WalAAadiyati dabha (surah Adiyat: 1)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(100:1) By (the horses) that charge snorting, *1

Wal`aadi yaati dabha

*1) There is no indication in the words of the verse to show whether "those who run" imply the horses; only the word waI- `Adiyat (by, those who run) has been used. That is why the commentators have disputed as to what is implied by "those who run" ..One section of the Companions and their immediate successors has been to think that it implies the horses; another section says that it implies the camels. But since the peculiar sound called dabh is produced only by the panting, snorting horses, and the following verses also in which mention has been made of striking sparks and raiding a settlement early at dawn and raising clouds of dust, apply only to the horses, most scholars are of the opinion that horses are meant. Ibn Jarir says: "Of the two views this view is preferable that by "those who run" horses are implied, for the camel does not breathe hard in running, it is the horse which does so, and Allah has said: "By those runners which pant and breathe hard in running'." Imam Razi ays: "The words of these verses proclaim that horses are meant, for the sound of dabh (panting breath) is only produced by the horses, and the act of striking sparks of fire with the hoofs too is associated with the horses, and, likewise, mounting of a raid early at. dawn is easier by means of the horses than by other animals."