Part 12

Masjoor in the abovemcntion ed Verse. It was said that it means

" fill ed" and it was a lso sai d th at it means " that whi ch will

become a kind led fire on the Da y of Resurrec ti on and that it w ill

surround AM AII'v/all'qif," (I) as we menti oned in the Tafseer,

on th e au thority o f ' A li Ibn Abi Talib ~, Ibn ' Abbas 40, Sa 'ecd

Ibn Jubair, Muja hid and others. It was a lso sa id that what is

intended by ll1asjoor is prevented, restrai ned and preserved

from overfl owing and inundating the land, and drowning those

upon it. Thi s was na rra ted by AI-Wa libi , on the authori ty of Ibn

'A bbas 4 a nd it was th c o pi nion of As-S uddi and others. It was

reported all the authori ty of ' Umar Ibn A I - Kha tt ab .:.~ from the

Messe nger of All ah ~ that he sa id: " There is not a sin gle ni gh t

when the sea does not ri se three ti mes and ask pe rmiss ion from

Allah , the A lm ighty, the A ll-Powerfu l to unfold an d flow over

them (mankind), but A ll ah prevents it." (2)

Thi s is one of the blessings whieh A llah bestows on Hi s

s laves, th at He prevent s the ev il of the sea from inundatin g

lall A /· Alwdeetll Ad-Da 'eefidl Wal· M(/\\'doo 'all ( 1247).

( I ) AM AI·Mmrqif; Thosc on the Day of Rcckoning who will be facing whut

they deserve because of what they did in the life of this world. Those

people will seck intercession from Adam 'tiB, Null 'ti9 and other Pro phets

and Messengers, but none of them will be pennilted to intercede except

(2) Th is is a weak Iwdee/II narrated by Ahmud in his MII.mad ( 1/44 , No. 305).

Whlll lias Been Said Regarciillg lhe ('1T!lIlioll oj 63

them and makes it subservient to them, so that it carri es their

ships so that they may reach distant lan ds with their trading

goods and other thi ngs. And He guid es them on it, wi th what

He has created in the hea ven an d on Earth , such as the stars

and th e mou nta ins, whic h He ha s made as landmarks by which

they are gui ded on their journeys . He has also blessed them

with the precious, rare, a nd beautiful pearls and ge ms that He

ha s c reated therei n. wh ich are not fo un d anywhe re else and

with the strange creat ures that I-Ie has created in it and w hich

He has made lawful for th em to ca t, even wh en they arc dead,

as He, Most I-li gh, says, ( To hunt and eat th e creat ures o f the

sea is made law ful 10 yo u ) (Saa ra" AI-Ma 'idctl! 5:96) and the

Prophet ~ said , " It s water is pu re and its dead thin gs arc lawful

(to ca t)." ( I I In a nother IIOc/eelh , he said, ''Two dead thin gs and

two types of blood have been made lawful to us: Fish and

loc usts a nd th e liver and th e spleen." ill

AI-I-l aJiz Abu BaklAI-Bazzar reporled in his MII.mad on the

authority of Abu Hurai rah ..,be - in a 111m/a D' form - th aI he

said: " A ll a h spok e to thi s western sea and He spoke to the

eastelll sea. '-Ie said to the western sea, ' I transpo rt some of

my slaves upo n you, so what do you do wit h the m? ' It said, ' I

drown the m. ' A ll ah said , ' May wre tchedness be in (a ll of) your

regions.' A nd so He deprived it of j ewels and game (L e. fi sh

etc.). Th en He spoke to thi s eastern sea and said, ' I tran sport

some of my s laves on, so what do you do with them? ' It said,

( I) Thi s is an authclllic I/{Ideelh. narrated 011 the authority of Abu Hurairah

~ by Abu O[lwood in the Book ojPllI'ijicalioll (83 ). II/-nl'/Ilit/hi (69). AII-

Na.WI ·i (332). 11m Maja" (386), " hmad (7 192). Malik (43) and Ad-Dal'imi

(2) This is an aut hentic /wdeelh narrated by Ahmad ;n his MWI/ad (2197, No.

5690) and Ibn Majah (3 314). on the authority of ' Abdullah Ibn ·VlIlar .;..

64 What /-las lJeen Said Regllrdillg ,he Crelllioll oj

' I cany them in my hand and I am to them like a mother to

her ch ild.' And so All ah rewa rded it with jewels and game. "

( I) Then he (A I-Bazza r) sa id, "We do not know of a nyone who

narrated it on the authori ty of Suhail except ' Abdur-Rahman

Ibn ' Abdu ll ah Ibn 'U mar and he narrates l/(ldeel" which are

mIff/ka,:" (2) I-Ie added, "A nd Suh ai l na rrated it on the aut hority

of An-N u' man Ibn Abi 'Ayyas h, on the authority of' Abdu ll ah

Ibn 'Anu in a malVqooj(3 ) form.

