Quranic Storm Interpretation (Q 100)

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Sūrat Al-‘Ādiyāt (Q 100) - The Lord's Approaching Storm Traditional Interpretation: Often seen as referring to war horses in a military expedition or camels on Hajj, with various interpretations for each verse. Critique of Traditional Interpretation: Lack of logical connection to subsequent verses (Q 100:6-9) about human ingratitude. Cryptic nature of plural feminine active participles. Misreading/misinterpretation of original text, as argued by Munther Younes. Problems with literal meanings of words (e.g., ḍabḥan as "panting," naq‘an as "dust"). Unexplained feminine agency and masculine indefinite noun objects. Proposed Interpretation (Storm Context): Q 100:1-5 invokes an approaching storm, driven by ominous feminine heavenly forces, representing God's provision (rain) and punishment (lightning, winds, floods). Old Arabian Storm Interpretation (Q 100:1-5) Q 100:1: Wa-l-‘ādiyāti ḍabḥan - "By the transgressors (fem.) [with] a barking" Proposed Meaning: Feminine heavenly forces causing dog barking on Earth, a sign of an approaching thunderstorm. Q 100:2: Fa-l-mūriyāti qadḥan - "so the igniters (fem.) [with] a fire" Proposed Meaning: Heavenly forces igniting fires with lightning, a fearsome sign of the storm. Q 100:3: Fa-l-muġīrāti ṣubḥan - "so the attackers (fem.) [with] a dawn" Proposed Meaning: Storm as a host of fierce attackers arriving at a special decreed dawn. Q 100:4: Fa-’aṯarna bi-hi naq‘an - "so by it [the Lord’s ’amr/command] raise up water pools" Proposed Meaning: Heavenly forces raising pooling water (rain) by God's command. Q 100:5: Fa-wasaṭna bi-hi ğam‘an - "so by it [the Lord’s ’amr/command] divide an assembly [of clouds]" Proposed Meaning: Heavenly forces dividing the assembled storm clouds by God's command, delivering either provision or punishment. Quranic Storm Ideology Duality of Storms: Bring vital rain (hope) and punishing winds, lightning, hail (fear). Signs of God's Power: Demonstrates human dependence on the Lord. Q 30:24: Lightning shows fear and desire; rain gives earth life after death. Q 24:43: God drives clouds, gathers them into a mass, rain comes forth. Sends hail, smites or spares. Storms as Transmitters of Fate: Can deliver ruinous punishments for ungrateful men (e.g., 'Ād and Thamūd). Connection to Q 100:6-9: The storm oaths logically precede the critique of human ingratitude. Men receive favor but are ungrateful, failing to recognize ultimate judgment. 2.1 Q 100:1 – Wa-l-‘ādiyāti ḍabḥan – “By the transgressors [with] a barking” Critique of "Runners/Racers" interpretation: 'Ādiyat: From root '-d-y, meaning "to transgress" (106 times in Quran), identifies one who breaches norms or attacks. Safaitic example: Leo transgressing by causing drought. Early Quranic context: God punishes through malevolent created agents (Q 113, 114, 105). Ḍabḥan: Traditionally "panting" of warhorses. Non-Quranic Arabic uses of ḍ-b-ḥ: Predominantly barking of foxes/wolves, then dogs, then human cry before attack. Horse physiology: Horses are obligate nose-breathers, cannot bark or make barking sounds when panting/galloping. Snort, but not bark. Conclusion for ḍabḥan: Agitated canine vocalism, anxious proclamation of territorial defense. Storm Context: Approaching thunderstorms commonly drive dogs into a frenzy of barking due to sensitivity to static electricity buildup. Literal Reading: "By the transgressors/enemies (fem. pl.) [with] a barking (m.)." Heavenly transgressors causing dog barking on Earth, an unsettling sign of an approaching storm. 2.2 Q 100:2 – Fa-l-mūriyāti qadḥan – “so the igniters [with] a fire” Critique of "Sparks from Hooves" interpretation: Al-mūriyāt: Active participle of Form IV verb. Q 56:71 uses tūrūna for "you ignite" fire. Literal Meaning: "The igniters." Refers to heavenly forces igniting fires with lightning. Divine Punishment: God's forces punish with fire (Q 72:8-9 - burning flames; Q 77:30-32 - evils/lightning bolts hurled down). Qadḥan: Traditionally "sparks." Q-d-ḥ root: Normally means "to produce a fire" or "to kindle fire" in Arabic (also Aramaic/Hebrew). Literal Meaning: "A fire." Horse Hooves: Horse/camel hooves too soft to create sparks. Iron horseshoes (late medieval invention) can create sparks but rarely ignite fires. Unlikely in 600 CE Arabia. Storm Context: