Tafseer of The Dawn · Al-Fajr · 89:9
And [with] Thamud, who carved out the rocks in the valley?
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: وَثَمُودَ الَّذِينَ جَابُوا الصَّخْرَ بِالْوَادِ ("And Thamūd, who hewed out the rocks in the valley"). He says: and with Thamūd, who pierced the rocks and entered into them and made them into dwellings, just as the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, has said: وَكَانُوا يَنْحِتُونَ مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا آمِنِينَ ("And they used to carve out dwellings from the mountains, in security"). The Arabs say: jāba fulān al-falāt yajūbuhā jawban — when someone enters into an open plain and cleaves through it. To this belongs the saying of Nābigha:
To you came Abū Laylā, with whom he cleaved through the darkness the darkness of the night, he who traverses the plain, all-encompassing (3)
By his word "yajūb" he means: to enter and to cleave through.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his statement: وَثَمُودَ الَّذِينَ جَابُوا الصَّخْرَ بِالْوَادِ . He says: they pierced them.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَثَمُودَ الَّذِينَ جَابُوا الصَّخْرَ بِالْوَادِ means: Thamūd, the people of Ṣāliḥ; they used to carve out dwellings from the mountains.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, he said: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, he said: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his statement: الَّذِينَ جَابُوا الصَّخْرَ بِالْوَادِ . He said: they hewed out the mountains and made them into dwellings.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his statement: وَثَمُودَ الَّذِينَ جَابُوا الصَّخْرَ بِالْوَادِ : they hewed them out and carved them into dwellings.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: جَابُوا الصَّخْرَ — he said: they pierced the rocks.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning his statement: جَابُوا الصَّخْرَ بِالْوَادِ , he says: they hewed the stones.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning his statement: الَّذِينَ جَابُوا الصَّخْرَ بِالْوَادِ : they struck out the dwellings and abodes in the rock in the mountains, until they made abodes therein. Jābū means: they pierced them; they hewed out the dwellings in the mountains. A poet said:
Indeed, every thing except Allah perishes just as a tribe of Shanīq and Mārid perished
They struck in every [steep rock face] an ascent with strong hands, with mighty forearms (4)
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The footnotes:
(3) The verse is by Abū Laylā al-Nābigha al-Jaʿdī. In (al-Lisān: jwb): jāba al-shayʾ jawban wa-jtābahu means: he pierced it; and jāba al-ṣakhra jawban: he pierced it. And in the Exalted Revelation: وثمود الذين جابوا الصخرة بالواد . Al-Farrāʾ said: jābū means: they pierced the rock and made it into dwellings. And al-Zajjāj said something similar, and he relied therein upon the statement: وتنحتون من الجبال بيوتا فارهين . And jāba yajūbu jawban means: to cut through and to pierce. End.
(4) These two verses — I do not know their poet, and I am not certain of some of their wording; perhaps his word "ṣalāʾ ṣaʿda" is a corruption of "ṣaʿdāʾ ṣilla". Al-ṣaʿdāʾ is the hill whose ascent is difficult. And al-ṣilla is the arid land; its plural is: ṣilāl.
