Meaning of Allah's Saaq i.e. Shin mentioned in Qur'an

Meaning of Allah's Saaq i.e. Shin mentioned in Qur'an

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Meaning of Allah's Saaq i.e. Shin mentioned in Qur'an

The Salafis believe that Shin mentioned in Qur’an refers to literal shin of Allah.

Qur’an states:  (Remember) the Day when the Shin shall be laid bare (i.e. the Day of Resurrection) and they shall be called to prostrate (to Allah), but they (hypocrites) shall not be able to do so [Muhsin/Hilali 68:42]
The wording used for shin in this verse is “SAAQ”

Here is what Muhsin Khan Salafi says in footnote of his translation of Qur’an:

All that has been revealed in Allah’s Book [the Qur’an] as regards the [Sifat] Qualities of Allah, the Most High, like His Face, Eyes, Hands, Shins (Legs) , His Coming, His rising over His Throne and others, of all the Allah’s Messenger qualified Him in the true authentic [sic] Prophet’s [Hadith] as regards His Qualities like His Descent or His Laughing and others, the religious scholars of the Qur’an and Sunna believe in these Qualities of Allah and they confirm that these are really His Qualities, without Ta’wil (interpreting their meanings into different things) or Tashbih (giving resemblance or similarity to any of the creatures) or Ta`ţil (i.e. completely ignoring or denying them, i.e. there is no Face, or Eyes, or Hands, or Shins for Allah). [The Noble Qur’an translated by Salafis Muhsin Khan and Taqi ud din al- Hilali, footnote under verse 3:73]

We have already explained above about Allah’s Istawa and Nazul. The meanings of hands, face, and others shall come in next chapters. However look above how Muhsin/Hilali changed a singular shin into plural “SHINS (LEGS)”

Note: Shin does not refer to "LEGS OR LITERAL 2 SHINS" but rather it is used metaphorically in Qur'an [68:42] to denote the time when Allah will expose horrifying events on Day of Judgment. Plus the Qur'an uses the singular word "Shin" so if literalists were true to their literalism they would have kept it as singular instead of changing it into "PLURAL LEGS" as Muhsin Khan did.

Let us now look at Tafsir of 68:42:

Imam at- Tabri (rah) the leader of Mufasireen says in his Tafsir: 

يقول تعالى ذكره { يَوْمَ يُكْشَفُ عَنْ ساقٍ } قال جماعة من الصحابة والتابعين من أهل التأويل: يبدو عن أمر شديد.

Translation: Allah the Exalted said: The day when “SAAQ” shall be laid bare [68:42] A Jam’at (group) of Sahaba and Tabiyeen (Successors) from people of interpretation held that “IT MEANS A DIRE MATTER (AMR SHADEED) SHALL BE DISCLOSED” [Jami‘ al- bayan, 29.38. Shaykh Nuh’s article: Was Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal an anthropomorphist?]

Al- Tabari also relates from Muhammad ibn ‘Ubayd al- Muharibi (d. 245/859), who relates from Ibn al- Mubarak (d. 181/797), from Usama ibn Zayd [al- Laythi] (d. 153/770), from ‘Ikrima [ibn ‘Abdullah al- Barbari] (d. 104/723), from Ibn ‘Abbas (d. 68/687) that shin in the above verse means "a day of war and direness (harb wa shidda)" [emphasis mine] (ibid., 29.38). All of these narrators are those of the rigorously authenticated (sahih) collections except Usama ibn Zayd, whose hadiths are well authenticated (hasan). [Taken from Sheikh Nuh’s article: Was Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal an anthropomorphist?]

About Author:

Aamir Ibraheem

Aamir Ibrahim Al Hanafi

Islamic Researcher

Aamir Ibrahim al-Ash'ari is an Islamic researcher who sought and seeks knowledge in the company of great scholars. He is an author of many books and articles related to Islam and its defense. He follows Hanafi school in Fiqh. Ash'ari in creed, and is an admirer of Tassawuf.

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