Lightning frequently ignites wildfires, a severe threat. Q 13:13: Allah sends thunderbolts (al-ṣawā‘iq) to strike whom He wills. Classic Near Eastern imagery: Storm god manifesting as a fiery mountain storm (Exodus 19:16-18). Grammatical Function: Feminine forces above ignite a masculine noun object (fire) on earth below. Literal Reading: "by the igniters [which ignite] a fire." 2.3 Q 100:3 – Fa-l-muġīrāti ṣubḥan – “so the attackers [with] a dawn” Interpretation as Storm Phenomenology: Muġīrāt: "Attackers/raiders." This verse is considered clear and consistent with Q 100:1. Ṣubḥan: "A dawn." Refers to a special decreed dawn for divine judgment. Q 113: Prayer for refuge in the Lord of the Dawn. Q 54:34: Lot's family saved at dawn (bi-saḥarin). Q 37:177: Warning that "evil the morning will be for those who were warned!" Storm as Host of Attackers: Common antiquity metaphor (Isaiah 5:26-30 - Yahweh summons Assyrians like a storm). Quranic inverse: Rising Arabian thunderstorm invoked as Lord's heavenly attackers. Anxious Waiting: Safaitic epigraphy shows men anxiously watching skies for malignant seasonal enemies (Leo, Sirius, Mars) causing drought. Supplicating deities for relief from transgressions of hostile entities. Example: HN 62 - "Sagittarius has come with his quiver so, O B‘ls1mn, send the winds [rwḥ]." "Breathing" Dawn: Q 81:18, wa-l-ṣubhi ’iḏā tanaffasa , "By the dawn when it breathes!" Dawn aspirates when bringing decreed change; Lord's winds are coming. Ties to celestial mechanisms of fate (Q 81:16-17). Q 89 (Sūrat al-Fağr): Oaths of "dawn and the ten nights" (Q 89:1-2) refer to a decreed dawn pending delivery by heavenly forces. Q 89:3 wa-l-šaf‘i wa-l-watri : "and the intercession and the destruction," invoking heavenly power to join/give or destroy/take away. Q 89:4: Swears by the night when it passes, implying the resolution of this fateful period. 2.4 Q 100:4 – Fa-’aṯarna bi-hi naq‘an – “so by it [the Lord’s ’amr/command] raise up water pools” Reinterpreting naq‘an : Naq‘an: Traditionally "dust" kicked up by horses. Critique: Non-Quranic meanings of n-q-‘ do not include "dust." Instead, they refer to collecting/pooling water that darkens or becomes infused. Lane's Lexicon: Defines naqī‘ as water collected in a hollow, stagnant water, water in a well. Safaitic Epigraphy: Supports "pooling water" interpretation. BESS191: Describes a man's anxiety of seeing "pools of water" ( naq‘at ) in a dry season (implies impending rain). SHSN 1 / SHSM 1: Mentions "the water pools" ( h-nq‘t ) in a location. Dadanitic h-nq : Top of a mountain where a rain-summoning ceremony ( ẓll ) is performed. Conclusion for naq‘an : Pooling water—specifically rainwater. Bi-hi (by it/him): Refers to the Lord's 'amr (command). This command is the agent by which the feminine forces act. 'Aṯarna: From 'a-ṯ-r root, meaning "to raise up" or "to stir up." Storm Context: The Lord's command causes the feminine heavenly forces (winds, clouds) to raise up or collect water, leading to rain. Literal Reading: "so by it [the Lord’s command] they raise up water pools." 2.5 Q 100:5 – Fa-wasaṭna bi-hi ğam‘an – “so by it [the Lord’s ’amr/command] divide an assembly [of clouds]!” Interpreting the action on the "assembly": Wasaṭna: From w-s-ṭ root, meaning "middle" or "center." Action taken in the middle of an assembly. Can mean to "mediate opposing forces" or "take the center position." Q 68:28: 'awsaṭuhum advises about the center. Q 2:143: 'ummatan wasaṭan, "community of the center." Ğam‘an: "An assembly." Storm Context: The assembled storm clouds, referred to as rukāman (mass) in Q 24:43. The winds drive clouds together into a mass. Bi-hi (by it/him): Again, the Lord's 'amr (command). The divine command resolves the storm. Ambiguity of Resolution: The storm context makes this simple, but there's an intended ambiguity in what happens. The Lord decides the fate (provision or punishment). Provision: Rainwater bringing life to dead land (Q 2:164, 7:57, etc.). Punishment: Intensified storm, transgression, ruin (Q 18:45, Q 54:31 - 'Ād and Thamūd). Parallels with Other Oaths: Q 51:4: fa-l-muqasimāti ’amran – "by the dividers of a command." Q 77:4: fa-l-fāriqāti farqan – "by the dividers of a division." Q 79:5: fa-l-mudabirāti ’amran – "by the arrangers of a command." These all invoke the same delivery of fate by feminine heavenly forces, dividing