies between the mountain of Ḥassān and the mountain of Arīḥāʾ (Jericho); Allah spreads it out as He wills.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah), he said: a land in Syria (al-Shām).
And others said: it is a particular, well-known mountain.
* Mention of those who said that:
ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to us, saying: al-Ḥasan ibn Bilāl related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, saying: Abū Sinān informed us, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, he said concerning the words of Allah: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah): the sāhirah is a mountain beside Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis).
And others said: it is jahannam (the Hellfire).
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Marwān al-ʿUqaylī related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba related to me, on the authority of Qatāda: (Then, behold, they are upon the as-sāhirah), he said: in jahannam.
