Tafsir of Al-Hijr 15:22

This is a continuation of the statement: "And We have provided for you therein means of living." What falls between them is a parenthetical sentence to substantiate what preceded it and to prepare for what follows.

Al-lawāqiḥ is the plural of lāqiḥ, meaning "pregnant." One says, "a pregnant she-camel (nāqah lāqiḥ)," i.e., she is carrying. Describing the winds with this term is an instance of hyperbolic metaphor; the wind associated with rain-bearing clouds is likened to a pregnant she-camel because it carries those clouds, or the water within them. Al-Farrā’ stated that it is a plural of lāqiḥ based on the pattern of lābin and tāmir (relational), meaning "possessing impregnation and bearing." Al-Rāghib also leaned towards this view. The opposite of this is called a "barren wind" (rīḥ ʿaqīm).

Abū ʿUbaydah said: lawāqiḥ means mulāqiḥ (impregnators), the plural of mulqiḥah, similar to the word ṭawāʾiḥ in the saying: "Labbayka [I answer your call], may the ḍāriʿ (humble one) increase due to contention, and the one who strikes in the dark due to what the ṭawāʾiḥ cast." Ṭawāʾiḥ is the plural of maṭīḥah, derived from the verb alqaḥa (to impregnate), referring to a stallion casting its fluid into the she-camel so that she may conceive. The intent is that they (the winds) impregnate the clouds or the trees. Thus, "impregnation" is metaphorically applied to the pouring of rain into the clouds or the trees. Attributing this to the wind is literal in the first case and metaphorical in the second, as the one that provides the impregnation to the trees is the cloud, not the wind.

The lawāqiḥ winds are the southerly winds, as narrated by Ibn Abī al-Dunyā from Qatādah in a marfūʿ (elevated) report, and al-Daylamī narrated the like from Abū Hurayrah with a weak chain of transmission. Ibn Jarīr and others recorded from ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, who said: "God Almighty sends the 'Announcer' (al-mubashshirah) to sweep the earth, then He sends the 'Mover' (al-muthīrah) to stir the clouds and break them into fragments, then He sends the 'Composer' (al-muʾallifah) to bring them together until they are piled up, then He sends the 'Impregnators' (al-lawāqiḥ) to impregnate them, and then it rains."

Hamzah recited it as wa-arsalnā al-rīḥa (in the singular), interpreting it as a generic noun, which carries the meaning of the plural; hence, it is grammatically correct for lawāqiḥ to be a state (ḥāl) derived from it. This is like the saying: "The golden dinar and the silver dirham have destroyed people." This recitation does not contradict what they said regarding the Hadith, "O God, make them riyāḥan (winds of mercy) and do not make them rīḥan (a wind of punishment)," which implies that riyāḥ (plural) is used for good and rīḥ (singular) for evil. As al-Shihāb stated, this is not a matter of linguistic nomenclature (waḍʿ), but of usage (istiʿmāl), and it is a general rule, not an absolute one. The singular rīḥ has also been used for good, as in the Almighty's saying: "...and they sailed with them on a favorable wind (rīḥin ṭayyibatin)." Or, this distinction may be restricted to when the word is used absolutely, without any accompanying context, such as an adjective or a state. As for the claim that the intent of "good" here is a supplication for a long life to witness many winds, there is no basis for it.

After having created the rain-bearing clouds by means of those winds, We sent down water from the sky and provided it for your drinking and irrigation—meaning, We have made for you a supply of water with which you irrigate your farms and livestock. This is, as it is said, more eloquent than saqaynākumūhu (We gave you water to drink), because it implies the provision of water made ready for them to benefit from whenever they wish.

Many scholars have distinguished between asqā and saqā. Al-Azharī said: "The Arabs say for everything that comes from the bellies of livestock, or from the sky, or from a flowing river: asqaytuhu, meaning I made it a source of drinking for it and provided a place for it to be watered. If it concerns the lips (human thirst), then it is saqā, and they did not say asqā." Abū ʿAlī said: "It is said, 'I gave him water to drink (saqaytuhu) until he was satisfied,' and 'I gave a river water (asqaytuhu nahran)' meaning I made it a source of drinking for it." Sometimes they used saqā without the hamza to mean asqā, as in the words of Labīd describing clouds: "I say, while its sound is far from me, dropping the lath (drizzle) from the mountain peaks: It watered (saqā) my people, the Banū Najd, and watered (asqā) Numayr and the tribes of Hilāl." He does not intend by saqā for his people that which satisfies their thirst, but rather he intends their provision—watering their lands so they may flourish. It is unlikely that he would ask for his own people what satisfies thirst while asking for others that which leads to prosperity.

Al-Azharī's statement that asqā is not used for the drinking of the lips is refuted by the verse of Dhu al-Rummah: "And I give it to drink (asqīhi) until, because of what I pour into it, its stones and playgrounds speak to me." The Imām (al-Rāzī) said: "This is because he intended by asqīhi, 'I invoke the provision of water for it.'" In such a context, as Abū ʿUbayd said, nothing is said other than asqī. Furthermore, the pronoun here has come connected after a connected accusative pronoun that is better known than it; the doctrine of Sībawayh in such a case is that connection is mandatory.

The Almighty denied them what He affirmed for His own Self with His saying: "And there is not a thing but that with Us are its treasuries." It is as if it were said: We are the ones capable of creating it, storing it in the clouds, and sending it down, and you are not capable of that. It is also said that the intent is to deny them the ability to preserve it—meaning, you are not its guardians, ensuring it does not sink into the earth so that you may not benefit from it. According to Sufyān, the meaning is: You are not able to prevent it from being sent down from the sky.