Tafseer of The Fig · At-Tin · 95:2
And [by] Mount Sinai
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.
And His word: ( And by Mount Sīnīn ) — the exegetes differ concerning its interpretation. Some said: it is the mountain of Moses, the son of ʿImrān, the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him, and his place of prayer.
* Mention of who said this:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʿādh ibn Hishām related to us, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Qazaʿa, who said: I said to Ibn ʿUmar: I wish to go to the Sanctuary of Jerusalem and to Mount Sīnīn. He said: do not go to Mount Sīnīn; you wish to leave no trace of a prophet untouched without treading upon it. Qatāda said concerning ( And by Mount Sīnīn ): it is the place of prayer of Moses ﷺ.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Rawḥ related to us, saying: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word ( Mount Sīnīn ), who said: it is the mountain of Moses.
He said: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of Yazīd Abū ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of Kaʿb, concerning His word ( And by Mount Sīnīn ), who said: it is the mountain of Moses ﷺ.
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 ( And by Mount Sīnīn ), who said: it is the Ṭūr (the mountain).
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word ( And by Mount Sīnīn ): the place of prayer of the Ṭūr.
Others said: the Ṭūr is every mountain that brings forth crops, and His word ( Sīnīn ) means: clean, beautiful.
* Mention of who said this:
ʿImrān ibn Mūsā al-Qazzāz related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His word ( And by Mount Sīnīn ), who said: it means "clean, beautiful", and it is a word from the language of Abyssinia; they say for something that is beautiful: sīnā sīnā.
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, who said: ʿIkrima was asked concerning His word ( And by Mount Sīnīn ); he said: Ṭūr is a mountain, and Sīnīn is "beautiful" in Abyssinian.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: al-Ṣabbāḥ ibn Muḥārib related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, who said: I prayed the maghrib prayer behind ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, and he recited in the first rakʿa ( By the fig and the olive * and by Mount Sīnīn ). He said: it is a mountain.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḥakam relate, on the authority of ʿIkrima ( And by Mount Sīnīn ), who said: for me it is the same: the vegetation of the plain and of the mountain.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid ( And by Mount Sīnīn ), who said: the mountain.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid ( And by Mount Sīnīn ): a mountain.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid ( And by Mount Sīnīn ): the mountain.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of al-Naḍr, on the authority of ʿIkrima, who said: the Ṭūr is the mountain, and Sīnīn is "the beautiful"; just as it grows in the plain, so too it grows on the mountain.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Kalbī: as for ( Mount Sīnīn ), that is the mountain with trees.
Others said: it is the mountain, and they said: Sīnīn means "blessed, beautiful".
* 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 ( And by the Ṭūr ): the mountain, and ( Sīnīn ), who said: the blessed.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( And by Mount Sīnīn ), who said: a blessed mountain in Syria (al-Shām).
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda ( And by Mount Sīnīn ), who said: a mountain in Syria, blessed and beautiful.
And the most correct of the statements concerning this is the statement of the one who said: Mount Sīnīn is a well-known mountain, because the Ṭūr is the mountain with vegetation, and its annexation to "Sīnīn" is a specification of it. Had it been a qualifying attribute of the Ṭūr — as claimed by the one who said that it means "beautiful" or "blessed" — then Ṭūr would have been written with nunation (tanwīn); for a thing is not annexed to its own qualifying attribute, unless there is a reason that necessitates that.
