Tafseer of The Dawn · Al-Fajr · 89:3
And [by] the even [number] and the odd
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: وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ * وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَسْرِ * هَلْ فِي ذَلِكَ قَسَمٌ ("by the even and the odd, and by the night when it passes; is there in that an oath?"). The people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed about what is meant by "the odd" (al-watr) in His statement والْوَتْرِ . Some said: the even (al-shafʿ) is the day of the sacrifice (yawm al-naḥr), and the odd (al-watr) is the day of ʿArafa.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, and Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, from Zurāra ibn Awfā, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: the odd is the day of ʿArafa, and the even is the day of the slaughter (yawm al-dhabḥ).
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: ʿAwf reported to us, saying: Zurāra ibn Awfā related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās said: the even is the day of the sacrifice (yawm al-naḥr), and the odd is the day of ʿArafa.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAffān ibn Muslim related to us, saying: Hammām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: ʿIkrima said, from Ibn ʿAbbās: the even is the day of the sacrifice, and the odd is the day of ʿArafa.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima: وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd"), he said: the even is the day of the sacrifice, and the odd is the day of ʿArafa.
And he related it to us once more, and said: the even is the days of the sacrifice; and the rest of the report is like it.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal reported to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His statement: والشَّفْعِ ("the even"), he said: the day of the sacrifice; والْوَتْرِ ("and the odd"), he said: the day of ʿArafa.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, from his father, from ʿIkrima, who said: the even is the day of the sacrifice, and the odd is the day of ʿArafa.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk: وَلَيَالٍ عَشْرٍ * وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("and by ten nights, and the even and the odd"), he said: Allah swore by them because of the excellence He knows in them above all other days, and singled out these two days because of the excellence known in them above all other of these nights. وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ , he said: the even is the day of the sacrifice, and the odd is the day of ʿArafa.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: ʿIkrima used to say: the even is the day of the festival of sacrifice (yawm al-aḍḥā), and the odd is the day of ʿArafa.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, from Qatāda, who said: ʿIkrima said: ʿArafa is odd, and the sacrifice is even; ʿArafa is the ninth day, and the sacrifice is the tenth day.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His statement: والشَّفْعِ ("the even"): the day of the sacrifice; والْوَتْرِ ("and the odd"): the day of ʿArafa.
And others said: the even is the two days after the day of the sacrifice, and the odd is the third day.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb reported to us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd"), he said: the even is the two days after the day of the sacrifice, and the odd is the day of the final departure (yawm al-nafr al-ākhir). Allah says: "Whoever hastens in two days, there is no sin upon him, and whoever delays, there is no sin upon him" (2:203).
And others said: the even is the whole of creation, and the odd is Allah.
* Mention of who said that:
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, from Ibn ʿAbbās: وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd"), he said: Allah is odd, and you are even. And it is also said: the even is the morning prayer, and the odd is the maghrib prayer.
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, from Mujāhid: وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd"), he said: all of Allah's creation is even — the heaven and the earth, the land and the sea, the jinn and mankind, the sun and the moon — and Allah is the odd, He alone.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ibn Jurayj reported to us, saying: Mujāhid said concerning His statement: "And of all things We created two kinds" (51:49), he said: unbelief and belief, happiness and wretchedness, guidance and error, night and day, heaven and earth, the jinn and mankind; and the odd is Allah. He said: and he said concerning the even and the odd the same thing.
ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Wāṣil related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid related to us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning His statement: وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd"), he said: Allah created of all things two kinds, and Allah is odd, one, the Eternal (al-ṣamad).
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl reported to us, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, from Mujāhid: وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd"), he said: the even is the pair, and the odd is Allah.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, from Jābir, from Mujāhid: وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd"), he said: the odd is Allah, and everything that Allah has created is even.
And others said: by it creation is meant, and that is because the whole of creation is even and odd.
He said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, concerning His statement: وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd"), he said: the whole of creation is even and odd, and He swore by creation.
He said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, who said: al-Ḥasan said concerning it: the whole of creation is even — وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ — he said: my father used to say: everything that Allah has created is even and odd, and He swore by what He has created, and He swore by what you perceive and by what you do not perceive.
And others said: no, it is the prescribed prayer (al-ṣalāh al-maktūba); some of it is even, like the fajr prayer and the ẓuhr prayer, and some of it is odd, like the maghrib prayer.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn used to say: الشَّفْعِ والْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd") is the prayer (al-ṣalāh).
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, from Qatāda, concerning His statement: وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd"), ʿImrān said: it is the prescribed prayer, in which there is the even and the odd.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, from al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd"), he said: that is the maghrib prayer; the even is the two rakaʿāt, and the odd is the third rakʿa. And some have traced the report of ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn back to the Prophet ﷺ (as marfūʿ).
* Mention of who said that:
Naṣr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: my father related to me, saying: Khālid ibn Qays related to me, on the authority of Qatāda, from ʿImrān ibn ʿIṣām, from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, from the Prophet ﷺ — concerning the even and the odd — he said: "It is the prayer; some of it is even, and some of it is odd."
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAffān ibn Muslim related to us, saying: Hammām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, that he was asked about the even and the odd, whereupon he said: ʿImrān ibn ʿIṣām al-Ḍubaʿī related to me, on the authority of a sheikh from Basra, from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "It is the prayer; some of it is even, and some of it is odd."
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Hammām ibn Yaḥyā reported to us, on the authority of ʿImrān ibn ʿIṣām, from a sheikh from Basra, from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said concerning this verse وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd"): "It is the prayer; some of it is even, and some of it is odd."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ ("the even and the odd"): part of the prayer is even, and part of the prayer is odd.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAffān ibn Muslim related to us, saying: Hammām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, that he was asked about the even and the odd, whereupon he said: al-Ḥasan said: it is the number. And there has been transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ a report that supports the statement which we have mentioned from Abū al-Zubayr.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ziyād al-Qaṭwānī related to us, saying: Zayd ibn Ḥubāb related to us, saying: ʿAyyāsh ibn ʿUqba reported to me, saying: Jubayr ibn Nuʿaym related to me, on the authority of Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The even is the two days, and the odd is the one day."
The correct position concerning this is to say: Allah, the Exalted whose mention is sublime, swore by the even and the odd, and He did not specify any single kind of the even, nor of the odd, to the exclusion of another kind, neither by a report nor by reason. Every even and every odd, then, belongs to that by which He swore, to all of that which the people of interpretation said is comprised within this oath of His, because of the general character of His oath by it.
The Qurʾān reciters (qurrāʾ) differed about the reading of His statement: وَالْوَتْرِ ("and the odd"). Most of the reciters of Medina, Mecca, and Basra, and some of the reciters of Kūfa, read it with a kasra on the wāw.
And the correct position concerning this is that they are two widespread, well-known readings in the reading of the regions, and two well-known dialectal variants among the Arabs. With whichever of the two the reciter recites, he has hit upon what is correct.
