Tafsir of Sad 38:32

He said this—peace be upon him—as an admission of what transpired from him regarding preoccupation, as a sign of remorse for it, and as a precursor to what follows: the order to have them [the horses] brought back and slaughtered, as is the well-known account.

"Al-Khayr" (the good) is frequently used to mean wealth; from this is His saying, the Almighty: "If he leaves khayran (wealth/good)" [2:180], His saying, the Exalted: "And whatever you spend of khayr (good/wealth), Allah knows it" [2:273], and His saying, the Majestic: "And indeed, he is, in the love of al-khayr (wealth), intense" [100:8]. Some scholars have said that wealth is not called khayr unless it is abundant and from a good source, as it is narrated that Ali—may Allah ennoble his countenance—entered upon a servant of his and said, "Shall I not instruct you, O Commander of the Faithful?" He replied, "No, because Allah, the Exalted, says: 'If he leaves khayran,' and you do not possess abundant wealth." Its interpretation as wealth here is also narrated from al-Dahhak and Ibn Jubayr.

Abu Hayyan said: The intended meaning of al-khayr is horses, for the Arabs call horses al-khayr. This is narrated from Qatadah and al-Suddi. Perhaps this is because "good" is attached to them; for in the Hadith, "Good is tied to the forelocks of horses until the Day of Resurrection."

"Ahababtu" (I have preferred), according to what is reported from al-Farra’, is implied with the meaning of ithar (preferring/choosing). It is treated as a literal meaning due to its fame in that usage, although it is apparent from the speech of some that it is the literal meaning itself. Thus, it is among those verbs that take the preposition ‘ala (upon), but here it takes ‘an (away from/over) because it is infused with the meaning of inabah (turning away/substituting).

So, "the love of good" is the object of "I preferred," [meaning] "I preferred the love of good, turning away thereby from the remembrance of my Lord," or "I have substituted the love of good for the remembrance of my Lord, preferring it." It is also permitted that "hubba" (love) be in the accusative as a "resembling cognate accusative" (masdar tashbihi), and the direct object of "ahbabtu" is omitted. The meaning would be: "I loved the prancing steeds, or their display, with a love like the love of good, turning away thereby from the remembrance of my Lord." In this case, al-khayr does not mean horses.

Abu al-Fath al-Hamadani mentioned that ahbabtu carries the meaning of lazimtu (I remained with/held fast to), from the line of poetry: "The camel of evil struck when it held fast (ahabba)." This was objected to on the grounds that ahabba in this sense is strange and does not appear except in that one line. The strangeness of a word indicates linguistic ineptitude, and the speech of Allah, the Majestic, is exalted above that. Furthermore, the verb for "holding fast" does not take ‘an unless it is infused with a meaning that requires it or uses ‘an metaphorically. Thus, there is no benefit in departing from the well-known meaning, especially when it is also valid through the infusion of meaning.

Some have made ahbabtu [originate] from the beginning of the matter, meaning "to lag behind or be detained," and hubb al-khayr as an object for that reason (maf'ul li-ajlih); meaning: "I lagged behind and was detained from the remembrance of my Lord because of the love of good." This is countered by the fact that what the lexicographers indicate is that [this verb] implies being detained due to a hindrance, illness, or the like, which does not suit the [state of] activity and diversion that the Prophet—peace be upon him—was in.

The view of some eminent scholars—after descending to the possibility of using the restricted in the sense of the absolute—is that since staying in a place for the sake of loving horses was contrary to the pleasure of Allah, the Exalted, He made it [the detention] among the "illnesses" that require treatment by their opposites; and for this reason, he slaughtered them. Thus, in ahbabtu, there is a taba’iyyah (derivative) metaphor. Its beauty and suitability for the context is not hidden, but it is unsubstantiated due to the obscurity of this metaphor itself and the lack of an apparent indicator (qarinah). In short, what Abu al-Fath mentioned is not something for which a door of approval should be opened by those of realization.

It is permitted to take ahbabtu in its literal sense without considering it infused with a meaning that requires ‘an, and to consider ‘an as connected to an implied term, such as "turning away, distancing myself." This is a state (hal) of the pronoun in ahbabtu. It is also permitted that ‘an is causal (ta’liliyyah).

"Dhikr" (remembrance) is genitive, annexed to its object [the act of remembering Him]. It is also permitted that it be annexed to its subject [the act of His remembering the servant]. It has been said that the annexation is in the sense of the lam (the dhikr belonging to my Lord). The meaning of dhikr is not the verbal noun, but rather prayer (salah). Thus, the meaning of "from the dhikr of my Lord" is "from the prayer of my Lord which He legislated." And this is as you see.

Some of those who considered ‘an to be causal explained this "Lord" as His Book, the Majestic—the Torah. Meaning: "I loved the horses because of the Book of Allah, which is the Torah," for it contains praise for keeping them. This is narrated from Abu Muslim.

Abu Ja'far, Nafi', Ibn Kathir, and Abu 'Amr read "Inni ahababtu" with a fatha on the ya.

[This is] connected to the saying of the Almighty, "I preferred," considering the continuity and persistence of the love according to the persistence of the goal. That is: "I substituted the love of good for the remembrance of my Lord, and this continued until the sun set," using the setting of the sun in its west as a comparison to the veiling of a hidden woman by her screen, by way of a taba’iyyah (derivative) metaphor.

It is also possible that there is a makniyyah takhyiliyyah (concealed imaginative) metaphor. In any case, what Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abi Hatim, and Abu al-Shaykh extracted from Ka'b, saying: "The screen is a screen of green chrysolite surrounding the creatures, from which the sky became green." As for what is said that it is a mountain beyond Mount Qaf by a year's journey behind which the sun sets, its state is not hidden. People are divided between believing and disbelieving in the existence of Mount Qaf. Al-Qarafi says it has no existence, and I am inclined toward that, even if the affirmers say what they say.

The ba (in bil-hijab) is for inclusion, metaphor, or association. The return of the pronoun [in tawarat—she/it veiled] to the sun without it being mentioned [explicitly] is because the mention of the "evening" (al-'ashiyy) indicates it.