Sad · Makki · ayah 33 of 88

Sad 38:33

رُدُّوهَا عَلَىَّ ۖ فَطَفِقَ مَسْحًۢا بِٱلسُّوقِ وَٱلْأَعْنَاقِ

“[He said], "Return them to me," and set about striking[1326] [their] legs and necks.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Sulayman has the horses brought back and sets to work on them at once; what his hands did is disputed, but not the urgency.

A reflection

Striking, or stroking?

A teenage girl who rides every Saturday finds this ayah in an English translation on her phone. 'He began striking their legs and necks.' She closes the app, upset. A second translation, had she opened it, says 'caressing'.

Both renderings have a long history, and her objection deserves a straight answer.

The word is masḥ. Its root picture is a hand passed lightly over a surface, leaving it smooth. The same word is used for wiping the head in ablution (5:6). But the Arabs also stretched it to the sweep of a sword. To 'wipe' a man's neck could mean to strike it.

Many early authorities took the second sense. Sulayman, they said, had the horses brought back and cut their legs and necks, in zeal for Allah, so they would never distract him again. Some add that this was permitted in his law, perhaps as a slaughter whose meat was given away, or as an offering.

Others, in a report from one of the most learned Companions, took the first sense. He stroked their manes and legs out of love. One great early commentator preferred this. A prophet, he argued, would not torment animals or destroy wealth when the horses had done nothing wrong. Another major commentator went further. Masḥ without any mention of a sword, he said, never means cutting.

A later commentator questioned that preference, since their law may have allowed it. What remains open is which sense is meant. What is not open is that neither reading shows cruelty for its own sake. On either reading, something in Sulayman was being put back in order, and at once.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.