Surah adh-Dhariyat, the First 6 Verses – Six Readings, Six Stories

Why does this page exist? The meaning translations on this site are not tied to a single commentary. Before starting on a group of verses, we look at how classical and modern commentators read those verses differently; each reading is made concrete with a story; only then is the free meaning translation written. This page is the example of that preparatory stage done for Dhariyat 1-6, and it is the reference for the method.

The first six verses of Surah adh-Dhariyat (51) consist of four oaths and two rulings:

The difficulty of the verses lies here: what is sworn by in the first four verses is an adjective, not a noun. It says "those that scatter", "those that carry", "those that flow", "those that apportion", but it does not say who scatters or carries. The commentators filled this gap in different ways. Below are six different ways of filling it, with a story for each.

Source note: the views of the Diyanet Kur'an Yolu commentary, Ibn Kathir, Razi, Elmalılı, Mawdudi and Tabataba'i were compiled from internet searches. The pages themselves could not be opened from this environment; the quotations rest on search summaries. Which reading rests on a single source is stated in each section.

1. Four separate beings: wind, cloud, ship, angel

The reading. A narration attributed to Ali. According to what Ibn Kathir relates, Ali ascends the pulpit in Kufa and says "Ask, and I will answer"; a man named Ibn al-Kawwa stands up and asks about these verses. Ali answers in turn: winds, clouds, ships, angels. The Diyanet Kur'an Yolu commentary also gives this narration as the first possibility. Confirmed in two independent sources (Ibn Kathir, Diyanet).

Story: The Pulpit of Kufa

The mosque of Kufa was crowded. The Caliph, on the pulpit, said: "Whatever you ask me from the Quran, I will answer." A man rose from the back rows. He was known for asking hard questions; he wanted to test the Caliph.

"What are those that scatter?" "The wind." "Those that carry a heavy load?" "The cloud." "Those that flow with ease?" "The ship." "Those that apportion the matter?" "The angel."

The man fell silent. What he had expected was a riddle's answer, not four ordinary things. But as he left the mosque he saw the wind raising the dust in the courtyard; he saw a rain-laden cloud on the horizon; he saw a boat going with the current on the Euphrates. The fourth he could not see; but neither was it he who decided that day who in the market would find bread and who would not.

That evening he understood: the oath was sworn not by four mysterious beings but by four workings that passed before his eyes every day. If the wind never failed to blow, the cloud to carry, the ship to sail, the angel to distribute, then "what you are promised" would not fail either. That is why the fifth and sixth verses come right after the oath: The one who set up so unfailing an order does not fail in the promise of a reckoning.

2. One being, four stages: the journey of the rain

The reading. The view that Fakhr al-Din al-Razi found stronger: all four verses describe the wind, but four separate works of the wind. The Diyanet Kur'an Yolu commentary summarises Razi thus: (1) dhariyat, the winds that first form the clouds; (2) hamilat, the winds that carry the clouds as water vapour; (3) jariyat, the winds that drive the laden clouds; (4) muqassimat, the winds that distribute the rain to different places. It appears in Diyanet and in Hürriyet's text quoted from Diyanet; effectively a single source (Diyanet).

Story: The Four Doors of a Drop

The drop was on the surface of the sea and could go nowhere. The sun warmed it, it grew light, it rose. But rising was not enough; it hung suspended in the air. Then the first wind came and swept it together with millions of its siblings. The drop became a cloud. (First door: the wind that scatters and gathers.)

The cloud was heavy, heavier than mountains. It could not take a single step on its own. The second wind got underneath and shouldered it. (Second door: the wind that carries the load.)

The cloud slid from the sea toward the land; it did not resist, because the third wind was drawing it along like a current. It was easy, as though it had always been going there. (Third door: the wind that makes it flow with ease.)

Over the land the fourth wind tore the cloud apart: this much to that valley, this much to that field. The drop fell at the root of an olive tree. (Fourth door: the wind that apportions.)

The drop had seen none of the four winds. Each time it had thought "it happens by itself." Yet these were the four hands of a single order. The surah says: would the one who delivers even a drop to its place by a four-stage order neglect to deliver a human being to the recompense of their deeds? "What you are promised is true. The recompense will surely come."

