Tafsir of Sad 38:36

{ الرِّيحَ } It is read as both al-rīḥ (singular) and al-riyāḥ (plural).

{ رُخَاءً } Soft and pleasant, not violent. It is also said: obedient to him, not resisting him.

{ حَيْثُ أَصَابَ } Wherever he intended and desired. Al-Aṣmaʿī narrated from the Arabs: "He hit the mark (aṣāba al-ṣawāb) but missed the answer." It is narrated that two linguists once sought him out to ask about this word, so he came out to them and said, "Where are you heading (ayyam tuṣībān)?" They replied, "This is what we sought," and left. It is also said: "May God grant you good (aṣāba Allāhu bika khayran)."

{ وَالشَّيَاطِينَ } A conjunction linked to al-rīḥ.

{ كُلَّ بَنَّاءٍ } An appositive (badal) for al-shayāṭīn.

{ وَآخَرِينَ } A conjunction linked to kull (all), included in the ruling of the appositive. It is an appositive of the whole for the whole. They would build for him whatever structures he wished, and they would dive for him to extract pearls; he was the first to extract pearls from the sea.

{ مُقَرَّنِينَ فِي الْأَصْفَادِ } He would bind the rebellious devils to one another in shackles and chains for discipline and to prevent corruption. Al-Suddī said: He would bind their hands to their necks, shackled in iron collars (jawāmiʿ).

Al-ṣafd is the shackle. A gift is called ṣafad because it binds the recipient to the benefactor. From this is the saying of Ali (may God be pleased with him): "Whoever treats you kindly has captured you, and whoever treats you harshly has set you free." Also, the poet's saying: "He shackles the hand of one he sets free, and enslaves the neck of one he emancipates." Ḥabīb said: "Indeed, a gift is a shackle." This was followed by the one who said: "Whoever finds kindness a shackle, becomes bound."

They distinguished between the two verbs, saying: ṣafadahu (he shackled him) and aṣfadahu (he gave to him), like waʿadahu (he promised him) and awʿadahu (he threatened him).

{ هَذَا عَطَاؤُنَا } Meaning: This which We have given you of kingdom, wealth, and expansion is "Our gift without account," meaning: abundant, so much that it can hardly be calculated or enumerated.

{ فَامْنُنْ أَوْ أَمْسِكْ } Mann here means giving. Meaning: Give from it as you wish, or withhold, with the authority to dispose of it delegated to you.

In the reading of Ibn Masʿūd: "This, so give or withhold, is Our gift without account." Or: This subjugation is Our gift, so show favor to whom you wish among the devils by releasing them, and keep whom you wish among them in bonds without account—meaning: there is no reckoning upon you for that.