Tafsir of An-Naba' 78:6

If you ask: How does the statement "Have We not made the earth a resting place" connect to what precedes it?

I say: When they denied the Resurrection, it was said to them: Has He who is to be attributed with the Resurrection not created these wondrous creatures that indicate the perfection of His power? What, then, is the basis for denying His power to resurrect? It is nothing but an invention like these inventions. Or, it was said to them: Does He perform these numerous acts—and the Wise One does not perform an act in vain—while what you deny of the Resurrection and recompense implies that He is playing in everything He has done?

"A resting place" (مهاداً): A bed. It is also read as mahadan, meaning it is for them like a cradle (mahd) for an infant—that which is prepared for him to sleep upon. It is naming the thing prepared (mamehud) with the verbal noun, like saying "the Prince's striking." Or, it is described by the verbal noun, or it means "possessing a cradle," meaning: We have stabilized it with mountains just as a house is stabilized with pegs.

"A cessation" (سباتاً): Death. The masbut is the dead person, from al-sabt, which is cutting off, because he is cut off from movement. Sleep is one of the two "takings" (of the soul), and it is on the pattern of adwa' (diseases). Since sleep was made a death, wakefulness was made a livelihood—meaning life—in His saying: "And We made the day for livelihood" (78:11), meaning: a time of livelihood in which you wake up and move about for your needs and earnings. It is also said: Subat means rest.

"A covering" (لباساً): It covers you from eyes when you wish to flee from an enemy, or to launch a night attack, or to conceal many matters you do not wish to be seen.

How many favors the darkness of night has for you, Proving that the Manichaeans lie.

"Seven" (سبعاً): Seven heavens. "Strong" (شداداً): The plural of shadidah, meaning: firmly constructed, strong in creation, upon which the passing of ages has no effect. "A blazing lamp" (وهاجاً): Glittering and burning, meaning: the sun. "The fire blazed (tawahhajat)" is said when it flares up, glowing with its light and heat.

"The rain-clouds" (المعصرات): The clouds when they are mu'sirat, meaning: they are on the verge of being squeezed by the winds so that they rain, just as you say "the crop is ready to be harvested" (ajaza) when it is time for it to be harvested. From this is: "The girl reached puberty" (a'sarat) when she is near to menstruating.

'Ikrimah read it as bil-mu'sirat. There are two interpretations:

1. That the winds are intended, which are due to squeeze the clouds.
2. That the clouds are intended; because if the sending down is from them, it is by them, as you say: "He gave a dirham from his hand" and "He gave by his hand."

Mujahid said: Al-mu'sirat are the winds that possess cyclones. Al-Hasan and Qatadah said: They are the heavens. The interpretation is that water descends from the heaven to the clouds, so it is as if the heavens are squeezing—meaning they are bearing down for the squeezing and enabling it.

If you ask: What is the view of one who reads "from the rain-clouds" (min al-mu'sirat) and interprets it as the winds that possess cyclones, when rain does not descend from the winds? I say: The winds are what create the clouds and bring forth their moisture, so it is correct to make them the origin of the descent. It has been reported that Allah sends the winds, and they carry water from the heaven to the clouds; if that is true, then the descent from them is evident.

If you ask: Ibn Kaysan mentioned that he made al-mu'sirat mean "the rescuers" (al-mughithat), but the one who rescues is al-'asir, not al-mu'sir. It is said: 'asara-hu fa-i'tasara. I say: His view is that he intends those that have reached the point of i'sar, meaning: the time has come for them to squeeze—that is, to rescue.

"Pouring" (ثجاجاً): Pouring down in abundance. It is said: thajjahu and thajja nafsahu. In the Hadith: "The best of Hajj is the 'ajj and the thajj," meaning raising the voice with the Talbiyah and pouring the blood of the sacrificial animals. Ibn 'Abbas was a mathajj, pouring forth like a bucket, meaning he would pour out speech in his sermon.

"Grain and vegetation" (حباً ونباتاً): He intends what is eaten as food, such as wheat and barley, and what is used as fodder, such as straw and grass, as He said: "Eat and pasture your livestock" (20:54), and "And the grain with its husk and the fragrant plants" (55:12).

"Thickly intertwined" (ألفافاً): Intertwined. It has no singular, like awza' and akhyaf. It is said the singular is laff. The author of al-Iqlid said: Al-Hasan ibn 'Ali al-Tusi recited to me: A garden intertwined and a life abundant, And drinking companions, all of them fair and bright.

Ibn Qutaybah claimed that it is laffa'ah and laff, then alfaf. I do not think he can find a parallel for it in the patterns of khudr and akhdar, or humr and ahmar. If it were said that it is the plural of multaffah with the assumption of the deletion of the extra letters, that would be a sound argument.