Tafseer of Those who drag forth · An-Naazi'aat · 79:30
And after that He spread the earth.
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: وَالأرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا "And the earth, after that He spread it out" (79:30). The exegetes have differed over the meaning of His statement بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ "after that." Some said: The earth was spread out after the creation of the heaven.
* Mention of who said this:
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 in which he mentions the creation of the earth before the heaven, and then mentions the heaven before the earth: That is because Allah created the earth with its provisions without spreading it out, before the heaven; then He turned to the heaven and formed it into seven heavens; then He spread out the earth. That is His statement وَالأرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا .
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 وَالأرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا * أَخْرَجَ مِنْهَا مَاءَهَا وَمَرْعَاهَا * وَالْجِبَالَ أَرْسَاهَا "And the earth, after that He spread it out; He brought forth from it its water and its pasture, and the mountains He set firm" (79:30-32): That is, Allah created the heavens and the earth, and when He had finished with the heavens — before He created the provisions of the earth therein, after the creation of the heaven — and set the mountains firm, by that He means the spreading out of the provisions. And the provisions of the earth and its crops could not thrive without the night and the day. That is His statement وَالأرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا . Have you not heard that He said: أَخْرَجَ مِنْهَا مَاءَهَا وَمَرْعَاهَا ?
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Ḥafṣ, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The House [the Kaʿba] was placed upon the water upon four pillars, two thousand years before the world was created; then the earth was spread out from beneath the House.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Bukayr ibn al-Akhnas, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr, who said: Allah created the House two thousand years before the earth, and from there the earth was spread out.
And others said: No, the meaning of that is: And the earth, along with that He spread it out. They said: The earth was created and spread out before the heaven, and that is because Allah said: هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ "He it is Who created for you all that is on the earth; then He turned to the heaven and formed it into seven heavens" (2:29). They said: Allah informed that He formed the heavens after He had created all that is on the earth. They said: If that is so, then His statement وَالأرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا has no interpretation other than what we have mentioned, namely that He spread it out along with that. They said: That is like the statement of Allah, mighty and exalted: عُتُلٍّ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ زَنِيمٍ "harsh, and along with that of illegitimate birth" (68:13), with the meaning: along with that of illegitimate birth; and as one says to a man: "You are foolish, and you are along with that of low birth," with the meaning: along with that; and as He, exalted is His praise, said: وَلَقَدْ كَتَبْنَا فِي الزَّبُورِ مِنْ بَعْدِ الذِّكْرِ "And We have written in the Zabūr after the Reminder" (21:105): that is, before the Reminder. And he adduced as proof the statement of the Hudhalī poet:
"I praised my God after [the rescue of] ʿUrwa, when Khirāsh escaped; and one evil is lighter than another."
And they claimed that Khirāsh escaped before ʿUrwa.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Khaṣīf, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَالأرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا , he said: Along with that He spread it out.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Mujāhid, that he said: "And the earth, at that moment He spread it out."
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to us, saying: ʿAlī ibn Maʿbad related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Salama related to us, on the authority of Khaṣīf, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَالأرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا , he said: Along with that He spread it out.
Muḥammad ibn Khalaf al-ʿAsqalānī related to me, saying: Rawwād ibn al-Jarrāḥ related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥamza, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning his statement وَالأرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا , he said: Along with that He spread it out.
The view which we have mentioned from Ibn ʿAbbās — namely that Allah, the Exalted, created the earth and ordained therein its provisions without spreading it out, then turned to the heaven and formed it into seven heavens, and then spread out the earth and brought forth from it its water and its pasture and set firm its mountains — is more in accordance with what the outward meaning of the revelation indicates, because He, exalted is His praise, said: وَالأرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا , and the well-known meaning of "baʿda" (after) is the opposite of the meaning of "qabla" (before). And in the fact that Allah spread out the earth after His forming of the seven heavens, the darkening of its night and the bringing forth of its morning light, there is nothing that requires that the earth was created after the creation of the heavens, because spreading out (al-daḥw) is, in the language of the Arabs, merely the levelling and stretching out. One says of it: "daḥā yadḥū daḥwan" and "daḥaytu adḥī daḥyan," two linguistic variants. Among that is the statement of Umayya ibn Abī al-Ṣalt:
"A dwelling which He spread out, and then made us inhabit it, and He dwelt in the other, which is more glorious."
And the statement of Aws ibn Ḥajar in the description of a rainstorm:
"It drives away the pebbles from the surface of the earth, settling down, as though it were a digger, or a player who throws."
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said this:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَالأرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ دَحَاهَا : That is, He levelled it.
Muḥammad ibn Khalaf related to me, saying: Rawwād related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥamza, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning دَحَاها , he said: He levelled it.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us: دَحَاها : He levelled it.
And Ibn Zayd said concerning it what Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement دَحَاها , he said: He ploughed it, split it open. And he said: أَخْرَجَ مِنْهَا مَاءَهَا وَمَرْعَاهَا , and he recited: ثُمَّ شَقَقْنَا الأَرْضَ شَقًّا "then We split the earth with a splitting" (80:26) ... until he reached وَفَاكِهَةً وَأَبًّا "and fruit and pasture" (80:31). And he said: When He opened it, He caused this to sprout forth from it. And he recited: وَالأَرْضِ ذَاتِ الصَّدْعِ "and by the earth which splits" (86:12).
