Tafsir of Ta-Ha 20:19

"He said, 'Throw it down, O...'"

The Effort (al-sa‘y): Walking with speed and agility.

If you ask: How is it mentioned using different terms: hayyah (serpent), jann (small snake/jinn-like), and thu‘ban (dragon/large snake)?

I say: As for hayyah, it is a generic noun that applies to the male, female, small, and large. As for thu‘ban and jann, there is a contradiction between them, for the thu‘ban is the largest of snakes, while the jann is the slender one.

Regarding this, there are two perspectives:

1. The first: When it transformed, it became a yellow, slender snake (jann), then it swelled and its mass increased until it became a large snake (thu‘ban). Thus, jann refers to its initial state, and thu‘ban refers to its final state.
2. The second: It possessed the physical form of a thu‘ban but the speed of movement of a jann. The evidence for this is the Almighty’s saying: "And when he saw it writhing as if it were a jann" (27:10).

It is said: It had a mane like the mane of a horse. It is also said: There were forty cubits between its jaws.