Tafsir of Sad 38:19

"And the birds assembled..."

"And the birds" (wa-al-tayr) is a conjunction linked to "the mountains" (al-jibal), which is the apparent reading. "Assembled" (mahshurah) is a state (hal) of "the birds," and the operative agent ('amil) is [the implied] "We subjected" (sakhkharna). The birds, in the state of being assembled—according to Ibn Abbas—whenever he [Dawud] would glorify [God], the mountains would respond to him in glorification, and the birds would gather to him and glorify [God] as well; and that is their assembling. The state was not expressed as a present-tense verb—unlike the preceding state—to indicate the sudden, simultaneous gathering (al-hashr al-daf'i), which is more demonstrative of [divine] power. This is achieved either through its contrast with the verb [that preceded it] or because suddenness is the default [meaning] in the absence of evidence to the contrary. Ibn Abi 'Abla and al-Jahdari read: "And the birds [are] assembled" (wa-al-tayru mahshuratun), in the nominative case as a subject and predicate. Perhaps, in that reading, the sentence serves as a state of the pronoun in "they glorify" (yusabbihna) [referring to the mountains], or it is a circumstantial clause.

"...each one to Him returning."

This is an inauguration (isti'naf) establishing the meaning of what preceded it, making explicit what was understood generally regarding the glorification of the birds. The [prepositional] "lam" is for causality (ta'liliyyah), and the pronoun refers to Dawud; meaning: each one of the mountains and the birds, for the sake of his glorification, is one who returns to glorifying. The word "returning" (awwab) was placed in the stead of "glorifier" (musabbih), either because they would repeat the glorification—and the one who returns is a "returner" (awwab) because he returns to his action again and again—or because the "returning one" (awwab) is the one who frequently repents and constantly turns back to God Almighty, as is famous, and whose habit is to multiply remembrance and maintain glorification and sanctification.

It is also said: It is permissible that the intended meaning is "each" of the birds, and thus the sentence serves to make explicit what was previously understood. Likewise, it is permissible that the intent is "each" of Dawud (peace be upon him), the mountains, and the birds, and the pronoun refers to God Almighty; meaning: each one of Dawud, the mountains, and the birds is, to God Almighty, awwab, i.e., a glorifier who returns to glorification.