3. A ladder from below to above: wind, cloud, star, angel

The reading. The second view related by Ibn Kathir: "those that flow with ease" in verse 3 are not ships but the stars gliding in their orbits. This view is reported to have been held by early commentators such as Mujahid, Ikrima, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Qatada and al-Suddi. In this reading the four verses become an order of ascent: wind (earth), cloud (sky), star (higher), angel (highest). It appears the same way on two separate sites via Ibn Kathir (the quran.com and alim.org summaries); a single chain resting on Ibn Kathir.

Story: The Shepherd and the Ladder

The shepherd lay on his back in the desert at night. He had memorised the verses, but the "ship" part had always snagged: he had never seen the sea in his life, how would he know a ship?

The wind threw sand in his face. "One," he said, "this is the one on the ground." He raised his head; a heavy cloud was passing in the moonlight. "Two, this is the one a little higher." The cloud opened; the stars appeared. They were gliding without any strain, without a sound. "Three," he said, "these are the ones that flow with ease. What need is there for a ship?" The fourth he did not see. But somewhere above the stars, above the clouds, above the wind, there had to be a hand that apportioned all of this. "Four."

That night the shepherd read the verses like a ladder: each rung higher than the one before, quieter, more orderly. The ladder came down as far as himself and went up as far as the angel. And the word spoken at the top of the ladder was this: This order is no accident; and the reckoning you are told of is no idle talk.

4. What is scattered is gathered: the proof of resurrection

The reading. Mawdudi's approach in Tafhim al-Qur'an. The oaths are not ornament but a proof. The objection of those who denied the hereafter was: "How can bodies that have mingled with the soil and scattered be gathered?" Mawdudi finds the answer in the first four verses: the sun evaporates the water, the drops do not vanish but disperse into the air; then the same wind gathers the same vapours, makes clouds, distributes them, makes them rain. The system that scatters is the system that gathers. The same content is in the alim.org and islamicstudies.info summaries; a single chain resting on Mawdudi.

Story: The Broken Jug

The old man gave his grandson a jug. The grandson dropped it; it shattered to pieces. He wept: "It is gone now."

The grandfather did not gather the pieces. He took his grandson out into the courtyard. The soil was damp; it had rained in the morning. "Where was the muddy water that was here yesterday?" he asked. "It had dried up." "Where did it go?" "I don't know. Into the air." "It dispersed in the air; you could not see it. Then what happened?" "It became a cloud. It rained." "Who gathered it?" The grandson was silent.

"Look," said the grandfather, "the wind that scatters is the wind that gathers. Every drop of water seems lost in the air; but not a single one is missing. When the command comes, the same hand gathers them, carries them, drives them, apportions them. Now tell me: can the one who scatters and gathers the water not gather a human being?"

The grandson looked at the pieces of the jug. It was still broken. But saying "it is gone now" no longer felt right. The surah seemed to have heard this objection: "What you are promised is certainly true." The proof is every drop that is scattered and gathered.

5. Land, sea, sky and the officers: governance and Lordship

The reading. Tabataba'i's reading in al-Mizan. The four oaths are four domains of governance: the breeze that scatters the dust shows the order on land; the rain-laden clouds, the order in the sky; the vessels that flow on the water, the order at sea; and the angels that distribute these by command show that the order has an owner. The working of each domain points to the existence of a Lord (a governor); the day of reckoning is the natural consequence of this Lordship. From the al-islam.org and islamica summaries; a single source within the Shi'i commentary tradition.

Story: Three Merchants and the Scribe

Three merchants were arguing at an inn. The caravan leader: "I live on the land. The wind scatters the sand, opens the road or closes it; I walk accordingly. There is an order on land." The farmer: "I look at the sky. The cloud carries its load and lets it go when the time comes. There is an order in the sky." The sailor: "I look at the water. Even laden, the ship goes easily with current and wind. There is an order at sea."

The scribe sitting in the corner raised his head: "All three of you are saying the same thing, but you think they are three separate orders. The wind of the land carries the cloud of the sky; the cloud of the sky comes from the water of the sea; the ship of the sea carries the goods of the land. One order, three faces. So who apportions? I keep the accounts at this inn; I write down the share of every caravan, every field, every ship. If there were no one writing like me, the inn would fall into confusion."

The merchants laughed: "Who are you, that you should apportion the order?" "Not I," said the scribe, "but someone. If an inn has a scribe, so does the world. And if there is a scribe, there is a reckoning."

