The Quran

112

التّائِبونَ العابِدونَ الحامِدونَ السّائِحونَ الرّاكِعونَ السّاجِدونَ الآمِرونَ بِالمَعروفِ وَالنّاهونَ عَنِ المُنكَرِ وَالحافِظونَ لِحُدودِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ المُؤمِنينَ

Muhammad Asad

[It is a triumph of] those who turn [unto God] in repentance [whenever they have sinned], and who worship and praise [Him], and go on and on [seeking His goodly acceptance],¹ and bow down [before Him] and prostrate themselves in adoration, and enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong, and keep to the bounds set by God. And give thou [O Prophet] the glad tiding [of God's promise] to all believers.

Most of the commentators attribute to the expression as-sa'ihun (lit., "those who wander") the meaning of as-sa'imun, i.e., "those who fast", since he who fasts deprives himself, temporarily, of worldly enjoyments similar to one who wanders about the earth (Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah. as quoted by Razi); and they justify this metaphorical equation of siyahah ("wandering") with siyam ("fasting") by the fact that several Companions and some of their successors have thus interpreted the term as-sa'ihun in the above context (see Tabari). Other authorities, however, (e.g., Abu Muslim, as quoted by Razi) prefer the original significance of this term and explain it as more or less synonymous with al-muhajiran ("those who forsake the domain of evil"). To my mind, the expression as-sa'ihun is best rendered as "those who go on and on [seeking God's goodly acceptance]", thus combining the literal and metonymical connotations of the term siyahah.