Tafseer of The Overthrowing · At-Takwir · 81:2
And when the stars fall, dispersing,
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 saying: وَإِذَا النُّجُومُ انْكَدَرَتْ ("And when the stars fall down"). He says: and when the stars scatter apart from the sky and fall down. The root meaning of al-inkidār is pouring down, as al-ʿAjjāj said:
"He saw the male bustards in an open plain and plunged down." (1)
By his word inkadara he means: plunged down.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū Yaʿlā, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Khuthaym, concerning وَإِذَا النُّجُومُ انْكَدَرَتْ ("And when the stars fall down"), he said: they scattered apart.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū Yaʿlā, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Khuthaym, the same.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَإِذَا النُّجُومُ انْكَدَرَتْ ("And when the stars fall down"), he said: they scattered apart.
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masrūqī related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Bishr related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning his saying: وَإِذَا النُّجُومُ انْكَدَرَتْ ("And when the stars fall down"), he said: they dispersed apart.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَإِذَا النُّجُومُ انْكَدَرَتْ ("And when the stars fall down"), he said: they fell down and tumbled over one another.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning his saying: وَإِذَا النُّجُومُ انْكَدَرَتْ ("And when the stars fall down"), he said: they are cast down from the sky to the earth.
And others said: inkadarat means: they changed.
* 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 وَإِذَا النُّجُومُ انْكَدَرَتْ ("And when the stars fall down"), he says: they changed.
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Footnotes:
(1) The verse is by al-ʿAjjāj the rajaz poet (his dīwān 17), and preceding it: "The falcon plunges down when the falcon swoops." It is among the evidentiary verses of Abū ʿUbayda in (Majāz al-Qurʾān 185); he said concerning the saying of the Exalted: وَإِذَا النُّجُومُ انْكَدَرَتْ one says: inkadara so-and-so: he plunged down; al-ʿAjjāj said: "He saw the bustards..." the verse. Al-khirbān is the plural of khirb (with a vowel movement): the male of the bustard (ḥubārā), and it has been said: it refers to all bustards. He means that the falcon swooped down from the height of the air because it saw flocks of bustards on the ground, and it dove down to hunt them.
