The emphasis on “eelaaf”:
Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) refers to the “eelaaf” of the Quraysh again using “Eelaafihim”. This is because Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) is emphasizing on the eelaaf he granted to the Quraysh. For example, you are having an argument with someone on whom you did huge favors in the past and you get so angry that you say words like “I gave you everything, everything!” Note that, at this point you are incredibly angry, and you are using “everything” multiple times so that it hits the other person harder. This is the style of this surah. The tone with which you would say “everything” is the tone in which Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) is saying “eelaafihim”.
A Qurayshi listening to this may deny and say, “what are you talking about? I do not see any conveniences”.
There are many conveniences that Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) granted the Quraysh, but he highlights what was to Quraysh the biggest and the most important “eelaaf”. For example, the most important thing for a businessman is his business.
The dearest thing for the Quraysh is their business. It was their lifeline.
| “Rihlatash shitaaa’i wassaif” means “journey of the winter and the summer”. |
| Meaning of rihla: There are lots of words for travel in Arabic. For example, safar, hijra etc. The word “Rihla” is derived from the word “rihaal” which means “bags”. Back in the day, when Quraysh traveled, they did it with a lot of luggage / goods and their luggage would be next to them. It was clearly visible to everyone since the luggage would be on the Camels. When a caravan goes and that caravan has a lot of loaded luggage, then that journey is called “rihla”. |
Quraysh’s trade journey and risks:
Quraysh would travel heavily, sell their goods, purchase new merchandise and then return home loaded again. The more luggage they had, the more they were an easier target to rob.
Yemen was an extremely hot region and Syria was a colder region. Hence, during the summer they would travel to Syria, sell the merchandise and pickup new merchandise. By the time they would return it would be winter in Yemen. So, they would head towards Yemen and sell the goods they bought in Syria. So, their journey is like a continuous one and not two separate trips. Hence it is like a one trip of continuous making money i.e. endless money supply. This is also the reason why the word “journey” is used in singular form and not in plural form as “journeys”.
Eelaaf and the safe travels of Quraysh:
It has also been said that the meaning of “eelaaf” is what they would gather during their journey in the winter to Yemen and in the summer to Syria through trade and other than that. Then they would return to their city in safety during their journeys due to the respect that the people had for them because they were the residents of Allah’s sanctuary. Therefore, whoever knew them would honor them. Even those who came to them and traveled with them, would be safe because of them. This was their situation during their journeys and travels during their winter and summer.
The Arab land enjoys the summer more than the winter. But Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) highlighted winter over summer. Since a lot of trade was of spices and agricultural goods, the time for Arabs to make money was in summer. Winter was usually associated with no crops, drought, starvation etc. Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) highlights the winter over the summer because they were able to make money even in the most unlikely time of winter. Another interpretation of this is that Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) granted them the convenience of travel during winter because it was a lesser dangerous time. Summers were the easiest time to get robbed since Arabs were used to it.