Verse. 2249

١٨ - ٱلْكَهْف

18 - Al-Kahf

قُلْ لَّوْ كَانَ الْبَحْرُ مِدَادًا لِّكَلِمٰتِ رَبِّيْ لَنَفِدَ الْبَحْرُ قَبْلَ اَنْ تَنْفَدَ كَلِمٰتُ رَبِّيْ وَلَوْ جِئْنَا بِمِثْلِہٖ مَدَدًا۝۱۰۹
Qul law kana albahru midadan likalimati rabbee lanafida albahru qabla an tanfada kalimatu rabbee walaw jina bimithlihi madadan

English

Ahmed Ali

Say: "If the ocean turned to ink for writing down the colloquy of my Lord, the ocean itself would be exhausted ere the words (and wonders) of my Lord come to end, even if we brought another like it for replenishment."

109

Tafseer

'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī

تفسير : (say) o muhammad to the jews: (though the sea became ink for the words of my lord) for the knowledge of my lord, (verily the sea would be used up before the words of my lord were exhausted) it is also said that 'the words of my lord' means: the disposition of my lord, (even though we brought the like thereof to help) as an addition.

Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī

تفسير : say: ‘if the sea, in other words, [if] its waters, were ink (midād is what one writes with) for the words of my lord, [words] that testify to his laws and his marvels, such that these [words] are written with it, the sea would be spent, in recording them, before the words of my lord were spent (read as tanfada or yanfada) even though we brought the like of it, namely, [the like of] the sea, as replenishment’, in order to add it to the other [sea], it would [also] be spent, while they [god’s words] would not be exhausted (madadan, ‘as replenishment’, in the accusative because it is a specification).

Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi

تفسير : (say: though the sea became ink for the words of my lord…) [18:109]. ibn 'abbas said: “when the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, told them (… and knowledge ye have been vouchsafed but little), the jews said: 'how can this be when we have been given the torah? he who has been given the torah has been given abundant goodness!' upon which this verse was revealed (say: though the sea became ink for the words of my lord…)”.

Sahl al-Tustari

تفسير : say, ‘if the ocean were ink for [writing] the words of my lord, it would run dry…’that is, in recording the knowledge of my lord and his wonders.then he said:his book is part of his knowledge, and if a servant was given a thousand ways of understandingeach letter of the qurʾān, he would not reach the end of god’s knowledge within it. this is because it is his pre-eternal speech, and his speech is one of his attributes, and there is no end to any of his attributes just as he has no end. all that can be comprehended of his speech is as much as he opens to the hearts of his friends.his words: