Tafseer of The Overthrowing · At-Takwir · 81:9
For what sin she was killed
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.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَإِذَا الْعِشَارُ عُطِّلَتْ (And when the pregnant she-camels are neglected) he said: the pregnant she-camels are let loose to roam free.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word وَإِذَا الْعِشَارُ عُطِّلَتْ: he says: there is no herdsman for them.
The statement concerning the explanation of His, the Exalted's, word: وَإِذَا الْوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتْ (٥) وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ (٦) وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ (٧) وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ (٨) بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ (٩) وَإِذَا الصُّحُفُ نُشِرَتْ (١٠) (And when the wild beasts are gathered together (5), and when the seas are set ablaze (6), and when the souls are joined [in pairs] (7), and when the female infant buried alive is questioned (8), for what sin she was killed (9), and when the scrolls are spread open (10)).
The scholars of exegesis differed concerning the meaning of His word وَإِذَا الْوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتْ (And when the wild beasts are gathered together). Some of them said: its meaning is: they die.
* Mention of those who said that:
ʿAlī ibn Muslim al-Ṭūsī related to me, saying: ʿAbbād ibn al-ʿAwwām related to us, saying: Ḥuṣayn informed us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the word of Allah وَإِذَا الْوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتْ (And when the wild beasts are gathered together) he said: the gathering (ḥashr) of the beasts is their death, and the gathering of all things is death, except the jinn and humankind, for those two are stood still on the Day of Resurrection.
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 Rabīʿ ibn Khuthaym, concerning وَإِذَا الْوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتْ: the command of Allah has come over them. Sufyān said: my father said: I mentioned that to ʿIkrima, and he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: their gathering is their death.
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, with similar wording.
And others said: no, its meaning is: and when the wild beasts mingle together.
* Mention of those who said that:
Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ḥurayth related to us, saying: al-Faḍl ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, who said: Ubayy ibn Kaʿb related to me, concerning وَإِذَا الْوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتْ: they mingle together.
And others said: no, its meaning is: they are gathered.
* Mention of those who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَإِذَا الْوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتْ: these creatures appear on the Day of Resurrection, and Allah decrees concerning them what He wills.
The most correct of the statements concerning that is the statement of the one who said: the meaning of "ḥushirat" (gathered together) is: they are gathered and then put to death. For what is known in the language of the Arabs as the meaning of al-ḥashr is: gathering. To this belongs the word of Allah وَالطَّيْرَ مَحْشُورَةً (and the birds gathered together), that is: gathered. And His word فَحَشَرَ فَنَادَى (then he gathered and called out). For the explanation of the Qurʾān must be carried upon its most current and obvious meaning, not upon the most rejected and obscure.
And His word وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ (And when the seas are set ablaze). The scholars of exegesis differed concerning its meaning. Some of them said: its meaning is: and when the seas blaze up like fire and become hot.
* Mention of those who said that:
Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ḥurayth related to us, saying: al-Faḍl ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, who said: Ubayy ibn Kaʿb related to me, concerning وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ: the jinn said to humankind: we will bring you the news. So they went to the seas, and behold, they were blazing like fire.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, who said: ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, said to a man of the Jews: where is Hell (jahannam)? He said: the sea. He said: I consider him to be nothing but truthful. وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ (by the swollen/kindled sea), وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ, with the lightened pronunciation.
Ḥawthara ibn Muḥammad al-Minqarī related to me, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, saying: Mujālid related to us, saying: an old man from Bajīla informed me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word إِذَا الشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ (When the sun is wrapped up) he said: Allah rolls up the sun, the moon and the stars in the sea, and sends over them a west wind that fans it until it becomes fire. That is His word وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ: they are set ablaze on the Day of Resurrection. They claimed that that is the "tasjīr" (kindling) in the language of the Arabs.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Ḥafṣ ibn Ḥumayd, on the authority of Shimr ibn ʿAṭiyya, concerning His word وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ: like the heated oven; وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ is the same.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, concerning وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ: they are set ablaze.
And others said: its meaning is: they overflow.
* Mention of those 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 Rabīʿ ibn Khuthaym, concerning وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ: they overflow.
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 Rabīʿ, the same.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Kalbī, concerning His word وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ: they are filled. Do you not see that He said وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ?
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ: he says: they are made to burst open.
And others said: no, by it is meant that their water disappears.