I say: To say that it is mall'qoof at 'A bdu ll ah Ibn' Amr Ibn

A I- 'As is more correct, because on the day of the Battle o f

Yarmook , he had found two pack-anim als, loaded with books

w hi ch conta ined know ledge of lhe People of the Scripture; a nd

he used to re late things from the Ism 'eeliyyat fro m them, some

of th em we ll -known and accepted and some of them unknown

and rejec ted. As fo r the 11Ia1/aa' IlalTatio n, it was narrated on ly

by 'Abd ur-Rahm an Ibn 'Abdu llah Ibn 'Amr Ibn I-Iafs Ibn

'Asim Ibn ' Uma!" Ibn A IKh attab Abu l Qasim A IMadan i, the

chie f just ice of AI-Madinah. Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanba l sa id of

him , " He is noth ing. I heard it from him, then I tore up hi s

"aeleeth. He was a liar and his alwdee," we re "'llnkar." He was

also dec lared weak by Ibn Ma 'cen, Abu Zur' ah, Abu Hatim ,

AI-Juzjani, AI-Bukhari and Abu Dawood. Ibn 'Adiyy said, "In

(I) Recorded by AI-Haithami in 'AIM(/)I/IQ' " (5/28 1) and he said, "It was

narratcd by Al-Bazznr; but in its chain of narrators thcre is one' Abdur-

Rahman Ibn 'Abdullah Ibn 'Umtlr Al-'Amri, who is abandoncd (by schol-

ars of Iwdeeth). The author also denied its being 111(///00 ' and said that il

is from the Ism 'el'liY)'(I(.

(2) MUllk(/r: A wcak nnrmtion which contrndiclS somclhing that has bccn au-

(3) MUlI'qoof With a chain ofnnrralors that does not rcach to the Prophct

but on ly as far as the Compan ions.

/V11(I' //(1S Been Said ReKlI/"(/ill}j the Cre(lf;oll oI 65

general. his alwdeeth arc mlll/ko,. and the wors t of thcm is the

The geograph ers - who deal w ith lati tude, long itude, seas,

ri vers, mountain s, te rrain s and the c iti es , ruin s, buildings, the

seven true reg ion s, <lccordi ng to their te rmi no logy, and the

num erous com monly known region s, wha t is contained ill

the cites and the count rysi de - including pri V<l tc property and

plants and trade th at ex ists in every area - say tha t the land is

fl ooded by the great wa le r (Le. the seas) , except for about a

qua rter o f it and thal is ni nety degrees. A nd Div in e Prov id ence

necess it ates that th e water be he ld back frol11 thi s area, in order

th at animals might li ve on it and that crops and frui ts might

grow on it, as Allah, Most High, says, ( And the Earth lie has

put for the creatures. Therein arc fruils, date-palms producing

sheathed frui t ~ s ta l k s (enclosing dates). And <1 150 corn , wi th (its)

leaves and stalk for fodder, and sweet-scented pla nts. Then

wh ich of the Blessings or you r Lord will you both Ginn and

men) deny? ) (Som·all Ar-Ralllnan 55: I 013)

They said that the inhabi ted portion of this land is abo llt two-

thirds of it, or a lillie mo re than that; and th aI is ninety-five

degrees. With regard to the Western ocea n - whi ch is known as

Oceanus (Okeanos) and which borders the lands of the West,

including the Cana ry Islands - betwee n thcm and its coast is

ten degrees, wh ich is app rox imate ly one month's journcy. It

is not possible to travcl or sail across it, du e to its waves and

the vary ing winds and waves that exist therein. It co nt ains no

fi sh or other edi blc life and has noth ing th at ca n be ex tracted

from it. It cann ot bc traveled on for thc purpose of trade or

anything else and it stretches in the south to th e Mount<l ins of

66 WIIlII Has Bl.!clI Said Regardillg Ille Cr~llIiOIl of

Da rkness , or the Mountai ns o rthe Moon , w here in is the so urce

or lh e Egyp ti an Ni le. It traverses the equato r and then stretches

eastward and rcaches the south of the land. In it there arc the

islnnds of the blac k people and o n its coast there arc many ruin s.

Theil it stretc hes (Q the cast and to the north, unti l it conn ects

with the Sea of C hi na and India. Theil it stre tches eastward

until it borders til l! e nd o f the ex posed eastern la nd - and th ere

a re the lands of C hina. Then in the east of Ch ina , it turn s

northwa rd , so thaI it crosses th e lands of C hina and faces the

Da m o fVa'j ooj and Ma 'jooj. The il illu rn s and enc ircles land s