Question:
Assalamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullah Sheikh Gibril,
I hope you and your family are well and healthy.
In the classical tafsirs of “adna al-ard” in ayah 3 of Surah ar-Rum, it is mentioned that this means “the closest land” or “nearer land” to the Arabian Peninsula or Persia. However today this statement is commonly being interpreted as meaning ‘the lowest point of the Earth (elevation wise).’ Can this latter interpretation be used as a complementary tafsir or is it not what is meant by this statement?
Wassalaam
Answer:
Alaykum Salam,
Al-Alusi said in his Tafsir that of the three narrations related on the geographical location of “adna al-ard” in Surat al-Rum, the strongest view is that the battle took place between Adhri`at and Bosra.
Yaqut al-Hamawi says Adhri`at is between Amman and al-Balqa’ district, which borders the Dead Sea.
Hence adna al-ard is in the very near vicinity of the Dead Sea and the two tafsirs, the classical and the modern, are in reality one and the same, and Allah knows best.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