* Mention of those who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ: their water disappears, so that not a drop remains in them.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ: their water sinks away and disappears.
Al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Dhāriʿ related to me, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, concerning this passage وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ: they become dry.
Al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Abū Rajāʾ related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, with the same wording.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ: they become dry.
The most correct of the statements concerning that is the statement of the one who said: its meaning is: they are filled until they overflow, and then burst open and flow away, as Allah described it in that other place, where He said: "وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ فُجِّرَتْ" (And when the seas are made to burst forth). The Arabs say concerning a filled river or a filled well: "māʾ masjūr" (swollen water). To this belongs the word of Labīd:
Fa-tawassaṭā ʿurḍa al-sariyyi wa-ṣaddaʿā ... masjūratan mutajāwiran qulāmuhā
(The two of them entered the midst of the watercourse and split open a full [basin], whose plants stood side by side.)
And by "al-masjūra" he means: the one filled with water.
The reciters differed concerning its recitation. Most of the reciters of Medina and Kūfa recited it سُجِّرَتْ with doubling of the jīm. And some of the reciters of Baṣra recited it with lightening of the jīm.
The correct ruling concerning that is that they are two well-known recitations with closely related meanings, so with whichever of the two the reciter recites, he acts correctly.
And His word وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ (And when the souls are joined [in pairs]). The scholars of exegesis differed concerning its explanation. Some of them said: every person is joined to one of his own kind, and the like and the matching ones are paired with one another.
* Mention of those who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, on the authority of ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, concerning وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ: they are the two men who perform the same deed by which they both enter Paradise, or by which they both enter the Fire.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Simāk ibn Ḥarb, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, concerning وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ: they are the two men who perform the same deed by which they both enter Paradise. And he said: احْشُرُوا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا وَأَزْوَاجَهُمْ (Gather those who did wrong and their kinds), he said: their like.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Simāk ibn Ḥarb, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, concerning وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ: they are the two men who perform the same deed by which they both enter Paradise or the Fire.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk ibn Ḥarb, that he heard al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr say: I heard ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, while he was giving a sermon, say: وَكُنْتُمْ أَزْوَاجًا ثَلاثَةً فَأَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ وَأَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ وَالسَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ أُولَئِكَ الْمُقَرَّبُونَ (And you have become three groups: the people of the right hand, what are the people of the right hand! And the people of the left hand, what are the people of the left hand! And the foremost are the foremost; they are the ones brought near). Then he said: وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ, he said: the like in Paradise and the like in the Fire.
Hannād related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, who said: ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, was asked about the word of Allah وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ, he said: the righteous man is paired with the righteous man in Paradise, and the evil man with the evil man in the Fire.
Muḥammad ibn Khalaf related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ al-Dūlābī related to us, on the authority of al-Walīd, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ — and al-Nuʿmān on the authority of ʿUmar — he said: وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ, he said: the like, every man with each people who performed his deed. And that is because Allah says: وَكُنْتُمْ أَزْوَاجًا ثَلاثَةً فَأَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ وَأَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ وَالسَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ (And you have become three groups: the people of the right hand, what are the people of the right hand! And the people of the left hand, what are the people of the left hand! And the foremost are the foremost). He said: they are the like.
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 word وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ, he said: that is when the people are three groups.
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Hawdha related to us, saying: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ, he said: every person is joined to his following.
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 word وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ, he said: the matching ones among the people are brought together.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ, he said: every person is joined to his following, the Jews with the Jews and the Christians with the Christians.
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 النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ, he said: the person is gathered with the companion of his deed.
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, he said: the person comes with the companion of his deed.
And others said: no, by it is meant that the souls are returned to the bodies and paired with them, that is: a partner is made for [the body].
* Mention of those who said that:
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ, he said: the souls return to the bodies.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, that he said concerning this verse وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ: the bodies are paired, by the souls being returned into the bodies.
ʿUbayd ibn Asbāṭ ibn Muḥammad related to me, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ, he said: the souls are returned into the bodies.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Zurayq al-Ṭuhawī related to me, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿIkrima, the same.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Dāwūd informed us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, concerning His word وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ, he said: the souls are paired with the bodies.
The most correct of the two explanations concerning that is the one which ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, explained, because of the ground that he adduced, namely the word of Allah, whose mention is exalted: وَكُنْتُمْ أَزْوَاجًا ثَلاثَةً (And you have become three groups), and His word احْشُرُوا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا وَأَزْوَاجَهُمْ (Gather those who did wrong and their kinds). Those are without doubt the matching ones and the like in good and evil. Likewise His word وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ: with the partners and the matching ones in good and evil.
