Tafseer of The Dawn · Al-Fajr · 89:7
[With] Iram - who had lofty pillars,
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.
The scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning the interpretation of His word: إرَمَ (Iram). Some of them said: it is the name of a city. Then those who said this differed concerning which city was meant by it. Some of them said: by it Alexandria was meant.
* Mention of who said this:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Yaʿqūb ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Zuhrī related to me, on the authority of Abū Ṣakhr, on the authority of al-Quraẓī, that he heard him say: إِرَمَ ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (Iram with the pillars) — Alexandria.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And others said: it is Damascus.
* Mention of who said this:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Hilālī, of the people of Basra, related to me, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Majīd related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Dhiʾb related to us, on the authority of al-Maqburī, concerning بِعَادٍ * إِرَمَ ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (concerning ʿĀd * Iram with the pillars) — he said: Damascus.
And others said: by His word إرَمَ (Iram) a community (umma) was meant.
* Mention of who said this:
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word إرَمَ (Iram) — he said: a people.
And others said: its meaning is: the ancient (qadīma).
* Mention of who said this:
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 إرَمَ (Iram) — he said: the ancient.
And others said: that was a tribe of ʿĀd.
* 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 His word أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِعَادٍ * إِرَمَ ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with ʿĀd * Iram with the pillars) — he said: we used to be told that Iram was a tribe of ʿĀd, the house of the kingship of ʿĀd.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word إرَمَ (Iram) — he said: a tribe of ʿĀd called Iram, the forefather of ʿĀd.
* Mention of who said this:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, concerning أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِعَادٍ * إِرَمَ (Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with ʿĀd * Iram) — Allah says: with ʿĀd Iram, for ʿĀd was the son of Iram, the son of ʿAwṣ, the son of Sām, the son of Nūḥ.
And others said: إرَمَ (Iram) means: the perished (al-hālik).
* Mention of who said this:
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 أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِعَادٍ * إِرَمَ (Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with ʿĀd * Iram) — he means by al-Iram: the perished; do you not see that you say: "the sons of so-and-so have perished (arima)"?
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word بِعَادٍ إِرَمَ (concerning ʿĀd Iram): the destruction; do you not see that you say: "the sons of so-and-so have been destroyed (urima)," that is to say: they perished?
And the correct view concerning this is that one says: Iram is either a city that ʿĀd inhabited — and for that reason it was annexed to ʿĀd, as an appositive to it, and for that reason it is not declined (with tanwīn) — or the name of a tribe, and it is likewise not declined, just as the names of tribes are not declined, like Tamīm and Bakr and the like, when the tribe is meant by them. As for the name ʿĀd, it is not declined because it was a non-Arab (aʿjamī) name.
As for what was transmitted from Mujāhid, that he said: by it "the ancient" was meant — that is a statement without meaning, for if that were the meaning, then it would have been retained with tanwīn. And in the omission of the declension lies the proof that it is not an adjectival qualification or a description.
And the view which, in my opinion, comes closest to the correct concerning this is that it is the name of a tribe of ʿĀd. For this reason the recitation came without ʿĀd being annexed to it (in iḍāfa) and without it being declined, just as one says: "Have you not seen what your Lord did with Tamīm Nahshal?" — where Nahshal is not declined, for it is a tribe, so for that reason it is not declined, while it stands in the position of the genitive (khafḍ) as an appositive to Tamīm. And had Iram been the name of a city or the name of a forefather of ʿĀd, then the recitation would have come with the annexation of ʿĀd to it, just as one says: "this is ʿAmr of Zubayd" and "Ḥātim of Ṭayyiʾ" and "al-Aʿshā of Hamdān." But it is, in my opinion, the name of a tribe of theirs, as Qatāda said — and Allah knows best. For this reason the reciters are agreed upon omitting the iḍāfa and the declension here.
And His word: ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (with the pillars). The scholars of interpretation differed concerning the meaning of His word ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ in this place. Some of them said: its meaning is: of tall stature. They based this on the statement of the Arabs concerning a tall man: "a man like a pillar (muʿammad)." And they said: they were of tall bodies.
* Mention of who said this:
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 ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (with the pillars): that is to say, their height was like a pillar.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (with the pillars) — he said: they had a body that reached up to the sky.
And some said: no, ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (with the pillars) was said concerning them because they were people of the tent-pole (ʿamad), who would go in search of rain showers and move to the pastureland wherever it was, and then return to their dwelling places.
* Mention of who said this:
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 الْعِمَادِ (the pillars) — he said: people of the tent-pole who did not reside sedentarily.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (with the pillars) — he said: we were told that they were people of the tent-pole who did not reside sedentarily, but moved about.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (with the pillars) — he said: they were people of the tent-pole.
And others said: no, that was said concerning them because of a structure that some of them raised up, in which the pillars were raised high and the structure was elevated.
* Mention of who said this:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word إِرَمَ ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (Iram with the pillars) — he said: ʿĀd, the people of Hūd, built it and made it when they were in al-Aḥqāf. He said: لَمْ يُخْلَقْ مِثْلُهَا (the like of which was not created), that is to say: the like of those works in the lands. He said: and so it was in al-Aḥqāf in Ḥaḍramawt, where ʿĀd then was. He said: and there were the sand dunes (aḥqāf) of sand, as Allah said: in al-Aḥqāf of sand — sand hills like mountains, which were shady and hollowed out.
And others said: that was said concerning them because of the strength of their bodies and their power.
* Mention of who said this:
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (with the pillars): that is to say: the hardness and the strength.
And the view which most closely accords with that to which the apparent meaning of the Revelation points is the view of whoever said: by it was meant that they were people of the tent-pole, moving about, for what is known in the language of the Arabs by "al-ʿimād" is that out of which tents are made — of wood and the poles upon which the structure is borne. And no structure with pillars that they are supposed to have had is known by any reliable report. Rather, the scholars of interpretation understood His word ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (with the pillars) as referring to the length of their bodies, and some of them as referring to the tent-pole of their tents. As for the pillars of a structure: scarcely any of the scholars of interpretation knows a view referring to that. And the interpretation of the Qurʾān is to be understood only according to the most current and best-known of its meanings, so long as a way to that is found, and not according to the most obscure.
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Footnotes:
(2) In (al-Lisān: a-r-m): al-aram is cutting off; "the year of drought cut them off (aramat-hum al-sana arman)": it destroyed them. On this basis the verb that the author uses here is in the passive form (mabnī li-l-majhūl), that is to say: time destroyed them.
