Tafseer of The Fig · At-Tin · 95:3
And [by] this secure city [Makkah],
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 saying: ( And by this secure city ) — He says: and by this city which is secure for its inhabitants against their enemies, that these should fight its dwellers or attack them. And it has been said: al-amīn means al-āmin (the secure), as the poet said:
Do you then not know, O Asmāʾ — woe to you! — that I have sworn an oath not to betray my secured one (amīn) (1)
He means: āmin (my secured one). And this is like that which He, exalted be His praise, said: Have they then not seen that We have made a secure sanctuary, while the people around them are being snatched away?
And by His saying ( And by this secure city ) only Mecca is meant.
And in agreement with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes spoke.
* 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 His saying ( And by this secure city ), who said: Mecca.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Rawḥ related to us, saying: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of Yazīd Abū ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of Kaʿb, concerning the word of Allah ( And by this secure city ), who said: the sacred city (al-balad al-ḥarām).
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Rawḥ related to us, saying: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His saying ( And by this secure city ), who said: the sacred city.
He said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us; and Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān; and 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 ( And by this secure city ), who said: Mecca.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal 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 Sallām ibn Sulaym, on the authority of Khaṣīf, on the authority of Mujāhid: ( And by this secure city ): Mecca.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḥakam relate on the authority of ʿIkrima ( And by this secure city ), he said: the sacred city.
He said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, who said: ʿIkrima was asked about His saying ( And by this secure city ); he said: Mecca.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( And by this secure city ), that is to say: Mecca.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying ( And by this secure city ): the Sacred Mosque (al-Masjid al-Ḥarām).
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ( And by this secure city ): Mecca.