And Maṭar ibn Muḥammad al-Ḍabbī related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muslim al-Qasmalī related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning His word إِذَا الشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ (When the sun is wrapped up), he said: its beginning will come while the people are looking on, and its end will come when the souls are joined [in pairs].
And His word وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ (And when the female infant buried alive is questioned, for what sin she was killed). The reciters differed concerning its recitation. Abū al-Ḍuḥā Muslim ibn Ṣubayḥ recited it وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سَأَلَتْ بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ (And when the female infant buried alive asks, for what sin she was killed), with the meaning: the female infant buried alive asks those who buried her: for what sin did they kill me?
* Mention of the report concerning that:
Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Muslim, concerning His word وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سَأَلَتْ, he said: she demands her blood-vengeance.
Sawwār ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿAnbarī related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, who said: Abū al-Ḍuḥā said concerning وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سَأَلَتْ: she asks those who killed her.
And if a reciter of those who recite سَأَلَتْ بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ (she asks, for what sin she was killed) were to recite [thus], there would be a ground for it, and its meaning would be like the meaning of the one who recites بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ. Except that, when it is a quotation (ḥikāya), both constructions are permissible in it, just as one says: "ʿAbd Allāh said: for what sin was he beaten?" As ʿAntara said:
Al-shātimay ʿirḍī wa-lam ashtumhumā ... wa-l-nādhirayni idhā laqītuhumā damī
(The two who reviled my honour while I did not revile them, and the two who vowed, when I met them, [to shed] my blood.)
And that is because those two said: when we meet ʿAntara, we will surely kill him. So ʿAntara quoted their statement in his poem. Likewise the statement of another:
Rajulāni min Ḍabbata akhbarānā ... annā raʾaynā rajulan ʿuryānā
(Two men of Ḍabba informed us: that we saw a naked man.)
With the meaning: the two of them informed us that the two of them [had seen a naked man], but the statement proceeded according to the manner of quotation. And some of the general reciters of the cities recited it وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ (And when the female infant buried alive is questioned, for what sin she was killed), with the meaning: the female infant buried alive is asked: for what sin were you killed? And the meaning of "qutilat" is: she was killed, except that this is brought back to the report (al-khabar) by way of quotation, in the manner of the earlier statement that preceded. And its meaning can also be directed to the sense: and when the female infant buried alive asks her murderers and those who buried her: for what sin did they kill me? Then that is brought back to [the construction] whose agent is not named, and it is said: for what sin was she killed.
The most correct of the two recitations concerning that, in our judgement, is the recitation of the one who recites it سُئِلَتْ with a ḍamma on the sīn (in the passive form), بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ, by way of report, because of the consensus of the proof among the reciters concerning that. And "al-mawʾūda" is the girl who is buried alive. Thus the Arabs used to do with their daughters. To this belongs the word of al-Farazdaq ibn Ghālib:
Wa-minnā lladhī aḥyā al-waʾīda wa-ghāʾibun ... wa-ʿAmrun, wa-minnā ḥāmilūna wa-dāfiʿu
(And among us is the one who kept alive the child buried alive, and [there is] an absent one, and ʿAmr; and among us are those who bear [the burden] and those who ward off [evil].)
One says: "waʾadahu fa-huwa yaʾiduhu waʾdan wa-waʾdatan" (he buried it [the child] alive, and thus he buries it alive, [with the verbal noun] waʾd and waʾda).
And something similar to what we have said concerning that was said by the scholars of exegesis.
* Mention of those who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ: it is, in some recitations, سَأَلَتْ بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ (she asks: for what sin was I killed?), without there having been any sin. A man of the people of the Jāhiliyya killed his daughter while he fed his dog. Allah reproached them for that.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: Qays ibn ʿĀṣim al-Tamīmī came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: I buried alive eight daughters in the Jāhiliyya. He said: "Then free a sacrificial camel (badana) for each of them."
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, concerning وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ, he said: the Arabs were, among the people, the most inclined to do 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 Rabīʿ ibn Khuthaym, with the same wording.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ, he said: the daughters whom the tribes of the Arabs used to kill. And he recited: بِأَيِّ ...
