Tafseer of Those who drag forth · An-Naazi'aat · 79:2
And [by] those who remove with ease
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 statement: وَالنَّاشِطَاتِ نَشْطًا "And by those who pluck out vigorously" (79:2). The exegetes also differed concerning this — about who they are, what they are, and what it is that plucks out. Some said: They are the angels, who pluck out the soul of the believer and take it away, just as the halter-rope of the camel is loosened when it is untied from it.
* Mention of those who said this:
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 وَالنَّاشِطَاتِ نَشْطًا , he said: The angels.
And al-Farrāʾ used to say: What I have heard from the Arabs is that they say: "anshaṭtu" (I loosened), as though something is loosened from a halter-rope. The binding of it is "nashṭuhā", and the binder is "al-nāshiṭ". He said: When you bind the rope to the leg of the camel, then you have bound it ("nashaṭtahu tanshuṭuhu") and you are the binder ("nāshiṭ"); and when you loosen it, then you have loosened it ("anshaṭtahu").
And others said: وَالنَّاشِطَاتِ نَشْطًا is death, which plucks out the soul of man.
* Mention of those who said this:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَالنَّاشِطَاتِ نَشْطًا , he said: Death.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning وَالنَّاشِطَاتِ نَشْطًا , he said: When his soul is plucked out.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning وَالنَّاشِطَاتِ نَشْطًا , he said: The plucking out of it, when it is plucked out from the feet.
And others said: They are the stars, which travel from horizon to horizon.
* Mention of those who said this:
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 statement وَالنَّاشِطَاتِ نَشْطًا , he said: The stars.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَالنَّاشِطَاتِ نَشْطًا , he said: They are the stars.
And others said: They are the snares (al-awhāq, nooses with which animals and people are caught).
* Mention of those who said this:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Wāṣil ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, concerning وَالنَّاشِطَاتِ نَشْطًا , he said: The snares.
The correct view concerning this, in my opinion, is that one says: Allah, exalted is His praise, has sworn by those who pluck out vigorously, and they are those who travel from one place to another and betake themselves there. Allah did not intend anything specific thereby to the exclusion of anything else, but rather the oath is general concerning all that plucks out: the angels pluck out from one place to another, and likewise death, and likewise the stars and the snares, and likewise also the wild oxen, which move swiftly, as al-Ṭirimmāḥ said:
"And is there, with the companion of the horses, of whom I knew, anything other than the skittishness of the solitary, onward-traveling [oxen]?"
By "al-nawāshiṭ" he means the wild oxen, because they travel from one region to another, as Ruʾba ibn al-ʿAjjāj said:
"Every far-striding [camel] cleaved through it [the desert]"
And cares drive their bearer onward, as Hīmān ibn Quḥāfa said:
"My cares began to drive me onward, driving me on, now toward Syria with me, and then again toward Wāsiṭ."
Thus everything that plucks out falls under that by which He has sworn, unless a proof arises to which one must submit, that by the oath thereof only a part and not the whole is intended.
