Tafseer of The Night · Al-Lail · 92:3
And [by] He who created the male and female,
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 saying: وَمَا خَلَقَ الذَّكَرَ وَالأنْثَى ("And by what created the male and the female") (92:3). This can bear the two meanings I described regarding His saying وَالسَّمَاءِ وَمَا بَنَاهَا ("By the heaven and what built it") and regarding وَالأَرْضِ وَمَا طَحَاهَا ("and by the earth and what spread it out"), namely: that one gives "mā" the meaning of "man" ("who / He who"), so that it is an oath by Allah, exalted be His praise, by the Creator of the male and the female, and that is that Creator Himself; or that one gives "mā" together with what follows it the meaning of a verbal noun (maṣdar), so that it is an oath by His creation of the male and the female.
It has been transmitted from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd and Abū al-Dardāʾ that they used to read this as وَالذَّكَرِ وَالأنْثَى ("and by the male and the female"), and Abū al-Dardāʾ transmitted this on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
* Mention of the report about that:
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, who said: in the reading of ʿAbd Allāh: وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّى وَالذَّكَرِ وَالأنْثَى .
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: al-Mughīra informed me, saying: I heard Ibrāhīm say: ʿAlqama arrived in Syria and sat down with Abū al-Dardāʾ. The latter said: Of whom are you? I (ʿAlqama) said: of the people of Kūfa. He said: how did ʿAbd Allāh use to read this verse: وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّى ? I said: وَالذَّكَرِ وَالأنْثَى . He said: these people did not cease until they nearly made me deviate (from that reading), but I myself heard it from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ḥātim ibn Wardān related to us, saying: Abū Ḥamza related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAlqama, who said: we arrived in Syria, and I entered upon Abū al-Dardāʾ. He asked me and said: how did you hear Ibn Masʿūd read this verse: وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّى ? He said: I said: وَالذَّكَرِ وَالأنْثَى . He said: that is sufficient for you; I heard it from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while he read it thus.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us; and Isḥāq ibn Shāhīn al-Wāsiṭī related to me, saying: Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of ʿAlqama, who said: I arrived in Syria and met Abū al-Dardāʾ. He said: where do you come from? I said: from the people of Iraq. He said: from which part of it? I said: from the people of Kūfa. He said: do you read according to the reading of Ibn Umm ʿAbd (Ibn Masʿūd)? I said: yes. He said: read وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى . He said: so I read: وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّى وَالذَّكَرِ وَالأنْثَى . He said: then he laughed and then said: thus I heard it from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Dāwūd related to me, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of ʿAlqama, on the authority of Abū al-Dardāʾ, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, with the like of it.
Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAlqama, who said: I arrived in Syria, and Abū al-Dardāʾ came and said: is there among you anyone who reads according to the reading of ʿAbd Allāh? He said: they pointed to me. He said: I said: I. He said: how did you hear ʿAbd Allāh read this verse: وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّى وَالذَّكَرِ وَالأنْثَى ? He said: and I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say it thus. But these people want me to read وَمَا خَلَقَ الذَّكَرَ وَالأنْثَى , and I do not follow them in that.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: وَمَا خَلَقَ الذَّكَرَ وَالأنْثَى — he said: in some readings (ḥurūf): وَالذَّكَرِ وَالأنْثَى .
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, the like of it.
Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related to me, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Hārūn, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, that he used to read it as وَمَا خَلَقَ الذَّكَرَ وَالأنْثَى ; he says: and by Him who created the male and the female. Hārūn said: Abū ʿAmr said: the people of Mecca say concerning the thunder: "glory be to Him whom you have glorified" (subḥāna mā sabbaḥta lahu).
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Miqsam al-Ḍabbī, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Yazīd ibn Abī ʿImrān, on the authority of ʿAlqama ibn Qays Abī Shibl, that he arrived in Syria, entered the mosque and prayed in it, then stood up toward a (study) circle and sat down in it. He said: then a man came toward me, and I perceived the people's awe of him and their reverence for him; he sat down beside me. I said: praise be to Allah, I hope that Allah has answered my supplication. And behold, that man was Abū al-Dardāʾ. He said: and what is that? ʿAlqama said: I asked Allah to grant me a righteous companion, and I hope that you are he. He said: where are you from? I said: from Kūfa — or: from the people of Iraq, from Kūfa. Abū al-Dardāʾ said: was there not among you the owner of the sandals, the cushion and the water-skin — he means Ibn Masʿūd; was there not among you the one who, by the tongue of the Prophet ﷺ, was granted protection against the accursed Satan — he means ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir; was there not among you the keeper of the secret that none but he knew — or none besides him — he means Ḥudhayfa ibn al-Yamān? Then he said: which of you remembers how ʿAbd Allāh used to read? He said: I said: I. He said: read وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّى . ʿAlqama said: so I read: الذَّكَرِ وَالأنْثَى . Then Abū al-Dardāʾ said: by Him besides whom there is no god, thus the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited it to me, mouth to mouth; and these people did not cease until they nearly turned me away from it.