storm clouds. Meteorological Function (Q 30:48): yağ‘aluhu kisafan fa-tarā l-wadqa yaḫruğu – "he makes them [the clouds] fragments so you see the rain coming forth." People were in despair before this division (Q 30:49), awaiting their fate. Literal Reading: "so by it [the Lord’s command] they divide an assembly [of clouds]." Summary of Q 100:1-5 in Storm Context Q 100 invokes humanity's inescapable dependence on heaven's storms, mediated by feminine forces in the sky. These seasonal storms provide vegetation and life, saving men from desperation. However, storms also deliver inescapable punishment and scattering when the Lord chooses. These natural signs remind men of their dependence, but many are ungrateful, denying the cyclical process and ultimate judgment (Q 100:6-9). Key Problems in Traditional Interpretations (Munther Younes) Conflicting Explanations: Traditional interpretations are often contradictory and fail to provide coherent meaning. Feminine Active Participles: Quran almost invariably uses these for female agents (women), or adjectivally. In Q 100, 79, 77, 51, 37, they are substantive. Surprising Omission: "The total absence of any mention of women in the tafsīr literature in explaining the meaning of these participles is surprising." Angels as Female: Tradition sometimes reads these as angels, but Quran criticizes those who consider angels female (Q 6:9, 37:150, 53:27). Wa-l-‘ādiyāti ḍabḥan (Q 100:1): 'Ādiyāt literally means "one (f) who commits an aggression," plural, not "warhorses." ḍabḥan as "barking" is peculiar for horses; Younes rejects "peculiar panting." Oddity of plural feminine active participle with accusative masculine indefinite noun. Naq‘an (Q 100:4): Traditional reading as "dust" is inconsistent with non-Quranic Arabic meanings, which refer to pooling/collecting water. Bi-hi (Q 100:4-5): Tradition failed to explain the third-person masculine singular pronoun. Best argument was unspecified location, but Younes finds this illogical. Younes' Proposed Re-reading (Rasm Disambiguation) Suggests Q 100:1 could be wa-l-ġādiyāti ṣubḥā , “and those [women] who go out in the morning.” Q 100:2 as “and who light a flame.” Q 100:4 as women raising naf ‘ā (a good deed), rather than naq‘ā . Critique of Younes: While traditional reading is untenable, Younes' re-pointing of rasm is not a solution. The storm interpretation offers an alternative. Old Arabian Context and Safaitic Epigraphy Seasonal Fate Ideology: Centuries of precedent in Arabia. Watching the Sky: Safaitic inscribers obsessively watched the sky ( tẓr ’-s1my ) and asked the Lord of the Heavens, Ba‘al Samīn, for relief. Rwḥ (winds) with Mṭr (rain): Common request, e.g., f h b‘ls1mn trwḥ b- mṭr , "so O Lord of the Heavens send the winds with rain." Anxious Waiting: Often identified with ruling zodiacal constellation (e.g., tẓr ’-s1my b-mlḥ , "he awaited the sky [i.e. rains] during Aquarius"). Withholding Rain: Ba‘al-Samīn could withhold rain (e.g., hgz -h b‘ls1mn ‘l- h- mdnt , "B‘ls1mn withheld it [the rain] from the province"). Dependence: Men patiently waited for sky to send relief ( rwḥ ) that brings rain ( mṭr ). Grammatically Feminine Terms: While not always female subjects, the active participles in these oaths are deliberately feminine, implying agency. Winds as Servants: Winds ( rwḥ ) are never worshipped, only anxiously awaited, as they are sent by the Lord. This mechanistically imposes fate. Connections to Other Quranic Passages "Evil" or "Transgressing" Weather: Q 77:30-32: Unbelievers under a shadow ( ẓill ) that shoots out evils ( šarar - lightning bolts). Q 69:4-6: Thamud and 'Ad denied "the crushing" ( al-qāri‘at ), destroyed by "the transgression" ( al-ṭāġiyati - a storm transgressing normal patterns) and "furious and rebelling wind" ( bi-rīḥin ṣarṣarin ‘ātiyatin ). Al-ṭāġūt : Denounces worship of "rebellion/excess" (heavenly beings). Thunder as "Barking": Many surahs describe God's punishments starting with a massive shriek or cry like thunder ( ṣayḥatan wāḥidatan ) (Q 54:31, 23:41, 15:80-84, 11:94, 11:67, 50:42, 38:15, 36:53, 36:49). Storm God Imagery: Classic Near Eastern imagery of a storm god (e.g., Exodus 19:16-18, Mount Sinai covered in fire and smoke). Q 97 (Al-Qadr): Originally referred to a twofold fate by dawn, decreed and sent by the Lord's heavenly agents. Later reanalyzed for Quranic revelation descent.