Tafseer of The Constellations · Al-Burooj · 85:22
[Inscribed] in a Preserved Slate.
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 statement: فِي لَوْحٍ مَحْفُوظٍ ("on a well-preserved tablet"). The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: it is a noble Qurʾān, recorded on a well-preserved tablet (lawḥ maḥfūẓ).
The Qurʾān-reciters (qurrāʾ) differed over the reading of His statement مَحْفُوظٍ . Those among the people of the Ḥijāz who read it thus — Abū Jaʿfar the reciter and Ibn Kathīr — and those among the reciters of Kūfa who read it thus — ʿĀṣim, al-Aʿmash, Ḥamza, and al-Kisāʾī — and among the Baṣrans Abū ʿAmr, read محفوظٍ in the genitive (khafḍ), with the meaning that it is the tablet (lawḥ) that is qualified with being preserved. And when that is so, then the interpretation is: on a tablet that is guarded against any addition therein or any diminution therefrom, with respect to what Allah has recorded in it. And those among the Meccans who read it thus — Ibn Muḥayṣin — and among the Medinans Nāfiʿ, read مَحْفُوظٌ in the nominative (rafʿ), referred back to "the Qurʾān," as belonging to its qualification and its description. And the meaning of that according to the reading of both of them is: بل هو قرآن مجيد ("nay, it is a glorious Qurʾān"), guarded against alteration and substitution, on a tablet.
The correct position regarding this, according to us, is that they are two well-known readings in the reading of the various regions, both correct in meaning. Whichever of the two the reciter reads with, he is correct. And when that is so, then, with whichever of the two readings the reciter reads, the interpretation of the reading he reads is as we have explained.
And Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, from Mujāhid: فِي لَوْحٍ ("on a tablet"), he said: in the Mother of the Book (umm al-kitāb).
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: فِي لَوْحٍ مَحْفُوظٍ ("on a well-preserved tablet"), by Allah.
And others said: it is called only "well-preserved" (maḥfūẓ) because it is upon the forehead of Isrāfīl.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: I heard Qurra ibn Sulaymān, saying: Ḥarb ibn Surayj related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Ṣuhayb related to us, on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik, concerning His statement: بَلْ هُوَ قُرْآنٌ مَجِيدٌ * فِي لَوْحٍ مَحْفُوظٍ ("nay, it is a glorious Qurʾān, on a well-preserved tablet"), he said: the well-preserved tablet that Allah has mentioned — بَلْ هُوَ قُرْآنٌ مَجِيدٌ * فِي لَوْحٍ مَحْفُوظٍ — is upon the forehead of Isrāfīl.
End of the tafsīr of Surah Al-Burūj.