The surah says exactly this: if land, sky and sea work in order, there is a Governor; if there is a Governor, there are officers "who apportion the command"; and if they exist, "din", that is, reckoning and recompense, is "waqi'", that is, inevitable.

6. Leave the adjective open: every force that splits, every load that is carried

The reading. The approach of Elmalılı Hamdi Yazır in Hak Dini Kur'an Dili. Elmalılı does not tie the adjectives to a single noun. According to the search summary he reads "dhariyat" as every force that breaks, scatters, turns to dust: the winds that scatter the dust, the angels that spread creation, even shattering causes such as explosives. For "hamilat" he lists rain-laden clouds, cloud-carrying winds and pregnant women as options. He translates "muqassimat" as "those who divide up a command". This summary came from a single source (a search engine summary); I could not open and verify Elmalılı's own text in this environment. Do not take the details of "pregnant women" and "explosives" as certain; but the approach of keeping the adjectives broad is consistent with the note of Zamakhshari and Razi that "they may be separate things or attributes of the same thing" (Diyanet).

Story: Four Doors, One House

A student asked his teacher: "What exactly is sworn by in these four verses?" The teacher: "What does the verse say?" "Those that scatter." "Those that scatter what?" "It does not say." "Then you do not say either."

The student was puzzled. The teacher went on: "Think of a door with 'those that scatter' written above it. The wind goes in, fine. But the farmer who scatters seed on the field goes in too. So does the soil that makes a thousand ears from one seed. So does the gunpowder that shatters the rock. If you close the door with 'wind', the others are left outside."

"The second door: 'those that carry a heavy load'. The cloud goes in. The wind that shoulders the cloud goes in. The woman carrying a child in her womb goes in too; she carries a life for nine months and gives birth. Is carrying a load reserved for one alone?"

"The third door: 'those that flow with ease'. The ship, the river, the star, the flow of blood in the vein. The fourth door: 'those that apportion the command'. The angel, but also every order that distributes provision to homes."

"Now pass through the four doors and enter the house. What is written in the house?" The student read: "What you are promised is true. The recompense will surely come."

"There," said the teacher. "The doors have been kept wide so that whoever enters by whichever door arrives in the same room. Let the one who knows the wind enter by the wind, the one who knows the mother by the mother, the one who knows the sailor by the ship. The oath is sworn by every 'scattering-carrying-flowing-apportioning' order you see. The common lesson of all of them is one: what scatters gathers, what carries sets down, what flows arrives, what apportions keeps the account."

Comparison of the six readings

What do the six verses mean? (Common conclusion)

All the readings converge on verses 5 and 6. The purpose of the oaths is to call the listener to an order in nature that they see every day but do not notice; and then to say: the one who set up this order does not go back on the word given. "What you are promised" (reckoning, resurrection, recompense) is sadiq, that is, real; "din" (meeting the recompense of what you did) is waqi', that is, it will happen.

The readings part ways only on this question: are the four things sworn by four separate beings, four stages of a single process, or four adjectives deliberately left open? Razi prefers the second, the narration of Ali the first, Elmalılı the third. These three readings do not exclude one another; the Diyanet commentary too, relying on Zamakhshari and Razi, says that both are possible.

Points I am not sure of:

• The details of "explosives" and "pregnant women" attributed to Elmalılı come from a single search summary; they were not verified in the primary text.
• A Turkish translation reading the word "din" as "debt" (presumed to be the Süleymaniye Foundation's) appeared in a search summary but the page could not be opened; so no separate story was made for it.

Sources

• Diyanet Kur'an Yolu, commentary on Dhariyat 1-6
• TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam, Surah adh-Dhariyat
• Ibn Kathir's commentary, Dhariyat (alim.org)
• Ibn Kathir, Dhariyat 3 (quran.com)
• Mawdudi, Tafhim al-Qur'an, Dhariyat 1-6 (alim.org)
• Mawdudi, Tafhim, Dhariyat 1-6 (islamicstudies.info)
• Enlightening Commentary / al-Mizan summary, Dhariyat 1-23 (al-islam.org)
• Islamica, Surah al-Dhariyat
• Elmalılı Hamdi Yazır, Hak Dini Kur'an Dili, Dhariyat (enfal.de)
• Kuran ve Meali, commentary on Dhariyat 1-6
• Hürriyet, commentary on Surah adh-Dhariyat (quoted from Diyanet)